It was bit awkward after that.

Dad came up again after a couple minutes, sighing sadly as he saw me still sitting there, wide eyed and shocked in the middle of the landing. I just stared at him, unable to process the actions of my perfect, harmless little sister as I blinked up at the pain in his eyes. How was I supposed to feel? Happy that that jerk was gone? I was just angry.

"She said she'd call us." Dad said shortly. "When she gets there."

"Huh." I replied. My voice barely made it out.

"You ok, Genny?" Dad asked quietly.

I shook my head.

"Oh. Well. Why don't you go call some of your friends? Talk it over?" He was not that great of a counselor, my dad. But I guess it was nice to see him try.

"Maybe tomorrow." I said thinly. "I think I'm going to take a shower and head to bed now."

"Okay, sweetie." My dad replied, giving me an awkward pat on the head and mussing my already snarled hair. I looked up in surprise at his use of the word but he was already walking away, obviously wanting to be alone and away from his second emotional teen daughter.

Suddenly he turned around again.

"You don't feel like that, do you, Gen?" He asked. He frowned at me as my mouth opened in surprise.

"Like what?"

"Like Forks is... Like you want to leave." Dad looked down at his hands and his face looked ancient, familiar: I saw the same feeling that haunted me, the same loneliness and wonder what was wrong with you that you had to watch others turn away.

I waited a moment before I answered, memorizing the one vulnerable moment my dad had ever had with me. "No." I said finally.

He nodded and he looked a bit more like himself again. "Good." He said gruffly.

He turned and walked back down the stairs.

I realized I was getting a rather severe headache.

One hand on my forehead, I crawled up the stairs at a rate of about one per every ten minutes, only standing when I got to my door and had to walk past my mess to find a towel and my phone. Scooping some ibuprofen off my desk, I tossed some pills into my mouth and swallowed them dry before heading back down the shower, texting two or three of my friends to see if they had time to talk.

The shower was, thankfully, the one part of my weekend that was completely uneventful. The water was fine, I didn't slip, didn't get shampoo in my eyes, didn't even have to shave. This was good because if one single thing had gone wrong, I would have been curled up in a ball on the throw rug, sobbing about how much I hated people. As it was I just ended up stand in the hot water too long, once again turning up the heat bit by bit until the bathroom was filled with steam and I found myself red as a lobster when I finally go out.

I wrapped my towel around myself and made my way back to my attic room, checking for replies and finding none, sending out a few more texts to some of Bella's friends so they would know she'd left. I knew she wasn't going to tell them. Upstairs I threw on my comfiest pair of jeans and a baggy t-shirt before grabbing my laptop and popping in 'Steel Magnolias', not sure if I wanted to continue moping or cheer up. About ten minutes into the movie my phone finally buzzed.

I flipped open the phone and frowned, seeing a text from an unknown number. Kicking the bits of broken lamp out of the way, I made my way back to the bed and collapsed onto it before jabbing angrily at the button to show the text.

'Something's happened and I REALLY need to talk to you NOW. GET DOWN HERE.'

As I reached to hit a reply, another text came in.

'WHERE ARE YOU I NEED TO SEE YOU NOW'

I opened my mouth, ready to ask the question out loud. Who was it? But really, how many people are bad tempered enough to yell at someone for not coming when they haven't technically told them where to go?

'Is this Paul?' I typed quickly. I set the phone down and waited, staring at the ceiling. It only took a couple seconds for a buzz to sound.

'Oh. Yes. MEET ME AT THE BEACH NOW.'

I sighed and gave up on the texting, hitting the call button before Paul could start texting me nonstop. It rang twice and then I got Paul's voicemail. I hung up immediately and waited a second. Sure enough, just like old times, he called me back ten seconds later.

"Genny?" His voice was rough with exhaustion, or possibly some illness.

I sat up and curled up against the wall beside my bed. "Are you ok? You sound awful."

"I've... been sick, yeah." Paul said slowly. For a second I thought he was lying: but why would he lie about that? "And I really need to see you."

"Paul, I'm grounded. Potentially forever." I began picking at the comforter as I talked. "Can't you come down here?" I felt a weird hint of nostalgia as I said those words, remembering all the times we'd argued over that very question.

"No, I ..." He choked off and I could picture him in my head, face contorted with anger, hands about to shatter the phone as they gripped it too tight. "I can't come down."

"You..."

"I'm sick." He said again.

"Ok." I said. "Well, I don't want to get sick. So can we just talk on the phone?"

"No..." Paul said insistently. "I need to see you."

"Paul, of all the times to try this..." I shook my head and then had to push my long hair back out of my face. "This is the worst. I've already used up all of Dad's patience and then Bella..." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Isabella left."

There was a pause and I knew why: Paul was fighting against the anger he felt at not getting his way, trying to be patient for me. From the irritation in his next sentence I could tell it wasn't quite working for him.

"Genevieve. You. Need. To. Come. Here. And. Talk. To. Me." He insisted.

"Damn it, Paul." I groaned.

"I know that means yes." He said, some good temper coming back into his voice, a bit of calm returning to the conversation. And also... relief? "Please, Gen."

"Can you at least tell me why?" I asked, scooting off the bed to look around for a pair of good climbing shoes.

"It's just..." Paul sighed and I paused, suddenly very curious what this new tone of voice could possibly mean. "I'll tell you when you get here."

"Meet at the campground?" I asked, pulling on a pair of brown hiking boots with one hand and scowling as I just ended up pinching the back of my foot with the heel.

"Be there soon." He ordered.

Then he hung up on me.

Yep.

Just like old times.

...

I had to be quiet as I slipped through Bella's room-former room-and out her window and this was incredibly frustrating. The way my weekend was going, I wanted nothing more than to decorate every square foot around me with a festive string of expletives. As it was, I just mouthed every foul word I knew as I clambered down from the second floor window and stomped out into the driveway, glancing back to make sure none of the front lights were on.

Using the tips Jacob had been giving me the day before and some things I'd googled myself, it took me about five seconds to fix my car. It took longer, actually, to quietly climb inside and get settled in: I was both afraid of Dad hearing my escape and not sure that this was a good idea. The Swan family's luck with boys was not exactly good this weekend, what with Isabella's fight with Edward and my lack of anything with Tyler and Jacob constantly texting me about... I glanced at my phone to see what he'd been asking about. Bella. Really shouldn't have told him that she left, but whatever. He'll live. Meanwhile I had to go see my ex about who knew what.

It was about then that I realized no one could hear me in the car and I was free to swear as much and as loudly as I wanted.

It was therefore with much yelling that I found myself driving through the woods to LaPush and very little of it could be considered poetry. As it was, I eventually moved from swearing to theorizing about what idiotic thing Paul was going to make me talk about and what ridiculous consequence my dad was going to come up with as a result. The truth was, I had no clue what strange thing could possibly both exist and make Paul be semi nice to me. I frowned a little at that thought, wondering if maybe Paul... Nah.

I turned onto the last road, right on the border of LaPush and began looking for the turn off for the beach. Truth was, I'd never driven up myself and it was all looking a little different in the dark. Not to mention a little creepy. After a life of driving around town, the lack of any headlights or streetlights was disconcerting and I was starting to get a strange feeling tingling up my spine. Ten minutes of driving later, I was sure I'd missed my stop and pulled over to take out my phone.

"Paul?" I said as he picked up. "I'm a little lost."

"That's ok." He said, sounding a bit rushed. "I'm... going to be a bit late. Something I have to take care of... Just stay where you are ok? I'll come get you after..."

"I don't know where I am." I grumbled.

"Just stay in your car and I'll find you. Everyone gets lost out there. I bet you're five feet away from the spot I'm thinking—Yes, I'm coming! F*** off.—"He let out a weird growl. "Just stay in the car!" He ordered again, speaking through gritted teeth.

"Ok..." I agreed. He'd already hung up. "Well, f***."

I obeyed for maybe five minutes. Six minutes, tops. Truth was, I'd been holed up in the house all day and now I was a little frustrated to be sitting in my car with even less room to move around. I tapped at the steering wheel, listening to the static ringing out from my radio. No signal out here. Not in the middle of flipping nowhere. Which is where I was. Waiting to be rescued by my moron ex-boyfriend. Who probably was just going to yell at me, like he always did.

I slumped and set my head against the steering wheel. Who was I kidding? I was the moron driving around in the middle of the night for a guy she hadn't had feelings for in years. We'd broken up... what, beginning of freshmen year? And that had been after three months apart, three months of only speaking when we argued over who should come visit who.

My phone began to buzz and I sighed in relief, thinking it was Paul about to finally tell me where to go. But nope. It was Jacob's number. It was a sign of how bored I was that I picked up.

"Jacob?"

"Gen, it's Billy." Mr. Black spoke hurriedly, not stopping for any of my attempts at a question. "You need to head home, ok, hon? It's not safe out there. You need to go home this instant."

"Calm down, Billy." I said, surprised at the concern in his voice. The only reply was a hint of static. "Dang it. Hang on one sec, ok?"

I opened the car door and took a sharp breath as the cold air hit my face and a wind began tugging at my hair. Holding the cell phone out in front of my face, I stepped out into the road and began to walk.

"Can you hear me now?" I asked.

"Yes." There was a bit of static and then Billy was back. "Genny, you need... Go home!... not... animal..."

I felt an invisible fist suddenly seize my stomach and twist it. "Animal?" I repeated.

Another wind brushed my. My hair streamed out behind me as I pulled my coat closer.

"The animal... nearby..." There was something off about his voice but I couldn't figure out what: I didn't know what he was trying to say.

It was too late anyway.

The scuffing of my footsteps and the howl of the wind in the trees was suddenly interrupted by a cool, girlish, cheerleader soprano.

"My, my." I turned to catch a glimpse of brilliant red hair. "Don't you smell delicious."

Then something pricked me in the neck and everything went black.