Dusk Till Dawn (Discontinued)

Tide Pools

The Newton's Olympic Outfitters store was just north of town. I'd seen the store, but I'd never stopped there—not having much need for any supplies required for being outdoors over an extended period of time. In the parking lot I recognized Mike's Suburban and Tyler's Sentra. As I pulled up next to their vehicles I could see the group standing around in front of the Suburban. Eric was there, standing around with two other boys I had class with; I was fairly sure their names were Ben and Conner. Jess was there, flanked by Angela and Lauren. Three other girls stood with them, including one I remember falling over in Gym on Friday.

She gave me a dirty look and whispered something to Lauren. Lauren shook out her silky hair and eyed me scornfully.

Oh...one of those days.

At least Jessica was happy to see me.

"I'm so happy you came!" She squealed, pulling me into a hug.

"Yeah, I told you I was."

"You didn't invite anyone did you?" She asked, a certain look in her eye. "Right now, we're just waiting on Lee and Samantha."

"No. No, just me," I lied, hoping I wouldn't get caught.

Jessica looked satisfied.

"You can ride in Mike's car or Lee's mom's minivan."

"I can ride with Mike—"

"Awesome, you can sit with me then!" She smiled. It was so easy to make her happy.

It wasn't, however, easy to make her and Mike happy at the same time. I could see Mike giving me a look, but I only shrugged at him, not really knowing what to say.

The numbers worked out in my favor, though. Lee brought two extra people, and suddenly every seat was necessary. I managed to wedge Mike in between Jess and I. Jessica could've been more subtle about her disappointment but Mike seemed appeased.

It was only fifteen miles to La Push from Forks, with gorgeous, dense green forests edging the road most of the way and the wide Quillayute River snaking beneath it twice. I was glad I had the window seat.

I'd been to the beaches around La Push many times during my Forks summers with Charlie, so the mile long crescent of First Beach was familiar to me. It was still breathtaking. It was still breathtaking.

We picked our way down to the beach, Mike leading the way to a ring of driftwood logs that had obviously been used for parties like ours before. There was a fire circle already in place, filled with black ashes. Eric and the boy I thought was named Ben gathered broken branches of driftwood from the drier piles against the Orestes edge, and soon had a small pile built atop the old cinders.

"Have you seen a driftwood fire before?" Mike asked me. I was sitting on one of the bone-colored benches; the other girls clustered, talking excitedly, on either side of me. Mike kneeled by the fire, lighting one of the smaller sticks with a cigarette lighter.

"No," I said as he placed the blazing twig carefully against the others.

"Watch the colors." He lit another small branch and laid it alongside the first. The flames started to lick quickly up the dry wood.

"It's blue," I said in surprise.

"The salt does it. Pretty, right?" He lit one more piece, placed it where the fire hadn't yet caught, and then went to bother Jessica. I watched the strange blue and green flames crackle toward the sky.

After thirty minutes of chatter, some of the boys wanted to hike to the nearby tidal pools. It was a dilemma. On the one hand, I loved the tide pools. They had fascinated me since I was a child; they were one of the few things I ever looked forward to when I had to come to Forks. But on the other hand, I'd also fallen into them a lot.

Lauren was the one who made my decision for me. She didn't want to hike, claiming she had the wrong shoes for it. Most of the other girls, besides Angela and Jessica, decided to stay on the beach as well.

The hike wasn't too long, though I hated to lose the sky in the woods. I had to watch each step I took very carefully, avoiding roots below and branches above. Eventually I broke through the emerald confines of the forest and found the rocky shore again. It was low tide, and a tidal river flowed past us on its way to the sea. Along its pebbled banks, shallow pools that never completely drained were teaming with life.

I found a very stable looking rock on the fringe of one of the largest aquarium below me. The bouquets of brilliant anemones undulated ceaselessly in the invisible current, twisted shells scurried about the edges, obscuring the crabs within them, starfish stuck motionless to the rocks and each other, while one small black eel with white racing stripes wove through the bright green weeds, waiting for the sea to return. I was completely absorbed, except for one small part of my mind that wondered what Rosalie was doing now.

I wondered what she would think if she was here with me.

We got back to First Beach when a few others claimed they were hungry, and we found out the group we'd left behind had multiplied. We could see the dark hair and tanned skin of the newcomer, teenagers from the reservation come to socialize.

As they finished eating, people started to drift away in twos and threes. By the time they all had scattered, I was sitting alone on my driftwood log, with Lauren and Tyler occupying themselves by looking through the playlist someone had made. Three of the teenagers from the reservation perched around the circle, including the girl named Jade and the oldest boy who had acted as spokesperson.

Once Angela left, Jade sauntered over to take her place by my side. She looked about sixteen, her beautiful hair braided down her back. Though, she looked slightly familiar.

"Aren't you Bella Swan?" Jade asked.

"Yeah?"

"I'm Jade Black." She held out her hand in a friendly gesture, her wrist held a few bracelets. "You bought my dad's truck."

"Oh, you're Billy's daughter. I should probably remember you."

"Well, I'm the youngest— you would remember my oldest sisters."

"Rachel and Rebecca," I recalled. Charlie and Billy had thrown us together a lot during my visits, to keep us busy while they fished. We were all too shy to make much progress to become close friends.

"Are they here?" I examined the girls at the ocean's edge, wondering if I would recognize them now.

"No." Jade shook her head. "Rachel got a scholarship to Washington State, and Rebecca moved to Hawaii, she's married."

"Married. Wow." The twins were only a year older than I was.

"You know Bella, Jade?" Lauren asked, in what I imagined was an insolent tone, from across the fire.

"We've sort of known each other since I was born," she laughed, smiling at me.

"So, Bella," she called again, watching my face carefully, "I was just saying to Tyler that it was too bad none of the Cullens could come out today. I'm surprised you didn't invite them."

"You mean Dr. Carlisle Cullen's family?" The taller, older boy asked before I could respond, much to Lauren's irritation.

"Yes, do you know them?" She asked condescendingly, turning halfway toward him.

"The Cullens don't come here."

______________________

The woman who play Marleen in TLoU show is so fine, I can look past the fact that's she a Firefly

Bye!