Hope

Her name was Hope. She was shy, watching everything with wide eyes. She almost never spoke; She preferred pizza to grilled cheese sandwiches. I spent the rest of my time there watching her, finding pieces of the puzzle that made up Hope Fletcher. Her older sister was her opposite; the reason she didn't talk was because she was bored. Tatiana was eleven and acted thirteen. I felt sorry for her parents; it couldn't be easy living with a brat. I felt sorrier for Hope, but she could take care of herself I learned. About ten minutes after they came down Tatiana started teasing Hope. I was so proud of Hope; she just sat there and calmly stared at her sister, her formerly shy face going blank. She sat like a queen until Tatiana turned away to sulk. I, on the other hand was having a hard time controlling myself. I could feel myself shake, this was hard. I left far to soon. I wanted to stay and watch her all night. As soon as we walked out of the yard the others turned to me. I ignored them and walked on. Paul was the first one to speak. "You imprinted on Hope." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah." I made my face go hard, no one else had any questions. Embry laid a hand on my shoulder before walking away and Quil smiled sympathetically. I could tell he was happy that he wasn't the only one who had imprinted on a child. I walked into the house and forced myself to think about Bella. Surprisingly there was no pain. The only emotion I felt was regret. I still wished I could have saved her.

On patrol the others left me alone. Having everyone else know every thought in your head was annoying but it cleared up a lot of questions.

"Poor guy. He's going to have a-"

Jarred.

"I wonder if Hope and Claire will like each other. Maybe they can play sometimes."

Quil.

"Jake looked happy for-"

Embry.

"This must be more common then the legends say. That's four of us now."

Sam.

"First the bloodsucker now a kid. If Jake were more focused we might not have had to work with leeches!"

Leah.

They were wondering about me, worrying. But no one actually talked about it. Sam wasn't supposed to be on patrol but he was worried he ran more patrols and the imprinting thing was giving him a major headache. After patrol we went over to Sam and Emily's house for food. Emily was really good about getting up at midnight to feed us. I ate with everyone else but my mind was across the reservation, at Hope's house. I slipped outside without saying good-bye and ran over to Hope's house. I carefully peeked into her room, making sure she was asleep. I didn't want her to wake up and see a giant wolf looking into her room. She lay on her side, curled up into a ball. The blankets that were piled on her exposed just her head. She looked so sweet lying there, I wanted to slip inside and make sure she was warm but forced myself away, staying near the house until dawn broke.