Okay, here's the next chapter. I'll say it one more time, because I'm not sure anyone has gotten it yet, I've started a new story on fictionpress. Link is on my profile.

I threw in a little Embry POV for the first time. Enjoy.

Embry POV

It had been six weeks since she left me. I was a wreck all the time, except for the three times a day that I spoke to her over the phone. It was a poor but effective comfort. At least I got to hear something that sounded a bit like her, but her voice was flatter than I remembered. I tried to convince myself that it was just the phone that made it that way. She was really fine.

The other guys were sympathetic, but they made fun of me as well. Like right now, Seth was supposed to have relieved me from patrolling ten minutes ago, and he still wasn't here!

Paul was "laughing" at me.

I'm sure Maia won't die if you don't call her the second her lunch break starts, he thought.

She might not, but maybe I would. For every second it felt like something died in me and I had no idea how I had lived through the last month and a half. It felt like it had been years since I last saw her.

I hadn't wanted to say goodbye to her. I still didn't quite understand why she had to leave. Didn't she want to be with me? Wasn't she as in love with me as I was with her?

Shut up, Paul groaned, tired of listening to me. I ignored him.

I thought back to the day when she left. Not the part in the forest, even though that was also something I thought about a lot... (Paul groaned) At the airport, when I watched her walk away after a final goodbye-kiss, I had to fight with myself so I didn't run after her. I just wanted to take her back home with me and keep her there forever. I wanted her to live in my house. It was small, but not too small. Maia didn't take that much space.

But I'd let her go because she told me that's what she wanted to do.

You're whipped, Brady told me, irritated. Well, he didn't know anything. He hadn't imprinted on anyone, so he really didn't have a vote in this. And I didn't care how whipped I was. I was actually proud of it.

I heard Paul hope Seth would come soon so that he didn't have to listen to me anymore. I growled. No one had ever taken Rachel away from him before. He hadn't had to live without her for six long weeks. No one had.

Paul was about to defend himself when Seth joined our conversation.

Sorry, I was with Ali, he apologized.

Right then I sorely wanted to hurt him. He could be with Ali all he wanted (as long as her parents didn't know, they thought he was some sort of paedophile) because she lived here. The least he could do was doing his duty and come when he was supposed to to ease my pain.

I was back to human-Embry before I finished that thought and already by my house. I ran inside, grabbed some clothes and threw them on before I grabbed my phone and dialled her number so fast that the buttons on my phone were in danger of falling of. The next seconds felt like an eternity.

Maia POV

Coming home was just as bad as I had imagined it to be.

It wasn't just painful. It wasn't just that wherever I turned I saw something that reminded me of my summer and made my tummy feel heavy and my eyes sting. Sometimes I felt so resented and alone that I just wanted to sink into the ground, disappearing completely into nothingness.

When I got off the plane and met mum I thought it would be okay. I had realized how much I'd missed her over the summer and I really thought I'd done the right thing. Even Rudy wasn't that bad.

And I had missed Lena's perfectness and energy. Seriously, she was like a Duracell-bunny, bouncing up and down the moment she saw me, declaring her eternal love and confessing how dull her summer had been without me.

School was horrible.

Before summer it had actually been a little more exciting, as exciting as school can be, because at least I could check up boys. I could talk to Lena for ages about who was hotter and who broke up with who and which one we'd rather have if we could choose freely. I hadn't been as crazy about it as Lena, but I enjoyed it sometimes.

I couldn't even do that now. Not that I wanted to. I felt myself getting sick just by the thought of it. Why would I ever want anyone but Embry? He was perfect.

"You're crying again," Lena told me, annoyed. I quickly looked away. I wasn't crying. "Seriously, what have you been doing this summer? You're not the same," Lena complained. I shrugged.

"A lot has happened," I replied a little icily.

"Whatever," she huffed. She then leaned a little towards me, lowering her voice. "Anyway, do you think Tony will ask me to be his date for the dance? I know he's been looking at me a lot. Do you think he likes me?"

I hardly cared about Tony.

"Sure. Why don't you ask him?"

"Because that's not how it works," she exclaimed dejectedly. She sat back on her seat, looking at me seriously. "The boy is supposed to take the first step," she explained to me like I was a little kid.

"That's not necessary," I objected. "I mean, I kissed Embry before he kissed me." Uh-oh. Shouldn't have said that. My heart did a double-take now that I had allowed myself to think about him, and especially this moment. The first kiss, it was so special and the memory so vivid that I could practically feel his warm lips on mine…

"Well, that Embry-guy obviously isn't a normal human boy, because that's not normal." She didn't know how right she was. "And plus, he did try to kiss you first, you just chickened out!" Oh, I had told her that. "Who are you going with, anyway?"

"What?"

"The dance," she reminded me, rolling her eyes like I was hopeless. Well, I was, in her eyes. "You see, I was stalking Tony" weird how she made that sound completely normal. "and he was talking to Matt, and then Matt said he might ask you out, and –"

"I'm not going."

"God, Maia!" she sighed. "He lives in Washington. I'm sure he's okay with you going to a dance! I mean, you could go with Matt as a friend. He's a good guy, and you've talked to him. Embry wouldn't mind."

"He would," I assured her.

"I don't think so."

"Well, you don't know him," I snapped back. She looked offended. "He really wouldn't be okay with that. I mean, I'm sure he would if I told him I really wanted to, but that would hurt him." I heard my own voice growing sadder with every word I said. I imagined his face growing sadder in time with my voice.

Lena stared at me back, softening up a bit.

"You're really into him, aren't you?" she asked.

I nodded. "I think I love him."

That's when my phone rang, and I immediately pulled it out of my pocket and hurried out of the cafeteria. I ignored Lena's annoyed huff behind me and couldn't get outside where it was quieter fast enough. I needed to hear his voice again. I hadn't heard it since this morning!

"Hi," I breathed.

"Hey," he said back, sounding relieved. "I'm sorry I didn't call sooner. Seth decided to be an ass. How are you?"

Well, let's see.

I think about you all the time.

It feels like there's a hole in my chest and that a big part of it, you, is lost forever.

Whatever I see reminds me of you.

Today, when I had a glass of milk for breakfast, I remembered you in Horton's kitchen in La Push.

No one believes me when I say that I love you. They think it's a childish crush. I know it's a lot more than that.

I dream of you every night.

Rudy has a dog and neither he nor mum cares that I hate dogs.

I just want to come back and cry on your shoulder, but I can't because

a) I promised you I'd be fine

b) if I'm not okay, you're not okay and there's nothing we can do about it

c) this was all my idea, and I'm still to proud to admit to myself that it was a bad one

"I'm fine," I answered. "What about you?"

After a small pause he answered.

"I'm fine too."

SEE!? I MADE HER LEAVE! BECAUSE I'M THE AUTHOR! WHICH MEANS I DECIDE WHAT HAPPENS! MWAHAHA!

Anyway, I won't make the ending sad. I'm not that kind of person. I like happy endings.

Did I mention we have too much snow here? I have to climb to get to the bus. And it's cold and wet. I swear, the whole town is in a state of emergency, they closed one of the entries to the train station because of the snow on the roof could fall down. The trains didn't go. People didn't get to school because the buses stood still.

It's ridiculous.

And, the olympics, I don't care. At all. All I know is that it keeps me up at night because my family watches it. Ugh. I'm so tired today. And I'm going to a dance tomorrow. I'm going to be dead...

Once again, feel welcome to check out my fictionpress-story. I know I'm saying this a lot, but I have on alert, on favorite, 16 hits and no reviews... so yeah.

Speaking of that, does any of you have stories on fictionpress?

1. I'd like to read your stories, so tell me!

2. The last few days I haven't been able to open documents in my document manager. Do you have trouble with that too?

And a few questions to everyone, because I need new books and new songs. So:

a) what's your favorite song(s)?

b) what's your favorite book(s)?