Chapter 14
I had nightmares. I woke up sweating in the middle of the night at least thrice, with a big bloodthirsty wolf approaching me in my mind, its canines dripping with blood. I almost breathed a sigh of relief when 7 am came, and I could get out of bed.
"Honey, are you okay?" Mom asked, once I'd spilt my juice for the second time at breakfast. "What's wrong, why are you so jumpy?"
"I'm fine." I said, shaking my head. "Just couldn't sleep too well."
Dad put his newspaper down and glanced at me.
"Do you have a fever?" he asked. "I can drive you down to the hospital, if you want me to."
"No, I don't need to go to the hospital." I said, firmly. "I'm fine. I have an important test today, that's all. I'll be okay."
"Okay." Dad said, with a shrug. I took a sip of my juice and put it down.
"Dad, what do you know about the Quileute legends?" I asked.
"Quileute legends?" he asked sounding surprised. "Why would you be interested in those, Cherry?"
"I… was going to do a project on them." I said, quickly. "For school."
"Really? Well, I'm not really the right person. Why don't you go ask Billy? He's always had a sort of fascination with them." Dad said. "Sometimes I even think he believes that they're real."
"And you don't?" I asked.
"I don't what?"
"Believe that they're real."
"Of course not.' Dad said, looking at me as though the idea was absurd. Before yesterday, I might have thought it was too. "Those stories were just created for entertainment, dear. Nobody actually believes them."
"Right." I said. "Well, I should go. I'm going to be late."
"Need a ride?" Dad asked.
"Umm…" I glanced out of the window, where I saw Embry's car was parked. "Nope. Embry's here, I'll go with him."
"So things are okay with you and the boys now?" Mom asked.
"Kind of." I said, before grabbing my bag and leaving the house. I saw Jake in the front passenger seat of the car, and slid into the back.
"Hey guys." I said.
'Hey." Jake said. "Nice to have you back, Cherry."
"Yeah, about that…" I said. "You guys have a lot of explaining to do."
"We'll talk about that later." Embry said, starting the car up. "You're okay, right Cherry?"
"Yeah, of course. Why?" I asked.
"You don't look too great." Embry said. "You look tired."
"I… had a few nightmares." I said. "No biggie."
Embry turned around in the driver's seat to look at me.
"Are you sure?" he asked. "I hate to think that you couldn't sleep because of…" He trailed off.
"It'll take some time getting used to. But… I'll try to refrain from screaming like yesterday whenever I see you." I joked weakly.
"You screamed?" Jake asked looking amused. "Well, that's better than Kim. She fainted, from what I heard."
"Kim." I said. "Jared's girlfriend, right?"
"His imprint.' Jake said.
"What's an imprint?" I asked while Embry shot Jake a glare, and Jake covered his mouth as though he'd said something he shouldn't have. "What?" I demanded. "Are you guys still keeping something from me?"
"Of course not." Embry said. "Why don't you come to the beach later today? We can explain everything, then, and hang out. Like old times."
"Like old times." I repeated. "Wait… what about Quil? Oh my god, he's going to be so shocked when he sees me come to school with you guys! He'll probably think I ditched him for you…"
"You don't need to worry about Quil." Jake said. "He won't be at school today."
"What? Why?" I asked, just as Embry pulled into the school parking lot.
"Well, he's… one of us now."
It felt amazing to have Embry and Jake back. I joked around and laughed with Jake just like I used to, and it felt like the old times. Embry was acting a little more… awkward. He was treating me as though I was really fragile. Somehow, he was being careful, as though I was going to jump up any moment and leave them. I spent as much time with them as I could at school, and once school let out, we walked to the beach and the guys explained everything about being a werewolf.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, the Cullens are VAMPIRES?" I demanded, when I'd asked about the so-called 'cold ones'. "But Bella went out with a Cullen! Did he like drink her blood or whatever?"
"Bella knew Cullen was a vampire." Jacob said.
"What? And she still went out with him? Is she nuts?" I asked.
"Well, he's gone now." Jacob said. "And he won't be coming back."
"Yeah, so you have Bella all to yourself." Embry teased. He instantly shut up when he saw the hurt expression on my face. Jacob was a little more oblivious.
"Yeah… I haven't spoken to her in a while you guys." Jake said sadly. "She's obviously mad at me- I mean; I haven't returned her calls or anything."
"I hope you're not planning on telling her anything, man." Embry said seriously. "You know Sam would murder you."
"Why?" I asked. "Is it so important that it's kept a secret?"
"Obviously, Cherry. People would freak out." Embry said. "Sam's forbidden us to tell anyone outside the pack."
"But that doesn't make sense. You told me, so why can't Jacob tell Bella?"
"Um…" Embry stopped short, looking stuck for words. I glanced at Jake, but he didn't look like he knew what to say either.
"Well?" I asked.
"It's different with you." Embry said. "I mean, you're Quileute. Bella's an outsider."
"What does that mean?" I demanded. "Am I going to turn into one of you guys eventually? Is that even possible?"
"No." He said. "It's not. You're not completely Quileute, and besides, there's only one case of a girl turning into a werewolf."
"And who's that?" I asked.
"Leah Clearwater." He said "But that's not important."
"Wait, Leah's a werewolf?" I asked. I'd known Leah Clearwater as a child, because her mother and mine were friends. Well, that was before she turned into a total bitch.
"Yeah." Embry said with a shrug. "Came as a surprise to everyone, but Sam was pretty sure that this was a one-time thing. We're probably not going to have any more female werewolves."
"Okay." I said, with a smile. There was a small pause, as a howl came from the woods. "Was that one of you?" I asked.
"Jared." Jake said. "I think it's my turn to patrol. I'll catch you guys later."
"Sure." Embry said, and I watched Jake run off towards the trees. Something felt good.