"So, I'll pick you up at three?"

"Three forty-five," Kiara corrected the boy as they sat in his car outside of Forks High, already noticing that her friends were looking at the mysterious new car in interest. "Please don't make a scene. I didn't even want to agree to this to begin with and everyone already thinks we were like... a thing."

Paul Lahote smiled at her across the car as he tugged at his tight sweatshirt, obviously uncomfortable with wearing it for whatever reason. His car was his baby, his prized possession. He'd put in so much overtime at his previous job to be able to afford it - only to now know that he much preferred running on all fours as his mode of transport. However, that was top secret and Kiara was not to know about that just yet.

Sam had told them not to inform her about the actual wolf pack, but rather to explain they weren't in a cult and were actually working with Sam and the elders to help keep the La Push reservation safe. Paul and Jared had told her that they were essentially park rangers and the reason they were gone from school for so long was because of the training and the tattoos were just a fun and very optional choice. She obviously didn't believe a word of it - and had convinced them to take a drug test that Chief Swan gladly provided her with the day after - but she didn't question them much more.

They had told her that Billy was desperate for her to take the offer of a car from Sam but she felt even less inclined to do so after discovering that Sam was not some rich, drug dealer. Last time she refused it was because of his job and this time she was refusing because it appeared to her that he didn't even have one to begin with. Instead, they had came to the compromise that Jared, Paul or Sam would drive her to and from school unless agreed otherwise.

She had politely (depending on your definition of polite) requested that Sam did not take part on these drop offs as she still wasn't entirely trusting of the man and was still very skeptical on his motives. She was not aware it was being done to try and prevent her time spent with the Cullens, but she did have her suspicions that the rumours about the family - that she still thought were absurd - had heavily influenced whatever motives they had.

"But you did agree," Paul teased her, stopping the engine and showing her that he was going to make a scene and he was going to enjoy doing do. "So I will enjoy making some lovely front page gossip headlines for you."

Kiara groaned as she smacked her head against the soft leather of his passenger seat, wanting the ground to swallow her up as he exited the car with his sunglasses on - despite the fact it wasn't even sunny - and came round to open the passenger door for her. She sighed as she considered grabbing on to the backpack at her feet, instead reaching out to grab on to the door handle before finding it was already in the process of being opened.

Rolling her eyes as she stepped out of the car, Kiara could feel all eyes on her in the parking lot as Paul smugly reached into the footwell of where she had been sitting, lifting her backpack from the ground before she could even think about doing so. His smug grin reminded Kiara of her previous life, back when Jared and Paul and her had been an inseparable partying trio - and she couldn't help but smile just a little as she pretended to be annoyed as she took the bag back from his hands.

Noticing how Jessica and the rest of her friends were all standing with their jaws dropped at the sight, she turned back to look at Paul with her eyes narrowed slightly as she waited for the older boy to go back to the driving seat of the car.

"You caused a scene," Kiara told him, the secret werewolf understanding that the last thing the girl had wanted was more attention brought to herself. He would have apologised, but hearing the angry mutters of the Cullen's at the sight of the wolf bringing her to school brought him too much joy to pass up on the opportunity to wind up his mortal enemies.

"I'm about to cause a bigger one," Paul pre-warned her, grinning as he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. He paused his mouth just beside her ear, his hand resting gently on her shoulder as he studied the shocked looks of the gossiping teens in the car park. He felt a smug grin spread from cheek to cheek as he noticed the anger radiating from the Cullen's - especially the female blonde one that he had been told was her lab partner. "Might as well give them something to talk about."

Kiara blushed as he moved away from her as if he hadn't just kissed her on the cheek - not the most obvious of PDA but also not subtle enough for everyone to assume they were dating. He smiled and fake saluted as he got back into the car, reminding her to text him when she was on the way back from the school trip so that he could be on time to pick her up from the car parking lot.

"What the hell was that?" Jessica gushed as Kiara finally reached them, her mouth dropped open still as if she had just witnessed some top secret information.

"That, my friends," Kiara paused, pushing her hair behind her shoulders as she smiled at Bella who was moving uncomfortably from foot to foot. They hadn't really spoken since the almost getting crushed by a car debacle, but she knew the girl still felt bad for Kiara having accompanied her to the hospital. "...that was Paul Lahote."

"I thought you said you weren't a thing?" Mike asked, seeming too keen to just be wondering about gossip. She'd seen the way the boy had looked at Bella and herself when he thought no-one was looking - they were the shiny new toys in Forks and he wanted to play with one of them.

Before Kiara could reply, they all jumped a little at the sound of a car door slamming from behind the group. Even though it was across the parking lot, the red car door of Rosalie Hale's convertible had slammed loud enough to garner the attention of various students as the blonde stalked away from her biological sister and Emmett Cullen. Kiara couldn't help but raise her eyebrows, surprised at the girl drawing attention to herself when she usually tried to avoid the entire school.

"It doesn't matter if you are," Angela said as she voiced what the others had been thinking out loud. "It seems someone isn't happy about it regardless."

____

Kiara walked slowly behind Edward and Bella as they began to talk to each other. She couldn't even be bothered to listen in to whatever conversation they were having, because as much as she liked the Swan girl and as much as she thought the Cullen's were nice people, she couldn't imagine that the two would have anything particularly thrilling to discuss.

Edward cast a quick glance back at her, causing her to smile lightly at him as she stopped to admire a small cactus. He noticed a familiar blonde trailing just slightly behind and the corners of his lips twitched a little as he knew they were about to have an interesting conversation before he tuned it out and returned to answering Bella Swan's 100 questions about how he had been able to stop a literal van in its tracks.

"I didn't know you had a boyfriend," Rosalie spoke as she moved to stand beside Kiara, the dark haired girl almost jumping out of her skin at how silently the blonde had managed to sneak up on her. She almost dropped the cactus she had been holding, instead moving her other hand and catching it.

Kiara hissed as her fingers wrapped around the jagged points of the cactus, sitting it down and holding her hand to her chest for a moment as she looked down at it to make sure there was no bleeding from the pricks of the cactus. She examined it for a moment before realising that no skin had been broken before turning back to look at Rosalie who looked a less than amused with the show performance that she had just received.

Her face flushed as she studied the girl for a moment, trying to decide if she was picking up on jealously or just genuine curiosity from Rosalie about the possibility of Paul Lahote behind her secret, older boyfriend. She almost shook her head at the thought, confused as to why she suddenly was almost hoping that THE Rosalie Hale was jealous of a relationship that didn't even exist.

"He's not," Kiara said before realising that wasn't the question. "I mean - I don't. Paul, he isn't my boyfriend. He isn't really... anything."

"That kiss on the cheek seem like it was nothing," Rosalie noted as she pretended to read the label of the cactus that Kiara had just almost smashed. Her fingertips ghosted along the side of Kiara's outstretched hand as their arms pressed together. Kiara would have flinched due to how cold they felt, but she'd already had contact with Carlisle who had seemed colder in comparison.

The youngest Black member turned around to look at Rosalie, not realising how close they were standing to each other in the greenhouse. She could almost see Angela tugging on Eric's sleeve from the corner of her eye, pointing at whatever the interaction Kiara and Rosalie was having was. Rosalie almost seemed to be challenging her - but Kiara wasn't sure what about.

"Why? You jealous, Hale?" Kiara teased, not expecting Rosalie to turn a little stony looking after the words left her lips. She sighed in defeat as she rolled her eyes a little, not moving away from the girl as she continued. "He's... history. He only gave me a lift this morning because my father asked him and his friends to make sure I get to school okay since Jake never fixed my bike and there's been a few more animal attacks."

They stood in silence for a moment before Kiara looked at Rosalie, feeling the sudden urge to just lay everything out for the blonde.

"Look, it was probably just a show to piss off your family," Kiara told Rosalie, causing the blonde to turn to look at her with a hint of confusion on her face. They continued walking out of the greenhouse, approaching the school buses to signal the end of the short-lived field trip. Kiara scrunched up her nose for a second as she felt a small rain drop hit her head, tugging her battered jacket's hood up and over her hair. "The guys on the reservation... they don't really like you guys. Tribe history and ancestor drama and all that."

"Maybe they're right, maybe my family is dangerous," Rosalie said after a moment, feeling the eyes of her adoptive siblings on the side of her face from where they were sitting in the bus beside them. Edward had just blown Bella off, and the brunette was hovering as she waited for Kiara to leave Rosalie's side.

"I don't believe that," Kiara said, crossing her arms across her chest as she quickly looked Rosalie up and down once before focusing again on her eyes. "Yeah, you're a little intimidating but I don't think you could ever be physically dangerous. "

Rosalie quirked an eyebrow for a moment, her steely cold facade slipping for just a short second. She mirrored Kiara in crossing her arms over her chest, her vampire hearing faintly registering her family discussing who should go out and break up any argument should it start between the two girls.

"Physically?"

"Oh, yeah," Kiara said, a sudden new-found confidence flooding her veins. "I don't doubt you'd hurt my feelings, a little emotional damage here and there."

Rosalie's lips twitched. If Kiara Black had been anyone else, she'd maybe have snapped back at them. If she'd been any other human infatuation, she'd maybe have continued the slight back and forth banter. If she'd been anyone but Kiara Black, she'd have maybe given it a chance.

But Kiara Black was a Quiluete. She was a Black. She was a descendant of Ephraim Black. She was the one person that she couldn't go there with - she was literally forbidden fruit. Her blood sang to Rosalie in a way that no blood had ever done before, and her voice turned Rosalie's head the way no head had done before. They were destined to be mortal enemies, and Rosalie knew fine well that Alice's visions had been wrong before.

Kiara Black had a whole life ahead of her, and Rosalie had an eternity. While Rosalie wished things were different, they weren't and they would never be.

"I'd break your heart," Rosalie finally said, no hint of a smile on her face. Her voice was cold and cut off, and it was obvious from the way the younger girl's smile dropped that it took Kiara by surprise. "And I'd feel nothing while doing it."

Bella, who had been listening in from where she was waiting on Kiara, felt her own mouth drop slightly at the change in tone of the conversation. Rosalie turned on her heel, allowing herself to shoulder check the Swan girl a little before climbing back on to the school bus without another glance backwards at the deflated Kiara Black.

When it came to Rosalie Hale, Kiara couldn't help but feel like every time she took one step forward, Rosalie took seven steps back.

______

The last thing Kiara had wanted to do after her strange encounter with the prettiest Cullen was to be Bella Swan's La Push beach tour guide, but here she was. She shuffled slightly behind her brother as he spoke to the girl, having ran into his sister and her new friends with Quil and Embry. The boys still weren't really speaking to her after finding out she was spending more time with Sam and his "gang", but she didn't have it in her to try and make them understand why she was allowing the boys to give her the time of day again.

Jacob, Quil and Embry just wouldn't get it. They'd always been there for each other and never had that feeling of losing your closest friends - whereas she did. Kiara had felt it more times than anything else in her life.

"So what did your friend mean about the Cullens not coming here?"

Kiara barely looked up as Bella addressed Jacob, confused as to why Kiara hadn't mentioned to her before that the pale family never visited their side of the area - especially since she seemed to be friends with Rosalie.

"Oops. Caught that, huh?" Jacob asked, a slight humour in his voice as he smiled bashfully at Bella as Kiara rolled her eyes. It was no secret her twin had a crush on the Swan. "I'm not supposed to say anything."

"I can keep a secret..."

"It's just an old scary story. Did you know the Quileutes are supposedly descended from wolves?" Jacob asked Bella, ignoring the soft snort from Kiara who trailed behind them. He knew how she felt about the stories, but it didn't mean he wasn't going to tell Bella anyway.

"Like fur, fangs ... doggy breath? So the legend about the Cullens is..."

"Well, they're supposedly descended from this, like...enemy clan, but they claimed to be different, so we made a treaty with them," Jacob explained as Kiara felt her anger growing a little. It was such a stupid story in her opinion, especially since it was set tens of years before. She just didn't understand why her father and his friends felt it was okay to still punish Rosalie and her family for the actions of her ancestors.

"Didn't they just move here?"

"Or just moved back."

Kiara finally snapped, brushing past Bella and Jacob as both of the other teens shared a surprised look at her sudden outburst. She stormed away before turning on her heel for a moment and sending a deep glare towards Jacob.

"You know it's not fair to spread rumours like that about them, Jacob! They shouldn't be punished for the actions of their ancestors."

Bella couldn't help but chuckle in amusement as she watched Kiara head off towards where her bicycle had been parked, knowing that the Cullen family was a touchy subject for the girl. Bella was aware that Kiara's family didn't want her anywhere near the pale family but she certainly didn't expect that from the girl.

In a moment of brief clarity, Bella couldn't help but pause and connect the similarities between herself and Edward with those of Rosalie and Kiara. Maybe both relationships were destined to fail before they even began.

_____

Since their encounter in the greenhouse on the field trip, Rosalie hadn't turned up to school. Kiara didn't want to let her mind wander and trick itself into believing it was because of her, but she certainly did find it a little strange that none of her other siblings had called in sick.

Beverly and Edward had even gone out of their way in class to make sure that Kiara had Rosalie's notes before each period began - something that made no sense to her as the last thing anyone with the flu wanted to do was school work for their lab partner that they were avoiding.

While she hated to admit that she was starting to enjoy Forks High, the thought did linger in her body. Sure, she was still hoping to transfer back to La Push soon enough but she had even found herself smiling while accepting Jessica and Angela's offer to go prom dress shopping in Port Angles - although Kiara was undecided on if she'd actually go or not. She hadn't even been to a proper school dance before and she wasn't sure she wanted to start now.

Jessica flounced out of the changing room, causing her train of thought to be interrupted as she smiled at the posing girl.

"I think this halter makes my boobs look big. What do you think, Bella?"

It was clear to Kiara that she wasn't actually asking Bella for her opinion but rather checking to see if the brunette was even interested in being there with them. Kiara smoothed her hands down the dress she was currently trying on, no stranger to the fact that Bella hadn't even looked at a single dress for herself the entire time they had been in the shop.

"It looks great," Bella replied.

"You said that about the last five dresses."

"You're not very good at this, are you?" Angela intervened. She knew that Jessica would get annoyed if Bella continued to give one word replies about every dress.

"Maybe I should just go check out the book store and meet you at the restaurant later," Bella eventually said, her eyes looking across the road at an independent book shop that Kiara would never have stepped into herself.

They all watched her go, sharing confused looks but knowing that it was best to leave the new girl to whatever plans she had in mind. Kiara looked at the dress she was wearing and smiled, feeling like she might have found the one.

She looked over at Angela and Jessica who both seemed to feel the same about their outfits. Jessica grinned at them both as she did a quick spin, motioning to the dress she was wearing.

"She was right about this halter, though. It does look great."

Kiara and Angela both snorted a little at her, grinning as they all started to get changed back into their clothes. It was clear that the three girls had finally found their perfect dresses, and Kiara was beginning to think that prom maybe wouldn't be such a bad idea now that she actually had an idea on what she wanted to wear.

It was just a shame she hadn't quite managed to figure out a date yet. 

"I'm glad we got our dresses," Jessica told them both as they walked towards the restaurant, the bags all hanging from their arms as Kiara craned her neck around to see if she could spot Bella. The trio had tried to phone her various times as they waited at the stairs to the restaurant but it was getting more and more apparent to them that the girl had likely ditched them for the bookstore at this point, and as much as Kiara felt bad about eating without her old childhood friend, she was starving.

"Me too," Kiara admitted before pausing and shrugging a little. "Even if I don't have a date, I'm sure I can like... third wheel in the back of the photos."

Jessica snorted at that, causing Kiara to whip her head around and look at the girl. Angela hid a smile behind her hand as she shared a look with Jessica while Kiara found herself narrowing her eyes at whatever secret the girls seemed to be sharing between them.

"What?"

"I'm sure that a certain blonde, tall, utterly "too good for the rest of the school" Cullen would love to take you," Jessica teased, causing Kiara to roll her eyes and smack the girl on the arm as they finally gave up on waiting for Bella and entered the restaurant.

She wished.

_____