CHAPTER SEVEN

The Start of Something New

***

I was dead asleep. 

 For the first time in weeks, I was actually having a good sleep, which didn't make any sense, considering the conversation from earlier was ringing in my ears all day. I was all screwed up at training, and the whole mind reading thing didn't really help my case at all. It sucks knowing that other people know the thoughts that you would much rather keep private. Clearing my mind is something I am going to have to learn eventually.

 But I obviously haven't learned it yet. 

 So yes, I was asleep, mentally relishing the soft embrace of the only place I can go where I am not drowned by weird. 

 But then, of course, it ended. 

 A hard, painful, pull at my gut made me jerk upright in bed, my arms flailing around in my covers, almost making me fall right off of the bed. The pain worsened, and I gasped, crawling out of my bed to my window.

 Something was wrong. Embry was in trouble. 

 I gasped for air, wasting no time in swinging down from my window, the small fall not hurting me anymore then I already was. I stumbled once, almost falling as I began to run, the pain in my stomach making tears spring to my eyes. I just took off, no shoes, no shirt, but a destination in mind. 

 I focused on phasing, but the pain was making me lose all concentration, and my body remained human. Billy Black's house was a good five minute run from my house if you cut through the woods, but the scratches on my feet went unnoticed. 

 "Where is he?" I yelled, gasping again and groaning as the pain in my stomach doubled. Paul, Sam, and Jared were already there, as was Billy Black. I spotted Embry immediately. On the ground, groaning my pain and jerking around wildly. I shoved Jared to the side and fell to my knees on the hard ground. 

 "T-Tony?" He managed, shaking again. Sweat slicked his hair back, and his eyes were screwed up in pain. I threw all caution out of the window, and gently rested my hand on the side of his face. "Yeah, yeah, it's me. Just relax, it'll be over soon." 

 "W-What's h-" his voice cut off by a loud scream, followed by a crack as his arm bent at an odd angle. I winced deeply at the tears streaming down his face, remembering exactly how I felt the first time I phased. 

 "It's okay, I swear to God it'll be okay," I cooed, brushing his hair out of his eyes, "okay? It'll be over soon, I promise." 

 Another crack, another earsplitting scream that seemed to invoke more pain in me then it did in him.  

"Tones you have to back up," Paul reached forward to grab my arm, but I resisted, no part of me wanting Embry to have to go through this alone. "No-" 

 "Come on," another set of hands grabbed my arms, yanking me off of the ground. A blinding pull at my gut made me thrash around in their grip, trying to get back to Embry, even though I knew them together would be no match for me. Them separate are barely a match. Especially considering how much pain I was feeling right now. Secondhand pain is the worst kind of pain. You can't do anything about it, you can't even help. 

You can just watch. 

 So that was what I did. 

 I watched as he convulsed on the ground, the process seeming to last hours, until there was no boy left, just a large, light brown wolf. 

 "Lead him to the beach," I spoke up as he turned and jetted into the forest, whimpering and howling. "He loves the water, it'll calm him down, I'll be there." 

Paul and Jared nodded, shifting effortlessly and running into the woods. I turned to run off, but Sam's arm prevented me from going much farther. His eyebrows creased, and his eyes were dark. "Are you sure about this?" 

 I nodded stiffly, my limbs longing to run, "I know Embry." 

 That was the last thing I said before I took off running again, this time down the dirt road, hanging a sharp left and almost slipping on the ground slick with rain. I knew I had to go fast, and the beach was still relatively close. I almost fell about ten times before the grey waves of the ocean came into view. The sand felt rough against my feet as I ran toward the shoreline, jumping over a rock and struggling to catch my breath, right as the big wolf stumbled from the forest, whining and tripping over it's own feet. 

 I smiled, yep, definitely Embry. 

 "Em! Em it's me!" I waved my arms as the wolf caught sight of me, making a firm point to not stare directly into his eyes, as I don't think Embry really needed that right now. I took a step back so my feet were in the cold waves, making the wolf take another step forward, until he was so close I could raise my hand and touch his face. "Okay? It's Tony. The weird friend who is super sorry for blowing you off? I guess you know why now..." 

 I took two more steps back, giving Embry a chance to enter the water, his body shuddering. I wracked my mind for something that could calm him down. "Um, you know I can't actually think of something to say right now... I usually just recite the periodic table," I laughed to myself, glancing at the sand. "That's pretty nerdy of me, huh? I guess that's who I am. I could also quote the entire first chapter of each Harry Potter book... but that would probably scare you more then calm you down... oh, I know! You once told me that Taylor Swift was your favorite person to ever walk the face of the Earth! I agree, by the way-" 

 A surprised cough cut off my nervous rambling, and I looked down in shock. Sometime during my nervous rambling about books, science, and Taylor Swift, Embry had phased back, and was shivering on the sand, looking like he was terrified, but also... relieved in a way. 

 I exhaled sharply, kneeling down beside him, "hey, champ." 

 Embry groaned in response, letting his head fall against the damp sand, squeezing his eyes shut tight. "What the fuck just happened?" 

 "You phased." 

 It wasn't my voice that spoke, so we both jerked our heads up to glance toward the shoreline. Sam threw a pair of shorts at me, smacking me in the face, and then continued to speak like that was exactly what he meant to do. "Get him back to Emily's, we have some stuff to discuss." 

 I nodded, handing Embry the shorts and helping him to his feet as he hastily climbed into the clothes, looking a mixture of scared of Sam, and embarrassed that he saw him naked. I could relate to that on a personal level. 

 "And Tony?"

 I turned back around, and Sam glared at me harshly, his eyes narrowed, "avoid eye contact." 

 I frowned, but nodded again obediently, wrapping Embry's arm around my shoulder and snaking mine around his waist, my heart feeling like it would explode from the close contact. Sam took off in the opposite direction and I muttered a mental 'fuck you' for the lack of help. 

 "Why do you need to avoid eye contact?" 

 I rolled my eyes, that was such an Embry thing to do. Turn into a giant wolf, and then have the first question he asks be about a comment from the scary guy. "It's no big deal, do you have any other questions?" 

 "Yeah, what the fuck?" 

I laughed lightly at that, his reaction reminding me of what I was thinking the first time I phased. "Believe it or not, there is a scientific explanation." 

 "Of course there is, if not you would be having a... mental breakdown." His voice trailed off near the end, just as we turned onto the dirt road that lead to Billy's. His eyes widened in realization, but I jerked my head away when he turned to look at me. "This is why you have been being so weird the past few weeks? Because you're a giant wolf?" 

 I shrugged, pursing my lips, "yeah, pretty much." 

 "Oh my God-" he stopped moving for a second, his eyes widening to approximately the size of Mars, and I almost pulled him over, but he, thankfully, started limping again at exactly the right second. "Tones, I had no idea- I thought that you were on like, drugs or something." 

 "You were not the only one who thought that." I responded offhandedly, kicking a rock as Billy Black's house came into view. I thought it was no big deal, and was about to apologize for the whole "blowing him off" thing, but he seemed to have other ideas, as he grabbed my arm, and, with surprising strength, spun me around so I was facing him. I quickly averted my gaze, glancing at his shoulder instead of his eyes. 

 Damn, even his shoulders were hot. 

 "Tony, I am so sorry, I didn't know why you were all of a sudden being so weird, and hanging out with Paul, and I got scared because I thought you had changed completely." He gave me his best lopsided smirk, and it made my heart melt. "That's what calmed me down. You started rambling like the nervous nerd you are, and it made me realize my best friend was still himself." 

 Best friend. 

 "Yeah, I'm still pretty lame." I admitted, shrugging nonchalantly and smirking slightly, "I do usually just say the periodic table... it's really rhythmic... and makes sense." 

 "The periodic table literally only makes sense to you," Embry chuckled, rolling his eyes playfully. "I was really looking forward to hear you sing Taylor Swift, though."  

 I blushed lightly, switching so I was staring directly at his mouth, which may have not been the best place to look for my self control.  I immediately felt my face turn bright red, looking up at the sky, where the sun was peeking from the horizon. "You know I'm a fabulous singer." 

 "I know I forget what your eyes look like." 

 My entire body froze, and I swear I didn't mean too, but I squeezed my eyes shut against my own will. "They're kinda... really dark brown." 

 "Come on, Tone, why aren't you looking at me?" He reached up to try and push the top of my head down, but I smacked his hand away, earning a laugh in response. 

 "Embry, you really don't want to-" I tried to warn, ducking under his hand again, too nervous to disobey Sam to fully appreciate how beautiful his laugh is. "Like, trust me." 

 "It's hard to trust someone who won't show you his face." He shot back, a laugh bubbling from, his throat that unconsciously brought a smile to my face. "It's quite suspicious." 

"You're being suspicious!" I shot back, turning away to glance at the door, expecting to see Paul staring back at me, as he seems to always be there when I want him to be. Embry took my distraction as an advantage, and grabbed my arm, for the second time today, swinging me around so we were face-to-face. 

 His entire face seemed to relax, his eyes softening and his pupils doubling in size. I sighed deeply, as his face turned a light shade of pink. I didn't know what to do, but I guess his knee's gave out, and he stumbled forward, making me steady him with my hands on his arms. We were so close, like, so close our noses were almost touching, and I had a mental flashback of how hard it was for me when we were across the hall from each other. 

 Embry's hands tightening considerably from the place they had landed on my stomach. All of my muscles were tensed, and I pressed my lips into a firm line, my teeth grinding against each other ferociously. 

 Neither of us spoke, and I had a sneaking suspicion it was because we both couldn't. We just stared a each other, drawn together by an invisible attraction that we knew we had to defy. 

 But God, those eyes didn't make it any easier. 

 And neither did the fact that neither of us were wearing shirts. 

I finally found the internal strength I didn't know I possessed to rip my eyes away from his, taking a small step back. 

 "Uh, wanna get a haircut?"