It was just another day at school. Before Ryan had left I had been counting down the days until Jake would turn me into a vampire. Now, I spent my days waiting for Ryan to come back; I refused to believe that he was being serious, and if he was, then he would come back soon.

"Alex, babe, I've been thinking," Jake murmured as we sat next to each other in English. "Maybe we should hold off your changing. You haven't been well, and I wouldn't want to risk it."

"Mm-hmm" I simply mumbled. I couldn't care about anything now. My best friend left me – I was wounded. I hadn't talked to anyone but Molly. I didn't want to talk to Jake about it. I couldn't hurt him by telling him how much Ryan leaving was hurting me.

"Do you want to talk to me at all?" He said sourly.

"Sorry?"

"Oh, come on, Alex. You've hardly spoken to me for the past two weeks!"

"I'm sorry." I mumbled. I let my head fall sleepily onto the table. I heard Jake sigh and felt his hand stroke my hair softly.

"Look, Alex, I know you're upset about Ryan but you need to stop this. I hate seeing you like this." He said. He pulled my head up gently then pulled me over so my whole body was leaning into him. "I can't believe you're my wife. It seems too good to be true."

"I know what you mean." I said happily. It was the longest I'd spoken for almost 2 weeks. "Bt it feels right, you know? And I so want to change, Jake, I do."

He sighed heavily. "I know you do. But I'm not sure if we should right now. You know it means everything to me, changing you but if you weren't strong enough and you didn't pull through... I don't think I could last a single day without you."

"I will pull through, Jake... I guess if it means that much to you, I'll wait." I insisted. I kissed his cheek and got back on with our work.

It was next lesson when Miles spoke to me for the first time in weeks. I sat in my normal place in German when I noticed that Maggie wasn't in.

"She hasn't been seeing things lately." Miles said. "People's thoughts are blurred so she's hunting."

"Oh." I said curiously. "Why is that?"

"She's just hungry. It happens to the best of us." Then eventually he looked at me. "It's good to hear your voice. I was beginning to think you lost it."

"At least you could hear my thoughts. Some people didn't even hear that." I laughed half heartedly.

"Oh, and weren't they cheerful!"

I sighed heavily and pushed his arm in punishment. "I've just lost my best friend. What do you expect?"

"You haven't lost him, Alex. He left because he didn't want to hurt you anymore. That just shows you how much he really is there for you."

I thought about that for a minute. Miles was right – Ryan was trying to do the right thing, even if it did hurt like hell without him in my life.

"Anyway, I'm just glad you are feeling a bit better." He said.

"Wow, I never thought I would see the day Miles O'Connell cared about a human." I waited for his defensive 'yeah, like I would?' or 'who said anything about if I cared or not?' but was surprised to hear his response.

"Yeah, well, people change." He muttered. I frowned at him in confusion. He sighed then carried on. "Look, Alex, you're nicer than the rest. And believe it or not, I do have feelings and I've grown to like you."

"Wow." I mumbled.

"So, maybe we could hang out sometime?"

"Oh, sure. I'd like that, actually." I grinned.

"After school, the gang and I have to meet up with Maggie and hunt so it won't be tonight."

I wondered what it would be like to watch them hunt. I remember Ryan telling me the werewolves hunted humans, but only orphans. Most of the other times they hunted animals.

"I can see us in your thoughts. What exactly are you thinking of?" He said curious. I told him about what I what thinking about.

"Nope." He said. "We don't hunt humans anymore and we rarely hunt animals. We only hunt animals when were losing our strength, and Maggie and I when we can't see clearly." He hesitated, looking at me curiously. "Why? Do you want to come with us?"

"Really? Can I?" I said excitedly. I'd always wanted to see a werewolf shift.

"Sure. But we run fast so you might not be able to see much. But please...don't freak out. The others might get a bit annoyed at that."

"No, no I won't." I assured him.

"Great." He said smiling. "Meet me outside the park after school?"

"Great." I copied his words.

A little while later and the bell rang. I was glad Miles was tuning down his hard barrier and talking to me – it should be good for him. The rest of the day I looked forward to seeing the wolves shift. I'd been fascinated with the werewolves since I met Dylan and Cole and the girls. I didn't mention anything to my friends at lunch and I was terrified of telling Jake. I knew he wouldn't allow me to go but I was desperate to. Then I had an idea.

I skipped up to Molly, who sat with Nate, Leona and Bray. Molly smiled widely when she saw me. I grinned at her, although I was worried she'd hate the idea too.

"Hey gorgeous." Nate shot in before I could say anything. "I knew you'd fall for me one day."

"Ok..." I said. "I was actually just coming over to say a late happy birthday to Bray," I said and nodded in her direction.

"Aww, thank you, Alex." She said, laughing at Nate's shocked face.

"And also, Molly, I need ask you a favour." I said a bit quieter. She turned away from Nate and looked up at me.

"What's up?"

"I won't be home until later tonight. But you cannot tell Jake before you get home, otherwise he will totally freak out!"

"Why?" She asked with a suspicious look on her face. "What are you up to?"

"Miles O'Connell invited me to watch them hunt."

"No wonder you don't want Jake to find out." She said, her face twisted. "I've got to admit, Alex, it's not your greatest idea. But I know what you mean – I went to see some wolves shift before. It's great, so just go for it. But be careful. They can be a bit untrustworthy."

I smiled at her and nodded. Jake suddenly walked up to me then. I smiled at him as he wrapped his arms around me

"I've been looking for you." He said, tickling my nose with his. "How was German?"

"Extraordinarily good today." I said. "Miles and I started chatting again, but nice talk."

"He was nice to you?"

"Yes." I insisted, kissing his lips gently.

"Good." He said. "Then I won't have to kill him." He pulled me down onto his lap next to Molly. "So I was thinking maybe we could go out for dinner tomorrow, or tonight maybe?"

"Tomorrow night. I...have a lot of homework to do tonight. And I thought I'd have another look down town."

"Sure, have a nice time. But you'll be back before it is dark, right?"

"Of course." I said, slightly ashamed that I felt the need to hide this from him.

I sat, dreaming about and looking out the window in my last lesson. Eventually the bell rang and before the class was excused, I ran out of the door and practically flew out of the gates. I speed-walked to the outside of the park to meet Miles.