A/N: Okay, so I'm going a little nuts right about now. I want to update something else, but am unable to. I'm going to have to put everything else on hiatus until I run out of ideas for this, aren't I? Shit. Oh, well. At least I'm updating something.

Songs:

Accidentally in Love - Counting Crows
Haunted - Evanesence
Here I am - Bryan Adams
In My Head - Jason Derülo
Jai Ho - The Pussycat Dolls
Make it Shine - Victorious Cast
Need You Now - Lady Antebellum
Out of the Blue - Aly & AJ
Whenever, Wherever - Shakira

Chapter 4

First Day Fun

Paul and I pulled into the lot at the same time I saw a blue Volkswagen pull in; I assumed that was Sam with the boys, considering Paul had just sent him a text. I smiled, and as he pulled into a parking spot, I launched myself at Paul, wrapping my arms around his neck in a hug, and he slid his arm around my waist in a side hug. "Have a good day, girly." he said quietly, and I smiled, seeing that both Collin and Brady were out of the car and watching our display with open mouths.

The part with the hug had been planned - suggested by Embry, oddly enough - but I decided to deviate, and as I unwrapped my arms, kissed his cheek with a rather girly giggle, and grabbed my bag, opening my door and sliding out. "You too." I giggled again, and winked as he looked at me with a grin so wide, it almost looked like it hurt.

I started walking toward the front office building, but stopped in my tracks when I saw Collin and Brady coming at me from the side; I hadn't even realized Brady was calling my name, otherwise I would have stopped. Damn, I knew that explosion in the garage last night had affected my hearing. Stupid dad, tinkering with that old as dirt radio. I told him not to, but no, he just had to get it on the Houston frequency. Yeah, he failed.

"Hey," Brady greeted me as they both came to stand directly in front of me. He stuttered for a second, seeming to try and find the words, all the while glancing back at where Paul had parked, though the truck was already gone. "Um, how do you know Paul?" he finally settled on, and Collin nodded in agreement. It took some effort not to smile, but I suppressed the grin and cocked my head to the side, looking confused. "You know, the guy who just gave you a ride." He looked at me, trying to see if this was going to ring any sort of bell. "You just hugged him; kissed his cheek." he tried again, looking at me like I was insane.

I looked at him with exagerated big innocent doe eyes. "But Brady... I walked to school." Which sent both their jaws crashing to the pavement below. I tried not to imagine a creaky hinge sound. I readjusted the strap on my shoulder. "You guys okay? You acting a little weird."

"I-I know- You just- We just- I mean... huh?" Collin stuttered, finally giving up and slumped in on himself.

I giggled, hiding it behind my hand, trying not to make it too obvious that I was pulling a fast one on them. "Yeah, I walked to school today. I kept getting misted whenever a car drove by." I pouted, trying to make it believable, and my pouts, or so I've been told, are adorable and irresistible. And as the pout took effect, it seemed they were starting to soften.

"Yeah," Brady agreed, nodding his head along slowly, probably trying to remember if he'd actually seen me with Paul. He was starting to doubt; I could see it in his eyes. "It rained last night; there's water all over the road." I could almost hear his mind conflicting with itself. 'It sounds reasonable.' 'But I just saw her with Paul!' 'Is she lying?' 'I don't know; she seems nice enough.' But... it wasn't possible. I closed my eyes and waited for the imagined voices to fade. My mind did that sometimes; conjured up voices that couldn't possibly actually exist.

"Oh, don't I know it!" I exclaimed, remembering to keep up my little charade. Stupid distractions. "But you know, I always did love the rain, so I guess this would be the perfect place for me." I added with a smile, remembering that as specifically why Je-Dad had decided to take his work here; he and Mom wanted to get back to their roots and start up a real family.

Collin laughed. "You won't think so after a month straight of it." he assured me, but I knew he was wrong. I'd lived in the bi-polar state of Texas, and they could have some pretty long stretches of rain, so I doubted that it would really be that bad. "Trust me, it gets down-right dreary."

I shrugged, not really caring much; I really did love the rain, and he so was not going to change my mind. Not one little bit. Rain and I were best friends; always have been, and always will be. When I was younger, it was one of the few things that would calm me. I was about to reply to Collin when all thoughts of rain vacated my mind, only to be replaced with thoughts of my evil plot, and my evil plot alone as I spotted a tiny red car with a woman driving it, and Seth in the passenger seat. I had to stop the grin from spreading across my face, and force myself to look away from the car, but before I did, I saw Seth smile and look out his window with a wink, a sure sign that he had seen me.

I didn't do anything, just looked at Collin and Brady with a fairly bright smile, and waited for my cue, like Seth and I had talked about. "Well, I'll be damned!" I heard, and smiled, but it was gone before Collin and Brady could have seen it, replaced with a look of surprise as I turned to see Seth, standing there in his giant glory. "If I ever thought I'd see you around ever again, I'd have done dug myself a hole to hide in." He laughed, and I found myself grinning.

"Oh, my Godfrey! Seth!" I immediately dropped my bag on the ground and took a running start, barely dodging a truck as it attempted to run me down, and launched myself into a projectile hug that my family seemed to be pretty famous for performing; even I was starting to pick it up. I jumped up, and latched my arms around Seth's neck in a hug, and his arms wrapped around my waist to keep me from choking him, but it warmed me right up, so bonus. Of course, we had practiced this yesterday so that he would know exactly when and how tightly to wrap his arms around my waist. I pulled back to look at him, though not far because, really, he was still holding me about a foot off the ground. "I missed you, my beloved!" I said in an over-dramatic fashion, laying a kiss on Seth's cheek, which, even though he had known it was coming, set off a blush behind those russet cheeks.

Collin and Brady had, of course, heard this exchange, as they'd followed behind me, and I saw their confused expressions turn to ones of complete and utter shock and bewilderment. Seth set me down on the ground, still grinning down at me like a mad-man, and me grinning back at him. "Still the same ole Syd." he said with a laugh, slinging an arm over my shoulders.

I took a peek back at the little car, and just as I'd hoped would be the response, the woman, Leah, I assumed, was staring at her brother like he'd lost his mind, but she shook her head, and put the car into reverse, and dove out of the lot, acting like nothing had happened. This was making me feel all giddy inside.

"So wait," Brady put his hands up as he regained composure and gathered his thoughts. "You two... know wach other?" We both nodded, grinning. "How?"

I laughed an raised my hand, and Brady, giving me another weird look, pointed to me. "We met a couple years back when I lived in L.A. with my mom and dad." It was partially true; we had lived in L.A. for three months while dad had worked on one of his films, and Seth had been in the area around the same time frame, for some sort of school trip. "I showed him around a little bit when he got seperated from the class, and got him home safe and sound." I smiled up at him, and he gave them an embarrassed grin.

Collin smiled now, and for a split second, I though he had caught onto our plan, but I pushed those thoughts away and out of my mind as he spoke. "You never told us you got lost, or that you met a beautiful girl down in L.A. Seth, my friend, you've been holding out on us." He chuckled, shaking his head at Seth.

Seth grinned at Collin, and his arm tightened a little bit around my shoulders, pulling me even closer to him. "Well, maybe I didn't want to share my little Sydney with you guys," he gave an over dramatic sigh, "but now that she's here, I guess I have to." His other arm wrapped around me, so that he was basically hugging me from behind, and I grabbed hold of one of his wrists with my hand, embracing his hold. We were a pair of damn fine actors.

Brady, seeming to believe us - yay - smiled, and said, "Yeah, you do have to share. Syd, where's your schedule?" I opened the flap of my messenger bag, and rummaged for the spare piece of paper, coming up with it, looking surprisingly neat for any paper that had been shoved in a high-schooler's bag. His face automatically dropped as he read it.

"What?" I asked, acting all innocent-like. I peeked over his arm at the sheet of paper in his hands, looking at my schedule. "No classes together?"

Brady handed me back the sheet of paper, sighing. "Nope; you don't have any classes with me or Collin." He shot Seth a glare, who glanced back at him sheepishly, having 'seen the paper over his shoulder.' "But you seem to have almost every class with Seth." He made a noise in the back of his throat that I couldn't really make out between a grunt, a growl or just clearing it. He gave the paper back to me, and shot another short glare at Seth. Collin, on the other hand, seemed perfectly fine with this new developement.

The bell rang, and before either of the younger boys could get one word in, Seth hitched his arm around my shoulders again. "Well, boys, since I have first period with Syd, I'll walk her to the office to finalize any paper work, and then lead her to class." The way he said it was almost... smug, but I guess that was the point. "Have fun."

-Forever His-

School was going great when lunch had finally come around. I'd spent my classes with Seth, meeting Claire in the process, but only because the girl was a math genius and had landed herself in the twelth grade math level, which was pretty impressive. I could barely keep up with the twelth grade math, and I am in the twelth grade, but then, my forte had always been writing and drawing; not math.

Seth had been so much fun all day; he kept telling me pack stories that were hilarious, like the one about Embry challenging Sam to a dual over a bag of gummy bears. But he seemed to be holding something back from me. I didn't press, but it seemed he wanted to tell me anyway. He just... wasn't able to, whatever it may be that he was holding back. It was almost like something was restraining him whenever he tried, and he eventually gave up on it, acting like nothing had happened.

The lunch bell rang, and just like all day long, Seth had instantly gathered his stuff, waited for me to get mine in my bag, and dragged me to the lunchroom, which was surprisingly empty. I turned to Seth, one eyebrow raised in question; most of the people in the room were in the lunch-line, still buying their food; the only people who took up actual tables were teachers.

Seth gave me a dashing grin. "Its not raining, so everyone's gone outside to eat." he explained, and to me, it made perfect sense. Why we hadn't been able to do that in my other school, I will never know. Seth's hand was still wrapped around my wrist, and he led me to the line, a small bill in hand. "Everything's really cheap here, but its all good. So, since its your first day, I figured I'd pay for your first school lunch. Hope that's alright." I could see a blush heating up his cheeks and the tips of his ears, but paid it no mind. I smiled at him, and standing way up on my tiptoes... got no where near close to his face, so I put my hand on the back of his neck to bring him down to my height, and laid a kiss on his cheek.

He looked happy when I allowed him to stand back up, and moved my wrist to a more comfortable place in his grip; namely, out of it. But he replaced my wrist with my hand, which I was okay with; it reminded me of when Paul and I had shaken hands yesterday, and boy, that still had me excited anyway. He pulled me through the line, letting me pick out what I liked, which was a taco salad and juice because I'm small and can't eat much, but I'm still a Texas girl.

Once Seth had paid for everything - a grand total of ten dollars with all he got, when mine only cost one-fifty - he led me out the side door of the lunchroom to a little area outside littered with tables and students. The students were everywhere. Those who couldn't find a table had ended up on the ground, or maybe in a tree, as was the case for some of the people I saw. I felt a slight tug on my hand, and turned to face Seth, who was giving me a bright grin. "This way, new girl. We need to start the act up again." He winked at me and I laughed.

He led me towards a table where I already saw three people sitting, two of which were freakishly huge; Collin and Brady, no doubt in my mind. And that left the girl to be Claire from Math; Quil's Claire, and though I hadn't met Quil yet, if his choice in women was anything to go by, I liked him.

"Hey, Syd," they greeted collectively, and Claire patted a spot on the bench next to her, which left enough room for both Seth and I to sit down. Seth was frowning at the lack of greeting that he'd recieved, but when I reached up and grabbed his fingers in my own, he followed me, and sat down, taking the arm off my shoulder and settling for holding my hand under the table. Good thing I can eat with either hand. "So, how have your other classes gone?" Claire asked, jumping in before the boys had any kind of chance to get a word in, which caused Brady to stick his tongue out at her.

I smiled, taking the top off my salad and pouring all the dressings I had gotten in. "Yeah, English Lit. was really fun. They're in their modern sector, and I chose James Patterson." I licked the container that held the salsa that I'd just poured onto my salad. Everyone was giving me a weird look. "What?" I asked, defensively. "I like salsa."

This caused the three of them to start laughing. "Syd, no one in this school thinks that Ms. Lancer's English Lit. class is fun because of the material, but because she's got to be the coolest teacher in the school." Claire explained to me. Oh, well then. I'm not everyone. That's for sure- nope, internal monologue, you stop right there. I don't need you being all weird and awkward while I'm acting and talking to my friends.

"Yeah, she'll be our art teacher later," Seth put in helpfully. "A lot of the Rez kids drop English Lit. for senior year because you only need three years of English, so she's free for about half the day, and she decided to take up art when Delphne retired." There was a short pause, in which Seth must've caught my look, because he clarified. "Delphne was the old art teacher."

I nodded in understanding. Ms. Lancer certainly had been nice, and I loved to sketch, so that was an added bonus. I grabbed my fork with my non-occupied hand and stabbed into my salad, spearing a little bit of everything and shoving it into my mouth to relieve the hunger headache that I was starting to develope. It tasted so good, and I almost groaned as the jalapeños made contact with my tongue and set off the familiar burning sensation that I loved so much. "Can't wait," I said with a smile, and Seth smiled at me, wiping some of the sour cream off my lip with his napkin, causing me to giggle.

-Forever His-

Seth and I walked into the class together, him all greasy because of mech shop. The room was empty as far as people went, but was full of easels and sketch books and paintings hung on the walls and were drying on the racks; sculptures decorated the room in an artful manner, and the whole room was just... art. Pure, beautiful creations. And on the white board, it clearly read, 'Meet me outside!' in big red letters. I was just now noticing why the room was so radiant; unlike every other day since I'd been here, sunlight streamed through the window, lighting up the reds, oranges, yellows and every other color of the rainbow. I never thought I'd see sun in this place, but it was... magnificent.

I turned to Seth and he shrugged, but we turned around and headed for the nearest exit. For some odd reason, all the windows in the school halls were tinted, so when we opened the door, the light from outside was blinding. But we soon found Ms. Lancer and about half of the class sitting outside in a circle. "Hello Seth, Sydney. Please have a seat while we wait for the rest of the class." Ms. Lancer said as she noticed our arrival.

I did sit down, and Seth sat next to me. We settled into a game of rock paper scissors, and though he would never admit it, I won every single round. He glared at me as I won yet again. "How do you do that?" he asked me evenly. I grinned at him in return and mimed zipping my lips shut and throwing away the key. "Of couse, now you shut up." He pouted.

A couple more people joined us on the grass, and clapping her hands together once, Ms. Lancaster smiled and said, "Alright, class, I assume most of you have met Sydney LeHaye. She's just moved here and is new to the school." A few people around the circle offered me warm, welcoming smiles, but one person offered me one full of malice; a blond with icy colored brown eyes with the depth of a puddle. She was attractive in a shallow way, but really looking at her, she seemed bitchy and unappealing. I gave her an odd look, but turned back to Ms. Lancer as she started speaking again. "Last week, we worked freely. This week, we start working in our sketch books." She held up a thick notebook with different shades of green swirls printed on the front.

And then, I swear, she pulled a giant stack of those notebooks out of nowhere and set them in the middle of the circle spreading them out. "Come pick one out." she encouraged us.

I was one of the first ones up and instantly found mine; it was black with a simple, long-stemmed silver rose printed on the front. Very me. I sat back down and examined my cover with a smile. Seth had sat back down to, and his journal was simple too; it had some kind of sports car on the front. I smiled at him and flipped the cover open to the first page and neatly printed my name on the manilla sheet in the front that also had a fold to hold loose papers in place. "Today, there is no prompt," she told us. "Spread out and draw whatever you feel."

I smiled at Seth, but stood back up, flipping to the first, clean white page in the sketch book that I had, and sitting under the nearest tree which just happened to be a wide stretching oak with wide branches that made a large shadow on the sunny campus grounds. I took one of my pencils out of my bag, and once the pencil touched the paper, it took on a life of it's own. I sketched, my pencil flying across the paper, touching up lines, erasing mistakes.

By the time the class was over, a picture of Paul stared at me, his lips turned up in a smile, his eyes intense. I blew off the pencil shavings and smiled at it. It was only him from his chest up, but I felt that it sort of captured him, and before I knew it, I was drawing trees behind him because it seemed so innate to his essence.

I heard the bell ring, and stood up, flipping the book closed and gently letting it fall into my bag, and headed off to biology with Seth's arm around my shoulder in a friendly manner. So far, I think he and Embry will be my besties, but out of all the pack members I've met so far, I find myself attracted to... Paul. Thinking about him, my hand absently reaches into my bag and strokes the cover of the journal that held a sketch of him.

-Forever His-

The final bell of the day rang, and I almost yelled in relief; my history teacher was as boring as a pile of bricks and he made history just as interesting. I shoved Seth's shoulder to stop the snoring as I packed up, and he jumped awake, startled. He sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and I laughed a little bit as he mumbled, "Syd's a meanie; waking me up during such a nice dream. Oh, all the ice cream and cookies." I swear he started salivating, but then, that could have just been drool from when he was sleeping.

I shoved him again, causing him to glare at me, but I achieved the desired effect, which was him standing up and grabbing his. "C'mon, Rip Van Winkle, we gotta get outside." I urged him, reminding him of the act, and he rolled his eyes at me, slinging his arm over my shoulders yet again, as he very well should. I patted his head with my hand and said, "Good boy."

We walked through the nearly deseted halls to the exit, and I couldn't help but noticing how fast this school emptied. My old school always had quite a few people linger behind after school was over, causing trouble or getting extra lessons, they all stayed. Point was the halls were never this empty when I was leaving the halls of my old school. It was pretty shocking, were I to be honest. But we reached the entrance, and as the light flooded my eyes, blinding me, I found myself looking for two very specific cars and Embry himself. Seth didn't seem to mind the sudden burst of light because he only squinted slightly.

I found Embry soon enough. Even with several other tall guys around, Embry still towered at a whopping 6'3", slightly shorter than Paul's 6'5" but taller than Collin and Brady's matching 6'0". Being called short had given me some sort of complex and I wanted to know everyone's height. Collin, Brady and Seth had all found it extremely funny when I asked Claire, who is shorter than me, and she's answered 5'1" which was exactly a foot shorter than Quil's 6'1", or so she'd told us. Kim was pretty damn tall herself, only five inches from Jared's 6'3" at 5'10".

But Embry spotted me pretty easily too, though the lot was still pretty full. I also found Leah's car, and she was sitting on the hood of her car, looking at Seth and I with question marks nearly tangible and floating around her head. I smiled at Seth, and he winked at me; things were going to get interesting.

Seth and I continued to walk forward, towards the center of the lot. "My God!" I heard Embry yell, and quickly turned to look at him. "It's Sydney LeHaye! Come give me a hug, sugar!" he yelled, holding out his arms. Sugar? That was a bit of a deviation, ut whatever; laying it on thick is the key anyway. I looked up at Seth and he nodded, unhooking his arm from my shoulder, and I ran towards Embry, jumping at the last second, just before I smashed into him, and he caught me easily, half bridal style. "I missed ya, shorty." he told me.

Another guy got out of the green off-roader that I assumed belonged to Embry - Jared was right, I could smell fish tacos. He was slightly shorter than Embry, but a little wider and built; I assumed him to be Quil. He was looking at Embry and I just as the woman - Leah - was; a big question mark above his head. "I missed you too, Embry." I told him as he set me down on the ground, and I grinned up at him.

I saw Collin, Brady and Claire approaching us from the side, and I siddled back up against Seth. I also saw Leah push herself off the hood of her car, her curiosity getting the better of her; she had to see what was going on. Seeing this, and knowing my plan was about to come into plan, I twitched my right eye in a half wink - our signal to officiall execute the plan.

I waited for Seth to say his line, but Brady beat him to it, repeating almost the exact words I'd told Seth to yesterday; oh, this was sweet. "So, Syd, you already know Embry too?" he asked me incredulously I loved it when the people I was playing a joke on unknowingly played along, walking right into my well laid traps. I almost felt the need to do an evil laugh, but held it in for the sake of the plan, and put on a blank face, like I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

"Um, no..." I answered slowly in an 'what would give you that idea,' sort of voice, and fought back a smile. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure, but it's nice to meet you Embry." I smiled and held out a hand, which he took and shook with another smile, fixing to greet me back, as if we'd never met before; as if he hadn't just hugged me like we were the best of friends.

"What? You just- he just- he- you- WHAT THE FUCK?" I think we finally managed to make Collin's brain implode. Maye he was left a little unstable after the Paul episode this morning, but damn, the poor guy cracked fast. It looked like he was about to collapse to the ground in the fetal position... Okay, maybe that's going a bit far, but he did look slightly manic, and Brady, while much calmer... and saner for that matter, had a similar expression, though most of his mania was contained in his eyes. "He just called your name; you ran at him, hugged him. How do you not know him?" Collin asked, the deadly calm of his voice slightly frightning, were I to be honest, but right now, I wasn't being too big on the honesty.

"He didn't call my name," I said evenly, the lie passing through my lips easily. "I didn't run at him; I was walking with Seth the whole time." Seth nodded in agreement.

"The hell you didn't!" Leah exclaimed. Her voice was actually quite beautiful and melodic, and if it weren't for the malice, she'd be in really good shape. And the scowl didn't exactly help either. "I watched you do it..." she paused for a second, looking me over. "Who the hell are you, anyway?" she asked, crossing both arms over her chest in defiance. Defiance to what, I couldn't tell you if I wanted to.

I mocked a curtsey. "Sydney LeHaye; pleased to meet you. You must be Leah - Seth's told me all about you." I smiled at her, and she seemed to take offense to my slightly mocking tone because her scowl deepened. Well, I sure wasn't winning any fans on team Leah. Eh, I'd charm her later. Right now, I had a charade to keep up with and finish.

Claire had gone to stand next to Quil, and I found myself thinking they were very cute together, just before I mentally berated myself for getting distracted... again. I think I might have ADD. Everyone still looked confused, and rady was the one to break the silence. "What's going on?" he asked, not really asking anyone in particular; anyone could answer. Those not in on the joke were at a loss, and those of us in on the joke were trying to act like we were at a loss too.

And then, right on cue, as if we'd pressed a button to summon him - which we hadn't - Paul walked up, not exactly looking happy. "That's a good question Brady; what is going on here?" The way Paul said it demanded an answer, and I almost wanted to answer him for real, but I had to remember the hoax.

And then, just as we had planned, Paul noticed me under Seth's arm and shaking Embry's hand; still, and that was planned too. His hands started shaking, and immediately, Embry let go of my hand, though I don't know why shaking hands should be reason to let go of me. But Seth still held firm, so I guessed the whole thing was still an act. "Sydney," he said, sounding that deadly calm that guys did when they were about to go off, but wanted to keep their girlfriend out of it. "What are you doing with them?"

I shrugged out of Seth's arm, walking toward Paul and laying my hand on his chest to calm him down like I'd seen Kim do yesterday when Jake had started Seth's car up in the backyard, and mud had sprayed all over Jared's face; his hands had been shaking then, too, though not so severely as Paul's were; maybe that was a sign of anger in La Push. "Nothing, baby. I'm not doing anything." I said soothingly, keeping the one hand on his chest, the other one venturing up to rub the back of his neck. "Just talking to some of my friends." I assured him, and his hands started to still. "It's alright." I assured.

Paul squeezed his eyes shut, as if he were fighting off real anger and real jealously; he was a pretty good actor too. I was thoroughly impressed with him, Seth and Embry's acting abilities. "They were touching you; Seth had his arm around you," he ground out, looking at me with those beautiful eyes of his, almost pleading with me to tell him it wasn't true.

The hand I had on his neck moved to touch his cheek. "I know, baby, but I promise; we're just friends." His eyes closed and both his hands came up to hold the hand on his face there, engulfing my hand in warmth. Well, I know that my improv's good because none of this - from the time Paul started shaking - had been planned out very well. Yeah, it had been planned, but we had sort of hoped that moving more on spur of the moment actions and words would make our performances more believable.

"Now she knows Paul too." I heard from behind me, and I turned to see Brady, now looking pretty angry. "Would someone mind telling me what the hell is going on here?"

Embry looked over at me, amused as hell, Seth looked like he was about to burst out laughing, Leah had an extremely miffed expression, Collin looked like he had vacated his mind, Quil and Claire wore matching expression of confused neutrailty and behind me, Paul pulled me against his chest, and I could feel him laughing, though when I looked up at him, his face was a stone mask. "Should we tell them?" Embry asked me, holding back his own laughter.

I grinned broadly at him and Seth. "I thought we could have gotten a little more out of it, but hey, whatever. I had a good time." I laughed and heard Paul start doing the same behind me, causing the looks of confusion to increase.

Embry laughed. "I guess you're right. Step forward, please, Ms. LeHaye." I did, to the center of the circle. I smiled at Paul, and he grinned back at me. Embry cleared his throat dramatically and clasped his hands in front of him somberly. "For those of you who don't know her, this is Sydney LeHaye. She has just moved here from Texas. Ms. LeHaye enjoys surfing, drawing, writing and acting. Ms. LeHaye also has a rather devious mind, quite like my own, and yesterday, after meeting most everyone in the pack, Sydney here came up with the brilliant idea of confusing you all to distraction. Clearly, she has succeeded, so how about a round applause for our young actress." He, Paul and Seth started off, slowly joined by Claire and Quil, and then by Leah who actually looked rather impressed, followed by Brady and finally, Collin, who seemed to be back in his right mind. As they applauded, I curtsied, smiling brightly.

When they finished clapping and cheering for me, I smile at all of them. "And of course, let's not forget the three men who made this whole thing possible." I started clapping, and everyone was much quicker to join in this time.

"Alright, everyone," Embry said, soaking up the applause like a sponge. "I say we go back to Sam and Emily's and go tell everyone else what a smashing hit Sydney's plan was. And of course, Emily has all the food." Everyone laughed and rolled their eyes at this, but started dispersing into their respective cars; Collin, Brady Quil and Claire stuck in Embry's taco-mobile, Leah and Seth to her car, leaving me with Paul, not that I minded at all.

Just as I was about to get in Paul's truck, I heard my name, and turned to see Leah, standing right outside her own door, leaning on the hood of her car. She gave me a half-smile, and said, "You did a good job with the guys today. The pack needs a girl like you." She then slid into her car before I could reply. Oddly enough, I think I just earned Leah's approval.

As I buckled up into Paul's truck, I couldn't help feel proud of myself; I was already fitting in. I love La Push.

A/N: I realize you all probably want to toast me at this point; three weeks is unacceptable. And alls I have to say in my defense is I'm sorry; tests, finals, projects and class work galore; I got sidetracked by school, the evil place. I hope the extra long chapter makes up for it, and the fact that my G and B keys didn't work for half the chapter.

Oh, and also, to halt my belly-aching from last chapter, while I was delayed from actually writing it, I finally figured out some key points to the story that needed to be figured out. Such as how and when Paul and Syd move from friends to more than friends, and when he tells her the big secret. Oh, and I also figured out about when Sydney's big secret comes out, though you may not know what that is for a little while, but I've been dropping subtle hints.

Again, I'm soooooo sorry for the delay, but please, review. Tell me what you think. Was it good? Was it bad? Should I be put in front of a firing squad for this monstrosity? Tell me your favorite line; your favorite scene. And above all, tell me what I'm screwing up. :) Until we next meet.

Madly Yours,
Jassabella