A/N: Insanity is nigh. And a dot in the distance. Oh well, maybe I'm just a better writer for it. I started writing this out the next day, so you guys better love me. Not literally. But I'm posting faster for this than I am anything else.

Songs:

Accidentally in Love - Counting Crows
I Write Sins, Not Tragedies - Panic! at the Disco
Jai Ho - The Pussycat Dolls
Next Contestant - Nickleback
Thinking of You - Katy Perry
Whenever, Wherever - Shakira
Why Can't I? - Liz Phair

Chapter 3

Stupid Boys

Okay, I knew I was staring, but, honestly, I didn't think that gave the whole room the right to look at me with stupidly happy smiles, or at Paul with pure jealousy - cough cough, Embry, Seth and Jake, cough cough - so I cleared my throat, hoping to draw their attention away from him, which it did - really effectively, too. "It's nice to meet you, Sydney." he said, his eyes still connected to mine, and he brought my hand up to his lips, and laid a gentle butterfly kiss on my knuckles. I felt my cheeks heat up instantly.

I looked around the room a little bit, and saw that everyone was different shades of shocked. And then, like a magnet, my gaze was drawn back to his brown eyes, that I were surprised to see had deep green flecks hidden in them. He was completely captivating. Maybe that's why, when I finally managed words, they were little more above a whisper. "It's nice to meet you too." I said, looking down, knowing the shade of crimson I must be at this point would be kind of stunning. For someone so pale, I could get pretty dang red if I blushed hard enough, but I also had pretty good control of when I blushed, so, I willed the red in my cheeks to fade, and I could feel the heat slowly start to drain away.

"Well, Syd's pretty much met everyone at this point." I heard Sam say, breaking my and Paul's little trance, causing me to withdraw my hand from his; I hadn't even really realized we were still holding hands, the warmth felt so natural and safe. My hands felt icy and alone in comparison.

But I grinned anyhow, though I really wanted to reach out my hand a grab Paul's again. "But Collin and Brady don't know that." I said, letting my evil mind go into overdrive.

"And neither do Leah or Quil," Embry added in from where he sat. I could see a glint in his eye, and knew I had just found my partner in crime. "Doest I sense a fellow devious mind in you, oh short one?"

Because Embry seemed to be the only one thinking along the same lines as me, I was willing to let the short comment slide. So I just grinned, and nodded. "You do, oh giant one." I said, turning his jab at my height around on him. But his face turned to the same one it had when Emily had whacked him with the rolling pin; the puppy-pout that he was surprisingly good at.

"Are you calling me fat?!"

It wouldn't have been so funny, were it not for the fact that he sounded so insulted and shocked at once, like a girl who really had been called fat. Or, were it not for the fact, that as soon as he had asked, he quickly grabbed the bottom of his shirt, and lifted it up, poking his washboard ab stomach that fat wouldn't have dared to show on. Which was probably the reason that after a miniscule pause, the whole room was shaking with the laughter of everyone. "You could afford to lose a few pounds," I threw back at him, and Embry looked like he was going to faint, causing Emily to sit down in a nearby chair so she wouldn't fall down, and Kim to double over.

Embry stood now, pointing at me, stumbling over his words, probably trying to find an insult good enough to throw back at me, causing me to sober up as I waited for his retort. And while his focus was on me, Kim swooped in and stole his chair, trying to hide her giggles with her hand. "Well, you're just- you're... mean!" he finished lamely, sounding extremely childish. He turned around, and spotted Kim in his seat. "You stole my seat!" He seemed pretty dang shocked by this. "Jared, Kim stole my seat and turned Sydney against me!"

Jared looked at Kim from where he was standing, still chuckling at the scene that had just taken place. "I see that," Jared said, slowly. "But I think that you turned Sydney against you when you called her short." He shook his head at Embry, gave Kim a sweet smile, and returned to his - almost gone - sandwich.

Embry scoffed. "Sure, you take her side, you whipped puppy. Whatever happened to bros before..." He trailed off as Jared sent him a dangerous look that advised him to choose his next words wisely, and in my peripheral, I saw Paul move closer so that I could feel the heat radiating off him. "Chicks." Embry said, obviously wishing to avoid a beating, and walked around to the other side of the table - closer to me, as it happened - and taking over another chair.

"Before this turns into a fist fight, why don't Embry and I start concocting a brilliant and most devious plan against the four remaining pack members that have yet to meet me." I broke in, and purposely brushing against Paul as I moved, I came to sit between Seth and Embry. "First off, who all here is still in school?"

"Seth, Collin, Brady and Jake's getting his G.E.D. Seth's a senior, Collin and Brady are juniors." Kim said, jumping into the conversation eagerly. Maybe she was more devious than I first thought. I also found myself wondering how old Paul was if he wasn't in school. I mean, he looked older anyway, but so did Collin and Brady and they still had another year to go. But I brushed this off, and sitting in my seat, I was just realizing I was still wearing nothing but my bathing suit and board shorts. Oh, well. Weirder things have happened.

I felt a presence behind me, and instinctually, I knew it was Paul. That, and the only other people left standing were Jared and Jake, and I could see them. "We usually sucker Embry and Leah to pick the boys up after school because Collin and Brady don't have cars and Seth's is dying." his deep voice put in from behind me, and I had to resist the urge to shiver as I felt his warm breath hit my shoulder. "If that helps."

"And almost everytime I pick up Collin and Brady, Quil comes with me and talks me into picking up his girlfriend, Claire, who is also a junior." Embry put in from beside me. He'd also managed to make a piece of paper materialize when I hadn't been paying attention. Embry has paper powers now? Huh. "You got any ideas, cap?"

Cap? "Yeah, maybe." I said, distractedly, as I snatched the paper from Embry, and then the pen he'd also magically made appear, making him pout. "Depends. Who drops them off?" I asked, writing a series of notes on the paper. Like who would be there when we got out of school. I guess that meant that Kim was also out of school. "And does anyone have Seth and Brady's schedules? I could use that too. As well as yours, Seth." I said, glancing at him quickly, and he nodded, taking the paper and pen that I'd just snatched, and writing down his scedule in a speedy and messy fashion. It matched mine nearly perfectly, except where I had theater and martial arts, he had mech shop, and, to my surprise, office aid.

"Leah drops Seth off at school, and the boys mooch off Sam in the morning on his way to work." Jared provided as he chugged his soda.

And then, Emily grabbed the paper and wrote both Collin and Brady's schedules down. Since they were in a different grade than me, they only had lunch with me. "I can work with this. Okay, Embry. Here's what's going to happen..."

--

The plan was complete, and I'd been lent a shirt in my time there. But it was actually starting to get pretty late, and Leah had just checked in over the phone - good thing Sam had answered, or part of the plan would have gone out the window - to let them know that they had gotten two cribs, one changing station, two diaper disposers, a breast pump for Em - apparently, Brady'd almost passed out when he figured out what it was for - twelve baby bottles, burping rags, a couple bags of diapers, bibs, two bouncers and two car seats. And they were on their way to buy clothes, and a baby moniter; good thing Sam had given her his credit card.

"Alright, everyone, I've gotta be getting home," I announced, mentally reminding myself to wash and return the tank top to Emily later. Didn't want a rep as the shirt jacker, but I think I've already got a rep as the tiny evil mastermind; Embry, of course, was the one who intiated the nick name.

Jared grabbed the keys to Paul's truck. "Okay, shorty, I'lll drive you home..." He trailed off and looked around the room with a mischevious glint to his eye that said he was going to actually pawn it off on someone else. Nice. Real nice. "Unless..." he said, drawing it out to build suspense or something like that, but alls it was doing was annoying me. "One of you guys wants to take her home."

"I'll do it!" Jake, Embry and Seth all said at once, but Paul was the one to step forward and grab his keys out of Jared's hand. "I'll take her home," he said calmly, giving me a grin far more contagious than Seth's or Jake's. I resisted the urge to blush and smiled back. The other three looked put out by this, but willing enough to just roll with it.

We left out the back door, and as the screen shut behind me, I heard Embry say, "He's too old for her. I should have been the one to-" His sentence cut off as I heard another large SMACK! sound. I started giggling madly, and Paul gave me an odd look. "You didn't hear Embry get his for saying..." The last part was kind of embarrassing, so instead, being with elegant with words as I am, I finished with, "that?" Yeah, it's lame. I know.

He raised his eyebrows at me; ultimately cute. "You did?"

Normally, this might have insulted me - I mean, I have ears after all - but it was Paul. So I just nodded my head, shooting the weird look he'd just given me right back at him. "Yeah, why wouldn't I?" I asked, honestly wanting to know why he thought I wouldn't hear it.

He shrugged; again, he's built with washboard abs and wide shoulders, bronzed so beautifully. Oh, complexion, we shall never be. "No reason, I guess," he said, sounding a little abashed and embarrassed, though it was hard to see if he was blushing through his tan skin. "I've just got really good hearing; dog ears, almost. I didn't think that you would hear..." he looked at me with a silly grin. "That."

I mocked offended, and looked at him in mock shock, playfully slapping his - incredibly warm - arm. "I can't believe you're making fun of a lady, such as myself." I said in a prissy fashion, pretending to storm off, ahead of him.

"What lady?" he said as he caught up beside me with ease; stupid smug tall guys. "I don't see any lady around." he joked, and I smacked his arm again, just as we reached the front of the house, and the truck. I love his truck. He grabbed my wrist and turned me toward him. "I just see a very pretty girl who I'd like to get to know better." Oh, cheesiness, how I love thee.

I decided to make him suffer a little bit. "Well, here's your chance, hot-shot." I said in a teasing tone. "You get to drive me home." I went to the other side of the truck, but somehow he beat me there, opening the door for me, and, in another cheesy gesture, bowing to me. I really do love cheesiness. "Thank you, sir." I said in a posh accent, lifting up my non-existent skirt, and stepping into the truck like it was a carriage.

He got in the other side, just as I was buckling up, and smiled at me. "So aren't you going to ask the most basic question, since you heard what Embry said?" he asked as he clicked his own seatbelt on, and put his key in the ignition. "How old I am?" Oh, I thought he was refering to why he got automatic dibs, and the other guys had done nothing to stop it; but the age thing works too.

"Doesn't really matter." I said, and he looked at me with a funny expression. "I'm seventeen." I said, and his expression went away to be replaced by a grin. "But, since we're on the subject, how old are you?" I was a little curious about his age.

"Twenty." he answered me, looking over to guage my reaction; I could definately believe it. "Twenty-one in November." I still didn't mind. It was a little less than a four year age difference; my mom and dad were off by five years, and they get along just peachy keen. Age had never been a big thing with them. Not even while they were adopting it; it was whoever they connected to, which was me.

"I turn eighteen in October," I provided as he started driving. There was a short silence, and then, out of no where, his stereo came on, blasting Given Up by the best Band ever; Linkin Park! He reached out to turn it off, but I knocked his hand away, and opted for turning it down. I looked at him with a sheepish grin. "I love Linkin Park."

The grin on his face put the sun to shame. "Well, there's one thing we have in common."

We both sat there, grinning and rocking out to Linkin Park. I hardly noticed we had pulled up in front of my house until he unbuckled himself from the seat, which prompted me to look out the window to see my massive house instead of Sam and Emily's warm little home. I could feel my face fall, but tried not to make it obvious. I unbuckled myself, and reached for the door handle, but Paul beat me to it, opening the door. "Home, sweet home," I said, grumbling a little bit.

I started walking toward the door. "Syd," I heard, and turned at the sound of my name to see Paul still standing by the truck door I'd just exited, flipping his phone in his hand. "Can I have your number?" he asked, sounding so cute that I kind of wanted to go over there and pinch his cheeks.

But intead of embarrassing myself in such a grotesque fashion, I opted to grin at him, and nod. "Of course," I said, walking back towards him, and setting my board down on the ground so that I had a free hand. He held his phone up and took a picture of me, and then offered it to me so that I could type his number in. I smiled as I handed it back to him. "See you tomorrow." I said, picking up my board, and turning back towards the front door; I never heard his door open the whole time I was walking.

--

The rest of the day had been fairly uneventful and hardly worth noting, because there was hardly any day left. Mom, Dad and I'd had dinner together, just like we always had in Texas, and mom did an excellent job, just like she did in Texas. But the next morning, I woke up before my alarm even went off, excited about the events that the day would bring. I had four pack members to confuse to utter distraction, and only a couple hours to do it.

I got ready, pulling my long hair into a pony-tail and dressing in jeans and a short-sleeved brown button-up. I'd always looked really good in brown for some reason; maybe it was my complexion. I also lined my overly-blue eyes thickly in liner because it made me look like a doll, and sometimes freaked people out, so it was fun.

Part of the master plan that Embry and I had concocted - with a little assistance from Seth - was Paul picking me up, so after I finished my strawberry pancakes, I went to wait outside, rocking back and forth eagerly on my heels, waiting for Paul's truck to come into view. This was step one because Sam had agreed to stall until Paul gave him the signal to pull into the lot so that the boys would be sure to catch me getting out of his truck. And speak of the truck, and it shall appear. The sleak black ride had barely pulled into my drive-way before I had jumped in, throwing my messanger bag onto the floor. Paul was smirking at me. "Eager much?" And then he caught a look at my messanger bag, which had the same design as all my boarding equipment. "You really love wolves." he noted, sounding pretty happy about it.

I rolled my eyes, and smacked his arm. "Just drive." I ordered, and he mock saluted me, pulling out of the drive, and onto my street just as my mom appeared in the door to wave me off to school. She spotted Paul, and raised her eyebrows and gave me a thumbs up; crazy lady.

Ready or not, boys, here I come.

A/N: Okay, okay. I know you guys probably want to hear all about her day at school, and you will... next chapter. Which I should have up... soonish. This is my fastest updating story because I have the most ideas for it, and it just kind of flows for some odd reason. I'm having one issue, and that's deciding when Paul and Sydney should start transitioning to more than friends, and when he should tell her about the wolf thing.

But other than that, I have very little to say.

There is one other thing, however. I have gotten a surprising amount of reviews for this story, but none of them consist of anything. 'Good chapter; update soon,' doesn't help the writer at all. I enjoy the compliments, but it doesn't let me know what you want to see more or less of. So start telling me your favorite parts, your favorite relationships - besides Paul and Syd; I mean friendships - and your favorite lines. Tell me if you didn't like something. Suggest things. It will help me improve as a writer and know what you guys want to see happen to this story. Its all I ask.

Alright, I think that's it. Until we next meet.

Madly Yours,
Jassabella