Chapter Twenty One - Impossibility

Juliet POV

"Lewis, Lewis, Lewis!" I danced around on my tiptoes. "Hurry up!"

Lewis shook his head at me, pulling his books out of the rusty locker. I stopped dancing long enough to trace the heart we'd carved in it with my pocketknife last year. Lewis and Julie, best friends forever.

"Time to go!" I chirped. He shut his locker, and the moment the padlock clunked shut, I was dragging him down the hall.

"We can take Alice's car home, her and Jasper will drive us," I told him, matter-of-factly. "You can meet my uncle Charlie!"

"You have an uncle," Lewis cried out, his eyes going misty. "Oh my god, Julie, the casual way you said that. I just… I'm so happy you found a family."

"Me, too," I grinned. "Now, hurry your cute little butt up!"

We bolted out of the school, into the slick parking lot. I pretended to pull my jacket around me, even though I wasn't cold. Lewis was immediately shivering despite the thick grey cardigan he wore.

Alice and Jasper were waiting for us, leaning against the black Mercedes. Jasper had his arms folded, the blue-white veins sticking out. My best friend's face lit up red.

"Is everyone in your family so goddamn attractive?" He whispered, taking in the sight of my siblings. Alice and Jasper shared a grin, having heard it.

"Yes, they are, and so am I," I stuck my tongue out. He pushed it back in my mouth with a roll of his big brown eyes.

"Really mature, Julie, honestly," Lewis muttered. I introduced him to Alice, who hugged him, and Jasper, who kept a respectful distance. Conversation flowed easily on the way home.

"So, Lewis, how did you meet Juliet?" Alice asked, looking into the rearview mirror. I shared a grin with him.

"We met when we were, what, twelve?" Lewis reminisced. "Oh, back then, Julie had a huge crush on me. She thought I was a real life Harry Potter."

"Oh, shut up, you liked me back!" I shoved him. "We held hands at the school dance, and he looked green."

"It was just the lighting," Lewis protested, inspecting his nails. "I was always Mr. Suave."

"Right, and then there was the time you sneezed on my face."
"In the treehouse!" Lewis clapped a hand over his heart. "Those were the days."

"And then Harper came along," I looked out the window. "Hey, we're here!"

"Jeez, Julie, you didn't mention you lived in a castle," Lewis muttered as we got out of the car. I grabbed his hand and led him up the stairs to the porch.

Some unfamiliar people were sitting on the deck furniture, looking varying degrees of uncomfortable. Nessie poked her head out the front door.

"Lewis, come with me!" She grabbed his hand. "I want you to try these brownies Esme made."

I waved them inside, excusing myself to walk across the porch and meet the strangers.

"…And this is my imprint, Juliet," Seth grabbed my hand. "Juliet, you remember Embry. This is Stella, Fiona and Spencer."

"Holy shit, Juliet," Embry said, a tad bluntly. "You look like a freakin' supermodel suddenly. You were cute before, totally, but damn. Vamp genes, huh? Can't believe you turned. Gonna be a legend for sure - I'm thinkin' of calling it the 'Almost Forbidden Love of Seth and Juliet'."

"Really dodged a bullet, yeah. It's nice to see you, Embry," I smiled before looking at the newcomers. "And it's nice to meet all of you."

"Stella, Finn and Spence just phased for the first time recently," Seth explained, gesturing to two young-looking girls with identical sheets of black hair and dark, mischievous eyes. They looked a lot like Jake's sister, Rachel. He mentioned having cousins, maybe these girls were related.

"Nice to meet ya," Fiona, or Finn for short, winked at me. The boy, Spencer, just chewed his lip in silence. He looked about fifteen, his hair cropped short like Seth's. My face softened. The change was always really hard on new wolves.

"Well, welcome to the pack," I told them. "My human friend, Lewis, is inside. He doesn't know about any of this, so I'll keep him out of the way."

"You have human friends?" Stella piped up for the first time. She stared at me from under her bangs.

"Up until September, I was just a normal human," I folded my arms. "Lewis is family to me."

"You're lucky, we had to ditch our friends," Spencer said.

"I know, and I'm really sorry about that," I sighed. "This world isn't easy, but it's our world now."
"We're supposed to be mortal enemies," Stella pointed out. "So why are we on your porch?"

"That's the thing, Stella," I said with a slight bite in my voice. "We aren't mortal enemies. Seth and Edward are best friends. Jake and Bella? Best friends. Emmett and Seth and Jake? Yup, best friends. Plus, I'm half vampire and my soul mate is a wolf. Can everyone stop buying into that old crap and get over themselves?"

"Okay, feisty," Finn laughed. "Damn. I like you already."

"Good luck winning any arguments, Seth," Embry commented. Seth just beamed.

"Okay, I gotta go. We'll be in my room," I kissed Seth's cheek. "Behave yourselves!"

As I opened the front door, I heard Embry say something along the lines of "pack mother" and "just like Emily". I grinned to myself and went to find Nessie and Lewis.

I found them in the kitchen, eating brownies and chatting to Esme.

"Talking smack about me, Lewis?" I asked, playfully shoving him.

"When am I not?" he responded cavalierly.

"C'mon, let's go up to my room and hang out," I snorted. I kissed Esme on the cheek and led Lewis out to the living room. The pack was just walking in together. Finn and Stella parted, leaving Spencer staring at the two of us.

He was seriously just watching us, slack jawed. Okay, was it seriously so shocking that I was friends with a human? What was this kid's issue?

"Jesus, Spence," Seth groaned. "Jules, can you go upstairs?"

I grabbed Lewis's hand and just about dragged him upstairs. I slammed the door of my room a little too eagerly.

"Okay, what is going on?" Lewis demanded.

"Nothing?" I avoided his gaze.

"Juliet," Lewis whispered. "Is Seth in a gang?"

I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing. "Seth is not in a gang!"

"Then what the hell do call that scene downstairs?" Lewis put his hands on his hip.

"Lewis, as much as it is killing me to hide this from you, my best friend, I can't tell you. It isn't my secret," I sat on the bed. "I'm sorry."

"I understand," He sat down next to me. "Can you just assure me that you're safe?"

"I'm safe," I told him softly. "More safe than I've ever been."

"That's all I need."

Muffled voices came from downstairs. I knew Lewis couldn't hear them clearly, but I could.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of," Seth was saying.

"I didn't imprint," Spencer's voice was like acid.

"We're your pack, Spencer, you can't lie to us. Just wait till Jake gets back," Seth pleaded.

"I DIDN'T IMPRINT ON A BOY!" Spencer yelled. Lewis furrowed his brow. He'd obviously heard that part.

"It doesn't matter, Spence," Finn soothed. "We aren't judging."

"There's nothing to judge! I'M NOT GAY!" Spencer yelled.

"Cool it, Spencer," Seth commanded. "You're losing control!"

The door slammed. I heard paws tearing across the grass.

Lewis gave me a weird look.

"What's imprinting, Julie?" Lewis asked. My heart was about to beat out of my chest. Spencer had imprinted. On Lewis.