Forks, Washington

A few months after the incident, Emily and her father packed up all their belongings and boarded a plane to Forks, Washington.

Her father had made sure Emily had recovered well enough, and that she was both mentally and physically fit before the big move. Originally, she had felt terrible for what happened. All Emily wanted was to spend her last moments in Gatlinburg surrounded by what she loved, not to get mauled by a bear.

Although her father never blamed her, she knew he would probably never let her set foot into the woods ever again. And that realization made her heart crack.

When they arrived to Forks, however, the constant overcast excited her father.

"This is great." He said, "No more getting sunburnt on the job."

Emily shifted her attention from the truck's window and forced a smile.

"I never had that problem, dad." Emily said.

He looked at her funny for a brief moment before turning his eyes back on the road.

"That's 'cause you took after your mother. If I recall correctly, I'd reckon you and her would always laugh at me for turning red at the lake." He chuckled.

Emily's grin was real this time around. She did remember that afternoon they had spent at the lake, and how her mother laughed herself silly at how red he had gotten. She was Native American, and beautiful too. Her father would always tell the story of how they met on the job.

He was barely a wildlife expert at the time when he received a call about a coyote pack spotted lingering near a house just off the reservation. He had his gun raised and ready for when he entered the woman's backyard, but it turned out the coyote pack was only a couple of raccoons that had made their way into her trash cans. Afterwards, Emily's father recalled how embarrassed her mom had felt, but it was he who had laughed and laughed until finally she did too.

And that's what made Emily's mother love her father, it was the way he always made her laugh even when she wasn't in the mood.

Now, Emily's father was a published wildlife researcher and travelled quite frequently to study endangered animals across the globe. It was for this reason that Emily and her father were now living in Forks, Washington.

The board that sponsored her father wanted him to study the gray wolves native to Washington, which were growing more and more endangered as time went on. So, they decided to pay him a hefty amount to study the beautiful animals over a yearly period. Which for Emily meant that she was stuck there for a year, or possibly more.

"Here we are." Rick announced, pulling the truck into a long driveway. "Home, sweet home."

Emily frowned and peered out the window to better inspect the house. It was a two-story, with pine-green paneling and a porch. Tall trees surrounded it on either side. There was even a tire swing already tied to one of tree's branches, swaying passively with the wind.

As much as Emily hated to admit it, the house had character.

Her father then began to grab whatever he could from the trunk and make his way inside, calling out for his daughters help. She complied at once.

With a firm push, Emily opened the passenger door with a loud creak and slid out of the cabin. Her new cherry-red rain boots hit the ground with a splash. Emily made her way around the truck bed and she too grabbed the biggest box she could handle and headed inside.

Emily was forced to peer around the box labeled 'kitchen' so that she wouldn't trip on the porch steps.

"Whoa there kid, I got it." Her father's voice sounded.

Before she could protest, the weight in her arms vanished as Emily's father disappeared inside.

"I'm perfectly capable of carrying a box of spoons, you know!" Emily yelled into the doorway.

Ever since the attack, it seemed her father still doubted her recovery.

It wasn't like I lost an arm or anything, she thought angrily.

With a huff, Emily decided to enter her new home and pick out her room. She bounded up the staircase in her muddy boots and peeked into every door she came across.

There were a total of three rooms upstairs, one was a clearly her father's, the other a bathroom, and the last one at the end of the hall was a bedroom half the size of the one she had back in Tennessee.

There was a bed perched on the left wall, but despite the room's small appearance, there was a lovely window seat overlooking the forest behind the house. Her lips parted slightly in surprise.

Emily's boots squeaked the entire way to the window, but she couldn't hear them. All she heard was nature's song just beyond the glass. Her nimble fingers quickly found the latch and lifted the pane just as a fresh gust of wind blew through her wounded soul.

"I thought you'd like this room."

Emily's head snapped in the direction of her father leaning against the door frame. Tears pricked behind her liquid brown eyes.

"It's wonderful, dad. Thank you." She smiled.

Emily got to her feet and crossed the floor to him, her arms out wide. In an instant, their bodies met and Emily buried her face in her father's broad chest. She felt him plant a kiss on top her scalp.

"It was the least I could do." He murmured, "But there's one more surprise though, c'mon."

Rick led his daughter down the stairs and to the overgrown backyard of the house. There, with his hands covering her eyes he counted down from three and unveiled her surprise.

It was a faded blue Jeep Wrangler.

Emily shrieked in delight. She turned her gaze to her father, spilling her thanks and ran to her new car. Well, new to her.

It was a bit beaten up, but to Emily that just meant that the car had character.

"It's perfect." She whispered.

"Good, I'm glad. 'Cause you're going to school in it today. No buts, kid." Rick announced.

The grin vanished from Emily's face the moment her father mentioned school.

"You're kidding, right?"

He shook his head. "You wish."

A groan escaped from her full lips before she could stop herself. Her father raised a testing brow in response.

Emily pouted, but complied. "Fine. I'll go get my school bag."

***

"Name."

"Emily Hansen."

Emily leaned far enough over the front desk that her heels were no longer touching the tiled floor. Her curious eyes scanned the manila folder in the receptionist's plump hands. It had her name neatly printed on the tab.

The woman read over the papers inside with a frown and then handed Emily her schedule for the year.

"Here you go. First period already started so you better get a move on." The woman said. She didn't reveal any kindness in her voice nor did she meet Emily's nervous gaze.

It seemed she was on her own, now.

With a grim expression on her face, Emily turned on her heel and wandered the empty halls of Forks High School. Her eyes traced the lockers on either side of her until she found the one that belonged to her, according to the schedule.

Locker number 357.

On her third attempt, Emily successfully pried open her locker and peered inside the dusty compartment that now belonged to her.

It could be worse, she thought. There could've been spiders.

With a low sigh Emily dumped the heavy books onto the shelves inside, lifting a cloud of dust in the process. A fit of coughs erupted from Emily's chest.

She waved a hand through the gossamer cloud.

Once the dust had settled, Emily touched her forehead against the open locker door and groaned.

A voice from behind then called out to her. "Hey, are you alright?"

Emily stiffened. Her eyes slowly followed the voice to find that it belonged to a friendly feminine face. She instantly straightened her back and faced the other girl.

"Not really." Emily admitted, "You see, today is my first day here and I don't know where anything is. To tell you the truth it was dumb luck that I even found my locker."

The girl offered a small but genuine smile.

"You'll be okay. Sometimes all we need is a friendly face to get us by." She said.

Emily smiled. She instantly liked this girl.

"If you'd like I can show you to your class?"

"That'd be great, thanks." Emily said, handing her her schedule.

The girl pushed her pink glasses higher up the bridge of her nose before reading over the paper in her grasp. The corners of her lips curled upwards.

Emily gnawed on the inside of her cheek, waiting. The met her eyes again.

"You have anatomy just down this hall. C'mon I'll show you." She said, beckoning Emily to follow.

Emily scrambled to quickly shut her locker and follow after her, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

"I'm Angela by the way." She said.

Emily nodded and told Angela her name.

"What brings you to Forks?" Angela asked as they neared a row of doors.

"My dad's job."

Angela nodded once and paused before the third door. "This is it. You okay to go inside?"

Emily swallowed thickly but otherwise nodded.

"Yeah, I'm okay now, thanks Angela." She said.

"No problem. It was nice to meet you Emily. I'll see you around?" Angela said, walking backwards.

"See you." Emily waved.

Once Angela turned on her heel and left the way they came, Emily took a few deep breaths before grabbing a hold of the door's handle and pushed.

Although the class was well into their assignments, it seemed to Emily that the moment she stepped foot across the threshold every head in the room turned to look at her. Some in curiosity, and others harshly.

Emily made a beeline towards the teacher's desk.

"Excuse me? I'm new to the class, where should I sit?" Emily asked, hoping the teacher would skip any class introductions.

The teacher, Mr. Dane, was an older man with gray hair peppering his temples. He looked down at her in surprise.

"Ah, you must be Emily." He mused, taking a look around the room. "Go ahead and take a seat beside of Mr. Cullen over there."

Emily's gaze followed where Mr. Dane pointed but with so many faces Emily did not know who was who. She nervously fiddled with a strand of her long, black hair.

Seemingly seeing her hesitation, Mr. Dane spoke out again.

"Emmett, raise your hand for Emily please."

Immediately a thick, pale arm rose up the rest and waved. Emily's cheeks burned when her eyes settled on Emmett's bright amber ones. With broad shoulders and a shock or dark hair, he was probably the most beautiful person she had ever seen.

Emily settled herself in the seat between Emmett and the window.

At first Emily didn't look in Emmett's direction when she sat down, afraid she'd say something stupid if she stared at him long enough. Even as she rummaged through her bag for a pencil, she couldn't shake the fact that he took up most of the space between them.

Due to her nerves, however, the moment her shaky hand found a pencil it managed to slip through her fingers and fall onto the floor. Emily saw the dreadful thing roll beneath Emmett's chair.

Before Emily could ask, Emmett was already bending over to grab the pencil and hand it back to her.

Her wide eyes met his.

"I think you dropped this." He said, the corner of his lips curling into a permanent smirk.

Words failed her. Looking closely, Emily noticed his teeth were dauntingly large and white, adorned on each side with deeply set dimples. Despite every nerve in Emily's body telling her to run and never look back, she couldn't help but wonder if Emmett had wandered out of one of Homer's epic poems.

Emily reached for the pencil anyway.

"Thanks." She mumbled.

As Emily's hand wrapped around the pencil, her tan fingers brushed his in a fleeting instant. Despite his immediate draw back, the contact sent Emily looking through eyes that weren't her own.