CHAPTER IX

AN: I can't figure out if this is a good chapter or not but I'll put it up anyway and see what you guys think :) I might rewrite the second half, though

One note: at Forks, the La Push guys are really popular. I know in a lot of people's fanfics their not, but I figured, werewolves are the opposite of vampires right? And when the Cullens went to school, everyone kind of avoided them, so it'd be the opposite if the werewolves went.

Plus they're all really cute and stuff, ha ha

Bring on 2010

Roman numerals are awesome

Lena xo

******

"So Jake just followed the vampire family up north? Left his home, and his family, and his duties on the Rez just to protect them?"

I couldn't be sure but I saw something in Seth's face change.

"It's complicated. He used to love Bella… well, he still loves her but he used to be in love with her. He has a strong friendship with Edward and they more or less appointed him as guardian of Ness."

"Sweet," I said, grinning. "Having a werewolf protector."

He smiled at me then. "You've got one, too, you know."

******

Colin's jaw dropped. "You didn't tell her about imprinting?"

Brady started laughing. "Dude, Sam is gonna kill you."

I screwed up my face. "I couldn't tell her. I just couldn't. It didn't feel like the right time."

Brady punched me in the shoulder then. "It's nothing to do with 'the right time'. It's 'cos you're a wuss."

"Shuttup Brady!"I yelled as he laughed and started running. I sprinted after him, tackling him to the dirt.

"Alright, break it up ladies," said Mum as she came out of the house holding a huge platter of chocolate-chip cookies.

We were in my backyard and had just finished up patrol, swapping with Leah, Quil and Embry. Brady was now pre-occupied with the food my mum had just set on the table. He took one of the bigger cookies and bit into it.

"Mmmmmm," he said, "this is almost as good as Emily's cooking."

Mum glared at him, then picked up the plate and started walking back to the house with it.

"Wait wait wait Sue! I was kidding! It's just as good."

She stopped but didn't turn around.

"Ok! It's better than Emily's cooking!" Mum turned around, placed the plate back on the table, and slapped Brady over the head. "That's for lying," she chided smiling, but he just grinned and began shoving more of the food down his throat.

"Seth," she added, "it's one o'clock, you better get going."

"Ooooooh," said Brady through a mouthful of food. "You better get going, loverboy." I growled. "Shuttup," I said as I walked to the truck.

XxX

"Just four of the steak sandwhiches…and four bottles of coke. The biggest bottles," I added to the waitress as she raised her eyebrows. She wrote down my order as Kaylie muttered "And Emily reckons you've got the smallest appetite."

"And what will you have?" the waitress asked Kaylie.

"Umm…" she looked at the menu. "Chocolate milkshake and chocolate cake, please." As the waitress walked off, I said to Kay, "All the junk food?"

"Yeah," she said distractedly. "I eat chocolate when I'm stressed."

"And play video games," I added. Kaylie stopped and stared at me for a moment, before looking down.

"It's the final exams, Seth! What if I fail? Then I'll never get into college, and if I don't get into college, my parents will…" she drew her index finger across her throat. I just laughed.
"Are you kidding, Kay? You're studying like crazy, there's no way you could fail."

I wasn't exaggerating either, we'd just spent the last three hours "studying" (i.e. Kaylie studying, me sitting with the books in front of me and watching her study). I'd finally managed her to come with me up to Forks for a break, to the one small deli that was the only thing even remotely like a restaurant.

As she drank the milkshake and picked at the cake, I started a conversation I'd been meaning to have for awhile.

"So… which college have you chosen?" To my surprise, Kaylie bit on her lower lip.

"Well, I wanted a college closer to home, but… I've put in an application for a scholarship in Albany Medical College in New York."

My hands were shaking. New York was too damn far away… Unless I came with her. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and the shaking stopped. "You're training to be a doctor?"

"Sort of," Kaylie smiled shyly. "The occupation advice that we were given last week suggested me for the medical field. Especially research and stuff into how diseases work. Dad and Mum think it's a brilliant idea, and apparently AMC is the best." We were both quiet for a moment as the waitress came and placed three plates and three bottles on my side of the table.

"What about you? What college have you chosen?" said Kaylie as I began shovelling food into my gut.

"Well," I said between mouthfuls, "The occupation advice reckoned I'd be good at engineering." She was quiet for a moment, then laughed. "I have no idea how you manage to maintain a solid B plus average with all the werewolf stuff going on." I opened the first of the coke bottles. "Actually, I have no idea how I managed it either."

XxX

"But Kaylie," I whined, "I'm boooooooooorrrreeed."

"I can tell," she muttered, copying down something from a chemistry textbook. "Why don't you study?"

"We've been studying for two hours," I said pointedly. As soon as I'd driven her back from the deli, Kaylie had hit the books again.

She sighed, rubbing her eyes. Only now I realised that there were purple rings around her eyes.

"Kay," I said suddenly. "How much sleep do you get each night?"

To my surprise, she snapped her chemistry book shut and said sarcastically, "I don't know, Clearwater, I don't watch the clock until I fall asleep."

I raised my eyebrows. "Sorry, I didn't know it was such a personal question," I murmured. I watched her as she dropped her head into her hands, sighing again.

"It wasn't," she mumbled. "I'm sorry Seth. I hate chemistry…"

"It's fine," I said brightly. "Come on," I stood and took her hand, pulling her up to her feet. "You need another break."

An hour later we were starting yet another round of wii tennis.

"Prepare to get your ass kicked, Clearwater."

"Didn't you say that for the last three games?"

She scowled. "Yeah? What of it?"

I grinned. "I bet you in the last three games."

She didn't reply, instead just whacking me on the shoulder with her controller.

"Watch it, you'll break that," I warned. At that moment the ball sailed past her, and she slapped me on the arm.

"Clearwater! Don't talk to me, you're distracting me."

I just grinned.

Within the game, the ball bounced towards her.

"Look out!"I yelled, giving her a good shove just as she tried to hit the ball.

"Seth!" she yelled as she missed it. I grinned.

"Sorry, I thought there was a tennis ball flying towards your head."

She mumbled a string of words, all about me, the nicest of these being "stupid mutt."

"Where did you pick up language like that?" I asked in fake shock.

"I hang around you too much," she answered, grinning.

For the next match I spent the whole time tackling her, covering her eyes, messing up her hair and virtually doing anything I could to distract her from the game. She whacked me a lot of times, but on the whole was laughing and smiling again, which was what I wanted. I was starting to think this studying thing was bad for her.

When the match ended, which, to no one's surprise, I'd won, Kaylie was ready for revenge.

"Ready Clearwater?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," I muttered as the game started. Kay served, but as the ball headed to me her head suddenly blocked the screen.

"Kay!" I yelled, dodging to the side, but it was too late.

Next time, she stood behind me and her hands covered my eyes.

After that she hung onto my arm, using her whole weight to try and hold it down, so I couldn't hit the ball.

I let out a low growl. I hadn't realised how annoying this could get.

It was her net attempt to distract me that worked best, however.

She stepped behind me and I thought she was going to cover my eyes again but this time, as the ball flew towards me, she jumped onto my back.

Every thinking process in my head grinded to a sudden halt.

All I could think of was about her, and how she was positioned on me. Her legs were locked around my waist, and her arms were around my neck. Her whole front was pressed against my back, and her head was resting on my shoulder. I could hear her breathing, right in my ear.

"Seth?" asked Kaylie in a soft voice. It was then that I realised I had dropped the wii controller and was standing completely still.

Then she did the worst thing she could've done. As she began to slip, she tried to shift herself, and ended up grinding her hips against me. I bit back a moan, and this time Kaylie froze too. I'm not sure how long we stayed still like that, but eventually I reached up and unclasped her hands from around my neck, and she slid off of me. I turned to face her and I realised that her heart-rate was going incredibly fast; she was biting her lower lip, a sure sign she was anxious; and she was…blushing.

I realised that I was blushing, too.

There was an awkward silence until I found my voice.

"Erm…I better get back. It's pretty late," I said, knowing full well I normally left hours later than this. Kay just nodded, muttering "yeah".

She walked me to the front door. "Are you coming back tomorrow?" she asked as I started heading to the truck.

"Nah, you've got to come to my place tomorrow, ok?"

"Alright," she replied, still a little subdued. Without really thinking about it, I jumped back up the few steps of her porch until I was standing right in front of her. I leaned in and she automatically closed her eyes, but I leaned in and kissed her cheek. I pulled back, and she opened her eyes, and we both stood there for a moment, looking at each other.

"Night," I whispered. I turned around and walked to the truck, opening the door and jumping into the driver's seat. Just before I shut the door, I distinctly heard her whisper back, "Night."

XxX

I drove home incredibly slow, thinking. I never would've kissed her normally. I had on the beach, but everything on the beach had been overshadowed by my jump off the cliffs. I sighed, remembering her in her swimsuit. Damnit… and now, today. How could she miss it? How could she not realise that I at least liked her, let alone wanted to marry her, and wanted her to have my wolf-babies…

Shuttup Seth, I mentally snapped at myself.

In an attempt to distract myself, I turned on the car stereo.

Instantly the loud blaring noise of electric guitars and guy screaming wordless lyrics blasted into my ears.

"Leah," I muttered, switching the stereo from CD to radio. The voice of the radio announcer came over the speakers.

"And we have now the new song from Taylor Swift, the singer of the number one hit 'Love Story'…"

I groaned. Claire had been obsessed with Love Story, and after Quil had given her the song, she'd ran around the house giving private performances to all of her 'uncles'. The catch was that she didn't know any of the lyrics except "you'll be the prince and I'll be the princess, it's a love story, baby just say yes." As a result, she "da da da'd" and "la la la'd" her way through the rest of the song.

I reached forward to change the radio station when Taylor Swift started singing.

"You're one the phone with your girlfriend, she's upset

She's going off about something that you said

'cos she doesn't get your humour like I do."

I froze for a second, in mid-reach towards the stereo. All I could think of was the time Kaylie had made a joke about girls being smarter or superior to guys or something like that. I had laughed, but Kamal hadn't spoken to her for a week.

I was driving even more slowly now, listening to song.

"…and she'll never know your story like I do."

"Damnit," I wshipered. I was listening to the song and even though Taylor was singing about a guy and I was thinking about Kaylie, everything she was singing applied.

As I listened to the song, the words that I remembered were the ones that I could relate to.

"Dreaming 'bout the day when you wake up and find

That what you're looking for has been here the whole time

If you could see that I'm the one who understands you

Been here all along so why can't you see?

You belong with me

You belong with me."

For all I know, Taylor Swift could've stepped into my mind, read what was in there, and written it all into a song.

By now I was at my house. I killed the engine but left the radio on.

As Taylor sung, my head began swimming with little flashbacks, almost like pictures.

Kaylie standing in the surf with her yellow sundress.

Her leaning her head against my shoulder.

Her laughing at Emily's house as Claire tried to dance with her.

Her crying in my arms just after I cracked my skull on the cliffs.

"Standing by here, waiting at your back door

All this time how could you not know? Baby,

You belong with me

You belong with me."

My hands started shaking and the anger inside me started to grow.

It wasn't fair.

How could I have been there for two years and she never noticed? She'd chosen Kamal instead, even though I'd always been there for her. Even after he'd hurt her, she chose him again instead of realising who was waiting there the whole time. It was to the point where even her boyfriend knew how I felt about her, and she still didn't.

The rest of me was trembling now. I shoved myself at the door, breaking the hinges.

I'd sacrificed so much of my own happiness for her. They were my worst two years, and also my best. I wanted her to be happy.

But why couldn't she be happy with me?

She keeps kissing me. But what does it mean anyway? Maybe she's just playing at something.

Why couldn't she just fall in love with me? I know you can't help who you fall in love with.

I certainly couldn't help imprinting on her.

My whole body was shaking violently. I stumbled out of the door and onto the ground, trying to calm myself down.

It was the bridge of the song that did it.

"Oh, I remember you driving to my house

In the middle of the night

I'm the one who makes you laugh

When you know you're 'bout to cry

I know you're favourite songs

And you tell me 'bout your dreams

Think I know where you belong

Think I know it's with me…"

I started running, bursting from my clothes as I phased into the huge sandy wolf. I headed straight to the forest, letting out a loud howl.

Maybe if I ran fast enough, I could outrun my problems.

As I ran into the dark cover of the forest, I heard someone yelling "Seth?! SETH!!!" but I ignored Leah and kept going. I wasn't sure where, but I had to go now.