Quil and Embry go cliff-diving with Seth and Leah, while Leah is still in town. It is my birthday, and I'm lucky to have the day off. I wanted to launch myself off a cliff too, but Jake has vetoed that practice. He enjoys banning me from doing anything fun. Like dressing up, and drinking too much, and dancing at parties.

Jacob is in the garage, tinkering away. It's his private space, and I know I'm not allowed in, but I'm tempted to knock on the door. Instead, I find myself wasting away inside. My hobbies are all physical, and so they are hard to accomplish in a rickety wooden house. My days are spent listening to music and watching television whenever I can. The boredom is getting to me.

When Jacob pops out of the garage, beginning to head upstairs, I try to talk to him.

"Could you teach me to ride one of your motorcycles?" I ask.

He pauses, "maybe. One day perhaps."

"Why are you so against me doing fun things?" I shift my body out on the couch so I'm facing him.

He walks over, moving the cane so that he doesn't bump into anything. "I had enough of a girl doing dangerous stuff the time that Edward abandoned Bella. She practically cracked her head open on the motorcycle and drowned while cliff-diving."

"I've already been cliff-diving," I tell him.

He takes a step closer until his hands grip the couch behind me. "What?"

"With Quil and Embry," I tell him. "Against their will, but I jumped in."

He moves his hands around the couch until he's sitting beside me. He relaxes, not seeming to mind the oil on his shirt that might rub onto the couch.

My hand winds over to his hand, grazing the back of it. His head turns to me, and for a second, I wonder if he can see me. Obviously, he can't, but I wish he would take off those damn sunglasses so I could see his eyes. Like black holes, like the black sea, like my own shadow.

"I don't understand why you like to disobey me," he says.

I swallow. Our fingers are interlocking, their backs still pressed against one another. He's boiling, and my heart is racing, and I'm filled with a fervour previously unknown to man. Is this what it is like, to feel love? How could there possibly be more to it?

"It's because you make disobedience so fun," my cheeks have got to be crimson. I can see their flush in the reflection of his glasses. He can't see them. He never will.

He chuckles and wraps his hand around mine.

"Do you..." I begin, and I swallow, and so I begin again. "Do you ever wish that you could see again?"

He sighs. His face turns away, "sometimes."

"Do you know what I look like?" I ask.

"I don't need to," he answers, plainly.

I nod my head. He can't see it, but I nod ahead anyway. Yes, he does need to see me. There is no way to imprint otherwise. My smell isn't enough, my touch lacklustre, my voice mediocre. I don't think I am the most beautiful person on the planet, but maybe, I can fix him. It's stupid to believe, but it's true. I was built to kill, but maybe, I can learn to grow.

"Why don't you need to see me?" I ask.

His breath is jagged like it cuts out of him rather than being natural. Unlike vampires, it seems that Jacob actually needs to breathe. I like that about him. Despite their supernatural nature, the people that I've met here are more human than possible.

"Why are you so curious?" he asks.

I swallow. Emily said not to say anything. Emily said it was a bad idea. I'm supposed to know him better than anyone else on the planet. It's not like I'm springing this information on him after a day of knowing him. I've been here for months.

"Today is my birthday," I admit.

He furrows his brow, "you said-"

"I know what I said," I tell him. "I just admitted something I was lying about. Can you do the same?"

He gets up from the couch. All the warmth is gone. It's sucked out from inside me, and I'm left in cold La Push. It's not raining outside, but it ought to be. It's that kind of day.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he tells me.

"You know," I say. My voice breaks a little in the middle of the sentence. The truth is flooding out of me, but the dam has broken now, so I can't stop it. "Right?"

"I told you everything there is to know," he tells me. "I told you about shape-shifters. What other secrets do you think I'm keeping?"

"You're hiding me from the boys!" I stand up, moving around the couch so that I'm in front of him. "It's quite obvious. Are you embarrassed of me, or do you hate yourself so much that you refuse to let yourself be happy?"

He huffs, "Fawn, you have no idea what you're talking about."

"Why do you think I'm an idiot?" I ask. "You kissed me. I'm one of two people you've kissed, and for the record, I've only kissed you. Not even my fiancé-"

"You're what?" he nearly roars. He reaches forward and grabs me by the wrist pulling him in. "Wait... is this about the Cedar guy?"

"Cedar is just a friend," I insist. "I just happen to be engaged to him, but I don't like him that way."

Jacob's grip on me tightens, his fists shaking, "you're seeing someone?"

"At the moment, unfortunately I am single," I pull against his grip, but he is much stronger than me. If I yank too hard, I'm going to hurt myself. "I figured running away was a good enough way of calling off the engagement, but apparently not."

"Wait," he let's go of me, finally. "Have you seen him?"

"He came into my diner," I speak through gritted teeth as I rub my arm. I want to slap him for treating me this way, but I am not going to hurt someone I've kissed.

"He's in Forks," Jacob shakes his head. "Why don't you go run off and be with him."

"I don't want him," I tell him. "Why are you getting so worked up over this?"

His nose scrunches, "I'm done playing second-fiddle."

My mouth goes shut. I'm sure he must be talking about Bella and Edward, but I don't have enough details to tell him it is different. It must be since I don't want to be with Cedar. At this moment, even though I don't particularly like Jacob, I still want to be with him.

Without his cane, he walks up the stairs. I would trail after him, but I let him have his moment of peace. I want to tell him he's wrong, and that I'm the one for him, but that would mean revealing that I'm his imprint.

He needs more time. I need to talk to Emily.

I sit down on the couch and stare up at the ceiling. I'm sure I sit in this position for far too long. Surely, the boys will be back soon, and then we will be cooking dinner, and then I will be working tomorrow. They can't send me home, and now I can assume my real identity and get a bank account and over the table pay, and I can be out of here.

Only I can't leave. I can't do that to Jacob, even if a small party of me wants to abandon him. I discarded the first 17 years of my life so easily, why can't I discard two months?

There is a knock at the back door. Quil is always forgetting his keys, but Embry is usually better at remembering them.

I open the door and there stands Kamiko, with Cedar, struggling in her steel arms.

I'm frozen, I can't speak. My throat has been hollowed out. Everything inside me scooped away.

"Come play," Kamiko says, and then she runs into the forest, dragging a screaming Cedar behind her.

I turn around, scrambling to get my shoes on. "Jacob!" I shout. "Jacob! Kamiko, she's... she's got Cedar. I've got to go."

I hear his door burst open, and just as he is making his way to the stairs I dodge past him and run into the backyard. I shut the door behind me, giving me a few extra seconds. He runs out behind me. I glance back to look. I have the advantage of shoes and sight. He runs into the stream and trips and falls.

"Fawn!" he screams after me. "Fawn wait!"

There is no time to wait. I run after her, deep into the forest that I've always been told to avoid.

~~~~~

Drama! *insert dramatic music* I don't know which part is my favourite between the argument or Kamiko's appearance. Don't fret, you'll see the outcome soon. Although, perhaps it will be too soon.

Anyway, exciting things are happening! Enjoy!