Same disclaimer applies.

I think that's the longest chapter here so far. I had so much fun writing it, by the way =D

&& I've noticed, as I read the last chapter, that I over-used the word 'Slightly' and it's completely ANNOYING lol. I'm gonna have to edit that =P

This is a little bit faster than last time, right? ;) I didn't get my computer back- I'll probably get it on Saturday and that's -probably- when I'll update Shooting Stars! (That's the day after tomorrow, people!) & I have my first day of school this Sunday but I'll update regularly, I promise. =)

I can't believe this is actually CHAPTER TEN! This is soo cool! I never thought I'd have so much to say when it's only Mary and Embry lol But, apparently, there is.

Okay, shutting up...

Here ya go =)


Chapter Ten

The headache returned back on full force as soon as the pain killer's effect faded, like it was waiting for it to fade. I just stayed on that couch that everything today happened to happen on, not it was much anyways, and forced my eyes shut, hoping to fall asleep, either that or the headache goes away. It was still 4pm so sleeping right now didn't sound like such a good idea; I'll mess up my sleeping schedule. Again.

And Mom and Dr. Brooke would kill me if I took any other pain killers right now; they would cause me something that was too long for me to memorize; I decided to save most of the memorizing part to med-school if I ever attend it. Bottom line: No.

I just had to endure it. Ugh.

Allen had went up to his room to do whatever he wanted to do that I really didn't care about at the moment, truce or no truce.

Thank God, I fell asleep. That was what I realized when Dad woke me up. I found that, probably my mother, had gotten my blanket for me down here. Thanks Mom.

"Wake up, sweetie," he said," Lunch's ready." I groaned.

"Okay," I mumbled grudgingly. He chuckled and removed a strand of my hair from my face. I noticed how he, reflexively, dropped his hand.

"You're burning up," he commented and I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

"I'm sick," I said," Hasn't Allen told you?" I asked as I sat up slowly, yawning. He shook his head and, this time, I let myself roll my eyes. Typical Allen.

"Do you want to go up and sleep?" he asked. I thought about it for a second.

"I'll eat first," I decided; I was starving. He smiled and got up to Mom in the kitchen and I followed." Hey, Mom," I said, fixing my hair. She looked at me and smiled after she poured some tomato soup in a bowl. One bowl. Yeah, she knew I was sick.

"Hey," she replied," Slept well?" she asked and I nodded. Sleeping was the best thing that happened today, after Embry left. I smiled at the thought. She put the bowl in front of me and went to get the rest of the plates for the rest of us. I began drinking/eating it at once. One thing about soup: I never knew whether it's eating or drinking; I mean it's a meal that you use a spoon to eat/drink, but at the same time, there's no chewing.

Wow; the cold was getting into my head.

Dad called for Allen who wouldn't refuse a call to food. Never. Especially if it was the macaroni with bashamel sauce and fried chicken next to it. And it doesn't even show; he's the type of people who can stay all day and night eating numerous calories but still manage to stay slim. Sometimes I was jealous of him for that; if I eat one too-fatty meal, I gain weight. That's exactly why I don't eat much; I had been through this stupid chubby-kid phase when I was Al's age. Now, I wasn't that chubby, but still not what you can call skinny. But I've had enough so I decided to keep it that way.

"Mmm," I said, feeling the soup rin down my slightly-sore throat. From what I'd seen, it was my favorite tomato soup: With cooking cream and extra pepper." Thanks Mom," I said.

This whole cold thing better end fast.

Embry Call

"What's with the mood?" Jake asked as I went to "the Pack's secret meeting place that's not much of a secret anymore" AKA Sam's. I shrugged and grabbed a chair in the kitchen, AKA "the centre of top secret meetings that usually ended up with Emily's cookies". Emily had made some sandwiches today for a change. I grabbed one and actually took my time eating it, earning several wide eyes that had stopped what they're doing.

"What?" I asked, still half the sandwich in my hand. Emily came beside me and put a hand on my shoulder, wiping an imaginary tear away.

"Someone has actually listened and chewed before swallowing," she spoke like a proud mother of a seven-year-old that just passed his first exam. Everyone broke into laughter and I chuckled a little.

"Seriously, what's wrong?" Jake asked after everyone managed to catch their breaths. Quil had finished his third one- while I was here- and raised an eyebrow at me while he ate his forth as if to support Jake in his question.

"Why do you think something's wrong?" I asked, finally finishing my sandwich.

"You're-" Brady paused, raising his eyebrows." Oh my God, you decided to age," he concluded. Huh?

Everyone froze. What was up with them?

"I'm not gonna start aging now," I said." What's wrong with you people?" I asked.

"Fine," Jake said," We'll know on patrol tonight." I scowled at him.

"Something's going on with Mary, right?" Sam spoke as he joined our 'conversation' in the kitchen. He didn't need wolf-hearing to hear us from the living room. Well, duh.

"She's sick," I said, grabbing my second sandwich then deciding I wasn't really that hungry so I put it back down.

"Something serious?" Quil assumed. I shook my head. Thank GOD it wasn't anything that serious.

"A cold," I answered.

"Okay so we all imprinted," Brady said," But you lost it, man." He made a semi-circle beside his temple. I just shrugged.

"I feel responsible for this," I said. Quil's and Jake's mouths formed an 'o' at the same time. It was pretty funny.

"December plus the freezing ocean," Mr. Babysitter said," Plus a human," he added," Not so good. You should've known." Well, I felt guilty enough, thank you very much.

"Babysitter," Brady and I coughed at the same time earning a shrug from Quil.

"Just sayin'," he said. Yeah, he didn't mind at all being a babysitter if it was for Claire. That's my best friend, everyone.

The rest of the day passed by pretty slowly. I spent a lot of time on the cliffs and thought about her request to take her cliff-diving. Ain't gonna happen.

Then I tried calling her but she wouldn't answer so I figured that she was asleep. That's why I didn't call her again, I didn't want to wake her up. I went home when it was starting to get dark, not that I cared that much about the darkness but I wanted to spend some time with Mom.

After I came back home yesterday she was already asleep, but I noticed she had a smile on her face. I felt like a little kid once again and was really happy for her.

You can't imagine how relieving it is to finally live with no secrets, to finally be able to tell her everything. That's why I told Mary about the wolf thing the day I met her, doing the craziest thing ever by risking having her run away screaming her lungs out. But, since I could tell her, it's better sooner than later. It worked out pretty fine.

I couldn't imagine how I actually could look into other girls before I met her, I just couldn't. I mean, I dated a lot, but nothing serious, knowing I was just messing around, looking for momental pleasure and that was it. Being a werewolf, I knew I couldn't risk getting into something serious. Not after the Sam/Leah/Emily ordeal.

They were all Mary's total opposites; careless, bubbleheads at times, immature, hormone-driven. Yeah, literally. I shuddered at the thought.

While Mary's everything great; mature, hard-worker, sweet, funny, so innocent in a way that it's sometimes...well, too much but I don't mind, responsible and exquisite, really. And I don't think she knows how beautiful she really is, on both the inside and the outside.

Mom was watching some soap-opera on TV when I walked in. Talk about irony. I sneaked behind her back and kissed her cheek.

"Hi, Mom," I said and she jumped then looked at me with accusing eyes.

"Next time when I do have a heart attack," I continued with her; I knew what she was going to say," I hold you fully responsible for my death." We both laughed. It hurt the very first time I did that, about 10 years ago or something but when I realized she was joking I laughed along with her. And she still get startled each and every time.

I sank into the couch beside her. Speaking of couches, I really sat on too many today, first Mary's and now this. I glanced at the TV.

"Days Of Our Lives?" I said," Again?" She smiled.

"It's a new season," she said. I rolled my eyes.

"Mom it's 2014, when are they going to stop?" I asked. (A/N: Uh- Nessie was born 2008 and she's six now, so, right?)

She shrugged," I don't know," she said and continued to watch the show.

It ended half an hour later. She turned her head to face me.

"So you imprinted, huh?" she started and I smiled- No, more like grinned.

"Yeah," I answered. You see, Mom wasn't the type of person who'd go over what happened in the past, I knew she wouldn't bring up what happened yesterday again. It hurt a little to feel that she's taking it all inside, you know?

She looked at me with half-teary eyes and sat on her knees to run her tiny hands in my short hair.

"It feels like only yesterday when you used to bring Jake and Quil here to watch the Ninja Turtles-" So a normal mother would say something along 'It seemed like yesterday when I first changed your diapers' or something like that. But, really, Mom wasn't normal. And, believe me when I say this, I don't need my mother reminding me of her changing my diapers.

I laughed," Quil still watches it," I said and she laughed.

"Yeah, this little Claire is so amazing," she commented." You know what makes me even happier about this?" She asked.

"What?"

She hugged me as she answered," I'll never see any of those Barbie dolls around here!" She said, referring to my ex-'girlfriends'." She looks like a good girl." I nodded.

"She is," I reassured her," And, trust me, she's the complete opposite of anything you've seen before." I didn't really, formally, introduce any of those 'Barbie Dolls' to Mom but, you see, Mom had, of course, a key to this house and- yeah.

"I know," she said," She sure doesn't look like them," she added and broke away our brief hug to sit back on the couch," And she loves you."

"And how do you know that?" I didn't doubt Mary's love to me but Mom only met her once.

"Well, if you haven't seen the way she looks at you and blushes each and every time you touched her, then I had a blind boy." I sighed.

"I know," I said," She's so adorable, isn't she?" I said and she just stared at me with proud eyes, not answering me with her words.

Amber Call was one amazing mother. I knew that for sure.

And, yeah, I know- Amber and Embry. Weird.

Mary Anderson

"...Yes, I took my vitamins and the medicine you gave me and I didn't drink any milk, anything else?" I said. Apparently, milk 'deactivated' the effect of this medecine. She nodded.

"Nope," she said." Do you need any help with your work?" She glanced at the Photoshop image I had opened to edit- The cover. I shook my head.

Mom was a graphic designer and most of her work was done from home, that's why she didn't go to work often, except on meetings and such.

"No, thanks," I said," I want to do this on my own," I added. She nodded understandingly and got out of my room. Before I even reached the mouse, my cell phone rang loudly on my bed, the sound of the vibrations muffled by the woolen covers. I sighed and stood up then threw myself on the bed before I answered Matt.

"Hey," I said," And before you say anything, yes, I'm sick." I didn't need his sarcastic comments right now. He laughed.

"Good morning," he said." How are you, M?" he asked and I knew this was just a call because he was bored- or his iPod died and he forgot to recharge it.

You see, Matt is the kind of guy who has this awesome taste in music. I liked everything he listened to- except Metal; I didn't need any screeching in my ears. Last year, he went through the baggy-pants-hoodie-messy-hair-and-converse phase and it was just so much fun until he wanted to get a piercing, that was when Brad and I had to shake him back into reality. It was still hilarious. But, this year, he was the typical, uh- preppy athlete. If that made any kind of sense. But nothing made sense with Matt, really. One day he tries cigar, the other day he- He snapped me out of my reverie.

"Err- Mary?" he said.

"Oh," I said," Oh, yeah, I'm fine. How're you doing?" he said.

"Someone have wandered to their imaginary world," he teased.

"Well, I was remembering that day when you wanted to get-" he cut me off before I continued teasing.

"Bad times, end of story," he said and I laughed." And I'm fine," he said," My sister just thought it was funny to take my iPod with her today when she went out." His sister, Chloe, was just a few months younger than Allen. We complain about both of them a lot. He snorted," She says she's actually going on a date," he said," the lil' kid." I laughed.

"A date?" I said," Seriously? Al is going on a- Oh my GOD!"

"What?" he asked. I just broke into a fit of laughter that lasted for a good amount of time.

"Allen...and...Chloe," I panted, gathering my breath.

"Yeah?" he stretched the word. I laughed again." What the Hell did they give you? Marijuana?" He always teased about that. When I start laughing this hard there's no stop. No biggie.

"No, no," I said," Allen and Chloe," I took a deep breath," ARE ON A DATE!" I was finally able to talk coherently.

"What?" he said, holding his laughter," Are you serious? Allen said he was out on a date, too?" he asked.

"Yeah," I laughed again," Oh my God," I breathed.

"They both deserve what they're getting, then," Matt said." Chloe Davis and Allen Anderson," he said," Prepare yourself for the disaster," he added. Both of them were equally annoying.

"And they don't know we know," I said.

"You evil little girl," he said and we both chuckled." Look, I gotta go now 'cause I'm almost out of credit-" Typical Matthew-" Are you going to the game tomorrow?" he asked.

"What game?" I asked.

"You don't know?" he asked," Tomorrow's the semi-final," he said.

"Oh," I said," When?"

"At 7," he said.

"Nope," I answered.

"Why?" he asked.

"Curfew- 8pm maximum," I explained.

"Dammit," he said," Okay, then. I'll talk to you later," he said.

"Bye!" I said as I pressed the red button.

I heard the doorbell ring and Mom open the door. My eyes widened as I realized it was 3pm already- Embry's here and I'm still in my PJ's- I like to stay comfortable when sick.

I rushed to my wardrobe and decided to wear something new this time so I matched my off-white, high-neck top with my newest purple Guess bag that I haven't even used yet and off-white ballerina flats. I didn't have any purple shoes. I went to Mom's room to get her purple fancy-plastic never-really-used necklace- I felt like I wanted to change. I didn't know where we were going though.

Mom didn't bother to call me when he came, she knew I heard the doorbell.

I let my bangs loose and held th rest of my hair up in a pony tail- I didn't want the rain to ruin how it looks. I grabbed my cash and cell and put them into my bag, not bothering with any perfume; I usually didn't, plus, I put on some body mist when I got out of the shower this morning.

I ran my way downstairs, almost tripping on the stairs. Almost.

I was met by Embry's dimple-showing-grin. The cutest of them all and my personal favorite. I smiled hugely as well. He hugged me.

"You look gorgeous, honey," he commented and I rolled my eyes, trying to hide the blush.

"8pm!" Mom called from behind us as we hurried out of the place. I needed out! And with Embry. Perfect.

I noticed that he had Jacob's car today- not his motorcycle this time. I wondered if it was because I was sick or what. But he told me he borrowed it all the time.

"So where are we going?" I asked. By the way, today's goal was try not to say his name- Simply because it would sound more like 'Ebbry'. Yeah, I know. I didn't need any embarassing.

"I was thinking maybe the mall," he said," Do you want to shop a little?" My mouth fell open. A guy, my boyfriend, was offering to take me shopping! What happened to the world? He, of course, noticed my expression and chuckled." Jake and Nessie's wedding is on the first of January, you know," he said.

"Oh," I said," Okay, then." It was the beginning of the month and Dad had given me my money this morning. So I had pretty much a lot, enough for a simple dress anyways, nothing too fancy.

We arrived at the mall in exactly 15 minutes. I smiled as we entered the place we first met. He seemed to remember that, too as he kissed the top of my head and wrapped an arm around my waist.

"It was a...weird day, but in a good way," he commented. I chuckled.

"Yeah, I remember." That was not two weeks ago and I actually walked alone with Embry and hugged him and cried my eyes out. That was one Heck of a day.

We walked into one of those stores which you don't actually know its name until you see the receipt. Like I said, nothing too fancy. Nothing fancy at all.

My phone rang as I entered the store. Nessie.

"Hey, Ness," I answered immediately.

"Hey, Mary," she said," I wanted to tell you-" she was cut off.

"Hello, sweetie, it's Alice," she said. The fortune-teller. I was getting comfortable around them.

"Hi, Alice...?" I said, she never called me herself. She did say we were going to be 'great friends' though.

"You're going to be Nessie's bridesmaid and I have your dress, so-" she paused for five seconds-" don't buy anything pink!" She said." And I need you to come here sometime soon for the last fitting." I just stared with what I expected was a dumbfounded expression until it sank in. Embry was, apparently, amused by that expression.

"Really?" I was excited." Great!" I said," But how did you know I am dress-shopping now?" I asked; I knew she couldn't see the wolves.

"Oh," she said," Jacob told me," she said," Have fun! See you on Wednesday!" She hung up on me. Wednesday? Well, she knew better.

Embry had picked two dresses for me as I was on the phone. One was dark blue, strapless and about sho- I mean, long enough. The other was bright red, floor-length but backless. I blushed at even the thought.

"Here," he handed me the dresses," Go try them on," he said. I could feel this wasn't his first shopping trip with a girl- I just tried to shake it off.

I tried on the dark blue on first; it just seemed more realistic. I wondered why there wasn't any shopping assistant with us but shrugged it off; maybe it was one of those 'help yourself' shops. Or Embry just dismissed him/her. I didn't know.

It was just perfectly-fitting my chest then it loosened around my waist to become completely loose just right above my hip. It came a couple of inches above my knees. Embry knocked.

"Done?" he asked. I opened the door and got out.

"What do you think?" I asked," Too short?" I turned around to give him a full view of the dress. He just kept staring at me." Earth to Embry!" Which came out like I said, 'Ebbry'. I blushed in embarassment. He didn't catch that though so I went to him and stretched on my tiptoes to give him a quick peck on his lips, which succeeded in snapping him back to reality.

"No, not too short it's just perfect," he said and, since we were the only ones in the room he pulled my face into his hands and kissed me, so slowly and gently and perfectly that I didn't want to stop. And I didn't want to change back into my casual clothes either; apparently, he liked the dress. That was it, I was buying it. He pulled away after a few- a lot of- seconds.

"I'm gonna go try-" he cut me off and snatched the red one from behind me.

"No, no," he said," I told you, this is, uh, great. Perfect," he added," But, this-" he lifted the dress up," would be pushing things over the edge," he mumbled. I smiled and went back to change as I thought about what he said. I knew red was his favorite color on me and the dress-

Oh.

I see.

He can't be any more perfect.

=D

What do you think? Pleeeeaaaase tell me! :D:D I wanna- no, need to- KNOW! ;)

TEAM EMBRY! lol (You can be Team Embry besides being Team Edward/Jake lol :D:D)

REVIEW!

xoxo