WOOH. This chapter has a lot, sooooo yeah. :)

Anyone else DYING to see eclipse? I AM !!!

Two weeks, four days, and a couple of hours.

That's how long it's been since I've talked to Embry. Sure, I've seen him around school. And at my house…and everywhere else I went, but I haven't talked to him. I'm positive that if I tried, I would just end up punching a wall or his face.

There have been millions of phone calls and notes. In the beginning he did try to talk to me, but I ignored him and he got frustrated. I even got a dozen roses the after the first week, which was weird cause it's not like we were romantically involved or anything…

But I wish we were. Just because I don't talk to him anymore, doesn't mean I can't look. I can only catch a glimpse of him everyday because every other second he's the one staring at me and I don't want to show him I'm weak. But that one glimpse is all it takes for me to get through the day. As much as I know he doesn't have the same feelings for me, I can't help myself. I have to use all my strength to hold myself back every morning so that I won't run up and do something that would embarrass me.

He has someone else now. I swallowed a lump in my throat when this thought came into my head. Her face popped in my head. Every time I see it, I find it more and more beautiful. And she would have to be so breathtaking to have caught Embry. He always talked about getting married to someone who would make everyone envy him.

I let out a loud, sad sigh and straightened myself up. I looked around to see a few people still taking the math test which I had finished in about ten minutes. I glanced at the clock the second the bell rang. My stomach twisted. You see, next period was lunch, and since my little situation I didn't have anyone to sit with besides Mike. He noticed something was wrong with me, and he doesn't really try to talk to me anymore.

I took my time walking in the hall, making sure I wasn't too early for lunch. When I made it to the cafeteria, it was only half full, meaning I didn't take enough time. I was about to reach for the door when someone stepped in front of me and held it open.

"Here, let me get that for you." I looked up to see Paul holding the door. I stood with my eyebrows raised. He tilted his head impatiently for me to walk forward. I looked down at my black cast, then back up to him. I almost thought about saying thanks, but I walked in without looking back up at him.

"Tala! Wait." I stopped abruptly and waited for him to catch up with me.

"What would you like? Maybe to break my other arm?" I stretched my un-broken arm out for him to stare at.

"I was just going to say sorry, but if you're going to be a bitch about it, then I won't apologize. You deserved it." I snorted at how angry he was with me.

"I'm the bitch now? I think that's funny. Can I ask why you broke your arm?" His fists clenched into balls, and I knew I should have stopped before something bad happened but I didn't want to. He smiled as he thought, and then he spoke.

"Technically, you're the one who fell over. I didn't touch you." Shit, he was right. I rolled my eyes and started walking again, making my way to my table.

"Will you stop walking away from me when I'm trying to apologize?" I shook my head and kept walking, but I could hear his footsteps behind me. When I reached my table, Mike looked past me and his eyes widened. I sat down and felt someone sit next to me.

"I thought you weren't going to apologize cause I'm a bitch, remember?" He laughed.

"I feel bad about your arm. I'm sorry. Really really sorry." I turned my head to see him only about two feet away from me. My breath hitched, and I studied his face. His eyes told me that he wasn't lying, and I nodded.

"Fine, apology accepted. But that doesn't mean I like you now. You're still my number one arch enemy." I heard someone cough, and we both turned to see Mike turning red.

"Is he OK?" My eyes widened and I didn't know what to do.

"Paul, do something!" I hit his arm, but he just looked at me like I was crazy and then laughed. He thought this was a joke!

"You know, I should have never been so mean to you, I like you." He winked and then stood up and started walking away.

"UGH! What an idiot!" I yelled. I was getting so nervous because I didn't know what to do about Mike. I stood up quickly and ran around the table to where he was sitting. I looked awkwardly at my hands, then at a purple Mike. I whipped around to the table behind us, which was full of freshman.

"Can someone go get help, this kid is like dying." Most of them just laughed at me. There was one girl who nodded and ran over to a teacher. I turned back to my table to see someone giving Mike the Heimlich. At first I thought it was Paul, but then I realized he wasn't wearing that shirt. I knew who it was; I just didn't want to admit it. I wanted to step in and help, but I didn't want to get involved with him. So I just sat down at an empty seat at the freshman table, hoping that he wouldn't notice me.

"That seat is taken." A little boy said. I glared at him, making his friends laugh. He raised his chin and thought he was so cool for talking back to me.

"Oh shut up, little fucker." A girl sitting on one side of him laughed, and her friend poked her on the side. I stuck my tongue out at the boy, making the whole table laugh and his face turn red.

I missed a lot of action while I turned my head. The teacher had called the nurse, and she was now pushing Em out of the way to revive Mike. Embry was standing there, staring. And not at the purple Mike, but at me. Well my plan didn't work. I turned myself around to look at the little boy who called me out. All of their heads turned and looked up, but I looked down at my lap.

"We need to talk sometime, Tala." I bit my lip, and looked over to see the girl who had gone to get the teacher was sitting back down. She smiled at me, and I nodded my head back. I sucked in a shaky breath, and stood up from the table.

"Well, as fun as this was, I have to go." I waved awkwardly and stood there. One guy winked at me, and a girl waved back.

"I'm Tala, by the way."

"I'm Sue." One girl replied.

"I'm Jack," said the boy who winked.

"And I'm Embry. Nice meeting you all," he grabbed my arm and dragged me with him as he stormed across the cafeteria. I watched the freshman all begin to talk as I was being forced to my death.

"Let go of me, Embry. I'm not a little kid, I can make my own decisions. And my current one is to either punch you in the face or kick you in the balls. You choose." He let go of my arm, and I was instantly relieved. I went to reach for it, but before I could touch it, he was holding it again, this time not as vicious.

"Damn, I'm sorry. You could have told me I was hurting you." I pulled my arm away from him and looked up.

"You weren't. Listen, I know we need to talk, but not here. Not now." I looked around to see random tables listening into out conversation. When they saw me looking, their heads turned back.

"I'm afraid you won't let me talk to you at any other time." I looked back to see him staring at me, watching every move I made.

"Maybe. Tell me why, exactly, do we need to talk?" He closed his eyes tight, and let out an angry breath.

"You have to hear what I need to say." His voice lowered and he stepped closer to me. Normally, I would have backed up, but I've been away from him so long that I needed this. I breathed in his scent, trying to memorize it before I went away again.

"There's nothing you can say, Em." His eyes slowly opened, and a smile twisted at his lips.

"Say that again."

"There's nothing you can say?" He shook his head.

"Not that. My name, say my name." Is he going crazy?

"Embry?" His smile widened. I wanted to laugh at him and call him nuts, but it would only make things worse for me. I would get my hopes up that we were talking again, but the truth is that he only wants me as a friend, and nothing else.

"You don't know how good that sounds." I bit my lip and looked down at my shoes.

"You're right, I don't. Call me later. I can't do this right now." My voice cracked as the unshed tears from the past two weeks started flowing down my cheeks. I looked back up, wiping the tears from my face with my sleeve. He was reaching out for me but I turned and started running away.

I continued running until I made it outside. I clutched my chest and leaned against a railing. There were some juniors and seniors walking in and out to go off campus for lunch, but I didn't acknowledge them.

"Are you okay?" I wiped my face again and took a deep breath. I looked to see a group of junior guys, but only one talked. He said something to his friends and they laughed and walked away. The boy walked closer to me and put an arm around my back.

"I'm fine. I didn't think anyone noticed me."

"It's hard not to. You're kind of loud, you know, when you're crying." I laughed a little, and he smiled too.

"I'm Tala." I stuck out a hand, a gesture I usually hate, but something inside me made me do it.

"Ryan." He took my hand kindly, and quickly let it go.

"Well, this is embarrassing." I laughed as I looked away, turning red in my cheeks.

"It's fine, I was just wondering if you were OK. You don't have to tell me anything, I was just being a kind stranger."

"Well, thanks. I should probably get back inside anyway." For the first time, I noticed it was raining, not a big surprise.

"Unless…" My head snapped over to see him watching me. It wasn't the same as when Embry watched me. I felt a little creeped out when Ryan was looking at me like this.

"What?" I asked, too afraid to go back inside.

"We could ditch and go somewhere. It seems like it's not your day." I smiled and looked away. Today was a terrible day, due to the conversation between Embry and I. But something about this kid was off, and I didn't know if I should ditch school to go out with him.

Make Embry jealous. The idea had totally slipped my mind until now. It was my first plan when I met the other girl, but I gave up because the lack of a guy to make him jealous was a problem. But now that I had one that seemed pretty interested, why not do it?

"You're right, it is not my day." He smiled.

"I was hoping you'd say yes, you seem interesting. And you're very beautiful." I blushed.

"Thanks? Maybe we should get going, it's starting to rain pretty hard." He nodded, and started walking to the stairs. I followed him all the way to his car without a word. His car was nice, but nothing fancy. He didn't hold my door open, not like I was expecting it or anything. We sat in the car, not moving or talking.

"So, you have any idea where we could go?" I laughed.

"I thought you did." He shook his head.

"Nope." Well this is awkward. I guess I'm a bad judge of character. I should have gone with my gut and turned him down when I had the chance.

"I don't know about you, but if I don't call the office and tell them I left, then my dad will kill me." This time, he laughed at me.

"Where's the fun in ditching if you call the office?" I shrugged my shoulders and started to reach for my purse, but I didn't have it.

"Shit." I sat back in my seat.

"What now?" That was rude. I looked at him, not realizing I was giving him a dirty look.

"I forgot my purse in the cafeteria when I ran out." I was getting irritated, and I didn't like the way he was looking at me.

"Do you need it, or are you trying to ditch me now?"

"Both." He rolled his eyes and turned the car on. He was pulling out of the parking spot before I could do anything. I contemplated opening the door and rolling out, but it was locked and there was no way to unlock it.

"That's not nice. I was nice to you and comforted you earlier."

"I never asked you to. And that doesn't give you the right to be an asshole to me." He chuckled. He pulled his car into an empty parking lot, and turned the car off. I glared at him and reached for the door, but he shook his head and reached for my arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" He was staring at my chest, and I felt self-conscious. I wrapped my sweater around myself tighter.

"Back to school to get my purse, and then to my next class"

"I don't think so. You owe me for talking to you back there." He leaned in to kiss me, but I pushed him away.

"Get off of me, sicko!" He started turning red, and then let out a hot breath.

"You can cooperate and this will go smoothly, or you can struggle and it'll be more fun for me." He grabbed my face in one hand and clenched it tight. He dug his thumb into my cheek until I felt skin rip. The look on his face told me he was ready to kill me if I wouldn't go along with it. I nodded, and closed my eyes, hoping it would be over soon. He leaned in to kiss me again.

It was disgusting. He forced his tongue into my mouth. After a while of me sitting there and him sucking each breath from my throat, he started kissing down my neck. His hand touched my leg, and started moving up and up. I was about ready to throw up when I opened my eyes. I had a clear shot at the unlock button. I tried to reach for it without him noticing, but he was getting angry, I could tell. So, I did the first thing that came to mind. I pushed him so his back was against his door. He looked at me surprised, and I started kissing his neck.

"I knew you'd come around, they always do." They? How many people has he done this to? I twisted my hands around his back, and pushed the button. I reached out and opened his door, and pushed him out of it. I heard a smack and then a shout.

"Bitch!" He screamed as he hit the ground.

I shut the door and locked it before he had time to get up. I turned the car on and pulled away without looking back at the bastard I left there.

I parked it in the same spot that it was in before. I left the keys in the ignition, hoping that someone would get to it before he did. I ran back into the school, but there was a group of guys standing outside waiting for someone. They were his friends. They quieted when they saw me walking up the front stairs.

"Not this time, boys. And probably never again." They stared at me as I ran inside, ducking from the rain.

The first place I went was the cafeteria, which was empty except for the janitors. I walked slowly over to my table to see my purse in the same place I left it. Of course no one saw it.

I sat down at the table and thought if I should go talk to someone about Ryan. If there were others, like he said, then I had to. Those poor girls were victims too, and I had to be the on to speak for them. But I could imagine all the shit I would get from everyone, especially Embry.

I decided to do it because I had to tell someone. So I walked slowly to the main office and pushed the door open. The secretary, Mrs. White, smiled as she looked up at me, but when she saw me, the smile wiped off of her face.

"Sweetie, what happened to you?" I turned around and looked at my face in the glass on the door. My right cheek was full of blood, both fresh and dry. I turned back around and looked at Mrs. White.

"I need to talk to someone who can help me."

And so I spent the rest of the school day and most of after school telling my story seven times. They passed me from Mrs. White, to the principal, to the school cops, to the town cops, and so on. I finally got home at around 8, only to have my dad waiting to hear it again.

"Tala, I'm so sorry. That shouldn't have happened to you." He hugged me and cried, but I didn't. My plans to make Embry jealous had only backfired and had nearly gotten me raped. I was sick of playing this stupid game with him; I just needed to talk to him.

I ate, and did some homework. By the time I was laying in bed it was 11. I had gotten a lot of phone calls, but I didn't take any of them. It's funny how fast the word travels around. My dad wanted me to stay home tomorrow, but that's the last thing I wanted.

I started playing with my cast because I couldn't fall asleep. I'm such a mess. I have a broken arm. Speaking of which, my dad says only about a week left before I get the nasty thing off my arm. Today, a loser that I sit with at lunch almost died. Embry had finally talked to me, but I got angry so I jumped in a car with a stranger. And looked what happened with that. I'm sure I'll be the girl everyone laughs at and talks about for a while.

I heard light taps at my window, and knew instantly who it was.

"Go away." He could hear me, I knew it.

"Tala! Please!" Told you. I rolled out of bed, stopping at the mirror before the window to check out my cut. I refused to put a Band-Aid on it. I think it makes me look tough. I walked over to the window, and the minute I opened it, muscle man was hugging me. More like crushing me.

"Ow." I mumbled into his chest. He let go immediately and stepped back.

"Sorry. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have let you leave when you did. Or I should have followed you out. But I got so angry and I nearly phased in the cafeteria."

"You don't need to be sorry about it, it's not your fault I got in the car with him."

"What? You got in the car with him?" I rolled my eyes.

"Can I tell you tomorrow? I'm tired and if I have to tell this fucking story one more time I'll kill myself." He laughed.

"Tomorrow, huh? Does that mean your talking to me now?" I shook my head, and he frowned.

"I say…we ditch tomorrow and talk this out. My father would love it if I stayed home anyway."

"I would love that too, I don't want you going back the day after this happened."

"That's what my dad said." I bit my lip. Then a warm hand was on my face, gently touching the cut.

"I really wish I followed you. You wouldn't have this ugly thing," he said as he brushed gently over it, making me flinch. "And I wouldn't have to regret it forever."

"Don't diss it, I like it. And-" I lost my train of thought when he stepped closer and kissed the cut. His lips barely touched my skin, but it left a burning fire.

"I should go. I'll come over tomorrow when I know its safe." Safe as in Carol being gone for work. This almost made me laugh. While I told my story to my dad, she sat there pretending to care.

"Oh, so you are going to come over tomorrow?" He nodded. And the only thing I could do was smile. Hopefully tomorrow we would get things back to normal, even if that means I have to spill my feelings for him. I swallowed hard at that thought.

Without a word, he picked me up. I giggled, and from the corned of my eye, I saw him laughing. He placed me in my bed as careful as you would with a baby. He pulled the covers over my body, and grabbed my hand to kiss it. He turned to go back out the window, but I saw the disappointment on his face.

"Wait!" I tugged on his arm. It was louder than it needed to be, but he turned around with hopeful eyes.

"Hmm?" He walked back over to me and sat on the bed. One hand slowly reached over to pat my hair.

"Will you stay? Until I fall asleep at least? I don't…want to be alone." I played with the comforter in my hands.

"Of course, anything for you, Tal." I smiled and scooted over so that I was against the wall. I patted the spot next to me, and he laughed as he slipped his body under the covers. My muscles instantly relaxed.

"Thanks. 'Night." I closed my eyes, but I could still feel his on me.

"Goodnight, Tala." I felt a warm arm wrap around me, and I smiled as I dozed off into sleep.