Interlude One— Jared

In one look, Jared's life was changed forever.

He could hardly focus on the lecture— English, usually one of his favorites of the day. Instead, his gaze kept landing on her.

Laini Hayden, who somehow looked exactly like the girl in the desk next to him. Twins, yet he knew he'd never seen Laini before.

He would have remembered her.

She sat, cross-legged on the floor, seemingly bored out of her mind. She made eye contact with him once, but then resolutely stared out the window for the rest of class.

He'd heard of imprinting— obviously, considering how much time he'd spent in Sam's head over the past few weeks— but it wasn't enough to prepare him for the real thing. For the full-on aching in his chest, the itch in his fingers to reach out to her. The tingle on his lips to speak to her, to make her laugh.

It wasn't love at first sight. It was so much more.

Like this room was the very last place she wanted to be, Laini bolted from the classroom as soon as the bell rang. The girl next to him, her twin— Kayla? Kelsey?— cursed under her breath and hurried to follow. She might have glanced back at Jared, but he paid her no mind. He was too concerned with the painful tug in his chest, silently urging him to follow Laini.

His imprint.

The class emptied out around him, but he found himself not moving. His hands shook, not unlike when he got close to shifting. The world felt different, had shifted abruptly, and the new sensations were overwhelming.

"Mr. Cameron?" Mr. Bloch was always so formal, but he cared. Jared looked up at him, eyes blurring so bad he could hardly make out the older man's features. "Are you sure you're well enough to be here? You look awfully pale."

"I'm fine," Jared said automatically. Jerkily, he stood. "I should get to class."

Mr. Bloch didn't look convinced. Quickly, he produced a pad of pink slips and wrote one out, then ripped it off.

"Take it," he said, holding the hall pass out to Jared. "If you start feeling sick at all, just wave this and go."

Almost numbly— though how could the world feel numb when he literally felt Laini calling to him, a red string linking them across the school— he took the pass. He almost asked why Mr. Bloch was being so nice, but remembered the cover story they'd use to excuse his long absence.

Mono. Right.

Jared thanked him before wandering out into the hall. By now, the second bell hand rung and the halls were empty, but Jared couldn't fathom going to class. Couldn't imagine going anywhere that wasn't straight to whichever room Laini was in.

Honestly, it sounded kind of stalkerish.

He called Sam instead.

Sam practically had to drag him away from the school, leaving Paul behind to "keep an eye on Laini". Inwardly, Jared knew Paul would probably not actually be watching her, but it did make it easier to leave knowing that Paul would be nearby.

They'd shifted within days of each other, truly making Sam's life a living hell as he had to juggle patrolling and teaching two new wolves all at once. Not to mention his own messed up love life. But it was nice— having Sam and Paul both to help him adjust to being a wolf. Sam was a prime example of who to be, and Paul was disaster enough to make Jared feel better about who he actually was.

He sat in Emily's homey kitchen, picking at a leftover muffin in his hands. Emily wasn't there— she'd gotten a job as a substitute teacher in Forks and had a class today. It was just him and Sam, which was nice. They'd been friends, tangentially, before the wolf thing. Acquaintances.

Sam brought him a glass of water, told him to drink up. He was in for Imprinting 101.

"How did it feel when you imprinted on Emily?" Jared asked quietly. "Overwhelming?"

Sam pursed his lips, considering. "That's one way to put it. I would have said exhilarating."

He went on, talking about imprinting what it meant. Jared picked at his muffin, listening but not. Hearing Sam explain, but thinking about Laini's silky hair and the tension in her jaw when she stared out the window.

"Are you even listening to me?" Sam huffed. Jared rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, Dad," he said. "Give her space, I get it."

"Do you? I almost ruined everything by dumping it all on Em too fast. Talk to Laini, get to know her, but don't force herself into her life. Just— let it happen."

"And pretend I don't turn into a giant wolf that hunts vampires."

"That, too."

"That really doesn't seem like the best plan," Jared said. "Lying."

"It's not lying," Sam insisted. "Jared, it's waiting. Let her get to know you as a person before you bring in the wolf-and-imprint thing. It'll be less overwhelming to her."

Jared chewed on his lip, turning this over in his head. It made sense, he supposed. Even as a kid who'd grown up knowing the Quileute legends and what they meant, he would never have believed they were true in a literal sense before he'd shifted himself. He would have thought anyone who said so was out of their mind.

"She would freak out, wouldn't she?"

"Emily did," Sam said simply. "It was pure luck she came back to me."

Luck or fate? The question weighed on Jared's mind.

His stomach twisted at the thought of Laini freaking out— of her turning away from him. Without even having spoken to her, the thought of her walking away from him was enough to hurt like a punch in the gut.

"Hey," Sam said softly, nudging him in the arm. Like an older brother, Jared mused. "It's gonna be okay. You guys are meant to be. Just let it go slow."

Slow. Right. Jared could do slow. He could be patient. He could.

(He couldn't.)

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews and love, guys! I'm glad you like Laini and her story so far :'). Just a quick note— for this story's purposes: Sam is 20, Emily is 22, Jared is 17, and Paul, Kim, and Laini are 16. Kim is in a senior-level English class, which is why she has a class with Jared.

Be sure to drop a review and let me know what you thought of this little interlude!