Ok, so I know that I haven't updated as recently as I do but it's because I was sick so I couldn't really do anything about that. But now that I'm better, I can update again! :) So enjoy!

Chapter 25: Penny For Your Thoughts.

Gabriella's POV

Have you ever had the feeling of betrayal? It feels awful doesn't it? Like, someone plunging a rusty knife directly into your heart. Well, that's exactly how I felt. I couldn't believe that one of the people that I trusted the most had tried to hurt me. It's like fate wanted to play some sick, twisted joke on my life.

Ethan, he was the traitor. I had thought that he was just playing around; trying to be funny you know? But it turned out to be something more serious than that. I can't believe I never noticed that he had had feelings for me. I mean, I should've seen it coming. It's like in movies; two best friends, one of them falls for the other and they eventually have a happy ending, the end. But since it was my story, there was a different ending. There was no happy ending... all because Ethan had tried to rape me.

Who was my prince charming now? Embry my mind answered for me. My heart skipped a beat just by the mention of his name. Embry, the boy I had met while dating one of his friends, Seth. The boy who had made me fall for him but broke my heart in the end. The boy I still loved after all the heartache he caused me. But most importantly, he was the boy who had saved me from Ethan. He was the boy who held me in his arms last night, rocking me back and forth, trying to calm me down while I cried my heart out into his chest.

I never had anyone care for me like that before. I mean sure, I had my parents but they didn't exactly hold me in their arms; not that I would want them to that is. And my brothers, they didn't do that for me and not my best friends. I had insisted that he should go home when it had got really dark but he had refused. He only left earlier this morning for school.

My brothers and sisters had all went aswell so it was just me, mom and dad in the house. And I didn't really want to talk to them about how I was feeling. So here I was sitting on my bed, thinking about how messed up my life really was. But I had to somehow try and snap out of it. Christmas was just a few days away and I couldn't stand it if I ruined Christmas for everybody. I had ruined enough already. Not to mention that Alex and her family were arriving.

Finally, something inside me snapped and I felt the urge to just scream out all my frustrations. And what better place to do that than in the woods. I walked over to my closet and threw on the first piece of clothing that I could find. I then rushed downstairs and said a quick goodbye to my parents who were watching TV and ran out to our backyard that led to the woods.

I eventually slowed down to a walking pace once I was deep enough inside. I looked around at all my surroundings; the trees, the animals that lived in them and all the habitats I could see. It looked like their life was so peaceful, so why couldn't my life be like that? I had already lost the need to scream so I just wandered around the forest, lost in my thoughts. I felt an animal's warm breath on the back of my neck and I slowly spun around. There standing behind me, was Wolfie.

I smiled happily and wrapped my arms around his huge neck as I buried my face into his soft fur.

"I missed you." I whispered. I felt him nudge my shoulder gently and I smiled into his fur.

I led him to a tree and slumped to the ground while he sat staring at me, his tongue hanging out. I laughed at him.

"You look like a dog." I said happily, and he licked my face. "Eww!" I said, before laughing.

I stroked his fur as we just stared at each other. I got lost in his eyes just as much as I got lost in Embry's. They were the same chocolate brown that Embry's was and they held the same passion in them.

"So how you been? I haven't seen you in a while huh? A lot of things happened to me." I said.

"Do you want to know?" I asked, even though I knew that he couldn't understand me. "Well, you see my friend Ethan? I asked him to pretend to be my boyfriend so I could make this boy Embry, that I like, jealous. But he tried to hurt me instead. He chased after me but Embry came and saved me." I explained, while little snippets of what happened flashed through my eyes.

I closed my eyes and shook my head to make them disappear as I continued, "Then, Embry took me home and I cried. He stayed there with me all night, making me feel safe and warm." I said, smiling at the memory. "I guess people just aren't who they seem to be huh?" I said, shrugging my shoulders weakly. Wolfie bowed his head and I ran my hands through the fur between his two ears.

"You'll never leave me will you? You'll be like Embry; always there for me. I wish you were human Wolfie, that way I could talk to you all the time and you could help me with Embry. I still love him. Even after he hurt me with... Jasmine I still love him." I said, choking on the word Jasmine. "Is that weird?"

Wolfie shook his huge head and looked at me with hurt eyes; like he could feel my pain.

"But I guess he doesn't love me anymore; he's got Leah now. I guess I'm too late now aren't I? Who would want to be with me anyway? I ruin things for everyone and I'm not anything special. I'm not even that pretty. I guess I can understand why Embry wanted Jasmine over me now." I said sadly, sighing afterwards.

The wolf whimpered at me and I looked straight into it's eyes. It held so much sadness and pain in them that I just wanted to hold him and make the pain go away if I could.

"Why are you sad? Do you not want to be with me?" I asked. Wolfie whimpered even more and put his head on my shoulder. I felt something wet fall onto my shoulder and I pulled back. There were tears in his eyes and my heart hurt. I brushed away his tears with my thumb and held his huge head in my hands. I hummed to him as he slowly started to sink to the ground until his whole body was on my lap.

We stayed in that pose for several moments. I just stroked his fur gently as he continued to lay his head on my lap. It felt nice just to sit there and be filled with serenity. That didn't happen too much in my life. It was always busy and filled with drama and problems.

Just then I heard the crunch of leaves and I gasped as I saw another huge wolf approach. It was jet black unlike Wolfie's which was grey with dark spots on his back. It bared its teeth at Wolfie and he stood up and growled at him. I stood up aswell and stood beside him as I looked at the black wolf with curious eyes.

"Is he part of your pack Wolfie?" I whispered into his ear.

He turned to me and nodded his head. "I should go then. I'll see you around." I said, as I placed a small kiss in his cheek.

I walked away carefully as I looked at jet black wolf, being cautious in case it attacked me. It left me alone though but my insides were still in a twist. Luckily, I hadn't wandered into the woods as far as I thought and ended up at my house soon enough. I walked through the door and saw my mom at the stove. She spun her head round in my direction and offered me a small smile.

"Hey honey." She greeted.

"Hey. I'm going up to my room." I said, reaching for the doorknob.

"Don't you want any food?" she asked worriedly, "You haven't eaten since yesterday."

"I'm fine. I don't have an appetite right now. I'm going to school tomorrow by the way." I said quietly and slipped through the door.

I saw my dad reading a newspaper and smiled at him while he looked at me with sympathetic eyes.

"Sam called, they say they didn't find Et- him in the woods." He said, stopping before he said his name but I winced nevertheless.

"Oh." I replied. "I'm going up."

I trudged up the stairs as my siblings came in through the door, laughing and joking around. I wished my life was as simple as theirs. We were all related by blood so why wasn't I like them? They all stopped laughing when they saw me by the stairs and looked at me with sympathy. That made me furious; I didn't want their sympathetic stares.

"Don't look at me like that." I warned, before I bounded up the stairs.

"Gab!" someone called after me but I ignored them. I just wanted to be alone anyway.

I entered my room and sighed. I wouldn't be able to avoid Asia; we did share a room anyway. I got out of my hoodie and dropped onto the bed with a deep sigh. I just wanted the day to be over already. My phone started ringing and I looked over at it. Who could be calling me?

"Hello?" I said.

"Gab? It's Embry."

"Oh... hi."

"I just wanted to see how you were? You know after..." he said, trailing off.

"I'm fine. Just did a lot of thinking you know. How was school?" I said, trying to change the subject.

"Boring. When you coming in?"

"Tomorrow, I think."

"I'll come pick you up if you want?" he offered, sounding unsure.

I was about to ask him about Leah but realised that she was already out of school. "Sounds good."

"You excited about school tomorrow?"

I snorted, "Yeah, as much excitement I have for doing work and being yelled at by teachers then seeing..." I was about to say Jasmine but stopped.

"Well, umm... I should go. Take care Gab." He said.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

The next morning...

I sat on my bed staring at the clock. It was only five minutes until Embry was coming by and I just couldn't wait. I reminded myself that he was with Leah but that didn't work either. I don't even know why I still loved him anyway; he had cheated on my anyway, what's to say he wouldn't do it again?

Just then I heard a car park out front and I jumped up as Asia walked in.

"Why are you so jumpy?" she asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Umm... just nervous for school you know."

"Well, I have to warn you. While you were away, Jasmine was..." she started before I interrupted.

"I don't care about her." I snapped.

"Okay then, I was just going to say that she-." She said before I glared at her.

Someone knocked on the front door and I barged passed Asia to get it. She just put me in a bad mood. Great right? Note the sarcasm.

I swung open the door to reveal Embry who was smiling widely at me.

" ready to go?" he asked.

"Uh yeah sure." I replied, stepping out and closing the door before following him out to his car.

Embry opened my door for me but stopped me just as I was about to get in. He handed me a card and a bear and I looked at him questioningly.

"Umm... what are these for?" I asked.

"For you. I was supposed to give them before you left for LA but..." he trailed off.

"Thank you." I responded quietly and bowed my head down while getting into the car.

Why did I ever agree to getting a lift from Embry to school? Because you're an idiot!

The short ride was filled with tension as I stared down at the card and bear he had given me. It was pretty sweet actually but why give it now?

I cleared my throat to speak, "Why did you give this to me Embry? It was ages ago and I've already forgiven you."

"Because I bought them for you and only you. I wasn't going to give them to any else but you."

"Well, can I keep it in your car until the end of the day then I'll come pick it up?" I asked.

"I'm giving you a ride home though." He said, looking over at me while I looked at him with a confused expression.

"You are?"

"Yep." He said, giving me one of his heart-stopping smiles. He reached over and tucked a strand of loose hair behind my ear. "You're beautiful you know that?"

"Oh." I said blushing. "I'm not really."

"You are. You just don't know it yet."

We arrived at school and I was surprised to see that I had actually missed it. Imagine missing a school! I was really starting to lose my mind.

"What have you got first period?" he asked, looking over at my timetable.

"Chemistry."

"Great! We're in the same classes today." He said happily.

I laughed as we walked inside and I went to my locker.

"I'll see you in class." I said as he headed to his locker.

"Okay, don't be late!" he said, winking at me.

"Okay." I said, looking away before I fainted in the middle of the corridor.

I was just scanning through my locker looking for the right books when someone coughed loudly behind me. I closed my locker to see the last person I wanted to see at the moment with her 'minions'.

I groaned, "What do you want?"

"Why are you back?" Jasmine asked coldly all the while glaring at me.

"I'm aloud back, you know after you were a home wrecker and ruined my relationship with Embry." I replied, smirking at her.

"Oh yeah. It was fun and you know you deserved it after he dumped me for someone like you." She said with disgust.

"Well, I've always wanted to do something." I said.

"What's that?" she asked, blowing on her nails looking bored as ever.

I smiled sweetly at her before I lifted my hand and slapped her on the face. Hard. I smiled as she held her cheek in pain and walked to my next class. It felt good to slap her. She finally got what she deserved.

This was short I know but I needed to go somewhere so I was kind of rushing this just so I could update and it's not my best chapter either but please forgive me! Btw Gab and Embry are getting back together soon! I'm so excited! I've already planned the chapter out and it's going to be called A Christmas Miracle. :D but I don't want you guys waiting so how about whoever reviews gets a sneak peek of the chapter? ;) Sound good? Well okay then. Remember to review and thanks! Xx