Howl.

"I'm still mad at you. You know that, right?" Mary asked as we pushed our way through the front doors of the Port Angeles mall. "I was up 'til fucking three AM."

"And whose problem is that?" I asked, pushing my long, dark hair over my shoulder. We turned the corner and headed into the first shop: Buckle. It was expensive, so neither one of us ever bought anything, but the merchandise was pretty cool to look at.

Mary perused through the various shirts before turning to me and groaning. "God, I'm thirsty. Let's go get something to drink."

"You're always thirsty," I murmured as she dragged me out of the store. A good two hours had passed, and Mary was still complaining (which was pretty normal). We walked by some of our classmates, nodding at each other in recognition.

"I want coffee. Do you want any?" Mary dug through her pockets as we neared Gloria Jeans. "I'll pay for it even though you're a bitch and got me up at ten."

"Stop it, Mare. Jesus Christ." I waved at Nicole, a girl who had been in my chemistry class sophomore year. She hadn't been one of my favorites. "And yes, I would like some coffee. Just get me regular."

"Fine." Mary walked over to the counter, and I took a seat at one of the high tables they had organized against the wall. Pulling out my cell phone, it was easier to occupy myself while Mary was waiting for our drinks to be ready. I browsed through photos that I must not have looked at in forever, because I didn't recognize any of them. The smile that I'd been wearing quickly disappeared when a picture of Embry and I came up. It had been taken at the first home lacrosse game last fall, when he was still perfectly healthy and I saw him every single day.

I deleted the picture seconds before Mary arrived, a tall coffee in each hand. "What are you looking at?" She asked.

I shoved the phone back into my pocket and shook my head. "Nothing. Let's go." Taking my coffee from her, we walked out of Gloria Jeans.

"Hey! Lilly! Mary!"

I stopped and turned, only to find Bridget Young walking towards us. She had a boy with her, one that I didn't recognize. "Hey, Bridget," I said, hoping she didn't catch the annoyance in my voice. I had never found Bridget Young tolerable.

"Can you believe it's summer already? We'll be seniors next year!" She giggled, and wrapped her arm around the boy's. "This is my boyfriend, Bobby. He's from Forks."

I smiled, and waved. "Nice to meet you."

"Bridget!" Mary said, grinning. "I didn't expect to see you here!" I looked at her, eyebrows raised. She shrugged.

"Yeah! Bobby didn't have to work today, so we're spending all day together. I'm so exicted!" Bridget grinned, and I wanted to throw up. God, I hated romance.

"Well, you should probably get back to that, shouldn't you?" Mary asked, motioning towards Bobby. "We don't want to stall your fun day."

"Oh, it's no prob -"

"Yeah," Bobby said, glancing at his watch. "We're going to miss our movie. It's almost noon." He smiled at me, and I knew exactly what he was doing.

Bridget groaned. "Oh, ok. I'll see you two later, then? Bye!" The two of them turned, and walked away.

"Holy shit," I said. Not paying much attention to where I was going, I collided with what I could only assume was a brick wall. I fell to the ground, coffee all over my shirt and floor. I let out a low grunt, and heard Mary murmur a "oh, my God."

Looking up, it took a second for my eyes to focus, but once I could see the situation before me, my heart stopped. Embry stood about a foot away, peering down at his, too, coffee drenched tee shirt. His friends, whom I had never really met, bounced around behind him, paying very little attention to what was going on. Mary helped me up, and I tried to catch my breath. Now, I just had to get away before Embry could say anything.

I couldn't help but stare at him, though. He looked almost exactly like he had the last time I saw him. He still had the familiar red-tanned skin from the Quileute heritage we all shared, and his shiny, silky black hair fell into his dark eyes that never ceased to take my soul whenever I looked hard enough into them. Embry looked at me. At first, he looked almost irritated, but the second that our eyes met, his expression changed completely. I had never seen it before. There was panic in his eyes, and when he pushed passed me, his friends followed closely behind. I swore I could hear his heart beat.

Mary watched as they walked away, then turned to me. "Woman, thank God you're wearing black."

I didn't laugh. In fact, I couldn't wrap my mind around what had just happened.

"We should go get you another shirt. Come on." Mary pulled me into Maurice's.

"That was so weird," I said as I pulled my coffee drenched tee shirt over my head in the dressing room. "I've never seen him like that before, Mare."

"I thought you were over him, Lilly. I mean, Jesus, how long did it take just to get you going out again?" I pulled the new shirt on.

"You make it sound like we were dating." I opened the cubicle door and threw my black tee shirt at her. "I can't just close up a hole that he filled for ten years. He was my best friend, Mary."

She sighed, pushing her jet black hair over her shoulder. "I know. I just don't want him to hurt you again."

"I can take care of myself, Mary, but I 'ppreciate it."

"Ok, whatever, Lilly."

We paid for the shirt, and walked outside to find her little red convertible. Mary's mom and dad were, for lack of a better word, filthy rich. But there has never been a time where Mary has taken advantage of it, or rubbed it in someone's face. I honestly believed that she didn't want her parents to have so much money. After all, with money comes corruption, right?

"Text me later, k?" Mary said as I unbuckled my seat belt. Neither one of us had said a word about what had happened in the mall since the dressing room, and it had actually been pretty quiet on the drive home.

"Sure, sure." I stepped out of the cab, and made my way up to the front porch. There was still quite a bit of daylight left, and I was half tempted to get my sneakers on and go trekking through the woods. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the shape of a large, wolf-like creature. It was much too big to be a wolf, though. But, a bear wouldn't come out here. I stared at it. It's eyes glowed, and as I entered the front room, I couldn't shake the feeling it'd given me.