Nora's POV

It's been a few weeks since that day in Port Angeles, and with my newfound knowledge of the wolves, life has been interesting. The guys have been more open with me, and my relationship with Cole has never been better.

I hate lying to Claire about the whole wolf situation, but I know that Quil has to be the one to tell her. She turned ten last month, and she definitely acts much older than a ten year old. I just wish that Quil would hurry up and tell her before I let it slip that everyone around us turns into huge wolves when they get angry, and that she is meant to be with him forever.

She is suspicious too, like she knows there's a secret. She's so smart. It's actually insane how smart she is.

My birthday was a couple weeks ago too, and it was filled with the usual celebrations. The whole pack got together for a bonfire, and Emily cooked my favorite foods for the day. People were taking me more seriously as a fourteen year old as well, saying I looked older, or giving me more responsibility. The only thing I really wanted seemed so out of reach, or at least until Cole agreed with my newfound maturity.

Anyway, Emily and Sam went out with Gabe for the day so it was just me and Claire hanging around the house.

"So, what do you want to do today?" I asked Claire as we were sitting at the table finishing breakfast.

"Maybe we can go over to first beach, it's supposed to be nice today." It was now July, which was the warmest month of the year, so we usually spent a lot of time outside.

"Sure, I just got a new swimsuit the other day I've been wanting to wear. Do you want to get ready and head over there soon?"

"Sure, you did the dishes last night so I'll get them now. You go and get ready." She said with a slight smile. "Thanks Clairebear, I appreciate it." I gave her a kiss on the cheek and went up the stairs.

I went up to my room and opened up the curtains more so the light could shine through. I took out my new bathing suit, which was a simple black bikini that was held together with cute bows. I laid it out on my bed, and looked at it intently. It was really cute, and definitely was going to make me look mature. Speaking of mature, the girls at school were suddenly excited about a new thing. Kissing. I had never kissed anyone, and I didn't want to feel too left behind. I let out a sigh as I ran my fingers through my hair. Suddenly I felt someone behind me and I snapped around.

I saw a tall figure sitting on my bed, and I was immediately thankful that it belonged to my best friend. "God Cole, you have to stop doing that, or at least call first!" I whisper screamed at him.

He had a grin on his face and said back, "What, I thought you loved spending time with me Nor? Is there someone else?" He joked and cracked himself up.

"There will be, if you keep sneaking up on me like that. What are you doing here anyway? Don't you have patrol?"

"Sam gave us the day off, there have been no signs of anything around lately, and even if something new is on the rez, we'll all be nearby to take care of it. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today?"

"I'd love to, but I promised Claire a girls day at the beach, we were just about to head over." I gestured at the swimsuit laying next to him on the bed.

"Maybe we can meet you over there later? I'm sure Quil would like to see Claire. We could make it look like an accident?"

"Maybe, but text first! I'll check with Claire when we're at the beach."

"Okay cool, see you soon" He said in a way that was so adorable it made my heart hurt and climbed out my window and into the green wilderness.

I sighed once again and put on my bathing suit and started slipping on one of Cole's old tee-shirts that were so big, they worked as perfect cover ups. I grabbed my flip flops and slung my beach bag over my shoulder, just as Claire called up the stairs, "Nor, are you ready?"

"Yeah, one sec" I called down the stairs. I went downstairs just as Claire was putting on her flip flops, and we headed out to the beach.

It was a really short bike ride to the beach, but today we felt like walking down the path instead. We talked a little as we walked, and soon enough, the path opened up into the beach. I loved First Beach in the summer, it was my favorite season. Summer in La Push is beautiful. It's breezy but warm, with rain and occasional sun. I really like the rain, so it's perfect for me.

The beach was surprisingly empty for such a sunny day in La Push, we picked our favorite spot and put our towels down. Claire ran straight for the water, whereas I layed down on my towel for some sunbathing.

I stayed like that for a while, until my phone buzzed. I reached into my bag and pulled it out. It was Cole wondering if he and Quil could come down to the beach. Claire was just coming out of the water with her wet hair plastered to her neck and a huge smile on her face.

"The water is so nice," She exclaimed as she sat down next to me, "It's pretty warm, but still refreshing."

"I might go in soon, but Cole just texted me, and was wondering if he and Quil could come and join us for a little bit, would that be okay?"

"Yeah, sure, I'm dying to see Quil, and we haven't gone swimming together in a while, it will be fun." She said as she took off for the water again. I quickly texted Cole back with a thumbs up, and soon enough two tall shirtless guys were walking towards me.

As they were walking over, I noticed how attractive they actually were. They each were very tall and muscular, but it just looked natural on them. Quil had a thoughtful face, and a really cute smile. If it weren't for Cole, I'm sure I would have a crush on him. I then turned my attention to Cole, and I just couldn't believe a guy like that would ever like me.

Suddenly they were standing in front of me, Quil said a quick hello before turning his attention fully to Claire, and heading for the water. Cole on the other hand, was staring at me.

"I'm glad Claire was okay with it, I really wanted to hang out today." He said with a small smile as he sat down next to me.

"Yeah, me too. Claire was totally fine with it, I think she missed Quil." I looked out at the water to see my sister, happy as ever with Quil.

"Quil missed her too, god he's so annoying to be on patrol with when he misses Claire, his thoughts are just filled with her." Quil turned his head towards us, with his wolf hearing he must have heard Cole and yelled out "Same with you, jackass" in our direction.

"What does he mean, same with you?" I asked even though I knew the answer.

"Well, I happen to think about you a lot on patrol… and with the mind link, the guys hear everything and they… get a little annoyed." I had the stupidest smile slapped on my face, and he was just smirking back at me.

"Huh. Interesting." I said while looking back at the ocean. "Yep" He stood up and grabbed my hand to pull me up. "Let's go swimming." I nodded and pulled off my coverup. Suddenly Cole's eyes went wide and he was looking at me up and down. Was he checking me out? If he was, I need to play it cool, be mature Nora, you're a teenager. Act like one.

"Ready to hit the waves?" I said with a smile and he nodded, still staring but this time, with a smile. We swam for a bit, splashing and cooling down. Claire was right, it was really nice.

I saw a couple on the beach walking pretty far away from us, kissing. Of course. I let out a sigh, that I thought would be barely audible. I forgot about the wolf hearing. Cole swam in front of me with a confused look on his face.

"Nora, what's up? You seem kinda down about something."

"No it's really nothing." He smiled. "Obviously if you are saying that it is really nothing, that means it's something."

"No really." He shook his head, getting closer to me and smiling. "I won't tell you!"

"Nora, Nora, Nora. I'm your best friend. Either I know everything about you, or I know how to get the secrets out." He suddenly picked me up, tickling me in the process.

I knew this could go on for a while, so I eventually gave in.

"Fine! Fine! Put me down and I'll tell you!" I couldn't stop laughing as I said this. He seemed satisfied so he plopped me down and crossed his arms, obviously waiting to hear this secret. "Well it's just something that the girls are talking about at school." I stared at him "Ugh, I really don't want to tell you." I said softly. He just kept looking at me. "Everyone has had their first kiss, okay? There's so much pressure about it, and I feel like a freak because I haven't had one yet. And it's embarrassing and I didn't want to tell you because you're seventeen! These things don't apply to you, and you probably just think I'm this little girl that has stupid teenage problems." I just kept staring at the ocean, I was certainly avoiding eye contact.

Suddenly Cole's arms were pulling me over, making our faces inches apart. He looked me straight in the eyes, and pressed his lips against mine. It lasted for a perfect ten seconds, and then we both pulled away, and he was just holding my face in his hands. "Woah." I said softly. "What was that?"

"I don't know. Just after hearing what you said about you being a freak, and how just because I'm seventeen I think your problems are stupid. Listen, I don't think your problems are stupid and I really don't think you are a little girl. I love spending time with you, and lately, I have definitely been interesting in something more. So, I kissed you."

"Really? You don't think of me as little?"

"No. And after seeing you in that bikini today, I felt like I couldn't keep my hands off of you. Look. I may be a little older than you, and I have had a few minor girlfriends before, but they were all before I even really knew what a girl was, and nothing even compared to my relationship with you. Also,I was twelve when I met you! I haven't so much as looked at a girl since then."

"Oh." I smiled, unsure of exactly what he was trying to say. "So what does this mean?"

For the first time ever, I thought I saw Cole look shy. "Well, maybe I could take you out on a real date sometime? And we could sort of act… different? "

"Like you would be my boyfriend?" I said softly. He nodded, still looking so shy.

I answered by reaching up his tall frame, and kissing him again. I definitely liked kissing. "Yes."

He smiled, and we swam for a little bit more, soaking up the beautiful weather. At some point during the day Quil and Claire waved goodbye, as they were heading back to the house. As we got out of the water, Cole grabbed my hand and I shot him a questioning look. "What? I'm not allowed to hold my new girlfriends hand?" This just made me laugh, and smile up at him.

We were walking back to the house when I realised what I had to do. I had to tell my Aunt and Uncle, and all of our friends and family that Cole and I were now dating. I took in a sharp breath, which made Cole look down at me.

"What's up?"

"I just realised that we have to tell everybody we're dating."

"Well, they have all known this was eventually going to happen, so I'm sure they will be fine with it." He said with a shrug.

"I'm not nervous that they won't be okay with it, I'm going to get teased so badly by all the guys!"

"Well at least we're all having dinner at your house tonight so we'll have a chance to tell everyone. It won't be that bad."

Shit. I forgot that the pack was coming over for dinner tonight. Well, at least they'll all be in the same place and we will only have to do this once. We walked up the little path through the woods that leads to the house. I could already hear everybody inside, god we are a loud group.

I slowly walked in behind Cole holding his hand, trying to be somewhat quiet and come in without anyone noticing, but considering I was walking into a room full of wolves with super hearing, that didn't go so well. Aunt Emily was carrying a bowl full of chips out into the living room as we were walking in, and caught my eye. She slowly looked from me, to Cole, to our hands, back to me. She gave me a questioning look, and I nodded back to her.

"So, our little Nora has finally grown up!" Embry hollered from the couch, which made everyone else turn their heads to me.

"Great, we can finally not hear about how much Cole wants to date Nora now" Jared said with his arm wrapped around Kim, his imprint and wife who was mouthing the words 'I'm sorry' in my direction.

"I am seriously looking forward to not having Nora go through my head non stop whenever I phase." Paul said with a mischievous grin, his arm also wrapped around his imprint and wife Rachel.

"Oh and you jackasses never think about your imprints ever? I have seen more of Rachel and Kim then I ever want to." Cole snapped back playfully, as I blushed profusely behind him.

Sam stepped in, finally, "Alright guys, that's enough. The new couple has had enough." He made it worse. As Sam joined the rest of the pack laughing and joking about my embarrassment, Cole asked how they even knew we were dating, "I mean, we've always held hands, it's not that out of the ordinary."

"Oh yeah, whenQuil saw you guys making out in the water, he ran back and told us everything." Embry said with yet another smirk as I gave Quil a death stare. He held up his hands and eventually, we all laughed it off. The night was filled with jokes about our new relationship, but that was to be expected.

At the end of the night when almost everyone went home, Cole and I were still sat on the back porch looking at the stars.

"So, you really think about me that much? All good things, I hope." I said with a smile.

"Definitely all good things." He said as he kissed me on the forehead.