I don't have much to say but I hate not leaving an author's note. So that is going to be it for today. *smiles*

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BPOV

Kim was a really nice girl. She was quiet and sweet with long black hair and a plain face. I knew we were going to be really good friends. Jared had left so it was still Kim and me sitting next to each other. I felt do left out because most everyone had a date with them and I didn't. Even Jacob had left me…seemed like that's what the guys in my life liked to do to me.

What was he doing sitting over there with that girl? What was her name? Lynn? I thought it might be but I wasn't entirely sure. I didn't really give a hoot as to what it was. She didn't matter to me.

Kim scooted closer to me. "This is fun," she whispered. "A new girl! At first it was only me and Emily but now you make a wonderful addition. I still can't believe that you're a werewolf, though. Crazy."

"Me either," I agreed. "It's all new to me."

She smiled sweetly. "When Jared told me, I was shocked. I was so excited to meet you. This whole day I was worrying about what you would think about me."

She shook her head in protest. "No way. You have to understand that you are part of pack now. They all care about you. I you don't like someone or something, they won't either. They've got your back…and so do I. We all do."

I felt really good now. "Well, then I guess it's a good thing that I like you," I giggled.

"Oh," Kim perked up like she remembered something. "You should come over Emily's on Sunday. We're having a sleepover since I have off from school on Monday. I'm sure you do to so it works out perfectly. It'll be so much fun if you come to. I know Emily is dying to meet you. First we're going out shopping for a few things. There's a new bridal shop that opened in Port Angeles and Emily wants to go."

"Sure, I'd love to," I rushed the words.

Our conversation was interrupted by the laughter coming from Lynn, or whatever her name was. She had never introduced herself to me. How rude was she? She ignored me and went right to Jacob and pulled him away. Kim leaned in and whispered, "She's got nothing on you."

I was taken back. What did she think was going on between me and Jacob? "What?"

I heard Jared call Kim and she got up to go meet him. "We'll talk later."

After she was gone, it was me alone with Jacob and Lynn. I stared at the fire until Embry appeared with a girl that I didn't know. My anger quickly grew. Why the hell was I by myself? Jacob left me to hang out with another girl. Who does that? Did I not come here with him? Even if we were just friends, you don't do that. I sat there being mad.

"Sup, brothers!" I heard a voice call form the near distance. I knew it belonged to Paul. "What is up?"

Paul made eye contact with me, looked at everyone else, and sat down very close. "Hey, Bella. I haven't seen you in awhile. What's been going on with you?"

"Oh, well, a lot lately. Considering I just t—" I stopped dead in my tracks. Lynn didn't know about the werewolves. I almost laughed about that. I realized that Jacob could never be with that rude girl because of that small detail. "Well, you know."

"Yes I do." Paul casually put his arm around my shoulder, pulling against him. "I'm glad you're one of us."

"Thanks," I replied wearily. Was he being nice or annoying Jacob? I decided that either way it was nice. At least I wasn't alone at what seemed to be a couple's bonfire. Even if it was Paul. But, who was I to judge? Maybe he was a nice guy deep down.

I let him keep his arm around me for a couple reasons. One, I didn't feel left out anymore. Two, it's what Jacob was doing with Lynn. And three, I just wanted Jacob to feel stupid. This is what he got for barely talking to me since we got here.

How dare he.

As the night progressed I didn't pay attention to Jacob and the weird girl he was with. I heard them talk but I wasn't hearing the words.

Lynn decided that she was going to talk to me. "So I didn't catch your name," she said to me, blinking twice and putting her hand on Jacob like she was staking her claim. He smiled at her. What the hell is this?

"Bella," I told her, not caring. We could so play this game, I could play this game.

"That's a pretty name," she said back, sneering at me.

"Most people think so."'

She turned to Jacob. "Don't you like my name?"

He nodded. "Of course I do." Whatever, Jacob. She snuggled closer to him.

This wasn't fair. I didn't care if he was only my best friend. Jacob was mine. He was the one that I felt safe with and he was the one I could talk to. This girl was not going to take that from me.

I felt Paul start to play with my hair. He took it out of the ponytail and placed my hair in front of me. "Keep your hair like that, I like it," he said smoothly. I didn't see him directly but I was sure that he exchanged a glance with Jacob. I turned my head onto Paul's shoulder. I wished that I could see Jacob's face. He was probably pissed, or should be.

"So, Bella," Lynn began. "Why are you always down in La Push?"

I was growing tired of her. "Why does it matter?" I muttered. "I'm here to see Jacob and the other guys. Do you have a problem with that?" A side of me that I had never knew I had was coming out. I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.

"No," she claimed. "Don't you have your own friends to visit?"

"My other friends aren't hot guys," I explained.

Paul gave a low laugh. "Yeah, she's talking about me." He waited a minute to speak again, and when he did, he leaned in towards Lynn and spoke in a whisper that he knew I could hear. "Plus, we love it when she comes here…gives us some good dreams at night. If you haven't noticed, Bella is freaking gorgeous to the core. Turns heads everywhere."

Unlike you, Lynn.

I didn't respond, I just closed my eyes to block out the talking. I didn't care anymore. I didn't want to be here. I wanted to g home. "Jake, can you take me home?" I asked.

"No way!" Lynn shouted. "He's mine tonight." With that, she planted a kiss on his cheek, very close to his lips.

He smiled back at her, not looking at me. "We just got here not that long ago. I think I'm going to stay, Bells."

"Do not call me that," I sneered through my teeth, annunciating each word.

Was I jealous?

No, I couldn't be. I only wanted to knock the bitch out…then take out Jacob.

I got up, shaking Paul off, and started to walk away before I blew my top. If Jacob wasn't going to take me, then I would walk home myself. But, that was not the plan that Paul had in mind. I heard him get up and follow.

I turned around to Jacob. "I'll see you later!" I shouted back at them. "Enjoy!"

I knew Jacob saw me walking away with Paul, and whatever he was feeling right now he deserved. I was pissed off. Paul followed me into the woods and to the road that I was going to walk home by. It was a long narrow road, trees alined, that took me all the way to Forks. I didn't care if it took me forever to get home. If I wanted to, I would phase and run, but that would mean ruining my clothes that Renee gave me. I decided to walk off my anger.

"My guess is you don't want to talk," Paul said from behind me. I hated how he always sounded so confident in himself. He didn't have anything to lose.

I whipped my body around and stopped. "No I don't."

"Okay, then, I won't mention what happened." He looked at me for a long moment. "Although, I have to say that what Jacob did was wrong. What a dick move that was."

"Don't suck up to me, Paul; it's not going to work. I know what you're up to," I said.

"And what's that?"

I rolled my eyes. Did he think I was clueless? "I know you're trying to annoy Jacob by trying to get with me."

He came up to my side. "Well, part of that is true. I do find annoying Jacob to be…fun. I know it sounds bad but we're brothers and that's what we do. But, I can't help the fact that you're so attractive." His voice deepened and he raised his eyebrows. "I like to be around you."

I laughed out loud. "No, you want to make Jacob jealous of you."

"True," he agreed. "Very true."

"Then why not take that Lynn girl away from him?"

He smirked. "Because he won't care about that. It's you that will get to him so don't be surprised when I—"

"Stop talking," I commanded. "I don't want to hear anything more."

He nodded. "Alright, I won't tell you my genius plan. I'm only saying that it's probably killing him not knowing what we're doing right now. For all he knows, I could be bringing you back to my place…"

"Shut up, that'll never happen."

"A guy can dream, right?" He leaned in closer to me. "You're just really, really hot Bella. Don't you know that?"

"Lots of people have been telling me that lately," I explained, starting to believe what he was saying.

We stayed silent for awhile. We were both so quiet that I was beginning to forget that Paul was even there. I was concentrating on the weird feeling that I was getting that someone was watching me, other than Paul, whose eyes seemed to linger on me a lot. It reminded me of the way Jacob checked me out when I first came to Forks.

"Why are you following me?" I asked Paul.

"I'm not following you, I'm walking you home."

I rolled my eyes up to the sky. "Yes, I know, but why? I can get home myself."

"I'm not going to let a beautiful girl like you walk home by herself. Too dangerous," he told me. "I want to make sure that you make it home safely."

That was not the only reason, I knew. But it was good enough for me now. We continued to walk until my house came into sight. I was never so happy to see it before in my life. I wanted to climb into bed and have this day over with. Hopefully, tomorrow would be a better day.

I stepped up onto the cement porch and turned back to Paul. "Thanks for walking me home, Paul," I said lazily.

"No problem. Anytime." It was pitch dark out there was only one dim light on in the house. In the dark, Paul looked a lot like Jacob. It was actually scary how much they looked alike. I couldn't bear to look anymore.

I turned around and put my hand on the doorknob. I hesitated. If I walked in, I would be alone. I was terrified of being alone, when it was quiet. Then, I would have to think and relive everything—what happened with Edward and what happened tonight. Was Paul's company really that bad? It was better than nothing. Or at least that was what I was hoping for.

"Do you want to come in?"

Paul smoothly smiled. "I was hoping you would ask."

He stepped up onto the porch as well, right next to me. He was so tall compared to me, all the Quileute boys were. I looked up at him. "Do you like that I'm so incredibly small? Do you mind?" It was meant as a joke.

"Height difference is a good thing. Do you mind that your brothers are freakishly tall?"

The word brothers got to me. It made me feel like I was a part of something.

I was their sister.

"No," I responded. "As long as it's not used to an advantage."

He waited to answer. "I can't promise that but I can promise that I will try really hard not to."

Once we enter the house I felt the need to give an explanation. "I'm not inviting you in because I am looking to make Jacob jealous or whatever. I don't care about that. I'm not like that."

"I know," he told me in a low voice. "But it's kind of fun either way, don't you think?"

I smiled. "Maybe a little."

It was fun to make Jacob jealous. The thought of him stressing over the fact that I was with Paul somewhere must be bugging the hell out of him. I didn't know why Jacob always disliked Paul so much. He seemed to be a pretty decent guy. Or maybe he was just being nice to me. At least I was getting something out of it.

As we entered the house, I turned more lights on so it wasn't so dark anymore. That was all I needed. To be alone with Paul in a room with no light. Yeah, that would go over great.

I carelessly made my way into the kitchen. I looked around. "Do you want something to eat?"

"Of course! You know the food at the bonfire is just not enough for me," he acknowledged. "I hear you're a pretty good chef yourself. What are you making today Chef Swan?"

"Hmmm, well what would you like?"

"Anything and everything."

I decided on making something out of the new recipe book that I got. I knew Paul would give me the truth about my cooking and not lie if it was bad. Although I had never cooked anything bad before in my life, there was still that slight uncertainty.

I went with a French dish that looked very good in the picture. Recreating it was going to be hard but I was up for the challenge. I cut a whole bunch of colorful vegetables and even Paul help out when he was afraid I would cut myself with the huge knife. Cooking wasn't dangerous to me at all, it was fun. It was something that I was good at and enjoyed doing. The people who ate my food seemed to enjoy it too.

Lots of time went by. It had to have been around nine but I wasn't going to look at the clock. I finished cooking a huge pot of pasta and dumped it into a large red and orange bowl that I had gotten in Arizona for my birthday. I mixed in a bunch of spices along with the peppers and other colored vegetables, added at dash of oil and I was done. I was happy with the result.

I went to cut up some more yellow peppers when Paul distracted me with a question. "So ever hear of imprinting, Bella?"

The word was not familiar. I was about to answer no, looking up to him, when I felt the sheer slice of the blade cut deep into my skin. The knife dropped to the ground and clicked against the floor as it fell. I looked down in horror. I cut the through the face of my hand. Blood came rushing out of the new wound. Paul was by my side in a second. He placed his hand over mine and rushed me to the sink, where he turned on the water and ran my hand under the cold water. It didn't feel like much to me. I barely felt anything except an uncomfortable feeling in my hand. There was no sharp pain of sting. Nothing.

I did not have much personal space. Paul was centimeters from touching my backside. He leaned over and examined my hand. I hadn't even looked at it yet but his comment made me. "Look at that," he breathed, sounding amazed. "Not a scratch. I don't even heal that fast. You must heal faster than us, Bella. Lucky you."

At that second, the front door swung open and four tall boys walked in. "Damn, we could smell that food from a mile away! Seriously, we could," announced Embry. "I already know I'm going to like it."

I quickly jumped away from Paul and crossed the kitchen to greet them. I saw Jacob was one of the first ones in and was staring past me at Paul. I didn't turn around to see what death stares they were throwing at each other. I didn't care. It was not my problem.

I quickly glanced down at my hand, flipping it over. Paul was right, there wasn't a scratch on me.

Weird.

I was glad that I made enough dinner to feed them all. I got out more plates and served them all. The room grew with chatter and simple arguments. I grabbed another plate out of the cabinet and filled it with the pasta. I walked over to Jacob, expressionless, and handed to him. He only stared at me, taking what I offered. Jacob was never one to turn down food. But, he set it down on the counter and walked around to where the bloody knife was. He looked at it for a long moment and turned to me, wanting an explanation.

"Yeah, it's what you think. I tried to stab Paul in the neck." I threw up my hands. "I'm guilty."

"Be serious," he urged in a serious tone. "What happened?"

If you had been with me then you would have known. "Well, I accidently sliced my hand a few minutes ago." I held up my hand so he could see. "See? I'm all better. No damage done…Paul came to the rescue."

Jacob snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure he was more than willing to be up close and personal with you."

I was not going to feel guilty for being nasty to Jacob. Right now, he deserved it.

"You know, he's a nice guy," I threw back at him. "Maybe you should be more like him."

Jacob only smiled and looked away like he was thinking some stupid comment in his head. "Maybe you should be more like Lynn, too."

I was immediately infuriated. "Maybe I should try and stab you in the neck," I gritted through my teeth.

"You wouldn't do that," he assumed.

"Oh, really? It wouldn't matter anyways, it would heal. But guess what, Jacob? I heal faster than all of you. It only took literally two seconds for my wound to heal. So I guess I'm special, or at least better than you."

"You are special," he agreed.

"Damn straight! And I deserve to be. Do you have any idea what shit I've gone through this past month? Any idea? No, you don't have a clue."

"You wouldn't hurt me." He didn't acknowledge any bit of what I had said in the last statement.

I got really close to him. "Well if I was going to then I'd get baseball bat or a hammer."

I picked up the bloody knife and threw it in the sink from where I was standing. I continued to clean up the kitchen until it was spotless. Jacob stood there the entire time watching me. It was irritating. After what happened, he even dared step foot in my house. He ditches me, goes for Lynn, and expects me to be all cool. Yeah, right.

I needed to get away from him. "I'm going to take a shower," I announced to the boys. "I'll be down in a bit."

I stormed up the steps and half slammed my door closed, closing out all the noise.

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