A/N: Here's chapter 12, guys! Review!

Chapter 12: Breathe Me

Raegan's POV

It was a few days after Paul told me about being a wolf and imprinting on me, and life was good. Emily was ecstatic that everything worked out, and although I could tell Sam was keeping a watchful eye on the both of us, he looked happy too. Paul explained a lot more about the phasing and patrolling to me, as well as getting me comfortable with the rest of the pack. It was weird that basically all my friends were shape shifters, but they all assured me they were there protectors, and I knew they were speaking the truth. Kim, Collin, Brady, Seth and I have been hanging out in school since we had a lot of classes together, and it was nice having friends. I made additional friends through the clubs I joined, and I was becoming pretty friendly with my fellow juniors.

I was walking to my English class, when I felt a pair of hands on both of my shoulders. Turning around, I rolled my eyes playfully at the sight of Paul. "Hey, how's your day so far?" he asked curiously. As always, he quickly removed my messenger bag, taking the books from my hands despite my protest. "Same old, same old. I got an A on my psychology exam."

"Hey, that's great! Is that the one you were studying so hard for?"

"Yup!"

"In that case, how about after school, we celebrate?"

I nodded happily, when I remembered today was the day of my cheerleading and soccer tryout. "Ugh, I just remembered, I have tryouts!" I groaned. Although I wanted to be on both teams, I hated the fact that they were on the same day and that I had to cancel plans. Paul pouted, and I merely chuckled at his childish response. "Paulie, we can celebrate another day! I promise." I said with a laugh. He brightened, and once reaching my class, he handed me school supplies, and with a wave, I headed inside.

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"Good afternoon, students. So today, I am assigning you a partner project with someone of my choice. You will both have to make a presentation about any author we have learned about so far," droned my English teacher. After that, I lost interest and occupied myself as I doodled a picture of a tree on my notebook.

"….and our last group will be Raegan Young and Sarah Walker."

My head shot up at the mention of my name, and the realization of what she said set in my head. Sarah and I, working as partners? The same Sarah who I had had an altercation with on my first day of school, but haven't talked to since?

Our teacher dismissed us to start working on our project, and refocused my eyes back on my doodling. Only a few seconds later, I heard the sound of nails clicking against my desk in a rolling manner, and looked up. There was Sarah, in all her slutty glory, grimacing at me noticeably. "H-Hi, Sarah." I said quietly. She pulled a chair out from one of the kids I recognized to be in robotics club with me, and turned to me. "Hello, Raegan." She all but seethed. She stared at me coldly, making me blush as I removed my notebook from my desk. "So, what would you like to do for our pro-"

"Let's get one thing clear, charity case. I refuse to work with you under any circumstances. Do whatever you want for this project, I don't care. But I will not spend another minute around you." She stated harshly, and with that, marched back to her seat, her heels clacking against the tile floor.

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Classes came and went, and before I knew it, it was time for my tryouts. I had cheerleading first, so I changed into a comfortable outfit in the bathroom, which consisted of a pair of pink cheerleading shorts and a white v neck, along with a pair of comfortable sneakers. I threw my hair up into a comfortable ponytail, and ran to the gym.

After setting my bag down, I heard a shrill squeal from behind me. "Isn't this exciting! Did you practice?" said the voice that I quickly realized was Kim. I turned around and grinned, not too hopeful but let her soak in her happiness. We both started to stretch and work out our nerves, when Kim tapped me. "Are you feeling the same nervousness as I am?" she asked. I nodded, and she shook her head. "I mean at the fact that Jared and Paul are watching us." She whispered with a giggle. Swiveling my head and scanning the gym, I saw the two, burly guys watching us from the bleachers, giving us thumbs up reassuringly. "Why are they here?" I hissed. Kim laughed. "Uh, hello, they're supportive! They are wolves, after all. Besides, I bet they want to make sure we don't get hurt." She explained. Nodding and trying to rid myself of the anxiety in my chest, I jogged in place until the coach called my name.

"Raegan Young!" she yelled out, pronouncing my name more like 'region'. I bounced up to the mat, and she hit the music. I chose 'Better, Harder, Faster, Stronger' by Daft Punk as my routine song. I did a series of carthweels, back handsprings, back tucks and ended with a split as I enthusiastically shouted the chant for La Push's football team. After I finished, I stayed on the sidelines and watched as everyone else did their routines, as well as Kim's, and we were finally dismissed.

Hot, sweaty, and in a rush, I quickly went to the locker room to change for my soccer tryout, and ran back out to the field in the back of the school wearing knee length sports shorts, a loose 'La Push'' shirt, and my hair up in a sloppy bun with a thin headband pulling my hair back. Kim was wearing something similar, and the coach, who was apparently some ex-military drill sergeant or something, screamed at us to start running around the field. My eyes widened as familiarity flashed in my mind; his screaming was triggering a lot of memories that I had spent the last month and a half pushing away. "Hello? Hellooooo? Hey, you okay?" came Kim's distant voice. "Y-Yeah. Sorry, what were you saying?" I stuttered, coming out of my fog. She looked at me unsurely, but shook it off. "I was just saying that Jared and Paul are watching us again! Aren't they adorable?" she cooed, waving excitedly to her boyfriend, who blew her an affectionate kiss. Paul and I merely just stared at them, and he gave me another thumbs up.

The rest of the soccer tryout was pretty mediocre, including getting the ball around sets of cones, passing the ball to one another, and other humorously easy tasks. Overall, I thought I did a good job, and after the coach let us leave (with another piercing shriek), I made my way over to the bleachers. Kim had thrown herself into Jared's arms, making out with him as he swung her around. I blushed just at the sight of them, and I felt kind of like I was intruding. Paul cleared his throat, and after a quick goodbye to the couple, we went off to his truck.

Paul took my books and sports bag from my hands, throwing them in the back of the truck as I jumped in. "You did great out there! You definitely got on both teams." He praised. I chuckled, waving him off modestly. "Thanks, Paulie. You still want to celebrate?" I asked hopefully. He glanced over at me, smiling. "Of course. I was thinking maybe we could get ice cream." He said happily. "Sounds great." I said honestly.

Paul's POV

I pulled into a little ice cream shop I used to go to when I was little, and we both hopped out of the truck. Raegan looked really adorable at her tryouts, and to be honest, it was kind of hot. Jared had made fun of me the whole time, which was enough to kill a potential boner, but the picture of her would be engrained in my mind for a while. She skipped inside ahead of me, and after catching up, she pressed herself against the glass pane that overlooked the ice cream. "So many choices…" she trailed off, making me laugh at her cuteness. We both finally wound up getting the same thing, which was fudge ripple. I, of course, ordered the seven scoop sundae while she ordered a measly one scoop on a sugar cone. We both headed outside, sitting at some vacant picnic tables. "I used to come here all the time with my Mom when I was a kid." I told her, causing her to look up in interest. "That's cool. Why'd you stop?" she asked earnestly. I shrugged. "I guess we both got busy. I don't have a dad, so she has to support us all on her own, or at least she did until I got a job. And after I phased, I hated coming home to an empty house, so I took all the shifts I could." I explained quietly.

Surprising me completely, she took my hand in hers, rubbing circles into the back of my hands as a form of comfort. Despite the remarkably small size of her hand, they were protective; caring. "And, you know, the hardest part…about all of this…from being a little kid to phasing…I didn't have him there. A father. Jacob, Quil, Seth and Leah, they all have dads. I remember seeing all of them on father's day, playing football and fishing…my mom tried to give me that, but it wasn't the same." I continued, tears swelling in my eyes, much to my horror. I quickly wiped them away, hoping Raegan didn't see them. "You want to know what I think, Paul?" said a small, tinkling voice next to me. I looked into her eyes, pressing for her to go on. "I think you're the best guy ever. You're kind, compassionate, and sweet, and that's not something many people can say for themselves. And you didn't have a father to teach you to be this way, and that makes you special. Because you're you all on your own." She said softly.

I couldn't help it. I knew that this wasn't manly, and I knew Raegan was going to think I was weak, but the tears fell from my eyes faster than I was able to rub them away. Instead of the mean, teasing reaction I anticipated, she removed her hand from mine, and stretched her arms around my shaking torso, embracing me as tightly as she could. "It's okay, Paul. It's okay. Everything will be alright." She said over and over, and slowly, my tears went away.

It was strange. I knew I loved Raegan, it was a fact that only became truer with each day. But something changed. I stared into her eyes, those big blue-green eyes that I loved so much, and it was like I had imprinted all over again. Admiration, irrevocable love, feelings I couldn't even begin to fathom washed over me in a downpour. All that mattered to me was her, she was the only one I saw. In a dark world, she was light. I didn't care about my useless, poor excuse of a father. I didn't care about the fact that no matter how hard my poor mother had tried, she could only do so much. I didn't care that the rest of the pack didn't understand me, only recognized me to be the most volatile of the group.

I didn't care.

Because she was the only one worth caring about.

"Thank you, Raegan. T-Thank you." I stuttered, unable to find words as my mind went into overload. Everything about her made me stop breathing, her voice, her beauty. She looked at me oddly as I continued to stare into her gorgeous eyes, her cheeks rosy red. "Paul? Are you okay?" she asked timidly. Every fiber of my being made me want to tell her that I was more than okay, that I was absolutely marvelous, but my body only allowed me to give a dull nod. She didn't release me from her hold, although her grip had become loose and reassuring. "D-Did you really mean that?" I asked stupidly. Her words were more honest than anything I'd ever heard, but I needed to know, I needed to know that she really thought that way about me. "Of course, Paulie. I love you, you're my best friend. I've never thought anything less." She replied, not a tremor of uncertainty in her voice.

I nodded again. A part of me was angry at myself, angry that I could be so emotional and sensitive. But another part was grateful; happy that I trusted her so much. "You should finish your ice cream. It's starting to look like soup." She whispered. I laughed despite myself, leave it to Raegan to say something so off topic. "How about your ice cream?" I sniffled. She waved it off, and pulled me in for another hug. "Don't worry about it." She replied. Over her shoulder, I saw the cone on the ground, the melted fudge ripple puddled around it. All I could think of was how selfless she was, never caring about herself, but everyone else.

And I also couldn't stop thinking about how much I loved her.

A/N: I know it was a short chapter, but I felt like this was a good place to stop! Review!