A.N. Hey guys, here's the next chapter. There's a BIG time skip here so don't be surprised.

It was a warm afternoon in La Push so most of the pack except for Sam and Jacob were hanging at the cliffs; they'd finished jumping so now they were just chilling with a picnic that Emily had given them, playing random games; they started with truth, then moved on to truth or dare. Now they were onto 'would you rather'. Steph sighed and leaned back into Paul's chest. His chin rested on her shoulder and arms around her waist.

"Ok Paul, Trish Walker or Tami Spence?" Jared asked, Steph immediately grimaced at the picture in her head; she could still remember her second day of school when she had met both girls. Bitches.

Paul squeezed her sides; she nodded into his embrace as a go ahead. She didn't mind him talking about other girls; he had been with her for the last six months and that wasn't gonna change… for a while.

"Tami." He answered simply; he wasn't comfortable about answering questions like this anymore; it just didn't feel right.

Quil looked at him like he was crazy… yes Quil. It had been a week since he had joined that pack, his arrival had been interesting. Steph had known that he would be excited about the concept… but not to this degree.

He even had a stupid dance that he did once he phased back to human the first time… which by the way took three days to happen. Yep, Steph still held the record for the fastest phase. She was proud.

"Seriously?" Quil asked incredulously; Steph felt Paul nod behind her as she stole one of Paul's chips when he wasn't looking. Not that he would have minded anyway.

"But Trish is hotter." Embry argued while he tried to keep his eyes off the couple in front of him; no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get Steph out of his head.

Consequentially, his uncontrollable thoughts were the catalyst to the last five fist fights that he had partaken in with Paul; yeah, those were not pretty…. At all. The only good thing that had come from them was that they now know that werewolf teeth can be both reinserted and grown back.

"No, she isn't." Paul grimaced with a secretive undertone to his voice; Steph's eye brows furrowed and she looked up at his guilty face.

"Oh shit, you've been there haven't you?" Quil laughed; Paul swallowed thickly and looked down at Stephanie apologetically. She leaned up and pecked his lips reassuringly; he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He looked back up to find Jared staring at him with an eye brow raised.
"What?"

"You're whipped man that's what; a year ago you would have given us a play by play." He laughed; Paul's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah im whipped; this is coming from the guy who won't let his girl go to the bathroom by herself." The rest of the guys chuckled.

"Alright, alright. Paul, your turn to ask Embry." Steph laughed, trying to get the game back on track.

"Ok Embry, Leanne Hyatt or… Bella Swan?" Most of the pack drew their heads back in disgust.

"You better not let Jake hear you talking about her." Quil warned; they knew how 'explosive' Jake could be about her these days. Ever since her leech had come back he'd been nothing short of angry. It was sad really. The worst part for Steph was knowing that his heart ache was nowhere near over so she couldn't help him through it. Not like he'd let anyone anyway. Too stubborn.

"Why not? I don't know why he's so whipped on the leech lover, anyway." Paul grumbled; he'd never liked Bella. To him, she was just the biggest trouble maker out there.

"Hey! A little necrophilia never killed anyone." Steph joked; the pack erupted in laughter that lasted for about a minute before the actually Bella Swan discussion began. Steph just rolled her eyes as she listened to them; they were always doing this.

There was Quil and Embry who were undeniably team Bella, Paul and Jared who were team 'no one cares, just move on' and Steph who was, as she had so ironically put it, 'team Switzerland.'

"Who's Leanne?" Steph asked, trying to change the subject again; Quil let out a burst of laughter.

"You remember your second day of school? Well she was the one you sat next to in math." He revealed; she shivered instinctively. The girl with the hair crawlers; what was with that?

"Bella. Definitely Bella." Embry chose while scratching at his head; you just couldn't not scratch or shiver when you thought of her.

"….Quil, Janie Richards or Qahla…" Embry was cut off by a howl that ripped through the sky; Steph smiled evilly then looked around to see if anyone was looking – they weren't.

"What the hell do they want now?" Paul grunted as they all stood up and started on a quick jog towards the forest.

"I don't think its Sam, didn't you hear that howl? That didn't sound like him or Jacob." Steph stated as they reached the tree line; she was giving them clues without being obvious.

They all stripped of the little clothing they had and phased in; just as Steph had thought, not one but two panicked voices entered their heads.

-000-

"Go and talk to her." Embry whisper-shouted as he nodded his head towards the front door; of course Leah and Seth were outside. She wouldn't step one foot into Emily's house but Sam had ordered her not to go anywhere. Naturally Seth wouldn't leave his sister's side. It had been six hours since they had phased for the first time and one hour since they had both been human. Everyone was tired; they just wanted to go home and not deal with the drama queen.

"Why me?" Steph whined; she didn't want to talk to the dragon lady. If Leah was anything like she was in Twilight, then the girl could piss a happy meal off.

"Because you're the only girl." Embry replied like it was obvious; damn it that was a good reason.

"What do I say to her?" She asked; the boy stared at her and blinked twice. They didn't have a clue.

"Talk about her father or something." All the eyes in the room flew to Quil's and narrowed; trust him to come up with the stupid idea. Steph ground her teeth.

"What do you want me to say Quil? 'Sorry you lost your dad, here's one I made earlier'." She asked incredulously; he looked down, ashamed. Some of the others just shook their heads at him.

"Ok, I'll go." She huffed before running her hand through her short hair; Paul stood and engulfed her from the back. Her body melted into his embrace and she sighed. She turned in his arms and kissed his lips chastely before walking through to the kitchen.

Emily was standing in there with Sam, her face was sad but she wasn't crying; Steph didn't want to disturb them but she had to if her plan was going to work. She quickly tiptoed around them even though she knew that they could both hear and see her; she didn't say a word as she retrieved the scissors from the drawer and stuffed it into the back of her shorts.

"….. Mind if I sit?" She asked them; Seth looked up at her and smiled brightly; Leah of course did nothing. Steph settled beside them in silence. What the hell was she going to say?

"You can go inside Seth, I know you're hungry." Leah's voice held no emotion; it was empty and monotone.

"But…" She cut him off.

"Go inside, I'll be in soon." She reassured; his eyes widened and so did Steph's. Leah was willing to go into Emily's house. Seth stood and smiled over at her.

"Bye Steph." He sang joyfully (as he always was) and ran into the house.

She smiled under her breath as she snuck a peek at the older girl; she was just as Steph had dreamt... but then again who wasn't? The only thing that was different was the long sleek black hair that ran down her back, all the way to her butt.

It was definitely her best feature, at that moment; she could understand Leah just a little bit more. She knew how distraught she had been after Sam ordered her to cut her hair off; luckily for her she was handy with scissors so she didn't cut her hair in a straight line. It was layered and choppy.

"These your threads?" Leah asked as she looked down at the black tank top and short shorts she was wearing; Steph's eyes widened. She wasn't even expecting her to speak. This was a pleasant revelation.

"Yeah, you can keep em'… and I got more you can use for now. Us wolf girls have gotta stick together." She grunted as she nudged her, she saw Leah smile under her breath but it only lasted a moment.

"Thanks." She answered sincerely as she ran her right hand through her hair and grimaced.

"You're gonna have to cut it." Steph told her; it was better hearing it from her than Sam; Leah squeezed her eyes shut and exhaled.

"I don't have to do shit that he says." She answered through gritted teeth; Steph said nothing. Leah looked up at her and searched her eyes.

"You won't get my pity Leah." Steph said like she had read the older girl's mind; the corners of Leah's lips twitched upwards.

"Good." The girls sat in silence for a while.

"Trust me when I say that it's not comfortable, you know running with the long hair. I had hair just like you a few months ago, I miss it but it just gets in the way." She offered; Leah grunted in response. Steph noted that she did that a lot.

"May I?" She asked as she pulled the scissors form her back pocket; Leah stared at it with wide eyes with watery rims.

"You'll still be beautiful Leah." She offered; it was the truth. Leah actually smiled this time; no one had referred to her as 'beautiful' for a long time. Ever since she'd began to wear her permanent scowl a year ago. She nodded weakly.

Steph stood up and kneeled down behind Leah before playing around with her hair, trying to think of a style that would suit her.

"How do you feel about bangs?"

"Uum they're okay I guess." Steph smiled.

"It'll look great I promise." She reassured; she used her fingers to part the hair a third away from the back. She threw the majority portion of hair over Leah's face.

"You seem like a badass to me so I'm giving you some layers." Leah laughed in response. Steph took section by section and began snipping; hair fell around Leah's face and onto the floor. Three quarters of the way through she changed her position and moved to the front, combing the hair over one her face before cutting again. When she was down, she stepped back and smiled at her work.

"It's perfect." She mused; Leah's hair fell smoothly, the longest layer hitting her collar bone just like Steph's. Her wavy bangs framed her face on either side of her middle parting; they brushed shyly over her high cheek bones. Leah looked around and scratched the back of her neck.

"There's a mirror in the bathroom." Steph offered, not knowing how Leah would react. She turned back and looked over the house but her feet didn't move. They stood planted where they were.

Thoughts?
Aww, looks like Leah isn't all that bad. She's just a bitch when it comes to guys.

Got loads of character pics on my page if you wanna check those out.

Also, three other stories.

You know what to do,

If you like, then… REVIEW!

No flames please.