(AN:. Hey guys, thanks for all those who red it! Thanks especially for my favorite person, EdwardandBella4eva8101!

I'm going to skip a few weeks)

The past few weeks have been some of the best in my life. I don't think I've ever been this happy. I have friends, a devoted, if not overprotective boyfriend (yeah, with slight anger management problems, but he's getting better), Seth, who is like a little brother to me, and Leah…. well, who's Leah. She's not so bad once you get over the self absorbed, snotty part.

I have to give her credit; she has quite a lot of patience when it comes to shopping. I never did like the pastime popular to a lot of girls, but she seemed right at home in the mall. I shuffled along unwillingly behind her as she pulled me from one store to the next. Although the mall in Port Angeles isn't that big, we've been shopping for hours. But I did need clothes…

I used the money I received from Ray, who had a surprising amount stored away. Although his family fought for it, the courts decided, since he took everything I owned from me, that I would receive it all.

By the time we finished at the mall, it was almost five in the afternoon. We loaded all the bags in the trunk and back seat, and made our way back to the reservation.

The beautiful bruises all over my skin had mostly faded, an occasional yellow patch here and there, but mostly, my skin turned back to snow white. The other night, as I relived the experience in a nightmare, I realized a few things that didn't make sense.

I could have sworn I broke my wrist. But, the next day, besides the bruises, I had no permanent damage. And how had Ray fallen out the window? The police reported it as an accident, but I really didn't think he happened to 'fall' through a window on the third story.

When we got home, Seth was out with the pack, and Sara was over at Billy Black's, Jacob's dad, discussing financial arrangements. Leah and Seth's dad had died a few months before I arrived. While Leah went upstairs to hang all the things in my closet according to color, size, and occasions, I started with dinner.

I dug around the pantry till I found a box of spaghetti and jar of tomato sauce. I thawed out the package of ground turkey from the freezer as the burner on the stove heated up. Adding butter to the pan, I emptied in the meat, later adding the sauce when the meat was all the way brown.

Throwing everything together on the plates, I set them on the table and called Leah down, grabbing two cokes from the fridge and adding it to the table. As we sat down to eat, I looked at the food on my plate, and lost my appetite. As Leah dug in, I pushed the food around my plate, getting up to throw it away when Leah finished. I felt strange as I washed the dishes, and wondered if I was coming down with a virus or something.

I couldn't go to sleep, even though I was exhausted. Every part of my body seemed to be tearing to shreds under invisible claws. I was in so much agony, moving my head to the side was unbearable. But I understood what was happening to me. My body was changing.

Despite my better judgment, I decided I wouldn't tell the others what was happening. I locked my door and suffered through the agony that was worse than child birth (I imagine). Around early morning, I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

A knock on the door woke me up hours later. Keeping my voice from showing how much pain I was in, I told first Seth, then Leah that I had caught a bad virus and I was resting. That kept them away for a few hours until they insisted I choked down soup.

After much arguing through the door, they gave up and left me along for the rest of the night. This time, I slept through the night. But when I woke up in the morning, the pain had intensified so much; it was a struggle to not cry out.

The offal pain lasted a week in all. I had managed to convince Leah and Seth that was really just a virus and I needed rest. When I opened my door the next Sunday, I felt different. Almost like I was more powerful. I no longer had the urge to lower my eyes when someone looked at me. I felt as confident as I had felt before I met Ray.

I left the house before anyone else was up, writing a quick note saying I was better and heading down to the beach for some much needed sun. But instead of heading towards the beach, I went into the woods changed into my new form. After the painful transformation, I peered down at my paws and noticed they were snow white. Great camouflage in all the green around here, I thought sarcastically. The feel of the wind whipping through my coat and the grass between my toes were like nothing I've ever experienced before. I ran so fast, it felt as if I was flying.

It ended too soon. By the time I stopped, it was light out, and I knew someone would come looking for me soon. I located where I left my bag with my clothes and slipped into my blue bikini and a pair of short shorts, skirting along the edge of the woods till I reached the beach.

Everything seemed to intensify. The crashing waves were louder than before, and I could see a lot farther. Birds flying in the air had more detail, and each tree I passed had different patterns etched into its bark.

I laid my towel out on the sand, laying myself down onto it and leaning back to look at the ocean. The sky was cloudy, like usual, and tiny drops fell from the sky, but I didn't mind. I watched the waves, mesmerized by what I could see with my improved vision. Tiny schools of fish bobbed in the waves as they crashed into each other. I heard someone come down the beach long before they appeared around the bend.

Seth came running down the beach with his usual loop, plopping down in the sand next to me. His brow furrowed as he looked at me, and I wondered if I looked any different. Suddenly, taking me by surprise, he toughed my cheek, then swore. I knew he knew.

"Don't tell." I pleaded.