I do not own Twilight.

"Have you always been that skinny?" mum asked me randomly at breakfast. I shrugged my shoulders and avoided her eyes. She didn't ask again so she probably didn't really care. That was a good thing.

Rudy entered the kitchen. I stared at mum questioningly, even though I didn't want to think about what he was doing here at this time of day. Mum moved uncomfortably and blushed a little bit.

"You weren't supposed to come now," she mumbled to Rudy. Rudy, being a monkey, smiled stupidly at me, finding nothing awkward in the situation.

I left the breakfast table and went to brush my teeth. I was waiting for Embry to call me. It was Saturday, which meant we could talk for hours if we wanted to. I would have called him myself, but lately he'd been patrolling a lot more. I think it made him forget, if only for a while. I mean, lately I'd been jogging a lot more than I usually did. Hiking was okay, but it didn't hurt as much as running. The more exhausted I got the more distracted I was.

Mum was right. I was skinnier now than before, and not in a pretty way. It's not that I didn't eat. It was part because of the running I think. I was just feeling… bad.

I got so excited when my phone finally rang that I stumbled over my book bag and books and clothes on the floor to get to the phone that was in the pocket of the jeans that I was wearing. Yeah, it looked ridiculous.

"Hi," I nearly shouted into the phone.

"Hi, I'm coming over."

My heart sank.

"Lena," I mumbled, trying not to sound too disappointed. Embry would call soon anyway. I knew that, and it should have comforted me, but I wanted to talk to him now.

"Yeah, I need to see your dress for the dance."

I sighed. "I'm not going," I reminded her.

"Of course you are. I already told Matt you'd go with him. He's looking forward to it. I mean, he's really looking forward to it. He's like a little kid."

"What did you tell him?"

"Nothing," she snickered.

"Lena," I said warningly. "You said that if I'm going – which I'm not – that we're going as friends, right?"

"You're going. I'll be there in ten minutes."

She hung up, and exactly ten minutes later she barged in the door and hurried up to my room.

"Hi," she grinned.

"I'm not going," I repeated.

She huffed. "Stop saying that. And put a smile on your face. You look tired. You should sleep. Have you eaten anything?"

"Yes," I answered on her last question.

"Okay. What are we waiting for? Do you have a dress? Or do we have to buy a new one?"

"I'm not –"

"I don't want to hear it," Lena cut me off. She went to my closet, trying not to step in my mess, and opened it. An avalanche of clothes fell out, and she let out a surprised wince. She covered her face with her arms and turned to look at me when everything had fallen out. "You need to organize things," she informed me. I shrugged.

"What did you tell Matt?" I asked again, because I was honestly curious. I was sure she hadn't said anything about going as friends. I knew her too well.

"Don't worry, I didn't get his hopes up too much. I said that you liked him –"

"Lena!"

"I said that you liked him and thought that he was a cool guy and that you would very much like to be his date. I didn't say you liked liked him. I didn't lie," she defended.

"What if he thinks I like him?"

"He does."

"Like like!"

"I don't know what he thinks, but maybe."

"Lena," I groaned. "I really don't want to go!"

"He'll understand. And plus, I need you there. Tony is going with Marlie. I mean, I thought he was rid with her a long time ago, but she clings to him. It's so annoying. So I need you to distract her or something. I just think you should do it with style. And Matt is style."

"Matt is stupid," I mumbled.

"That's a childish thing to say," Lena chastised me. She sat down on the floor and started looking through my clothes. She found three dresses. Two of them I'd worn once and the third still had a price sticker on it. "Are you wearing one of these? This one's cute."

"You can wear it," I muttered. It was what she wanted, anyway.

"Really, you don't want it?" she asked. Faking. She would have worn it anyway.

"I don't want to be there," I complained. I collapsed on my bed. "I don't want to be with Matt. I want to be with –"

I forgot what I was about to say when my phone rang again.

"Is it him?" Lena asked. Before I got to answer she wrenched my phone out of my grasp.

"Give it," I protested, desperately, throwing myself at her. She giggled and said "hello" into the phone. I tried to grab a hold of her arm, but she pushed me away, leaning on me into the wall. I couldn't move very much.

"Embry, right?" she asked in a cute voice. "Yeah, Maia's right here. Yep. Yeah, I just have to ask you something first."

"Lena," I pleaded, but she shushed me.

"You see there's this dance –"

I managed to grab her wrist, and she quickly took the phone with her other hand and pinned my hand away. Because of my position my arms wasn't very powerful, so my attempts on freeing it were feeble.

"What I was about to say," Lena continued happily. "There's this dance, and a guy named Matt has asked Maia to go with him. Just as a friend. And she says she can't because of you."

I gave up trying to break free. He knew by now anyway.

Luckily Lena stood up, releasing me. She held my phone out to me, looking satisfied.

"He wants to speak with you," she informed me, and I took the phone away from her with a glare.

"I don't like you," I declared, and she winked and left the room.

"Me?" asked a beautiful voice in my ear. I had to smile and instantly forgot how irritated I was with Lena.

"No," I breathed. "No, I like you. And I miss you."

"I miss you too. And it's only fifty-eight days till I'll see you again," he said, and it sounded like he was grinning. I missed his grin. I remembered it to make him look like he'd just told a joke. And his eyes would light up. He would look happy and young and kind and a little mischievous.

I laughed.

"You're counting?"

"Yeah," he replied, like this was the most obvious thing in the world. "Now about this dance…"

My tummy felt heavy again. Couldn't he just leave that? I silently cursed Lena. Sometimes she was just… gah!

"Just forget what Lena said. She just doesn't want to go alone. And Matt is an idiot. I don't like him like that, not at all –"

"Maia, if you want to go, you should," he told me, surprising me a little. I wasn't entirely sure what he meant by that.

"But I don't want to –"

"It won't hurt me, I'll be completely okay with it. And I know you don't think of him like that. I trust you."

My eyes started burning a little and I couldn't help but to smile. He must be telling the trust. If he said that I should go to a dance with another guy when he couldn't even see me. I mean, I could do anything. I could kiss him (Matt) without Embry knowing, and he would never have found out, and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

Luckily I got nauseous only by the thought.

"Thanks," I whispered, and he chuckled. "That doesn't mean that I want to go. Dances are stupid."

"You don't think that. Dances are fun," he corrected me. "And you can have fun. You like to have fun. I think you should go if you want to."

"You think I should go?"

"If you want to, yes," he repeated, amused.

"I'm not sure if I do," I said hesitantly.

"I think you want to. I want you to have fun, okay? And I trust you, and I love you, and that's all you have to remember.

"I love you too," I hurried to say.

"I know."

Those lines don't want to be erased. Grr.

Still haven't got anything funny to say. I'm tired of this story. And when I read the first chapters I wrote I feel nauseous. I hope I write better now.

But, I love all you reviewers. I'm sorry that I've been bad at replying to you. Really. I'm just lazy. And tired. I just want you to know that I love you all!