A/N: This was rather hard to write. I'd like to thank all the people that like to read my stories, and I'd like to tell them that I see the numbers of people that read my stories. I am quite impressed with those very numbers. So thanks, to everybody who takes the time to read this story, and my other ones. --Mary
Paul's P.O.V
I flopped down on my bed. After running a double patrol, making up for the time I had spent thinking about the girl, all I wanted was to sleep. But rest eluded me. I sighed and covered my face with my hands.
The girl was haunting me. Her elusive eyes, her arrogant smirk, her silky brown hair. Her deep chocolate irises stared hard at me through my memory. I needed to know her name. I needed to know why she was so angry and irritated. I needed to know why she was at the gym at midnight, lifting barbells.
I needed to know her.
My body protested heavily as I tried to lift myself from my bed. Tomorrow, I allowed, I'll go and find her tomorrow.
But, unfortunately, even in my sleep, the girl danced in and out of my unconscious mind, never within reach, always on the edge.
The dreams themselves were fuzzy, like horrible reception on a TV. But all I could see was the ground, the dark walls around me, and the girl's face. We were standing in a dark room, away from anything that I could see, when suddenly the girl leaned against a barstool.
"Well?" she spoke in her wonderful alto voice. Her eyes were hard. There was an immeasurable distance between us. "What are you waiting for?" she asked, irritated again.
"Nothing." I spoke quickly, not wanting to anger her. "Why?"
The girl smiled at this. Well, as close as her mouth would come to a smile was a smirk, but it still made my heart twinge. There was something off about that smile. It was wicked.
The girl said nothing, but disappeared and I awoke with a jolt.
A blinding flash of light sunned me momentarily, but then I remembered that it was La Push, and we got thunderstorms all the time. And as soon as I formed that thought, a large clap of thunder followed the powerful display of lightning.
I groaned and heaved myself off the mattress that I had extended for my extreme height. I rolled my shoulders and my neck and stretched.
I wandered to the kitchen and saw that nobody was home. Well…as if that isn't new, I thought to myself as I was looking for some cereal in the cupboards. I found a box of Wheaties. Ah, the breakfast of champions. My sarcastic and irritated thought was cut short by Embry bursting through the back door.
"'Morning, Paul." he said and took a different box of cereal from the cupboards.
"Hello, Mr. I-Don't-Care-About-Privacy-And-Think-I-Can-Burst-Into-People's-Houses-Without-Knocking." I growled at him and chucked a spoon at his head. He caught it and laughed, angering me further.
"Jeez, why so ill-tempered today huh, Paul?" Embry chuckled and tossed the spoon on the counter.
"I don't know." I mumbled as I was shocked when I realized this myself. "Well, I just woke up, you just barged in my house---uninvited, I might add---and now you're laughing at me. Stop laughing!" I yelled at him and started shaking. The burning tremors ran down my spine, begging to be set free. I repressed them, though.
"Okay, okay. I'm shutting up and backing off, now. See?" Embry held his hands up and backed away from me. "I'm just gonna go to Emily's for breakfast, then. Okay?" Embry's voice was patronizing. This angered me further.
"You do that." I managed to keep my voice low enough for it to be considered calm.
"Oh, and Jacob's friend Bella keeps calling him. She always leaves these messages and tells him to call her. In that situation, you'd think he'd jump at the chance." Embry tried to hide his laugh behind a cough. "But Sam says that it's too dangerous for her to come over, or for him to see her. Either way, I think Jacob's screwed." Embry couldn't hide his laughter now. He almost fell to the floor in hysterics. He was gripping the granite counter and breathless. He couldn't even talk anymore.
"Yeah, it's so hilarious." I mumbled absently. I hadn't really heard him after he'd said the name 'Bella'. This made me very curious to find out the name of my imprint. I decided to find out. After Embry had calmed down and was standing straight again, I started my interrogation.
"What does Bella look like?" I asked Embry. He looked at me with one eyebrow raised.
"She…okay, don't tell Jacob that I said this…but she…she's freakin' hot!" Embry sighed and continued. "She's a petite little thing, pale as the moon, she has chocolate-brown eyes, brown hair that flows to her waist, and her temper could match yours!" Embry laughed again.
I had tuned his voice out again. That was the girl that haunted my dreams. The one who danced on the edge of my conscious.
"I'm headed over to Jake's house." I said and ran up to my room. I tugged on the first pair of cut-offs that I could get my hands on and ran back down the stairs.
"Okay!…I guess I'll just stay here, then." Embry called helplessly from behind me. He waved me off as I jogged the mile to Jake's house.
"Hey, Jake, Sam." I nodded at the two boys who were talking to Billy in the kitchen.
"Hi, Paul." Sam said. He sounded cautious to me. "What's with you. You seem to be in a much worse mood than usual." Jake walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder, then looked at Sam.
"Sam, I'm worried. His temperature is slightly colder than mine!" Jake yelled and looked over at Sam with mock-horror. They shared a long glance and both burst out laughing.
When Jake finally caught his breath, he mock-punched my shoulder and walked back over to Billy, who was looking on in amusement.
"Well, Paul, I like you being less-moody." Billy said and then muttered, "So there aren't going to be any more broken items in La Push that practically scream, 'Paul Was Here!'." this made Jake and Sam chuckle. Billy wheeled himself into the bathroom.
"Enough humor at my expense, you morons!" I yelled at them and looked desperately around for something to throw.
"Ah, ah, ah!" Jacob scolded in a sing-song voice. "You wouldn't want to destroy my house, would you?" Jake's face was as innocent as a little girl's.
Sam was trying to stifle his laughter, but that only made Jake laugh.
"God, you guys!" I yelled, exasperated. "What's up with the laughing this morning?! First I got Embry at my house and all of his idiocy! And now I have to deal with two more Embry-laugh-alikes!" yes, I was angry again. A three-year-old would've been able to tell that I was angry.
Sam and Jake looked down and mumbled, "Sorry."
"What up, bozos?" Leah asked as she came walking through the door. She was the most recent addition to our pack, and it could be a little bit awkward at times, but we all got used to it.
"Not much, Leah. Just a bunch of idiots laughing at me." I muttered and collapsed on Jacob's couch. I rolled my shoulders again.
"Where's Quil? He's supposed to have phased already!" Leah growled out. She hated being the only female member of the pack, and that put her in a permanently bad attitude range.
We all heard an old engine pull up outside of Jacob's house. We all looked at Jacob, who was staring out the window with a horrified expression.
"Crap," Jacob snarled and drew back from the window. We all looked at him, wanting answers. "It's Bella."
I was filled with elation. Bella. My imprint.
"Let's go." Sam said in his 'must remain calm' voice. I knew what he meant. We were going to confront Bella.
"Yeah." I gasped out. I was so nervous. I was finally going to---formally, of course---meet my imprint. "Yeah, let's go."
"Jake, if she wants to talk to you alone…then you can." Sam said. I was mildly surprised. Embry had said that Sam had ordered that Jake couldn't have contact with Bella. Well, after seeing Jacob's face when he talked about her, I really didn't want him to have contact with Bella, either.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Are we going to get rid of this chick, or what?" Leah asked boldly and walked out the back door.
We all looked at each other. I knew what all of us were thinking. Leah.
"Let's go see what trouble Leah has put us in now." Sam sighed. Jacob looked positively giddy. I rolled my eyes at him and exited the building.
I could see the dark-haired girl---Bella, obviously---making angry gestures at Leah. Bella called Leah a name. Leah's temper flared. Instead of phasing, Leah slapped Bella across the face. Bella froze.
She licked off the blood that dewed on her lip. Bella's fist clenched at her side, and smacked right into Leah's mouth. We all heard a crunching sound. But, to our surprise, Leah coughed and spit out a white thing that had blood all over it. A tooth. Bella smiled wickedly.
Bella dodged out of the way as Leah tried to grab her. Bella's grin vanished and I could see that she was concentrating hard on the fight.
Leah's foot connected with Bella's arm. I heard a shattering crack. Bella grimaced briefly, but it vanished from her face in an instant. Bella's eyes flared. I was so consumed with rage that Jake had to hold me back. Leah. Was. Hurting. My. Imprint.
Bella's routine of dodging changed. She was on the offensive now. Leah's and Bella's forms seemed to blur as the speed increased. Bella was thrown into a tree…Leah was thrown to the ground…Bella's kick hit Leah in the head.
Bella suddenly moved quicker than Leah did. Both of her hands gripped Leah's throat and lifted her off the ground. Bella somersaulted in the air, and took Leah with her. Leah was slammed to the ground. Leah let out a groan and stopped moving. Bella wasn't even breaking a sweat, but there was blood pouring from her nose, her mouth, and from a cut on her forehead. The bones that had been broken were sticking out of her skin and made the wet redness pool at the floor. She ignored the loss of blood and walked calmly over to us. She looked at Sam in particular.
"What did you do to him?!" she yelled in his face. "You took him away from me! Why?!" her voice was filled with absolute loathing. I still couldn't take my eyes off her.
"Yeah, right." Embry snorted. "Next you'll be yelling at us that rock-stars are intelligent!"
Bella's eyes narrowed at his sarcasm. She walked up to him, looked him up and down, and struck him across his cheek. Embry started shaking. Crap, this wasn't going to end nicely.
A/N: Do you like it? Sorry, but I just had to put a fight between the two girls in there. It was staring me in the face. ---Mary.