IMPRTANT: Ok guys so last chapter I said that Jake was about to phase. It was supposed to say Embry so im sorry about that. I changed it so don't be confused when you read this one!

"Clear coast." Steph whisper-shouted as she opened her bedroom window; Paul laughed and climbed the tree next to it, scaled the sill and jumped in. Steph was both disappointed and surprised to see that he was actually wearing a shirt today.

"I don't know why you couldn't just use the front door." Steph told him as she closed the window again and leaned against her dressing table; Paul held her close and kissed her cheek before he flopped onto her bed heavily.

"That would have been boring… and by the way, it's 'the coast is clear', not 'clear coast'." He told her, using a very bad impression of her voice.

"That sounded nothing like me." She laughed as she got her things together.

"Whatever, so what are we doing today?" Paul asked as he watched her back as she snatched her keys off the table; it was weird that she wasn't wearing her usual tank and shorts. Instead she wore some tight blue jeans and a baby blue short sleeved polo. She didn't look any less beautiful though.

"We're going to school, and then Sam wants us down at Emily's." Paul's head snapped up.

"And why are we going to school?" Steph turned to face him.

"Because im already behind enough. I need to get some catch-up assignments." She said like it was obvious; Paul looked at her like she had grown two heads.

"You actually want school work?" He asked as they got up to leave.

"Some of us don't wanna fail, you know?" She laughed as she stood lazily, waiting for him to open his truck. Paul came bounding out and opened her door, standing like a gentlemen while she got in before closing it and getting into the driver's side. Steph's smile faded when she thought of all of the other girls he had held doors open for; it was no secret that Paul was the resident man-whore of La Push. Somehow she felt like he treated her differently to all those other girls… but that could be what they all thought.

Steph looked down at her phone; it was eleven a.m. which meant that the guys were all out at break. She swallowed hard and hoped that she could avoid them.

"So what's your favourite subject?" Paul broke the silence.

"English." She said surely; Paul nodded knowingly.

"Right, right. I remember you told me you write." She nodded and smiled.

"Yeah."

"Maybe I could read your books one day? What are they called again? Try- something." Paul asked as he pulled into the school parking lot; Steph's heart beat sped up.

"Twilight… and no, you can't read them. Nobody will ever read them." She said in a mischievous voice trying to cover her apprehension with a joke; it worked- Paul laughed.

They got out of the truck and started towards school; he slung an arm over her shoulder and pressed a smooth kiss to her cheek as they walked. From the windows, students were staring out and pointing at them; some of them glaring- most of that some were female -of course.

Steph and Paul made their way to English, luckily it was an empty classroom; they could hear that most of the students were in the yard.

Steph opened the door without knocking; Mr. Morton looked up from his papers.

"Oh Miss Meyer… and Mr Meraz? (Cue disbelieving stare) Long time no see; what can I do for you today?" He asked with a smile; she was happy that he didn't judge her or seem phased by her appearance.

"Hey sir, I was wondering if you have any catch-up work I could get onto?" She asked him; his eyes widened.

"Erm, I do… but it's hardly necessary. I understand that you, Mr Meraz and some other students here are doing some work for the council." Steph nodded knowingly.

"Still, I'd like to do something." She pleaded; Mr. Morton nodded approvingly.

"Well that's very studious of you…. What about you Mr. Meraz?" Steph smiled and answered before him,

"He'd love some." Paul's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish before glaring at her; she laughed internally. Steph left the classroom with a mumbling Paul who was holding a large pile consisting of text books, paper and scripts.

"I can't believe you got me schoolwork." He growled at her as he began to shake lightly.

"Not here." She scolded with a smile as they made their way back towards the parking lot; Paul walked ahead and put the books in the truck.

"Steph?" She froze and turned around slowly to see Quil, Jacob and Embry running towards her with quickly fading smiles as they got a load of the tattoo on her shoulder. Soon their faces were just hard masks.

"Hey guys." She tried to say brightly; the three of them just blinked.

"Hey Stephanie." Embry mumbled as Quil and Jacob merely nodded; Steph swallowed hard.

"Guys, I…" She was cut off by Quil.

"So this is why you weren't at school then?" He spat as he looked her up and down and shook his head; it was obvious that she was taking steroids now, along with the rest of them. Look at the way she was shaking, probably withdrawal symptoms.

"Tell me that's just a stick-on." Embry pleaded as he nodded towards the symbol on her right arm; Steph couldn't help it, she burst into uncontrollable tears and just stood there like a loser.

"Oh come on Steph, don't do that." Embry said as he engulfed her in a hug; she leaned into his chest but kept on crying. The tears just wouldn't stop; it was like everything that she had ever been sad about was coming out at this moment.

She heard Jacob ask Embry what he was doing and then a deep snarl, suddenly, she was ripped away from Embry and into someone else's hot chest.

"Hands off Call!" Paul snarled; Steph tried to pull away but instead he held her closer.

"What the hell have you and your cult done to her?" Embry roared; even Quil and Jacob flinched.

"Embry, please." Steph pulled herself closer to Paul when he started to shake lightly, it seized instantly; Paul smirked down at her and placed a lingering kiss on her forehead; she melted into his embrace. Embry's eyes widened.

"You? And him? Are you kidding me?" He exclaimed.

"Shut the fuck up Call and don't talk about things you don't understand!" Paul replied as he started to vibrate. Steph wiped her face on his shirt and looked up.

"Paul, come on let's go!" Steph said as she tried to push him towards the trees.

"Whatever they have on you Steph, we'll find out and we'll help!" Embry shouted as they disappeared into the woods. Quil looked at his friend incredulously, 'we'll'? Why the hell was Embry volunteering him? Did he see the size of Paul?

Meanwhile, Jake stood there, mouth ajar; he couldn't believe they had gotten Steph of all people. She only just got here for Christ's sake!

…. ….

Steph pushed her bangs out of her face as she watched the older wolf pacing in front of her.

"You can't keep doing that." She breathed; wolf Paul stopped walking and faced her; his tongue fell out of his giant mouth.

"You have to control your temper." She said as she stroked his long fur; he looked up at her and whined.

"… I can't phase, you left your truck at school remember?" She reminded him; he nodded his wolfy head. Steph laughed as she bent down and pulled out a pair of cut-offs from her small backpack, holding them out towards him. He turned his head sideways in wonder.

"What? I packed them just in case." She answered; she didn't know why he hadn't thought of having extra clothes with him. Wolf Paul took the cut-offs before running further into the forest and returning human.

"Thanks." He said shortly; she smiled in response. He took her hand as they made their way back to the car and drove off towards Emily's.

"You okay?" He asked Steph; she hadn't spoken at all since he phased back. She nodded her head in response.

"So, are you not speaking to me or something?" He asked gruffly; she turned to him.

"It's not you. I mean, did you see the look on their faces?" She asked quietly; Paul smirked lightly.

"Them? Nah! They're just mad because they lost their friend." Paul said with a shrug.

"I lost them too." She replied quietly and looked out of the passenger's window.

Paul exhaled lightly and pulled up at Emily's; he wasn't good at this chick stuff.

They both stepped out of the truck as Emily walked out to greet them; the smell of roasted potatoes, meat loaf, chicken legs and vegetables graced their noses.

"Hey Paul, Stephanie. How are you two today? Are you hungry?" Before she had even finished the sentence, Paul was inside the house.

"Hey Emily." Steph laughed as she hugged the older girl; she had really gotten to know Emily over the last few weeks. She was just as nice and caring as she was in the books.

"Hey Em, how are things going?" Steph asked as they both strolled towards the house.

"Quite lonely actually, Sam's having to spend all his time watching over Jacob, so im just here." She answered like she was glad to get it off of her chest; it was nice to have another girl around; sure she had Kim but the girl hardly spoke.

"Oh right, sorry. Probably still gonna be a little while longer." Steph told Emily as they walked inside.

"Kim, Jared." She nodded to the couple who were huddled together on the couch; Kim peeked over the couch and smiled briefly before turning her attention back to Jared. Ah, the art of imprinting.

Emily placed a plate of food in front of Steph and she began to inhale in, not even bothering to check what it was. Paul was doing the same.

….

Steph enjoyed watching TV and drinking Kool-Aid while she could; she knew that any minute now, Sam would 'sound the alarm' and assemble the pack because Embry Call had phased – shock horror. She could see it now, both the confusion and the big 'who's your daddy' debate.

Splendid.

She wasn't interested in all that hoop la, the only thing she wanted to find out was how he phased; she never really touched over that subject in her books so she couldn't wait to see it in his head.

Steph's eye brows furrowed as she heard heavy footsteps make their way towards her front door; she wasn't expecting anyone. Paul who she missed sooo much right now was still on patrol, Jared was at Kim's (as usual), Sam was busy stalking the wrong cub and her dad wasn't due home from work until eight- it was only five thirty.

Steph grumbled as she got up and trudged to the front door before opening it; her mouth fell open when she saw who it was.

"Are you alone?" Steph nodded her head dumbly.

"Hey Steph." He mumbled as he walked in without an invitation; she didn't fail to spot the sweat stains on his shirt that totally contrasted with the cold weather, yeah he was close to phasing. Steph sighed and shook her head at the cruel universe; so she was the reason, huh? And so the plot thickens!

"Hey Embry, what can I do to you?" She asked as she led him through the house and into the kitchen where she leant on the back door; her yard backed onto the forest.

"I wanted to say sorry… for today." He finished as he shifted from one foot to the other; Steph cleared her throat; how did he even know where she lived?
"It's fine, im sorry for ruining your shirt… with my tears." He nodded his head and scratched the back of it through the silence.

"Is that all?" She prompted; she wondered why he was just standing there like a lemon.

"No, actually I wanted to talk." Steph lifted an eye brow.

"So talk." She prompted again; Embry swallowed hard before beginning; he didn't know how to dish this.

"Stephanie, I want you to tell me what's going on with you and Sam Uley's gang." His voice was serious and almost threatening.

"Nothing's going on; we hang, that's all." Steph shrugged, lying without effort; Embry shook his head, he wouldn't believe it; he knew it was deeper than that.

"People don't usually get tattoos to 'hang' Steph." He replied using air quotes; Steph shifted her weight onto her right foot.

"Embry, ive told you the answer, whether you wanna believe it or not is your problem." She smiled inwardly as he began to shake lightly.

"Why are you protecting them? I mean, look at yourself; you went from five five to five nine in like two weeks! That isn't natural!" Embry exclaimed as his shaking got worse; Steph stood back. Ha! He could talk, she was sure that he wasn't this muscled or tall when she first started school.

"Im not protecting anyone." She said slowly, carefully enunciating each word. Embry's eyes widened as if he'd just realised something and a quiet growl escaped his throat.

"It's him isn't it? It's Paul. He's the reason you're keeping quiet!" He raged; Steph looked away and blushed, she definitely wasn't expecting that.

"I can't believe this shit- you do know that he's fucked just about every girl in La Push, right?" He was almost blurring now; Steph turned quickly and swung the back door open.

"Im sorry Embry, I really am." She said as she grabbed his shirt with both hands and all but threw him outside; he tumbled to the ground and exploded right there in her back yard. It was times like this when she was thankful that she didn't have any neighbours.

Thoughts?
So another one bites the dust.

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