"The great thing about new friends is that they bring energy to the soul."

-Shanna Rodriquez

***

"Dad! Dad we saw them!"

"Dad!"

Charlie and Harry Clearwater both jerked their heads up when we burst into the room. Bella was panting, her eyes wide and visibly distraught, and I am sure I don't look much better.

"In the woods! Their not bears!" Bella panted, trying to suck some air back into her lungs. I did the same.

"In the woods- girls, what the hell were you doing in the woods?" Charlie demanded, his face reddening slightly.

"They're huge wolves. Like massive!" I made gestures with my hands to prove a point.

"You sure about that?" Harry asked, crossing his arms.

"Yes we just saw them! They were after-" Bella's voice faltered. "Um, something."

"Wolves? You saw them?" Charlie asked us, looking quite skeptical. We both nodded rapidly. "All right, well Harry, feel like going hunting? Get some of your guys together?"

"Uh, yeah..." Harry mumbled, casting us one last nervous glance before following our father out of the room.

***

"Jacob's a werewolf!"

"Yep, so am I."

Bella ignored my snarky comment, pacing around my bedroom. "There was something I didn't tell you before... you know that time we were at the beach and Jake told be about the vampires? Well he also mentioned werewolves. I mean think about it, a bunch of muscular-"

"Super hot, but that's not important-"

"guys with matching tattoo's of wolves howling at the sky!"

"Wait!" I sat up straighter, tossing the pillow I was hugging aside. "You looked close enough to see the picture?"

"It doesn't matter!" Bella exclaimed, smacking me with said pillow. "We have to go now!"

"You drive like an old lady, so I'll go first."

_________________________________________________

The Swan twins pulled up in the La-Push reservation, Bella jumping out before the truck was fully stopped. Courtney rolled her eyes, jumping out to follow.

"Hey! I'll go around back, you just... annoy Billy into letting you in!" Courtney yelled, already jogging around the small house. The sun was beating down hard on her figure as she jumped over a rock. Immediately, she was met by the hulking figures of a group of teenage boys.

They recognized her as the girl who almost beat up Jacob Black, and they all grinned.

"Yo! Courtney!" Jared waved, running over to the very confused looking girl. Her short hair blew in front of her face, and she held it back to see if what she was witnessing was true.

"Um, hi?" She posed it more as a question as the other boys joined.

"You look way different when you're not trying to kill someone." Paul joked, and she pulled a face in response. "Don't think I won't do it again."

Paul smirked. She really is kind of like him. Too bad the bloodsuckers got to her first.

"I like her, ballsy." Jared grinned as the pack walked forward until they were face-to-face. "The bloodsuckers teach you that?"

Courtney smirked, an action that didn't go unnoticed by the boys. "I'd like to think I taught myself thank you very much."

There was a long pause.

"And the scientific term is Vampires."

"Scientific?" Embry snorted. "Please, those things are the least scientific creatures on this planet."

"Rosalie is ac-" Her voice caught in her throat as her face visibly paled. She hated talking about about the Cullen's, you didn't have to be a mind reader to figure that out.

"What did you do?"

Courtney was grateful for the distraction, as her sister stormed out of Jacob's small house. Courtney grabbed her pale arm before she could reach the boys. they gave her tentative looks.

"He didn't want this!" Bella cried, lunging for Sam. Courtney secured her arms around the smaller girls waist in attempts to protect her from killing herself. That was a perk of being strong, you can easily restrain people. And as small and harmless as she looks, Bella Swan is like a little Tasmanian devil when she gets angry.

"What did we do?" Paul demanded, his joking nature disintegrating. "What did he do? Huh? What did he tell you?"

"Nothing! He tells me nothing because he is scared of you!"

Paul and Jared laughed as Courtney slowly released her sister. She was smart, she wouldn't do anything stupid. She made eye-contact with Paul, and made a face that told him to not rile her up.

That was when it hit her that she shouldn't have let Bella go.

The smaller girl shouldered her way past her twin and swiftly and fluidly brought her fist up to meet Paul's cheek.

Courtney's eyes widened as her mouth dropped open in surprise. Usually it was Courtney who punched guys that looked like they could kill her. Not Bella.

"Oh shit." She mumbled, pulling Bella back a few steps as Paul's eyes narrowed and his breathing picked up in anger.

"Too late now." Jared smiled slightly.

Courtney watched in transfixed amazement as Paul's form seemed to rip to shreds, leaving that of a huge silver wolf.

Bella took of running in the other direction as a strong arm gripped Courtney's bicep and tugged her over. Sam Uley stood protectively in front of her, knowing that Paul wouldn't dare cross his Alpha, even in the wolf form. Jared whistled through his teeth, walking over to stand next to the mystified looking girl. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"He's gorgeous."

Embry laughed. "The one time Paul can be good looking."

Courtney gasped as another wolf materialized, rolling over and lunging for Paul's throat. She winced as they rolled around, snapping and growling before disappearing into the cover of the forest.

"Holy shit." Courtney mumbled, a grin spreading across her face at the new knowledge. "You guys are wolves! Like, real wolves! That's so cool!"

A ghost of a smile crossed Sam's face at the energetic female. "Embry, Jared, take the girls back to Emily's."

Jared saluted, good-naturally slinging his arm over Courtney's shoulder as they walked over to greet her sister. "Guess the wolves out of the bag!" He grinned.

***

The two boys yipped as they got out of the car, Courtney following eagerly as Bella hung back.

"You guys all look so alike! Like you could all be brothers!" She grinned, ruffling Embry's hair.

"We basically are."

"I think we should go see if Jacob's okay." Bella cautioned, slowly stepping out of the truck.

"I hope Paul sinks his teeth into him, serves him right." Jared said, grinning at Embry.

"No way, Jacob's a natural! Did you see him Phase on the fly?" He shot back.

"Come on! Judging by physical appearances, Paul would pound him into the mud."

"Courtney!" Bella scolded. "Jacob is out friend!"

The girls eyes narrowed, and she rolled her eyes. "Is he?"

"Hey, um, about Emily, Sam's fiancee, don't stare, it bugs Sam."

The twins shared a glance, wondering the same question. "Why would we stare?"

Jared pushed the door open, and they all filed inside, the smell of fresh-baked pastries floating in the air. Courtney inhaled deeply, and Embry did the same. "This is amazing."

"Are you guys hungry? Like I have to ask." A female figure stood at the counter, stirring something in a large bowl. Courtney grinned, the one sentence she would like to be greeted with whenever she enters a room.

She turned around, and Courtney then realized why she wasn't supposed to stare. Long, jagged scars ran down the side of her face, but her eyes were gorgeous, and her ace, scarred or not, was framed by long, dark hair. Courtney grinned, as she sized the two up.

"Who's this?"

"Bella and Courtney Swan, who else?" Embry introduced, and Courtney did that thing she does too much, making eye-contact with the woman as the two tried to read the other. It didn't count as staring, not if it was going both ways. At least, that's not what Courtney thought. Emily grinned, wafting over to shake her hand. Courtney smiled triumphantly.

"So you're the vampire girls?" She asked as she shook Bella's hand, who cleared her throat nervously.

"So you're the... werewolf girl."

Courtney snickered as Emily shrugged and replied. "I guess so, I am engaged to one."

She smacked Embry's hand as he was about to dig in to one of the muffins. "Save some for your brothers. And ladies first." She turned to the twins. "Muffin?"

"Um, sure." They spoke in unison, each reaching for one of the large muffins.

"I have a question for you." She pointed to Embry and Jared, who were having a great time stuffing their faces with muffin. They looked up innocently, mouths full like children caught sneaking food.

"When you shift, wouldn't it hurt like a bitch because of the re-arranging of your bones and internal organs?"

Everyone in the room seemed surprised by the question. Courtney looked around, "What? I'm a legend in science."

"You'll have to wait for Sam to get back to answer that." Jared cleared his throat. "I mean, neither of us learned the whole anatomy thing, we just think it's cool that we can turn into wolves."

Courtney burst into laughter at the response.

"You too, I can't say I'm surprised you know... leave it to Jacob to find a way around Sam's gag order." Emily chuckled, patting Courtney's shoulder when she complimented her on the muffin.

"Yeah, it made my entire life when Court beat him up."

She blushed sheepishly.

Embry laughed loudly, pointing at Jared as if he had said something magnificent. "I know! His thoughts were all jumbled after that!"

"So you guys can read each others minds?" Bella asked, picking a piece off of her muffin. The two went wide eyed as Jared smacked Embry's arm.

"Embry would you shut up? These are trade secrets, and these chicks run with vampires!"

"You can't run with vampires." Courtney corrected, and Bella nodded, finishing her sentence. "'Cause their fast."

"Well we're faster." Jared smirked arrogantly. "Freaked out yet?"

"Please." Courtney shook her head, the first time the boys took notice of the necklace hanging from her neck. They shared a look. "It'll take more then a couple muscular teenagers with flea problems to scare us away."

Emily laughed loudly at that, nudging Embry's pouting form with her shoulder. "I have decided to like this girl."

"That's a big decision." A new voice cut in, and three new figures entered the small house. Sam made a beeline for Emily and they shared a kiss. Paul and Jacob came in next. Jacob gave Bella a sheepish smile, and Paul smirked. "Sorry."

He turned to Courtney. "Jeez you don't scare easy do you?"

"Nope."

"Good to know." He cam and sat down, gesturing for her to take a seat next to him, which she did. She liked these boys. Hasn't even known them for a full day, and already felt like they could be very good friends. It was taking her back to her first day of school, when she hit it off with all of the Cullen's. But these guys are different. More... real.

"Courtney!"

She turned her head, and Bella made a gesture that she and Jacob were going for a walk. She nodded. "I'm gonna stay here!"

And she did.

"Nice necklace." Paul grinned. "Jake give it to you?"

"Um, yeah." I twirled it around on my finger, biting my lip. "Yeah he did."

"Hey Sam! Court wants to know about how we don't pass out from pain every time we shift."

"Yeah!" I sat up straighter, leaning forward to Sam. My interest was piqued. This is like something I have never even dreamed of seeing. I want to learn how it works. "Like, going from human to huge goddamn wolf can't feel good. A wolves internal organs are much different from a humans, and their bone structure. Teeth, skull, everything! How does that happen?"

Sam seemed amused, but pleased that someone asked. The other boys groaned. I guess they aren't so interested in anatomy. It was one of the only things I stayed awake for.

"We have enhanced healing." He began. "It hurt like hell the first time-"

The boys nodded in agreement.

"And we all needed something to use as a rock to phase back. But as for internals, it's all about the gene. Certain one of us in La Push gain the "wolf" gene. It makes the transition from human to wolf relatively painless... but you are naked when you phase back which sometimes isn't the most convenient."

I snickered. This is so interesting. A gene. I was expecting him to say "magic."

"When is the gene activated?" I asked, ripping off a piece of this insanely good muffin. Sam came over from his spot at Emily's side, and sat down across the table from me. His face was grave, and I didn't like the sudden change of atmosphere.

"When a bloodsucker comes to town."

I froze, my spine straightening. "Laurent?"

It wasn't the Cullen's. Since, you know.... and Laurent said-

I gasped, accidentally standing up, the sound of the chair scratching across the floor startling Paul, who dropped his muffin. "Victoria! The freaky cat bitch is gonna kill me! Because of the baseball incident, and the whole me stabbing myself and beating the shit out of her mate, and then having my m-" I paused, clearing my throat. "My, um, Jasper and Edward, kill him. She's here to finish us off! She heard they were going to leave! She knew they were gone! She knew they were gone so know she is going to get Bella and me!" I panted, my shoulders heaving up and down. My heartbeat must have been over the roof. She wasn't going to stop until we were both dead.

The guys at the table were all staring at me nervously. Sam bit his lip, and Emily held a spoon tight in her hand like I would lash put and beat someone up again.

I took a deep breath, making eye-contact with Paul before saying my next sentence.

"That annoying, ginger bitch." 

A/N: My friends talking about me^^. 

 Here's a long chapter! I just had to add in a part with just Courtney and the pack. Honestly, she is my child and I love her so much.  Also, have any of you recalled me saying that Courtney has a middle name? Because I honestly forget and if I did, I need to know so I can make a note and possibly change it 

  (Or if you have any recommendations, please say so here!) ... thanks!

 Thank you for reading! You are all lovely and reading your comments make my day!