BPOV

Jacob and I showered within a half an hour, separately of course, and headed out to Katsuya. Our wait wasn't very long and we enjoyed our final meal together. In a sense, it really did feel like our last meal. When we returned to Forks; things would change drastically. Nobody back home knew what happened down here; would we tell them right away? Keep it a secret to keep our privacy? What would our family and friends think? Would our hanging out be affected by our parents not wanting us to 'be alone'? We wouldn't be seeing each other as often as we have been, nor would either one of us have much free time. I guess life in Florida was taken for granted, because life was about to get difficult all over again.

I felt a poke under the table and realized I had been staring at a planter for far too long. "Earth to Bells."

"Sorry." I muttered.

"What are you thinking about?" Jacob quizzed, wiping his mouth with his napkin.

Hesitant, I answered. "I was just thinking about how much more difficult this would be when we get home and back into school and work."

Jacob nodded, swallowing his rice roll. "I thought about that too. We've had it kind of easy up until now, huh?" I nodded, finishing my California roll. "I know it won't be this easy but we have always made time for each other, I can't imagine it being a real problem."

"You are probably right." I let my eyes flutter up to meet his brown eyed gaze and smiled sweetly. "Thanks for dinner, I'm glad we came here. It actually wasn't too bad."

"My pleasure. Kind of nice having a range of food to choose from, Forks has what, a diner and a pizza place?" We laughed together.

"I can always make sushi or something different. You can find recipes for just about anything on the internet. Free wifi at the diner now, you know." I laughed, Miami was so different from our small town.

"That is true, we should do that once a week if we can. You are an amazing cook, I'd just be there to eat it and tell you how amazing it is. Heck, I bet Charlie could learn to appreciate a cuisine that isn't Steak and Cobbler." We both laughed, my Dad loved his steak and cobbler.

"We can do that. We should also get going to meet Cameron, it's getting closer to dusk."

"You going to turn into a pumpkin?" Jacob laughed, tossing a generous tip on the table.

I smiled, he was such a sweet guy. "I may."

We drove to the location Claire gave us, it was a large Grey Mansion that was surrounded by woods. That was rare to see in Florida, it had a long winding rock driveway that crunched underneath us as we creeped towards the house. We walked onto the large wooden deck that housed strategically placed iron furniture with a red floral pattern on the cushions. It was a lovely house but for some reason it felt cold, not at all like someone's home.

We rang the doorbell and waited several minutes before a hispanic lady in a maid costume opened the door, "Welcome, May I help you?"

I glanced at Jacob who also seemed put off, "Yes, we are visitors of Claire and Cameron."

"Mr. Cameron does not want company, Sir. I will retrieve Miss. Claire though, please come in."

Jacob nodded and motioned for me to go inside, just inside the door we stopped in a large foyer with a marble staircase that was bigger than Charlie's house. It reminded me of a museum, not at all someone's home.

"Please, excuse me. I will return with Miss. Claire." She disappeared up the stairs and I glanced around the foyer. It had a iron bench along one wall, a circular mirror hanging above it which showcased the very expensive and well thought out formal dining room behind us. It was big enough for 30 people, expensive china set on the table and napkins in the shape of swans sitting in the plates. I wondered if people ever use these rooms, do they wash the dishes first? Or is the room just a show piece for people to gawk at.

I heard the clicking of heels on the marble getting closer as we saw Claire emerge at the top of the staircase. "Hey guys, thank you so much for coming. You guys can come on up. Thank you Maria." The maid nodded and passed us on the stairs, she was very rehearsed.

"Cameron knows you guys are coming, he isn't thrilled about it and is being an asshole. Forgive me, I told him to be nice to you guys since you are being nice for a total stranger."

"Oh, I understand. Maybe I should go talk to him before Bella comes in, would that be okay?" He glanced at me and then at Claire.

"I think that is a great idea. Bella you can join me in my room, we can gossip about our boyfriends." She winked playfully at Jacob and he smirked.

"Sure, Sure."

With Jacob and Cameron

I knocked on the door, received no answer and gently pushed on the door. "Cameron?" I called into the darkened room. No answer, so I stepped inside. The room was bigger than my entire house, posters of famous artists on the walls, three giant picture windows that looked out over the forest and gray walls. There was a sitting room just inside the door with a library of books, two chairs and a small loveseat. Beyond that was a California King sized bed in an abstract dark gray pattern on a platform. A door to the right opened into a massive walk in dressing room with a couch and a bathroom the size of the foyer downstairs, also in marble. I saw who I assumed to be Cameron, sitting in the garden tub staring into space darkly.

"Uh, hey are you Cameron?" I asked, but got no acknowledgment what so ever, he didn't even blink. I sighed inaudibly and stepped into the massive cold room, I realize there was no water in the tub and he had ripped jeans on and bare feet. I clenched my eyes shut in pain for this kid, he was going through the darkest point in his life and I had been there. When I opened them he hadn't moved, I sat down on the closed toilet and ran my hands through my hair. What could I possibly say to this kid to help him out when I had a hard time getting through it myself?

"Nothing you say to me is going to change the fact that I am a freak show." I heard, it was a quiet, pre-pubescent voice that was full of anger.

"I know that."

I finally got brief eye contact from him and took a deep breath.

"Then why are you here wasting your time." He asked.

"I don't think anyone is wasting their time." I picked at my fingernails and prayed this went well. He was a lot smaller than I was and knew he was fresh meat to the pack. "Can I ask how old you are?"

"14."

"Hardly seems fair, does it." I stated.

"Why are you so big." He asked, staring at me.

"Wolves are big. You'll eventually get pretty big yourself."

"Does it hurt?"

I smiled, I was happy he was starting to open up to me. "Does it hurt...Not in the way you would assume. There is no physical pain to be had once you get the hang of transforming and the pain you experience is for your loss of being normal."

"What is my purpose in life now? I'm a freak show."

"No you aren't. You were chosen. I felt the same way, wondering why I had to go through this. I nearly lost my best friend because of my funk, I lost a lot of friends at school and had to conform to this pack of brothers I hated. You have a purpose to serve your pack, protect your land and it's people."

"I don't want this. I hate it. I was the popular jock in school, had girls all over me. Now I'm a dog!"

"Girls won't look at you differently, they won't know what you are unless you show or tell them. Hold your head up high and tell only those you trust. Your pack brothers will quickly become your best friends and the sports may not be possible anymore because of your strength but you can still be amazing." I saw hope flicker in his eyes for a brief moment before fizzling out.

"You got a girl?" He asked with hope.

I smirked, "That best friend I almost lost."

He sat up suddenly, startling me. "Wait a second, that friend was a girl and now she's your girlfriend! After all that?"

"I know, right? When it happened I told her to stay away from me, that I was no good for her. I threatened her...she was dating a vampire at the time. I thought that was best."

"Hold up, she was dating a bloodsucker?!" He screamed, it echoed off the marble walls causing me to laugh.

"Yeah. I know."

"So, did she just leave? Or what?"

I leaned towards him, "She knew something was up, I couldn't tell her what happened to me but she could come to the conclusion on her own. So I went to her house and tried to give her clues, she didn't catch on. But one day she came to my house while the pack was coming to get me, she thought they were the reason why I was so 'off' and confronted Paul, my leader."

"And?!" he bellowed, biting his thumb.

"She ended up making him so mad he transformed, she ran towards my house terrified and yelled for me. I came out and jumped over her, transformed to protect her from Paul and took care of it."

"Did you get into trouble for exposing?"

"No, because Paul did it first. Bella was confused, scared...but eventually she came around."

"How long did that take?" He asked, I could hear the gears turning in his head.

"Uhh, I'd say several days. But she came around obviously."

"When did you get over being different?"

I stopped and felt myself choke up a little, "You know, I honestly don't think I have fully. I will miss out on a lot of things I wanted to do, like move out of my town of Forks and go to college. I wanted to travel and have my own family one day. But in a sense it's a god send."

"How so?"

"I know I can never leave Forks, so I have to attend the community college, that takes a lot of stress out of applications because we get in automatically due to our background. You will too. I can't do much but basic studies, so I don't need to stress about electives. I know I will always be doing the Pack stuff because I will be Pack Leader when Paul is done being leader."

"Yeah, but what about a family? You can't have one."

"Yes I can, my junk works the same as everyone elses."

Cameron laughed out loud, showing the first emotion I'd been able to see since meeting him. "Dude, that was funny."

I laughed, "It's true though."

"But won't our children be...like us?"

"Our grandfathers had the gene, it skipped our fathers and will skip our first born. Our second would have it, fourth and so on. But we are prepared when our child will have it, we will be armed with the knowledge we need to help him/her through it."

"I guess. You want kids?" He asked, a hint of amusement on his face.

"I haven't really thought about it much. I guess I would one day, maybe." I really hadn't put much thought into that...what kind of Dad would I be anyways?

"Is she hot?" he blurted out, climbing out of the tub and throwing a shirt on.

"Who?" I asked, caught off guard at the sudden topic change.

"Your girlfriend dude! I wanna see what kind of hottie you can get being a wolf." He laughed, changing his shorts and motioning for me to follow him.

I laughed at his sudden lift of mood; assuming he was done with the conversation.