Holy crap! Yes, I know, it's definitely been a while since the last time I uploaded a new chapter. I've been beyond busy with homework and other school things and I've been really sick lately and I've been having some family issues so I haven't really had much time to write and such. But things are starting to cool down, so I'll really try to write more and get more chapters uploaded before things get crazy again. Thanks to those of you who have sticked with me through this and I'm really sorry for the long hiatus. But without further ado, here's a new chapter, and I hope you guys all enjoy! :)

-Sofia

Chapter 17

"It's impossible," said pride.

"It's risky," said experience.

"It's pointless," said reason.

"Give it a try," whispered the heart.

"Maxine! You better hurry up. You don't want to be late for your morning detention!"

I wake up blushing fiercely. I look at my alarm clock and it reads 6 o'clock.

"Shit!" I whisper-yell, quickly turning off my alarm clock and hopping out of bed to go take a shower and get dressed in a pair of black high wasted jeans and a black silk blouse covered with pink roses. I quickly do my makeup and brush through my hair before grabbing my backpack and my keys and running downstairs.

"Jesus, Maxine!" Rose says surprised when I come running past her and David to the front door to slip on my converse.

"Wait," she stops me once I open the front door, prepared to go, "don't you want breakfast?"

"I'm already running late," I say quickly, "I'll eat something at school. I really got to get going though. Thanks anyways."

I don't hear her response because I'm already out the front door and hopping into my car turning in the key and pulling out of the driveway on my way to school.

Ten minutes later I'm pulling into the empty school parking lot and parking in the same spot as I did yesterday. The few cars that are already here belong to teachers but there's one vehicle that catches my eye. Embry's motorcycle.

I swallow down a lump in my throat before grabbing my backpack out of the passenger side seat and walking into the school. When I enter the school I'm taken aback by how quiet and serene it is. I'm so used to the hustle and bustle of school mornings that I've forgotten that before kids get here its actually quiet and peaceful. Sure, there are a few early arrivers but most are sitting silently at tables working on last minute homework or texting their friends.

I'm already running late, so I head right from the cafeteria to Mr. Horvitz class for early morning detention. When I reach the room the doors open so I just walk right in and am surprised to see Mr. Horvitz standing at the front of the room 'welcoming' everyone. He stops talking though when he sees me and immediately directs his attention from everyone else to me.

"Ah, Miss Felix," he says and everyone turns to look at me. Only one stare catches my eye though and that's Embry's. Our eyes quickly meet and when they do I immediately look away from him back to Mr. Horvitz, "it's so glad that you've finally decided to join us this morning."

"Sorry," I quickly apologize and make up a quick lie that will hopefully save my skin from another detention, "I was having some car troubles."

He breaths and rolls his eyes in annoyed understanding, "Well…just don't let it happen again."

Oh my God, I can't believe he actually bought that, I think, but instead just nod and walk over to take a seat. There's two seats open; one next to Embry, and one next to a guy who I don't recognize. My head says to take the seat next to the guy I don't know, but my heart says to take the seat next to Embry. I make the quick and rather smart decision to take a seat next to the guy I don't know and out of the corner of my eye I see Embry roll his eyes which makes me laugh silently.

I soon discover that early morning detention is basically like a study hall to finish homework you forgot to do the night before. Since I finished all my homework last night I spend a good chunk of time just doodling in my notebook while Embry stares at me. Whenever I catch him looking at me I turn my head to look at him and he quickly diverts his attention back to whatever work he still has yet to finish. At first it was annoying but now whenever I catch him it just makes me smile and blush.

I just finish catching Embry stare at me for the hundredth time when I hear someone whisper to me, "Nice lie you gave."

I quickly turn my head to the guy next to me and don't notice Embry turn his head to stare at the both of us talking, worry, confusion, and a sense of alertness crossed all over his face.

"Excuse me?" I ask, finally acknowledging the mysterious boy.

"Come on," he says chuckling, and I notice that he has a nice laugh, "that whole 'I was having car trouble' crap is so overplayed."

"Yeah, well Mr. Horvitz didn't seem to notice," I say and he shrugs and gives me a wink, "Just don't use that one again or Mr. Horvitz will hire an auto repair service to come and fix your car."

I blush and give a slight laugh, "And what would you suggest I use instead?"

"You need to use something original. Something that's never been heard before. Since I can tell you're new to this whole detention thing, I'll let you use one of my accuses I haven't used in a while. I haven't used 'my disabled mother needed help' in a while but that only works if you have a disabled mother."

"Your mothers disabled?" I ask, my voice full of concern.

"That's what Mr. Horvitz thinks at least," he says giving me a smirk and a wink, and I notice for the first time how blue his eyes are and how pretty and stark white his smile is.

I blush and giggle and he extends his hand introducing himself, "My names Andrew. I'm a junior this year. Are you new? I haven't seen you around much."

I shake his hand and introduce myself, "My names Maxine. I just moved here a few days ago so that's probably why you haven't seen me around a lot. That and I am a sophomore this year."

He laughs and gives me his million dollar smile, "Well since you're new and all and probably don't know the area very well how about we go out some time and I can show you around town. You know…a thanks in case you need an accuse and decide to use one of mine. "

He wants to go on a date with me? I smile and involuntarily bite my lip and feel my face blush up. But what about Embry? What happened yesterday meant something to me; I just don't know what yet. It's not like we're dating. We just almost kissed. I feel my face blush up more at the memory of what happened yesterday but brush it aside and answer Andrews question with as much confidence forced through my voice as possible, "I'd love to."

He smiles, "Great. Umm here," he says leaning down to scribble something on a piece of notebook paper before ripping it off and handing it to me. Text me and we can figure out the details."

I smile and nod and once I do the bell goes off and he says goodbye before collecting his stuff and heading off to his first hour class leaving me, still in a surprised haze, to finish packing up my stuff by myself.

Once I finish packing up my stuff, I head out of the classroom and am immediately pulled aside by no other then Embry Call.

"You need to stop doing that!" I yell, my heart slowly returning to its normal pace.

It's as though my comment was never said, and I am quick to notice the anger that's plastered all over his handsome face. My eyes are met with his black hoodie covered chest, the sleeves pushed to his mid-forearms so that I see the muscles cording his arms and the veins encircling under his skin. He's left part of the hoodie unzipped so I can see the plain white shirt he's wearing underneath. All that paired with a pair of plain dark wash jeans semi tucked into a pair of black boots.

I finally take the time to stop admiring him and that's when I notice a hot sting in my arm and look over to see him gripping my upper arm, the angry tremors running under his skin causing his body to shake. How could I have not noticed that before? I can feel his skin, hot against the silk covering my arm and I can see his knuckles turning the same white as Andrew's teeth.

"What was that about?" He yells back at me.

"What was what about?" I ask clearly not sure what he's getting at.

"What just happened a few moments ago between you and Andrew? What was that all about?" He yells, his grip on my upper arm tightening.

"First of all," I say reaching my hand over to rest on top of the hand that's grasping my arm. The minute I touch his hand I feel a surge of heat go through my body and into his, and I feel his face go gentle and his grip loosen up. Our eyes connect for a split second and he quickly takes his hand off my arm and rests it back against his side. I gulp before continuing at what I was saying "watch where you put your hands. And second of all, we were just talking."

"You weren't just talking though, Maxine," he says his face going sad, "You agreed to go on a date with him."

"He asked if he could show me around the area. Sorry to inform you, but I'm new here and don't exactly know a lot of people or where a lot of things are. He's a nice guy and he's going to show me around town. What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong with that, Maxine," he spits through his teeth, the anger he's been holding resurfacing, "Is the guy you agreed to help show you around."

"What's wrong with him?" I ask, furious that I'm even having this conversation with him right now. He's not the boss of me. I can do whatever I like, and if that's going on a date with Andrew, then so be it.

"If you didn't quite notice, Maxine," he continues to say in a disgusted tone, like one would use when talking about a serial killer or a dictator, "He was in detention. He's always in detention. Know why? Because he doesn't care about school or anyone associated with it. That includes the building itself, the staff, and the students. I see him and his friends all the time down at the convenience store drinking and smoking. God knows what they're smoking on top of that. Probably marijuana or some other street drug. I just don't think it's a good idea for you to be hanging around with people like that. You deserve more respect than he'd probably give you."

I don't know what to say so I just stare at him with a shocked expression. Finally I'm able to force out through my mouth, "But he was so nice to me, so helpful."

"That's just a gimmick he uses to get nice people like you to believe him," he says taking a step toward me to rest his hand on my cheek, "He's going to use you, Maxine, and I don't want to see you get hurt. Please, just believe me when I say this."

Our eyes connect for a slip second before I step away his hand falling back against his side, "I don't need your help."

"Maxine-" He starts to say, but I cut him off.

"I have to go. Keep your hands to yourself."

I then walk away in the opposite direction to my second hour class, leaving Embry standing in the hallway by himself with a mixture of looks on his face. I don't know what's going on between us, but all I know is that my head and my heart are at a battle, and I wasn't quite sure who would win.

I spend the first half of the day thinking about what Embry said about Andrew. He's going to use you, Maxine, and I don't want to see you get hurt. Please, just believe me when I say this, keeps repeating over and over in my head. I want to believe Embry's wrong but a part of me believes he's right. What if Andrew is just using me? But what if he's not? How do I know Embry's not lying because he's just jealous of Andrew? It hurts my head to think about and finally its lunch and I'm able to focus on something else. Except…Seth hasn't shown up for lunch yet. He's always the first one here.

I sit and wait for about ten minutes but soon grow impatient and head out of the cafeteria to look after him. I first head to his last hour where he's nowhere to be found and only when I head to his locker do I see him leaning up against it.

I make my way toward him and he must hear me coming because he turns his head to see what the noise is and once our eyes meet he gives me a nasty look before removing himself from his locker and heading in the opposite direction.

Great, he's mad at me and of course I have no idea why. I quicken my pace and soon I'm caught up to him but have to slow jog to keep up with his normal walking.

"Seth?" I try getting his attention but he won't even look at me.

Finally, after about fifty times of saying his name, I grab his forearm so he stops walking and that forces him to turn to face me, "What's up?" I ask, annoyed.

"Yesterday. After school," Is all he says in a monotone voice before quickly shaking me off and continuing to walk away from me at his superhuman speed.

Finally then do I realize why he's mad at me. We had plans to go to the beach, and I bailed on him because I got in trouble with Embry.

"Seth," I say catching up with him, "I'm sorry I bailed on you yesterday. I got in trouble, and I had to go home," I quickly apologize, but he still was pretending as if I didn't exist, "Please Seth, talk to me."

He stops walking all of a sudden and turns to face me, "I'm not mad at you for bailing on me. I understand that you got in trouble and had to go home."

"Then why-" I start to speak, but he interrupts me, his tone furious.

"I'm mad at you because of the reason why you got in trouble!"

"You're mad because a teacher caught me and Embry together?" I ask completely stunned. He doesn't answer, and I notice his face blush up, "Oh my God, you're mad because a teacher caught Embry and I together. Why would that upset you?"

"God," he breaths rolling his eyes, "if you still don't understand, then maybe you're stupider than I thought."

That was the last thing he says to me before he walks away leaving me standing in the hallway with a shocked expression on my face. Now I know how Embry feels.

Seth called me stupid. Seth thinks I'm stupid. Is all I can think about as I walk down the hallway to AP World History. Why would what happened between Embry and I upset Seth so much? Am I really that clueless that I have no idea?

Frustrated, I begin to pull out my headphones out of my backpack, in desperate need to listen to some music, when I accidently knock into someone, "Sorry," I quickly apologize and stop when I notice I knocked into Embry.

"Maxine," Embry says surprised, "I was just heading to class."

He must have noticed something off about me because his face goes sad with worry and he asks in a desperate tone, "You look upset, what's wrong?"

"None of your business," I say pulling out my headphones and my iPod and zipping up my backpack before pushing past him to walk in the opposite direction while shoving my earphones into my ears and turning up my music the loudest it will go.

"Come on Maxine," I hear him next to me over the soft classical music. Why did I have to have so much classical music on my iPod? Why couldn't I be into scream especially at a time like this, "please tell me. Did Andrew do something to you? Did he touch you? I swear to God Maxine if he touched you I'd-"

I stop and shake my head before taking out my earphones and turning off the music so I can yell at him properly, "You'd what, Embry? You'd beat him up? Stop it. I'm sick and tired of you acting like this. I'm a big girl, and I'm perfectly capable of deciding who I go out with. And no, Andrew didn't do anything to me. Want to know what's up?" I see his face relax a little bit after hearing Andrew didn't do anything to me, but I don't even wait for him to respond before I continue yelling at him, "Seth's pissed off at me because of what happened yesterday. That's what's up."

Embry laughs, obviously understanding something I don't get. It frustrates me that I don't understand what's going on, so I decide to take it out on him, "Stop laughing!" I yell at him and he immediately stops laughing, "I had to blow him off because I was taken home and grounded because you don't know the definition of keeping your hands to yourself."

"At least I'm not clueless about the obvious," He says sarcastically back at me.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask, still confused about everything.

"Gosh," he breaths shaking his head, "Maybe Seth was right. Maybe you are stupider then we thought."

And before I can say anything he walks away leaving me the same way Seth left me; stunned and utterly confused.

The rest of the day went as usual. I ended up making it to AP World History on time which surprised Mr. Horvitz, and I even paid complete attention to his whole lesson instead of worrying whether or not Embry was staring at me. He was, but I could care less. Once the bell rang, I left the classroom as fast as I could without giving Embry a second glance and once 8th hour was over I hop into my car and drive straight to the one place where I knew could clear my thoughts. First beach.

Once I get there, I park, grab my jacket, and walk down to the beach. I spend what seems like a long time just walking back and forth thinking about what Embry and Seth both said to my face 'Maybe you're stupider then we thought.' It hurt like a gunshot to my heart, but I didn't cry over it. It's not like I've known the two of them for very long. Why would them calling me stupid matter? I continue to kick sand as I walk back and forth until I hear a voice at my back, "Maxine," and immediately stop in my tracks.

I turn around and there standing a few feet away from me is no other then Embry Call. He's wearing the same clothes as he was at school except his jacket is now completely zipped open.

I groan and shout up to the sky, "Oh, come on!"

"Is everything alright, Maxine?" He asks looking at me as if I've lost all the sense I have left.

"No, everything is not alright," I reply irritated, "Why wherever I go, you show up? Why can't I just be alone for fifteen minutes without you being there? How the hell did you find me anyways?"

He shrugs, "I needed to clear my head of some things and this is where I always come when I'm confused or conflicted."

"Great," I reply sarcastically, "You clear your head and solve your problems; I'm going to go find somewhere else to think."

I turn to walk away but Embry stops me, "Why don't you just stay here. The beach is big enough for the two of us. I promise I won't say anything if you don't want me to."

I groan in utter frustration and turn back to face him, "It's not just the fact that I want to be in a quiet place. It's your physical presence I don't want to be near right now."

"If I did anything to make you dislike me then I'm-" He starts off, but I disrupt him having enough of everything that's been going on with him.

"Don't you even dare say that you're sorry!" I yell, my hands curled into fists at my sides. I'm angry beyond belief and part of that anger came from Embry but I'm having a hard time blaming him. I could shout at him, I could go right up to him and pound on his chest as hard as I could until he finally left me alone, but instead I uncurl my fists and bring the heel of my palms up to each eye and push them against my closed eyes and moan, "God, why can't you just go away?"

At first he doesn't say anything and for a minute I think he's finally left. Slowly, I remove the heel of my hands from my eyes and bring them down to my sides. My eyes are still closed and before I can even count to three they open wide and I'm face to chest with Embry. He's staring down at me and without my brain even registering it, I lift my eyes up to meet his. He's got that stupid lopsided grin on his face that any girl would fall head over heels for. Including me.

Except I'm not ready to fall for him. I mean, God, I've known the guy for what three days now. It took me three days to fall for this idiot.

Before I do something I might regret, I take a step back and put my palm out in front of me to stop him in case he decided he wanted to take a step toward me, "Embry," I say sighing, "I don't know what it is about you, but I can't have it right now. I just moved here, and I need some time to adjust and get used to everything."

I wait a second, and seeing that he isn't going to take a step toward me, I put my hand back at my side and wait for his reaction. At first, its awkward silence. And then that awkward silence turns into more awkward silence. Why isn't he saying anything? Oh gosh, he's going to explode at me again.

Finally, he speaks, his face showing so many emotions that I can't decide which one breaks my heart the most, "So what are you saying? That you never want to see me again? Because that might be a little hard."

"No," I gasp before I can even stop myself from speaking, "No," I instead repeat a little stronger, "it's just that I don't think we should be involved…romantically."

I feel my face blush up and when I look into his eyes I also see a light blush on his russet skin. He has a look on his face as though he's both disappointed and upset about what I just told him.

He sighs before speaking once again, "Whatever you want, Maxine. Can we still be involved in some way though?"

"What kind of way?" I ask slowly.

"Like a friendship way," he repeats just as slowly back to me, "like the way you and Seth are together."

Could I really be friends with him? Probably. Did I want to be friends with him? I'm not quite sure. With Seth and I there's really no awkwardness. I feel completely different around him then what I feel around Embry. Around Seth life is a quiet lake filled with ducks and swans. A peaceful meadow filled with bunnies and deer. Calm. Serene. Around Embry, though, life is a ragging waterfall, and I feel whenever I'm around him that I'm about to fall over that waterfall. Life is obstacle courses, and math tests, crazy New York traffic, and stormy nights. But part of me wants to go through that obstacle course. Part of me wants to conquer that math test, and run through that crazy New York traffic, and witness those stormy nights. And part of me wants to do it all with Embry.

"You want to be friends?" I repeat slowly, and the way I see his eyes spark up with that one sentence makes my day, "I don't know Embry…"

"Come on," he urges giving me another lopsided smirk, "Let's just start all over. Please."

I don't say anything at first, partially because I don't know what to say. What do you say when there's a guy standing a few feet away from you on a beach begging you for your friendship? He must notice my indecision because he takes a step toward me so that we're about an arm's length away and extends his hand out toward me, "Hi," he says smiling, "My names Embry Call. Nice to meet you."

I can't help it. I give a short laugh and extend my hand to grasp his in a handshake. His hands warm, warmer than a usual persons is, but I don't care, "Nice to meet you too," I say giving him the same smile, "My names Maxine Felix, and I just moved here from New York."

"She thinks we're on steroids?" Embry asks laughing, his smile so wide that I notice the skin crinkling around his brown eyes.

After our handshake we both made our way over to log lying before the waves and sat down upon it, me on the right, Embry on the left, a space about the size of where another person could sit between us. We've been talking none stop for about the past twenty minutes about anything that may come to our minds. Family, friends, hobbies. Anything that may help us both know each other better and become better friends. Except both Embry and I have stayed clear of talking about our family. I've told him about Rose and David and the move, but I've just left out that they're my foster parents and that before them I was living with my abusive father. He hasn't even questioned the fact that I call them by their first names.

Family wise, all I know about Embry is that he lives with his mother in La Push near where most of the rest of the Native American people live. He doesn't have any brothers or sisters, no pets, and he hasn't mentioned a father figure in his life, not that I've been too pushy to even ask. I guess I don't want to bring up memories of my own father in the process. The closest he's even mentioned to any brothers or sisters is a few boys by the names of Sam, Paul, Jared, Brady, Collin, and Seth's sister Leah whom I've never met and of course Quil, Jacob, and Seth who I know through school.

He talked about his motorcycle and how found it in an old junkyard and spent the summer fixing it up brand new. He talked about how he loved reading, and writing, and music, and poetry and when his face went bright red he quickly apologized to me, I knew that it was something he didn't really talk about with anyone.

It was captivating sitting there listening to him talk about the things he loved and the things he loved to do. During some point of the conversation I lifted my legs up to rest my feet on the log and wrap my arms around my legs, resting the side of my head against my knee so that I could look at him better while he was talking. It wasn't that I was bored or uncomfortable; it was that I wanted to be able to focus on him better. His brown eyes that have made me melt with just one glance, his soft russet skin that I had the hugest urge to touch with my fingertips and how when he would laugh it would wrinkle around his eyes and mouth, his bright million dollar smile and how when I would say something he would just give me a slight smile as if what I was saying was everything and the world to him.

Too soon he stopped talking and it was my turn to spill everything out to him. And boy did I. I talked about how I loved reading, and writing as well and how I even had a journal where I would write down everything in my life. I told him about my obsession with foreign movies and music I couldn't understand, and languages that seem impossible to learn, but I would love to learn anyway.

I talked shortly and quickly about my lack of brothers and sisters, and no pets. I didn't mention Rose and David as my parents, or at all for that matter, and he didn't ask about them.

He didn't interrupt me while I spoke. He just sat there and listened as I babbled on and on about what seemed like nonsense to me, but the look on his face told me that what I was saying sounded like the most interesting thing he's ever heard. Every now and then he would give me a little grin and a few times I even got him to laugh at what I was saying.

I didn't expect myself to have such an easy time opening up to him, but here I was sitting on a log next to the most mysterious person I've ever met in freezing weather explaining my life story like what I went through before didn't affect me at all. To any other person I would be shaking, in hysterics, crying. To him, though, it felt as natural as breathing.

"I don't tell a lot of people about myself," I say looking at the sandy ground beneath my feet.

"Me neither," he responds, and I turn my head to look at him looking at me.

"I guess I'm just afraid to see what people will say, you know," I admit continuing to look into his eyes, "how they'll think of me after I tell them. Will they think I'm crazy? An emotional mess? A basket case? Stupid then they thought I was going to be?"

His face goes sad remembering what I brought back to the surface, then he sighs, resting his elbows on his knees, and turns to face me. He reaches out to take my hand and holds it in his, but quickly brings it back to his knee.

"Maxine, I'm sorry," he says, his brown beautiful eyes meeting mine in a long gaze, "That was stupid and awful of me to say, and God I don't even know why I said it. I guess I was angry, but that didn't give me a right to say what I did and for that I'm truly and honestly sorry."

The corners of my mouth rise to form a small smile, "I forgive you, Embry. Really, I do. I understand why you said it…and to be honest I was acting pretty stupid, so what you said was completely valid."

"That still didn't give me the right," he says, his eyes begging me to understand.

"Really, Embry, it's alright," I say begging him to understand, "let's just pretend it never happened."

He nods, and looks away from my gaze to look out into the ocean, "I completely understand what you were saying before. It's so hard to trust people because you never know what they'll think if they know who you really are. It's like you have this person hiding inside you waiting to jump out, but the thing keeping it inside is other people. In your mind you have complete control over who you are, but in reality, you don't," his eyes look back into mine and for a moment I feel my heart skip two beats.

"Who are you, Embry Call?" I whisper completely out of the blue.

He chuckles and takes my hand resting on the knee closest to him and kisses it. A kiss as light as a butterfly landing on your finger, as though a slight breeze has just passed us cleansing us of whatever happened and welcoming us to a new beginning.

"Whoever you want me to be, Maxine Felix."

Embry and I didn't stay at the beach much longer. It was getting late, the sun had just started to show signs of coming down, and I was starting to get cold. Embry had offered to give me his hoodie, which would only leave him in his white t-shirt, but I had declined saying that I should probably be getting home anyway as Rose would be worried as to where I was. Embry understood and even though I could tell that he was disappointed that I was leaving, he was even happier that we officially adopted a friend status.

He had offered to walk me to my car though, which I accepted. On the short walk there we made plans to hang out again after school tomorrow and when I asked where we were going, he gave me a small smile and said it was a surprise. I told him I didn't like surprises to which he told me, a smile on his face, to shut up and just go with it. That got me to laugh.

When we arrived at my car, Embry opened the door for me like a gentlemen and before officially leaving to go to his bike parked a few spaces away from me, he picked up my hand and kissed the top of it. And without saying another word, he left me standing there, my mouth wide open, and a burning sensation where his lips once were.

Driving home was like getting high off laughing gas. I felt giddy and alive, my blood pumping with pure adrenaline. Everything felt light and airy and only when I got home did reality hit me like a semi-truck.

I was expecting Rose to be absolutely furious at me for being late, but instead when I walk into the house, she's standing a few feet away to greet me.

"Hello Maxine", she says as sweetly as I've probably ever heard her talk, "How was school?"

"It was….really good, actually," I say smiling and going over to hug her close, "Thank you for everything."

I can sense confusion in her voice when she says, "No problem, Maxine. I'm just glad you're happy."

"Me too," I say just as David walks in from work.

I run over to him and catch him by surprise by hugging him tight around the waist. After a moment, he hugs me back and leans down to kiss the top of my head.

I pull away and give him a quick smile before running up the stairs to my room. I'm halfway up when I hear David ask Rose, "What was that all about?"

Once I'm inside my room, I close the door behind me and rest my back against it, letting out a giddy yell as I sink to the ground, my knees pushed against my chest. Leaning my forehead against my kneecaps, I let out a groan and lift my head to look up at the ceiling, running a hand through my hair in the process. I can feel my face hot. I can feel the newfound cold air around me indicating the changing weather. I can feel my heart beat in my fingers and toes. I can feel the fireworks going off in my stomach. I can feel…everything.

And it's in that moment when I think about Embry. Because who else could make me feel this way? Make me feel so alive. Make me feel like everything bad that ever happened to me just never happened. Make me feel…so good. Like a high without being physically high. And God did it feel so good. But God was it so wrong.

How could something so wrong feel so right?

That's the question I wish I could answer. And as I sit, my back against the door, my knees pushed tight against my chest, my face as hot as Embry's touch against my skin, I think about that question. I think about the poetry to that question and the romance involved with it, and I think about whether the person who first said it was talking about something as simple as drugs or something as difficult and complicated as love.

I hear a howl, and I lower my head from the ceiling to look across my room noticing that I forgot to turn on my light. And for some reason I like the darkness almost as much as I like the feeling I can't describe.

I hear the howl again, and I stand up on shaky legs to walk slowly to my balcony doors. Resting one hand on the nob and the other on the glass that is the door, I push open the double doors and walk out onto the balcony, the cold air aggressively hitting my skin. I walk to the edge of the balcony so that I can rest both my hands on the railing, and I look out into my backyard.

I hear the howl one more time, and a wave of, what I can only call, comfort washes over me, and I feel the sides of my mouth curl up into a small smile.

I don't hear the howl again as I walk back inside my room, closing the glass doors gently behind me.

Yeah...so how was that? A good way to come off of hiatus? What did you guys think? This chapter was so much fun to write because I kinda of got to add some of my own witty nature into it, which I always love doing. There's so much more drama, and heartbreak, and mystery, and thrill coming up in future chapters so stay tuned until the next chapter and all the ones after that. But again, thanks so much for reading and again I'm so sorry for not uploading in a while. I hope you guys all enjoyed, and until next time :)

Ave Atque Vale

-Sofia