I blinked my eyes at the boy in front of me. He had not said anything to me when I greeted he and his friends before but now he was singling me out to greet me. "Hi," I replied to him. I smiled back at him. His smile was oddly contagious. "I'm Persephone."

His smile widened.

"That's a unique name," he said, and I could see a small laugh playing at the corners of his lips. "I like it."

I blinked at him again. I got this a lot with my name but his tone seemed so... genuine. It was kind and so sincere. I had never heard a teenage boy talk that way.

"Thanks," I said slowly. My eyes then slowly moved over to the table full of food that everyone was now gathering around.

"Shall we?" He asked, gesturing over to the table.

I nodded and got up to head over to grab a plate. The boy, Embry, was right behind me. I felt a little self conscious with him so close to me... why the sudden interest in speaking to me?

Before I could grab a plate, Embry seemed to beat me to it, grabbing two. I blinked at him and then went to grab my own but Embry stopped me when he spoke. "What would you like?" He asked, grinning at me.

He caught me off guard. Was he offering to get my food for me? "Uh... a burger is fine," I said and he began to fill both of the plates. He put a burger on mine and two on his. Then he put a helping of potato salad on each as well. He held both plates
/in either hand and turned back to me, still smiling.

"After you," he gestured back to the stumps we had previously been sitting on.

I obliged, walking a little awkwardly back to where I sat.

Another couple had shown up while Embry and I were at the table. They, like the others, were gorgeous and completely complimented one another. As Embry and I walked past them (the guy had seated himself next to Jared,) I could feel them snickering andhear
them whispering. I tried to ignore it as I sat back down on my stump.

When Embry sat down, he handed me my plate with a small smile. He immediately began to dig in to his plate while I slowly did the same.

My grandparents were busy chattering with Sue and Billy and the others had all branched off into their own little groups as well. Then there was Embry and I. I silently wondered why he picked to be with just me over his friends but then I was also thankfulthat
someone had chosen to come sit next to me.

"So," Embry said between spoonfuls of potato salad. "You're from Chicago?" He asked. He must have sensed my curiosity as to how he had known that because he then said, "your grandparents talk about you a lot." He gave me a little smile but his cheeks
/were full of potatoes. It was... kinda cute.

I smiled a little bit at the thought of my grandparents talking about me to their friends. "I am. Born there. Raised a little bit of everywhere," I shrugged my shoulders and bit into my burger. Embry raised an eyebrow at this statement. "My parents are
/archeologists. I've spent most of my life traveling around with them," I explained.

Embry's eyes widened a little bit in what I assumed was amazement. "Wow, that's so cool." He said, taking a break momentarily from eating. "I bet you've been all over!"

I smiled to myself. "I've been a few places... China, Egypt, Ireland... I love to travel. There's nothing in the world more exciting to me." I always lost myself when I talked about my travels. My heart would feel like it's soaring, just thinking about
/all the fun I had on those trips and what I'd do differently the next time I go...

"Are your parents here?" Embry asked.

My smile disappeared and I looked down at my plate. "No," I said, trying not to sound as sad as I felt. "I... couldn't go with them this time. So I came here to stay with my grandparents." I tore at the top bun of my burger. I was frustrated now. Frustrated
/that my parents couldn't take me with them, and mad that they didn't seem to care about it as much as I did. Traveling was our thing and it felt as if they had gone off to make this trip their thing.

"Well, hey," Embry piped up after a few moments of my sulking. "I'm glad that you came here instead." He said, leaning forward in his seat to look more closely at my face. I glanced at him in the light of the bonfire. His words had taken me by surprise
/but... they made me feel better. He was grinning at me again. I couldn't help but slowly grin back.

We spent the rest of the night talking about himafter that, even though he kept trying to steer the conversation back toward me - I insisted we talk about him. His best friends were Quil and Jake, the two that had arrived with him. Sam was engaged
/to Emily and he was kind of like the "older brother" of them all. Jared and Kim had been together for a really long time, almost longer than Emily and Sam. I found out that Sam also used to date Leah, and that probably contributed to Leah's not wanting
/to be around any of them. Then the two that had arrived last were Rachel and Paul. Rachel was Jake's sister and Paul was a "firecracker." I didn't ask what that meant but by the tone of Embry's voice he seemed kind of annoyed by Paul.

Embry explained that the bonfire was kind of a "end of school" thing. He and the others all went to school on the reservation and had just gotten done for the summer. Embry was going to be a senior next year, like me.

It was nice talking to Embry... it felt like he had to be one of the most honest guys I had ever met. I had never spent so long talking to someone I had just met like I was talking to Embry. It was nice.

After a few hours, everyone was beginning to yawn and the conversation was finally dying down. My grandpa finally got up and began to slowly put out the fire as Sue and my grandma began to gather up the leftovers and containers off of the table to be
/put inside. It was then that Sam stood up.

"Leah, Paul, Embry," he said aloud in a sort of authoritative voice. The three of them looked up to Sam and it was like they... knew what he was thinking or something because they all kind of seemed to nod in understanding. I raised an eyebrow
/and turned back to Embry.

"I've gotta go," Embry half sighed. I immediately got up, instantly feeling awkward that that was how my body responded. I faked a yawn self consciously.

"Me too," I said as I stretched my arms in an attempt to hide the weirdembarrassment I was feeling.

Embry chuckled a little bit and shook his head. He looked back up at me and for the first time tonight I realized how dark his eyes were and how handsome he really was. He was... really cute, actually. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

My heart skipped a beat and my eyes widened slightly. Did this guy just ask me out? "No, no, no Pers. He just wants to hang. Be cool." "Uh, nothing that I know of..." I said slowly, glancing over at my grandparents who were still cleaning up.

"Well, if you'd like... I'd like to show you around the reservation," Embry said, and everyone got up and began saying bye to one another and we were still here... together.

I blinked again. Why did this boy make me stare and blink every time he did something chivalrous? "Yes. I mean, sure. Yeah, I'd lov - I mean I'd like that." I stuttered and I was so thankful that the fire was going out because I was certain that I was
/red as a tomato.

"Great. I'll come by your place say 11?" Embry smiled widely at me.

"That's perfect," I gave him two thumbs up and I was cursing myself for being such a lame-o.

"Awesome," Embry's smile was more wide than it had been all night. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow then." He began to turn away from me to follow the others who were already walking off. I heard two guys calling after him.

"Yes, you will," I said awkwardly once again but smiling a bit all the while.

I helped my grandparents pick up the remaining dishes in a daze. Here I was, thinking this entire vacation was going to be a boring bust and now I already had a date! This summer was already looking up.

I didn't say much to my grandparents before bed. My grandpa fell asleep on the couch and my grandma said she was going to change but never came back out, so I assumed she fell asleep too. I retired to my own room and changed into my pajamas as well and
/crawled into bed.

I couldn't fall asleep right away though... I couldn't stop thinking about Embry for some reason. Maybe it was because he was super cute or because I had never met such a nice guy before... but he was all that was on my mind.

That was when I heard the howling again. This time I knew I wasn't dreaming it. But as I heard it, I found it oddly calming and I drifted off to sleep.