*insert what I hope is a cute grin here* Good news. UPDATE! :P

So… I realized that the 13 chapters on here are all on the day of Lakota's birthday. *sheepish smile* I guess I kind of stretched that on too long, huh? Mleh. Either way, I'll be honest and say I started writing this somewhere in the beginning of September, it's only natural that I actually update the chapter in late November, huh? :P I'm sorry, I really am, but if any of you are Death Note fans, I ask of you to check out my new fanfiction :) I'm very happy with how those turned out and… if you aren't DN fans *points finger* look it up, sit, and watch the whole series.

One simply cannot regret watching Death Note :D

Alright… I guess that's it. Sorry for your long wait, but, in all fairness, I did update chapter 13 just a day after chapter 12. THAT is rare.

Anyways, short chapter (as always…), not very eventful, but leading up to the whole graduation and "Lakota meets the Cullen's". THAT will be fun to write.

So… long time no see or read, here ya go.

**Jelly-Bean-Jr.

Lakota's point of view:

"Lakota? Come on, you have to get up now," a voice whispered, shaking my shoulders. How annoying. Too tired to even process who could possibly be talking to me I do my best to ignore them and just groan unhappily in response, flapping my hand randomly in the direction of the nuisance. Turning around in my sleep I reach out to snuggle against my shape-shifting boyfriend, but alas, only come in contact with a couch pillow. Letting out an even louder groan I throw the pillow over my shoulder lazily, curling up more.

So far a horrible morning.

"Don't be so cranky, Koty-" ugh, Quil, "today's the day after your birthday! Which means we can eat leftover cake for breakfast!" What a moron. Although, among other things, he always seemed to have a point. Leftover cake would be nice.

If there was any…

"There is no leftover cake," I reply, letting in a deep breath and yawning, "because you monsters ate it all," I finish tiredly, curling up more with my blanket and closing my eyes in contentment. Now that that's settled...

Whining quietly for a moment he paused before letting out a heavy sigh and getting up, nearly stomping out of the room. Jesum. How did that boy even get in here? Didn't Jacob have the decency to at least lock my front door? I mean, some creep could just walk in, or a wild animal! In this case, it happened to be both; resulting in a Quil.

Then again. I guess I should be considered lucky.

Embry could've walked in.

Unable to resist my curious mind, I lifted my head and peeked over my shoulder, barely making out Quil's poorly portrayed shadow that flaked its way just in the doorway of the kitchen. And either he's opening the door to Narnia, or the fridge. My realistic guess would sadly include the latter of the two options.

"Why are you here?" I huff, sitting up reluctantly and allowing my back to crack out the knots I managed to kink it into last night. The shuffling of the contents in my fridge paused, followed by a long moment of silence.

"Did he tell you last night?" Quil finally asks, making my eyebrows furrow in irritation at said subject.

"No," I groan, flopping back down on my back. Of course Quil just had to remind me. How hard could it be for Jacob to just tell me? Oh, jesum. What if he never tells me? What if I die knowing a secret I shouldn't? That can't be good karma, can it?

"Yeah, he told me he didn't." Flipping nugget.

"Then why'd you ask me? !" I nearly explode, sitting up again when he reenters the room with a plate of cold pizza. Blech.

"Just checking how truthful you are to me," he grins widely, but it wavers a bit as he sits down, halfheartedly eating the pizza. Oh no… sign one that Quil wanted to vent. Should've known he came all the way over here to talk about what's bothering him. But, geeze, please let me be wrong. Oh please don't let that be it.

"So, uhm… what's wrong?" Might as well get it over with. Quil looks over at me, smiling slightly and leans back, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"You know who my imprint is, right?" Still half asleep I will my brain to think. Quil's imprint… the person of which Quil is imprinted to…

"Uh… ah… no, I don't actually," came my oh so awkward reply. Furrowing his eyebrows he gives me a look but shrugs, letting out an even deeper sigh, shoving just about the whole pizza into his mouth, then continues to chew it up with an open mouth. No, really, it was great… watching the first step of digestion for Quil as he mashes his food up in his mouth. Beautiful process, honestly. Shaking my head I reach up and push his jaw up, effectively closing his mouth.

"So what's wrong?" I repeat, not all that eager to watch Quil sort out his emotions by eating. I swear, he was more of a girl than I was.

"Well…" he starts, sighing heavily and resting his head on my shoulder, looking very solemn and downright depressed, "Claire, my imprint, her parents don't like me seeing her," he mumbles. Nodding slightly I pat the top of his head, not entirely sure what else to do. I mean, I've comforted Quil and his problems from time to time, but it's usually Embry that deals with this kind of stuff.

"So why don't you just do the whole Romeo and Juliet thing?" I ask hesitantly, having no other intelligent advise for his problems. A 17 year old such as myself is not equipped to deal with over bearing parents. Let alone oversized teenage boys that turn into wolves – but since I am such a good person, I won't complain.

"What's Romeo and Juliet?" He asks, sniffling slightly. I grimace, realizing that I, in fact, didn't know that much about it myself.

"I don't know, two people who like each other and have to sneak around and whatnot."

"Don't they die at the end?"

"… do they?" Quil pauses, giving me a thoughtful look and shrugs.

"I don't know. But with Claire… it's not like that. She's only two, so she can't really sneak out." At any other time of the day, meaning if it wasn't morning, I would've taken this news with a thorough 'what the hell is wrong with you?' but mornings make me calm and collected.

So, of course, I took it all in a stride.

"Ever consider kidnapping?" He shrugs, stuffing the rest of the pizza in his mouth as an answer.

"Try to get them to hire you as a babysitter and then kidnap her?" He swallows.

"Does all of your advice include me kidnapping her?" he asks, raising an eyebrow. But despite his rude eyebrow raising, he seemed to be seriously considering it. I shrug slightly, combing my fingers through my bedhead.

"Sort of." Heaving another sigh he pulls away and pats my head. Bearing my teeth in annoyance I slap his hand away, getting in a good quack somewhere in there.

"Well, have a good day, Koty," he says, grinning idiotically. Frowning I give him my best glare. Seeming to ignore my intense and growing hatred for said nickname he only reaches forward and fingers the necklace Jacob got me, nodding slightly in approval.

"Jacob gets off patrol at 3," he says simply, skipping out of the house. Scowling I get up and lazily throw the couch pillows in their correct places, wandering happily into the kitchen for morning ice cream. And thus, nearly dying of a heart attack when I noticed Seth, grinning widely than ever, enjoying his own cold pizza at my kitchen table.

"Jesum! When in the hell did you get here?" I gasp, clutching at my poor, old 17 year old heart. Seth glances up at me, a grin that I didn't know could get any bigger widening considerably.

"Oh, hey, Kota!" He chirps merrily. My eyes narrow. Butt munch. Watching him smile for another full minute I let out a heavy sigh and sit down next to him. Never could stay mad at Seth.

"What happened to going over to Emily's to eat?" I ask, rubbing my tired face and peeking between my fingers at Seth. Shrugging he brushes his hands off on his pants, giving me yet another toothy grin.

"Sam kicked us out. And Jacob wanted me to hang out with you today until he got off patrol."

Dandy. I got a babysitter.

Pouting out my misery I lean back in my chair, crossing my arms, "hope you have something fun planned."

"Erm… no," he mumbles, looking down, "actually, Jacob just really wanted me to talk to you about the whole 'Bella's graduation' thing… he wants you to come with him." Hell to the no. Why was that boy so eager to go to that graduation? And what made him think I'd go with him?

"Can't he just… go with Quil or Embry?" I whine, giving Seth puppy dog eyes. Shrugging it off he only pats me on the head. I should really have a talk with Jacob about his pack's stupid head patting. Last time I checked, I don't turn into a dog.

"Oh, he is! He just wants you to come too. Maybe to help you and Bella get along." Staring at Seth for who knows how long I only shake my head.

"How about we not talk about this, and say we did. That way, we'll have more time to do fun things!" Giving him my own wide grin he returns it easily, nodding enthusiastically.

There. Problem solved.