THE ART ROOM HAD QUICKLY BECAME CALLIE'S FAVORITE place to be at school. Any free time she could spare was always spent there, working on whatever project she'd devoted herself to on that particular day. Her last period of the day was a free one, and while most students would either just leave early or spend it hanging out in the cafeteria with their friends, Callie always retreated to the art room. It just so happened that Kim's last period was free, as well, so her best friend more often than not found her way to the art room to keep Callie company.

Monday afternoon was no different than the others. Callie's gaze was fixed on the canvas she was painting, the forgotten stool she never sat on now occupied by Kim a few feet away.

"So he just... broke up with her, and left her in the woods, and she got lost and passed out?" Kim asked, trying to make sure she understood Callie correctly. The latter of the two girls had just filled her in on what she had missed with Bella Swan's brief disappearance.

"Yeah. At least, to my understanding," Callie said with a small shrug as she switched paint brushes to paint a different texture. "She didn't really talk when I was helping her, but I guess she was out in the woods because she and her boyfriend when on a walk before his family left town. I think he took her on a walk so he could tell her his family was leaving, maybe."

Kim scrunched her nose up in distaste. "Dick move," she said. "I mean, seriously. He couldn't have at least walked her back home? She was dating Edward Cullen, wasn't she?"

"Yeah."

"His whole family is kind of... creepy." Kim reached over and dipped a paintbrush into some paint, but Callie grabbed her wrist and stopped her before she could sabotage her painting. It was something Kim always did to tease her best friend and try to catch her off guard, though she had yet to succeed. In fact, Callie was so used to it that she didn't even say anything to her about it. "What are you painting, anyway?"

"Uncle Billy's birthday present," Callie told her, blotting her brush against the canvas. "Anyway, like I was saying, Sam was the one that found Bella. You should have seen the look on Jake's face."

Kim snorted. "Yeah, he's not really Sam's biggest fan, is he?"

"After what he did to Leah? I don't think many people are." Callie paused, frowning slightly as she glanced at the clock. Seeing that the bell was going to ring soon, she started to gather her things. "Still, though, it was nice of him to help look for Bella. Maybe he's not as bad as everyone's making him out to be."

"Maybe."Kim helped her clean her paintbrushes while Callie put her paints away. "Hey, do you work tonight?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Do you want to stay at my house tonight? You can help me with that stupid essay for English. I haven't even started it yet."

Callie glanced at her as they left the art room and made their way out to the parking lot, being careful to carry her canvas in a way that wouldn't make the paint smear while it still dried. "Kim, the essays are due tomorrow. We've had weeks to do it and you're just now starting?"

She made a face. "You say that like you're surprised, but you know I suck at writing."

Callie sighed, but knew it was true. Kim was more of a daydreamer than anything, but she hated writing. It was just like her to procrastinate the essay. "Alright, well, why don't you just come over to my house? We can work on it there until I have to leave for work."

"You're the best, Cal— oh my God, look!"Kim's sudden squeal caught Callie by surprise, and she hurriedly followed her friend's gaze to see what was wrong. She should have expected that nothing was wrong; Kim was simply admiring Jared Cameron from afar, yet again.

Except this time, it seemed he was returning the gesture. He stood by his truck with Paul Lahote, whose gaze locked with Callie's the moment she glanced at him. "Is it just me, or are they staring at us?" Kim whispered, as if they could hear her from the distance they were at.

"Ooh, is this for me?" Embry's voice came from her left as he approached her with a grin, reaching for the canvas Callie held in her hands.

She moved it out of the way. "Careful, the paint's still wet— and no, it's not for you."

"In that case, can I make a request?" He asked mischievously. "Can you make me a huge, embarrassing painting of Quil so I can—"

"No."

"But I just want to—"

Callie laughed. "No, Embry. You and Jake embarrass Quil enough as it is." She paused and looked around in confusion when she saw Jake's truck was still empty. "Speaking of Jake, where is he? Kim's catching a ride home with us."

"Champlain held him back to finish a test. He sent the keys out with me so I could bring you home and then come back for him. We weren't sure when you had to be at work." Seeing something over Callie's shoulder, he quickly grabbed onto both girls' arms and began steering them towards the truck. "So let's just go—"

"Call!" Embry cursed under his breath at the familiar voice, and all three of them turned to see Mr. Jenkins approaching with a scowl on his face. "You're not skipping out on your detention this time. Come with me."

"C'mon, Mr. J, I really can't today—"

"Now."

Embry made a face and handed the keys to Callie before trudging after the teacher so he could serve his detention. Callie shook her head in amusement at her friend as Kim asked, "What does he have detention for this time?"

"Em's got a real problem with keeping his mouth shut," Callie told her with a roll of her eyes, though a smile was still on her face. "Anyway." She opened the tailgate and lifted herself up to sit in the back of the truck. "We can just wait for Jake and work on your essay here. He probably won't be long."

Kim shrugged and climbed into the back of the truck as well, both girls making themselves comfortable. Callie was just giving Kim a few pointers on her introduction paragraph when movement in their peripheral vision stole their attention. Jared Cameron had approached the truck, and Paul Lahote trailed behind him with his hands shoved in his pockets. "Hey, Kim," Jared greeted with a large smile on his face. "Hey, Callie."

Callie discreetly nudged her best friend with her foot, knocking Kim out of her slight state of shock. "Oh, hey," Kim said awkwardly, a nervous smile on her face. "What's up?"

"Uh, nothing much. I was just— I mean, we were just wondering—" Jared gestured between he and Paul. "If the two of you wanted to hang out with us tonight? And, I don't know, go to the beach or something?"

Kim's cheeks flushed a shade of pink. "Yeah, we'd love to." She looked over at Callie with wide, hopeful eyes. "Wouldn't we, Cal?"

"Kim, I have to work tonight. Remember?" Callie reminded her friend reluctantly. She hated to say no, if only because the idea of hanging out with Jared had lifted her friend's entire mood considerably. But she did have to work, and besides; Callie couldn't help but wonder why Jared and Paul had taken such a sudden interest in them.

Her mind took her back to Friday night outside the Swan house, when Paul had seemed so frantic with concern about her. It was unlike him. Well— it was unlike him now, anyway. Back when they were younger and were still friends, Paul had always been protective of her. But somewhere along the line they drifted apart and he never even spared a glance in her direction. He hadn't seemed to care about her for years. Why, all of the sudden, did it seem like something changed?

Seeing the way Kim's face fell, Callie felt bad. She started to say something, but stopped when she saw Jake hurrying over to the truck. There was a look of clear unhappiness on his face, obviously not happy that Jared and Paul were talking to she and Kim. "Callie, are they bothering you?" He asked, glaring the two of them down. Jake had always been an easygoing guy, but he wasn't the type to let things slide when someone messed with Callie.

"No, Jake, relax," she said with a sigh. "How'd your test with Champlain go?"

"Fine." He glanced back at Jared and Paul. "Don't you two have somewhere to be?"

"Don't you know how to mind your own business?" Paul snapped back at him.

"Callie's my family and Kim's her best friend. This is my business," Jake retorted in annoyance. Paul took a step toward him and, despite the obvious difference in muscle tones between the two of them, Jake didn't back down. "Why don't you crawl back to your little gang leader Uley and leave them alone?"

"Gang leader?" Paul laughed in his face bitterly. "God, Black, you don't even know what you're talking about." He shoved him. "Idiot."

Jacob shoved him back. "I'll show you an idiot."

"Hey, stop it!" Callie slid off the tailgate and pushed herself between her cousin and Paul. She grabbed Jacob's arm and began pulling him toward the cab of the truck. "Jake, let's just leave. C'mon, Kim."

"Sorry," Kim told Jared sheepishly as she slid off the tailgate and closed it. "Maybe another time?"

Jared nodded. "Can I... um, can I have your number?"

She gave it to him happily, smiling as she got into the cab of the truck, where Callie was telling Jake he needed to stop being so quick to judge Paul and Jared, and to try and be nicer. "Are you shitting me right now, Callie?" Jacob shot her an annoyed look. "Those guys are obviously up to no good, and you're mad at me?"

"I'm not mad at you. I'm just saying—"

"You're too naïve for your own good. All I'm doing is trying to look out for you."

She frowned. "I'm not naïve."

"Yes you are. You trust people too easily, too foolishly. I mean, look at what happened with Micah."

Kim, who knew very well about what had happened between Callie and Micah, sat forward and shot Jacob a glare. "Don't throw Micah in her face, you jerk!That is seriously crossing a line!"

Realizing what he'd said a bit too late, Jacob's expression immediately fell as he looked at his cousin with regret. She was staring down at the unfinished painting laid across both her lap and Kim's, a frown on her face and a faraway look in her eyes. "Callie, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"Just take us home," she muttered. "I don't want to talk about it anymore."

× × × × ×

THE DINER WASN'T PARTICULARLY BUSY, THOUGH SHE had expected as much given that it was only Monday evening. Still, Callie raked in a decent amount of tips from her regulars and didn't mind staying over when Cora asked her to. She liked working at the diner. Her coworkers were great, and most of the customers were, too.

"Callie, you've got a friend trying to flag you down," Cora told her with an amused smirk as she noticed Kim Connweller sitting in a booth and waving desperately at an oblivious Callie.

Seeing who Cora was talking about, Callie reached up and tightened her ponytail as she walked over to the otherwise-empty booth Kim was sitting in. "What are you doing here, Kimmy?"

"I'm still not done with my essay," Kim said as she revealed her bookbag, pulling out her notebook and pencil. "And I— I was texting Jared, and he said he'd help me— but I was too nervous to hang out with him alone yet, so I thought if we met up here, y'know..."

Callie smiled and shook her head fondly at her best friend. "Kim, you have nerves of steel when it comes to everything but Jared Cameron. He's just a guy."

"He's not just a guy, Calliope Black— he's the guy. You know how much I like him, alright?" Kim whisper-shouted,as if Jared was already there and might overhear. She cleared her throat and spoke normally again. "Anyway, is this one of your tables?"

"Yeah. Want me to bring you an iced tea?"

"Sure. Thanks, Cal."

"Make that three." Callie glanced over her shoulder in surprise to see both Jared and Paul approaching the booth. Jared smiled at Kim and gestured to the boy at his side. "Sorry I brought Paul along. He doesn't have any friends."

Paul rolled his eyes. "I'm just here for the food." Jared muttered something to him with a smirk, and Paul punched his arm before they sat down in the booth. Paul sat across from Jared and Kim, glancing up to say something to Callie, but she had already walked away to get their drinks. "Do you think she's mad at me?" He asked Kim.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe a little annoyed, but not mad."

"She just seems... bothered."

"That's not because of you." Kim knew very well what was bothering her friend. Jake's comment from earlier that afternoon hadn't been easily set aside in Callie's mind. What happened with she and Micah wasn't something that had been easy for her to deal with, either. "She's just... going through some things. That's all."

Paul's gaze finally shifted away from Callie, who was talking to Cora as she poured their drinks, and instead fixed itself onto Kim. "What sort of things?"

There was something in the way Paul was looking at her, completely serious,that made Kim a little nervous. She wasn't about to tell anyone Callie's secrets— they were best friends for a reason, after all—but she had a feeling Paul wasn't the type to just let up.

Thankfully, Jared saved the day. "Don't be so nosy, Paul. Anyway, we're supposed to be helping Kim with her essay."

Paul shot him an annoyed look. "Correction: you're supposed to be helping Kim with her essay. Like I said, I'm just—"

"—here for the food, yeah, sure." Jared rolled his eyes. "Keep telling yourself that." He turned toward his imprint and began helping her with her essay then. Jared himself wasn't much of a writer, nor did he particularly care about school grades, but he'd do practically anything to spend time with Kim and as luck had it he'd already finished his own essay for that class. So when Kim had mentioned she was struggling a little with it, he'd jumped at the opportunity to help her.

Paul, on the other hand, did originally invite himself along just to be able to eat— but when Jared told him that Kim mentioned Callie worked at the diner, that was definitely a plus. He'd been hoping that she would get a break while they were there, but Callie ended up working through their visit. By the time they were finished eating and Kim's essay was done, Callie had just finished her shift. He sat and ignored whatever conversation Kim and Jared were having, waiting for Callie to finish her own conversation with Chief Swan so he could talk to her.

Across the diner, Callie had sat down at the table her uncle's best friend had ate dinner by himself. "How's Bella?" She asked, seeing the worry in his eyes.

"She's... uh, not too good," Charlie admitted. "Not eating much, or talking much... or, well, doing much of anything, really."

"Well, she's probably just sick from being out in the cold like that,"Callie offered. It had only been a few days since the night Sam found her in the woods. "I'm sure she'll feel better soon."

"Yeah," Charlie said, though it was clear he was hoping she was right, rather than agreeing with her. "Anyway, thanks for the to-go dinner. Hopefully she'll eat it."

"No problem." Callie remained at the table for a few minutes, watching out the window as Charlie ambled over to his police cruiser with Bella's container of food clutched in his hands. She hoped Bella would pull through whatever funk she had fallen into, because Charlie wasn't the only one worried. Jake was, too. And although Callie wasn't close with the girl at all, even she was a bit concerned.

"Hey." She looked over in surprise as Paul slid into the seat Charlie had just gotten up from. "About earlier, with your cousin... I just wanted to say—"

"It's fine," Callie cut off his apology with the wave of her hand. "Water under the bridge."

Paul's eyebrows rose. "You're not upset?"

"I mean, I was..."she shrugged. "But there's more important things to worry about. You know?" Paul nodded, and she glanced back out of the window,where she could see the headlights of Jake's truck as he pulled up in front of the diner. "Anyway, I gotta go. See you around, I guess."She flashed him a small smile, waved goodbye to Jared and Kim, and left before Jake noticed she had been sitting and talking to Paul. It would have just led to another argument she didn't need to have with him.

As it was, Jake wasn't looking to argue either. As soon as his cousin slid into the cab of his truck and out of the pouring rain, he blurted, "I'm really sorry for throwing Micah in your face earlier and I would really appreciate it if you'd stop giving me the silent treatment now because I don't like when you're mad at me."

Callie blinked at the words spilling from her cousin's mouth and wiped the rain out of her eyes as she turned to look at him. "Do you really think I'm naïve and foolish?" She asked.

Jake frowned. "No, I guess those were the wrong words to use. You just—" He sighed. "You have a good heart, Cal. But sometimes it gets you hurt."

She swallowed. "Fair enough. Just... please don't mention what happened with Micah again, okay?"

"I won't." He put the truck in gear and pulled away from the curb of the diner. The rest of the drive was silent, except for the sound of the windshield wipers and the rain falling against the vehicle.