Welcome to Book 2, readers. There will be much more romance in this one. Of course, Jacob's still a wee bit of an arse if we're all honest here.

Onwards.

If your heart gets scared every now and then

Then put your hand on the heart and coax it

The heart is an idiot, persuade it with love

"Aal Izz Well" from the movie, 3 idiots

Chapter 1

"Maddie," Willow started quickly. Her hands were shaking, and I was entirely sure what was wrong, but Willow took one of my hands, holding it tightly as she smiled, "I need to tell you something, and to be honest, it took me and Embry a long time to come to a decision about this, but..." Willow dragged me along toward Embry, waving a hand.

"And it's going to be really hard to believe, I know," Willow continued, and I wasn't entirely sure what to say or how I was supposed to respond, but... it felt like I should be more than a little apprehensive. I glanced back and forth between her and Embry hoping that one of them would give me something in their expression to prepare myself with. There was nothing. Willow was acting weird, and Embry was standing quite a ways away from us for some unknown reason, looking a bit nervous.

"Okay," Willow said, taking a deep breath and looking me in the eyes seriously, "Embry's a werewolf. So is Jacob and Quil and several other people." I stared at Willow for a long minute, holding back my laughter before it burst through my lips. I thought she would've had something more believable or serious to tell me about. However, it seemed like she was just messing with me instead.

"What?" I laughed because that wasn't even possible. Willow tightened her grip on my hand, and she was really doing such a good job with her acting. I almost couldn't believe she was really joking. A little knot of fear sat in my stomach made me wonder if she really was serious, but that was insane. No matter how fun it was to see the wolves in Jacob's or Embry's faces, I was well aware that it wasn't real.

"It's true. You know I wouldn't say something without it actually being true," she said emphatically, and I was at a loss. Part of me wanted to believe her because how fucking cool would that be? I was thinking about it right now and had done it before. I was a fan of the idea in theory. However, my much more rational part of me screamed preposterous, and I was no good at ignoring it. I was very sure that werewolves weren't real and that that fact wasn't subject to change. As fun as it would be if it were possible.

"I... that doesn't," I fumbled, when suddenly a gigantic wolf came running out of the woods with a loud snarl and charging right at Embry who then transformed into a giant wolf himself. And, oh boy, is my head spinning? I- I- that's a whole lot to take in when the world is suddenly going into black static.

.

"Maddie...?" Willow was leaning over me with a concerned expression. I smiled slightly at her as I came to. My head was pounding and felt tender in a particular spot when I touched it. I had such a strange dream, and it was seeming oddly real at this moment since all the dots were connected and yet it just didn't make sense.

"Do you know what day it is?" Willow asked me now that I seemed to be lucid enough to be quizzed about my potential concussion.

"You know, you say the weirdest things," I started in a dazed tone, "I could have sworn werewolves existed... Isn't that funny?" Then I saw Jacob, who was frowning slightly with his arms crossed over his broad, unclothed chest. Now there was a sight. I blinked back a blush, looking towards Willow instead.

"Sam's going to kill you," Jacob said, staring Embry down. Embry didn't look like he regretted a thing though. He merely shrugged. Slowly, my brain started to think again, and I jumped in surprise. Oh wow, ok. Ok. Ok. Werewolves.

"Wait! That really happened?" I gasped, staring at Willow with a wide eyed expression, "But you... and Jacob... it doesn't make logical sense!" I said pointing between Embry and Jacob. My brain felt like it was put through a blender, and I pressed my forehead into my knees in silence. Willow patted me on the shoulder gently while I processed too many thoughts to be having after just hitting my head.

"I felt the same way," she told me, which was a bit comforting to hear though not surprising. We were pretty similar about some things.

"He won't kill me," Embry said after a minute, "Her sister knows, we could always say Bella let it slip." I stared at Embry in shock. I had not known my dearest friend was down for crimes. I was in, but listen, I was surprised to say the least.

"You want me to lie?" I asked him incredulously. The only way I would've been more shocked would have been if Willow had been the one to suggest it.

"No, no... just, uh, alter the truth," Embry attempted with a slight smile, and I stared at him in disbelief.

"I didn't know you had it in you," I replied, moderately impressed. Embry sighed with relief, and Jacob just shook his head as if he was the tired father of the group. He most assuredly was not. I was certain that he was out making the most suspicious of decisions out of all of us.

"You shouldn't have told her," he reprimanded Embry, "She's still an outsider." I flinched at that because I felt a little rejected. They just said Bella knew, and she was dating Edward, so why wasn't she an outsider? I frowned, staring at my hands and not knowing what to even say to that other than "Et tu, Brute?" because honestly I thought we were friends, Jacob. I thought we were friends. I just didn't have the heart in me to take the insult at face value.

"She's not an outsider," Willow snapped, glaring at Jacob, and I smiled at Willow because she was great. Good, old Willow would look out for me no matter what, and that was a nice feeling. I could understand why it had been so hard for the both of them to tell me about it, and Jacob was making it more and more obvious to me. Willow valued honesty in her relationships, and it was probably hard on her to keep this from both her mother and little brother, not to mention me. Telling me would probably make things easier for her.

"She's my best friend," Willow continued, standing with her eyes narrowed at Jacob. She looked like she wasn't afraid of him, but I could tell from the way one of her hands had twisted to grip her pants that she was a little scared, "And I'm not going to lie to her and everyone else for the rest of my life! I have to have someone to talk to."

"You could talk to Emily," Jacob responded with a hard expression, and I pressed my lips together. I didn't know who that was... but Willow obviously did. From the look on her face though, it did not appear to be a suggestion she appreciated.

"No, I can't," Willow said with a long sigh, "I mean, I do, but the two of us don't... we don't like the same things." Willow had drawn into herself then, and I watched in envy as Embry pulled her toward him to offer comfort to her.

"Instead of fighting about what has already occurred, could someone please tell when all of this happened?" I asked, throwing my hands up so the attention was drawn away from Willow, who obviously didn't want it. Jacob stared at me for a long moment. His shoulders were stiff, and his fists were closed tightly.

"Last year," he said after a beat. I considered this for several seconds. The haircut. Really. I can't believe it had been kind of obvious to see. I almost wanted to laugh.

"Okay," I said, pushing up onto my feet, and brushing the grass and leaves off of me, "That makes sense... I'm going home now." Because I had honestly kind of had enough for the day. It was all kind of a lot for me to process, so I turned and walked away from them with a sense of purpose. The sky was murky, and it smelt like rain. The walk home was going to suck.

So, uh, Maddie finally found out the secret. I think at this point Jacob's starting to be confused by his feelings... yadda yadda.

Maybe gimme a review?

~Minatu

Edit (09/09/21)