The next morning when I woke up, I heard Seth and Ashley downstairs talking about something. They both had very serious tones about whatever they were talking about. I quietly opened up my door, and slipped out into the hallway to possibly hear what they were talking about. Now normally I wouldn't do this, but I was so interested by their conversation because they were being so quiet. I couldn't really make out what they were saying but I kept hearing words like "pack" and "patrolling" but the weirdest thing of all, they were saying both mine and pauls name. Maybe there was a secret gang around here and the cops were looking for them? But I don't know how Paul and I would play into that? I honestly had no idea. I figured that If I could get Ashely alone at some point she would tell me what they were talking about, she always cracked under pressure.

I accidentally shifted my weight in the wrong direction and the floorboards beneath me squeaked, it was clearly obvious that I was standing here listening to them. I quickly jumped into the bathroom and turned on the shower and got in to try and act as if I was just walking from my room to the bathroom across the hall.

After my shower, I went downstairs to find Ashley by herself in the kitchen washing dishes. I walked up, grabbed a towel and started drying the ones that she had already washed.

"Oh, hey Sophia. You don't have to dry them if you don't want to, I was just gonna lay them here until the dried."

"It's no problem Ashley honestly. If im gonna be living here I might as well start pullin my weight. I don't want you guys to think that im a slacker." I said honestly, I never liked doing chores before my parent's death, but after I lived by myself for a few months, I learned to take responsibility for things around the house and I felt bad for not helping them out before.

"Well thanks Sophia. I appreciate it, it'll be nice to have someone around the house In the mornings, well until you start school back up in a couple weeks."

"No problem, is Seth at work during the mornings?"

"Um, yeah, something like that. But anyways he never gets back at the house til around 2." She said quickly looking at the clock on the stove, once she saw that it was only 10, she sighed and looked sad.

I felt bad for her, at least I'll be around. We can have lots of girl time, and hopefully I can get some information out of her about what her and Seth were talking about this morning. I wouldn't have cared so much about their conversation if they weren't mentioning my name.

"So, I overhead Seth and you talking earlier, anything you wanna tell me about? Cause I heard you guys mention my name, and Pauls."

"Oh yeah, we were just talking about how cute you guys would be together as a couple. What do you think about him Sophia? Isn't he a cutie." She was definitely encouraging me to go out with Paul.

"Yeah I guess he is a cutie, even though im sure he could kill me if he wanted to. Seriously Ashley, are you and the other girls putting steroids secretly in their food or what? They're all so huge! And besides, I don't want to rush into a relationship, especially after…well yeah." I didn't want to think about that, remembering the text that I got from him last night.

"Sophia, you know if you ever want to talk about anything I'm always here to listen to you and give you advice. About anything, any of us girls would, or even guys. I know that you don't know them that well at the moment, but trust me, soon enough you will think of them more like a family. We all have each other's back and will always talk to you if you need anything Sophia."

"Thanks Ash, that's good to know. Are any of them the same age as me, like gonna be seniors this year?"

"Umm, yeah Jacob and Jared's girlfriend Kim are both gonna be seniors this year. And Quil is gonna be a junior. But you guys might have some classes together." I sure as hell hoped so, I didn't want to start off my senior year in high school as the new girl who didn't have any friends the first couple days of school. " "And we're having a bonfire tonight up on the beach, where you and paul went last night, and you're coming tonight, don't worry Paul will be there." She said laughing at me and winked. I couldn't help but blush, I mean maybe I did have feelings for Paul? I just hoped that if something did happen between the two of us that he would take it slow. I needed a slow and easy going relationship after the one with Adam.

"Okay, yeah It sounds like it would be fun. And it gives me more opportunities to get to know everyone else better I guess. So what do you guys do at these bonfires?"

"Well, there's always food and drinks and stuff and alcohol, but you girly are still under aged, so none of that for you." She laughed at me and kept saying how I wasn't allowed to have any fun. But I think if I worked my charm on paul tonight, that he would give me some of his. "And then after a while we listen to the elders talk about the ancient legends and stuff like that. It might sound boring but trust me, it's actually interesting and you'll really get into it."

"Hey now Ashley, don't tell me I can't drink. I remember you being quite the little party goer when you were in high school." I said with an evil grin on my face as I helped Ashley put away all the dishes that we did together. "I can have fun if I want to girl. Besides, I feel like all the guys drink that are under 21 and I doubt that anyone cares."

"Relax Sophia, you can drink I don't care," she said laughing at the fact that I took her so seriously. "No one up there is gonna care what ya do, well except maybe Paul…but other than that just have a good time and don't do anything that could get ya in jail. Although around here the police don't really care what we do. They're too afraid of the guys to come around and do anything about us if we're not following the rules.

"Okay, what time are we leaving?"

"We'll probably leave here around 6, and then we'll go to Emily's for awhile and hang out until the guys get off of work, then head up to the beach."

We parted our ways as she went to go take a shower and I went to finish unpacking my room and getting everything where I wanted it to go. But before I did that, I decided that I would text paul and ask him about the bonfire tonight. I guess we couldn't have a 'date' but we could still hang out with each other tonight at least. Even if there was other people around staring at us and making it awkward.

I opened up the text that he sent me last night and hit the reply button: Hey Paul, I hope you're coming to the bonfire tonight cause Ashley's making me go. And it'd be nice if we could maybe get to know each other better and hang out more?(: Well anyways I'll see you at Emily's tonight hopefully before we head up the beach. – Sophia.

I layed my phone down on my bed and turned up my music really loudly so that I could jam out to it and unpack at the same time, hopefully it would make it go quicker. 3 hours later I had my room set up perfect. Every picture frame was hung up straight on the wall and all my little trinkets and memories were neatly set up and displayed around my room, and all my clothes were unpacked into my new closet that I loved oh so very much.

I checked my phone to see how much time I had to relax before I had to get ready for the bonfire later tonight. It was 3:45 so I had about an hour to kill before I could do my hair and make-up and help Ashley with anything thing that she needed. I had 1 new text message, from paul: Sophia, I hope you had a good day unpacking things, I just got off work and I'm gonna go take a quick nap. But of course I'll be going to the bonfire tonight so I can see you. I'm sure that you'll look gorgeous. –Paul.

His message made my smile so big, possibly the biggest smile that I've ever had in my life, I couldn't wait to see him tonight. I just wanted to let my hair down and have a good time hanging out with him and the other members of this 'family' that I was being brought into by Ashley and Seth. And who knows, maybe something will happen tonight between me and Paul. Maybe tonight will be my deciding factor to if I really do like him or not. I mean I know that I have feelings for him I just don't know how strong they really are.

Before I knew it I was all ready and on my way to Emily's with Ashley and Seth. I was so nervous just to see Paul again but I feel like I haven't seen him for days. I really did miss him. Was It weird that I just met him last night and I already wanted to spend every second my day and night with him?

When we reached Emily and Sam's house it seemed that everyone else was already there. I quickly scanned my eyes around the room looking for the only person that I really wanted to see. At first I didn't see him, but then I found him emerging from the kitchen with a beer in his hand. Our eyes met and I couldn't look away, just like yesterday. The only thing that broke my eye contact was that he didn't have a shirt on, I couldn't help but stare at those glorious abs that he had, I just wanted to rub my hands down them so bad. I don't know how long I stared at his chest, but before I knew it he was right in front of my face waving his hand up and down trying to get my attention.

"See something you like, Sophia?" He whispered in my ear while laughing a sexy laugh that just wanted to make me melt. I could feel the blush creep up onto my face and I felt extremely embarrassed that everyone caught me staring at Paul for that long. I could hear their laughter from around the room.

"Sophia don't worry, we've all been in that situation plenty of times." Emily said laughing while I looked around and saw all of the other girls laughing and nodding their heads as well. I didn't feel quite so bad after that then.

Whenever we were leaving to drive up to the bonfire, I headed over to Seth's truck when someone grabbed my hand and stopped me. Paul.

"You can ride with me If you want to Sophia." He said quietly, like he was almost pleading for me to ride with him, how I could I deny him after getting lost into those eyes of his. I followed him over without saying a word, just smiling, and got into his truck with Quil. He had a nice truck, there was no denying that. It looked to be around a 2003 dodge cummins that was a dark blue in color, and my favorite part was that it had a lift kit on it. I was definitely gonna be falling for him now. I mean not that I wasn't before but seeing his truck just made me fall head over heels for him. I hope that doesn't make ma shallow person. I mean I like him for the person he is and his personality, him having a nice truck is just an extra bonus for me.

The short ride over was fairly quiet, except for Quil who was nagging me about how life was in Maryland. He asked me what kind of things I was into, my favorite food and music and about what school was like there. I answered all his questions without hesitation, I wasn't just doing it for Quil's sake either, I wanted Paul to learn more about me too.

"So, Sophia, what about your past boyfriends, what were they like?" Quil asked, I could see Pauls fists tighten up around the steering wheel and he looked in the rear view mirror to glare at quil.

"Um, quil. I'm sorry but that's just a subject that I'd really not talk about." I said quietly avoiding eye contact with either of them while looking out my window. I heard a sound that sounded a lot like a slap, I turned around to see Quil holding the side of his face, and Paul was just staring out the windshield focusing on the road. I didn't want to get involved in their silent argument, so I just kept my mouth shut and went back to staring out the window.

Before I knew it, we were pulling into the parking lot that was only a short walk from the beach. The sunset looked gorgeous and I got to get a better look at the beach since it was dark when I was with Paul last night. We all got out of the truck, but once again, Paul grabbed my hand before I could walk with the others to where the fire was. I looked at him in confusing and asked him what was wrong.

"I'm sorry Sophia, about the things that Quil was asking. I hope he wasn't making you uncomfortable. I just wanted to clear up the air before we spend the next couple hours together, ya know in case you thought that I made him ask those questions. Cause I would never do that." He said leaning up against the side of his truck, looking extremely sorry and so so sexy at the moment.

"Paul, I know that you didn't do that. I would hope that you know that you can come ask me any of those questions and I would've given you the same answers." I said honestly. Although I didn't bring up the fact that I probably wouldn't have told him anything about my past relationship either.

"Okay, well good. Now, how about we forget about that extremely awkward truck ride, and go have some fun tonight." He said laughing while he pulled me away from this truck.

"Oh, Paul. Before I forget to tell you, you have an extremely sexy truck. And if it ever goes missing, I'm not saying I took it or anything but I might be sitting in my driveway." And with me saying that he busted up laughing.

"Well, anytime you wanna take if for a little spin just let me know, the keys are all yours." He said, and he was being completely honest. How did I find such an amazing man? Hopefully he shared the same feelings towards me as I did to him. That would be one very awkward conversation if he didn't. But oh well, I guess we'll cross that bridge when the time comes to it.

When we got up to the spot of the bonfire, Paul led me over to the food table and we both got food to it. I just got a simple cheeseburger that sam had made on the grill and a drink to go with it. Paul on the other hand, had 3 cheeseburgers, 4 hot dogs, 2 mountain pies and about 10 cookies. I was shocked when I witnessed him eat all of that in a matter of 10 minutes. How could he not be sick after that? Once he was done eating, he looked over at me and died of laughter from the shock on my face after watching him eat that. He got up and threw our plates into the fire, went over to the cooler and grabbed 2 beer bottles. I just assumed that he was gonna drink both of them, I mean he knew I was under aged. But, despite my thinking, Paul handed me one of the bottles.

"Seriously Paul, you do know I'm still only 18 right?"

"Sophia, look around," I followed his instructions and noticed that everyone else who was under 21 was also drinking to. "up here no one cares, as long as you don't get totally out of control." He said with a smirk. I smiled up at him and took the open bottle from his hand and said thanks.

A couple of beers later and some time talking with paul about what life was like around here on the reservation, Sam got us all to calm down and brought an elder looking man to sit on the piece of wood that was facing all of us. Paul whispered in my ear that he was Old Quil, and that he would be talking about the legends and things that are based on the reservation.

Ashley was completely right. It was far from boring. I couldn't help but get so entertained and involved with the stories that he was telling. They were all so fascinating, about the cold-ones and the strange men who turned into wolfs around the reservation. Whoever came up with these stories deserved an major award for their creativity.