AN: First I'd like to thank all of you for checking out my story. You guys rock. Special thanks for everyone who favorited or followed it. Even bigger thank you to my reviewers:

Marianka: She isn't a wolf, that much I can say. Just talented and well trained! :-)

beyondbored321: Thank you, this means a lot. I hope you stick around. :-)

I tried to get the next chapter up as quickly as possible and made it much, much longer than the last one. Let me know what you think of it- Mia's first impression of the pack definitely isn't the best now, I fear. Just as a heads-up: this story takes place during Eclipse, and you will get to see some of the events tie into this story as well. Hope you liked and see you soon!

The day after a competition was always rough- at least when the race took place on a Sunday and I had to show up to school the next day. I spent the first two lessons in an almost delirious state, staring straight ahead with bleary eyes. My first class was Calculus, where I didn't even try to comprehend the words Mr. Varner was directing at his students. Any subject related to numbers was an unpleasant experience for me, really, because I always struggled to pass them. Granted, had I spent more time actively trying, I may have experienced more success, but I just couldn't bring myself to care. If everything went the way I wanted to, I wouldn't even go to college- my dreams were bigger than that. Mr. Masons English class was challenging in different ways. While I didn't mind the subject itself I was already starting to lose the bit of concentration I was blessed with, which really wasn't a lot to begin with. Despite being so tired I started feeling antsy, anxious to move a bit and stretch out my legs. Sitting still and being attentive simply wasn't one of my strongest assets.

It was only when I met Jessica in history that I slowly started to feel like I could actually start using my brain- and thanks to the short distraction offered in form of a quick conversation before class, I ended up feeling less anxious to move. As soon as Jessica eyes landed on me, something akin to a tidal wave of words swept over me. "I told you that I was going to meet Mike this weekend, right? We were planning on driving up to Port Angeles but then it was just so, like, so, rainy, and we decided to give up on those plans and instead we spent the entire day at his house, because his parents weren't there, but mine didn't even put one foot out of our front door, and so we stayed there the entire day, and I was just waiting for him to make his move, but he kept his distance and it was almost time for me to go and I was starting to think that maybe I should make a move when all of a sudden…" I had a hard time keeping up with Jessica's tale, which was pretty standard, but for the sake of my friend, I really did try to.

The thing with Jessica was this: she wasn't a bad person, or even a bad friend. She was just very preoccupied with herself and when your own life is at the center of your interest, at all times, it can sometimes be hard to make the mere "we-are-in-school-together-and-happened-to-sit-together-in-english-literature-so-we-kind-of-became-friends"-friendship into one that held actual meaning. Besides Jessica wasn't always the most loyal and faithful friend. Again, I didn't think she did it on purpose or with any mean intent- she just didn't want to be perceived as uncool or an outsider. And so her opinion changed quickly, depending on what the general consent was. I liked to think about it in a practical fashion- I didn't plan on living here forever. Finding friends was hard, at least when so much of my day was spend on the running tracks or in the woods. So Jessica was better than no friend at all.

"Jess, sorry, I think you lost me there. So did he kiss you or did his parents come home before he could?" Jessica launched into another lengthy explanation. "Well, we would have kissed, I am sure of that, we were, like, only centimeters apart at that point, and then we thought we heard a car, which, I mean, it wouldn't have bothered us, not really at least, but we were on the couch and that's, like, one of the first things you see when you enter the house, so we basically jumped apart. It turned out that it was a false alarm, but by then all of the tension had gone and it was almost a bit awkward." She looked somewhat sulky and kept turning her bracelet around in a nervous fashion. "That sucks. When are you going to meet again? Maybe you'll get a shot then?" "Next week. I mean, I hope so. He did kiss my cheek when I left, so that's better than nothing-" Jessica was interrupted by Mrs. Blake, our teacher. The rest of the lesson was uneventful, which I was both thankful and slightly irritated for, seeing how my exhaustion didn't make me a very attentive student, but at the same time it was hard for me to keep my eyes open. Had the lesson been more challenging, it might have been easier.

During our lunch break Jessica and I met up with the rest of our group. There was Lauren, a blond girl that was close with Jessica, but annoyed me to no end at most days (which, really, is to say I would never sit at a lunch table with her if anyone had asked me). Mike, Jessica's crush since freshman year, who was infatuated with Bella, a brown haired introverted girl that had moved to Forks during our junior year, was a dirty blond and in no way particularly noticeable. Then there were Eric and Angela, both nice but too different in interests to me to actually be close friends. If I had to pick which one of them I liked the most, my choice would probably have fallen on Angela and Bella- despite the differences in character, they felt like more reliable and loyal friends than Jessica did. In short: I did have friends, and did try to spend time with them, but I always felt so different to them and due to spending so little time with them outside of school, often felt left out, because I was never there to experience the stories the others told me about at school.

"Who is up for a trip to the cinema tonight?" Jessica asked with a bright smile. I was about to shake my head no- today, there was no training for me, but tomorrows afternoon would be dedicated to strength training in our schools gym. I could almost see Aidan's annoyed face if I showed up even the remotest bit tired. He'd probably say something along the lines of "Why do I even bother to let you take a day off training to rest when you don't end up doing it, and instead stay out unreasonably late?" He would be right of course; but I was itching to do something other than train, eat, school, sleep and race. So I nodded enthusiastically, feeling a little bit guilty. "Count me in. Which movie are we going to watch? I'm out of the loop and have no clue what's on right now." This was a slight exaggeration- I had never, not once in my life, kept up with celebrities or which movies the movie theater offered. Seeing foreign people's faces on a huge screen with too loud speakers didn't bring me any particular joy, other than being a nice change of scenery- being muddy after a long day spend outside was a different story. We agreed on a remake of Dracula, which sounded much more promising than the romance Jessica and Lauren had voted for.

The rest of the school day went by in a blur. Back in my flat I prepared a quick snack and got ready- which meant I changed from one set of sport leggings into another and switched to another pair of running shoes. I'd be damned if I spent even one day of my life in something less convenient and comfortable than my training clothes. My hands were currently buried deep in my backpack, on a desperate mission to find my wallet, which I knew had to be in there. With a triumphant noise I found it dug behind two folders, hidden well enough that I'd spent at least twenty minutes looking for it (twenty minutes I couldn't really afford to waste, seeing how I was running late- as per usual) and pulled it out. It looked more than a bit battered, but a look inside confirmed that I still had enough money to buy the tickets and a large popcorn. After all, what was an evening spent at the cinema without something to munch on?

My bell rang. This could only mean two things; either I had completely lost track of time and Jessica had come up to drag me into her car, so we wouldn't miss the movie. Or, and this I thought was more likely, it was Aidan who wanted to check up on me. A tad bit annoyed I went to the door and opened it. It was, like I'd feared, Aidan. He didn't live with his parents any more, he had moved out during my freshman year of High school, but he had the unfortunate habit of checking up on me a few days a week, especially after hard races. For some reason he tended to pick the days I wanted to go out, which he didn't like ("It's a distraction! You need to focus on your training, how else do you think you are going to win the next race?").

Today was no difference. As soon as his eyes landed on my backpack his brows furrowed and a scowl appeared on my face. "Going out?" was his annoyed inquiry. "Yes." I didn't bother trying to sound friendly. Aidan was like a big, infuriating brother to me after all those years we'd spent together. There was no need for pretense. "I really don't think you should." These few words made me even more annoyed and I pushed past him. Any tiny bit of guilt I might have felt earlier that day vanished. "And I really think it is absolutely none of your business. We've talked about this so many times, I've lost count. You know how much I care about running and I would never do anything to risk my career. But a little fun has never hurt nobody. At least five days a week I focus solely on running; six or seven if a race is coming up. Going to the cinema once a year won't make me lose my next run." He rolls his eyes dramatically and shoves this weekend's trophy in my hands. I had forgotten all about it after the award ceremony. "If you are tired tomorrow- don't think I'll let you take it easy." He crossed his arms over his chest, as though he'd just won the argument of the century. It was my turn to roll my eyes. "Let me have some fun at least. You are my trainer and friend, not my father." With these words I turned abruptly around and stomped down the stairs, by now feeling less annoyed about the fact that I was already running more than a little late than his treatment of me.

The drive up to Port Angeles was loud. Jessica was analyzing every miniscule detail of her weekend with Mike, Lauren listening with rapt attention, throwing in her opinion once in a while. Once we arrived at the cinema the others were already gathered in front of it, hands shoved deep in their pockets to keep some of the cold evening air out. Summer was just coming to an end, but the nights were already chilly and the slightly warmer days with a bit of sunshine seemed far away. We went inside, first purchasing the tickets and then getting in line for popcorn. Angela engaged me in a conversation about PE, which she was failing gloriously, as the door opened again. Cold air hit my exposed ankles, making me shiver. Loud, raucous laughing filled the small front room. I rolled my eyes again, a bad habit I had been trying to get rid of for what must have been years by then, and made sure to turn even further from the doors. If there was one thing I didn't like it was young guys that thought they were oh so cool. It paled only in comparison to the loathing I felt when it came to Aidan's bossiness regarding my free time activities. "They're hot." Lauren whispered next to me. Another loud round of laughter made me grind my teeth together. Jessica nodded, her eyes on the group of what must be at least 10 guys, by the sounds of it. Then it was finally my turn to get snacks. I chose the largest popcorn they had and made my way over to Angela.

"Why didn't Bella come? I thought she was going to." I said through a mouthful of popcorn. "She remembered that she'd promised Edward to work on one thing or another for school." I raised an eyebrow. "Is that what they call it these days? Doing something for school?" Angela shoved my arm good-naturally. „She needed help with calculus, I believe." A very unladylike snort left my mouth. "Sure. I'll be damned if Bella needs any help in school. Besides PE, I mean. If anyone needs help at school it's me." It was no secret in our group of friends that I was struggling to pass my classes, PE being the not so surprising exception. The others joined Angela and me, effectively ending our conversation. It was one thing if Angela and I made fun of Bella's infatuation- we weren't being serious about it. We were happy that our friend was so obviously happy in love and nothing more. I didn't like joking about it in front of Lauren and Jessica, though. Especially Lauren tended to get riled up about it and started gossiping about it for hours.

I turned to Mike, and was about to say something, when someone called out to our group. "Hey!" followed by a sharp whistle. All of us looked in the direction of the voice. One of the guys who'd come in had shouted, though I couldn't tell which. They were clearly from the reservation, which made my heart ache with longing for my home, which quickly dissipated once I realized that, if I lived there, I'd have to live with these absolute dumbasses. With my luck they were probably even in the same year and we'd attend all of our classes together. A fleeting feeling, something like relieve, made me sigh. Well, that and also annoyance. I rolled my eyes, inwardly cursing at myself for having done it again. I fully turned to them, hands on my hips. "Fuck off and find someone in your league." My voice carried through the room and all of a sudden a rush settled over it.

Everyone's eyes turned toward me and the others. It was a group of five boys- though boys felt somehow wrong. I couldn't tell what age they were, but they looked a whole lot more mature than Mike, Eric or any other boy at our school, for that matter, except for the Cullens maybe. One of them broke into laughter, soon joined by the others. Every single one of the jerks wore no more than cut-off jeans, fraying where they had been cut, and a cotton shirt. I had felt slightly chilly with my thick hoodie and thought of myself as fairly used to the cold climate of Washington. Maybe I had been wrong? Two of the guys were especially tall, though mostly everyone would look like a midget next to even the smallest one of them in comparison. And they were fit. Bodybuilder-who-spends-his-entire-life-in-a-gym kind of fit, though their muscles didn't really look like a bodybuilders muscles. They looked strong, sure, the smallest one in the group bulkier than the rest, but I could tell that they had functional muscles- muscles that were actually used and not just to aimlessly lift weights in a stuffy gym.

My eyes locked with those of the second tallest- he had a shit-eating grin on his face, which vanished almost the exact second I stared into his. For a short moment I felt a bit like my feet had left the ground. Time stood still and the noise around me died down. I couldn't tear away my gaze, and neither did he, it seemed. And then, time decided to pick back up where it had left off, and I was left feeling slightly dizzy. "Women aren't dogs, douchebag." I added for good measure, now not just annoyed by his comment but also by my own incapability, it seemed, to withstand good looks. I'd thought I was way above such dumb things. I turned back to my friends. "The film has already started. Let's go." They knew not to argue with me when I was pissed and so we left the slightly dumbfounded guys behind. Before we entered the cinema hall I took one last look back- and saw four of them struggling to pull the jerk who'd whistled and, to my own shame, managed to confuse me so thoroughly, out of the front room, into the cold, wet night.