Love Remains the Same

A thousand times I've seen you standing
Gravity like a lunar landing
You make me want to run till I find you
I shut the world away from here
I drift to you, you're all I hear
As everything we know fades to black

I took a deep breath as I walked into my fourth period class. It was the last class of my first day back at school since I first shifted. So far the day had run smoothly, most of my fellow students believed the simple story that I had just been sick the past week, and my teachers gave me no grief about make up work. I walked straight to my lab desk and put my head down. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, and this teacher was known for not noticing what happened in his class as he lectured. I felt Kim sit next to me, and the rest of the class filed in noisily and slowly. I didn't raise my head from the desk, but found that with the new werewolf hearing, I could hear every conversation in the class from there. For some reason every movement Kim made drowned out the rest of the noise. I listened as she pulled her notebook out of her back pack, flipped to an open page and began taking notes. She was the only person I knew that actually paid attention in this class.

I had known Kim since Kindergarten, like I had known most of the students here. She was always the smart one. She always did her work, never skipped, never partied… well, never got invited to parties. Kim was a sweet girl, that's what all our parents said, and in reality that meant everyone steered clear of her. It wasn't that we didn't like her; she was just so different from the rest of us. She was smart enough that she could get into Harvard, but she applied only to schools in Seattle. Most kids that went to our school ended up going to college as far away from Washington as possible, but she wanted to stay. I myself had applied only to Peninsula College, because I needed to stay close to the pack.

The class continued, and along with it my alertness to Kim's movements. It was starting to make me uncomfortable, so I sat up and attempted to pay attention to distract myself. That idea quickly went down in flames. I glanced around the room, curious about what the others were doing, before my eyes rested on Kim. There was something different about her. She was so extremely beautiful. Not that Kim hadn't been pretty before, but she hadn't really appealed to me that much. Now I couldn't take my eyes off of her, she was breathtaking. How had all of this changed in one week? I had sat next to her in one class or another every year, and never had she taken my breath away like this. She suddenly turned to me, probably feeling my stare, and our eyes locked. My world was forever altered from that point on.

Her eyebrows drew together as she studied my face, confusion in her beautiful brown eyes. I attempted a smile, and she flushed and turned away, hiding behind her long Black hair. She didn't look up again for a few minuets and when she did she glanced at me from the corner of her eye. Our eyes locked again for a moment before she turned fully to face me. "Jared?" A line from Romeo and Juliet popped into my head. O, speak again, bright angel! When we had studied the play a year ago the line meant nothing to me, but now I found I could recall it perfectly. "Are you OK?" Her voice was absolutely mesmerizing. "Jared?" She asked again, her eyebrows drawing together again. "No…no I'm fine." I managed to get out. She smiled slightly and turned back to her notes. I searched my brain for another reason to talk to her. "Hey, Kim?" She looked surprised as she turned to me again. "Can I borrow your notes to catch up on all I've missed? I know you're the only one who probably took any…" I smiled, but her face seemed to fall a little. "Oh… um, sure." The bell rang and she handed me her notebook. She smiled a hesitant smile, quickly gathered her things, and left. It was strange, but I already missed her. "I actually can't wait for school on Monday." I thought as I started my truck.

I was halfway to Sam and Emily's when I saw her again. She was walking down the side of the road, slightly hunched over too keep the ever present rain out of her face. I pulled my Dakota over to the side and rolled down the window. "Do you need a ride?" Kim jumped and looked over startled. "I'll get your truck all wet…" I shook my head and motioned her over. "Don't worry about it." She looked skeptical, but got in anyway. "Thanks… of all the things to forget living here; I leave the house without my umbrella!" She sighed and looked out the window. We were silent as I drove on, and I breathed in her scent of lavender and something else I couldn't identify. "It's right up here." Her soft voice broke the silence as she pointed at a small yellow house. I pulled into the empty drive way and hopped out before she could to open her door and escort her under the umbrella to her porch. "Thank you again, Jared." She flushed. "Kim would you like to get a bit to eat tonight?" the words came out before I could stop them. Her lips formed a round "O" of surprise, then a flash of anger darted across her face. "Who put you up to this?" she glared. It was my turn to be surprised. When I didn't answer she continued. "I know this has to be a bet or a dare. Was it Paul? I'm not stupid or that naive to think that some one like you would really be interested in me." "I never said you were stupid?" She opened her front door and continued to glare at me. "You didn't have to…" "Kim…?" "Goodbye Jared." Her voice was firm as she shut her door in my face.

I was too stunned to move at first. And then I heard her soft sobs through the door. She thought that this was a dare; that the kids at school were picking on her. I rested my head on her door and knocked softly. "Kim? This isn't a dare or a bet OK? It's just me…" I didn't know what else to say as her sobs stopped and silence filled the air between us. "Look, I'm sorry…" Still only silence. I sighed and began to walk back out to my truck. I turned as the door opened and Kim stepped back outside. "Why now? After all these years, why now?" I shrugged. "It was as though I saw you for the first time today… I can't really explain it yet," that was a lie, I knew exactly what this was, but I continued "I just know that I've been so stupid to not realize how amazing you are." I looked straight at her, our eyes locking again. She gasped as I moved back onto the porch and placed a hand on her check. "I know that I haven't treated nearly as well as you deserve, but I will make that up to you, you just have to give me a chance." All she did was nod, but my heart leapt at the simple movement. My hand dropped from her face and instead I held her small hand. "What time should I pick you up?"

I burst into Sam and Emily's house as happy as I had ever been. "Sam!" I called, running into the kitchen. "Hello Jared, He just ran to the store." Emily turned from her ever working stove and turned to half smile at me. "How was you first day back?" I sighed happily as I sat at their table. "Perfect…" Emily raised an eyebrow as she set a plate of cookies in front of me. "We are talking about school right?" I barked a laugh. "I met this girl, well no, technically I already knew her, but I kind of saw her for the first time today…" Emily gasped and flew at me hugging me tightly. "You imprinted!" I nodded and couldn't help but laugh as she teared up a bit. "I'm so happy for you Jared!" the front door opened and closed and we heard Sam's deep voice "Why are we happy for Jared?" Emily let go of me to kiss Sam, and for once it didn't gross me out. In fact, it made my smile wider as I imagined me and Kim being that close. "He's imprinted." Emily sounded like a mom whose baby had just said their first word. "Really?" he looked over at me surprised, and then smiled too. "Then we are happy for you." "Who is it?" Emily asked. "Her name is Kim." "The Connweller girl?" Sam asked, a sudden frown covering his smile. I nodded, a lump forming in my throat as Sam continued to frown. "That poor girl has gone through so much…" Emily sighed sadly, frowning with Sam. "What do you mean?" I asked anxiously. "Her mother split town a few year ago, and no one's heard from her since. Then last year her father was diagnosed with cancer. She's had to grow up too fast to help take care of him and her little brothers and sister." My heart swelled with sadness and pride at the same time. That Kim could come out of all of that and still be so perfect amazed me. I dwelled on my thoughts for a while longer before excusing myself to get homework done before taking Kim out.

I sat on the floor of my room and pulled Kim's notebook out. Her tidy handwriting filled the pages; I glanced over the pages quickly, not really planning on studying them. I stopped as suddenly the neat penciling became sketches and drawings, along with little personal notes like "Michael's game tonight 6." Then I found a sketch of me, accurate to a T. Framing the pictures was her name tagged next to mine with little hearts between each pair. I smiled and couldn't help the laugh that slipped out. She had a crush on me this whole time, and I had been completely blind. How was I ever going to make this up to her?

We were walking along First Beach after dinner at a local restaurant, when Kim placed her hand in mine again. "I had a lot of fun tonight Jared. Thank you." I smiled down at her and marveled again at her beauty. Her russet skin looked like silk in the moonlight, her lips formed a perfect double curve and when they pulled back in a smile her white teeth showed, but the most captivating was her long thick eyelashes that brushed her cheeks every time she looked down and blushed, like now. A gust of wind blew a strand of her hair into her face and I tucked it behind her ear again without a thought. We stood like that for a moment before Kim continued to walk. "Where were you last week?" "Sick. The flu." The answer was automatic, a story Sam had drilled into my head. She shot me a look that told me she knew that wasn't the truth. "I was sick." I repeated. "Jared…you can trust me…" I pulled her over to a bench on the edge of the beach. "I know… but what I'm about to tell you is going to sound more like a lie than the truth." Kim smiled playfully. "Try me." I closed my eyes and gripped her hand. "Kim… I missed school because I became a werewolf."