So here's another chapter. :) Sorry that these aren't coming out very constantly. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

For those of you wondering where this is going- I want to say just wait and see, ;) but I will tell you that this is a romance story. It's not going to involve Paul in the long run. Things will become clear in the next couple chapters I hope. If I told you where it was going, you wouldn't have to read it.

Chapter Two

"Calling Paul...."

Suddenly, as I re-read the words for the second time, I panicked. My hands flexed and my phone flew out of them onto the foot of the bed.

"Shit!" I scrambled, tangled in my covers, for a moment before falling on top of my phone. My fingers whacked my phone, hoping to hit the end key, when I heard it.

"Elena?" His voice was frantic and loud. I slammed my index finger onto the red button and watched, satisfied, as the screen with his face on it faded away to my normal background of white flowers. White flowers that I had begged him to take a picture of me with. I nearly growled as I opened up my settings folder and changed the background to the default blue color.

Now that there was silence and my background wouldn't remind me of him, I let myself breathe deeply. I had heard his voice and hadn't fainted. That was a good sign, right?

My eyes traveled from the phone to my window. The view wasn't much out of this one. I could only see the street and the front of my neighbor's house. There was another window in my small bedroom, and if you looked out of it you would see the forest. Honestly, sometimes at night it scared me so I made sure to put my bed near the other window.

I hadn't always lived in Forks, Washington. My parents moved out here the summer after I graduated high school. We used to live in Texas, then when I was in elementary school we moved to Seattle. After that, my parents decided to somewhat retire, so they came to Forks. My dad runs a little restaurant in the town's center and my mom does a little of everything. She's a substitute teacher; she helps my dad in the restaurant; and she volunteers. She loves this little town, even though it rains everyday.

I, on the other hand, hated it when my parents told me what would be happening after graduation. I couldn't wait to go to college and never come back to little ol' Forks. Then I met Paul. Paul was the light of my summer. He introduced me to everyone in Forks and La Push who were worth being introduced to. We fell in love so easily that summer. At the time it felt like a dream. I couldn't understand how our relationship could be real.

At the end of the summer, I had to go to school in Seattle. A lot of my friends from high school would be there and at first I was excited to go back to the city I loved so much. After meeting Paul, I had begun to dread the trip back.

The night before I left, Paul told me all the legends I'd heard about the Quileutes were true. Technically he had been under orders from Sam not to tell their secrets. I'd figured it out pretty easily after he gave me a couple hints. Sam was mad at first, but he got over it eventually.

After getting over the shock that my boyfriend was indeed a wolf shape-shifter, the trip back to college wasn't so bad. Paul came and visited me when I couldn't come home on the weekends. I was taking nursing classes just like I'd always wanted and school was going well for me.

Last summer when I'd come home, Paul introduced me to the Cullens. My first real meeting with vampires. He'd been nervous about it at first, not knowing if I'd be frightened of them or not. At the time, I didn't know either. I couldn't fathom what a vampire would even look like.

Alice and I became friends almost right away. Her personality made it so easy to fall in love with her. When she found out I had a passion for fashion, almost as much as she, we became fast friends. I had nearly forgotten she was even a vampire.

Bella, Edward, and their daughter Renesmee were a little harder to get close to. They tended to stick to themselves, being the quieter vampires of the clan. One day, Alice took Bella and I for a shopping trip in Port Angeles. As Alice raced through the stores, Bella and I made ourselves comfortable in a little book store. We talked about all kinds of books and from then on an easy friendship was made.

Paul had gotten frustrated at Alice because she tended to monopolize me for days at a time. She always had room in her schedule for humans due to her lack of sleeping. She could spend all night with Jasper and the other vampires, and then hang out with me all day and never hurt anyone's feelings- except for Paul's'.

Once I had to go back to college again, it became even harder to leave. But school awaited me and I was somewhat anxious to go back to class. The past school year had flown by and I'd been so excited to come home to my parents, Paul, and my friends.

Everything had been normal up until the past week.

My reminiscing was interrupted by a loud noise. I jolted out of my curled up position and looked down at the offending object.

"It's just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off of you.." My ringtone blared from my phone. I could feel my jaw drop as I saw Paul's face on my phone's screen. He was calling me.

"Calm down, Elena. It doesn't mean anything." I told myself, my whole body shaking in anticipation. I wasn't sure if I should pick up or not. But then again, I did call him first. But I also hung up on him. I didn't know if this gave me the right to purposefully not answer him. Finally, after I felt like the phone had been ringing forever- I pressed the green, answer button. Half of me hoped he would hang up right as I answered.

"Lena?" My heart pounded in my chest as anxiety rippled through my stomach.

"Paul?" My voice sounded a lot stronger than I felt. For that, I was glad.

"Lena...you answered." I wanted to roll my eyes at his bluntness. Under normal circumstanced, if I was just mad at him I probably wouldn't have answered.

"I did. But I don't think I should stay on the phone any longer." I spit out. His voice was killing me.

"Please! Wait, Lena. Can I come talk to you? Please, I won't let you end this." His words physically startled me. What did he mean 'let you end this', like I was the one ending things? He imprinted. That is the end of things.

"What are you talking about, Paul?" My voice weakened with every other word I said.

"I know.. what happened is bad, Lena. But come on, we're best friends, right? This isn't the end for us. Please, I miss you so much."

The words he said had to be a fabrication. Someone was playing a twisted joke on me. I shook my head, not caring that he couldn't see me or tell what I was doing. I wouldn't let this happen.

"No, Paul. You don't get it. I can't be in your life anymore. It hurts too much already and I haven't even seen you." Tears were clouding my vision as I waited for his next words. I knew that this could be the last time I heard him speak.

"Elena." He sounded devastated but I couldn't fathom why. He had his imprint to take up all his time, why was he doing this to me?

"What, Paul? What? You haven't even tried to apologize or say anything to me before now. So what is so important right now?" I wanted to scream at him, and I was having a hard time not doing it. My voice was low and angry.

"Of course I've tried to apologize! I just didn't want to do it over the phone! God, you have like a force field around you right now. No one will let me come see you." He was getting angry now too. His voice sounded gruff and familiar.

I would be the first one to admit that our relationship wasn't perfect. We argued more than most people. But unlike most people, we didn't hold it against each other. Paul and I were stubborn people, of course we're going to butt heads. But after all was said and done, neither of us cared who was right or wrong. That was how we worked. That was how love worked. Or so I thought.

"Well..." I was at a loss for words. A tiny bit of my insides warmed at the thought of all the people keeping him away from me. They had my best interests at heart.

"Paul." I was about to talk to him about my least favorite topic. "You have an imprint now."

We were silent for a couple moments. Tears dripped from my eyes, down my cheeks, and fell onto my comforter.

"Elena, I know. I'm so sorry." His voice broke and we were silent once more.

"Please don't cry." He whispered and I shook my head as even more tears came despite his plea.

For the two years or so that we'd dated, Paul had never made me cry. Sure we'd yelled and I'd gotten red in the face from frustration. But I had never once shed a tear over him. I let my hand rest over my eyes, feeling the wetness seep onto my fingers.

"I think I need to go Paul. I don't know what you tried to accomplish just now." I tried to keep the tears from interfering with my voice, but it was obvious due to my sniffles.

"Lena. You're my best friend. I just.. you know I love you-" I hung up the phone before he could say anymore hurtful things.

I'd never heard Paul sound so sad and that scared me. He's a man's man, never showing intense emotions unless he really needs to. The fact that he sounded so upset on the phone and was even pleading with me reminded me that this wasn't really his fault.

Yes, I could be mad at him for loving me in the first place. For picking on me that one day when we ran into each other at the hardware store. I could hate him for knowing that he could hurt me this way the whole time we dated.

But then I would've missed out on the past two wonderful years. Even though I felt like my body was literally about to break in two, I wouldn't want to rewind and delete Paul from the past two years.

With this small revelation, I laid back in my bed and let my tears consume me.

Alice had told me that eventually I would be feeling better. I couldn't imagine not feeling this uncontrollable pain, but at least I knew that I would at some point.

My mind couldn't help but go over the things that Paul had said over our brief phone conversation. He didn't want me to end this. It sounded like he was still trying to be with me, but in reality he couldn't be. Alice's words ghosted through my head, "You can't change an imprint.".

He said he loved me. I let the tears flow as I wiped at my runny nose. He loved me, still? Did that mean that he loved me as a friend, or still more? Once again, that had to be impossible. After all I've seen and heard about imprints, I knew that the wolves were obsessed with them, especially right at first.

I pushed my face into my pillow, letting the cloth take in my tears. Of course Paul would make everything more complicated when he should have just apologized.

My eyes began to grow sore from crying as I shifted onto my side, staring at the wall. I had the overwhelming urge to get out of this bed, this house, and this town. I wanted to go back to Seattle- to my apartment. I would be able to do things without constantly thinking about Paul.

Feeling my tears begin to subside, I let myself fall into an uneasy sleep.

The next morning I heard my door creak open, and light spilled into the room from the hallway. I groaned, rolling over to avoid the light shining in my eyes.

"Lena?" My mom's quiet voice drifted to my ears. I was so tired that it sounded more like nails going through a garbage disposal. I made a grunt of disapproval as I felt her hand touch my shoulder. I knew she was smiling as she shook my shoulder a little bit.

"Lena it's time to get up. You're not in college right now, so I can wake you up whenever I want." I groaned louder, smiling slightly for the first time since the imprint fiasco.

"Fine, fine. Why are you waking me up at-" I glanced at the clock next to my bed, "nine-thirty in the morning.". I groaned again after seeing how early it was.

"You're going to run errands with me today. No more sulking." She gave me another little shove to make sure I was fully awake. I sighed deeply and then rolled over and out of bed to get dressed.

I hadn't actually put thought into getting dressed for quite some time now. All of my clothes were clean and I still couldn't decide what to wear. I felt as if I should wear something different, since I felt like a different person. I decided finally on jean shorts and a white tunic with blue stitching. I heard my mom call for me again and I pulled on some of my red, lace-up vans.

I grabbed my purse off my chair and headed down the hall and down the stairs. She was waiting by the front porch for me once I got there.

"So where are we headed?" I asked as she unlocked the car doors and I jumped in. I hadn't been out in the fresh air for so long- I hoped it would do me some good.

My mom drove us to the town center so we could go to the grocery store and run by dad's restaurant to get breakfast for me. I felt a little nervous about running in to people that I knew. However, I had a feeling that since it was so early I probably wouldn't see anyone my age.

My dad's restaurant was called 'Maia's', named after my mother. He used to run restaurants all over Seattle, but mom had wanted to live in a small town. So when we moved here, he was bored and decided to open a restaurant once more. It was just what Forks needed- a little variety.

"Well if it isn't my favorite girls." I smiled as I shut the car door. My dad was standing out front, arms crossed over his chest. He was still a handsome man at 50 years of age. He was tall and lean, dark hair with just a few grays. I watched as my mom walked forward and kissed him on the cheek. They were still as in love as ever. My mom looked the part of the perfect little housewife, always perfectly put together. But she was as normal as the rest of us.

"Hi Daddy." I gave him a one-armed hug as we stepped inside the restaurant. It was pretty busy for an early morning in Forks.

"Going to have the usual for breakfast?" Dad asked, heading towards the kitchens. We both nodded in assent and he disappeared through the back to get our orders.

My mom and I made small talk until our food came. I greedily dug into my eggs and pancakes. I hadn't eaten much in the past week. We fell into silence until my dad walked over and sat down next to my mom. I could feel his eyes sweeping over me and I felt ashamed. I never thought I'd the girl who let her boyfriend get the best of her.

"So.. how's everything?" I asked before he could ask me how I was. I didn't want to lie to him and tell him that I was fine.

"Good, good. Business is great for this small town." Dad loved Forks and all the people around here. He enjoyed the relaxed business hours and there was never a huge rush of customers. It was never about the money for my father, just the satisfaction of serving good food to good people.

"Great." I murmured, stuffing my mouth with syrupy pancakes.

My parents began to talk of mundane things and I let my mind wander. I was so glad to be out of the house. I zoned back in to the conversation and realized my parents were both staring at me.

"What?" I asked, snapping back to reality.

"Do you know that boy? He's staring very intently at you." My mom said, shifting her head to the side and looking past me. I turned my head slightly and looked behind me. I didn't see anyone staring at me. I glanced back at my mom with a weird expression. She shrugged her shoulders and continued conversation with my dad. I glanced back again, but still didn't see anyone.

But strangely enough, after that I continued to feel like someone was watching me.


Review please. :)

-A Lesson Before Dying