A/N: I told you that I would update soon, didn't I? (: Short and sweet!

It was Monday, I hated Mondays.

But this Monday was made a little bit more bearable, by the fact that Jared's truck was parked in my driveway. More so, it was the fact that Jared was in that truck, hopping out to open the passenger door for me. "Good morning, Kim. You look beautiful this morning, like always."

I bit my lip and blushed, even though I looked absolutely ordinary. "Thank you."

"Did you sleep well?" He asked conversationally as he drove to school.

Considering that you were the star of all my dreams than yes, I slept excellent. "Yes, thank you."

"Good, me too." He was lying. I could tell by the deep purple bags underneath his eyes and the fact that he was stifling a yawn every ten seconds. But he just looked so damn happy that I didn't say anything. "I missed you."

I fumbled with my words, not used to this kind of relationship with Jared. I was used to him not noticing me and being standoffish. "I uh, missed you too."

He smiled at me, a smile that rivaled the sun and everything I was worried about just melted away and I found myself smiling back.

As we pulled into the parking lot, Jared got out of the car and I was about to follow him, when he appeared at my door at an inhuman speed. I took his offered hand and hopped down to the ground, tugging my hand away but he grabbed it back and grasped it tightly. His resolve faltered when he looked at me. "Is this not okay?"

I looked over at Jacob, who was talking to Quil and caught my eye and I frowned to myself. I wish it was different between us… But it isn't. Is it really worth making myself miserable over something I can't change? "This is perfectly fine." I reassured Jared, and myself.

"I'll see you after class." Jared murmured, kissing me on my cheek as he deposited me at my math class. Blushing, I walked into the class, trying to ignore the absolute daggers in my back from Sierra.

"You're just another one of his playthings, you know." She said casually, almost like she wasn't talking to me. "We'll see how long it lasts."

I stood, torn between almost crying and being an idiot and saying something back. I knew her words weren't true, because I was the one, but it still hurt. "Oh shut up you egotistical bitch." The words that were said weren't mine, but they were exactly what I was thinking. I found Paul standing next to me, looming over her. "You're just jealous because Kim has more personality and brains in one finger than you do in your entire body. Talk to her again and you'll be sorry."

"That's enough, class." Mrs. Johnson said, but she seemed almost scared of Paul. "Take your seats."

I went to go sit in my normal seat, but Paul grabbed my wrist and dragged me over to where he sat. "Move." He told the kid sitting there and without blinking, he scrambled into my empty desk. "Sit." He commanded me.

I did just that. Even though he didn't talk to me for the rest of the class, I was still convinced that Paul liked me. And that little victory made my day much sweeter.

The rest of my morning classes were uneventful and as I made my way to the lunchroom, I met up with a sullen looking Embry, standing near the doors. It was his first day back since his transformation. "Did you know that I'm not allowed to talk to them?" He muttered to me. "I'm not allowed to hang out with them in case they suspect something, or I give away too much, or I accidentally hurt them."

"If it makes you feel better, I'm not allowed to hang out with them either." I said. It wasn't exactly true, but I knew that if Jared caught me talking to Jacob, he would probably tear his head off.

He smiled sadly at me. "I know, Kim. This secret has a way of condemning you." He took my hand. "Come on, Jared's getting antsy waiting for you. I can hear him complaining to Paul."

"Just don't look at them." I told him. "Don't look at them, and you won't be able to see the betrayal in their eyes and it won't hurt… As much."

"You're a good girl, Kim. You're a really good girl." There was something in his voice that sounded oddly like pity.

I followed closely by his side to our table. He took my advice and didn't glance at them once, and took a seat facing in a different direction. Jared stood up at my arrival, grinning, and pulled out my chair for me. When I sat down, he kissed me on the cheek. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." I told him back and I couldn't even tell if it was the truth or a lie or somewhere in between.

I glanced up from my food and caught eyes with Quil. He was glancing at the back of Embry's head, but met my eyes when he noticed me looking. His eyes said it all. Why?

A hand was on my shoulder. "One day." Paul whispered to me. His voice gave me chills, because he was answering my unspoken questions. "One day, they will understand."

"Jacob has a new girlfriend anyway." Embry said. I slowly looked at him. I hadn't seen him with another girl around school. "Bella Swan."

I shot a look at Jared. "Isn't she the one who's dating that vampire?"

"She was, anyway. They left town a little while ago and left her behind." He told me in a low voice. "I knew she was going to get hurt, the minute she got involved with him."

"You never told me they left town." I muttered, feeling oddly out of the loop. I glanced at Jacob and finally noticed something different about him. He wasn't looking at me, he didn't look sad or resigned or angry. He was smiling at something Summer had said. He was happy again.

Jared shrugged, leaning back in his seat. "I don't usually try to make it my business to involve myself or you in anything to do with vampires. Although I do recall the fact that you weren't talking to me at the time and you were convinced that I was on steroids and crack."

"Sometimes I still think that." I muttered.

"She absolutely fell apart when she left him. Sam and I found her in the woods, curled up in a ball and crying his name. She was practically catatonic." Paul piped in. "I started seeing her around the Rez just a while ago, right after Christmas break."

A knot of jealousy filled my stomach and I quickly tried to digest it or drown it by taking a large gulp of water. "Jake has a huge crush on her." Embry piped in almost silently. "But she doesn't see him like that. She's still hung up on the leech."

"Is it the same as a werewolf bond?" I wondered curiously. "Can vampires, for lack of a better word, imprint?"

"No." Jared growled. The other two stayed silent. "Vampires are incapable of feeling a bond like this. The bloodsuckers aren't even alive for fucks sake. They shouldn't even be able to feel what love is." I had obviously hit a sore spot because barely anyone talked for the next twenty minutes.

"I have to go." Paul said, standing up. "See you in art, Kim." He ruffled my hair and I scowled at him.

"Come on, Kim. We should get to history." He grabbed my hand. "You gonna be alright, Embry?" Embry gave a slight nod of his head and Jared bumped him on the shoulder. "If they try to talk to you, just get up and leave. It's better that way."

Poor Embry… I gave him a tight squeeze on the hand before I left.

In History, Jared held my hand under the desks the whole class. It made it even harder to focus on my work than usual. It was warm and he kept rubbing circles on my palm with his thumb. The class flew by, and he left a lingering kiss on my cheek before I went into art.

I sat down at my usual place and someone sat down next to me. Thinking it was Paul, I looked up to say hi. But it wasn't, it was Summer. "Hi Kim." She muttered.

"Hi…" I trailed off. "How are you?"

She shrugged. "I'm alright, how about you?"

"Hey, did you hear that my mom's moving to Portland?" I blurted out. She shook her head and looked at me curiously. "Yeah, she and Lakota are leaving on Saturday morning. She got a big promotion."

"Well, what about you?" She asked almost casually. "Are you staying? Do you need a place? You know my parents… They love you." The last part was offhand and I was quiet with shock.

Was she actually offering to let me stay with her? "I'm actually living with Jeff and Callie…"

She nodded to herself. "That's good then. Well, I'll see you around then." And she went off to sit at her other place.

"You shouldn't be talking to her." Paul murmured to me, sitting down where she just was. "It's only going to get worse when Jacob and Quil join the pack. Quil won't be able to see her anymore. And you will hate yourself for not being able to tell her why."

"So what does this mean?" I muttered. "Does it mean that I can't have any friends other than you guys?"

"There's something you have to understand about this, Kim. It's not just a stage or a phase, it's a lifetime sentence. This is the most intense thing you will ever be involved in and I think you already knew that." He looked at me seriously. "If you didn't want to be condemned, you should have ran off to Portland while you had the chance."

"It hurt." I whispered. "The thought of leaving him forever hurt."

He gave me a grim smile. "I know, and that's what sucks. Even if you have a choice, you will always pick wrong." I will always pick wrong… "You're a good kid, Kim."

That was the second time I had heard that today. Goosebumps popped up all down my arms and I turned away, rubbing them.

Tuesday to Friday passed by in the exact same fashion. Jared picked me up for school, I went through my classes in a daze that consisted of him, Paul, Embry and sometimes Summer, who made it her mission to have a conversation with me every day in Art before Paul showed up and gave me a disapproving look. He never said anything again, though. I think he felt sorry for me.

All too soon, it was Saturday and Jeff and I were throwing the remaining boxes of stuff into the moving van. There was a sort of numb feeling buzzing in my head, like this wasn't real. The four of us were standing together on the front porch for the last time.

Lakota was crying, her tiny face streaked in tears. "Kim, why won't you come with me?" She cried. "Don't leave me!"

I held her in my arms, heartbroken and shushed her while she cried into my shoulder. "You know I love you. I just have to stay here, I have to. I'm sorry." I rubbed her back. Jeff and my mother were hugging. "I'll see you very soon okay? I promise I will come visit you."

I passed her to my brother and wiped away one of her tears. "Bye Kimmy, I love you."

I attempted a smile and turned towards my mother before I started to cry. We stared at each other for a long minute, awkwardly. "Well, be good Kim." She said and uncharacteristically took me into her arms for a tight hug. "I love you."

"I love you too Mom." And all too soon they were loaded in the car and driving away, waving. "They're really gone…" I trailed off.

"You know you can move there anytime, Kim." Jeff said. He didn't know anything. "You gonna be alright?"

"Yeah." I would be. Once I got my head wrapped around everything that was going on, I would be just fine.

He patted me awkwardly on the arm. "Good, I'm going to pick up Callie and help her pack. I'll be back in a bit."

I made my way up to my room, not mine and Lakota's, just my room and sat down on the bed. There was no one talking, no one yelling, there was no one here. It was empty. Tears filled my eyes and ran down my cheeks until I was sobbing into my hands.

This was it, wasn't it? This thing with Jared was the beginning of the rest of my life. La Push was my past, present and future. I couldn't move on to university in another state, I probably couldn't even take community college classes because even that would be too far away.

I was going to be just like Emily, barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.

That just made the tears heavier. "Kim?" Someone murmured. My heart leaped into my throat, I didn't hear anyone come in.

"Oh, hi Jared." I croaked, wiping my tears off my face. "What are you doing here?"

"I was running by your house and I heard you…" He trailed off, sitting beside me and taking my hands in his. "What's wrong?"

I sniffled. "They're gone." It was partially the truth.

"I'm really sorry." He said. "I'm sorry that you had to stay here, because of me. I'm sorry that I didn't notice you until now. I'm sorry that it was you." I realized that we were both victims in that moment and that there was nothing either of us could do to change what had happened. "I'll go, if you want."

Did I want him to go? "No, please stay." And of course, because I asked, he did.

He stayed with me for as long as he could, but eventually he had to go on patrol. Instead of leaving me alone, he suggested that I hang out at Emily's until he got back. I wasn't sure when he would be back and I wasn't sure what my curfew was, if I even had one, so I agreed and followed him there.

He was patrolling with Sam, I guess, because they were kissing goodbye when we walked in. When Emily saw me her face lit up, and I found myself mimicking her. Seeing Emily was like seeing a long lost friend. "I'm so glad you're here to keep me company. Would you like to help me bake?"

"I would love to." I said shyly, despite the fact that I've never baked anything in my life. Jared gave me a prize winning smile, a heart stopping kiss and left. I was alone with Emily for the first time. "Can I talk to you about something personal?"

"Of course you can. What's on your mind?" She asked, setting out a few cookie trays.

"Did Sam… Did he give you your scars?"

"He did, yes. He gave them to me by accident though, he was young."

I continued, even though I was feeling uneasy. "Do you ever hate him for it?"

"No." She answered immediately.

"Do you ever hate him for imprinting on you?" I asked before I could stop myself.

She was quiet for a moment, staring in thought at the wall. "Do you know who Leah Clearwater is?" Was the question she asked when she finally spoke. I didn't know what that had to do with this, but then I remembered…

"Wasn't she with Sam, you know, before you?"

"She's my cousin." She informed me. Oh… I understood the story that she was going to tell me before it came out of her mouth. "Sam left her, for me, when he imprinted. Leah was my best friend as well as family and I refused to have anything to do with Sam, for her sake, even though rejecting him was killing me. I loved him right away, I knew that Leah could never begin to understand what we had and I was right."

"And the scars?" I asked gently.

"I wouldn't listen to his explanations and one day he had enough. He got so mad that he exploded and attacked me. When I woke up in the hospital, he was so broken. I just wanted him to comfort me… No matter what that did to my relationship with Leah."

Her story made me feel lucky that my imprint wasn't like that. But then I remembered the friendships that I had lost along the way and quickly stopping thinking like that. "It's hard to wrap my head around."

"It really is. Sometimes I wonder why it had to be me, but what good does it do you to sit around and mope about something that isn't going to change? When I see Sam, when I'm with him, it all seems worth it to me."

Before I could say something back, the two remaining werewolves came through the door just as Emily's muffins that were in the oven had finished baking. Scooping them in two at a time, they took a seat at the table.

I sat quietly, looking at Emily's scars and wondering why fate had chosen a girl like Emily.

Why did fate choose a girl like me?