Considering all that had happened in the last year—my mom getting married, my sister moving up here, being kidnapped by vampires, being on speaking terms with Cullens—my summer and school year, the time I'd been taking to heal up, had been pretty uneventful. Over the next days, I wondered if we'd simply filled a quota of trouble for the year and our 18th birthday had marked the beginning of the next round of problems. And always, it centered around my baby sister Bella.

I woke up early the next morning, dressing lazily in a pair of jeans and loose orange blouse that brought out the highlights in my amber brown eyes. After a few seconds of frowning down at the sleeves—they ended just under my elbows and left my bite-scar open for everyone to see—I snatched up a thin red scarf, quickly folded it into three loops for a braid, and wound it around my wrist. Walking over to the mirror, I studied myself.

Not too bad. There was a yellow scarf that would have worked better, but, as it had been a gift from my mother, it was plugging up a crack in the wood around my only window. As I thought of it, I turned to study it, annoyed again at the bright cheery color. Then I shrugged and grabbed my backpack, throwing open my bedroom door to sprint loudly down the stairs.

I found Bella moping at the table, holding one arm close to her as she slowly at her bowl of cereal. Finding myself for once more awake then her, I practically danced around the kitchen, snatching everything I wanted for breakfast and tossing it on the table before finally shoving some bagels in the toaster.

"You look like you need coffee." I told my sister, glancing at her once before I turned to stare down into the toaster, watching the wires turn a hypnotic orange.

"No." She said softly. "It's a headache."

"Then take something." I grumbled: she sounded worried and I wanted no more involvement in whatever new drama she's gotten into. The last had gotten me two broken legs and, even worse, a visit to Phoenix.

Isabella sighed dramatically. I screamed and jumped as the toaster finished and I almost got a toasted bagel to the eye.

"Gen?" Bella asked me a minute later, watching me swear at a knife covered with clumpy cream cheese and a large chunk of bagel.

"What." I snapped. I smacked the bagel with the lump of cream cheese and then dropped the knife to pout at my sister.

"Will you drive?" She asked.

"Why." I shoved half the bagel in my mouth and frowned at the clock. Almost time to go.

"My... my arms a little sore, that's all." She stared down at her breakfast and refused to say anymore.

I drove the two of us to school in my car, an ugly white Chevy Cavalier with boredom engrained in every inch of its dingy existence. I glared at it in disgust, but then gave it a pat to apologize for making it carry such a lame passenger as Isabella. It seemed to accept the apology because it gave me no trouble on our journey.

I kept an eye on Bella whenever I could: Edward seemed distracted and I was still trying to figure out what exactly had gone wrong with her arm. So it was basically one long day of chatting with my friends while watching Isabella frowning at her arm. It was as I saw her check for the fifth time to see if he'd noticed her look of pain that I began to suspect he was somehow responsible for her injury. As I thought this, I saw Edward glance over at me and, seeing the look on my face as I watched my sister, he started watching her a bit more carefully.

And sure enough, the dick looked guilty.

After school I drove Isabella to her job, interrogating her about her day with no luck. She looked more worried than ever and my hints that she could tell me anything and that I'd noticed her boyfriend acting weird were met with only more silence. My sister got out of the car at the Newton's store, grabbed her bag, gave me a small smile of thanks before walking into work.

She hadn't said a single word.

But my luck was about to change.

I drove up to the house to find a silver Volvo waiting. Briefly, I considered driving past the house and finding some place to crash for a couple hours (This was after saying the f-word three times and sh** four times after that). Then I realized that it was the first time I'd had Edward alone since the night in Port Angeles. I pulled into the driveway and threw the car into park before it had fully stopped, suddenly incredibly eager to figure out what it had been about him that made me like him that one night, what was he like without Isabella clinging to his side.

I made my way up to the house with a bit more energy than was normal for me. Despite Isabella's worried mood, I was feeling rather happy. Actually, I had been since I'd woken up... maybe longer? I shrugged off wondering at the cause of it as I jerked open the front door and made my way into the front hall, finding the sound of some tv show of my dad's echoing through the house.

"Dad?" I called, making my way into the living room and feigning surprise as I caught site of the pale, handsome lump of idiot that was my sister's boyfriend. "Oh! Hey, Richard!"

Haha. Dick.

Edward closed his eyes and sighed tiredly.

My dad turned to frown at me. "Gen..."

"Yeah?"

"That's Edward." Dad said pointedly. He knew me well enough to know I'd done it on purpose: thankfully he hadn't yet realized why.

"Oh." I walked up to of the couch, leaning over the back to squint at Edward. "Oh, yeah. Hey, Edward."

"Hi, Gen." Edward said, the politeness a little bit forced. "How are you?"

Like he cared. All he cared about what Bella and he was slowly making her the same way about him. I narrowed my eyes: as annoying as my sister was, she was my sister. And as confusing as it was, as angry as she made me, I didn't want to lose her. I may not want her around—ever—but I didn't want to lose her.

"Ugh." I said. Then, reconsidering this admission of my true feelings, I blamed it on something else. "I need a snack."

"Grab me a beer?" Dad asked. A commercial had come on and he was starting to flip through the stations.

"Fine." I said.

"Don't fill up. We ordered pizza." Dad called after me.

"Mmm." I replied.

I walked into the kitchen and started digging through all of the drawers. Isabella did most of the shopping so I was never sure what we would have, especially since I have a tendency to snack late at night and not remember what I'd eaten in the morning. Meanwhile, who knew what Edward probably ate every time he came over. I opened the fridge and then stood there, frowning: what did he eat? At school he just picked at his food... probably worried about his weight and their unhealthy calories. But he never ate here either. I smirked; the dick probably lived on protein shakes or something like that. It would explain why he and his siblings were all so freaking—

There was a short cough behind me.

"Gen?"

"Hey, Richard." I grumbled.

He sighed. "It's Edward."

I glanced up at him: usually when he dealt with me he had a weird little smile, like he found my face amusing. Today he was tight-faced and worried.

"I like Richard better." I told him. "Suits you."

Edward shook his head and walked over to stare out the window. I grabbed an apple from the counter and kept watching him as I washed it. He waited until I took a big bite and then he turned to look miserably at me.

"Why don't you like me?"

I inhaled a large chunk of apple and began to cough. He watched until I was done and then he asked again.

"Gen, just tell me: why don't you like me?" His weird amber, yellow eyes stared at me in intense insistence.

"I don't know." I said awkwardly. I rested the apple against my mouth for a second, thinking. "I guess... you're bad for my sister."

He looked down at the floor for a long second, looking like he was contemplating death or torture or something overdramatic like that. To contrast his mood, I hopped up on the counter and began to swing my feet like a five year old. He finally looked off when I began kicking off my shoes and one flew across the room and hit the microwave.

"I know that." He said. "But you didn't like me before that, did you?"

"Oh, that." I rolled my eyes. "I think that was jealousy. And you're creepy." I shrugged. "Nothing too bad." I bit my lip and then grinned. "You should have seen my first boyfriend."

He paused for a second and then sat down at the kitchen table, looking up at me. I raised an eyebrow.

"Gen, if—"

"Hey." I interrupted. "Don't take any of this too personally. It's not like you like me either."

He smiled then and suddenly my smile dropped. There was no happiness in that smile, just a bitterness that seemed somehow at odds with anything I could ever understand, like there was some inside joke at his own expense.

"I might. If I could read your mind and see what you really thought." He shook his head. "You may not be the nicest or... most likable person," I scowled. "but I'm glad Bella has you and Charlie."

"Then maybe you should stop stealing her." I replied.

There was a long awkward silence.

I stared down at my hands, feeling irritated and embarrassed. I'm sure he didn't know, didn't understand... I didn't understand. But that moment, half a year ago when Bella had seen the pain and fear in my face and refused to tell me the cause... it had hurt. And it still hurt, still tore at me every time I looked at my twin sister. No matter how frustrated or distant your sister might be, you stand by her. You take care of you family and you don't leave them hanging out to dry. Not for a boy you met months ago.

"Gen." Edward said suddenly. I looked up to find him standing right beside me, his face sad. "I am sorry. I shouldn't have let any of this happen."

I blinked for a second, finding myself in a situation I didn't fully understand, confused at how serious things had finally become. "So break up with her, Dickhead." I glanced down at my wrist and remembered all my crazy theories about him. "Before you get me killed."

Edward winced and turned away, looking out the window again so I couldn't see his face. Then he nodded and left the room.

Crap.

...

He broke up with her the next day.

He came up to the house to tell me, said he'd been planning to leave a note. He was very stiff, like he was afraid to show how he truly felt. It made me start to think that I should feel guilty. Instead I chose angry.

"Where is my sister?" I asked as he started to turn away.

He shrugged, pretending indifference. "In your backyard. You should go comfort her. She's a little upset."

"Ass."

He looked up, surprised, but that was all I offered. I slammed the front door in his face and walked to the back, making my way out into the yard to find absolutely no sign of my sister.

I closed my eyes, pinched the bridge of my nose, and sighed.

"Edward, you complete." I pulled out my cellphone not even sure what I was going to do with it. "And total." I began scrolling through the numbers, beginning to jog a bit down the path as I searched for a sign of my stupid sister. "Ass!"

Then, remembering his view on the Cullens, I called Billy Black.

"Genny?" His voice said when he heard my voice. He sounded concerned, but not surprise.

"Isabella's missing." I grumbled.

There was a hint of fear and resignation in his voice as he replied. "With the Cullens?"

"No." I slowed down, unable to focus on the path and the phone at the same time. "Not with the Cullens... Why-?" I cut up, not wanting to waste time arguing about his reasons. "Edward broke up with her and she's... He said she was in the yard. But she's not here." My voice was getting more and more irritated. I think Billy took it as frantic.

"It will be alright, Genny." He soothed. I heard him call for Jacob and then he was back with me. "Where are you?"

"In the middle of the- Ooooh." I was in the woods. I took a deep breath, all thoughts of Bella vanishing as I remembered my own painful past. A winding road, a storm... I looked up at the sky and saw clouds ready to burst. Any minute now the darkness would return and the wind would catch my hair and—I began to spin around, checking my surroundings—and Victoria would appear. She was probably watching even now, waiting for me to be alone. Waiting to change me or kill me. I squeezed my eyes shut, free hand tight over my forehead as I tried to forget that that same hand bore scars across the wrist from my previous walk in the woods.

"Genevieve, are you there?"

I jumped and spun around before realizing I still had the cell to my ear.

"Who is this?" I choked.

"Sam. Jacob's helping his dad to the car."

"Sam?" I closed my eyes again, trying to breathe. My sister was missing and I was having a panic attack over freaking vampires.

"Sam Uley." His deep voice was soothing. It reminded me of someone else's. "Tell me everything."

I hurriedly repeated the story.

"Hmmm." Sam replied.

I waited.

"Get back inside. Billy and Charlie will be there soon." Sam ordered.

"Charlie?" I said as I spun around and began walking quickly back, all too relieved to obey.

"I'll call him next. He will come."

"Ok." Then I hesitated. Was I really that much of a coward? I turned to look into the woods.

"Are you going home, Gen?" Sam asked.

"Um..."

"Gen..." He said, his voice flat. "Do not make me look for you, too."

"You have one hour." I said, more for my own benefit then for Bella's.

I hung up the phone and marched back to the house. I was too afraid to look back.

Sister or no sister.

...

I heard them calling her name late into the night, no matter how loud I turned the tv to drown it out.

I wonder now if it was my imagination, my conscience pricking me, trying to tell me that I should be out there calling her name as well. Maybe I shouldn't be cowering in the safety of my warm home when my sister was out there in the rain, missing. Maybe I should care a little that she could be hurt, that she could even be dead: it wouldn't be the first bad thing to happen to my family when Edward was around.

I turned the volume up again and tried to think of some snarky comment to make about the commercials. If Isabella Swan was dead, it was her own fault. And if I followed her into the woods and found a pair of fangs tearing out my throat? That would be her fault too.

I stayed on the couch.

They kept calling her name.

Eventually, I started listing all the reasons I should hate her: choosing the dick, being my parents' favorite daughter, hurting Dad when she left last spring, stealing Tyler, all the other guys she'd led on, getting me almost killed, not telling me why, not telling me anything, not telling me what I desperately needed to know.

The front door slammed open.

I sat up, curious despite myself. I tried to ignore the fact that my heart was now beating urgently in my ears: I knew I shouldn't care about the bundle my father was hurrying over to the couch and I didn't move as he approached, my sister curled up and pale in his arms. I shouldn't be frozen here staring at her closed eyes. I should be shrugging and going back to my television show. That's what Bella would have done if something happened to me, gone right back to Edward and forgotten my name.

"Move." Dad urged me, wanting to lay my frozen sister on the couch.

I blinked up at him, face still frozen in a mask of boredom.

"Move for your sister!" He yelled.

I jumped slightly, but his words only made me harden my face. I stood quickly, feeling a little resentful, and stormed out of the room holding my scarred wrist tightly with my uninjured hand. Not bothering to think about where I was going, I soon found myself in the kitchen, staring at my reflection in the dark of the windows as I heard people crowding into the house, into the living room, talking about Bella while her sister stood in another room and just stared.

I was still there when Sam Uley came in and stopped in the doorway. I saw him in the window and his eyes went to my wrist, narrowing when he saw the scarf I wore wrapped around it.

"You didn't follow?" He asked. His voice always sounded angry, but I'd known of him long enough not to mind.

"No." I waved a hand at the windows. "Who knows what's out there?"

Sam nodded. "Smart girl." He said gruffly. Then he pointed at my wrist. "You were hurt?"

I turned to blink up at him. "Last year." I didn't say more. Lies are less fun when you know the truth is unbelievable.

"Hm." Sam said.

"Hm." I agreed. I went back to staring out the window, realized it was only bringing all my fears to mind, and looked down at the floor.

"Scary world." Sam said, seeming to read my thoughts. I laughed, my voice a little bitter. "But your sister is alright."

"That's nice." I commented.

"She seemed upset though." Sam commented. He glanced behind as someone called a question I couldn't understand and then shook his head sharply before moving into the room. "You know about that, Gen?"

"Yes."

He stepped in front of me and waited for me to look up at him. "Tell me."

I bit my lip. "You know her boyfriend?" His face darkened and he nodded. "Well, I..."

"You have something to do with the Cullens?" Sam asked when I didn't continue.

"No. Just once. I think..." I glanced back to make sure we were alone and then I whispered the words to him, hand raised to my mouth like I was a child telling a secret. "I think I convinced him to break up with her."

Sam laughed shortly, before giving me a friendly cuff on the shoulder. "So you're to thank for all this? Good one, Gen." He saw my look of uncertainty and gave me a more serious smile. "You know you did your sister a huge favor, right?"

I blinked up at him, not at all sure how to feel about that statement.

"Sam?" A voice called from the hallway. Paul? It didn't sound angry...

Sam gave my shoulder one last squeeze and then marched into the hallway. "Not tonight." He said and then he and his friends walked out the front door.

I turned back to the forest.

I was too afraid to turn away.