Im sorry this has taken so long to post. My only excuse is that this is my longest chapter so far and that it has been quite hard to write! so sorry for that. and thanks for being patient!

Also sorry for posting this twice. i was so excited about posting it the first time that i forgot to spellcheck so it was full of spelling errors. however that is now fixed lol

Disclaimer: i only own Non-Twilight characters and the plot. the rest belongs to Stephenie Meyer

Chapter 12 – The Full Story 2 – Love

We raced back to the house, as night fell around us. I hadn't realised how long I'd been out, how long we'd been out. Alice and I had got back from the shopping centre mid afternoon and now it was getting dark!

Oh well, I mused, it's not like I'm short on time.

As we got to the river, I slowed down, still unsure of whether I could do this, but Seth nudged me again with his nose, his aim uncannily accurate. I continued, already mentally bracing myself for the worst.

Just outside the house, I turned again away from Seth so he could phase back in privacy. When he was done I grabbed his scalding hand for reassurance. He smiled at me encouragingly (actually he was smiling at a point a bit to my left as he still couldn't see me. He didn't seem to mind though.) And we walked into the house together.

"Hey Seth." Bella greeted him, "Where's Lucy?"

I decided it was probably time to return.

"Here, I said, shimmering into existence, "I've come to…" I paused and drew in a deep breath, "to tell you about Matt. You ought to know, if I'm to stay here."

Bella looked surprised, "Come through to the lounge, we're all in there."

"Jake?" queried Seth as we followed Bella into the living room.

"Here," called Jacob, "couldn't miss such an interesting story!" he grinned at me and I smiled nervously back.

I scanned the room for somewhere to sit but all the seats were taken.

"Who are they?" I cried, panicky, staring at the new faces. There were two boys and a girl, all with the same russet coloured skin and short black hair.

"Lucy, I'd like you to meet the rest of my pack," said Jacob, "that's Leah, Quil and Embry. I figured they should probably hear the story too. Guys, say hi to Lucy."

"Hi to Lucy!" chuckled… I think it was Embry; they all looked very similar to me.

I rolled my eyes and turned to Seth.

"Can we get on with it?"

"Sure ba– I mean, of course. Budge up Leah; you can't take up the whole sofa."

"I'm not." She grumbled but moved up so that there was just enough room for us to sit.

Once everyone was ready, I started to talk. I went through everything I'd already told Seth, finding it easier in the retelling. Then I got onto our first date…

For the first time ever, I was glad I'd got a mobile phone. I'd not seen the point as I had no parents to call and I'd just bought it to seem cool. The numbers under Mum and Dad and even Home were random ones I'd picked out from a phonebook and I never used them. I never let my mobile out of my sight, in case Matt texted, which he did, often. Then, after around a week we arranged to go to the cinema.

"I hope that this goes better than your other cinema date!" I joked with him when I arrived at the cinema.

"So do I" he replied fervently, grabbing hold of my hand and we walked in.

"Sooo, what are we watching?"

He blushed, "I thought I'd let you choose."

I looked at the list on the screen. I hadn't really kept up with the latest films, not expecting to be in this sort of situation. However I saw a mild action-adventure one with a few actors that I knew so I thought I'd try that. It certainly pleased Matt.

"This date's better already," he grinned at me.

"Why?"

"Jen picked some god-awful romantic comedy. It was terrible!" he said as he paid for tickets. We'd agreed he could do that if I bought drinks and popcorn. At the time I claimed I wasn't thirsty and I'd just eaten, saying that I honestly didn't mind paying for him.

I didn't pay much attention to the film, I just watched Matt from the corners of my eye, occasionally glancing at him as he munched on popcorn. He did the same and whenever he caught my eye, I gave him a small grin and pretended to turn my attention back to the screen.

About half way through, he finished the popcorn as I only bought a small on his orders, and put it on the floor. I shifted as though uncomfortable towards him, careful not to breathe too much. I could normally stave off the desire when I was around him but I could never be too careful. I was feeding more frequently now, each time roaming further afield in an attempt to avoid suspicion.

Matt understood what I was hinting at; he lifted the armrest between and put his arm around my shoulders. I snuggled up to him. He knew about my 'poor circulation' but I had also put on a long sleeve top to minimise skin contact.

It felt so comfortable there in the darkened room, just Matt and me as far as I was concerned. I really liked him and knew he liked me a little at least.

Our parting was a little less comfortable though.

"Um, well bye then." He said as his dad's car pulled up outside the cinema, shifting from foot to foot.

"Bye. I really enjoyed myself." I said sincerely.

Me too." He sounded awkward and quickly got into his Dad's car as it pulled up.

I smiled sadly to myself. He had wanted to kiss me but had bottled out of it. I knew it. I also knew that it was pretty much impossible for me to kiss him in any way. I still didn't know if I could control myself enough to avoid killing him if something did happen.

I stopped, uncomfortably. I had been right in a way to be reserved, but it still hadn't stopped me from…

"Go on, dear" said Esme gently, interrupting my thoughts.

"Yeah," agreed Emmett eagerly, "What happened when Jen found out? I bet there was a bitch fight! I love bitch fights!"

"I'll show you a bitch fighting if you don't shut up!" hissed Rosalie menacingly.

"Well…" I continued.

Of course Jen would find out eventually. She was normally first to know all the gossip, and although I hadn't specifically told her, as we weren't talking that Matt and I were now dating, Matt asking me hadn't exactly been a private affair. But her reaction still surprised me.

"You planned this all along didn't you, bitch" she screamed at me when she confronted me after school. "You knew I liked him so you purposely turned him against me so that he would like you not me!"

"Jen I didn't –"

"Don't lie to me. Ugh, I knew you would do something like this! You're such a freak! No one can be that nice! You had to be scheming something! Especially being that pretty! You could have had anyone, but you had to pick the one person I really liked!"

"Well, I'm sorry! I yelled back, snapping, "I should have known that this wasn't one of your flings should I? Just tell me how exactly – by reading your freaking mind! Didn't it even occur to you that I might like him too?"

Jen stared at me, gobsmacked. She had frequently had a go at me for any inane reason she could think of but I had never attacked her back.

"I can't believe you did this to me." She said quietly and walked off.

I stood there for a minute, thinking about what had just happened and unsuccessfully trying to calm myself down. Some of what Jen had said jarred a bit. What did she mean?

I glanced swiftly around. Good, there was no one in sight. I disappeared and sprinted off after Jen. I watched her climb into her Mum's car, apologising for being late. Swiftly I jumped onto the car roof, at the exact same time as the engine revving, so they didn't hear the thud as I landed and quickly dug my hands into the roof, shallowly so they wouldn't see the indents.

Luckily the car ride was short; I had to keep gripping harder to prevent myself sliding off and I was certain the finger marks would be visible in the roof of the car by now, when it turned left into the drive and the engine was killed. I jumped off and waited impatiently while they both scrambled out and Jen's Mum fumbled with the keys. I breezed past her as soon as she had opened the door and headed straight for Jen's room. I knew where it was as I had once been here on a sleepover, but when I hadn't returned the favour those invites had stopped. I'd never have been able to return the favour as I didn't own a house at all. My worldly possessions consisted of a mobile, school stuff, a few changes of clothes and my one luxury: a solar powered, state of the art, laptop. I had about a thousand pounds in the bank from the money I'd earned working in various waitressing jobs, as that was the only employment people my age could get.

Jen arrived in her room a few minutes after I did, plopping her bag on her bed and turned on her computer. She drilled her fingers as she waited for it to load up fully then clicked on MSN. I moved behind her to see who she was chatting to. A couple of her other friends were on it as well, eager to know how the confrontation had gone.

Lolly265: sooo…how did it go?

JennyfaLuv17: well, I started telling her everything then lost it. I'm not actually sure what I said!

Alicatz92: Oh god! This is bad! What can you remember?

JennyfaLuv17: not much. I was too shocked that she started yelling back at me. But…

Lolly265: she started yelling back? That never happened before

JennyfaLuv17: I called her a bitch and told her I really liked him. I accused her of planning it all along and…

Alicatz92: I wonder why she did that.

Lolly265: wait but that's what she did though. That's not too bad

Alicatz92: any ideas?

Lolly265: maybe she likes him too.

JennyfaLuv17: no she planned it; she can't actually like him too. And I also told her that she just couldn't be that nice and pretty at the same time, so why pretend to be like that.

Alicatz92: you didn't! That's not good!

Lolly265: did she answer you?

JennyfaLuv17: No! That's when she blew up at me. Ugh it's my fault this all happened anyway.

Lolly265: why?

JennyfaLuv265: well you know when she first arrived we agreed that she was too good-looking for her own good which was bad for us coz all the guys would like her not us.

Alicatz92: yeah…

Lolly265: oh yeah, we decided that as you were most gorgeous of us you should become her friend and she could introduce you to guys and prove that actually she wasn't as pretty as you.

JennyfaLuv17: yeah and it worked as well. No one liked her until I stopped hanging with her. It was only then that Matt liked her! Bitch.

Alicatz92: oh deffo!

Lolly265: whore too!

I sank to the floor, stunned. I'd always known that it wasn't purely kindness that caused Jen to be my friend but I'd never guessed her to be that calculating.

"I'd say! No one does that to my little sister!" interrupted Emmett loudly.

I jumped violently, head butting Seth's chin.

"Ow!" he complained.

"Sorry," I muttered as Emmett and Jacob burst out laughing. I'd been so absorbed in memories that I'd forgotten everyone was listening, even that I'd been speaking.

"Are you always like this?" Emmett asked through his guffaws.

"Like what?" I snapped. I didn't see what he found so funny.

"Well, you just head butted Seth. And before with the sofa."

"She fell on me earlier too!" grinned Seth.

Carlisle had started chuckling now "When we were hunting she almost ran into a tree and collided with Esme too."

Now everyone was laughing

"So I don't have very good spacial awareness! Sue me why don't you?" I snarled

"Are you always this feisty too?"

"Come back later and I'll show you how feisty I can get, dog!" I screeched at her, my hackles fully up now.

"Go on then," she snorted nonchalantly.

"Geez, Lucy, calm down!" Emmett said looking alarmed at my ferocity.

A strange calmness settled over me.

"Jasper…" I growled my voice as threatening as I could make it.

He was unrepentant. "You needed it. You can let out your anger later on some unsuspecting tree. Right now however, you should continue your story."

"My story. Right." I blinked unnecessarily, trying to focus. "Right, well… Wait. Emmett – SISTER?"

"If you're part of the family, which you are now, then you're my sister. Capiche?"

"Yeah," I agreed dazedly, half shaking my head in wonder. "Right, okay, um, right, my story. Okay well…"

I escaped the house while Jen was having dinner. I didn't even bother undenting the car. I couldn't; I needed to speak to Matt. Desperately. I called him while running to his house.

"Hello?"

"Matt? It's Lucy."

"Luce! Hey, what is it?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Sure. Uh, do you want to meet somewhere?"

"Actually, can I come over?"

"Course; I'll just ask Mum." He put the phone down. I held my breath in anticipation but a few seconds later "Sure, that's fine, when will you be here?"

"About five minutes!" I said as relief coursed through me. I slowed down slightly so that I wouldn't be too early.

"Cool. See you in a few." He hung up.

Precisely four minutes later I was ringing the doorbell. Hearing steps come down the stairs, I suddenly realised that I was still invisible. I reappeared as the door swung open.

"You must be Lucy," greeted a woman in her mid-forties. She had eyes the exact same blue as Matt but her hair was chestnut, "I'm Sarah, Matthew's Mum. Come on in."

"Thanks for letting me come over on such short notice Mrs Porter," I said following her into the kitchen. "My parents were arguing again and I had to get out of the house."

"Ouch," came a familiar voice from behind me. "Not again?"

I spun on the spot. I had told Matt my fictional story that my Dad didn't work at home and travelled most of the time and my Mum basically ignored me and when Dad came home they just argued.

"Yep," I rolled my eyes and Matt grimaced sympathetically.

"Well, if you want to stay the night, pet, you're perfectly welcome to. Its no trouble." Offered Sarah.

"No thanks, but it was nice of you to offer. Dad will want me home to go to a football match hideously early in the morning. You know, father-daughter bonding time." I pulled a face as though that happened all the time. The real reason I couldn't stay however was because the weather would be sunny in the morning before it clouded over in the afternoon. Sun and I obviously didn't mix. I couldn't be seen by anyone.

"That sucks. Come through to the family room." Matt ushered.

I followed him and saw a little girl and boy playing with Lego on the floor.

"Joe, Ellie, clear off. I've got a visitor."

The kids took one look at me and ran upstairs. The instinctual fear of me was much more present in them than in Matt.

He looked surprised. "They're not normally like that. Usually they'd stick around just to annoy me."

"I have that effect on people." I joked lightly.

"Weird." He shook his head, "Anyway what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Jen. Apparently she was only my friend because I was too pretty. I would have told you tomorrow but my parents…" I trailed off.

"That cow!" he exclaimed looking at me in disbelief, "How do you know?"

"She told me." I lied. The truth was too surreal and would take a whole lot more explaining.

"Really?"

"Yep!" I sucked in a breath trying not to cry.

Suddenly I was enveloped in a warm strong (relatively) hug. Matt rested his head on mine and just held me for several minutes breathing into my hair, until I had composed myself.

"Do you know the real reason I moved schools? A girl, just like Jen completely mangled me. I dumped her because I thought we were getting too serious too quickly. I mean, we were only twelve for God's sake. But she obviously didn't agree because a month later I started getting hate mail. Of course I didn't tell anyone. I thought I could sort it out by myself. It was horrible and just kept getting worse. Eventually I cracked from the strain of keeping it quiet and confronted her. She told me I shouldn't have dumped her and that now I was paying the price. Then I told her that if she did this to all her exes she wouldn't go very far in life and she slapped me. I knew what I had said was cruel but she was being really spiteful. When I got home I still had a red hand mark on my face. Mum saw it and made me tell her everything. It took a while but eventually I did and we had to go see the Head. I thought it would end after that but it got worse. So I asked Mum if I could leave, because I couldn't take it anymore. So we did and here I am."

"Oh my God," I breathed, "that's horrible."

"Yeah," he shrugged, "But I got over it. But that's why I didn't want to be Jen's boyfriend. I didn't want to be anyone's boyfriend, but especially not Jen. She reminds me too much of Hannah. Heck I was even reluctant to ask you out! You don't mind if we take it slow though do you?"

"Of course not. Slow is perfect for me! I'm not one of those fast-movers you know!" I grinned wryly. Little did he know that I barely moved forward at all.

"That's why I like you so much," he said softly looking down at me. "You don't get scared away by my demons and you're considerate. You also don't make false promises. You know, most girls would have said I will never hurt you like that or something."

I gazed into his eyes. "I can never promise that. I will always try my hardest not hurt you, but I can't promise." I replied seriously, intensely, attempting to get my point across. He pulled me back into his body, oblivious of what I was trying to say. He also seemed to be getting uncomfortable standing for so long.

"Shall we sit down?" I suggested.

"Yeah, alright. Do you want to watch TV/"

"Sure."

He grabbed the remote off the coffee table and flopped down on the sofa. The twins came haring down the stairs yelling,

"TV, TV!" and threw themselves on the sofa, landing in a heap. As the sofa was now full, I settled myself at Matt's feet. He started playing with my hair while channel hopping, looking for something to watch.

"You don't mind? He asked, as he settled on a Doctor Who rerun. "It's what these two are allowed and not too terrible."

"No probs," I replied, resting my head against his lap as he continued playing with my hair. It was long and thick and I could never tame it so I always left it as it was – curly. But it felt really nice when he played with it; soothing and relaxing.

We watched the Doctor blow up a few Daleks for a while then his Mum called them in for dinner.

"Do you want anything, dear?" she asked.

"No thanks. I'll be given a feast when I get home. Trust me I won't be eating for a week after that, so best not."

"Very well then, but come and sit down with us anyway."

I watched as everyone tucked in to the dinner of fish fingers and chips, accompanied by peas. Matt was really helpful to his Mum, playing silly games with the twins to make them eat everything.

After the meal I helped Sarah wash up then claimed it was time for me to leave.

"I'll take you," offered Sarah.

"No but thanks. My Dad will be here in a minute."

Matt took me to the door. "Well, goodbye." We hugged awkwardly. A random car drove by.

"That'll be Dad. He gets lost in Tesco. I'll go and catch up with him." I rolled my eyes as I jogged down the path. Matt waved and I waved back until he went back inside. Luckily it was now dark so no one could see me as I raced off to the abandoned warehouse that I occupied when I wasn't hunting.

Next Monday in school, Jen glared at me all day. I did my best to ignore her but we were in seating arrangements in class and as my surname was next to hers in the register I had to sit next to her quite a lot. The only relief I had was when we had Maths. My step lightened as I made my way towards the classroom, not only because I was away from Jen. Matt would be there too!

He was already there when I arrived.

"Hey," I greeted

"Hey." He looked nervous, "I've got something for you."

I looked at him curiously, tilting my head to one side. He held out his hand. On his palm was a pair of earplugs.

"So you don't have to listen to your parents arguing," he explained mumbling and looking at his feet.

I took them and looked at Matt in awe as cosmic events started happening to my long quiet heart. That one small thoughtful gesture caused me to tumble from the cliff. Or maybe I had already fallen and had just landed. It was irrelevant how it happened. In that one moment I fell unconditionally and irrevocably in love with Matt.

What do you think? Is it too quick/too slow for her to fall in love? did you expect it? what do you think will happen next? a sneak preview will be for anyone who guesses correctly!

unfortunately school starts again on thur so time for writing will be severely restricted! this means that updates will be fewer and further between. i can only ask that you be patient and review because they always make me write faster!

Please review and tell me what you think! Thanks very much

Love

Layla xx