CHAPTER 2: A New Realization

I don't know how long I had been laying there, but I knew when I phased. I slowly sat up on my haunches and started panting. I didn't open my eyes, just let myself breathe in, and out, and in, and out, letting the wind blow through my fur. I could feel my clothes under the pad of my paw. That's when I realized I wasn't alone. I sniffed...Oh my god. I opened my eyes, stood up and started growling, baring my teeth. There he was, leaning against a tree 5ft away. Edward had a very solemn look on his face, not acknowledging that I was there, but still staring at me. I stopped growling, but didn't let my guard down. That's when I heard him inside my head.

"They are looking for you."

I tilted my head to the side, confused because I hadn't seen his lips move. "How can he talk without moving his lips?" I thought.

"Why do you think, Mai?"

"Oh my gosh! Can you read my mind?" I thought.

"It's one of the things that I can do, yes."

"Oh..." I glanced down and thought for a moment. I looked back up and stared him straight in the eyes. "Do you always do that?"

"Do what?" he asked with a small snicker.

"Act so calm like there's nothing out of the ordinary going on."

He smiled.

"Well I'm sorry that I am more confident than most."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I started to growl again.

"Don't worry. I am not making fun of you, just people in general."

"Oh...well..." If a dog could blush, I just did. "I didn't think...you..."

"You are never this nervous around people." He takes a step closer, I sit down. "Why are you choosing now to be nervous?...Do I make you uncomfortable?" He was sitting on a log next to me. I jumped up, and yelped because of how fast he got to me.

"DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" I screamed in my head. I growled and glared at him from my position on the log. He was laughing. "WHAT!? You scared me!"

"It's nothing...Why don't you phase back? There's no danger here."

I just looked at him, dumbfounded.

"No DANGER?! What part of "mortal enemies" do you not get? Here we are, the two of us, a werewolf and a vampire, alone, in a forest, with hundreds of witnesses not far away! We shouldn't be here together, we aren't allowed, and I don't want it to end up in a fight!"

"First of all, no one's coming, trust me. No.one.knows.we.are.here. Secondly, we will not be ending this with a fight. I would never hurt you. Anyways, if you phased back

we'd be in less trouble if we got caught."

Damn, he was right. I looked down at my shredded clothes. I looked back up at him.

"My bag..." In the time that it took me to gesture to the school he had grabbed my bag and dropped it at my feet. I yelped again, and then glared.

"Thank you," I said with over-the-top sarcasm. I stared at him...will he take a hint?!

"Excuse me, but I'd prefer it if you weren't watching me get dressed."

He smiled and was gone. I really hoped that he hadn't left for good. As quickly as I could, I phased, and covering myself, put on my extra clothes. I sat down on the log, carefully picking up every scrap of clothing that had been shredded. I didn't want to leave any evidence of me being there. Shredded clothes in the middle of a forest would be a real question bringer.

I knew he had came back because I smelled him. This time I didn't yell, because he had come up a little louder than normal. I looked to my left, and he sat down. I was still frowning, I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of a smile.

"I'm sorry for whatever I did to make you hate me."

I looked at him, mouth open. Already, he was accusing himself of some unknown fault.

"I don't hate you. I'm more worried about someone finding out about this little excursion...anyways...how could someone hate you..."

"What was that?"

"What was what?" I said a little to hastily. "Nothing...never mind...Ugh!!!"

His face softened up a little. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know. I...I..." I started to shuffle my feet, and he noticed. I turned around and looked at the trees ahead.

"I have a theory about this little situation," he started.

"Hmmm...?"

"It seems that you are nervous right now. In fact, you have been like this every time I've seen you today. Could it be that you are nervous...around me?"

"What?! No...that's not...not true...can't...it just can't...be...true...I mean...why would I be? There's nothing...special...about you..."

"Nothing special hmm? Well, thats a large change of opinion since our last class."

I spun around and almost fell over. I hadn't realized that he was so close. The smell was, once again, intoxicating...If he hadn't moved back a step I would have passed out.

"I...I don't know what...you...are...talking...about..." He had stepped back to his original position, closer to me, and he was breathing too close to my face. In that moment, I wanted to tell him all my secrets, to share them with him, and to tell him how I felt. But I quietly wished that he would stop breathing so that I could breathe. He didn't budge.

"Actually, Edward.." His name rolled off my tongue, "I...umm...actually was thinking about...about...about you today...a lot...in fact...although I'm not sure why. I've never felt this way before with someone. And of course it just had to be you, your vampire self, and me my wolfy self. Mortal enemies and all. It would...couldn't...ever happen..."

He was still so close. I didn't think that I would be able to control myself for much longer.

"You know, Mai...the only reason that I said that was because..I wanted to see if you felt the same way. I don't know why, but today, today I've been so happy. And when I walked into class and smelled you...well, you smelled sweeter than anyone I have ever met. And I know what you mean by how we could never, ever, be together. It would just be...be..."

This was the first time I had ever seen Edward at a loss for words. It surprised me, and I felt the heat again, flowing through my feet to my face, where I blushed and smiled. He smiled back...his face inches from mine. He put his hand on the side of my face, and kissed me.

It was electric, but gentle. I had closed my eyes, so when his lips touched mine, they were cold as ice, but surprisingly warm once we touched. I didn't start to phase, which was great, a blessing in disguise. He started to increase his speed. His tongue traced the shape of my lips, and I opened my mouth to allow him in. We explored each other's mouthes with our tongues. He tasted even better than he smelled. My arms moved up around his neck, his arms about my waist, and we kept our faces entangled together, unaware of the world around us. I was having a hard time breathing, but I noticed that he had stopped breathing all together. I put my hands to his chest, but was a little surprised that I felt no heartbeat. That's when reality set in again. We could never be together...But I loved this so much!

That's when I smelled her(my senses had been occupied up to that moment). I opened my eyes, and pulled my face away, slowly.

"Edward. Someone's been here." I whispered.

"I know. I can hear her thoughts. Here, listen. I think she is back at the school already." He looked into my eyes, and I felt like there was some sort of cold liquid seeping into my ears. That's when I heard it.

"Oh...oh my goodness...I really don't want to get caught out here...I'm glad I got such a good picture! This will go great in the yearbook...the forest is so creepy though! I'll have to get reassigned...I thought the noises were ghosts...phh...I am just SO naive sometimes!...Ah! The yearbook room.."

I pulled myself away from Edward's gaze until the cold in my head was gone. "I wonder what she was doing out here?"

"I'm not completely sure, but I think we might want to get that picture..." The corners of his mouth twitched upwards.

"Oh my god," I started breathing fast, "that picture...was of us!!!! Oh no, I can't let this happen! My dad ALWAYS reads the yearbook! I don't know what he'll say..We can't let this happen..."

He was just staring at me. He started to speak. "What if we just let them put it in the yearbook?"

I glared at him. "ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!!!!"

"I mean, what if this picture helps our families? What if...what if they realize that our two families can live together, in peace? It would make living here so much better."

I stopped and considered this. It would be nice to have Jacob behave around the Cullens, and even for the whole pack it would be beneficial. I looked back at Edward, studying his perfect face, and imagining his perfect lips on mine. Yeah, I could totally live with that.

"Ok. So I see what you mean, but what makes you think that they'll go for this? It's taken them years to come up with this damn treaty! Now we have to convince them that we can live together? This could break out in a war."

Edward stepped closer and closed the gap between us. He pulled my face in with his right hand, and kissed me with even more intensity than before. He pulled away, "Just think about it. We'll talk to our parents when the time comes." He smiled, and then was gone.