Walking down the stairs Paloma adjusted her beach bag on her shoulder, she had mentioned to her father that she was going out but she tightly doubted that he remembered.

"Where are you going?" He father immediately asked when she reached the bottom of the stairs. Both be and Rodrigo had a cup of coffee in their hands, they both almost looked hungover but neither of them were the type to drink. They were both clearly exhausted from all the crazy hunting trips they went on.

"To the beach." Paloma replied in a bored tone, not in the mood of giving long explanations. Normally she wouldn't be so disrespectful to her father, but her frustrations with him and Forks were getting the best of her.

"Which beach?"

"Does it matter?" She replied earning a stern look from her father that told her that he was not going to ask again. If she said one wrong word now he would never allow her to go. She needed this trip to clear to her mind meaning that she had to play nice. "I'm going to La Push with some friends."

Rodrigo remained silent for a moment, he seemed displeased with her answer. '"Have fun. I want you home before dark."

"Yeah sure." Paloma lazily assured him as she watched him step into his office before turning towards the door. She had to admit that she had been a little afraid that he would not allow her to go, but Rodrigo's mind seemed to be somewhere else entirely.

"Paloma wait." Emiliano called just as she was reaching for the door. She sighed dramatically as she turned around to face her brother who was beginning to look like he had not slept in days.

"What is it Liano?"

"I wanted to apologize for the other night." He stated firmly and Paloma couldn't help but be surprised by his apology. Even when they had worse fights they never apologized to each other. They would argue and not speak to each other for a couple of hours or maybe even a day, but then everything would go back to normal. As siblings they never tended to stay angry at each other for long. This time they hadn't spoken for three days and he clearly saw the need to apologize. "I just... I want to protect you. I'm your older brother. Can you blame me for being a little overprotective?"

Paloma remained silent for a moment, not entirely sure what to say. She was relieved by his words and the Liano that was standing before her really did feel like her brother. Like everything was like it used to be, and she missed the old Liano. "Well, maybe like... try to be a little less overprotective."

Her brother chuckled as he nodded and in that moment Paloma felt a little of the resentment that she had towards he brother slip away. Emiliano was giving her the childish grin that she remembered always used to be on his lips. She used to find it annoying, but now she was happy to see it. "I'll try."

"Well try harder, you were kind of getting annoying." She replied with a smile of her own that halted as she realized that Emiliano was holding onto his arm as if he were in pain. "Is your arm okay?"

Liano let go of his arm almost instantly as he struggled to keep that smile on his lips. "Yeah its just bruised. Have fun at the beach."

Without another word he walked down the hall and into their father's office leaving Paloma feeling just as worried for him as she was before. She knew that there was something that he was not telling her, but she didn't know how to help him. She didn't even know if she could.

The beach was not entirely what Paloma had expected. She had been to man beaches all over the country and Mexico, and La Push was just like Forks. It was grey and unlike the crowded beaches in California it seemed that not many people had the desire to visit.

Not that Paloma entirely minded the stillness of the beach, she found the sound of the waves crashing against the shore relaxing.

Paloma had brought a bikini with her but quickly realized that La Push was not the kind of beach meant for bikinis and shorts. So instead she lay on a towel on the beach with a pair of legging and a sweater. Her sunglasses more of an accessory than a necessity as there was no sun to shield her eyes from. It seemed that this time of year La Push was almost unbearably cold.

"Paloma isn't that the La Push Boy that was talking to you after the game?" Kennedy suddenly questioned and Paloma simply turned her head spotting a group of shirtless boys a couple feet away.

Her first instinct was to question how they could even walk around shirtless in such cold weather, but she quickly found that she didn't care. She was grateful that she was wearing sunglasses as she was sure that her eyes widened at the sight of them. They almost seemed sculpted by gods and their skin almost seemed to glow with warmth.

Sure enough the boy that had approached her after the game was amongst them, and although seeing him without a shirt made him a lot more interesting she knew she was only being ridiculous.

"Yes." Paloma replied simply as she pushed her sunglasses back up not really interested in thinking about boys. The purpose of the trip was her to forget about boys, though she had to admit that the La Push boys were making it very difficult.

"Oh my gosh he's coming." She heard Saira say in a panicked voice causing Paloma to open her eyes and sit up only to find that Saira was right. Paul was heading their way.

"Come on let's go for a walk." Ken suddenly urged as she quickly stood up pulling Saira up with her. In an instant she was pulling her girlfriend away and Paloma did t have much of a chance to protest as suddenly Paul was standing in front of her.

"Hey." He greeted with an admittedly charming smile.

"Hey." Paloma repeated as she removed her sunglasses. Seeing him up close now had her heart beating a little bit faster and although she enjoyed the view for the sake of her sanity she wished he had a shirt.

"I didn't get your name the other night."

"Paloma."

"Paul." He said as he looked over to the group of boys who were all chuckling to themselves. Paul sent them an irritated glance that made them all walk away before his attention was fully on Paloma again. "Do you maybe want to take a walk on the beach?"

"Alright." She replied as she stood up, brushing all the sand off before beginning her walk with Paul down the beach.

"You're new to Forks right?"

"I'm sure that's pretty obvious."

"Yeah, I mean people talk. Like a lot, so I've heard a little bit about you." He admitted, and Paloma couldn't say that she liked that the town talked about her. The fact that even the boys from La Push knew about her was irritating. It made her feel as though they had already decided the kind of person she was with out knowing her at all

"Really? What have you heard?"

"That you're from California."

"Not true." She said immediately feeling satisfied that he really didn't know much about her.

"No?"

"I don't really think I'm from anywhere. Sure we lived in California before but we've also lived at so many other placed."

He nodded and smiled like he was taking her words in. "So you're a wanderer?"

"I guess you can say that." Paloma replied finding it one of the nicest ways she had ever heard her situation be described as, though she wasn't entirely sure it was true. Unlike a wanderer she wanted a fixed course. She wanted a path to follow, she just didn't know if she had one.

"I've only ever known the rez." Paul told her, and although he made it seem like it wasn't much she wanted to know more. She felt as if maybe Paul's life was a lot more interesting than he made it out to be.  "Not that I mind, it's home."

"It sounds nice." Paloma replied honestly, there was nothing that she wanted more than to have her family finally settle down. Paul seemed as peace and happy with himself. She could only wish she could be that carefree.

"A lot nicer than Forks, everyones so pale and miserable there." He continued causing Paloma to laugh as she had the same thought when they first arrived at Forks. It was like most of the residents had never been under the sun.

"Can't disagree they are pretty pale, especially the Cullens." She added, mentally cursing herself for bringing up the Cullens. It annoyed her that Edward always seemed to be in the back of her mind, even more irritating considering that she was actually enjoying talking to Paul.

Paloma was so lost in thought that she almost missed the serious look that came across Paul's face. He almost seemed disgusted.

"I'm guessing you don't like the Cullens?" She questioned curiously, her interest suddenly peaked. What reason did Paul have to not like the Cullens?

"I didn't say anything." Paul quickly replied as his easy smile returned, though unlike the smiles he had given her before this one was not as genuine.

"No... but you're face did."

"Paul!" A voice suddenly called out causing the both of them to turn towards the deep voice. The rest of the rez boys were a couple feet away, the tallest of them had an impatient look on his face as he looked sternly at Paul. "We have to go!"

"That's Sam, I gotta go." He told her with an apologetic look on his face. "You should come back to La Push soon. I could show you around some more?"

Paloma smiled not entirely opposed to the idea, but she also didn't want to give him the satisfaction of showing too much interest. "I don't know. It's pretty cold out here."

"Not around me I'm sure." He replied causing her to roll her eyes but as she did she realized that he wasn't entirely wrong. She had been freezing on the beach before but once she had started walking beside Paul she had found that she felt warm. He really did seem to radiate heat. Paul smiled almost like he could read the realization on her face as he bang to take a couple steps back. "Hope to seem you around soon Paloma."

She watched Paul run towards the other boys before the disappeared into the nearby woods. It was odd, but everything about in her life since she arrived at Forks felt odd. Though her mind was still on the short conversation that she had with Paul.

He was so different from Edward, and although she hated herself for her need to compare the two boys she couldn't help it. Both of them seemed to be making constant reappearances in her life and although she knew they just had to be coincidences it almost felt like there was more going on.

A/N: Hey! I know its been a while since my last update but I'm back to updating this story. No Eddie in this chapter and don't expect much of him in the next chapter either. Now I'm just doing some more world building, but I hope you have all been enjoying what I have so far.  Can't wait for you all to read what I have in store.