To be honest, there is going to be an increased amount of cursing from this point on. Maddie's about the same as I was when I became desensitized to the "horror" that is curse words. Though there will be a few that I will probably never use, simply because I just don't like the implications of the word. Curse words are only bad because society deems it so. This has been a friendly warning from the author.

Onwards.

Chapter 13

"Hey-o, Jake," I began with a small wave toward Jacob. He waved back before going off to do whatever he had to do. I didn't mind much. I still had to mind my impossible obsession with wolves that had come literally out of nowhere. I liked cats more, anyway.

I wandered into the woods silently, breathing in the cool, clean air. It was different from Phoenix. The air was cleaner, more filling. It took a little while longer for me to tire out than I would've back in Phoenix. I liked it in Forks a lot, especially because of the sense of community despite the deep, underlying secrets that lurked in the shadows.

Okay, I'm not actually sure about that last bit. I have a feeling that there is something going on that I don't quite understand. But, it does sound a lot more intriguing when I attempt to imply that there was something supernatural - or even scientific - occurring in the quiet town of Forks. Seriously, sometimes it was appallingly boring.

"Maddie? What are you doing?" I whirled around, a smile spreading across my face.

"Embry!" I shouted happily, "I haven't seen you in forever." I would've hugged him, but he was... shirtless. I stared at Embry for a long moment with my eyebrows.

"...what?" he asked as if he hadn't even noticed the fact that he was shirtless! Around poor, innocent me who had never seen a six-pack ever before in my life, and my god, let me tell you, it was the most mouth-watering sight I had seen to that day. I swallowed.

"Hrm," I cleared my throat quickly, feeling myself blush as I pointedly looked away from Embry, "You should be wearing a, uh, shirt." I glanced at him to see him glance down at himself.

"Oh."

"And did you-" I paused to rephrase, "You cut your hair... It looks nice." Embry shrugged again.

"So, what have you been up to?" I asked carefully. Embry studied me for a moment.

"I've been hanging out with Sam and them mostly," he replied, reaching up into his hair. I smiled slightly.

"Okay." I didn't really know what to say after that. I could tell something had changed in Embry. He was acting guarded around me, which made me sad, but there wasn't much I could do about it. He had to open back up to me on his own terms. I spared a glance toward him, I had been look past his shoulder most of the conversation.

"So what's up with the..." I waved my arms around where his half-nakedness was, feeling my cheeks heat up again, "Aren't you cold?" Embry shrugs again.

"Not really," he told me.

"I am fascinated by this. Tell me your secrets," I said, sliding back into my usual demeanor. As much as Embry was a nice sight, he was also my close friend, and I was shutting off my perverted brain for now. A slight smile quirked up on Embry's face.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he responded, "There are no secrets here. I'm just more awesome than you." I grinned.

"Or an idiot," I quipped, and Embry laughed. It seemed like I had unearthed my old friend. I punched his shoulder happily.

"You're the idiot," he returned.

"Now why's that?" I pouted, despite the smile that itched to spread back across my face. I was too happy to have our banter back.

"You can't tell how not cold it is."

"What are you talking about! It's already fall!" I responded. I felt a little cold just looking at Embry, "I've got to hand it to you though. You must be seriously crazy." Embry furrowed his eyebrows slightly.

"I'm not crazy," he said.

"Oh, you have to be," I replied seriously, "Or you're not human." Embry froze at that. He looked a little torn again.

"I should, uh, go," he said then and turned away. I frowned slightly.

"See you," I whispered. I didn't know what I had said to upset Embry, or at least, I didn't know why it had upset him, which was just as bad in my opinion. I decided to go ahead and wander on home.

XXX

"I'm home!" I called into the quiet darkness of the house. I flicked on a few lights, finding Charlie passed out in front of the TV with a beer. I smiled slightly, nudging him awake.

"Is Bella back yet?" I asked as Charlie blinked back sleep.

"I don't know," he responded, "Probably not though. I think she'd wake me up if she was." I nodded my agreement, leaving Charlie to watch his TV. I wandered up the stairs to put some of my stuff away. I sat down at my computer, pulling up my email because Willow had promised to email me. I made short work of replying to one of Mom's emails before looking at Willow's, which was, as predicted, very long.

Willow was writing about something that had happened. She had recently got a job at the fish & tackle shop that Charlie usually went to before one of his fishing expeditions. Apparently she was finding it quite rewarding. I was really happy to hear about that. It was also look good to colleges. She wanted to go to some Ivy League school.

When I finally shut off my laptop, it was around midnight. I wandered back out of my room to seek out Bella because I wanted to talk to her about something. She wasn't home. Now, the thing about Bella was that she was always home before midnight, or she let us know that she was going to be especially late. She had not notified me of staying out, so now I was going to wake up Charlie again, who was probably exhausted and knew she was going to be late. I was just overreacting, obviously.

"Dad," I whispered, shaking Charlie's shoulder gently. He grunted, swatting my hand away. I sighed softly.

"Dad, come on. Wake up," I said a little louder, shaking him some more. He groaned, rolling away from me and right out of his bed with a thud. I had to cover my mouth to stifle my laughter.

"Ow," Charlie muttered, sitting up and rubbing his shoulder. He looked over at me tiredly, "Maddie? What's wrong?"

"Did Bella say she'd be home late?" I asked carefully, twisting my hands into the t-shirt I wore. I think it was a Rolling Stones shirt that I had nicked from a secondhand store. The pajama pants were kind of new though. I liked wearing those shirts because they were really soft.

"No, is she not home yet?" Charlie asked, groggily standing up and squinting at the clock. He had an analog one hanging on the wall. It looked like it was about one, now.

"No," I answered, shaking my head. That seemed to move Charlie because he was moving quickly out of the room and thudding down the stairs in seconds. I hurried after him quietly. I wasn't sure what was about to happen in that moment.

Charlie picked up the chunky, white phone he had hanging off the wall and called Bella's phone. We heard it ringing in her room. I swallowed, the horrible feeling in my stomach twisting. So we did not know where Bella was and we had no way to contact her. On top of that, it was freaking one a.m. in the morning! Charlie slammed the phone into the hook, then dialed another number. He was talking for several minutes, calling everyone he could get a hold of to ask if they'd seen Bella.

A little less than thirty minutes later, there was a sizable group out in front of the house, and even more out in the forest searching for Bella. I was standing on the porch, staring out in silent shock. I was too afraid to say a word or to even try to help look for Bella. Charlie was out there with the rest of the search party while I stood around being useless.

Someone squeezed my shoulder, and I looked over to see Embry give me a tiny smile, "Don't worry, we'll find her." I opened my mouth for a moment before swallowing my words. Embry removed his hand, but he stayed with me. He was still there as dawn broke. That was also when I started to cry. The first twenty-four hours were crucial when someone had disappeared, and a good six were already gone by then. Possibly even more because we didn't know when she first disappeared. Embry stood up, walking over to talk to someone who had motioned for him. I swiped at my tears, sniveling quietly.

"Maddie," someone spoke quietly, "She's fine, look." I picked my head up, looking to where Jacob was pointing. A gasped, leaping to my feet.

"Oh thank god," I whispered, but there were still tears in my eyes. Jacob patted my shoulder.

"Yeah, I think we were all worried," he told me. I smiled slightly at him, then because of my overwhelming relief, probably, I hugged him.

"Thanks," I whispered. Jacob awkwardly hugged me back. I don't think we had ever hugged before. I released him with a slight smile. I then walked off of the porch, hurrying over to the EMS who was giving her first-aid.

"Is she alright?" I asked, looking toward Charlie as opposed to the doctor. He nodded, smiling slightly. Charlie looked as exhausted as I felt. I stared down at Bella and felt my breath catch. She didn't look okay at all.

I really wanted Maddie to find out about werewolves in this chapter, and I almost did it, but decided not to. Bella should find out first (poor Maddie).

By the way, Maddie's birthday is March 14th, 1988 (Year of the Dragon), in case you have ever had the desire to know.

~Minatu

(Loula Lahote: omg, Edweird, I need to use that if I haven't already. AND SWEET MOTHER OF GOD, are you trying to make me die of embarrassment. I am almost tempted to have that happen with Jacob now... I'm shameless, obviously)