"Hi, Kourty!" Jared greeted when Kourtney opened the door.

"Don't call me that," Kourtney told him. He nodded and Kourtney stepped aside to let him in.

"Babe!"

"She's not here," Kourtney told Jared. "She and Christy went to the store to get more snacks for you."

Jared followed her into the living room. She took the armchair, knowing that the couple would need all the cuddling room they needed while watching the movie. Jared sat in the middle of the couch.

It was Friday night. For the past week, Kourtney had the house to herself after her parents took a spontaneous one week cruise. To avoid being alone for the whole week, Kourtney invited Christy and Kim to stay over. They all planned on having a girls' week, but Jared couldn't take not seeing Kim. So they decided to invite them to their movie night. At the urging of Kim, Kourtney invited Paul, but as it turned out, he already had plans.

"So it's just us two right now?" Kourtney nodded. Jared smiled and rubbed his hands together.

"What?" Kourtney asked suspiciously.

"Nothing, it's just now we can talk. Just you and me."

"Let me guess…Paul. We are going to talk about Paul."

Jared slapped his hand on the coffee table, making Kourtney jump.

"Bingo!"

Kourtney wasn't surprised that Jared wanted to talk about Paul. It was all he wanted to talk about. Paul was all Jared brought up whenever they talked after school.

"Okay, if we are going to talk, you're gonna need to tone down a bit."

"Sorry, I had a couple energy drinks. Stupid vam-" Jared stopped. He cleared his throat. "So…Paul." Kourtney waited. "What are you two exactly?"

"We are friends." Kourtney felt like she was on repeat.

"Friends? Are you sure you don't want to add to that?"

"Add what?"

"That you like him?" Jared said plainly.

"I do not like Paul Lahote."

"Come on! Not even a little? You think he's attractive though, right?"

"Damn it, Embry!" Kourtney muttered. She should've known that Embry would tell. She wondered if he told Paul, too.

Jared laughed.

"I can't believe he scored a date with you before Paul did." Kourtney rolled her eyes, but she smiled. It was pretty funny, only because of Embry's antics. Kourtney only recently found out that Embry had planned the whole thing. She fell for his guilt trip that resulted in her asking him out for a lunch date. "Seriously though, you can be honest with me. I won't tell Paul."

He'll just read my mind, Jared thought.

"Honest about what? I don't like Paul. At least not the way you want me to."

"But you are still attracted to him, though, right? He's tall. He's hot." Kourtney raised an eyebrow at him. "It's what all those girls are saying. I mean, all those muscles."

"Okay, you need to stop or else I'd be very worried for Kim."

Jared sighed in exasperation. He gave Kourtney a look. He wondered how Embry got her to even admit to anything about Paul.

"Alright, so you don't like Paul."

"How many times do I have to say it?"

"So…it wouldn't bother you if Paul started talking to another girl?" Kourtney shook her head. "You wouldn't get jealous or anything?"

"No!" Kourtney cried. The doorbell rang. "Finally!"

Jared let Kourtney answer the door. It gave him time to think about what to do. He needed to think of a way to get Paul to interact with other girls in front of Kourtney. It was a challenge. The damn imprint bond was working against him; Paul would never flirt or check out girls especially if Kourtney was around. He would have to just make it look like Paul was flirting with the girls.

Fortunately for him, there was an fundraising event going on at the high school the following day. He knew there would be visitors from Forks, possibly even as far as Port Angeles. If luck was on his side, there would be a few non-res girls that he can get to talk to Paul. Then he would just have to plant a seed in Kourtney's mind that Paul was interested in them. Jared smiled about his plan.

"Kim your boyfriend is so creepy!" Kourtney exclaimed as all three girls walked into the room. Kim and Christy laughed. They all took their places as Kourtney popped in the movie. Kim snuggled close to Jared.

"What are you up to?" she asked him in a low voice.

Jared gave her a smile.

"You'll see."

.-~*~-.

The following day was busy for the community of La Push. The members were all busy doing their part in making the annual fall fundraiser a success. All the small businesses of La Push had booths set up in the high school gym. Each grade level at the school also had their own booths. This year the seniors decided on a painting station. They thought it would be good to have a station where people could paint or have their face painted. Brian, surprisingly, agreed to even do caricatures of people; he was the most artistic out of all the seniors.

Jared arrived at the gym, carrying two tables with ease. Sam's fiancé, Emily Young, was having her own booth filled with home baked goodies. Since Paul and Embry had their own class booths to take care of, he was roped into helping Emily while Sam took his duty of patrolling.

"I'm over that way," Emily told him, pointing to the far right corner of the gym. Jared pulled the tables up and carried them over to the corner. After setting up the tables, Embry and Paul made their way over.

"Hey, Emily," Embry greeted as he took a muffin from the table.

"That's two dollars, Embry!"

"Put it on my tab?" Embry asked, already devouring half the muffin. Emily placed her hands on her hips and gave him a look. Embry grumbled but fished out a five dollar bill and handed it to Emily.

"What else can I get for my other three dollars?" Emily handed him another muffin and a cookie.

"Do you want anything, Paul?" Emily asked.

"No thanks, Em," Paul said shaking his head.

"Okay, then can you get the rest of the food out of my car? Don't eat any of it!"

Paul nodded and took her keys. He walked out to the parking. As he walked towards Emily's car, he scanned the parking lot for Kourtney's car. She and the other senior girls were still not there. He knew that the other senior boys wouldn't show until later since Kourtney already asked him to set up their booth. He already had the tables and chairs set up in their area. He had been there since early morning. He was helping his dad with the River Edge's booth since they were also selling food for the fundraiser.

He opened Emily's car and the smell of baked goods immediately hit his nose. He heard his stomach rumble. He grabbed a muffin and stuffed it in his mouth. He'd pay Emily double for it. He balanced the boxes on his arm.

"Those smell good," a voice said. Paul looked around and saw a girl with blonde hair stepping out of the van nearby. "Did you bake those?"

Paul smiled.

"No, my brother's fiancé did," Paul told her.

"You should stop by her booth later," Jared said as he walked up. "It's at the far right of the gym. You can't miss it. Paul and I will be there."

"Sounds good," the girl said, giving a smile to Paul. "I'll see you later, Paul."

"What are you doing?" Paul asked.

"Drumming up business for Emily!" Jared told him. It was a lie. He saw an opportunity to set up the beginning of his plan and he took it. He took a muffin and stuffed it in his mouth. "I'll take these. You take in the last table."

.-~*~-.

"Where's Paul?" Christy groaned. "I thought you said he was here to help."

"He said he would. He texted me this morning that he was already here. I think he's helping out his dad with the restaurant booth too," Kourtney told her as she shifted the box in her arms.

"Or he's helping himself to some girls."

Kourtney looked to where Christy was staring. Paul was at Emily's booth which for some reason had a small crowd of girls. Embry and Jared were there too.

"Typical Paul Lahote," Moni said. "I wonder which girl he'll be sleeping with tonight."

Kourtney rolled her eyes as Moni gave her a smile. Kayla laughed beside her. They headed for the senior's area. Paul looked up and met Kourtney's eyes. He smiled and waved at her. He started to jog his way over.

"Sorry, I didn't know you girls were here already," he said, taking the boxes from Kourtney.

"It's okay," Kourtney said. "I know you're busy."

"Yeah, Emily's baking is a hit!"

Christy laughed.

"Yeah, that's what it is." Kourtney smiled.

"What?" Paul asked. Kourtney looked at him, unsure if he really was oblivious to the fact that he, Jared, and Embry were the real reason why the girls were at Emily's booth.

"Nothing," she said as she made her way towards their booth.

Paul set the boxes down and Kourtney began to take out all of their supplies. Kim showed up a few minutes later. Pretty soon, the gym was full of people all wanting to help raise money for the La Push community. Many people from Forks were over, showing their support for their neighboring town.

Paul and Kourtney were sitting next to one another, taking charge of the money and overlooking things at their booth.

"Hi, Paul," a girl with blonde hair greeted.

"Hey, you" Paul said.

"I went over to Emily's booth and saw that you weren't there," the girl said. "You're working this booth too?"

"Yeah," he answered. "It's the senior class' booth."

"You're a senior?" the girl asked in surprise. "You are not! I thought you were in college or something."

Paul laughed. "Yeah, I've been getting that a lot."

"Let me guess, you're a football player?"

"Uh, I was," Paul said. "I had to quit the team."

"Oh no!" Kourtney fought the urge to roll her eyes. "I'm Kaitlyn, by the way."

The two exchanged handshakes.

"This is Kourtney," Paul said, resting his arm on the back of her chair. Kourtney gave Kaitlyn a smile.

"Nice to meet you." Kaitlyn smiled and nodded. She turned her attention back to Paul.

"Why did you have to quit the team?"

Kourtney, knowing that the girl had no interest in her talking to her, shifted in her seat to watch Kim and Jared, who were working beside her. She watched as Kim gently painted a heart on the cheek of a small girl. Jared was helping a little paint a space ship on paper.

"There you go, buddy! That's the best looking spaceship I've ever seen!" The boy gleefully thanked Jared before heading to his mom to show her his new masterpiece. Jared looked up to see Kourtney turned away from Paul who was conversing from the blonde girl from earlier. He got up from his seat and made his way to them.

"Hi, sorry to interrupt!" Jared said. "Paul, I think Emily needs help with something. You think you can help right quick?"

"You can't do it?" Paul asked.

"I'm helping Kim," Jared said, pointing back to his girlfriend.

Paul turned to Kourtney.

"Go ahead. Emily's by herself. I'll be fine on my own," Kourtney said with a smile. Jared cheered in his head and went back to his seat.

"Okay," Paul said, returning her smile. He squeezed her shoulder. "I'll be back. It was nice meeting you, Kaitlyn."

"You, too, Paul," she said. Kaitlyn waited until he was out of earshot. She pretended to take interest in the people that were taking their time to paint. She cleared her throat. "So…you know Paul?"

"Yeah," she replied.

"Oh, I see. He's not your…boyfriend or anything is he?"

Kourtney laughed.

"No, he is just my friend. That's it."

Kaitlyn smiled.

"He's cute." It was Kourtney's turn to smile. She simply nodded. "Do you know if he's single?"

Kourtney was surprised at the question.

"Uh, yeah. He's single."

"Really?" Kaitlyn seemed pleased with the answer. It bothered Kourtney.

"But, he just got out of a relationship," Kourtney quickly said. "They were together for two years so-"

"Me, too! Well, I was with my boy, er, ex-boyfriend for three years and we ended things just recently."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"No, don't be! It's freeing! I mean, everyone kept telling me we were too young to be so serious and I realize now that they're right! I mean, we are young and should be having fun."

Kourtney nodded at her rambling.

"How long has Paul and his girlfriend been broken up?"

"Uh, a few months now. He's still trying to get over it. He was pretty heartbroken over it," Kourtney lied.

"Well, I think I know how to help him get over it," Kaitlyn said with a suggestive smile.

"Yeah, he's not really the hooking up type."

"I'm sure I can change his mind."

Kourtney cleared her throat. Her annoyance for Kaitlyn was increasing.

"I mean, you can try. But I highly doubt you can. You're not exactly his type. He sticks to res girls."

Kaitlyn looked taken back by Kourtney's sudden change of tone. She finally took that as her cue to leave.

"What the hell was that?" Jared asked her.

"Hmm?"

"You're trying to keep the girl from sleeping with Paul."

"Yeah! I mean, look at her."

Jared laughed.

"Come on, Hunt. Just admit that you're jealous and you don't want her trying to talk to Paul."

"I am not jealous," Kourtney laughed. "She's not Paul's type anyway!"

"Are you sure about that?" Jared asked, crossing his arms. He nodded over to Emily's booth where Kaitlyn made her way over to. She chatted up Paul again and they were both laughing at something he just said.

"He's just being nice," Kourtney said as she straightened up her area.

"So that doesn't make you jealous?" Kourtney refused to look up. She busied herself with making another sign for their booth. "Kourtney, look! She is all over Paul." Kourtney ignored Jared. "Kourty!"

"Don't call me that!" she cried.

She sent him a glare and went back to her painting. However, she couldn't help but glance over at where Paul was. The blonde girl from earlier stood beside him, her hands placed on Paul's stomach as they posed for a picture. She watched as she continued to poke his stomach, asking if he worked out. Kourtney groaned at the lame line and rolled her eyes.

"Wait, Kourtney."

"Leave me alone, Jared! I'm trying to do something!"

"You have something on your face!"

"What?"

"I don't know. It's green…oh, it's just your jealousy."

Kourtney slammed her paintbrush down. Without thinking, she picked up the small can of paint and splashed it on Jared. Red paint flew everywhere.

"Kourtney!" Moni yelled, catching people's attention. "What the hell?"

"Sorry!" Kourtney said, throwing her hands up. "It was an accident."

The scene didn't go unnoticed by Paul. He was back at their booth in a flash.

"Everything okay?" Paul asked.

"Yeah, fine!" she snapped at him. "I'm just gonna go clean up."

"Jared?"

"Your damn imprint is so damn stubborn!" Jared told him. "I'm gonna run home and change."

.-~*~-.

Kourtney furiously scrubbed at her hands. She was feeling angry at Jared for being annoying. She was annoyed at Kaitlyn for not knowing how to take a hint. It was obvious Paul had no interest in her. The sudden change in water temperature made Kourtney yelp out. Her anger now went to the sink for not maintaining a warm temperature. She grabbed a paper towel from the dispenser and dried off her hands. She balled up the paper towel and chucked towards the trash can. She let out a sigh of frustration. Kourtney wondered why she was feeling so upset and angry. Jared's taunting about her being jealous replayed in her mind.

"Stupid Jared," she muttered. Feeling like she needed to get some fresh air, Kourtney headed out of the bathroom. She collided with another body as she turned the corner.

"Sorry!" a voice said as Kourtney let out an, "Ow!"

She was ready to curse out the person.

"Hey, I know you!" Kourtney looked at the guy standing before her. He stood a few inches taller than her and his dark brown hair was up in spikes. His soft green eyes were trained on her face and his smile was sweet and friendly. It caught her off guard and her anger seemed to dissipate.

"I'm sorry, I don't-" Kourtney began when she finally found her voice.

"From the party! The Halloween party over at the Millers' place at the edge of Forks."

"Right! I remember the party…ish." The guy laughed.

"Yeah, I pretty much forgot most of the night. But not you."

Kourtney looked down, shyly.

"Scott," he said. He brought his hand out.

"Kourtney."

"Yeah, I don't think we exchanged names, but we toasted our drinks." Kourtney laughed.

"I'll take your word for it," she said, still not recalling meeting the guy.

"Were you going this way?" he asked, pointing to the doors leading to the gym.

"Yeah," she said.

"After you," he told her, gesturing her to go in first.

"Thanks. So what brings you here?"

"I just thought I'd check it out. I've lived in Forks all my life and have only been to La Push a handful of times. This is my first time setting foot at the high school though."

"Well, thanks for stopping by. You should stop by the senior booth," Kourtney said with a smile. "It's like a painting booth."

"I could do that. I like painting," Scott said.

"Really?"

"Of course I haven't painted since third grade," he joked. Kourtney laughed again. The sound of her laughter reached Paul's ears. He was at the senior booth still, waiting for Kourtney and still wondering what happened that had her so upset. He straightened up as he saw her laughing and talking with a guy. Paul squinted at the guy. Something about him seemed familiar. He knew he had seen him around before, somewhere. He tuned into their conversation.

"So, I heard there's this party tonight somewhere on the res. Are you going to be there?"

"I'm kind of staying away from parties for now. I think I still need to recover from the Halloween one."

Paul realized that the guy was the one who offered him a shot at the Halloween party when he was trying to get Kourtney to leave. He stood up and made his way over to them.

"I hope you change your mind. It'd be awesome to get to know you a bit more." Kourtney smiled.

"Hey babe!" Paul greeted. He swung his arm around Kourtney's shoulders and looked at the guy.

"Uh, Paul! Hi," Kourtney said uncertainly.

"Who's this?" Scott asked, sizing Paul up.

"I'm her boyfriend," Paul replied. Kourtney's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Huh. That's funny. She didn't mention having a boyfriend."

"I thought you said Paul was single," Kaitlyn said to Kourtney, as she joined the three. Kourtney didn't know what to say. She was still confused on why Paul was claiming to be her boyfriend all of a sudden.

"Uh, we were on a break. But we're fixing things, right, babe?"

Kourtney could only nod.

"Well Kourtney, if it doesn't work out with…Paul, here, you have my number right?" He gave Kourtney a smile and a wink.

Paul frowned at Kourtney who smiled back at Scott.

"She's not gonna call you," Paul said before Kourtney could answer. Scott ignored Paul as he walked away. "Bye."

Paul, with his arm still around Kourtney, led her back to the booth. Kaitlyn was left standing on her own. She gave a disgusted groan before walking over to her friends.

"What was that?" Kourtney asked as she shrugged off Paul's arm.

"Just helping a friend out."

AN: I loved, loved, loved the reviews I got from the last chapter! I had fun writing it, especially Embry and Kourtney's "date." I am extremely pleased that you all enjoyed it too! I think it's the most feedback I have gotten on any chapter of this fanfic! It kind of put pressure on me with this chapter; I want it to be just as good! This chapter was getting a little long and I was excited to update for you all, so I did end up cutting it half so that you all had something to read while I worked on the second half! I hope I didn't disappoint! All your love for the last chapter just made me want to keep working on this fanfic rather than splitting my time with my other TVD fanfic! We'll see if I can continue to do both!

You guys are the best! I appreciate you all!