Chapter Ten

Kelsey

Paul POV

Wham! The impact of the girl slamming into me damn near takes me off my feet. I whirl around, ready to rip her a new one, when the scent of lavender, peppermint and vanilla hits my nose. I reach out, catching her before she can fall. I then give her the nastiest death glare I can, turn and stride away; being around her is dangerous. I can't afford to give into the bond; I don't want anyone to have the power to hurt me.

Nevertheless, I find my eyes regularly drawn back to her. She's sitting pretty far back from the bonfire, and she's in conversation with a Hispanic girl. Her hands move somewhat as she talks, I note with a small smile.

Some of the other guys from the res have roped me into a game of football with the Forks High guys. I'm not a huge fan of the game but it beats sitting on sidelines. Which, it seems, my imprint has no problem with.

About an hour into the game, Mike Newton sends the ball flying in her direction. It stops just short of hitting her and I uncurl my fists. She stands and kicks it back over to Adam McLoughlin, putting it back into play.

The Forks High guys eventually descend on the food. They damn near eat everything they brought down. Okay then.

Meanwhile, we've moved onto volleyball. Volleyball is a common pass time of us werewolves. We're pretty competitive about it, too.

I have no idea how it happens, but one second Colin's spiking the ball over the net, the next it's flying off towards the fire pit. And straight into her face. I start forward, but Jared's already on his way over to retrieve the ball. He couldn't play because of a knee injury, but he volunteered to be our runner.

I watch as he stops in front of her and says something I can't quite make out. She smiles and tosses the ball back to him. They shake hands before Jared starts spinning the ball on one finger. Showoff. She smiles and nods, says something I can't make out.

Jared then starts back over to us. He lifts a hand in a wave. "See ya later, Kelsey!"

"Later!" her lyrical voice carries back.

Jared chucks me the ball. "What the fuck was that, Cameron?" I snap. I can't help it.

"I just got the ball, calm down. Her name's Kelsey, by the way. Kelsey Swan." And with that, he turns back to the volleyball game.

I do too, although my mind's not on it anymore. All I can think is that I finally know her name. Kelsey.

Kelsey. A strong name. A name that fits her. A name that radiates strength and character. Kelsey.

Kelsey Swan, huh? Great; she's related to the leech-lover. Just more of a reason to fight the bond. But I already know that I'm losing.

I grab some money from Paige, who's tanning with some of her friends, and head up to the boardwalk, where there's a vending machine. I wind up behind her. Kelsey.

She's wearing a backpack with a paperback book sticking out the top. She's wearing jeans and a hoodie, and her dark hair is pulled back into a ponytail. She's tapping her foot to some rhythm only she can hear.

"Today, people." she mutters quietly.

"The line's moving forward." I inform her.

"So it is." she says.

I watch as she attempts to get her money into the slot. Her hands shake slightly as she fumbles with the money. Eventually, just to save time, I reach around and grab the bill from her hands, feeding it into the machine for her.

"Thank you." She presses the button for a Coke. "The guys have downed all the sodas other than the Diet ones. Even the Mountain Dew and the Pepsi."

She turns to face me and I'm lost in her eyes. Turquoise, more blue than green today. I then look at the rest of her. She's wearing hoop earrings about twice the size of her hand. A slim chain disappears under her hoodie. A wire snakes out from her hoodie pocket; although it doesn't like a headphone wire; it's thinner. And there's a large bruise on her nose from where the volleyball clocked her earlier.

"Kelsey Swan." She extends her hand. I reach to shake her, and try to ignore the static current jumping from her skin to mine. Her hand is soft, smaller than mine, her fingers covered in calluses. She has two bigger calluses up a bit higher on hand hand, presumably from where she holds the softball bat. Her nails are painted with chipped black polish and there's a small, faded scar on the back of her hand.

"Paul Lahote." I say.

"Nice to meet you, Paul." She smiles, and damn that smile. It lights up her entire face. And damn near takes my breath away.

A strange bleeping emits from her phone and she sighs before popping the top of her soda and downing half of it in one go.

"Don't ask; long story." she says when she sees me looking.

I step around her to grab my own soda. "Okay, I won't."

"You've got it bad." Jared teases me as we walk back up to our houses.

"What are you talking about?" Paige asks, giving me a calculating glance.

"Paul's in loove." Jared draws out the word.

"Ooh! With who?" Paige's totally into this.

"No one." I say, giving Jared a warning look. Fortunately for him, he drops it.

Once safely in my bedroom, I open my laptop. I Google the name Kelsey to see what it means. It means either Ship's Victory or Cenel's Island; nobody quite knows. Either way, it suits her.

I log off my laptop and lean back in my chair, just allowing my mind wondering. I now know her name; Kelsey. I know she's seventeen, just like me; Jared told me. And I know that there is no point fighting the imprint bond; it's already won.

A/n: And here it is! The long anticipated first conversation chapter! I hope y'all enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Okay, so here's the deal. If we can get to 27 reviews, I'll update Friday. If not, it'll be on Saturday. Okay, signing off now. Later!

Lauren.

Replies to Reviews:

Rachaelm1981: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. And here's the long anticipating meeting chapter. I hope I did it justice; please review and let me know.

Twilightfanjm: Well, they are talking now. Hope you enjoyed this chapter; please review and let me know.

Guestgwen: A lot of my chapters are around 1000-13000 words. I am working on longer chapters, but I am extremely busy and hardly ever have time to breathe. So the chapters are shorter, but there are more of them coming more quickly. I hope you like this chapter too, please review and let me know.

Guest: One can only hope. LOL. I hope you like this chapter too; please review and let me know.