"She'll find out soon enough, Paul," Sam told his beta, his arms crossed over his chest as they stood at the picnic table. Jared had his arms looped around Kiara's waist as Kim and Emily rolled their eyes at the duo, knowing that they were both just as immature as each other. The two men paused their conversation to smile and chuckle as Kiara let out a string of curses, Jared having just dragged her down into the ocean with him.

"I just hate lying to her," Paul told Sam truthfully, his eyes trained on his best friend's figure as she continued to flail around in the water with his pack brother. "Especially after how good this summer has been without... them... around."

In what was historically unusual, the small towns of Forks and La Push had a record breaking summer. Kiara wasn't sure she had ever seen so much sun in her life, but she wasn't complaining. The girl loved the good weather as did her brother and his friends, of whom she still hadn't spoken to since the night she broke down crying in Embry McCall's basement over the group of boys that she had practically been joint to the hip with all summer.

Her plans for a forbidden summer romance with Rosalie had been squashed almost as soon as prom was over. School had broken up for the summer and as a graduation gift for Rosalie, Jasper, Emmett and Beverly, Carlisle and Esme had booked the siblings a summer vacation across Europe. Kiara was sad to see Rosalie go but she had expected that she would leave eventually for college anyway. They'd shared another kiss at the blonde's graduation ceremony - something that the rest of her family had watched with surprise. They'd known that Rosalie and Kiara had something going on between them but they hadn't realised that anything would come of it.

Unfortunately for Kiara, Edward was not involved with their summer trip. Bella therefore had spent every waking moment with the boy, whether it being trips to Arizona to visit her old life or classical music concerts. Jacob wasn't around much either, having bought another old car to work on with his friends. Kiara had originally only turned up unannounced to Sam's at the start of the summer to see what the boys were up to, which had somehow turned into her house away from home.

Emily and Kim had been more than happy to include the girl in their activities while the boys were on patrol - even if Kiara still believed their patrol was as wilderness rangers and not as human sized wolves. They had hoped for a period of time that Paul and Kiara would spark off a budding romance again, but it was short lived. The boy and girl had both firmly stated that they would never go back there and were much better as friends.

Even so, Sam was just glad that Paul had Kiara. He was aware that Paul was always jealous of Sam and Jared having imprinted so quickly after phasing for the first time and as much as the boy would deny it (claiming that he would never want to feel like his entire existence to be reliant on a relationship) Sam knew that Paul had wished for an imprint of his own. Kiara, however, was the perfect distraction and buffer at reminding Paul there was more to life than just waiting for the one to come along.

"Don't you have school tomorrow?" Emily asked later that night as they all sat around the bonfire Sam had started on the beach. All heads snapped to Kiara with teasing grins as the younger girl groaned, rolling her eyes at them as she took another bite of the hotdog in her hands.

"Don't you enjoy having me around?" Kiara countered, a small smirk twitching at the corners of her mouth as she looked down and checked the time on her watch. It had been a gift that had surprisingly turned up in the post a month prior from Rachel and Rebecca, a congratulations gift for not getting kicked out of Forks High. She hadn't spoken to the girls in over a year, so it was obvious to her that her father had asked them to extend an olive branch. Kiara wasn't one to hold a grudge on her family so she had sent them a letter back, thanking them and hadn't taken it off since.

"I enjoy watching you get an education," Sam answered for Emily, his arm wrapped around his fiancé as he grinned across at Kiara. That was maybe the biggest development of the summer for the pack: the acceptance of a slight friendship between Kiara and Sam. The girl had gone from wanting nothing to do with the man to willingly coming over and helping him with basic DIY jobs around the pack house. Jacob was disgusted at this development but Kiara and the boy barely spent enough time together to even have the argument.

Kiara rolled her eyes at the man playfully, looking over at Paul as they both pulled a face at the two couples sharing a kiss. Paul nodded in reply to her silent request, standing up and stretching as he held out a hand to help Kiara up from the small log she had been perched on during their bonfire.

"I better get this one home," Paul told the others, knowing it was his turn to give the girl a lift. While the boys knew the reservation like the back of their hand, and they knew it was safe from anything that would hurt the girl, they were still very aware from Carlisle Cullen that two of the three vampires who had been killing humans during the school year had gotten away. While the blonde doctor had assured Sam they wouldn't be coming back to the area any time soon, the alpha still wanted them to take extra precautions and one of those was not letting Kiara walk home in the dark.

As Kiara said her goodbyes to the other four, she couldn't help but feel like this school year was going to have a lot of changes. Little did she know just what she would soon learn over the course of the school year.

_____

The first few weeks back at school passed without any hitch. Alice and Edward were now sitting with them at lunch on some occasions, since the rest of their siblings had graduated although Jasper was often seen popping in to drop off books or other items that Alice forgot to bring. Kiara was amazed at how forgetful the young teenager seemed but she assumed they all had their flaws: hers was her temper, Bella's was her clumsiness that had caused her to break her leg in four places by falling out of a hotel window and Edward's just so happened to be that he for some reason despised Kiara's brother.

"So, favourite stop on your all-expenses-paid summer of fun?" 

Rosalie laughed as she leaned back in the car, the soft sound of rain lightly hitting the convertible roof as Kiara gently sipped on her chai iced tea. Rosalie found it almost endearing how the Quileute girl would drink only iced drinks from their local coffee shops - regardless of the weather outside. The first time she had asked the girl about it, Kiara had just shrugged and said she tended to run warmer than most anyway.

"Had to be Glencoe, in Scotland," Rosalie said with a soft smile, knowing that Kiara would have been expecting to hear somewhere a little warmer and more crowded. "You'd love it there, incredible food, and wildlife."

Rosalie held back a smile as she thought about those two things falling into the same category for her, but Kiara didn't need to know that. The blonde was well aware that they had this last year while Edward and Alice finished off school before they would move on and despite Alice still insisting that she could see Kiara living with them in the future, Rosalie had no intention of letting that happen. Living with them would mean becoming one of them and Rosalie wouldn't let Kiara have this life. So, they had until the end of the girl's senior year before Rosalie would call things off with her under the guise that she was moving continent for university and that a fresh start would be needed.

Yeah, it would break Kiara's heart but Rosalie would much rather give Kiara a broken heart than a life she wouldn't wish on anyone.

"I've always wanted to go," Kiara admitted, before she smiled sheepishly at Rosalie. "I actually was looking into attending college there after graduation but I doubt I'd even be able to really consider studying out of state let alone abroad. Kids like me don't get scholarships and I could never ask my dad to fund that."

Rosalie's smile slipped a little as she looked at how deflated Kiara was with this revelation. One of the perks of being a vampire was that they didn't have to spend money on all of the perishable goods that humans did or even on things like heating bills. It was no secret the Cullen family was wealthy but Rosalie knew that the humans would never know the true extent of that wealth. She almost wished she could pay for Kiara to go to college but she knew the girl would never allow it.

"I'm sure someone somewhere would give you a scholarship," Rosalie replied. Her voice was a little quieter as she found herself leaning in, knowing fine well that the blush on Kiara's face at their proximity wasn't caused by the temperature in the car. "They'd be stupid not to."

Kiara smiled as she pressed a kiss to Rosalie's lips, humming a little before she suddenly slammed back into the seat and away from the blonde with a sudden gasp. Rosalie felt her body tense as she instantly went into protective mode, worried about why Kiara had suddenly got a fright.

"Oh shit," Kiara muttered before realising she had spooked Rosalie and ruined the mood. "I completely forgot it was Bella's birthday tomorrow."

Rosalie had plenty of time on their summer trip to come to terms with the likelihood that Bella Swan was going to be in her life more often than she wished for. Did that mean she hated the girl any less? Utterly not.

She was certain however, that she hadn't hated the girl more than she did in that moment.

_____

"You know," Kiara huffed as she watched them pull into the familiar school parking lot. "You don't need to pretend to want to drop me off at school. Just say you want to see Bella and it'll save us the awkward conversation where I have to pretend you're being a good brother."

Jacob ignored her as he turned off the engine, talking himself up for a moment before casting a glance at his twin. His eyes lingered for a second and she huffed once more, taking that as her sign to step out of the truck and give him a moment of privacy. It was no secret between the twins that Jacob had a huge crush on Bella Swan, just as it was no secret to Jacob that Kiara was secretly seeing Rosalie Hale behind Sam Uley's group and their father's backs, even if Jacob wasn't keen on the thought either.

"Bella!" Jacob called out as Kiara and him walked towards the girl, Edward almost grimacing as he met eyes with Kiara who shrugged and mouthed an apology. She liked her twin but she was well aware that Edward did not appreciate him crushing hard and obviously on his girlfriend. Bella, however, either didn't realise Jacob's crush or she just didn't care. Her eyes seemed to light up as she noticed the boy, his hair blowing in the wind.

"Hello biceps," Bella replied, having noticed the growth spurt that Jacob had gone through over the summer months. Kiara herself had grown a little, getting a little leaner more than anything but Jacob had really snatched on to his summer growth genes. "Did you know steroids are really bad for you?"

"I'm just filling out Bella," Jacob replied as Kiara pretended to gag in Edward's direction. The vampire smirked, knowing that while Kiara would do anything to protect Jacob, she was also able to have a bit of a laugh about how head over heels for Bella he was. "You know, wouldn't seem so drastic if you came around more."

Bella shrugged, not really feeling that bad about not seeing the boy more. Yeah, Jacob was a good friend of hers but she was still in the honeymoon phase with Edward right now and everyone was very aware that she was becoming dependant on the boy. Kiara wasn't sure if it was necessary healthy but she knew it wasn't her place to say anything until it got to a level of concern.

"You should switch schools, like Kiara, and come hang out with the pale faces," Bella said, half-joking, half-seriously. Kiara snorted a little, rolling her eyes as she looked at Bella in amusement.

"You do remember I was kicked out?" Kiara checked, the two teenagers turning to look at her as if they had forgotten she was there. She shrugged before they both turned back to their conversation at hand, while Kiara subtly checked her watch. Edward noticed the movement, shaking his head at her with a short smile as he told her that it wasn't time yet.

"I prefer the rez's school's exclusivity," Jacob joked, his eyes casting over his sister and Edward. "They let any old riff-raff into this place. I was, uh, just buying a part for the rabbit. Oh and dropping Kiara off at school since she had no ride today, like the good brother I am. Incase you were wondering why I was here..."

"Smooth," Kiara muttered under her breath, wincing slightly as Jacob sent a quick elbow to her ribs. She knew that her brother had gained a lot of muscle over the summer but he had always been good at elbow jabs even without the gains, although she would be lying if she said they didn't add a little bit more energy. "Jacob, just give her the gift."

Jacob glared at her for a moment before reaching his arm from behind his back and producing the small dream catcher that he had bought for the girl's birthday. Bella's eyes widened a little at the gift, having already told everyone else not to get her anything. She was also surprised that the boy even knew it was her birthday as she had specifically gone out of her way to not tell anyone.

"Happy birthday. Your dad told our dad, so... I saw this the other day and thought of you. It catches bad dreams."

"That's..." Bella paused for a moment before smiling a genuine smile at the boy. "Kind of perfect, actually. Um, thank you."

Edward and Kiara watched as Jacob headed back to the truck, getting in and driving off with a final wave. As the car swerved out of the parking lot, Kiara turned to the couple who were looking at her almost as if they were waiting for her to say something about the slightly awkward encounter that they all just had.

"So... I forgot it was your birthday in all honesty," Kiara told Bella as she rummaged through her jacket pocket, her fingers eventually finding the smooth plastic she had purchased the night before. "But thankfully I was able to get this last minute."

She passed the gift card to the brunette, smiling as Bella's eyes looked at the name and looked up at Kiara in amusement.

"It's that Italian in Port Angles we both ate at the night of the dreaded prom dress shopping," Kiara joked as Bella smiled at the girl, already knowing that Kiara had been with Rosalie the night before. Edward had told her about their budding secret relationship and Kiara was blissfully aware that Bella had no other proper friends to tell about it so she didn't bother to hide it either. "But speaking of Port Angles..."

Edward rolled his eyes as a familiar red convertible pulled up in the car parking lot. The blonde girl in the car had a pair of sunglasses resting over her eyes even though there was no hint of sun in miles, a soft smirk on her face as she noticed Edward and Bella's amused expressions.

"If anyone asks where I am, you never saw me this morning," she told the couple as she hopped into Rosalie's car. She knew that skipping school was a risky idea especially since she couldn't afford to get kicked out of another school but she was also ridiculously aware that one day wasn't going to ruin her life.

Little did she know, it was going to ruin her relationship.

_____

Despite Rosalie's best efforts to invite her to Bella's surprise birthday party at the Cullen household, Kiara had refused to attend. Firstly, she hadn't even been invited by Bella or Alice who she learnt was planning the party and she had no intention of gate crashing. Secondly, she had never been to the Cullen household before and she had no intention of turning up with no time to prepare herself. Thirdly, she had promised Paul that they could have an all-day movie marathon the next day and Kiara wanted an early night.

So that's where Paul and Kiara found themselves the next afternoon. Emily and Sam had gone out for their date night and Jared and Kim were at his doing whatever they did that Paul and Kiara liked to ignore, which meant that Paul and Kiara were house-sitting for Emily and Sam or otherwise known as using their larger TV. Kiara had found herself checking her phone more often than usual, having been expecting a text from Rosalie complaining about Bella and her birthday in some form or another.

When it didn't come, she felt a little surprised but decided that it must have been that casual in the end that there was no complaints from the blonde vampire. Little did Kiara know, Bella had almost lost her life and Rosalie wasn't texting her because she had spent all day fighting with her family about how she knew bringing Bella into their life was stupid. 

Paul and Kiara were halfway through their last film of the way when Sam barged in, looking at the two as if they had grown an extra head. Kiara and Paul sat up form the couch in surprise, confused as to why he was home so soon after just having left. Emily rushed in after Sam, a panicked look on her face as she turned the light on in the living room.

"Sam, what's wrong?" Paul asked, his fingers already twitching to tug his shirt off and shift into the wolf form if needed. 

"It's Bella Swan. She's missing."