I woke up the next morning to an annoying buzzing sound. I didn't remember turning on my alarm so it can't be that. I rolled over to look at my nightstand and saw my phone vibrating. Who on earth would be calling me at 8:00 in the morning? I groaned and picked up my phone, not bothering to hide my irritation as I answered. "Hello?" "Hey! It's Kim! I was just calling to see what time you wanted to come over to Emily's house today. Or if you wanted to meet us at the beach, you know just small stuff." I sighed and rubbed my forehead before saying, "If it was small stuff why couldn't it have waited until, I don't know, maybe 10:00? No offense but I was having a really good dream. Anyways, I was thinking I would come over at noon and help you guys with the food. Oh! And I have no idea what to wear tonight." To say the least I was proud of myself for actually responding instead of hanging up and going back to bed. "That would be great. As for the clothes, bonfires are normally pretty casual. So I guess just wear jeans and some shirt. I got to go but I will see you in a few hours. Bye!" Good lord that girl was to energetic for her own good.
At this point I was already awake so I rolled out of bed and dragged myself down to the kitchen. I wasn't in the mood for breakfast so I just poured a cup of coffee and looked at the window. I had been so wrapped up in my phone call I hadn't noticed that the sun was out. It felt like I hadn't seen the sun in ages! I decided I would finish my coffee outside and went to sit on the porch. It felt so good to just feel the heat on my skin and the longer I sat there the more I relaxed. I guessed I zoned out because my mother scared nearly scared the living Hell out of me when she sat down on the porch steps. I hadn't even heard her open the door. She didn't say anything, just sat there and tilted her head towards the sun. After a few moments she whispered, "I really have missed this part of leaving Florida." I didn't really know how to respond so I just nodded my head and stood up. I looked back at her and smiled before walking in the house to get ready. It hadn't felt like I was outside for long but I guess I was wrong because when I looked at the clock it read 11:00. Crap! That only gave me like 45 minutes to get ready.
I ran up the stairs and headed straight for my closet. I wasn't really sure what I was going to wear but I just took Kim's advice and aimed for casual. I picked out some soft denim jeans, a red loose T-shirt with a black pocket, and some red converse. As I got dressed I tried to figure out what to do with the rat nest that was my hair. Of all days for me to have a bad hair day it had to be today. I ran a brush through it a few times before I just put it up in a messy pony tail. Honestly, for getting ready in less than an hour I didn't look to bad. I grabbed my phone and headed downstairs to leave.
When I got to the living room I found my mom on the sofa watching TV. "Hey mom, do you think I could borrow the car today? I'm not going far just over to Emily's," I said hoping she wouldn't be doing anything today. "I'm sorry but you will just have to walk. I have to go into town later for a job interview." Of course she did. Now I would have to walk. I knew if I wanted to make it there by noon I would have to leave now. I said goodbye to my mom and started walking towards Emily's house. After what seemed like forever, really only 15 minutes, I reached my destination. I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear before knocking on the door. A few seconds later Paul opened the door and started laughing as I walked through the door way. "So, how does it feel to get your freedom back? I bet being locked up in your house was just awful," he said and started laughing harder as I rolled my eyes. I walked into the kitchen and said hi to Kim and hugged Emily. Then I hollered back, "For your information, it was horrible. Not everybody sneaks out of there house every night when they're grounded." This earned me a guilty look from Paul and a few laughs from the girls. Just as we had started to get things out to make some potato salad, all of the boys walked through the door. And the person who has been the obsession of my dreams for the past five days stood across the room for me. I have no idea why but when I saw Embry standing there I was almost relieved to see him. Yep, it's official, I have lost my mind. Sam voice finally broke me out of my thoughts. "Hey girls. We just wanted to stop by and tell you guys we were headed to the beach early. We will see you all down there later. Oh and Violet, nice work breaking out of the house." I blushed when he said this making the boys laugh and Emily hit him with a dish towel. She smiled at him as he kissed her cheek and turned to leave. Just as they were all about to walk out the door I remembered the question I had asked Embry. "Hey, Embry, wait a second! Do you have an answer to that question I asked you?" He looked a little panicked for a moment before Sam looked at him and whispered something. "Um, yeah, I do. But I think it would be better if I told you later," he said to me looking a little embarrassed. A smiled at him and said ok before turning back to cutting potatoes. After the boys left it was quiet for about 10 seconds before Kim squealed, "What was that all about? Are you blushing!? And what question were you talking about?" I just stared at her for a second before I felt kind of bad. I had forgotten to tell my best friend about my crush and now she was in full investigation mode.
"Ok, Kim, I promise to tell you if you calm down. And you can't freak out either." I stared at her a moment with an eyebrow raised to make sure she knew I was serious. When I didn't say anything she just nodded her head. I let out a big sigh before telling her the story about Embry and me the other night. After being silent for maybe 15 seconds she let out another loud squeal and started jumping up and down. I had no idea why she was so happy so I just said, "Kim! You promised. Now please calm down and tell me why you're so excited." She took a deep breath and started talking to Emily while I finished the third bowl of potato salad. "I'm so happy for Embry! And Violet too. Do you think she is going to take the news well?" she asked Emily who nodded her head and smiled. I was beyond lost by now and went to the bathroom to let them finish their gossip session. When I came out Emily was wrapping everything up, getting it ready to put in the car. I helped them load the food into the back of the car before we headed down to the beach.
When we got there the boys had gotten the fire set up, so they would just have to light it later. There were logs all around it for places to sit and long plastic tables lined up a few feet away. We started unloading all the food trying to keep the boys out of it before the elders arrived. After we got all of it unloaded Emily told the boys to go entertain themselves elsewhere. At that they jogged down the beach tossing a football and shoving each other as they went. I went over to sit on one of the logs and watch the sun start setting when I heard a few trucks pull up. I guess that would be the elders. About five older men started to walk towards us and I stood up so I could introduce myself. An older man with longer grey hair, in a wheelchair rolled over towards me. "You must be Violet. My son, Jacob, told me about you moving back down here. I'm Billy by the way." He shook my hand and I smiled at him, liking how friendly he was. I finished introducing myself to everybody and turned when I heard the guys running back towards us. They said hi to everyone and then headed straight for the food table. By the time I got up there to get some food there was almost nothing left. I don't think I will ever get used to how much these people ate.
Once it was dark enough and all of the food was pretty much gone, Sam started the fire. I went and sat on the log that Emily and Sam were at and enjoyed the heat from the fire. After it got really quiet Billy started to talk. Apparently this was also a chance to share legends about the tribes history. Billy was such a good story teller I found myself slowly getting absorbed in the story he was telling. He had just finished talking about how the tribe somehow descended from wolves when he moved on to another legend. "The last legend I will be sharing tonight is the legend of imprinting. Imprinting is basically what happens when one of the pack members finds their soul mate. The person they imprinted on is now their reason for living. They are that persons other half. When somebody imprints they look into another person's eyes and it is like their whole world stops..." He kept on talking but I could no longer hear any of his words. My head snapped up to look over at Embry he had a small blush on his face and was staring at me. OH MY GOD!
