A/N: My heart is breaking, y'all reviewers are soo NICE!!!! No, Jake hasn't imprinted on Mushrooms. If he had, where would all the drama go?

Disclaimer: If I lived for a million years, even while drawing my last, shaky breath, I wouldn't own Twilight.

CHAPTER TWO

"….And Snow White and her prince lived happily ever after." I finished, and looked at Claire, who didn't look as if she was going to sleep any time soon.

"Another." She commanded, and seemed to remember my Elementary Guide to Magic Words."Please." She added.

I shrugged. I had a vast store of bedtime stories. "How about Rapunzel?"

She rumpled her curls as she shook her head firmly. "No. A new one."

This took me by surprise. "Okay…….well, once upon a time lived a clumsy princess." A vague mental image of me falling down the stairs came to me. "And there was a handsome prince who lived in the castle next door." I grinned, as the Jacob in my memory rushed to help me up. "The prince was a dragon-tamer, so he was always in danger. And the princess couldn't stop worrying about him."

Claire nodded. "Like me and Quil." The expression of serenity that came to her face when she mentioned her beloved gave way to a frown. "Were they in love?"

I smiled absently. "Not exactly. The princess was in love with him, but he thought of her-"My eyes widened as I realized what I was saying. Claire was listening eagerly, but I stopped short.

Holy crap, what was wrong with me? What devil in hell inspired me to say something like that? I wasn't in love with Jacob. Not Jacob Black. Not the man I worried about every single waking moment of the day, not the man who could make me tremble at his mere touch, who could make my day by just existing. Right? Right????

But then again, I realized a few weeks ago that that just doesn't happen to normal best friends. Those were signs. Signs that I may-do- like Jake in a way I really didn't want to.

Why me? Why did I, of all people, have to catch In Love With Best Friend Syndrome? I mean, I do my homework. Never in my life have I killed anyone. I may have stolen some candy when I was a kid, but does that really deserve this big a punishment?

I stood up. "'Night, Claire-bear." I said to the little girl. "'Nuff of story time. Quil will probably chop me into bite-sized pieces if you don't go to sleep now."

She nodded seriously, and closed her eyes. I normally stayed behind to check whether she was really asleep, but tonight, I drifted off towards Emil's room at once. Then, I began banging my head against the wall as hard as possible. How-just how- could I have let this happen?

A sudden thought occurred to me that made my blood turn into ice. What if Jacob imprinted on some girl? What then?

I looked in to the oval-shaped mirror in the room. A girl with huge green eyes and a pale face framed by shoulder-length dark hair that stood out in all possible angles stared back at me, looking as shell-shocked as I felt. Was I destined to become the second Leah Clearwater? Would I have to watch, as Leah did before me, as the guy I loved lost his head over some girl who probably would never understand him?

I slid on to the ground. I had no idea that fairy tales were this dangerous.

*_*_*_*_*_

"Mushrooms?"

I opened my eyes to take in the sight of Quil's anxious brown eyes hovering over me. "Hey, Quil. Patrol over? How was it?"

He gestured, as if it didn't matter. "Just the usual. Is Claire okay?"

I could practically feel his readiness to rush over to the next room. "She's fine, man. Relax."

He did. "Now, are you okay? You don't look so good."

I blinked in astonishment. Quil Ateara, being observant? Has hell frozen over? "Not really, no"

He nodded, and sat down next to me. "Is it Jake?"

"How do you know?" I yelped.

"It's not exactly new, Mushrooms. We all know that you're freaked out about Jake." I calmed down. Quil went on blissfully. "You guys are the best model best friends ever."

If only you knew, friend. If only you knew.

"So, where is he?" I tried to keep the anxiety out of my voice.

He smiled. "He stayed behind to straighten things out with Toby's folks, but he's coming back now." He closed his eyes and frowned a little. Then he opened them, and grinned. "He's here."

Sure enough, there was a clatter on the staircase, and a tall, too well-loved figure made its way into Emily's room.

"Hey, Mushrooms." Jacob said, grinning. My heart immediately decided to put on an aerobatics show. "Did ya miss me?"

I got over the tide of emotions that hit me like a tsunami, and grinned back. "Why should I?"

I was doomed.

A/N: It's a bit short, but I got the hard part out of my way. I got in a description, too, because a lovely reviewer called seminolefate asked me to. Hope you're happy. As usual review pleaaase!!!!!!!

Hansi;)