"If you want my advice," the voice behind him said, "just give it up already."

Jacob turned to see Embry standing behind him with his arms crossed. His friend's stance was bold and confident, but his face told another story. His eyes softened as they met Jacob's, and the thin line of his mouth quivered a bit at the edges, admitting to his uncertainty.

"Embry." Jacob's voice cracked. He hadn't said a word in nearly three days.

"No one's ever beat it, you know. There have been others that, y'know… tried. But none of them were able to do it."

"How would you know?"

"Sam told me."

Jacob searched Embry's eyes. Suddenly it all made sense, and something twisted in his stomach. "Sam? Because of Leah." He covered his face with his hands. How had he not thought of it before?

"Exactly," Embry said, "not that he's been the only one to try to go against imprinting. But he does understand, and that's why he wants to talk to you."

"I've told you," Jacob countered weakly, "I didn't imprint on her. It was… not a crush, but an infatuation, maybe."

Embry shook his head. "Sam and Quil'll tell you you're wrong, dude."

"And how should they know?" Jacob gritted his teeth and tried to hold back his anger. Who were they to tell him how he felt?

"For one, they've both been through it. And for another, they're as much inside your head as you are."

"Embry, I'm me. I'm the only one who can really, truly tell what I'm thinking and feeling. And I'm telling you, it's not like that."

"Then why did you suddenly drop Vampire Girl like a hot potato and go for this other chick? I'm telling you, the only explanation is—"

"Don't talk to me about Bella." Jacob's voice was clear and firm. He sighed, and then at length spoke again. "I know it might seem weird that I just let her go, but I had no choice. They left. Those leeches told me she was going to marry him. It was like… I don't know, a rebound thing, maybe."

"You used to say—" Embry shook his head and corrected himself. "No, think. You used to think, 'I'll never give up on her. I won't let him lose.'"

"That was before she was engaged." Jacob sighed. "I had to admit defeat at some point."

"And then suddenly you were over it, and there was Ghost Girl?" This is what Embry called her, because of her delicate, pale skin.

Jacob was silent for a moment. "I'm tired of arguing about it, Embry. That's why I've been telling you guys that I need some time to myself. Every time I see any of you, this is all you talk about."

"It's all you think about anyway. Look, you can't hide from the entire pack forever."

"Apparently not. That's why you're here."

Embry almost cracked a smile, but then remembered that this was serious business. "Will you at least try talking to Sam?"
Jacob shrugged. "I'll think about it." And then he took off into the trees, and Embry did not follow.

--

Carrie took a deep breath. "Dad, I'd like your permission… to start dating."

Just as she'd feared, an icy look came over his face. "Carrie." His voice cracked. "You're only fifteen."

"Yeah, fifteen," Carrie said. "Most of my friends started dating ages ago." She pleaded with her eyes.

He sighed. "Who's the boy?"

Carrie shuffled her feet, but did not speak.

"Well? Is it someone I know?"

"No," she admitted. "I met him… in La Push. When Claire and I went to take pictures for our World Cultures project." Her voice was hardly above a whisper, and she stared down at her shoes as she spoke.

"That was last weekend, Carrie! You've met this guy once, and you want to… to start dating him?!" Carissa looked up to see color rushing to her father's face.

"We've talked since then. You know, on the phone and stuff." She wouldn't confess that he had also visited her in the middle of the night, and the two had sat together and whispered on the back deck into the early hours of the morning on more than one occasion.

Carissa's father sighed and shook his head, rubbing the space between his eyes with two fingers. "You're fifteen, Carrie, and I have no idea who this guy is. The answer is no."

She felt a stabbing pain in her chest. "How can you say that?! Would it be different if it were someone else?"

"No—maybe—I don't know, Carrie."

"You can't discriminate against someone you haven't even met." Carissa made sure her responses were quick. She had to catch him off-guard and get him to retract his ruling.

"You're my daughter." He was softening visibly. His arms hung loosely at his sides, his eyes yielding.

"This is really, really important to me," Carissa said. "Please at least meet him before you make a decision." She bit her lip and crossed her fingers behind her back.

He sighed. "Fine. I'll meet him."

Carrie all but jumped for joy. "Thanks, Dad!" She grinned, and turned to leave.

"On more thing."

Carrie looked back over her shoulder. "Yeah?"

"Does this boy have a name?"

"Oh, right. His name's Jacob. Jacob Black."

--

The phone rang. Before the end of the first ring, Carissa jammed the talk button with her thumb. "Hello?"

"Carrie. Hey."

"Jake! It's you!"

He chuckled on the other end. "You sound much happier to hear from me than before."

"Yeah, well, this time you kept you promise. You called." She cradled the receiver between her cheek and shoulder. "Thanks."

"Yeah." Jake smiled, but became startled by a sound that came through the phone. "Oh no. Carrie, you're not… crying, are you?"

"No. Yeah. A little."

"C'mon, Carrie, don't do this to me."

"No! I'm—I mean, sorry. I'm not falling apart on you, I was just remembering something, and I got all… nostalgic."

"Okay, I'll bite. Remembering what?"

"I was thinking about back when you came to meet my dad for the first time. Oh, and maybe… all things considering… 'I'll bite' isn't the best terminology for you to use."

Jacob laughed. "Point taken." He switched the phone from his right ear to his left. "So. I'm afraid if we stall too much longer, we'll never talk about what you wanted me to call about in the first place."

Carissa took a deep breath. "This is… gonna take a while."

"I've got time. Otherwise I wouldn't have called."

"Right." She took another deep breath, and months of heartache began to spill from Carissa.

--

Author's Notes: Wow! It's been two weeks since the first chapter. I meant for this story to move extremely fast, actually, but I was kind of delayed by matters beyond my control. My mother decided to begin researching our heritage via , which tends to make the computer unavailable for most of the waking hours of the day. While I'm fascinated to learn about my roots, it's slowed me down considerably, and I'm thinking it might be nice to invest in a laptop of my own.

Anyway, enough excuses about my personal affairs! About this chapter. I wanted to provide a liiiittle more back-story concerning how Carrie and Jake met, and the next chapter will finish that up so we can move ahead completely. Anyway, I sandwiched the back-story between present time and place segments so we can at least move forwards a little bit. I brought Embry into the story! He's changed, hasn't he? I hope The Pack shows up more in Breaking Dawn. I think that Quil, Embry, and Sam in particular are very intriguing characters. I couldn't help mentioning all three, and hope to write about them in depth in the future! Ah, right, I'm about to derail again. Back on track! Do you think that Jake's actually imprinted on someone? What a shocking concept! I can hear the audience gasping at the very thought! Well, perhaps he is, and perhaps not. I hope it's at least somewhat of a hook, as I'm hoping that the question of whether or not he's indeed imprinted will keep you reading.

And that is QUITE enough out of me for one chapter. See you next time!