Embry POV

Wow, that took some guts. She had just stood up to Paul, PAUL. He is a good nine inches taller than her, but she stood up to him like it was nothing. I'm actually pretty impressed that Paul didn't phase right there and rip her to pieces.

The more I'm around this girl, the more I feel myself falling in love. Not just from the imprint, but actually, truly, falling in love. Every bit of her is perfection.

Her hair is dark brown with a hint of red, and it waves gently down past her shoulders. Her eyes are the turquoise of the ocean, and they burn with the brightest fire. Her lips are shapely and red, and part to her straight white teeth. Her body is small, yet toned and tan.

I love the way she laughs, the way she smiles. The way she moves her body: graceful, yet precise. Her courage, her sense of humor, her joy. Dang, I've only been around this girl for the better part of five minutes, and I'm already in deep.

We are now setting up for football. The teams are Jared, Brady, Mark, Ari, and me against Paul, Collin, Wyatt, Caleb, and Seth. Luckily, there are even numbers, so Paul can't give me any crap about letting Ari into the game. I'm picked to be quarterback, with Jared and Mark as my linemen, and Ari/Brady as my running backs/receivers. I know that Paul's going to run a blitz, as he always does, so I tell Ari and Brady to run a route behind the defense to get open.

We line up, and I yell, "Fifty-two! Ninety-seven! Hut, hut, HIKE!"

As I had suspected, Paul runs a blitz with everyone charging straight towards me. I simply flip it over Wyatt's head to Brady, who runs freely into the "end zone," a.k.a past the old oak trees.

I laugh as Brady starts his touchdown celebration dance and Paul's face gets red as he realizes just how bad he has been thwarted. We all group together in the other "end zone" (this time, between the birdbath and the maple sapling) and do the kickoff. Mark kicks it as far as he can, which is pretty far, and Caleb receives it for the return. Caleb is pretty quick; he dodges past Jared and Brady before I dive in and take out his legs. He goes down hard, and the ball is dislodged. Ari, who is right behind me, scoops up the ball, leaps over Caleb's head, swerves around Wyatt, who falls down himself trying to catch her, and dodges Paul with a great spin move. God, is she fast! She jumps over Seth as he slides in front of her to catch her feet, and dashes into the end zone.

I look at Paul, whose mouth is now hanging wide open, astonished. Ari jogs back to help up Seth, who rolled onto Collin, and winks at Paul. "Told ya so," she said, smiling widely.

Paul grits his teeth as his hands begin to shake wildly. Brady goes over to him and leads him away, telling him to cool down. Ari, meanwhile, seems completely unperturbed. She leans down to help Collin up, unconcerned with Paul's little fit.

"DINNER!" Emily shouts from the patio. "Come on, boys, before it's all gone!"

Most of the boys jump up and sprint towards the house, delighted at the very idea of food. I fall into step beside Ari, who is laughing as Wyatt tries to tackle Caleb, who cut him off in his race to the food.

"Are you going to La Push High?" I ask as we walk.

She smiles. "Yeah, for all of two weeks. I don't know what they're going to do with me. Barbara planned this at a really bed time."

"Barbara?" I ask, hoping that I'm not prying too much. "Who's Barbara?"

"She's….well, she was my mom's best friend. After my mom died last year, I moved in with her."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." I had heard about Louis's daughter dying last year, but I hadn't put two and two together.

"It's okay. It's been almost an entire year now. And I figured it would be better for all of us, me and Barbara and Grandpa Louis, if I moved up here to stay with him."

"You have a great time up here." I turn to her and smile. "Trust me."

She smiled back. "Okay."

I laughed. "Now come on, I want some food."

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