A/N: So I got a lot more reviews for this than I thought I would, which inspired me to update :)

Embry's POV:

"I don't see why we have to go to school anyway," grumbled Paul as we walked down the street toward the reservation high school. Almost everything on the reservation was within walking distance.

"Tell me about it," agreed Jacob, kicking an empty soda can across the street. It scraped against the pavement and landed on top of the sewer grate. Jacob hated school even more that he had before he started dating Leah. She had graduated a year earlier, leaving Jacob to suffer alone.

Quil felt the same way as well. He was worse than any mother I knew. He ran across the street and kicked the can back to Jacob. "Seriously, it's not like you need a degree to be a werewolf."

We laughed at his remark, but inside, we all really knew how binding our lives had become.

I was the only one who didn't mind going to school, not that I liked it or anything. It was better than watching everyone make out (or play "mommy," in Quil's case). God, I really didn't have a life.

We arrived at school only moments later and proceeded to our usual hang out spot by the decaying picnic benches by the side of the school.

"What's she doing there?" Paul griped, pointing an accusing finger at a girl I had never seen before, sitting contently on one of benches, reading a book.

We all glanced at each other. Barely anyone ever bothered to get in our way—especially with Paul around. We were too big, too roudy, and just too—different, that people tended to shy away.

"Cut her a break," I told Paul, having no idea why I suddenly felt the need to stand up for this girl. "I think she's new."

"Do you think I give a damn?"

When Paul was mad, there was no use trying to calm him down, even if it were for an entirely illogical reason. Before I could respond to his remark, he stomped over to the girl.

I hurried to follow, ready to interfere if he decided to do anything rash.

He stopped abruptly in front of the bench, coughing loudly. She didn't look up. I could hear the rest of the pack sniggering quietly a few feet behind us. It amused them greatly to see Paul make a fool of himself.

"Excuse me," he seethed. I could almost feel the anger radiating off of him.

This time, the girl looked up, but not with the flustered, timid look I was expecting to see on her face. Instead, she narrowed her eyes and glared, making the array of freckles that dotted her nose stand out sharply. I took the chance to properly look at her face. She was beautiful, easily one of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen. Her facial features were sharp and angular but in a pleasant way that suited her nicely. Her skin was lightly tanned, nothing compared to the copper skin tone of the natives on the reservation, but it was still obvious she had been exposed to a fair amount of sunlight. Her hair fell down her back in tight sand colored curls. As I took in her features, I realized there was something different about her beauty. She didn't wear any makeup, and she certainly didn't need to.

"Do you mind?" she snapped at Paul, significantly eyeing the book she was reading.

Curious, I lowered my gaze to see the book's title. It was The Aeneid, the original Latin text edition. So she was smart as well as beautiful. I suddenly felt bad that she had gotten stuck in our reservation high school. Latin wasn't even offered here.

For the first time since…well, ever, Paul didn't quite know what to say. He was used to getting his way. He began to sputter an incoherent stream of words, which only earned him more snickers from the pack and a contented smile from the girl.

A moment later, the bell rang. The girl picked up her bag (a large canvas tote with an intricate rose painted on it—I couldn't help to wonder if she had done it herself) and walked away with her head held high, as though nothing had happened.

"Wait!" I called after her, hurrying to catch up. I suddenly felt the need to apologize for Paul's actions.

As I approached her, I noticed how tall she was, which was saying a lot coming from me. She turned abruptly, shooting me a biting glare. For the first time, I noticed what she was wearing. Despite the damp, cold weather, she wore a pair of cut off jean shorts and a bright green tank top covered by a short jean jacket. But those weren't even worth looking at once you saw her shoes. She wore a pair of red leather cowboy boots. It wasn't a look that many people could pull off, but let me tell you, she could.

"Yes?" She tapped the heal of her boot impatiently, waiting for me to answer.

"Um…well…I just…"

"I haven't got all day," she snapped.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for the way Paul acted," I sputtered. Once I had said the words, I realized how stupid I sounded.

"You mean the asshole back there?" She pointed to Paul, who standing a few feet behind us, laughing with the rest of the pack. Apparently, he had already forgotten his anger.

"That would be the one." I grinned. I was beginning to like this girl more and more.

"Don't worry about it," she assured me. "He didn't bother me. I've experienced much worse."

I raised my eyebrows. Either she tended to get mixed up with the wrong sort of people or she had the tolerance of a saint, because I knew first hand that dealing with Paul was no walk in the park.

She began to walk briskly down the hallway once again.

"Wait!" I panted as I caught up with her again.

"What do you want now?" She was clearly irritated now.

I grinned sheepishly. "You're new here, right?"

She rolled her eyes pointedly. "Are you trying to be annoying? Because if you are, you've succeeded."

That should've been my cue to shut up and leave her alone, but I figured I couldn't make the situation worse than it already was. "So where are you from?"

She didn't even bother to look at me. "Why do you care?"

I shrugged. I could tell she was very irritated, but there was a part of her that was enjoying the attention as well.

"California."

So that explained her sun kissed look. "Awesome. I've always wanted to go there."

An awkward silence passed between us, and I knew she was going to run off again if I didn't say something.

"So I'm Embry. Sorry I didn't introduce myself before."

Her grimace softened. "Interesting name…though I shouldn't be one to talk. I'm Kai-la."

Or at least that's what it sounded like she said. "I like it. How do you spell it?" I wondered curiously.

"C-A-E-L-A," she spelled for me. "Most people just think it's weird."

"I think its pretty," I assured her. It some how fit her. Unique, but pretty, just like her. "I've never heard it before."

"Thank you." She smiled genuinely, and I could tell she was warming up to me. "It's the nominative and accusative plural form of the word 'sky' in Latin."

"I'll just pretend like I understood that," I laughed, and she joined in, our bass and soprano voices mixing together.

"My mom's a bit of a classical nut. She's loves Roman and Greek mythology and can speak both languages fluently. In fact, she even had our house modeled after a classic Roman villa." Her breath caught slightly on the last word, and she got a look in her eyes like she was remembering something painful.

Before I could think of anything to say, the bell rang, signaling the beginning of first period. Damn it. We were late.

"Bye, Caela," I called as she hurried down the opposite end of the hall.

"Bye, Embry." She managed to smile slightly. "And thanks."

But before I could ask her exactly what she was thanking me for, she disappeared down the hallway, leaving me to wonder.

Lunch was always a grim ordeal. Our table consisted of Paul, Quil, Jacob, Jared, Kim, and myself. Paul, Quil, and Jacob usually passed the hour by complaining bitterly about how much they missed their true loves while shoving as much food in their faces as they could manage. Jared and Kim, on the other hand, typically spend the entire period sucking each other faces off, only surfacing for air to take an occasional bite of food.

That left me. I usually spent the entire period wondering why I had the will to live.

But today was different.

"Who are you looking for?" Paul asked me.

I was scanning the cafeteria intently for Caela, curious to see her again and knowing that she probably had no one to sit with.

"No one," I snapped irritably at Paul.

"It's that girl, isn't it?" sneered Paul.

Suddenly, I spotted her crossing the cafeteria to the far section with less crowded tables. I picked up my lunch tray so I could join her.

But Paul stopped me. "What? Are we not good enough for you anymore?"

I fought to control my anger. "I was going to ask her to come sit with us, but I don't think she'd like sitting with an asshole."

"Fine!" Paul bellowed, on the verge of making a scene. I could already see a few heads had turned in out direction. "Go sit with the little bitch."

I didn't bother to respond, knowing that the next thing I said could result in a full blown fight.

My anger faded considerably as I crossed the cafeteria to where Caela was sitting alone at the corner of an empty table, poking her fork at a tray of some unidentifiable substance. Her fraying copy of The Aeneid lay open beside her.

"Hey," I greeted, placing my tray down and sitting across from her.

She looked up, raising her eyebrows. "How'd I know you'd find me?" Though she said the words with contempt, I could tell she was somewhat glad to have made an acquaintance.

"Your friends don't look too happy that you left," she stated, glancing across the cafeteria.

I turned to follow her gaze. Paul was still firing his head off. "They'll get over it."

She smiled, continuing to push her food around her tray.

"So are you actually going to eat any of it?" I asked as I shoved a forkful of whatever was on my tray into my mouth. It tasted fine to me, but then again, I could probably convince myself that cardboard tasted good if I were hungry enough.

She shook her head. "I'm a vegetarian…and I think there's meat in this…whatever it is. They had a salad bar at my old school, so I was hoping they had one here."

"Sadly, its one meal for all here," I told her.

"I'll have to pack my lunch tomorrow," she stated, putting down her fork and pushing the tray away. "Do you want it?"

"Well, if you're not going to eat it, why not?" I grinned, finishing what was left on her tray and starting on hers.

"You really are a bottomless pit," she marveled, watching as the contents of her tray disappeared within seconds.

"So I've been told," I answered, stacking her tray onto of mine once I finished. "So…can I ask why you moved here?"

She clenched her teeth together, and I wished I could take back my words. She sighed heavily as she answered, "I'd rather not talk about it right now. Let's just say it's temporary for now. I'm staying with my aunt and uncle. Maybe you know them. Cliff and Erin Dietrich?

"Yeah, Mrs. Dietrich. She's the elementary school librarian, isn't she?"

"I believe so," Caela replied. "I don't really know her very well. We just sort of officially met a few days ago."

"She's a great lady." I though back to my elementary days. "Great with kids."

She turned to look at her open book, not quite sure what to say.

"So you like Latin?" I asked, glancing at the book.

"I love it," she told. "I was pretty pissed when I found out the don't offer it here."

"Yeah, this is probably one of the crappiest school's you'll find. So...could I see you book?"

She looked surprised, but nodded. I picked up the book and began to page through it. The foreign words had no meaning to me, but I pretended to be interested. It was obvious this was something that Caela valued greatly.

"So can you actually read this?" I marved, looking at the pages and pages of Latin text.

"Most of it," she told me proudly. "We were translating it in AP Latin at my old school."

"That's pretty awesome. Could you tell me what this says?" I handed her the book and pointed to a section.

"Let me see..."

The bell rang, making us both jump. I was surprised how quickly the period had gone by. Usually I found myself counting the minutes.

"You can tell me later," I promised her. "So what do you have next?"

She pulled out her schedule, skimming it. "American History."

"That's what I have! We can walk together." My enthusiasm was apparent.

She rolled her eyes. "If you insist…"

"I insist."

And even she couldn't help but to smile as we began to walk to class.

A/N: So I have a question for you guys. If I were to tell you that I wanted 20 reviews before I updated next, would that make you more likely to review? Or would the bribery annoy you?

I'm just curious because I've seen a lot of people do this, and I was just wondering what you guys thought about it.

Thanks. I'll try to update again shortly :)