September 13.

Best day of the year.

Of course my sister would ruin it.

She'd been ruining everything since she moved up to Forks: my relationships, my health, my... well, she'd helped my grades. There's a lot more time to study when your crush decides he likes your sister better then you and then a friend of the family clocks him across the face causing a rather large divide between what friends you have left... But my point is that Isabella was not making things pleasant for me.

September 13 is my birthday. Our birthday. My attention stealing sister couldn't even let me have that day to myself. When she wasn't here, it was ok: no one knew about my fraternal twin and I'd make cupcakes and people would eat the cupcakes and no one would make jokes about whether I'd remembered Bella's birthday, hahaha.

September 13.

Normally the best day of the year.

My eighteenth birthday?

A bit of a letdown.

...

I got to school early. Walking was still a bit awkward for me: physical therapy had helped a ton, but I got sore and tired enough that I liked to leave myself some time to walk to class. I also had started taking a ride with Bella and her boyfriend, usually falling asleep in his car on the way home. They both said they didn't mind me being there, but I didn't believe them and therefore did all I could to keep going with them. Any way to wedge myself between Isabella and Edward—and by 'Edward' I mean Dick—was going to be a priority, whether it was a pleasant experience or not. Not worrying about falling asleep while driving while also being a third wheel to their creepy couple-ness? Win, win.

The morning of our birthday, Isabella drove to school in her big rusty, monster of a nuisance she called a truck while I rolled the window down a centimeter at a time, trying to see at which point she would draw the line and tell me to close it. She ignored me the whole time, eventually developing a tic in her jaw, but never actually saying anything about why she was starting to shiver. Because of my sister's ridiculous patience, we reached school without incident.

When we got out, we headed across the parking lot and I was forced into polite interaction with one of my many nemeses. Ignoring my glare in his direction, Isabella greeted her creep of a boyfriend with a scowl.

"Hey, Gen." He greeted me, raising a hand with a small package wrapped in exactly my favorite shade of pink.

"Thanks, Edward." I grumbled. I walked away wondering how he did that and how low he would sink to get me back on his side—I'd been on his side for all of one night last spring, when we'd been searching for Bella in the deadly streets of Port Angeles—With a bored shrug, I tossed the present into the depths of my backpack and wandered away as Dick's sister began arguing with Bella about the value of birthdays.

I found my old basketball friends—Cass, Annalise, Liz, Alicia, and Krissi—hanging out by the picnic tables. We spent a while joking about how much they'd hate me if I didn't get back to normal in time for the season and how I was their only hope for a championship—as if we had any hope of that. Then the bell rang and I had Annalise grabbing my bag under the pretense of playing keep-away but really just being a sweetheart and not making me carry the damn thing all the way to Spanish.

The day went on. And on. And on and on and on. There were only two noticeable classes: English and APCalc.

English was always interesting because I got to see the everpresent struggle in Tyler Crowley's head as he tried to decide if he hated me or was now in love with me because I had rejected him. Interesting. And mildly depressing. It always ended with him staring sullenly at his notebook and me smirking at the back of his head.

Calculus was the only class I had with Isabella. It was also, therefore, the only class I had with Edward Cullen. The two of them sat in the back, always leaving a spot open for me. I usually walked past without looking. One time I'd raised my right arm, the wrist with the scar that may or may not have been a vampire bite mark, depending on whether I'd hallucinated or not, and pointed to the scar before making my way to the front of the classroom. Bella had looked guilty and depressed and had been suffocatingly nice to me for the next two weeks and so I'd refrained from reminding her of the injury afterward. It had become clear after that that no matter how bad she felt, she wasn't going to help me figure out what was or was not real.

Ugh.

Sisters.

On my birthday, Calc was a bit more interesting. As I walked in, I instinctively pulled my sleeve over my right hand, even though the long, tight black glove I'd started wearing had already hidden the scar from her view and mine. As I thought of this, my left hand went to my face and passed over the invisible line where my jaw had been cracked. My limp from two broken, healing legs became a little more noticeable as I began to think about it and suddenly I couldn't sit down fast enough.

I slid into the first desk at the back of the class and pulled out the textbook, letting my long brown curls fall over my face as I pretended to read over the homework. I felt other students walking past, not a one looking over, not one noticing my self-conscious pose. I was just a girl.

Just another scarred up, sad eyed girl.

Nobody important.

Too late I realized that my seat at the back meant I would be beside my sister. Sure enough, I looked up and found the two of them to my right, both looking carefully at the board as Edward passed my sister a note and the teacher started collecting homework. I was still looking when Isabella looked down to read it and I was still looking when she turned to frown at me.

I scowled back and went back to hiding behind my hair and picking at the fingers of my glove. This lasted a few minutes and then a bit of paper landed on my book. My eyebrows furrowed as I studied the neatly folded triangle. Then, curious, I lowered it onto my lap and picked it apart so that it sat open in my lap.

'I forgot to tell you, happy birthday! –Bella.'

I bit my lip, irritated. She didn't forget. She just cared more about getting people to forget her birthday then she did about remembering she had a sister. She'd always cared more about staying unnoticed then she did about noticing me.... A bit of a smile tugged at my lips. I turned the paper over and scrawled my own message, refolding it and tossing it back.

'Thanks, Isabella. BTW I'm going to invite everyone over for a joint party on Sat. :)'

I could feel the horror on her face as she read my message. Soon the paper was returned, my message scratched out thoroughly and hers written so quickly it had become illegible and she'd had to get Edward to rewrite it in his ridiculous, graceful scrawl.

'No. No no no. And it's Bella.'

I raised an eyebrow as my smile grew wider. I turned to give my sister an evil look but she was already handing Edward another note to toss at me. It landed neatly in my lap and said only one word.

'NO.'

I started giggling.

I turned to look at sister.

I smiled evilly.

The look on her face decided it: my joke was becoming reality. Mentally, I began planning a birthday party for my sister. I saw Edward wince and begin writing something to Bella: she paled as she read it, then nodded. I shrugged and turned away, bored now that I'd made my decision. At least Saturday would be interesting.

I walked to lunch with them, not my choice. Bella was filling my ears with bribery to get me to change my mind and Edward was laughing at us. I ended up saying I'd think about it, just to get her to leave me alone; torturing her wasn't enough to risk her dragging me over to sit with her and her friends, which would include both her dick boyfriend and his sister.

After I got away from Isabella, my day went by in a bit of a blur. There were a few 'happy birthday's but not much conversation: I was always pretty dead by the end of the day and people had started to learn that and, instead of trying to talk with me, my friends would be finding ways to keep the teachers from noticing me falling asleep in all my afternoon classes.

As I walked back to Bella's truck, I was yawning nonstop, swinging my backpack from my hand so that it barely missed dragging along the ground. Just as I caught sight of the truck, I suddenly found myself blinking down at the fairy-like sister of my nemesis.

"Gen!" She exclaimed. Edward's sister is the most ridiculously happy person.

In response, I yawned and tried to walk around her.

She cut me off again.

"Edward is driving Bella home." The Cullen girl said happily. "So you should come with me."

"Uggggggggh." I responded. I turned to see their Volvo but instead of getting in I walked up to it, slammed my head against the roof, and stood there slumped against her car. "I hate my life."

There was a very awkward pause.

"Um...?" The Cullen girl said.

"Is it open."

"Yes."

"Ok." I backed up far enough that I could open the door to the back, clambered in, and sprawled across the back of her car. There was a pillow back there and I fell asleep almost immediately, waking up to the sound of her voice calling my name again.

"Gen. Gen, we're here."

"Mmm." I sat up and looked around awkwardly. "Indeed."

"I'm Alice, by the way." She said with a grin, seeing me look at her as though seeing her for the first time.

"Hi." I rubbed at my eyes. "Um... Thanks for the ride. I'm... going to go get some caffeine in me."

"Sounds like a good idea." Alice laughed.

I stumbled out of the car and up the driveway, kicking Bella's truck as I passed it. When I got inside I found Bella and Edward sprawled in front of the tv watching Romeo and Juliet. Forcing myself not to comment on the idiocy of suicide over a three day romance, I stumped past them and into the kitchen to retrieve a can of Coke. Then, dragging my backpack along the floor so that it banged against my foot with every step, I made my way up to my bedroom and promptly fell asleep on top of my math book.

..

"Gen.... Hey, Genevieve." I smiled, despite myself. There was only one idiot I knew who was nice enough to call me my full name. "Genevieve, you up?"

"Why are you in my house." I mumbled. I sat up and found Jacob Black grinning back at me. "Why are you laughing at me."

For answer he just pointed to his cheek. I stood up, half falling off the bed as I made my way to my mirror where I found the words 'ATH IS FUN' printed backwards across my cheek.

"Oh, dude." I sighed. "I suppose I'm supposed to be headed downstairs now?"

"Our dads are waiting for you." Jacob laughed. "A surprise party for you and Bella. And Bella bailed."

I glanced over, smiling with feigned sympathy as I heard the regret in his voice. So he still wasn't over her, was he? Poor kid. Or whatever.

"You should just tell them I'm not coming." I told him. "You'd all have more fun without me anyway." Ignoring him, I walked over to my closet and started flipping through it, trying to find an outfit for the next day.

"Oh, come on, Genevieve. You know cards is more fun with a fourth." Jacob appeared next to me and somehow managed to sidle between me and my closet, edging me toward the door.

I threw my hands up in front of me, unable to stop him from backing me closer and closer to the steps. "Hey, now. Who says I want to play cards? It's my birthday, shouldn't it be my choice?"

"You haven't punched me yet. I'm taking that as a yes." Jacob said with a shrug.

"I don't punch people!"

Jacob laughed. "Sorry. Mixed you up with Paul again."

Ugh. Now he's bringing my ex into it?

"I am not like Paul!" I growled, shoving him lightly and laughing as I realized I'd made his point.

"True." Jacob said, watching me take a chance and start to dash past him back toward my closet—I had a hazy plan about locking myself in-, "With Paul I couldn't do this..."

He looped one arm around my waist just as I thought I was in the clear and easily threw me over his shoulder.

"Jacoooob." I whined, not quite awake enough to be angry. "Nooooo..."

"This seems safer than backing you all the way down the stairs." Jacob said apologetically, just in time to whack my head against the door frame.

"Nnnnnggghhooooow." I moaned.

"Sorry." Jacob said, shrugging and making my head throb again.

"You dooooooouche." I complained. "My heeeeeeeead."

"You'll live." Jacob laughed. I sighed deeply: he wasn't nearly as willing to leave me alone, not since our big popcorn fight and my regretful decision that he was the only decent guy I'd ever met. "Hey, Charlie."

"Dad!" I exclaimed, trying to twist around to see him without actually getting off of Jacob's shoulder. "Jacob killed me!"

My dad stared at me for exactly one second and then continued dealing out cards on the kitchen table. Jacob placed me next to his dad who gave me a big smile before adding my name to the score card he'd been filling out.

"What is it then? Hearts?" I grabbed up the cards my dad had dealt me and scooted a chair closer to the small table, sitting between our dads but on my own side. Jacob sat down across from me.

"Euchre." My dad said. "Need a reminder of the rules?"

"No..." I said slowly. "But I'm not so sure about the teams..."

"Hey, I've been playing more then you have." Jacob said, his puppy like face looking young again.

"Oh, come on, Jake." I scoffed. "You know as well as I do that your dad cheats."

"Your dad is the one who dealt me the worst hand possible." Jacob grumbled.

"Ok. Both our dads cheat." I looked sternly from one to the other. They just looked amused. "I don't like these teams."

"Gen, no offense..." Jacob trailed off as my evil eye turned on him.

"What." I demanded.

"Um... if anyone would be a good cheater—"

"It would be me?" I said. I considered this. "Ok, yes. But that still means its two cheaters against one cheater and you. And you're... you."

"I have a height advantage." Jacob replied, probably just to negate any insults at his age I had planned. It was my usual strategy of attack: after all, he was two years younger than Isabella and I.

"Which would be great if we were playing basketball..." I held back a wince—man, I missed basketball—but couldn't resist a grin at his retort.

"No, but I can see their cards!" Jacob snapped, waving his own cards around in emphasis and both our dads frowned and leaned back from the table to hide their hands.

"Ok. But how are you at bluffing?" I raised an eyebrow. "Do you remember the secret language we came up with for when to pass and when to take trump? Or when to put a bad card?"

"Secret language?" Jacob laughed. "You would just kick me under the table when you didn't want me to do something."

My dad, who had been smirking, let out a small laugh. "That's right: we stopped playing when you broke two toes on a table leg."

"We stopped playing because they started winning." Billy spoke up. I raised an eyebrow and he shook his head at me. "But not this time, Genny."

"Oh, we'll see." I looked down at my cards and had to hide a look of disappointment. As I studied them, the others continued talking. Apparently there was a baseball game later that night, something I'd forgotten due to homework and other distractions. I smiled slightly, listening to Jacob and his dad start to banter: it might actually be a good birthday. Maybe even good enough not to need a party.

Then we finished the game—Jake and I lost-and they got out their presents.

"This is for you." Jacob said, handing me a square package that was obviously a book. "This is for you and Bella."

"From Billy." I said, trying to look annoyed at the idea of giving 18 year old twins the same present. I was a little comforted that I knew I was Billy's favorite: and that Billy was still annoyed over Bella dating Edward. "Thanks, guys."

They watched as I ripped open the paper on Billy's present, wondering if it would be better or worse than my parents' gifts: a gift card to some fashionable store in Phoenix from my mom with a joke in the card that I had to visit now and a camera from my dad. My sister had given me a book with a title I couldn't even remember, much less a title that sparked my interest. Ignoring my annoyance at the lack of good gifts, I opened the small box in my hands and raised an eyebrow as I found a pair of dreamcatchers, each small enough to fit comfortably in my palm. I had to fake the smile: if only that was what I needed. My nightmares always came when I was awake.

Jacob's present was next and cheered me up a bit. It was a copy of 'Fixing Cars for Dummies'. I made a mental note to throw it in the glove compartment of my car, knowing that all it would ever be used for was a laugh. Still, I was only semi reluctant when giving him the quick thank you hug I knew he expected.

By the time Isabella came back from her visit with the Cullens, Jacob was conked out on the couch and my dad and Billy were too distracted by the game to notice her slipping into the house. I ignored her too: Jacob didn't need any encouraging in his crush and I knew Dad would've woken him up to wish happy birthday to his second daughter.

I found myself yawning soon after and within five minutes was following my sister up the stairs. A small hint of guilt prodded me to quietly open her door as I passed, to check if she was still up, but the room was dark and Bella was lying still on the bed.

Figuring at least I'd tried, I made my way upstairs and fell asleep the way I always did: researching legends about vampires and finding nothing that made any sense whatsoever.