As hard as I tried, I couldn't stop my eyes from glancing at my watch every five seconds. It was five minutes to four. I would be sixteen in FIVE MINUTES!! I stared at the fireplace across from me, hoping that something will jump out. A bunny, a cat, anything to get my mind off my watch. My eyes slowly wandered around the room. The first thing I noticed was Jacob Black asleep on the couch behind me. I could feel his too-warm-to-be-human breath on the back of my neck. But of course, he isn't human. And neither am I. One more look at my watch informed me that it was two minutes until I turned sixteen. A bundle of nerves emerged inside my stomach as I thought about everything that would change in two minutes. My life as I knew it would be gone. I leaned my head back on the couch, closed my eyes, and made a wish.

"Hey," a voice behind me said. I gasped and turned around. It was only Jake.

"Oh my gosh, did I wake you up? I'm so sorry. I tried to stay quiet."

His soft, brown eyes meet mine and I instantly melted in their warmth. "Nessie, you know I'm a light sleeper when I'm around you. Your mom left me to protect you, remember? You weren't disturbing me at all. And besides, I wouldn't be anywhere else on the night of your sixteenth birthday. " He slipped off the couch and sat down next to me. He smiled that smile that I love so much, and his canine teeth glistened in the moonlight that shone through the window. As I leaned my head on his shoulder, my watch beeped. Jacob and I both looked down at my watch at the same time, then looked up at each other. I noticed Jacob quickly glance down at my lips. "Frozen forever." he says softly. "Happy Birthday Nessie." He wrapped his arms around me, pressing my so close to his body I felt his heartbeat quicken.

I hugged him back, whispering in his ear, "As long as I have you, I don't care how long I'm sixteen. You're my best friend, Jake. And I wouldn't change that for anything." I felt him stroking my hair and pulled away. He always plays with my hair when something's wrong. "What's wrong, Jake?"

He smiled faintly before pushing a piece of hair behind my ear and looking into my eyes again. "You're sixteen now, and I think you should know. It's about you...and me...about us."

My heart raced. He was going to tell me he didn't want to be my friend anymore. That a werewolf and a half-vampire could never be friends. I felt my eyes begin to tear up. Why was he saying this now? Couldn't he have told me earlier? He knew what I was. Why did he become my friend in the first place?

He slowly continued, his beautiful, tan face turning red. He took my hand. "There's a certain....complication to being a werewolf, Nessie. At some point in a werewolf's life, they begin to have these feelings for-"

"Is this the 'birds and the bees' speech? 'Cuz if it is, Mom and Dad have already explained it to me," I interrupted.

"No, Renesmee, it's not. This is more serious than that." He'd never used my full name before. This WAS serious. "Anyway, at some point, we begin to have feelings for other people. Whether it be a werewolf or a person. It's never happened with a vampire before, so it's really weird. But sometime during our lives, we imprint." A puzzled look came across my face at the word, which he noticed. "Do you believe in love at first sight?" Oh my God....I knew where this was going, but somehow, I still nodded my head. "Well, imprinting is something like that, but stronger."

"Stronger?"

"Yeah. The first time we meet the person we're meant for, we imprint on them. When we imprint on someone, we know we're destined to be with that person. That he or she is our soul mate. We know that we will be with them no matter what and we won't be happy with anyone else. And whoever is on the other side of our imprinting can't refuse the affection because we're giving them a special kind of affection. The werewolf and the person are perfect for each other. Does that make sense?"

I nodded. "So, what does that mean?"

Jacob smiled for a fraction of a second. "I imprinted on someone sixteen years ago. And I know that they're my soul mate. I'm just scared that they won't feel the same way."

"Why wouldn't they? You just said that they can't refuse it."

"Have you ever noticed that I look the same every single time you see me. That it doesn't look like I've aged that much since you were born? Werewolves age very slowly, you know that. But you, you haven't been. I'm eighteen right now, and you're sixteen. In another eight years, I'll be nineteen, but you'll still be the same age. It wouldn't work. I'll keep getting old and you won't. That's why your mom wanted your dad to change her. Because she didn't want to get older than him by too much. You'll live forever and I'll keep aging."

"So? We can still be friends right?"

He smiled again. "Yeah, we can. But I don't want to be friends. I want to be so much more than that. I imprinted on you, Nessie. The moment I saw your mom when she was pregnant with you, I imprinted. I knew you were the one I wanted to be with." He put a warm hand on my cheek. "I love you, Renesmee. More than life itself. And I know you feel the same way about me."

I opened my mouth to speak, then closed it again. I wasn't sure what to say. Did I feel the same way? I mean, I loved him like a brother. Like part of the family. But basically, right now, he was proposing to me. I had spent the last sixteen years of my life with him, and I've always loved him, but...

"You DO feel the same way, don't you? I mean, that's how imprinting works," he replied, his face sinking.

"Look, Jake. I love you like a brother, but that's all right now. You're my best friend. And I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but...I don't think you really IMPRINTED on me. If you did, I would feel the same way, right? Like you said. But I don't. I'm sorry." It killed me to see the look on Jake's face when he realized what I said. He slumped back against the couch and sighed. My cell phone started ringing. It was Aunt Alice.

"Hello?" I said, trying to sound happy.

"Look, don't fool me, Nessie. I know what you did. I can see it, remember? Just come over here right now." With that said, she hung up.

"Jake," I said, laying a hand on his. He slipped it out from underneath mine and crossed his arms. "I have to go. I'll call you later ok?"

Still in a bad mood, all he said was, "Sure, sure." I walked out the door into the night sky, taking a deep breath of the cool air. I made sure my cell phone was tucked safely in my pocket and faced the direction of my "grandparents'" house before I started to run.