CHAPTER ONE:

"Claire, you're not paying attention, are you?" she sighed.

I snapped my head over to her, tearing my eyes away from the rainy car-park. I couldn't see properly through it, not enough to tell which car was which, but I knew he'd be sitting out there already, waiting for me. "Huh?"

Jasmine rolled her eyes at me, shaking her head furiously. "You don't listen to me anymore."

I gave her a pathetic look. It wasn't her fault my thoughts were so far away. "I'm sorry, Jazz. I just had some things on my mind."

She raised her eyebrows at me. "Some Quil things?"

I frowned at her, and when she smiled, knowing she'd gotten it right, I stuck my tounge out at her. It was annoying how she could tell I was thinking about Quil, but honestly, I was thinking about him all of the time.

"Is he coming to pick you up from school today?" she questioned me.

I shot her my 'What do you think?' look, and she shook her head at me. "You're right, stupid question... Could I just ask you one more question?"

I kept looking at her. "We both know that even if I say no, you're going to ask anyway, Jazz."

She smiled cheekily at me. "How are you and Quil not going out? I mean hugs, and movie nights and you ditch your friends and girl shopping nights to hang out with him, which I don't blame you for, by the way, he is pretty smokin', but not dating him?"

I let a laugh slip from my lips. "Because if we date, and break up, it'll screw up our friendship."

"But who says you guys will break up?" she asked me.

I looked at her, sighing slightly. I had asked myself this question hundreds of times. When I was lying in bed, in my dreams, when I saw his face in the crowd. And even though I could tell Quil everything, I could not tell him my thoughts about this. I didn't want things to get all awkward, not only because he was my very best friend, but because I hated awkward situations.

"Shut up, Jazz." I muttered, putting my paint-brush back up to the paper.

I finished my painting's eyes just before the bell rang for home time, and I stood up, chucking the paint-brush in the sink. The teacher shot me a disapproving look for not washing it, and I smiled politely at her, just wanting to get out to Quil, and the warmth of his arms.

"Pissing off the teachers? Not such a good idea." he muttered as we walked into the school's hallway, getting pushed and shoved violently by the people who were trying to get past. "I mean, they're not very polite, but they do have the power to punish you."

I looked over at Jazz, wondering if this guy was serious. She had a dreamy look on her face, and I looked at her as if she were crazy before I turned back to look at the guy. "Sounds as if you know."

He smiled down at me and instead of smiling back at him, I kept my eyes on what was in front of me so I didn't trip on my face like I normally did. "Yeah, well I've been in three different Art classes in the last month."

"Three?" I raised my eyebrows at him quickly, and then turned back to look at the hall as a girl walked out in front of me, and when I stood on her foot, she gave me a filthy look and stomped away. "And here I was, thinking that this stranger was a pain-in-the-arse. But who knew, he's a trouble making git too!"

"Claire, what are you doing?!" Jazz whispered furiously to me. She thought I was crazy.

Everyone who'd heard me say it to him thought I was crazy, because I'd just said this to Ryan Fletcher. Ryan was the guy that every girl wanted, and every guy wanted to be. He was popular, and hot, and he could do anything he wanted because his family was loaded.

"I'm Ryan." he smiled charmingly at me.

I raised my eyebrows at him. "You don't think I know who you are? I think everyone knows who you are."

"Claire!" Jazz managed to squeal out. "Her name is Claire!"

Ryan looked from me to Jazz, shot her a wink, and then turned back to look at me. "What a lovely name. Does your family like that name?"

"I think that's why Mama called me Claire." I gave him a stupid look.

He blinked. It was obvious that he was confused why his charm wasn't working on me.

We walked towards the doors where I would be taken out to see Quil, and I quickened my pace.

"So, I'm in year twelve." he said coolly.

"And I would care about that, why?" I asked him, looking around the car park.

I saw Quil in his truck, watching us, and I shot him a reassuring smile.

"Well, I would have liked to see your pretty face more. It's a shame that I only met you this year." he said, and he stopped walking as we got to Quil's truck.

"I have a boyfriend!" I blurted out, looking around for Jazz.

I later noticed that she was under a tree, watching the two of us with a love-struck face. The git.

"Who?" he laughed at me. It was obvious he didn't believe my sudden change of character.

I put my finger up to the glass behind me and pointed to Quil. "Him."

"You're lying." he stated. "He's just you're friend. I've heard you talking about him in art."

Crap! "I have to go." I muttered.

I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing for a couple of seconds as I opened my door to Quil's truck and got in, pulling it shut behind me. I wasn't sure whether he was going to try and kiss me, or if he was going to grab me or what.

"Hey, Claire-Bear!" Quil smiled at me as I got in, and put my head on his arm. "How was your day?"

"Drive!" I ordered, looking out the window to see Ryan still standing there. He was a creep, I could just imagine him popping out in the middle of the night from my closet with a smile

on his face, and a cake-mixer in his hands saying 'home abortion' or something creepy like that.

So while he drove out of the school's parking lot, I held on to his arm, and closed my eyes.

"What did you do today?" he asked, when we were a safe while away from the school.

"Art, Art and a little more Art." I muttered, adding under my breath "Unfortunately Mrs G hates me."

He rolled his eyes at me. "I'm sure she doesn't hate you. Who could?"

I wanted to argue with him, but knew I'd never win - when I fought against Quil I instantly felt guilty and ended up just going with whatever he'd said. "What did you do today?"

"Went and got food for the next week, and cleaned up my room for a while."

I sighed. "I don't suppose you cleaned up the lounge room while you were in a cleaning stage, did you?"

She shot me a guilty smile, and I laughed, rolling my eyes. I couldn't stay mad at Quil, no matter how bad the situation. It was like there was a switch inside of me, and when I got angry at him he could turn it to make me smile again. "It's alright, I'll do it when we get back to your house. But you guys have got to start cleaning up after yourselves! Or get more money and get a bloody maid."

Apparently it wasn't a very good situation. Quil, and Seth lived together, well, in seperate rooms. And they were both ridiculously messy. Well Quil wasn't messy, usually. He just couldn't be bothered to clean up after Seth, so he just went with it.

Quil and Seth had been living together for a while. Neither of them had had enough money to live by their selves, and one day Seth said that they should live together or something. I never really listened, just watched Quil.

He pulled up outside my house, which was down a couple of streets from theirs, and smiled at me. "We have to stay here for a while, Seth's got Julia over."

I rolled my eyes. It seemed that everyone was having sex with their Imprint except for me. It would be kind of awkward if me and Quil had sex yet. I wondered if he ever wanted to have sex with me.

I realised, as my cheeks turned red, that I should've stopped thinking about it.

He got out and ran over, pulling my door open for me. He treated me like a princess.

Some people thought it weird, that I wasn't sixteen yet, and yet I spent most nights home all by myself. Yet, none of them were right. Nobody knew, not even his pack-mates, unless he told them when he turned by accident, that Quil snuck in to my bedroom every single night and slept next to me.

Mum had to travel a lot for her work, and she didn't mind leaving me by myself, because I think on most levels she knew Quil was always there, even when he wasn't supposed to be.

Quil had offered for me to move in there, but I didn't think Embry would be as much into the idea as he was, even if Embry was one of my best friends, since he didn't mind being messy, and I wasn't a neat freak, but I didn't live in filth either.

I dumped my shoulder-pack on the lounge-room's table, which was it's neat-self, and put my shoes underneath the table, leaning back on the lounge.

Quil pushed his shoes off, and then fell down to sit next to me, putting his arm around my

shoulder.

His hand moved up to cover mine, and I smiled, holding it tightly. I kissed the side of his jaw, which was where my head went to since he was leaning down and practically folded in half. Quil always smelt like green apples which I loved, and he squeezed my hand.

"Who was that guy who you walked out with?" he asked nonchalantly, slipping it in between changing from Will and Grace to Happy Days.

"Just some arse. His name's Ryan. He's undeniable." I watched the side of his head, even if I couldn't see his eyes from straight on, I knew they rolled. "So, when did you two become friends?"

"We're not friends. We're just- We know each other. I don't even like him, he's a jerk!" I muttered. "I met him this afternoon after he told me it wasn't a good idea to piss the teachers off, and then we just started talking, I guess."

He looked over at me. "He gave you a compliment. You blushed."

"It was stupid." I sighed. "It doesn't matter."

"Now you have to tell me!" he argued, and I frowned.

"He just told me that I was pretty, and he wished he'd met me a couple of years ago so he

could see me more."

He rolled his eyes. "Tell him to get it right; you're bloody beautiful."

"I can't believe that I'm fifteen and three months, and I haven't even had my first kiss." I sighed.

He shot me a smile. "Don't worry, Claire-Bear."

"That's easy for you to say." I argued. "I bet you've kissed one hundred girls!"

He looked down at his hands, and then back to me. "Okay, I'll make you a deal."

I raised my eyebrows at him, and he carried on. "The night of your sixteenth birthday, if you still haven't kissed anyone, I'll kiss you."

I raised my eyebrows. "Kiss or pash?"

He laughed at me. "Pash."

"Fine." I nodded my head. "I can deal with that."

He winked at me, and then we went back to watching the television.

Quil was next to me when I fell to sleep that night, and my eyes slowly drifted, I realised what I'd done. I'd made a deal to kiss my best friend. How wonderful.