Chapter 15

Two weeks later, and life was going great. Jake, Embry and Quil were still my best friends, and life felt like it had during the old days. Though it wasn't exactly the same. We spent a lot more time with Sam, Paul and Jared. Not that I had a huge problem with that. Jared was pretty nice, and his girlfriends Kim turned out to be kind of sweet too. A little too girly, maybe, but still nice. Sam was a cool guy too, and so was his wife Emily. She spent a load of time cooking in the kitchen, and she was as awesome a baker as I was. We exchanged recipes and stuff all the time. Paul was the only irritating one. He still called me Shorty, but I was used to it now, and it was in a more friendly kind of way.

"Hey Cherry! Could you pass me a hot dog?" Jared called, and I nodded. We were chilling out in Jacob's backyard, and there was a lot of food. Emily had made the hotdogs, while I brought over the muffins. It was a lot of work.

"Isn't that your 5th one?" I asked him, handing it over.

"Come on, Cherry. You should know us by now." Embry said, elbowing me playfully. "We have huge appetites."

"Yeah, well you were always a pig, Embry." I retorted.

"Hey!"

Just then, Paul came racing into the backyard at top speed, looking terrified. I've got to say, it was quite a shock. You know, Paul looking terrified.

"Whoa, man, what's up?" Jared called out, but Paul didn't have time to respond. That's because Jacob ran out after him, looking damn pissed off. He was shaking angrily, and Embry jumped out of his seat to hold him back.

"Jacob! What the hell, man?" he demanded. Jacob didn't respond, just continued shaking, while Sam got up and placed himself in between the terrified looking Paul and the furious Jake.

"Emily. Take Kim and Cherry back indoors." He said, in a voice that made it very clear why he was the alpha. "Now."

Emily got up quickly, and I and Kim followed her back into Jacob's house. We were almost inside when I heard Jacob scream.

"You bastard, you imprinted on my sister!"

Emily ushered me and Kim into the house, as we heard the ripping of clothes. I closed my eyes so that I wouldn't have to look. I could handle Jake, Embry and Quil as humans, but I was still jittery around them if they transformed. I mean, if a huge wolf is standing in front of you, your instinct says to run. Even, you know, if the wolf happens to be your best friend.

"What happened back there?" I asked Emily, once we were safely inside the house. Emily had closed the door behind her, and Kim had a smile on her face. "Why are you smiling?"

"Well, it's kind of funny, isn't it? Paul imprinting? I mean, with his horrible temper, I pity the person that has to be with him."

"What? Let's slow down, what's imprinting? I've heard that word before."

Kim's mouth dropped open in surprise.

"Oh my god! I totally forgot! You don't know…." She cried.

"I don't know what?" I demanded.

"It's nothing Cherry." Emily assured me. "You'll find out when you're ready."

I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Right. And that just did not make me all the more curious about it."

"I know you're confused. But it's not up to us to tell you."

I glared at her. What the hell was going on? Why couldn't I find out what this stupid imprint thing meant? And why was it so funny that it had happened to Paul? And why was Jake pissed off? It had something to do with Rachel, because Jake mentioned his sister…. But Paul and Rachel have never even met!

"I'm going to find out." I told them.

"I'm sure you will."

It was another 10 minutes before Sam deemed it safe for us girls to come back out. And when we saw everyone sitting in the backyard, Paul just looked pissed off, and Jake exhausted, but mad at the same time.

"What was that?" I asked Embry. "Why are they pissed off at each other?"

"Long story." Embry said simply.

"So? We've got time."

"Yeah, I… let's talk about it later, okay?" Embry said.

I stood up, mad.

"No, we are not going to talk about this later; we are going to talk about this right now!" I cried. "What the hell is an imprint or whatever, and why is everyone so determined to keep it from me?"

So my voice had risen a little more than I'd wanted it to, and now everyone was staring.

"Cherry, please. Let's deal with this later." Embry pleaded.

"Why? Why can't you tell me now? I thought we weren't keeping any more secrets from each other! What is so important that you can't tell me, but everyone else knows?"

"Cherry, please…" Embry muttered. "Calm down."

"No." I said. "Are you going to tell me or not?"

"Not now… you're not ready to know about it." He muttered, looking somewhat… ashamed. "Trust, me, you don't want to know about it yet."

I glared at him, and stood up, angry.

"Fine." I said. "I'm out of here."

I stood up and walked out, fuming. I thought everything had gone back to normal! I thought they were telling me everything, so why does he have to keep something else from me? Does he think I can't handle it? I mean, they're werewolves, for god's sake, how much worse can it get?

I was halfway down Jacob's street when I bumped into someone.

"Bella?" I cried, in surprise. "WH-what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to talk to Jacob." She said, steadying herself after the impact with me. "I'm tired of him ignoring my calls, and Billy telling me that he's sick. I'm not taking it anymore. I saw him, with those bastards up on the cliff. Do you know what they were doing, Cheryl?"

I didn't respond. I knew perfectly well that they were cliff-diving. I suppose to Bella it might have looked suicidal. Damn, to any human being it was suicidal. The one time Jacob had suggested that I give it a try, Embry and Quil had nearly ripped his head off. Not that I was complaining. I'm not sure I want to die so soon.

"Bella, I think you should calm down." I said.

"Calm down? What the hell do you mean? He was diving off a cliff!" she said, breathing hard. She stared at me for a few seconds. "Oh, who am I kidding? You're one of them now, aren't you? You're not going to listen to me." She snapped, making an attempt to push past me.

"Bella, wait, no, you can't go there." I cried. "The whole pa- I mean, the whole gang is there. Sam and everyone. What are you going to do?"

"Good." Bella said. "Maybe they can tell me what's going on. Since Jake won't explain, and neither will you."

And she ran past me. The little bitch just ran. And I ran after her. I mean, what was she going to do? It's not like Jake could say anything in front of the whole pack! She was the one that was suicidal.

"Bella! Don't do this!" I yelled after her, as she went into Jake's backyard. She didn't listen. She walked straight into the middle of all of them. And she slapped Paul. I mean, Paul. Of all people. I really admire this girl's guts. I don't think I could have slapped Paul. Then again, I know that he's a werewolf with anger issues.

There was a huge flurry as Paul growled at her, and phased, into a huge wolf. Bella stood there, petrified, until Quil and Embry both shoved her out of the way in time. Paul had been about to lunge at her. Emily and Kim were the fastest to react. They grabbed hold of Bella and ran over to the house, where I was standing.

Half an hour later, and everyone was sitting in Sam and Emily's living room. Bella had calmed down, and all the guys had managed to keep Paul under control. Jared was with him now, in the woods. The rest of the pack was here.

Bella and Jacob were standing near the doorway, talking in low voices and making lovey-dovey eyes at each other. I could feel a clenching feeling in my gut, and stood up before I could do something stupid.

"I'm going to see if Emily needs any help in the kitchen." I announced, to anyone who was bothering to listen, and marched away.

"Oh, hey Cherry." Emily said, with a tired smile, as I entered the kitchen. "Eventful day, huh?"

"Yeah." I said. "You look tired. Do you need some help?"

"No, I… I'm fine, really." Emily assured me, looking up from the cake batter she was mixing.

"You should go lie down." I said, taking the bowl from her. "I'll finish the cakes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." I said. "It's not like I was doing anything useful sitting in the living room anyway."

"Thanks." She said, leaving the room.

I finished the batter, and was just popping the cakes into the oven, when someone entered the kitchen.

"Hey. You okay?" Embry asked me softly, leaning against the counter.

"Uh, yeah." I said, with a shrug. I closed the oven door and spun the timer. "I'm good."

"So… you're not mad, then?"

"At you?" I asked. "I… don't know. I just wish you would tell me, Embry."

"I know." Embry said. "I know, I want to. I just need some time, Cherry. I'll tell you, I promise. How could I keep a secret from you?"

I smiled at him, and didn't say anything.

"Seriously, though." He said, again. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Why?"

Embry looked a little embarrassed.

"It's just… we can all see what's going on out there. With Bella and Jake." He said.

"Embry, I…" I wanted to tell him that I didn't care. But I couldn't say that, because there was a part of me that did care about it.

"You can say it, Cherry." Embry said. "You don't have to hide it from me. I've known about it since practically middle school. And… I'm here for you."

"Thanks." I said. "It's just… I don't know. I just feel left out, I guess."

"I know how you feel. I've felt it myself."

I rolled my eyes.

"No you haven't." I said. "You're Embry. You're not the ladies man that Jake's always been. And you're not the sensitive one like Quil. You're strong. You don't let little things like that affect you."

"I wish that was true." He said sadly.

"Embry, are you okay?" I asked, taking a step closer to him. He looked so sad and hurt somehow.

"I'm fine." He said. "There are just a lot of things that I wish I could say out loud. But… it would ruin everything. Just… don't worry about me, okay?"

I nodded, putting my arms around him and giving him a hug, It felt nice when he hugged me back, his warm body was just so comforting.

"Thanks." He said when I let go. "I needed that."

I smiled back at him. Jacob or no Jacob, I had Embry.