Kim Connweller waited patiently as her biology teacher pulled names out of a shoe box in pairs, randomly assigning each student with their partner for their science project.

The teacher pulled out probably the third pair from the box and read the names, "Kim Connweller and…Lilly Fuller."

Kim stood up and scanned the students until another girl stood up, as well. The other girl had the usual Quileute features like most every other girl on the reservation. She was about 5'6" and had black hair that was parted over her left eye, had a barely-visible wave, and went down past her shoulder blades. She also had tan skin and, as Kim approached her to sit beside her, she noticed a light sprinkling of freckles across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. She had golden brown eyes with green flecks and, when she smiled at Kim in greeting, she showed small dimples near the corners of her mouth.

Once the last couple pairs were decided the teacher told the class to spend the rest of the class discussing their projects of choice with their partners.

After a few moments of awkward silence Kim cleared her throat and stuck her hand out towards the other girl. "Um, I'm Kim. It's nice to meet you."

The other girl shook her hand with a friendly smile, but didn't say anything in response. When they let go, she pulled her notebook closer to her and wrote something down before turning it so Kim could read it.

'I'm Lilly. It's nice to meet you, too.'

Kim read it in confusion before her eyes widened. Lilly. Lilly Fuller. Of course!

"Oh! You're the…" Kim trailed off, not wanting to offend the girl.

Lilly nodded with a small, understanding smile. She got that response a lot. She quickly wrote down a sentence with her right hand. Kim also noticed Lilly's left hand was covered in nasty scarring, like a burn scar, the rest of it was hidden under her jacket sleeve so Kim didn't know how far up her arm it went.

'Yep. The mute.'

"Sorry. You must be used to people feeling awkward around you, huh?" Kim grimaced, feeling guilty.

Lilly shrugged and wrote, 'Better awkward than mean.'

Kim nodded. "Yeah, I guess that's true. I'm surprised I never knew you were in this class."

'Well, I'm kinda quiet.' Lilly wrote with a small smirk at her dumb joke. Kim laughed.

"Well, I can relate. I've been living here my whole life and to this day I'll still have people ask me if I'm a new student. My own boyfriend asked me that a couple weeks ago when we first officially met. He thinks it's cause I read too much." Kim chuckled as she thought back to when Jared, her boyfriend, imprinted on her.

Lilly thought for a moment before writing, 'Oh! You're dating Jared Cameron right?'

Kim nodded, a huge smile lighting up her face. "Yep, but only for a week."

Lilly actually looked surprised before writing, 'The way I've seen you two act around each other it looks like you've been dating for over a year!'

Kim laughed, feeling her face heat up in embarrassment. "Yeah, we just kinda…click, ya know?" she shrugged, not knowing how to explain her relationship with Jared to someone who didn't know about the legends and imprinting.

Lilly just smiled before writing. 'That's really cute.'

Kim blushed again before getting down to business.

"Okay, so what do you want to do for our project?"

They spent the rest of the class period trying to think up a project that no one else would think to do, and by the end of the class, they finally thought of one.

When the bell rang, Kim gathered up her things and hurried out of the class, knowing Jared would be waiting for her just outside the door so they could head to their last class together.

Sure enough, when Kim walked out of the classroom she saw Jared leaning against some lockers with his books under one arm. Kim smiled at the sight of him, which he returned as he stood and met her halfway. Jared wrapped his free arm around her back and leaned down to peck her lips with his. Kim smiled up at him before she looked over her shoulder, seeing Lilly walk out of the class.

"Bye, Lilly! See you tomorrow!" Kim called, waving her hand a little. Lilly seemed mildly surprised that she was acknowledging her outside of class, but she smiled and waved back before heading down the hall.

Jared watched her for a moment before he looked down at his imprint, wrapping his arm around her shoulder to walk to their class. "Who was that?"

"Lilly Fuller. We're partners for our science project. She's really nice." Kim answered, smiling up at him.

Jared thought for a moment, knowing he'd heard that name before. Then it hit him.

"Wait, Lilly…you mean the mute?" he asked.

Kim pursed her lips before nodding. "Do you have to call her that?" she asked quietly.

Jared tightened his grip around her shoulders. "I didn't mean it like that, Kim. I was just trying to remember who she was."

Kim sighed. "I know. It just kinda bugs me that people refer to her as 'the mute'. She's really nice and funny and smart."

Jared nodded in agreement. Like mostly everyone else on the reservation, he knew only the basics of Lilly's story. A couple years prior, when Lilly was in eighth grade, her parents had been killed in a house fire, and Lilly almost died with them, but managed to get out with only a few burns. When she went back to school, she apparently stopped talking, but no one really knew for sure if she quit by choice or if she was injured in the fire to the point she couldn't talk.

Being two years older than her, Jared knew less of the story than some did, but he noticed only a few short weeks after her parents' death, Lilly started hanging out by herself, while she used to have a large group of friends that she rarely strayed from. He didn't know what the deal was with that. Then again, he didn't know what went on in the female mind, except for Leah's, but hers was probably different than Lilly's.

XXX

When school got out, Lilly walked home by herself. The walk was only about ten minutes, so it wasn't that bad. When she entered the front door of the small, white, one-story house, there was a scraping of little claws scrabbling on the hardwood floor before suddenly a hyper little bundle of fur started jumping up against her legs, practically up to her chest.

Lilly giggled at the little Jack Russell Terrier as she put down her backpack and patted her chest with both hands. Knowing the sign well, the little dog leapt up into her arms, licking her face happily as she hugged him tightly to her chest. He had shaggy fur and ears that were flopped over like many other Jack Russell's, and he was completely white except for a patch of light brown over his left ear and eye, and another light brown patch in the middle of his back.

Lilly's Grandfather, Adam Fuller, had bought the little dog, which they named Dash, about seven years prior, when he was a little puppy. Adam had been wanting to train the dog to help hunt, but he had died only about six months later. Her Grandma hadn't had the heart to get rid of the little dog, but she didn't really want to have him be a hunting dog, either. So instead Dash became more of a companion than a hunting dog. Lilly figured it was better that way, anyways. Because while Dash was incredibly smart, he was a little too hyper to be much of a help in a hunt.

After letting Dash out in the backyard to do his business, she sat on the couch, Dash at her side, and pulled out her math homework to work on while she waited for her Grandmother to get home. As usual, Dash didn't stay sitting for very long. He eventually laid down pressed up against her leg, his chin rested on her thigh as he nosed her math book over to make room for himself.

After her parents died, she moved in with her Grandma Abby Fuller. Her Gran, the nickname she'd given her dad's mom when she was a baby, worked as a librarian in Forks, and was also a member on the Tribal Council. Her husband, Adam, used to be on the Council until he died of cancer when Lilly was ten. So, Abby had taken his place. Sue Clearwater did the same when her husband Harry passed only a week ago.

Lilly looked up when the sound of the front door distracted her from her math homework. Dash yipped happily as he leapt over the back of the couch to greet her Gran as she walked in, closing the door behind her with her foot as she carried two paper grocery sacks. Dash knew better than to jump on Abby, as they had taught him it was only okay with certain people. Abby Fuller was anything but a frail old lady to anyone who glanced at her. Being in her early sixties, she barely came to 5 feet tall, and she was heavier in weight, though not fat by any means. Her face contained laugh lines around her nose and the corners of her mouth, as well as her eyes from when they crinkled when she laughed. She had shoulder-length black hair that was graying at the roots.

Lilly put down her pencil and approached her Grandma, taking one of the bags from her and following her into the kitchen, Dash following happily, his little tail wagging furiously.

"Thanks, sweetie. How was your day at school?" Abby asked as she set her bag on the counter, pulling things out to put away.

Lilly placed her bag beside the other before pulling out the small notepad from her jacket pocket. She pulled the small pencil out of the spiral and wrote down her quick response before showing it to her Grandmother.

"Good. I got an A on my math test and in science we're working on a science project with partners."

Abby read it over quickly before turning to continue putting things away. "I'm not too surprised about that A. How many times did I have to tell you to stop studying and go to sleep last week?" she asked teasingly, her thin eyebrow lifted knowingly. Lilly shrugged with an innocent smile before handing a bag of apples to her Grandma to put away. "So, who's your partner for your science project?"

"Kim Connweller. She's really nice."

Abby smiled at the name written on her granddaughter's notepad. She'd only met Jared's imprint, Kim, a handful of times, mostly at the Clearwaters' the past week helping Sue, and she seemed a little shy but really sweet.

"Yes, she is. I've met Kim a few times. Sweet girl, that one. And definitely good at keeping Jared Cameron in line." Abby added, chuckling to herself. Lilly giggled to herself, thinking about a couple stories Kim had told about Jared when they got side-tracked in science.

When they finished putting the groceries away, Abby told Lilly to finish her homework while she made dinner.

Lilly sighed to herself as she got back to her math homework. Like every other teenager, she hated school. And she couldn't help wishing it was Friday instead of Monday.