I was lying on the couch facing the television, leaning into Jacob's chest. A few weeks ago, I would have found this strange and would have been unwilling to do it. But now, it was warm and comforting. We were watching Something Borrowed, this chick flick that I found in Ella's room. It was about a girl and she was in love with this guy she met in law school, but he's now her best friend's fiancé. Turns out, he also had this huge crush on her back then, and now they're sneaking around. It seemed like a stupid plot to me at first, but it's pretty addictive.

"Do you think he's hot?" Ella asked, talking about Dex. "I think Colin Egglesfield is sexy."

I jumped. "Ella! When did you get home?"

"Like, a few seconds ago. Hey Jacob," she added. He nodded in response.

"Did you have dinner at Layla's?"

"Yeah, her dad got some Indian food for us."

Jacob raised his eyebrows. "Indian food?"

"Her family has a chef," Ella said casually, waving it off.

"Oh," I said. She eyed our position- one of Jacob's bare muscular arms around my shoulders, another over my hand, across my stomach. Not to mention me leaning nonchalantly into Jake's chest.

"Um," I stuttered, struggling to disassemble myself, but Jacob's strong arm held me close.

"Are you two-?" Ella asked.

"Yes," Jacob said at the same time that I replied no. Jake looked at me, confused. "But we just-"

I cut him off. "So, Ella, did you get your homework done?"

"Uh-huh," she said, distracted by my eagerness to change the subject.

"Was it just you and Layla?"

"No," she said, a blush creeping onto her cheeks. "There were two others."

"Boys?" I asked, knowingly. She nodded slightly.

"Colin Littlesea and Brady Fuller."

"Hey, I know them!" Jake interjected.

"You do?" Ella's eyes were curious.

"Yeah, don't they go to school on the reservation?" Ella said yes.

"Wait, then why were you studying with them?" I asked.

"We were walking to Layla's house when they accidentally knocked us over on their bikes, getting all of us covered in snow, and we were all wet. So they offered to clean us up, but Layla told them that they might as well come to her house, since we were almost there anyways," Ella explained in one breath.

"What were they doing so far from home?" Jake muttered.

"So you got dried off?" I asked, immediately jumping in big-sister mode. "You don't think you're sick or anything? No fever?" I pressed a hand to her forehead.

"I'm fine, Max," she said, pulling my hand from her head. "I promise."

"And they stuck around?"

"Yeah, they said that they already learned about cells and stuff, so they said that they could help us," she started, then her face turned red again. "And he said he could help me out some other time, too."

"Who?" I asked, curious about my thirteen-year-old sister's love life.

"Brady," she replied, her cheeks the colors of tomatoes.

"I knew he was a little flirt," Jacob said, mainly to himself, but we heard him.

Ella's face dropped. "What do you mean, "he's a little flirt?" I elbowed Jake in the ribs, hard.

"No, I mean, he always manages to have a way with pretty girls," he tried.

"Pretty girls? Girls? Does he already have a girlfriend? Or a few?"

"I'm just saying when he sees a girl he likes, he'll be super-nice to them." Before Ella could blow up again, he added, "Not that there's been many, only a few. Not a lot at all."

Ella seemed to breathe. I knew she was still sensitive about Iggy, who broke up with her mainly because of me, but told her that he was cheating on her with someone he met way back when we were at Ann's place, which I knew wasn't true. I knew Iggy liked her a lot, and it hurt to know that your sister's heart got broken because the guy wanted to have nothing to do with you.

Ella's phone buzzed, indicating a text. She pulled out an iPhone, the version I didn't know. I don't follow phones. Her face brightened, and her fingers immediately flew over the touch screen, sending back a reply. "Brady wants to hang out again," she said once she noticed our stares. "I'm going upstairs, see ya!"

And with that, she was gone as suddenly as she was here. "Well, I guess she wanted to text him in private."

Jacob nodded, eyes focusing on the movie again. "Colin and Brady are part of the pack."

My eyes widened. "Really? Aren't they a little young?"

Jake shrugged. "You can phase at, honestly, any age. They phased pretty young, at thirteen. Or you can phase older, like Sam. He was nineteen when he first turned."

"Who's Sam?"

"The leader of our pack, our alpha."

"Cool."

It was silent for a while, when Jacob said, "Do you want to meet them?"

"Who?"

"My pack."

I furrowed my brows. "I don't know Jake…"

"Why? They're just like me." I raised an eyebrow. "Okay, that's not the most convincing thing ever, but they're really cool and fun to be around. I swear."

After a lot of convincing, I finally agreed to meet his friends after school on Friday, the next day. By then, the movie was over and it was nearly ten-thirty. I was exhausted, and I didn't even know why. My body just wanted to shut down.

My eyelids were drooping, and I struggled to stay awake. "Go to sleep, Max."

"No," I murmured stubbornly. "You're still here."

"I'll go after you go to sleep," he said, rubbing his hand up and down my arm, making it nice and warm.

I tried to tell him no, but being near him was like sleeping against a heater. It was irresistible, especially when it was snowing out. My eyes eventually were sealed, and I did not want to open them again. I was halfway through the journey of getting to dreamland when I felt Jacob's arms pick me up under my knees and cradling my shoulders. I felt him going up the stairs, and placing me on my bed before pressing his lips to my forehead.

"Goodnight Max," he whispered.

School went by in a flash, for once. Mr. Newton was not bothering me as much, probably thanks to my charming mother, while Rosalie seemed to be more hostile to me than ever, but I never really noticed her anyways.

Bella and Edward were being disgustingly couple-y, and Sam Fletcher decided to walk me to every. Single. Class.

At the end of the day, he caught up to me again. "Hey," he said.

I forced a smile. "Hi."

"Do you want me to walk home with you?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"Are you sure? I don't mind."

I mind. "Yeah, I'm positive. Actually, I have a ride today."

He raised his eyebrows. "Your mom?"

"No, my friend Jacob." Sam's eyes darkened at the mention of Jacob's name.

"Your friend?"

"Well, I guess he's more than my friend," I admitted, and I felt a blush creeping onto my face as I remembered the previous night.

"You should stay away from him," Sam said darkly.

"What? Why?" I asked, taken aback.

His face suddenly brightened. "I don't like him. He's too much of a... distraction, I would say."

I was almost tricked into thinking he said a positive thing by the sudden smile on his face.

"Um, okay, thanks for letting me know," I said unsurely, turning away and walking to the parking lot.

"Bye, Max!"

I waved a hand over my shoulder and kept walking.

Once I stepped out of the school doors, I saw Jake's motorcycle. It was hard to miss- it was a random motorcycle in the midst of hooded cars to protect their drivers from unexpected rain. Jacob was leaning against it, fiddling with a helmet, looking slightly out of place.

I started a light jog towards him, but Bella got to him before me. I slowed down, stopping a few feet away from them.

"Jake, it's really nice to see you again," Bella said, shifting her backpack uncomfortably on her shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess."

"I just wanted to make sure you were alright," she continued. "You know, after Italy." So they were in Italy together?

"I'm fine, just like how I told you a million times," Jake said, sounding exasperated.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to make sure, because you were gone for really long and we couldn't contact you-"

"Really, Bella. I'm fine now," Jacob cut in.

"Okay. If you say you're fine, then I'll believe you."

"Okay."

She started to turn away, but pivoted back to face Jacob one more time. "Jake, you're not still… you know… in love with me, are you?"

"No."

She nodded, "I'm glad you're moving on." And walked away again.

He said he didn't love her anymore, but I know he was lying. I saw the look in his eyes when he said that. I saw it every day when I looked in the mirror before moving here. The way he looked at her backside when she walked away, the expression on his face- that was me with Fang, when he walked away from me that last day. It was almost like history repeating itself.

I couldn't stand this. I would not be swayed by some foolish boy who told someone that he loved them, but really loved someone else.

I walked towards his motorcycle, lightly punching his shoulder when he didn't notice me coming up.

"Hey," I said softly.

"Hi." He had a warm tone in his voice, which was different than the tones he usually had- low and rough.

I followed his gaze, and saw that he was still watching Bella, and she was kissing Edward on the lips before stepping into his car.

"Hello?" I called, waving a hand in front of his face. He seemed to snap out it, and turned his head to smile at me.

"Sorry," Jake apologized, gently placing a hand behind my head and placing a kiss on my forehead. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," I replied. I felt a blush coming on again. Seriously? Right after I said I would be strong and now be swayed by him? "Let's go."