Secrets, Werewolves and Coming Home

Sorry I've taken so long to update. I absolutely HATE writer's block. Anyway let me know what you think, Junosphere

Chapter 10 – You're Not What I Expected

'Hello Sam, Paul,' Jared said rather grudgingly. Remembering where I was, I quickly rolled off of Jared and sat in the damp sand next to him. 'What do you want Sam?' Jared asked pulling himself off the sand, blocking me from the view of the others. Sam peered round Jared's large frame at where I was sitting. 'You must be Kim,' he said in a matter – o – fact voice, ignoring Jared's question. I quickly scrambled off the sand into a standing position. 'Yeah, hi it's nice to meet you,' I said looking at Jared out the corner of my eye. I could see he was getting really annoyed and was shooting death glares at the other two. I shook Sam's hand, which looked equally as big as Jared's and just as warm. 'It's nice to finally put a face to the name, Jared talks about you quite a bit,' I could detect a hint of amusement in his voice. I turned and looked at Jared enquiringly, raising an eyebrow. 'Does he now?' I asked, watching as Jared turned red, his expression murderous. 'What do you want Sam?' he asked again through gritted teeth. 'Council meeting tonight, usual time and place,' he said turning his attention towards Jared. He looked a little confused but nonetheless nodded. Sam nudged Paul's shoulder and the two of them took off into the forest. 'What do you think the council meeting will be about?' I asked, Jared's head snapped around to look at me. 'Probably just the usual stuff,' he said vaguely. His eyes combed my face, as if he was searching for the answer to an unasked question. 'I've never noticed that you had a scar before,' he said softly.

My hand flew up to the small pale scar that I would always have as a reminder of my stupidity. 'It's a good story,' I said rather bashfully. 'From the looks of it I'm guessing you haven't had it very long,' he said peering at my face. 'How'd you get it?' he asked. I sat back down and patted the spot on the log next to me. 'I'm surprised no one's mentioned it to you actually,' I remarked as took the spot next to me. He frowned slightly but urged me to continue. 'Well it happened after dance class a few weeks ago, I was walking home through my shortcut in the forest, it was just starting to get dark. I was walking for around 10 mins when I felt like something or someone was watching me,' I shuddered slightly, I could feel waves of anxiety rolling off of Jared but I kept going. 'Anyway I ignored it and kept going and came across this enormous, bear – sized wolf sitting about 5m from where I was standing on the track. To cut a long story short I panicked and sprinted away as fast as I could. Anyway me being the idiot that I am tripped over a bunch of tree roots; cutting open my forehead and knees, nevertheless I just got back up and kept running until I reached the house.' I furrowed my eyebrows trying to remember, 'It gets fuzzy after that I think I must have passed out or something,' I finished.

I turned just in time to see Jared go rigid in his seat. His hands clenched into fists and he was shaking.........the same way Dan had at the hospital.........the same way Paul had in Biology class.........the same way Quil had last night. 'Jared, Jared!' I called becoming alarmed, 'Jared look at me!' I said placing a hand on his arm. He instantly calmed under my touch, his arms relaxed and I watched as he stared at my hand resting on his arm, like my hand was the only thing keeping him sane. I waited till he'd taken enough deep breaths for my liking before I removed my hand. 'Feeling better?' I asked, teasing him slightly. 'I overreacted, didn't I?' he said sheepishly, I laughed. 'You weren't the worst, Dan chucked a fit in the hospital all because I'd gotten out of bed, I honestly thought he was gonna spontaneously combust or something,' I said shaking my head. Jared frowned again, 'Which one's Dan?' he asked his face hardened and his eyes became serious. 'Dan's the one who broke his wrist falling off a ski lift when we lived in Toronto,' I prompted, he smiled remembering the story I'd told earlier, but the smile didn't reach his eyes they stayed serious and somewhat sad. I shook my head, 'come on!' I said jumping up off the log; he looked at me, confused. 'Come on,' I said holding out my hand to him, 'you need to stop moping, you've been in a weird mood since Sam left, smile?' I pleaded, making puppy eyes at him. He broke out into a real grin and took my hand. We gathered the remains of our lunch and wandered down the beach, exchanging more stories from when we were younger. I told him of the few memories I had of La Push before my family left.

We were approaching the rock pools, letting go of his hand I skipped over and vaulted onto one of the larger flat rocks. I sat on my haunches and peered into the depths of the pools. 'How did you do that?' he asked, puffing slightly as he forged his own path onto the rock. 'Do what?' 'Vault up here like that. I've never seen anything like that before.' I could hear the awe in his voice. I shrugged, 'It's nothing really, before I started dancing I did gymnastics for a while, that's all' I said nonchalantly, he was shaking his head a wry smile stretched across his face. 'What? What!?' I asked. 'Nothing,' he said smiling sheepishly. I returned my attention to the rock pool, observing the abundance of life, going about their business in just a few feet of sea water. The wind started to pick up as we sat there in comfortable silence, so it came as a surprise when it dumped an enormous wave on top of us.

'AHH!' I shrieked at the sudden coldness, I was completely drenched from head to toe, salt water oozing out of my sneakers, my ponytail sticking to the back of my neck. I turned and saw that Jared was equally as drenched as I was, water dripping off his very short hair, down the back of his neck, disappearing into his t-shirt. Which I couldn't help but notice was clinging to his body in all the right places, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. I leaned back against the rock and thought about the irregular verbs I needed to translate for homework, concentrating on those instead of the irregular thoughts I was having about Jared in his wet t-shirt. 'Ugh,' I slapped my hand to my forehead, trying to force them out. 'Kim?' Jared pulled my hand away from my face, his eyes full of worry, water dripping off his nose, hair plastered to his forehead.

I couldn't help it I started giggling, the giggles turning into full on laughter; Jared shot me a quizzical look before bursting into laughter himself. I don't know how long we sat there; it could have been an eternity for all I know but it felt good to laugh. 'Wow, what a day!' I said wiping away some tears of laughter. I looked out at the ocean only to see that the sun was lower in the sky then it was a minute ago. 'Wow! It's getting late!' I remarked, making squelching noises as I moved. 'Oops!' I said shaking water onto Jared; he threw me a withering look before standing up and shaking himself in a similar fashion to wet dog, showering me with sea water. 'Ah!!' I shrieked throwing my arms up in front of my face, failing to protect myself from the onslaught. I looked back at Jared, noticing he was almost completely dry and grinning his silly head off. 'Hey no fair!' I pouted folding my arms across my chest. Jared had the good sense to look morose, his eyes pleading forgiveness. I rolled my eyes and sighed dramatically, 'you're forgiven,' I amended. He instantly started grinning again; I shook my head and shimmied closer to the edge of the rock pool. Knowing I had to act fast. I scooped up a handful of water and threw it at Jared. I quickly jumped off the rock and ran back down the beach.

'Catch me if you can!' I called in a sing song voice, turning to see a shocked Jared leap gracefully off the rock. 'Oh shit!' I whispered, sprinting back down the beach in the direction of his ute, my giggles and his chuckles ringing through the air. His ute was in sight, gleaming in the afternoon sun, when I realised I couldn't hear the pounding of footsteps behind me. I slowed just a little straining my ears to second a second set of footsteps when Jared grabbed me around the waist and in one swift movement threw me over his shoulder. 'Caught you!' he said matching my sing song tone. 'Ufff!' I huffed, the breath knocked out of me. He carried me like weighed no more than I feather back up to his ute, plonking me in the passenger's seat. He strolled around the back of the ute, whistling as he went, while I sat there dripping salt water all over his front seat. He climbed in the driver's side and handed me a towel. 'Thanks,' I said gratefully as he started the engine and turned the heater up full blast. The drive back to my place was very quiet, what with him concentrating on the road and me trying to rescue his seat from salt damage.

'Thanks I had a great time today,' I said when pulled up in my driveway. He turned and gave me a genuine smile that literally made my bones melt. 'I had great time too,' he chuckled. 'Do you want to come in?' I asked, putting the manners mom beat into me into practice. He sighed, 'I love to Kim but I better head off,' he said vaguely. 'Oh,' I could feel my face fall as I hopped out the ute, 'You know you're not what I expected,' I said sincerely, trying to phrase it like a compliment. He cocked his head examining me with those deep dark eyes, I felt oddly exposed, 'Funny you weren't what I expected either,' he countered. I smiled closing the door and climbing up the porch to the house. As I closed the front door, I could just make out the eerily close howl of a wolf. I shuddered...