A/N: What? Actual normal writing? Insanity!

I got the idea for this late one night, and had to write it down. While I actually am Team Edward/Edythe, I've always loved the wolves dynamic and personalities and wanted to delve more into that and Julie's mind.

So basically, this is just New Moon from Julie's perspective. Simple enough, right? Wrong. I realized a couple chapters in that Jacob/Julie isn't in any of the first three chapters and there are a lot of breaks where they're gone in the middle. But I tried to make it work, and this is what I came up with. Don't worry, I just moved the timeline.

Also, I did make this take place in 2020 (minus the pandemic, because who needs to have new plot points?), so that's why Julie talks about social media and such.


Chapter One
Group Projects Ruin Everything

"Dammit," I muttered as the engine clicked.

I twisted the key again. Click. Again. Click. Again! Click.

Slamming my hand against the dash didn't make the engine start, but it did accidentally flip the radio on just as the chorus to All I Want for Christmas started blaring. Oh, how I hated that song. And this time of year, every radio station seemed to be playing Christmas music. We were barely halfway through September, for god's sake!

Turning off the radio, I slid out of the tan leather seat of the 1986 Volkswagen Rabbit I was repairing and back onto the concrete floor of my makeshift garage.

Something was still wrong with the engine, and I couldn't figure out what. Maybe Quil would help. She always seemed to have some weirdly creative idea that worked.

I checked my phone: 4:21 pm, September 15th. Quil and Ember were supposed to be here by now so we could work on our barely started Biology project, but there was no word from either of them.

I kicked the driver's door of the Rabbit closed and leaned against it. When I had first gotten my phone, one of my brothers had slammed it out of my hand as a joke. So now, I slid my finger up and down the shattered screen. Still nothing.

I refreshed my Instagram feed, checking to see if Quil was active. She usually was, but there were no comments from her on any posts. No crown emojis with the tagline "YAASS QUEEN!" on any of Karla Raymond's posts. Or on any of the many makeup or clothing brands she followed. Did knowing who she followed make me a stalker? Or just a really good friend slash second cousin?

A banner popped up on the top of my screen. "moonhowler122 is now live". I clicked on it as I rolled my eyes. Of course she was live. When was she not?

Janie Cameron's face showed up on my screen, her long black braids and copper skin only popping up for a second before she flipped the camera around to show the forest behind our school.

"Paula!" she yelled. "Come here!"

A tan blob with a shock of short black hair came into focus as Paula Lahote. A nasty purple bruise painted her swollen left eye, and her bleeding lip was held together with two thin white pieces of medical tape.

"Tell 'em what happened," Janie said, standing next to Paula so they were both in frame.

"Well," Paula said, "let's just say: you should see the other girl." Paula and Janie's laughs got cut off as I exited from the app.

I hated them. We all hated them. Quil, Ember, even little Selene Clearwater—who could probably find something to like about Hitler—hated them.

"Saw the stream?"

I jumped and turned around.

Ember, her shoulder-length black hair yanked back into a tight braid and her baggy orange sweater perfectly lint-free, stood in the doorway of my garage.

"Yeah. Was the other girl Quil?" I asked, although I already knew the answer.

"Yep." Ember dumped the nearly fifty-pound backpack she was carrying on the ground and pulled her phone from the side pocket of her leggings. "Janie put the entire thing on her feed."

Ember tried to show me Janie's video, but I looked away. "Do I need to watch?"

"No. I guess not."

"Good. I don't want to."

Ember slid her phone back into her pocket. "Engine still busted?" she asked.

"What do you think?"

"Yes?"

"Of course," I responded as I rolled my eyes. When was it not?

Ember walked over to my toolbox and picked up the ratchet. "Well, let's see what we can do about that."

She and I spent the rest of the afternoon trying in vain to get the Volkswagen up and running, to no avail. My dad would've known what to do. Whenever our old Chevy would break down, he seemed to get it back up. And he taught me everything I knew. Why couldn't I seem to do anything right?


That night, I lay in bed for hours, just staring at the ceiling.

I rolled over, facing the wall of photos I had. Squinting through my blurry vision, I could see my brother Aaron's wedding invitation, a copy of the thorn and rose design Ember drew when Quil tried to get a tattoo, and a photo from when we were five and had gotten ice cream in Port Angeles one sunny day. We were smiling, our faces and teeth covered in melted chocolate. People had though we were triplets since we all insisted on wearing our hair in long black braids so we could match.

Shit! I thought suddenly. Our Bio project! Quil had never shown up—probably evading us because she knew she was going to get lectured by Ember—and Ember and I hadn't even thought of it. At least I hadn't. Ember always seemed to be keeping a running list of all assignments we had due in the back of her mind. Maybe she just knew how important the Rabbit was to me. Maybe she was just trying to be a good friend.

Either way, I knew that it was on me to complete the project. Or try to understand it.

I fumbled around for the glasses I barely wore, finding them on the wobbly chair I used as a nightstand. My dark room got clearer as I put them on, and I slid out of bed.

My socked feet padded across the room, toward my door, as I pulled the oversized novelty t-shirt for Saw I was wearing into a semi-presentable state. It was just my mom and I, and she was probably asleep by now, but still.

I walked into the tiny living room, spotting my faded green backpack by the door, and tried to be quiet as I went to retrieve it.

"Julie?"

I jumped, looking up from my backpack and into the kitchen on the other side of the house. My mom sat in her wheelchair; a navy robe was tied around her form. Her thick black brows were pulled together in concern, and her dark eyes were wide.

"Is something wrong, Mom?" I asked.

"You should be asleep." She pushed her wheelchair forward, stopping just before the end of the couch.

"I know. I'm sorry."

"It's all right, Jules," she whispered.

"You didn't answer my question. Is something wrong?" I repeated.

My mom never got scared. Even when we were in the hospital waiting room when I was nine, and we were awaiting the news of my dad. She wasn't scared. When she lost the use of her legs. She wasn't scared. Bonnie Black was never scared. Why was she now?

She took a deep breath. "Beau's missing."

Beau? Beaufort Swan, the son of the police chief? Missing? It wasn't possible. He was one of the most responsible people I knew, he couldn't just go missing.

"W-what do you mean, missing?" I sputtered. "We have to go help!"

"It's all right, Julie, I already asked Samantha to go over."

Shit. I wasn't going over if Samantha was going to be there, not even for Beau. Janie and Paula were nice people until Samantha had corrupted them. She had twisted their minds, made them see the world screwy. "Mom!" I yelled. "Why would you ask her to help?"

"She knows the forest better than anyone, Julie," my mom said calmly, as if trying to stop a toddler from going full tantrum.

The back of my neck felt warm. How could she think like that? Why would she? My breathing got heavy, and the room felt too small. I was about to yell some more when the landline starting ringing.

My mom wheeled herself over to the kitchen counter and picked up the phone. "Hello?" she said. She paused as the other person spoke. "It's alright. Is Beau okay?" Another pause, shorter this time. "That's good." As the person spoke again, my mom sighed. "Don't worry about it, it's just the teenagers. We've had bonfires there for years, and they know how to control them."

I moved closer so I could hear. The number on the caller ID was from the Swan house. It was Charlie.

"Well, they're celebrating the news about the Cullens. I'm really sorry, I should have told you…" my mom said, trailing off. She looked up at me. "Of course, Charlie. Talk to you later?" A pause. "Okay, bye." She hung up.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"They found Beau. Actually, Samantha found him."

"Oh." Now I felt bad. Maybe she was just a good person, trying to do the right thing. Maybe she didn't mean to take Paula and Janie in as her underlings. "I'm sorry, Mom. I shouldn't have freaked out like that."

"It's all right. Now get some sleep, it's late."

I turned toward my room, then stopped. "Hey, Mom?"

"Hmm?"

"Why was Beau out there in the first place?" I knew him, and he wouldn't have just gone into the forest unsupervised.

"The Cullens left town today. Charlie thinks that had something to do with it, but he doesn't know for sure."

I nodded and walked back into my room. My bare legs and arms suddenly felt freezing cold, and I climbed into bed to get warm.

The Cullens leaving? Why would that have made him—

I stopped in my thought tracks. Edythe Cullen. The girl that stole Beau's heart and attention. The girl he loved.

Her telling him they were leaving, maybe breaking up with him, would have been enough for Beau to go crazy and wander into the forest.

Heartbreak could turn people into strange things.


A/N: And we're back! I know this chapter seemed a little short (at least, to me it does), but they'll get longer once we move into the more exciting events. (I think I'll be posting once a week. At least until the prewritten stuff has run out.)

If you enjoyed this, please tell me by leaving a review! You don't know how much it means to me!