Author's note- And here's a wonderfully long chapter! And another gift...pictures! Of what the characters look like to me anyways! They're on my profile so check them out!

Disclaimer.

The wind whipped momentarily, causing me to shy into the hot body that was holding me there.

"I don't think its bonfire weather, Quil," I complained, shaking my sleeve over my cold hand and pressing it up to protect my face.

"You really think I'm going to let you get cold?" he joked. I groaned and stuffed myself impossibly closer to the heated stone of his side. Regardless of the pitfalls I was excited about going to the bonfire. It was actually a really cute thing. Stormy's eighteenth birthday had rolled around and Jacob couldn't resist throwing her a big party.

We traipsed towards the billowing orange flames that we saw in the distance and I stole a glance at the sea. It didn't look like the calm waters that I liked to climb in over the summer; it looked ominous, dark, and freezing. A shiver crawled up my spine, pooling and icing over at the base of my skull. The end of January usually brought the harshest storms, I just hoped tonight wouldn't be one of them.

"You never told me how your SAT went today." Quil tried to shove the conversation into motion.

"That's probably because if I don't ever have to speak a word about the SAT ever again I could die a happy person."

"That bad, huh?"

I shrugged tightly, my shoulders' movements restrained by his arms.

"No— I mean the material was fine. I just don't think I'll ever be able to sit still in a room for six hours while filling tediously small bubbles with number two pencil graphite ever again." He laughed at me and continued to half-carry me through the stiff, cold sand. I heard the shrill shriek before I saw her. My smile had already warmed up when she ran up to me, having to rustle around Quil's large arm to wrap her own around me.

"Claire!" Reagan crowed in delight.

"Hi, Reag!" I saw Chance walk up to her shoulder, a stick full of burnt marshmallows in her hand.

"Hey, squirt!" She chuckled.

"Hey, sis," I said, watching her lick her fingers.

"How'd the test go?" She asked.

"I think I did well," I murmured as we began to proceed towards the crowd once again. "But let's just say I won't be retaking it, regardless of my score."

"I hate that you're smarter than me," she groaned. I laughed. She'd taken the test three times to wind up with her goal score.

"I know," I responded, smirking even though I knew she couldn't see me. I could feel Quil's laughs vibrating through his ribs as he successfully stifled the sounds. Chance was prettier than me, taller than me, more social than me, and more athletic than me. I deserved at least a little reprieve! And so I took my pride and glowed with its satisfying sting.

The group wasn't too large, forty people tops. But I picked out the towering space heaters in seconds, not that I should have been especially proud…they weren't that good at blending in. For the first time I saw a couple extra heads. I counted and re-counted, knowing that Sam, Leah, and Jared wouldn't be here. I should have counted four heads: Paul, Jacob, Embry, and Seth…noting the fact that Quil was right beside me. But there were two more…one...two...three…four…five…six.

I tugged on Quil's sleeve and waited impatiently as he shifted his dark eyes down to mine. I could barely see the onyx orbs through the darkness and fleeting smoke.

"Who are they?" I pointed through the crowd, motioning towards the two tall ones that I didn't know. Their faces were distant and held in unyielding masks. I saw that look on Jacob sometimes. It usually meant he was thinking of Bella.

Quil groaned in what I'm sure he assumed was a silent exclamation. "Why are they here?" he muttered. I didn't think I was supposed to hear that, so I didn't respond to it.

"Quil?" I pressed, ignoring his earlier comment. He sighed loudly.

"Um—that one's Collin." He pointed to the smaller one. "That one's Brady."

"And they're…"

"Yeah."

"So, why haven't I ever seen them?"

"They…ugh…" he grunted and I could practically hear the words that he strangled back, "they got in some trouble a while ago."

"Kay…"

"I'll tell you the whole story later."

I frowned up at him and could feel the lines in my forehead crease. He mimicked my expression and then burst out laughing, tapping the tip of my nose lightly.

"I promise," he reaffirmed.

"Fine."

He tugged me through the crowd, my puffy parka brushing against other puffy parkas. I kept my face down, squinting my eyes against the cold wind that continued to bite at my cheeks. I could tell when we'd reached the cluster of werewolves because my arms began rubbing against things much bigger and warmer than me.

I gasped throatily as a pair of huge hands wrenched me from my comfortable position in Quil's side.

"Pipsqueek!" Seth cooed, scratching my head with his knuckle. "I've missed you so!"

"Ugh," I grumbled, "Seth, you smell like smoke!" He laughed and practically tossed me back to Quil, as if I were no bigger than a football.

"Someone had to get the bonfire roarin'," he explained. Embry came at me next, a pretty little thing tucked in his arms.

"Quil, who is that?" I whispered quickly.

"Beat's me," he murmured hurriedly. Embry only approached close enough to punch me in the shoulder.

"Hey, C, I was thinking you and I may need to go shopping again sometime soon."

I felt all of the color drain out of my face. I growled lowly and grimaced at him as he stalked off with the poor girl, a triumphant and humored look on his face. Quil was gazing quizzically down at me, his eyes silently requesting explanation. I felt my blush poke at the skin on my face.

Too embarrassing to tell him now, I decided. I rolled my eyes and twirled my finger next to my cranium, signaling that I thought Embry was just a little bit loco. Which was, and is, completely and totally true.

Stormy surfaced from somewhere amongst the ring, a beautiful, dark man attached to her. Her white high-top converse hugged the bottoms of her black skinny jeans, a tight jacket over her shoulders, the colorful hood thrown over her head. She ambled towards me, stealing looks up at Jacob.

"Claire, I'm so glad you came!" She wrapped her tiny arms around my neck. I smiled and hugged her back, pushing a box covered in shiny, polka dot paper at her. "Oh, you didn't have to get me anything!" Her huge, rainy eyes were filled with compassion as she stared intently into mine.

"Well, I did!" I pushed the box towards her torso, giggling as her smile widened excitedly. "So, open it!" The paper crackled as she pulled the folds apart. Jacob rested his head on hers, watching from a bird's eye view. She carefully pulled the leather-bound sketch book with shaky hands. Her cloudy eyes got big with wonder as she stroked the protective, soft covers with tender fingers, flipping through the thick pages of drawing paper.

"So...you think I'm good at art, then?" Stormy questioned, her eyebrow arched in wonder. "No, I'm kidding. But really, Claire…" she couldn't seem to find words. I grinned. I'd searched and searched for the ideal gift for her! And then it just popped up at what I swore was going to be my last store. "It's perfect. Thank you so much."

"You're more than welcome." I grabbed the used wrapping paper from her, scrunching it into a ball. "I'm just so glad you like it!" She grasped the book to her chest and tilted her face up towards Jake's. He pecked her gently with upside down lips.

"Do you want to go get a couple hot dogs with me?" She invited, her light hearted nature flitting around in her eyes. "I'm starving!"

"Sure," I answered, turning towards Quil. I leaned up on my tip toes and put my lips on his. "Not that we don't have enough around us already," I whispered against his mouth. He snickered loudly and softly shoved me towards the birthday girl.

"This really meant a lot, Claire." She held up the bound book. I smiled kindly at her and noticed the bright silver streaks that literally wove through her eyes for the first time.

"Happy birthday!" I said.

"It really is."

"How's Jacob?" We continued walking towards the fire, eyeing the smaller pit where people were roasting various food items.

"Better than ever." Her eyelashes fluttered as she mentioned him. "He's got quite the temper sometimes, though," she relented. I stiffened, did she know? "But I've always had a thing for feisty ones," she joked. I relaxed a little bit.

"He seems to really like you." I couldn't help the happiness that infiltrated my limbs as I thought of Jacob's own contentment. He didn't seem to think about Bella as much anymore.

"Yeah, well…" her fingers knotted around each other. "I'm crazy about him." I let my eyes graze over her slight form, her deeply chestnut hair, and those round eyes. Cherry, swollen lips curled into a smile as she thought of him, her pale beyond pale cheeks stretching to make room for the expression. She looked exactly like…Bella. Or at least looked exactly like Quil had described her to me once…

Maybe Jake was so happy because with her he got to think about Bella all of the time. But that couldn't be wrong…if it made Jake happy, right? I wondered idly if she knew. And if it was important whether or not she did.

"How many do you want?" Stormy's question interrupted my thoughts. I blinked a couple of times and saw my imagined picture of Bella staring at me with two skewers in her hands.

"Oh—just one."

She handed me the wire with the meat suspended on the end. But weirdly enough, I couldn't concentrate on the fact that my stomach was grumbling hungrily. I was worried that maybe Jake didn't really like Stormy all that much…that maybe he was just happy to have pieces of his Bella back. It made me sad to think of it. A thick worry hung in my stomach, noting the entranced and distant look in Stormy's eyes. And perhaps even worse I knew that the cause of my worry was also the cause of her starry-eyed daze.

Our hotdogs had been charred to perfection and so we sat them into the buns. But I couldn't really taste mine as my teeth gnawed on it. We both stood up and brushed the crumbs off of our coats.

"Ready to get back to the boys?" She asked. My heart ached a little bit at the desperate excitement just to be back next to him. I shook my head and tried to clear my doubts of Jacob out of it. He was a good guy. It wasn't right to wonder about his motives this way. He deserved happiness one way or another.

I looked back to the shiny eyes and nodded. She grinned and forced her way through the crowd, smiling and winking at people as they wished her happy birthday. Jacob's face lit up as he saw her near and I immediately regretted my doubts of his motives. Whether or not Bella was involved…Stormy made him happy. And that could never be considered a bad thing.

I waited for the two hot arms that would find me soon enough to scoop me up. But, weirdly enough, they didn't come along. Collin and Brady were still keeping to themselves, although in the group of the boys, they were also sort of separated, turned away from the others. I walked up towards them and tapped lightly on the taller one's arm, Brady, I thought.

He spun warily on his heel and almost…glared…at me.

"H—ha—have you…seen Quil?" I squeaked, not expecting such a touchy greeting. His eyebrows formed a stoic 'v' as he continued staring condescendingly at me. He didn't really answer me in words; he just pointed back towards the left and emitted something that sounded like a growl from his throat.

I spun on my heel, feeling my face squish into a displeased expression. That was rude.

But my irritation was quickly stifled by a different emotion. A sour mix of anger and hurt burst through my veins, firing beneath my skin. I didn't know it very well, but envy had always been there, just not accustomed to showing her acidic self.

A girl was standing in front of Quil, whose back was the only part of him I could see. She had to be from Forks because I most certainly had never seen her around here before. The jealousy curdled in my veins as her hand flirtatiously grazed his wrist. She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder as he said something, I could see his head swiveling from side to side, most likely looking for me.

A victorious smile ran over my lips, a small bud of delight in the seething and fluid envy that was running through me as she batted her lashes at him. I quickly propelled myself towards the pair, swinging my greedy arms around Quil's neck and yanking his lips onto mine as soon as I could reach them. I could feel his chest contract at the unexpected hello, but he accepted it none the less, picking me up and crushing me into his chest.

I felt his lips smile against mine.

"I was wondering where you were." His teeth grazed my lips as he spoke, my skin shuddered in elation at the knowledge that she was watching.

"Close as always." I couldn't help but stifle a laugh as I imagined her face. He lowered me back down to the ground, keeping his arm tightly around me. The blonde had a tightened look to her eyes, restraining a grimace, I was sure. I smile tauntingly and snuggled against Quil's side. "I'm Claire, by the way."

Her eyes narrowed minimally as Quil shifted apologetically.

"Oh, right, sorry!" He grinned down at me and winked, rolling his eyes towards the girl. "This is my girlfriend Claire." Her entire expression went taut as she literally cringed at the word.

"Nice to meet you." Her voice was slithery and false. I laughed to myself, reveling in my victory. "I'd better get going," she admitted, eyeing me as she waved good-bye to Quil, "see you soon."

He rolled his eyes and picked me back up.

"That was weird," he said. I nodded and shrugged, hoping that he hadn't noticed the ugly, green monster that had jumped up my throat. "I've never seen you jealous."

I groaned inwardly. He had noticed.

"I wasn't!" I defended readily. He eyed me suspiciously, knowing I was a terrible liar.

"Sure, Claire."

"No. Really!" The response came too quickly and at too high of a pitch.

"Good cover," he teased. I frowned as he laughed at me, his bass chuckle sending tremors through my chest. "Aw, C, lighten up. I've never had eyes for anyone else."

I smiled small and saw the chocolate in his eyes melt.

"Me neither." I kissed him lightly again.

"I've gotten lots of kisses tonight," he divulged, his voice warm.

"Does that bother you, Quil?" I asked in a mock-worried tone. He rolled his eyes. "Because I could most certainly find a solution to that." I pulled my fingers across the middle of my lips like a zipper and threw away the imaginary key, holding his face away from my own.

"That's not what I meant!" he insisted. His lips puckered and he kept darting towards mine, not caring when he missed and covered my cheeks and neck in kisses. The laughs reverberated deep into my core, showering the love that was already growing there. "Claire," he whined.

I chuckled and nuzzled into his neck.

"Don't worry, Quil. I don't think I could resist kissing you for too long even if you did want me to." And with that I planted my lips against his for a few long seconds, feeling him relax beneath me.

"Really?" he provoked playfully. I rolled my eyes. "Me either."

"Never?" I challenged.

"Ever," he answered.

Author's note- Now leave a nice little note for me...and go see the pictures! WOO! :) PM me with your thoughts on the pic choices. p.s. i need a little help finding a Reagan and a Stormy! Anyone who has suggestions...they'd be greatly appreciated!