It's been too long, and this chapter was difficult to write. I hope it's worth it. (: Enjoy!

I woke up a few hours later, around noon. I yawned and stretched and went into the kitchen. Emily was cleaning the oven.

"Hey Em," I said groggily.

"Up all night?" she asked. I nodded, "How's Embry?"

"He's trying to figure out what he's going to do about his mom," I said, "Sam at work?"

"Yeah, the others are at school….Speaking of school... I think you should go."

"Today?" I ask, confused.

"No, not today," she says, "Just, in the near future."

"Um, I thought we ruled that out as an impossibility. Tire slashing, remember?"

"Sam suggested pretending you were my cousin. The council will back us up," she said.

"Uhh..." I'm sixteen. I can't help it. If I'm getting a choice, I don't want to go to school.

Emily would not be deterred though. She started to back up her argument. "You said you're afraid of your mom-"

"I did not!" I object.

"-If she comes back and you tell her how you've been keeping up with your schoolwork, she'll be very impressed by your responsibility and have a better opinion of the pack. With you in the middle, the pack and the Cullens are going to need to make some kind of new treaty. When that happens, I want as little friction as possible."

I was very impressed with Emily's planning. I wasn't thinking that far ahead. I agree with her on her points. I didn't want to see my brothers and my parents fighting.

Also, I had seen nature shows. If Emily's like a Momma Wolf, I don't want to put her family in danger for my safety and theirs.

"Wow, Emily, I didn't think about that. If you think that it's best for the pack, I don't want to put anyone in danger," I said.

"Oh, Jacob, thank you!" she says. Her scarred mouth smiles brightly, "We'll start to work on the paperwork and all that tonight! And we'll get you in the same classes as the wolves. I have to tell you that the pack is a bit...ostracized, but there's a lot of nice kids."

I rolled my eyes. "Emily, I'm not going to worry about what some kids at school are saying about me. I've got bigger things on my mind."

"I just had to warn you. Wouldn't feel right if I didn't. You and Paul and now Embry are all sophomores so that's good."

"I said yes, you don't have to convince me anymore," I joked. She smiled sheepishly.

"Speaking of Embry, you should probably check on him," Emily said. Her right eye creased in worry. She had already included him into the pack.

"Okay," I said. Cool, a pack mission. Mission for the pack. Duhnuhnuhnuhnuh...

My days were too getting dull. Checking up on someone almost turned into Mission Impossible.

I walked around La Push, sort of lost. Emily wasn't 100% sure she knew where Embry lived.

I think the shouting may be a good marker though.

Nobody was out so I ran far faster than I should have to reach the Call house. It was a red house near the main road. Embry and his mom are out in the front yard, screaming at each other. Embry's hands were shaking. This is bad, very bad.

"Er, Embry!" I called. His mom and he both turned to look at me. I smiled sheepishly and jogged over. I am just inserting myself in here in the most awkward manner possible.

"Hey, um, what's up?" I said. His hands haven't stopped shaking yet.

"Who are you?" Ms. Call asked.

"Um, I'm Jacob," I said.

"And why are you here?" Good question. "I mean why are you not in school?"

"Uh, I'm new here. I don't start school for a bit," I said. That was true now that I had agreed to Emily's prompt.

"And how do you know Embry?" she asked.

"We met last night," I told her. And had a long telepathic conversation while we took a run. As wolves. "Through mutual friends," I make up.

"Quil?" she asked her son.

"No," I answered for him, "Sam Uley."

"You're not friends with Sam Uley?" she said to Embry, almost sure.

"Uh, sure I am," Embry said, "I was hanging out with him last night."

"You were?"

"Yeah," Embry said.

"Oh," is all she says.

"We were just at the beach, lighting some bonfires," I made up, "We were celebrating his engagement to Emily. It was long overdue." I stopped stuttering and blubbering and started lying like I was taught to.

"Why didn't you just ask me if you could go then?" Embry's mom asked him.

"Erm, I wasn't sure if you'd be okay with it?" he attempted. I should show him a few pointers.

"It was pretty late, but you're young, and it was a special occasion," she said and then she smiled. Look at that, I just improved their relationship with lying. I'm not sure if this should land me in Paradise or Hell.

"Uh, okay. Sorry for sneaking out, Mom," Embry said. His mom smiled at him again. She's pretty pretty and looks younger than most moms. Except not mine...Duh.

"Do you want a ride to school?" she asked Embry. He shook his head. The council had already called in sick for him.

"I'll get my backpack," he mumbled. He went past his mom into the house, and she followed him in. I guess that's my cue to go.

Embry caught up with me as I was walking back to Emily and Sam's.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey. I shouldn't go to school, right?" he asked. I looked at him to see if he's serious and he was. I shook my head.

"Okay," he said. He nodded his head and kept walking with me. There was a silence.

"Okay," he repeated, "I have no idea what to do all day."

"I usually hang out at the Uleys' house and eat their food," I said, "Want to come? I'm sure Emily wants to meet you."

Embry nodded. "Okay. Erm, you saved my arse back there. Thanks."

"What brothers do," I said. He looked at me strangely. "It's a pack word."

"Oh...I never had a big family. Just Mom and me."

"Oh, my family's huge. And very dysfunctional," I laughed, "Never a dull moment, that's for sure."

"I bet," he said a bit uncomfortably. Sometimes I forget how abnormal it is when I talk about my crazy vampire family. And I have been talking about them more since I got here. I can admit that I miss them. And this is the first time I can talk about them with people who know my secret.

"You're going to love Emily. Her food is amazing," I said to fill the silence. I could tell that Embry was shyer than most.

"I bet that comes in handy with the bear-sized appetite I've had lately," he joked.

I laughed. "The portions are huge. Just don't stare at her. It makes Sam uncomfortable."

Embry nodded. I'm sure he knew about what happened to Emily or the cover story, at least.

I liked having someone to hang out with during the school day. I usually ate and chatted with Emily or patrolled. Sam didn't like me patrolling at that time though since no one else would be around if I did confront a vampire.

Embry went back to school soon. He was a pretty chill werewolf and a very reserved guy. I was going to miss hanging out with someone though. But then Emily reminded me of my promise to go to school. In retrospect, when I had agreed, I wasn't thinking too sharp. In my defense, I had made the decision under a maternal but vicious glare and an onslaught of reasoning that I couldn't find an argument for.

La Push's High School was extremely small, smaller than Forks, which is saying something. Emily's uncle on the Council had pulled all the strings, enrolling me with a forged doctor's signature on the physicals and the story that I was Emily's cousin.

I did get to use my fake birth certificate and other forged documents that I brought with me from home. They didn't have Cullen on them.

Bella had also jumped on the bandwagon for the campaign for my education. She and Emily had deprived of many hours of sleep asking for my help with the forms.

"Middle name?" Emily asked.

"The papers say Jacob Emmett Hale," I stated.

"Real middle name?" Bella asked with quirked eyebrows.

"Henry," I mumbled. I know I was middle-named after someone important to my mom, but it was a Grandpa name. Paul guffawed from over his slice of chocolate cake.

"Health history?"

"Well, I've had this fever for a while..."

Emily laughed. "Remember, your parents' names are Linda and Ben. If anyone asks, your grandmother was of Quileute descent."

"Because us students of Quileute Tribal High School have nothing better to do than go around a circle and trace our bloodlines," Paul said with his mouth full.

"It might come up!" Emily insisted.

I chuckled. I knew how these cover stories worked. Most things never come up.

My first day was alike to all my other first days. Going to school with the pack wasn't too different from going to school with my family. People look at you and whisper. Your lunch table is isolated. When I was human, I had fit in very well though because my parents had encouraged me to make new friends. Now that I was a werewolf, I had to stay with my group. It was better for the pack and the other students.

I had spent the night at the Uleys' house because it was closer to the school. Paul did too, but that wasn't new.

He would never admit this, but I think he was happy that I was coming to his school. The pack only hangs out with the pack, and I doubt he, Jared, and Kim have been having the time of their lives as a group. I doubt it got much better when Embry joined because he and Paul weren't total buddies before they changed.

I fit in pretty well. Everybody had the same russet skin and black hair as me. It was kind of weird but in a good way. Everyone in my family looks alike except for me. For the first time, I blended in with other people. Even though I was a werewolf, I felt so normal.

Sam made good on his promise. I always had class with another member of the pack. It became quickly well-known that I was with them so people kept a distance. That's alright. It felt good just to be around people again.

The curriculum was simple, stuff I've covered at one or another of my various learning institutions. After a few days, I was the one helping Paul.

I'd been thinking a lot about fate lately. I didn't think much of meanings in things and divine intervention. I'd never really believed in "everything happens for a reason." I was realizing though that I am in the same place I would be if I had never become a Cullen. I am going to the same school and hanging out with the same people.

My family members are at different ends of the spectrum on the religion debate. My grandfather was a man of immense faith, before and after his change. He had taught me a lot of Bible stories when I was home-schooled. My dad was raised in an Irish Catholic household, but his stories from his early life told me he was not an obedient follower. My mother told me-and I quote from The Unabridged Book of Cheesy Things Rosalie Cullen Has Told her Beloved Son-, "When I found a child as perfect as you, I knew there had to be a higher power at work." Can't you just choke on the sentiment?

During his months of first true happiness, Uncle Edward used to smile and talk about a theory he had of fate playing with him for his century of life so he would end up in Forks at the right time and meet Bella. I ponder the idea of a similar force playing with my life. That was then though, when love had made the broody man I knew a pleasant stranger. On most days, he believed vampires were doomed to eternal damnation. He doesn't see the glass half-full, that one.

I try to see what an angel of fate would think of my life. Of all children, why would a werewolf be the one raised by vampires? Why would I be taken from Forks just so I could be brought back?

I think of all the ways I am different because I didn't grow up here. I've seen the world. I've known the secrets of the supernatural. I don't hate vampires like my brothers do. I know and maybe possibly love Bella Swan. Maybe it is someone's plan that I grow up different. It's just not one that's clear to me yet.

Thank you for reading and please review. Have a great day!