Chapter 1

For once, in this God forsaken town of Forks, Washington, the sun was shining. There was not a single cloud obstructing the perfection of the bright blue sky. The trees were a very beautiful forest green. The birds were singing their songs of joy because there was no rain for once. It was very peaceful.

I, however, was stuck inside.

Of course, I was stuck inside. Where else would I be on such a gorgeous sunny day? It couldn't be sunny on a Saturday or Sunday; it had to be a Thursday. Here I was, stuck inside the school, learning.

I stared at the clock. 12:45 p.m. Maybe I could fake sick and leave early or maybe I could accidentally hurt myself and get sent home early. I frowned at these thoughts. They had their flaws, which all ended up dealing with my mom. I wanted to avoid that at all cost.

I looked out the window and groaned. It was just so nice outside! School always got in the way of everything. I looked back at the clock. Five minutes had passed. Maybe I could just get up and leave. Or maybe I was just anxious and it wasn't really the weather that put me in that kind of mood. Maybe I had plans after school that was much more exciting.

Once school was finally over, I raced out the front door of the school building to my car and grinned till my face hurt. There stood the most beautiful man that I had ever laid eyes on. His tall muscular body always made me shiver with glee, but it was his big brown eyes that won me over.

"Hey!" The voice of my good friend, Jacob Black, yelled when he saw me running across the parking lot.

"Hey!" I said, grinning from ear to ear. "I thought for sure I'd beat you here today."

Jacob threw an arm around me. "You will never be as fast as me." He said and gave me a playful smile. "So what do you want to do on this fine day, Ms. Dakotah?"

"Well, since it's not raining, and it's rather warm, why don't we just head over to the beach and hang out?" I suggested. Jacob removed his arm from around my shoulders and it immediately felt a little cool outside. "Oh, well, it's still not that cold out here. What do you say?"

"Sure. You know I'm up for pretty much whatever." He said as he went over to the passenger's side door and gestured for me to get in. "I'm driving."

I found this slightly odd because I always drove unless he wanted to surprise me with something. I hesitated for a second, but then got in the car, and handed him the keys. As he walked around to the driver's side, I watched as he threw the keys in the air then caught them, nonchalantly.

"Where are we going?" I asked casually.

"You'll see." He said, and then changed the subject. "How was school?"

"Never-ending." I said and settled back into my seat. "I never thought it would end. How was school for you?"

"The same as always. A little less than never-ending, but still it was quite long as well. Quil and Embry played a joke on one of our teachers though, and that passed time really fast." Jacob then decided to tell me about the joke, which I didn't mind at all because I loved to hear him talk. His voice was velvet smooth to my ears and made me calm. Right after that story, he launched into another one about a kid at lunch who blew milk out of his nose.

As I listened to his stories and laughed in the appropriate places, the ride to wherever we were going ended up feeling as if it took seconds to get there. Once he stopped the car, I looked around and noticed we were on the cliff, and right near the edge was a blanket. I looked at Jacob and frowned.

"What are we doing here? What have you got planned?"

Jacob laughed and got out of the car. Before I could even open the door, his hand was already on the handle, and he opened it for me. I stepped out of the car and felt the cool breeze from the ocean hit me in the face. I could smell the salty water in the air. Jacob grabbed my hand and brought me towards the blanket.

"Have a seat." He suggested and threw himself onto the blanket.

I smiled and rolled my eyes. "Oh, Jacob." I sighed and sat next to him.

He grinned as he looked at me, and his hand found his way to mine. The heat that was raging from it and him was incredible. It made the breeze more bearable. "I wanted to tell you something…important, which is the reason I brought you here." He spoke softly and slowly. I waited patiently for him to go on. When he didn't proceed, I looked at his face. He looked down at his hand on mine and breathed deeply.

I began to worry a little. "Jacob?" I questioned. He looked up at me and our eyes locked. Those big brown eyes were filled with something that I had only seen once before a long time ago when Bella Swan was still a huge part of his life.

When I had first moved to Forks, I was the new kid that everyone knew about because the last time someone had moved here was a few years ago and that person was Bella. She was a senior in high school at the time, and I a junior. She instantly became my friend because she knew how it felt to be new and have everyone stare at you awkwardly. I didn't welcome it at first, but she grew on me. She had introduced me to her strange friends including her boyfriend, which at the time, I didn't know were vampires, until a few weeks later when I figured it out from their strange behavior. I was hanging out with Bella, Edward, and Alice, Edward's sister, at Bella's house one day, when there was a knock on the door.

"Dakotah, can you answer that for me?" Bella had asked. She was in the kitchen making dinner for her and me since vampires don't eat anything but blood.

"Sure." I said, getting up off the couch and going towards the door.

"Bella, it's Jacob." Edward said before I even got to the door.

"Who's Jaco--?" I stopped abruptly when I opened the door and saw this gorgeous boy standing in the doorway. He was extremely tall, at least 6'5", and his muscles were shaped amazingly on his body, which wasn't hard to see since he came to the door without a shirt. My eyes widened and my mouth dropped forming an 'O.'

Jacob was a little shocked to see someone other than Bella or Charlie, Bella's father, standing at the door because his face, which had a huge grin on it, turned into ten different emotions all in one, then back to a grin. "Hi." He said, sticking out his hand. "Jacob Black."

I reached for his hand and almost took it back at once when I felt the heat that enclosed around mine. "Dakotah Evans." When he let go of my hand, I staggered backwards, regained composure, and sat back down next to Alice. She looked at me and grinned from ear to ear, and Edward laughed once. "What?" I asked, looking at the two, but all they did was grin, especially Edward.

I shook my head as the memory faded and Jacob began talking. "Dakotah, I… what I have to say is really important, well, I mean… yes, it's really important." He was stumbling on his words so much that I just wanted to shake it out of him. "You are no doubt the most wonderful person I have ever had the pleasure to meet." I smiled, but had a feeling that this was going somewhere that I didn't want it to.

"Jacob," I said and put my hand on his cheek. His face was so warm and soft. "Don't say anything hurtful. My heart won't take it. Not coming from you." I whispered the last sentence.

His expression became confused, angry, and then his face softened. "No, of course not." His eyes lit up with feeling. "I just wanted to say that—"

"JACOB!" Someone yelled from behind me, and I jumped. Jacob stood up super fast and began shaking.

I shut my eyes and sighed heavily as I reached out and put a hand on his knee. "Calm down, please." I said soothingly. He looked down at me, then back up at our intruder.

"What do you want, Seth?" He asked, taking deep breathes. "I'm busy."

"I had to tell you something. It's Leah. She's…" Seth stopped speaking and looked at me. "She imprinted."

"You came over here to tell me that your stupid sister has imprinted when you knew I was busy this afternoon?" Jacob was getting furious. "I don't care about Leah, Seth! I don't care if she imprinted, and I don't care who it was!"

Jacob's clothing was starting to rip. I could hear the stitches ripping slowly. "Jacob! No! Calm down! Listen to me. Don't do this now. Not right here." I quickly got to my feet and touched his arm. He looked at me and I could tell that by touching him gently, he was already a little bit calmer.

"Jake, I—it's important that you d-do know who it is…" Seth trembled a little from fear of Jacob.

"Why?" Jacob snarled.

"Because it could, because… it's you."

My mouth dropped open and I stared at Seth. He flinched a little, not sure of what Jacob was going to do, but when he started laughing, Seth looked at him curiously, as did I.

"She, haha, she can't have! She would have done it the minute she saw me! Woo! Haha! Oh, Seth, don't make me laugh!" Jacob doubled over, hand across his stomach, laughing hysterically.

"I was there when it happened." Seth said, staring at Jacob, horrified.

"I don't get it." I said, standing between the two boys. "What do you mean, Seth?"

Seth turned to me. "I can't explain why she did it just recently. I'm just as new as everyone else is. Hell, I haven't even imprinted myself, but Leah swears up and down that she's imprinted and it's Jake!"

"When did she imprint?" I asked.

"Earlier today, when he was running to your school. She saw him in the woods and she just…. It just happened!" Seth turned and looked at Jacob. "Phase. See if she's a wolf and hear her thoughts."

Jacob walked on the other side of the street to go into the woods. I heard a faint pop, then 10 seconds later another pop, which I supposed meant that he was now a human again. A few seconds later, he walked back to us, a worried expression on his face.

"Shit." He looked to Seth. "Sorry." He mumbled. "Well, shit, but this doesn't change anything except that I have to stay away from Leah. When you imprint, you imprint. You can't help it or change it."

I looked at him, wondering, afraid of the answer to the question I was about to ask. "Have you imprinted, Jake?"

He looked at me for a second before answering. "Yes."