Hello :)

I know that I have two stories in progress right now (one that's becoming less clear in my head unfortunately) but the idea for this story has been in my head for a while now and I think that since I have been writing a Brady imprint story I needed to write a Collin imprint story, so here it is :)

The summary describes most of what this story will be about, a girl with Huntington's disease, but this chapter and a couple more will be before she finds out she has it. Now if some of you don't know about Huntington's it will be described throughout the story. I just thought it would be different to write about something like that since it is a tragic disease.

Hope everyone enjoys this story as much as my others!

Chapter 1

Moving In, Moving On

Rain pelted down onto the window, and I counted in my head how long each drop would stay in place before they scurried their way down the glass, onto new and better things. That's exactly what we were doing here in Washington, moving onto new and better things. We were getting away from Arizona to start fresh, as my mom would put it. I thought that we were only moving here because my mom found a better job opportunity. Hell, that's the only reason why I decided to come with, because otherwise we would probably end up on the street if we didn't. Don't get me wrong, Arizona holds a lot of painful memories for all of us, but it was home. I felt comfortable there, I had friends in Arizona. Plus, my dad was buried there. Part of me felt like it was wrong to move away from him just to escape the pain his death brought upon all of us. It was expected though, not any less horrible, but expected.

I considered him gone a few years ago to be quite honest. It all started when he forgot who I was. When that happened it changed everyone, including my happy-go-lucky brother Luke. I honestly think he took it the hardest since him and my dad did practically everything together. Ever since my dad's mind started turning into mush Luke hasn't been the same. My mom really hasn't either, but she tries the best she can for the both of us. Her great spirit is what holds us all together.

And me? I don't know. I guess I was never really the same person I used to be after he was diagnosed with Huntington's disease. After watching him go through so much agony I worried for me and my brother. Not because we would have to go through life without a father. No, the real reason was because we both had a fifty percent chance of getting the disease too. It wasn't contagious, it was genetic. Either we had the gene or we didn't, and the thought of that still haunts me every second of everyday.

"Ellie?" my mom looked at me through the rearview mirror. I was braiding my long blond hair like I always did when I got stressed. She's grown to realize this, so obviously her first reaction was to see if I was alright. She's become a worry wart ever since dad died a month ago. I guess I should've expected her to act like this, secretly worrying about me getting Huntington's too, but covering it up by acting like she was worried about something else. It was routine for her lately, "Are you ok?"

I bit my lip and sighed, looking over to my brother who was too interested in his iPod to even hear what anyone was saying, typical teenage boy, "I'm fine," I tied the rubber band previously residing on my wrist around my hair, "I just don't understand why we have to live on a Native American reservation when Forks looks pretty nice of a place to live too. Isn't it illegal to live on a tribe's reservation if you're not actually in the tribe?"

My mom laughed her blue eyes that I inherited from her glistening in the mirror. I enjoyed hearing her laugh. It was rare, to say the least, "It's not illegal, and you know why. We can't afford much else."

I shrugged, "I just thought that's why it was called a 'reservation'," I used air quotes to emphasize my point, "it's 'reserved'," more air quotes, "for the people of the 'reserved'," air quotes, "Native American tribe."

She rolled her eyes at me, bursting out into a fit of laughter and almost swerving the car into the next lane. It wasn't easy to get her to laugh this much, and I was trying really hard to get her to do it if you couldn't tell. This is probably one of the worst jokes I've ever cracked before.

"We'll have to bring a lot of gifts to make sure they don't kick us out. And I'll teach Luke how to act like a normal human being in case they're weird about that sort of thing."

Luke took the headphones out of his ears, his spiky brown hair sticking up in every direction. I didn't get how this sort of hairstyle was in fashion nowadays. He honestly looked like he was going to become a Backstreet Boy, "What are you saying about me?"

I chuckled, looking over to him, "There are only two rooms in the new house, so you're going to have to sleep outside."

He glared at me with his dark brown eyes, looking so much like my dad that I just wanted to rip his whole face off and throw it out the window, "Shut up, and if anyone's sleeping outside it's you, pippi longstocking."

He grabbed my braid and I just about lost it, "Get your dirty paws off me Justin Bieber," I slammed my hand right on top of his hair to crush the spikes he so carefully crafted this morning at the rest stop.

"Damn it Ellie! I'm going to kill you!" he threw his iPod and lunged at me, trying to tackle me while we were in a car. With our seatbelts on. Good one.

His lanky fifteen year old body was no match for my perfectly sculpted seventeen year old muscles. I somehow managed to get him in a headlock before he could do anything to me.

"Will you two settle down? We're almost there!"

"Sure, just let me do something first," I scraped my fingers through his greasy hair several times to ruin his supposed 'cool hairdo' and giggled as he squirmed in my iron grip. When I was finished trying to save my brother's hair from total destruction, I threw him back towards his seat and wiped my hands off on his shirt.

He slapped my arm away and pushed me against the window, clearly pissed off, "Don't ever touch my hair again."

I rolled my eyes dramatically, "Aw sorry to cramp your style. You should be thanking me really. Anymore gel in your hair and it would be greasy enough to make a full bottle of cooking spray."

"Mom!" he shouted like the little wuss he was. He was such a little baby.

"You kids will be the death of me one of these days," at the mention of the word death all of us shut our mouths, and suddenly the air felt tense. My mother looked like she just did something criminal by the way her eyes widened. I stiffened from the word, placing my arms around my torso to stop the pain I felt inside. All of us stayed quiet for the rest of the ride, looking out through our respected windows.

After that you could feel that something was missing. It was like we all suddenly realized the front passenger's seat was empty even though we had been driving all morning. I don't know why no one sat there; I guess it just felt like he should be there. My eyes dampened when I thought of him and I closed them to stop myself from crying. I couldn't stand to cry anymore.

My mom shook me awake when we finally pulled up to the house. I wiped the sleep out of my eyes and blinked a few times. I couldn't tell you how I managed to sleep for the rest of the ride, but I was glad I did. It made it go by much faster.

The three of us took the sight of the house in inside of the car since it was pouring outside. Great, nothing like carrying boxes in and out of the house in the rain. Was it always going to be like this? Would the sun ever grace us with its presence? I guess that only happened in Arizona, where the sun visited on a daily basis. Oh how I miss sitting out with the UV rays tanning up my skin. My best friends are stuck behind the clouds forever I guess.

I took in the exterior of the place. It seemed a little run down, but that's what gave it its charm. It practically screamed home to me. The house was covered in dark green paneling that was chipping here and there. The windows were trimmed with a black paint covering the wood, and a small porch lined the front of the house.

"Should we go check out the inside?" mom suggested, clicking her seatbelt.

"Yeah," I sighed and pulled the hood of my sweater over my head, "nothing like getting soaked your first day here. La Push is definitely not making a good first impression on me."

"Same here. I miss the sun," my brother chimed in beside me.

"Oh you'll get used to it. Let's go before it rains so much that we drown in the car," she opened the door in a flash and dashed inside the house, leaving the two of us in here to fend for ourselves.

"I wouldn't doubt that we would drown," I looked at the huge puddle forming right outside my door and down at the flats I was wearing. Definitely need to invest in some boots, "I guess I'll be brave and give this a shot," I held my breath like I was about to go underwater.

"Good luck with that. I think I'll hang out in here for a while."

Ha, he didn't know the mistake he was making. I opened the door and was immediately hit by rain, "Suit yourself. Guess you will be sleeping outside tonight," I slammed the door behind me, jumped over the puddle and sprinted towards the front door.

Instantly, I heard the sound of his own door opening and closing, "You are so not going to get first pick of rooms!"

I ran up the steps two at a time, not even caring that my shoes were now drenched in water. As soon as I reached for the knob my brother grabbed my arm, somehow catching up to me.

"Where the hell did you learn to run?" I pushed him off of me and twisted the door open, stepping inside the house for the first time.

"There's one room upstairs and one down here for the both of you," my mom pointed out from the kitchen, obviously knowing what we were doing the second she saw us.

"I get the one down here!" We both screamed at the same time, stopping dead in our tracks to argue.

"I'm older, therefore I get to have the room downstairs."

"I'm smarter and funnier and hotter, meaning I'm the one that deserves that room," he smirked.

"What? You're delusional! How could you determine you're hotter when we're related and you technically can't take my looks into consideration since that would be considered incest?"

"Fine, flip a coin to see who gets the room," he reached back into his pocket to get a coin, and while he was distracted I took a dart for the hallway that would most likely lead to victory.

When I finally found what I was looking for I ran into the empty, spacious room, pumping my fists into the air like I just won a gold medal at the Olympics. Luke came running in after me, completely breathless and extremely pissed. He cursed silently and shook his head at me, "You're so dramatic," he commented on my victory dance. I didn't care, he was just jealous.

After fighting a little more about whether or not I was being fair, mom stepped in and let me win. I did another victory dance in response. I finally took in my room, noticing that the closet was a bit small but I could manage. There was a huge window off to the left side of the room, giving me a perfect view of the evergreen forest behind our house. All I can say is, I wanted to decorate the hell out of this place.

Once I got a good look around my room, I took a look around the rest of the house. The kitchen was small, and yet it seemed to be the perfect size for the three of us. Our old kitchen table was already set up in here since the movers got a head start before we did. The cabinets were painted white and the walls were brightly covered in yellow. It was exactly the same as the color our old living room was painted in. My dad had picked it out, stating that it reminded him of the beach resort we went to years back. Needless to say, it tugged a bit at my insides when I realized it. This was a good way to remember him though.

I moved onto the living room, taking in the ocean blue walls. The old black bookcase from home was set up along the back wall, and our cream colored couches were smack dab in the middle of the room with the old television residing in front of it. My family and I made so many memories in our old living room. Friday family game nights were always fun when I was a kid. After my dad got sick we completely let go of all of that.

I felt someone place their hands on my shoulders. When I realized it was my mom I immediately settled, erasing the haunting thoughts of our old life from my mind for now, "I know it's not much, but we can spruce it up a bit."

"It's perfect mom," I never thought I would say that so soon. I truly felt that way though. This was perfect. As soon as we personalized it a bit it would be a great little home.

"Come on, we have to bring in the rest of the stuff."

I groaned, hesitating to follow her out into the rain. My brother was already starting to bring stuff in, dripping water from head to toe. It surprised me since he practically worshipped his hair which was now just a dampen mess.

"You so don't deserve that room," he commented.

I rolled my eyes, "You'll get over it soon enough."

I turned back towards the door and stared down at my soaking wet feet. And as I stepped back out into the rain I heard deep voices I didn't recognize. I started heading down the front steps, looking up only to find three giant, copper skinned guys standing on our front lawn talking to my mother. Not to mention, they weren't wearing shirts. While it was raining.

My eyes bugged out of their sockets when I comprehended this fact, and I slipped and fell on my ass because of how completely baffling it was. Or maybe it was just because I've never seen abs like that in my entire life. Not even the male models in magazines had stomachs that perfectly sculpted.

One of the three ran up to me and helped me up immediately. I wiped off my jeans and shrugged it off like it was no big deal, when in reality I was freaking out just because I was in their presence. I also wanted to know why the hell his hand felt so hot. It was burning my skin, even through my flannel shirt.

"Are you alright?" I could hear a slight chuckle come off the end of his question. The other two didn't really seem to notice, still talking to my mother. What is going on here?

I finally took into account how huge this guy was, easily towering over my normally tall frame. At 5'8'' you'd think I was a string bean compared to other people. Compared to this giant I was a pea.

"I'm fine," my voice shook a little. I cursed myself for letting my nerves consume me, "Just not used to so much rain."

"Well, get used to it. Rain's all you get here," he smiled widely at me. His hand slowly rose and he stuck it out towards me. When I looked down at it I couldn't help but avert my gaze to his abs. They were now glossy from the rain. Oh lord, please give me the strength to not pass out, "I'm Seth by the way."

I placed my hand in his overly sized one, feeling like I just stuck it in a giant toaster, "Ellie. So, is there a no shirt policy here or something?"

All of a sudden the other two hotties made their way towards us, my brother glaring at them the whole time he brought boxes inside the house.

"No let me guess, you guys just came back from a bodybuilding competition."

"Ellie, that's no way to talk to the locals," my mom gave me a stern look, "These nice boys just offered to help us move in, isn't that nice honey?"

"We figured you could use some help with the bigger stuff, since it is raining and all," The biggest of the three came a step closer to me, and I felt my cheeks burning. This is too much for one girl to handle, "I'm Jacob by the way, and this is Embry."

The other guy, Embry, waved a little while I just stood in a complete daze. Was this how all of the guys here looked? If so, then I really was not complaining. In fact, I love La Push. I'll print it on a t-shirt to prove it.

"I'm Ellie," I introduced myself, "and thanks for the help. If you haven't noticed by now we could use all the help we can get."

They smiled in unison, and I just about died, "It's not a problem. Just lead the way and we'll follow," oh God they were going to follow me? Please please don't make yourself look like an ass.

And of course I did the whole freaking time. Note to self, buy rain boots. They won't cause you to make a complete fool out of yourself in front of the hot bulky dudes. Which is exactly what I did every five seconds. Whenever I slipped or lost my footing though, one of them would catch me, and I would blush. And I would forever remember how it felt to be up against their biceps.

After we got everything out of the small trailer and the trunk of our car, all of us were finally able to stay dry for more than five seconds. It was unbelievable the amount of water I was soaked in right now. I feel like I just killed a hundred fish.

I got some towels out of the box labeled bathroom and handed one to Jacob, Embry, and the last one Seth. Who my mom kept eyeing like a creep.

"Would you boys like something to eat? I'm sure I could order something."

Two of them said yes, but Jacob said no. All it took was a stern look from Jacob for them to back down. I couldn't help but laugh, "We actually have to be somewhere soon, but thanks for the offer," Jacob said, grinning at my mom.

"Do any of you go to the Quileute tribal school? Ellie will be going there when the year starts and I'm sure it would be nice if one of you could show her around," my mom smiled like she was doing me a favor.

Really? She thought they were still in high school? They all looked like they were in their twenties for God's sake! Not only that but she was trying to get one to give me a tour. How awkward.

"Mom-,"

"We don't, but Seth does," Embry nudged him.

"Yeah I'll be starting my senior year," Seth added with an all too happy look on his face.

I was shocked to say the least. He was in high school? He was my age? Really? How?

"Well isn't that wonderful. Maybe you two could exchange numbers and get together som-,"

"Didn't you guys say you had to be somewhere?"

"Ellie," my mom patted my arm lightly, "Don't be rude."

"No, she's right Mrs. Porter, we really should be going," Jacob stood up and Embry and Seth followed after him. It was a little weird how they kept doing that.

"Well thank you for all your help boys. If it weren't for you we would probably be getting crushed by those bed frames."

They all laughed, "No problem. If you need anything else we're always around."

I stayed in the kitchen, leaning up against the counter as they walked out of the room. Seth trailed behind and eventually stopped walking, turning towards me, "It was nice meeting you Ellie. Hopefully I'll see you around school?"

"Yeah, I guess, but I'm dreading it. Being the new girl isn't really my thing," I groaned.

He shrugged, "Don't worry I'm sure you'll play the role very well."

Seth actually got me to chuckle at that one, "Thanks."

"Let's go Seth," I heard Jacob call from the other room.

"Gotta go," he waved and smiled at me, reminding me of an innocent child. Which was weird since he looked like a line backer and a lot older than he actually was.

I waved back at him and watched as his figure disappeared. After they were gone my mom walked back into the kitchen while my brother came out of hiding.

"Jesus you'd think they were male strippers or something," Luke looked like he was scarred for life.

"I wish," I muttered.

"Seth seemed like a nice boy didn't he Ellie?" my mom had an expression on her face that just screamed matchmaker.

"Mom, I just met the guy," I slapped my hand over my face, "Can we please just get back to moving in?"

She sighed, "Alright fine, but I'm just saying-,"

"Nope! Not listening!" I covered my ears.

"Conversation's over," she lifted her hands in surrender, trying to hide a smile, "So who wants to go to the hardware store and pick out some paint for their room? Then I was thinking we could go get some food to put in this house."

"I'm in," I definitely didn't want my walls to be a bland white the rest of my life. Plus, I could probably see if there was an animal shelter around this painfully small town. Maybe I could even look for places that are hiring.

"I'm starving," my brother immediately stood up and headed for the door, "Let's go."

We all piled into the car and headed out. Eventually we realized there was nothing in La Push except for a beach and some houses. We ended up driving through Forks and into Port Angeles which is where most of the stores were. I noticed only one animal shelter and figured I could take a look there sometime before I went to school to see if I could volunteer.

Once we got to the hardware store we went straight to the paint swatches. I picked out two variations of teal that I figured would be a nice fit with my black bedspread, one a light color called Aqua Spray and the other a darker color with the name Mermaid Treasure. Don't ask, I didn't make the names.

My brother chose red, grey, and black for his room. Don't ask about that either, I have no idea what he's thinking. And my mom chose a nice periwinkle. Once we got all of the painting supplies we figured we would need, we paid for the stuff and left.

Next stop was the grocery store, where it seemed as if we took every single product they sold. It was only because we were starving. Trust me, you do a lot of weird shit when you're really hungry. I'm sure you could hear all of our stomachs a mile away.

As we checked out, I noticed a big and bulky guy that was hovering over the girl in front of us, staring at her like he was in a whole other world that only included her. It was completely freaking me out and I was tempted to ask her if she was ok with this creep drooling down her neck.

Then, he suddenly grabbed her around the waist and I was ready to call the police. Except she laughed, becoming completely distracted by his presence. Luke groaned next to me, mumbling something about getting a room.

"Kim, come on you know how much I love you," I heard him say to her. It's not like he was really being quiet about it.

The cashier told them the final total of their food and it was like she told them to give her a show, because the guy started nibbling on her ear. Then he started kissing her neck and I was ready to throw up. The cashier looked terrified. Horny people I swear.

"Jared, stop," she protested but giggled.

I rolled my eyes, and just as he was about to kiss her on the lips I spoke up, "Can you please refrain from sucking face right now? I'm sorry but some of us would like to eat dinner tonight without puking, thanks."

My mom shot me a glare. I know my mouth got me in trouble sometimes, and I didn't care. PDA was disgusting to me.

I saw the girl, Kim I'm assuming, blush while the guy seemed to fly off the handle. He turned around towards me, shaking like a maniac and glaring at me.

"Who the hell are you to talk?"

"I'm a customer, in the same line that you're trying to dry hump your girlfriend, and I would appreciate if you would take your love fest somewhere else."

"Ok that's enough out of you," my mom grabbed my arm and pulled me back. Kim seemed to do the same since her stupid boyfriend looked like he was ready to pummel me into the ground. I'd like to see him try.

I kept my eyes on the angry asshole as he was being dragged out of the store. It seemed like the girl struggled since he was so huge. In the back of my head I wondered if he was one of Jacob, Embry and Seth's friends. They all looked the same, so it was an accurate assumption.

All I can say is, that guy is a horn dog, and even though he's hot he's completely inappropriate. Not to mention he has some anger issues. He looked like he was literally vibrating and ready to explode all because I called him out on his rudeness. Sorry, but I wasn't the type to keep my mouth shut.

Once we left the store my mom lectured me on how I completely embarrassed myself in there and I had no right to argue with 'that boy'. I tuned her out after hearing that. I drifted off and thought about how this whole thing would've played out if my dad was alive. If he were here I know for sure he would've laughed about what happened. He would've made my mom believe that he agreed with her and then secretly patted me on the back for what I did at home.

Thinking about it made my stomach churn, and suddenly I didn't feel all that hungry anymore. He wasn't here, and he wasn't coming back. All because of a stupid disease that ate away at his brain cells. A disease that was the number one thing I feared most in this screwy world.

So how was it?

If you guys enjoyed it then let me know in a review :) next chapter will be when Collin sees her for the first time. And don't worry Seth and her are NOT going to have a thing together if you were wondering...

Next chapter is already in my head and I'm very excited to write it out!

Thank you for reading! :)

~KK