Author's Note: Sorry I couldn't make her 'accept him' earlier :) But that makes it realistic. Well, as realistic as a Twilight Fanfic can be :)

This chapter is filled with events, and kind of intense towards the end. Oh, and for those who were wondering how she knew he was there: she could feel his presence, but she wasn't sure until she turned towards the door, when she discreetly made sure he was there. :))

And please keep in mind she's 12-years-old - and not any 12-year-old: she's one with serious trusting issues.

ALISON ANDERSON

Mary let me in her house with a grimace, patting my back. "So he told you already, huh?"

I blinked. "You knew?"

After my rant about how he 'sucked for a werewolf', I half-expected Mary to call me insane, half-expected her to call my father and tell him I was insane. What I never expected was her knowing something like that. I didn't expect her to know Colby was a werewolf; did everyone else know? Was it some kind of a region thing? I was right, then. I was nothing special - but I still didn't get why he told me.

She smiled sheepishly. "Yeah," she admitted, "what exactly did he tell you?"

I shrugged. "Just that he's - oh."

That was when I remembered.

He told me, back in his car, he told me that he was a half-human, quarter vampire creature that can morph into a horse-sized wolf, is immortal and can project thoughts into people's brains. I thought that he was kidding back then, but now that I knew he was a werewolf and could project thoughts, I knew for sure that everything else he said was more or less true.

He was a vampire descendant, vampires were marble-like, ice-cold and extremely powerful and some vampires had unusual powers like reading minds or seeing the future. Werewolves were a different story, though; they could tear vampires into shreds, communicate together mentally and imprint. At that point, he had smiled and told me that imprinting was when someone found their soul mate - whatever his or her age was, he told me that to imprint on someone was to sign a lifetime contract of being there for them, protect them, and love them the way they needed to be loved.

"Please," I started, breathless, "please, please, please, please tell me I'm not his...imprint. I'm begging you."

"Why are you saying that?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Because - because!" I took a deep breath, "because I don't need him! And he's not - I can't be his imprint, Mary!"

"Why don't you sit down a bit?" she dragged me to her couch, "Now, what's your problem with him?"

"I am his imprint?"

She rolled her eyes. "Think about it that way: you can ask him for anything you want - isn't that great?"

"No," I insisted, "no, it's not."

"I can't understand you."

"Don't you get it? I don't need him. Why would I need someone to watch my every move and just pretend he cares? I already have two of those at home!"

She fell silent, grimacing. "Allie, honey, he won't be pretending."

"Yeah," I grunted, crossing my arms over my chest and looking away. "If the people who gave me life don't care, then why would he?"

She shook her head. "They care, Allie."

I huffed. "No, they don't. Now can you get that fur ball to come here? I need to to tell him-"

"Alison, be nice."

I bit the inside of my cheek, looking down at my hands, not speaking a word; if I did, I would cry, and crying in public was something I loathed doing; people didn't need to pity me, or think I was just a whiny brat. I closed my eyes, sinking deeper into the couch, wishing I was invisible.

Again.

I kept flipping through the channels at home. In Forks, Washington, this was probably the usual afternoon hangout, only that today it wasn't so usual. There was nothing usual about today. When I couldn't find anything good enough to watch on TV, I leaned on the arm of the chair and tried to put everything that happened today in the back of my head. I tried to think how I was starting yet another year of school tomorrow - I would be a seventh grader at Forks Middle School - but it didn't make me feel any more comfortable.

It sucked - it totally and universally sucked - not being able to figure everything out. For 12 years that were my entire life, everything was definite - even the bad things. But now, I felt helpless, like someone was deciding my life for me.

I hated it.

"Allie, shouldn't you go to sleep now?"

"Fine, Mom," I grunted.

Hope tomorrow turns out better.

COLBY BLACK

I scanned the crowds of relieved students, spreading out of Forks Middle after the last bell rang until I finally found her. I knew this wasn't going to improve my stalker status, but there were a few things that needed to be explained, especially after she guessed that I had imprinted on her. She needed to know that we could be some kind of friends, but we wouldn't if she didn't want to. She had to know I wouldn't 'stalk' her if she didn't want me around. Sure, it would hurt like hell and all that, but I wouldn't mind to if it meant she wouldn't feel the same.

She locked eyes with me before she narrowed them, stomping her foot angrily. "What is it?" a girl that was standing next to her asked curiously.

"Do you notice anything weird with the teachers' parking lot?" Allie asked, sighing.

The girl's eyes widened when she saw my car. "Whoa."

"It's not as comfortable as it looks, Cloe." Lie.

"You know him?"

"And I wish I don't," she whispered under her breath, too low for Cloe to hear. "Yeah."

Cloe seemed to think about it for a second. "Oh."

"What?"

"You like him."

Allie faked a gagging expression. "Ew. He's - like - twenty-something!"

That wasn't even half true; when it came to age, I was only three years older than her. But I guessed I looked way over my normal age, which wasn't helping me right now in the least - not like I liked her or something; not in the way her friend meant anyway. She was just way too young - she was just a kid - and I couldn't think about her that way.

Cloe raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you know why he's here?"

"Not really." Another lie.

"Well, why don't you go ask him? Come on!"

She huffed loudly. "Fine, Cloe. Fine."

She strode over to me, her friend on her tail. "What do you want, Colby?"

I smiled at her, genuinely happy to see her. "Good afternoon to you, too, Alison."

She rolled her eyes, suppressing a hint of a smile. "Seriously, what do you want?"

Beside her, Cloe hit her arm subtly. "Can we talk?"

Cloe smiled at that. Allie didn't. "There's nothing to talk about - you should go back home and never come back."

This time, Cloe wasn't being subtle. Allie narrowed her eyes at her. "I believe there's a certain issue we left undisclosed yesterday," I said.

She leaned to whisper in my ear. "I'm going to the bonfire with Mary - I better not see you there. The only reason I'm going is because I don't know what the hell you want from me, and I seriously hate stalkers."

"Alison, we both know I'm not going to harm you - you can trust me."

"There's a difference, Colby."

"Allie, please."

She sighed, grimacing. "Guess you can drop me home, but tell anyone and you're dead!"

I chuckled, opening the passenger door for her. "Sure, sure. C'mon."

She turned to her friend before sliding into her seat. "I'll call you. Bye."

I sprinted out of there, the wheels screeching deliciously on the ground. "How are you?"

"Good."

"Good?"

She gave me a confused look. "Yeah, I guess I'm fine."

"How was your day?"

"What's imprinting?"

I licked my lips. "I thought I told you about it."

"Well, yeah, you did," she said, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. "But I don't get it- how do you know it's me?"

I smiled, recalling the first time our eyes met. "The second the wolf sees his imprint, the whole world shifts - it's more like that person is the gravity that pulls him down," -she rolled her eyes- "And then he can't live without her - even if his feelings for her aren't necessarily...romantic."

"So, it's like some magic force, right?"

"Kind of. Yeah," I nodded, taking a turn to the left, seeing her house and stopping in front of it.

"Oh joy," she muttered, stepping out of the car and turning to my side. "You know, Colby, for once I thought someone cares, but even the one I might've trusted turned out to be forced. Look, I don't need you - go un-imprint or something, okay?"

"It's not like that-"

"Listen to me, Colby," she sighed, taking a deep breath. "If I need you, I'll find a way to contact you. Fair enough?" - I shrugged - "But, seriously, don't count on it."

I won't stalk you, if that's what you're talking about.

She put both hands on her temples, turning towards the porch. "I'm never getting used to this."

For a reason, this made me smile; she expected some more of me.

ALISON ANDERSON

"Why won't you tell me?" Cloe whined over the phone, "I thought we're best friends!"

Why didn't I just ignore him and walk away? This was worse than him stalking me. "There's nothing you need to know about him, Cloe. Really."

"Why did he want to talk to you?"

"Okay, so he's my cousin-in-law's," - was that even a word? - "cousin and I have a huge crush on him and I told my cousin who told him and he was telling me how wrong it is."

I almost seriously gagged at the scenario. 'Almost' because I had to contain my tone.

"Oh. My. God!" she exclaimed, "She told him? Gee."

"Ah-uh, yeah, yeah."

"Sorry, Allie. I didn't know-"

"It's okay, I'm fine - totally."

"Okay, then," she said. Translation: I got the gossip I need. "T-T-Y-L."

And the call ended.

I re-opened the book I was reading, but ended up comparing Colby to the werewolves I had imagined; I imagined them scary and tough, but Colby looked more like a huge golden teddy bear - almost surreal. I couldn't bring myself to think of him fighting a vampire - a powerful tricky vampire that could easily 'poison him with his venom'. I stared at the sky outside the living room's window: dark and frightening, the moon crescent. Right now, he could be wandering around the borders of La Push, fighting off a stray vampire. I thought I had the slightest tendency to worry about him. I had to admit it, he was better than boring shopping trips. And maybe, just maybe, he wasn't totally a stalker.

I got up slowly, reluctantly, and dragged my feet upstairs to my room, only to hear something crash in Mom and Dad's room, followed by Dad's shouting.

"I thought I talked to you about this before!"

"What can I do, John? It's not like I planned this!"

I frowned and stood still in my place; what were they talking about?

Something else crashed. "One 'accident' is enough - 13 years ago I told you loud and clear that I didn't-"

"Come on, John. Say it. Tell me you didn't want her!"

Huh?

"You know damn well I love my daughter!" he hollered angrily.

What?

"Do you, John? Do you really? You still think she's a mistake!"

I leaned my back on my room's door, my breath caught in the back of my throat.

"Would you lower your tone? She'll hear you!"

Too late for that, Dad. Too late.

After that conversation, I buried myself under my covers, trying to shake it off, telling myself they were both mad for some reason and that they didn't mean what they were saying. They couldn't mean what they were saying, right? I mean, Mary should be right, they must care about me. People argue all the time, and it wasn't like I was supposed to hear that conversation. After all, all I had were my parents, and they loved me, didn't they? They had to.

Five minutes later, I heard the loud slamming of our door downstairs, followed by another after half an hour, and I knew I was home alone. I got up, walking cautiously to my parents' room, then the living room, the kitchen, and the two bathrooms - I was right; no one was there. Without thinking, I grabbed the extra keys from the kitchen counter, stuck it in the pocket of my pajama pants, grabbed my sweater and hopped into my sneakers.

If they didn't care then, well, I didn't give a damn either.

I could've been walking for hours inside that forest, trying to figure out what way would take me to La Push. I wished I had taken his number, or known where he lived. Right now, all I needed was someone who cared - and I didn't care if he was forced to. I needed someone to just be there, I didn't want to talk to him or discuss anything; I just wanted to feel wanted somewhere.

Before, I wondered why people could be so selfish - why sometimes people like my parents didn't care. I thought I was normal, until I made a couple of friends, and found out I was nothing but normal. I was an extra addition to two previously-happy people, and only tonight I found out I wasn't welcome in their lives in the first place. People who have others who care should never complain about curfews or having to take permissions before buying something or any of what they call "unnecessary parental controls".

It took me a while to know that I was probably walking around myself in circles when everyone sank in: I was standing in the middle of enormous trees, the dampness of the grass almost getting through the fabric of my shoes and the coldness in the air creeping to my spine - all alone in a place where vampires were real, and God-knows-what-else was out there as well.

"Where are you?" I breathed, sliding into a sitting position, getting my clothes soaked as well, shuddering. "Shouldn't you be here now, huh? Did you decide just now to stop following me?" The woods were quiet - very, eerily quiet - and I knew no one could hear me. I buried my face in my freezing hands, just letting the few tears I had been holding for so long warm them slightly. "This whole wolf pack sucks! I'm here alone and I could be sucked dry and no one's there to even know what happens!" I yelled into the darkness, desperate, knowing it wasn't their fault I was where I was now.

"Hello, there," a silky feminine voice greeted, making me jump. I looked up to find a woman, pale as ivory, wearing a light silk dress that didn't make sense with the chilly weather, smiling sweetly at me. "I'm Alice. Were you looking for someone?"

Author's Note: I just can't stop writing it :) But I'm having some problems with my internet connection, so I might not be able to update tomorrow, but I probably will :)

Please REVIEW (C'mon, I expected some more reviews last chapter ;). Please, guys? It really, really motivates me) =] Thanks.

TooToo