A/N: This chapter reveals some of what happened with Emily, and a slightly deeper look at Leah as a character. Hope you enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its characters; Stephanie Meyer does.

Chapter Seventeen

BPOV

On Wednesday, Charlie gets invited to a barbecue over at Billy's and he asks me to come long. I say yes and after promising Alice a million times that I'd be safe, we get going. Soon enough we're pulling up in front of the house where the front yard is packed with people. I can't even recognize half of them.

"Don't drink, and meet me by the car at 9, okay kid?"

I barely nod to Charlie, already closing the door and going to look for Jacob.

I find him in the kitchen with the guys and Leah, all of them with huge burgers in one hand and a soda or water in the other.

"Oh hey Bells, glad you could make it." I wrinkle my nose at Jake's tendency to speak with food in his mouth. "Sorry," he mumbles with a grin.

"Did you get any info from Billy about why I might be a wolf?"

Jake shrugs, "Sorry Bells, he's just as baffled as we are. You can talk to him about it some time if you want, but I'm pretty sure you'll only be able to come up with theories."

I nod and grab a burger from the pile on the kitchen table. My hunger suddenly bursts out and I attack it viciously. When I'm done I expect to find the others looking at me weirdly, but no one bats an eyelash. Oh yeah, they're wolves too. Probably used to it by now.

We're all talking and laughing, even Leah, when Sam walks in with Paul and Jared at his sides and everyone quiets down. He has a small smile on his lips that disappears when he spots me.

"What's she doing here?"

Jake rolls his eyes. "Chill out Sam, she's here with her dad."

"We don't allow leach lovers on our land." I notice the others shifting uncomfortably but I ignore them.

"It's not her fault she imprinted on one of them," Leah quickly defends. Apparently imprinting is the Quileute version of falling in love. It was the easiest way for me to explain to them what I felt for Alice, although I felt I had more choice in the matter of who I love than they seem to.

"She doesn't belong here," Sam spits out again, glaring at me still.

"Then where do I belong Sam?" I ask, my own glare in place. "And who are you exactly to determine that?"

"Go back to your bloodsuckers if you know what's good for-"

"Hi guys!" Seth says, entering the room with a grin that wavers when he notices everyone's tense postures. Jake told me he isn't a wolf yet so we can't talk normally around him.

Sam rolls his shoulders back before giving Seth a curt nod and leaving, Jared and Paul silently at his flanks.

Leah sighs and turns to me. "Come on, let's go to my room." I eagerly follow, wanting to escape the tension in the room.

I pause to grab three more burgers, balancing them in my hands while holding onto the rim of my cup with my teeth. I see amusement in the others' eyes as I give them a careful nod in farewell, not wanting to spill my soda on myself.

Once we're settled with Leah on her bed and me sitting on her desk chair, Leah starts tossing a miniature basketball into the air before catching it again and repeating. I eat silently while watching her form the corner of my eye and she only turns to me when I accidentally burp louder than I had expected.

"Sorry," I mutter.

She sighs and puts the ball down, turning to me. "So am I." I look at her, confused and she explains. "I've been a bitch to you unfairly. I know you're not to blame for what happened to my cousin and I shouldn't have taken it out on you so much."

I'm about to interrupt, but she holds up her hand, telling me she's not done.

"I'm not saying I forgive you entirely, I still think you could have done more to prevent the it, but you don't deserve the cold shoulder I've been giving you all this time. Car accidents happen, and I shouldn't have been so harsh towards you for it. I was hoping you'd be able to forgive me and maybe we could try being friends again."

I sit there staring at her in shock. Did I hear what I think I just heard? I feel like looking around her room for hidden cameras but decide against it when I see the sincerity in her eyes.

"What brought this on?" I ask her softly.

She shrugs. "I got tired. Of being angry all the time. Of blaming you for everything bad that happens to me. I think of how close we were before and it makes me fell so horrible to know that I'm the reason we don't have that anymore. I didn't even consider how you must've felt to lose your first and only girlfriend when you were only sixteen."

We're both silent for a while, each of us lost in our own thoughts.

"It's okay," I murmur at last. "I understand why you were so angry with me, and I don't hold it against you. Honestly I blamed myself for the accident too; I still do."

"You shouldn't be too hard on yourself. It's bad enough I was giving you so much crap about it. I know you must miss her a lot."

We don't talk much about it after that, moving instead to talk about wolf related stuff as she answers my many questions about what it's like to be half wolf. I'm half sad and half glad that I won't be getting my period again - that shit hurt like hell every time - but I'm also sad that I might never get to have kids of my own, something I've always thought about. My mind drifts to Alice, and I make a mental note to ask her if vampires can have kids. I doubt it, but there's no harm in asking.

Leah and I aren't exactly best buddies by the time Charlie calls me so we can leave, but we've made more progress that I had ever thought was possible. I'm glad to have reformed some sort of friendship with her though. The two of us used to be almost as close as Angela and I before what happened with Emily.

It's then that I realize I have yet to even mention Emily to Alice and despite the pain that comes with the memory of her, the fact that I loved her still remains and Alice deserves to at least know such a big part of my past. It won't be a pleasant conversation at all, but it's a necessary pain if I'm going to earn and keep Alice's trust.

A/N: I didn't want to go into too much detail about Emily's story because that'll come later when Bella's talking to Alice about it. Reviews are welcome :)