"We're home," my mother said nudging me awake as our car pulled up the drive. Finally, I thought. My mother, Eleanor, was a zoologist who specialized in the species Canis Lupus, aka the grey wolf. Personally, I liked to call her a lupusologist, but that's not an 'official' term…yet. She had just finished her research on the Mackenzie Valley Wolf in Alaska. We had been gone four months -four months of living out of our tent and car- and I for one was happy to finally be home in La Push, Washington. Don't get me wrong road trips for months on end can be pretty exciting, but there's only so much one can take at the tender age of 15. And this was one road trip that I felt had taken forever! Usually we come into human contact on our trips, aka hikers or other researchers, but this time nothing, no one. To say I'm people deprived right now is not an exaggeration, it is a fact. I mean I love my mother, she's like my sister I never had, but I can only take so much of her. My mom and I are thick as thieves though; she loves the wilderness and the ocean, I love the wilderness and ocean, she loves wolves, I love wolves, she likes being free, I like being free.

Now one might say we are the stereotypical Native Americans, Quileute, to be exact, but I mean I'm only half Quileute, the other half being British, so I'm not exactly a stereotype. Have you ever met a blonde haired, blue eyed, white Native American… I don't think so, yet here I am. Obviously my mother gave me all recessive genes, and my father, who I've never met mind you, gave me all the dominant traits. So, I'm pretty much that weird tribal kid; I don't even go to school, I got my G.E.D. last year. My friends are pretty jealous that I don't have to go to high school, even though they skip all the time. I have to force my friends – Jacob, Embry, and Quil – to go to school sometimes, those slackers. I know they aren't going to the university, they tell me that all the time, but 'they need to get their diploma, to go to community college, so that they can open their garage'.

I'm definitely the brains of the group, Jacob being the leader, Embry and Quil bring the humor; all in all we have a pretty great group. I worry about them all the time when I'm gone, who knows what stupid stuff they do when I'm gone.

"Allie," my mother says snapping her finger in front of my face, "can you come back to the mother-ship? I need you to help me unload the car now. Sue invited us over for dinner."

"Yes ma mere, I'm back!" I replied. My mother taught me French, thus the ma mere meaning mother - It's just a knack I picked up when I was younger. Sue, or Sue Clearwater, is a family friend, my mom and her go way back, to diapers in fact. Everyone in La Push knows everyone and everyone is someway related, which is kind of creepy. Jacob is in fact my cousin, and Quil is related to me some weird way, and so are the Clearwaters. No one really knows who Embry's father is, but he and his mother live on the reservation anyway. His mother, Anne, claims is father is Makah, but I doubt it.

"Allie, I need you back," my mother urged opening the car door.

"I'm back, I'm back," I replied taking my backpack from our car and heading up the steps to our house behind my mother. I waited until she finally found our house key under the railing and opened the door. Our house I would say is quaint. It was a small with 2 bedrooms. Yes! I thought A bed! I quickly rushed past my mother, climbed the stairs in record time, and opened my bedroom door. Then, with lady like grace, I plopped down on my bed face first. I do this every time I come home from a long trip. There's no smell quite like the smell of home; the woodsy, sea salt, bonfire smell that was in my quilt could not be found anywhere else.

"Allison Marie, if you don't come down here and unpack, I'm grounding you," she called up the stairs.
I quickly moved down the stairs to kiss her on the check "You say that all the time and yet I've not seen a grounding in my life."

"Maybe one day I'll pop one on you though, keep you on your toes, Miss I know Everything. Now let's at least get everything in the living room, before I loose the incentive. Dinner's at 6:30 and it's 5 right now, so mush doggie," she said.

"Aye, Aye master."

We finished unpacking in record time and were on our way to the Clearwaters by 6 o'clock. My beloved leica, a very expensive camera which was paid for through intensively hard work and good photography, sat in my lap. My mother did the research for articles and I took the photos, like I said we were a team. All of our family friends, which was mostly everyone on the Rez, always wanted to see the photos for each trip, and the Clearwaters were no different, thus me bringing my very expensive digital leica instead of my usual smaller camera. I have three beloved leicas: an M3 leica, one of the first of its kind, which I take for black and white photos; my C-Lux leica for fun digital shots, this is the one I bring everywhere with me; my most cherished though is my S-system leica, which cost an arm and a leg, this is my 'professional' camera.

"Allie stop thinking about your camera," my mom said, "You're starting to creep me out- you're stroking it again."

"Ma mere, I think we've spent too much time together. You know exactly what I'm thinking about right now, and I think that's creepier then me stroking my camera."

"Oh hush," she replied parking outside the Clearwaters' house.

The Clearwaters consists of Harry, Sue, Leah, and Seth. Harry is an adored tribal member, who loves to fish and has a high cholesterol level, which my mother and Sue constantly nag him about. Sue is my godmother, who acts like my mother, and who I completely love. She a really sweet lady, who is an amazing cook, but she can become very feisty when reckoned with. Leah is like an older sister; she always there to give me advice, especially boy advice. She's completely and totally in love with her boyfriend Sam Uley; we're waiting for him to pop the question to her anytime now. If Leah is my sister, then Seth is my little brother; he's this adorable little dork that I can have the most random conversations with, one time we had about a three hour discussion on the why the sky is blue, which would be completely weird with anyone else.

As my mother and I walked up the stairs to their front door, it was viciously flung open and out came Sue, grabbing us both in for a great big hug.

"It's so great for you to be home," she said hugging us more tightly then before, "Never go for that long again."

I was currently trying to protect my camera and said, "Sue… I need to breathe."

"Of course you do dear," she said letting me go, "Go right in Allie."

I didn't need to be told twice, and rushed into their home. In their living room was Seth, Leah, Sam, Harry, Billy (my uncle aka Jacob's father), and Jacob watching the news.

"Allie!" Leah cried and rushed over for a quick hug, "I think you're grown."

"Har, Har, we can't all have good genes like you Leah," I replied sarcastically. I walked over to the couch where Harry, Seth, and Jacob were sitting. I slugged Jacob in the back and hugged Harry and Seth. I hugged Billy as well and waved at Sam before sitting down in front of Jacob.

"So I don't get a hug," Jake said nudging my back with his foot.

"No you don't Jacob Black and stop nudging me with your gross feet," I retorted.

"Is this cause I didn't call you this week?"

"How did you know?" I questioned. This sums up my relationship with Jake, we're always playfully fighting, like siblings – It would seem that for being an only child I do have lots of siblings, almost all my friends are like siblings.

"I got caught up this week."

"I know," I replied tickling his feet. He might have like 4 more inches on me, which means that he has more strength then me, but he has very ticklish feet, which I always use to my advantage.

"Come on guys let's have dinner," Sue called from the dinning room. We all made our way to the table, sat down, and started to pass around the food. Fish and salad was a very normal dinner with the Clearwaters.

"So what's new around here," my mother asked, starting the dinner conversations for the evening.

"Charlie's daughter is in town," Billy replied.

"Bella?" I asked. I remembered playing with her in the summers she came to Forks.

"That's the one," Harry said.

"We gave Charlie the truck for a homecoming present," Billy said.

"How great!" my mother replied, "I know I wouldn't want to ride around in a cop car."

"Elle weren't you the one that stole Sheriff's car in 10th grade…" Sue said and the rest of the evening continued from one story to the next.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight series, sadly, or the characters Stephanie Meyer came up with.

A/N: Hopefully you'll tell me what you think… ; )"We're home," my mother said nudging me awake as our car pulled up the drive. Finally, I thought. My mother, Eleanor, was a zoologist who specialized in the species Canis Lupus, aka the grey wolf. Personally, I liked to call her a lupusologist, but that's not an 'official' term…yet. She had just finished her research on the Mackenzie Valley Wolves in Alaska. We had been gone four months, four months of living out of our tent and car, and I for one was happy to finally be home in La Push, Washington. Don't get me wrong road trips for months on end can be pretty exciting, but there's only so much one can take at the tender age of 15. And this was one road trip that I felt had taken forever! Usually we come into human contact on our trips, aka hikers or other researchers, but this time nothing, no one. To say I'm people deprived right now is not an exaggeration, it is a fact. I mean I love my mother, she's like my sister I never had, but I can only take so much of her. My mom and I are thick as thieves though; she loves the wilderness and the ocean, I love the wilderness and ocean, she loves wolves, I love wolves, she likes being free, I like being free.
Now one might say we are the stereotypical native Americans, Quileute, to be exact, but I mean I'm only half Quileute, the other half being British, so I'm not exactly a stereotype. Have you ever met a blonde haired, blue eyed, white native American… I don't think so, yet here I am. Obviously my mother gave me all recessive genes, and my father, who I've never met mind you, gave me all the dominant traits. So, I'm pretty much that weird tribal kid; I don't even go to school, I got my G.E.D. last year. My friends are pretty jealous that I don't have to go to high school, even though they skip all the time. I have to force my friends – Jacob, Embry, and Quil – to go to school sometimes, those slackers. I know they aren't going to the university, they tell me that all the time, but 'they need to get their diploma, to go to community college, so that they can open their garage', those being my come back words.
I'm definitely the brains of the group, Jacob being the leader, Embry and Quil bring the humor, all in all we have a pretty great group. I worry about them all the time when I'm gone, who knows what stupid stuff they do when I'm gone.
"Allie," my mother says snapping her finger in front of my face, "can you come back to the mother-ship? I need you to help me unload the car now. Sue invited us over for dinner."
"Yes ma mere, I'm back!" I replied. My mother taught me Quileute and French, thus the ma mere meaning mother - It's just a knack I picked up when I was younger. Sue, or Sue Clearwater, is a family friend, my mom and her go way back, to diapers in fact. Everyone in La Push knows everyone and everyone is someway related, which is creepy. Jacob is in fact my cousin, and Quil is related to me some weird way, and so are the Clearwaters. No one really knows who Embry's father is, but he and his mother live on the reservation anyway. His mother, Anne, claims is father is Makah, but I doubt it.
"Allie, I need you back," my mother urged opening the car door.
"I'm back, I'm back," I replied taking my backpack from our car and heading up the steps to our house behind my mother. I waited until she finally found our house key under the railing and opened the door. Our house I would say is quaint. It was a small with 2 bedrooms. Yes! I thought A bed! I quickly rushed past my mother, climbed the stairs in record time, and opened my bedroom door. Then, with lady like grace, plopped down on my bed face first. I do this every time I come home from a long trip. There's no smell quite like the smell of home; the woodsy, sea salt, bonfire smell that was in my quilt could not be found anywhere else.
"Allison Marie, if you don't come down here and unpack, I'm grounding you," she called up the stairs.
I quickly moved down the stairs to kiss her on the check "You say that all the time and yet I've not seen a grounding in my life."
"Maybe one day I'll pop one on you though, keep you on your toes, Miss I know Everything. Now let's at least get everything in the living room, before I loose the incentive. Dinner's at 6:30 and It's 5 right now, so mush doggie," she said.
"Aye, Aye master."

We finished unpacking in record time and were on our way to the Clearwaters by 6 o'clock. My beloved leica, a very expensive camera which was paid for through intensively hard work and good photography, sat in my lap. My mother did the research for articles and I took the photos, like I said we were a team. All of our family friends, which was mostly everyone on the Rez, always wanted to see the photos for each trip, and the Clearwaters were no different, thus me bringing my very expensive digital leica instead of my usual smaller camera. I have three beloved leicas: an M3 leica, one of the first of its kind, which I take for black and white photos; my C-Lux leica for fun digital shots, this is the one I bring everywhere with me; my most cherished though is my S-system leica, which cost an arm and a leg, this is my 'professional' camera.
"Allie stop thinking about your camera," my mom said, "You're starting to creep me out, you're stroking it again."
"Ma mere, I think we've spent too much time together. You even know what I'm thinking about now, and I think that's creepier then me stroking my camera."
"Oh hush," she replied parking outside the Clearwaters' house.
The Clearwaters consists of Harry, Sue, Leah, and Seth. Harry is a beloved tribal member, who loves to fish and has a high cholesterol level, which my mother and Sue constantly nag him about. Sue is my godmother, who acts like my mother, and who I completely love. She a really sweet lady, who is an amazing cook, but she can become one feisty lady when reckoned with. Leah is like an older sister; she always there to give me advice, especially boy advice. She's completely and totally in love with her boyfriend Sam Uley; we're waiting for him to pop the question to her anytime now. If Leah is my sister, then Seth is my little brother; he's this adorable little dork that I can have the most random conversations with, one time we had about a three hour discussion on the why the sky is blue, which would be completely weird with anyone else.
As my mother and I walked up the stairs to their front door, it was viciously flung open and out came Sue, grabbing us both in for a great big hug.
"It's so great for you to be home," she said hugging us more tightly then before, "Never go for that long again."
I was currently trying to protect my camera and said, "Sue… I need to breathe."
"Of course you do dear," she said letting me go, "Go right in Allie."
I didn't need to be told twice, and rushed into their home. In their living room was Seth, Leah, Sam, Harry, Billy, and Jacob watching the news.
"Allie!" Leah cried and rushed over for a quick hug, "I think you're grown."
"Har, Har, we can't all have god genes like you Leah," I replied sarcastically. I walked over to the couch where Harry, Seth, and Jacob were sitting. I slugged Jacob in the back, and hugged Harry and Seth. Before sitting down in front of Jacob, I hugged Billy as well and waved at Sam.
"So I don't get a hug," Jake said nudging my back with his foot.
"No you don't Jacob Black and stop nudging me with your gross feet," I retorted.
"Is this cause I didn't call you this week?"
"How did you know?" I questioned. This sums up my relationship with Jake, we're always playfully fighting, like siblings – It would seem that for being an only child I do have lots of siblings, almost all my friends are like siblings.
"I got caught up this week."
"I know," I replied tickling his feet. He might have like 4 more inches on me, which means that he has more strength then me, but he has very ticklish feet, which I always use to my advantage.
"Come on guys let's have dinner," Sue called from the dinning room. We all made our way to the table, sat down, and started to pass around the food. Fish and salad was a very normal dinner with the Clearwaters.
"So what's new around here," my mother asked, starting the dinner conversations for the evening.
"Charlie's daughter is in town," Billy replied.
"Bella?" I asked. I remembered playing with her in the summers she came to Forks.
"That's the one," Harry said.
"We gave Charlie the truck for a homecoming present," Billy said.
"How great!" my mother replied, "I know I wounldn't want to ride around in a cop car."
"Elle, weren't you the one that stole Sheriff's car in 10th grade…" Sue said and the rest of the evening continued from one story to the next.