AS IT TURNED OUT, BELLA'S INJURY wasn't that deep and didn't need much of anything except for some antibiotic ointment. Callie could tell that Bella felt really uncomfortable at Sue's, for she didn't know the Clearwaters very well, so she told Jake to go ahead and take her home— he had to drive Bella's truck, since Sue had said she could have a concussion. Callie stayed behind while Sue focused on taking care of her wound, intending to walk home afterward since she didn't live too far away.

"So," Sue said as she cleaned up the gash on Callie's arm. "You wanna tell me what the three of you were doing?"

"Not really," she answered honestly. "But if I tell you, will you keep it a secret from my uncle Billy?"

Sue smiled slightly. "As long as it's nothing too bad, then yes."

Calliope sighed deeply. "Bella's been feeling really down since the Cullens left. I mean, like, really down," she told Sue. The older woman's smile faltered at the mention of the Cullens, but only for the briefest of moments. Callie didn't notice. "And she only just recently started to get out of the house and do things. Anyway, she brought these beat-up dirt-bikes over to our house and asked Jake to fix them up. He finished them today, and we took them for a ride, but Bella lost control of her bike and hit mine, so we both crashed." She shrugged. "That's all."

"Sweetie, I am all for the two of you trying to help Bella." Sue gently grabbed Callie's wrist and turned it so that she could better see her wound, now that it had been cleaned. "But there has to be other things you can do with her— safer things. This needs eight stitches. Hold your arm just like this." She began threading the needle she had sterilized while Callie held her arm still and watched her. "So what's going on in the life of Calliope Black, huh?" Sue asked once she started to stitch Callie's arm, trying to distract her.

"Not much." Calliope hissed at the stinging sensation the needle caused. "Work and school. Hanging out with my friends." She paused, her expression growing sad as she continued. "Except Embry... he doesn't speak to us anymore."

Sue considered this. With Harry being on the council, she knew exactly why Embry had isolated himself from his old friends; but she couldn't tell Callie about the tribe secret. It wasn't her place, it wasn't even Embry's place. It was Paul's. "Maybe he has a good reason."

"A good reason to turn your backs on the people who have been your friend since birth?" Callie rolled her eyes. "I can't see how there'd be a good reason for that. No... something's going on with him, Sue. He went from hating Sam Uley, to hanging out with him, Jared and Paul all the time. They have some kind of secret."

"Have you tried asking Paul about it? I noticed you two have been hanging out again lately."

"Not anymore," Callie muttered. "I haven't talked to him in over a week now. He won't tell me whatever it is. Said I'm not ready to hear it. But I think he just doesn't want to tell me."

"Maybe he's trying to think of how to tell you," Sue suggested kindly.

The teenager shook her head stubbornly. "I don't like secrets," she said decidedly. "Especially when they're kept from someone you claim to trust. Someone who trusted you."

"Don't you believe in second chances?"

"The last time I gave someone a second chance, I only ended up hurt."

Sue frowned, wishing she could say something to the young girl that would give her hope and make her feel better. She never knew what being kept in the dark was like; Harry had been very open with her from the start. But each relationship had different dynamics and different circumstances. With Harry, he hadn't been telling Sue that he was a werewolf, or that she was his imprint. He had only been telling her that the legends were true. With Paul, everything was much more serious. He was a werewolf. Callie was his imprint. And he needed to figure out a way to tell her that without scaring her away. 

There wasn't really anything Sue could say to Callie, because it wasn't her place. So instead, she completed the task of stitching up the girl's arm. "Finished," she said, getting rid of the needle and leftover thread before reaching for a non-adherent pad and a roll of gauze. "Keep these on for the first day or so, since your skin is still very tender," she told Callie as she used the gauze to wrap around the wound and keep the non-stick pad in place over the stitches. "And don't overexert this arm. We don't need you tearing a stitch. Okay?"

"Okay." Callie nodded and kissed Sue on the cheek as she stood up to leave. "Thanks, Sue. You're the best."

The walk home was quiet, but peaceful. Callie didn't have her headphones in this time, since she had forgotten them in Bella's truck and hoped Jake would remember to grab them for her. Instead she walked in silence, trying to ignore the throbbing in her arm as she thought back to the way Bella had so recklessly drove her dirt-bike. It wasn't like Bella was intentionally trying to get hurt... it was more like she just didn't care if she did, because she just wanted to feel that adrenaline rush that came with danger. And that worried Callie— not just because Bella could get hurt, or because Callie herself had gotten hurt, but because Jacob could get hurt. Her cousin was heels over head for Bella Swan and was willing to do whatever it took to make her happy. That was dangerous in and of itself, especially because Callie was starting to think the only thing that could make Bella happy was the return of Edward Cullen.

She, personally, thought that was incredibly foolish of Bella. If the Cullens had moved away from Forks and cut off all contact with her, then there was no way of knowing if they would ever come back. And if Edward didn't bother to keep in touch with her, shouldn't she figure that he simply just didn't want her anymore? Yet still, Bella kept hanging on. Callie understood her, to a point: first loves always have some kind of hold on you. But it had been months, and Edward wasn't coming back. Jacob was right in front of her, though— Jacob, with his warm smile and kind heart and the fact that he was so into her he'd do anything for the girl. Why wasn't that good enough for Bella?

Callie didn't get it. Maybe she never would.

× × × × ×

FRIDAY NIGHT WASN'T VERY EVENTFUL FOR CALLIOPE. She hadn't been scheduled to work, and usually she would make plans with Kim, but her best friend had another date with Jared. Jacob had offered to bring her to the movies with him; he was supposed to be meeting up with Bella and a couple of her friends. Callie was thankful for the invitation, but didn't really feel like catching a movie, so she'd said no.

Not having plans wasn't so bad, though. It was sort of calming, to be able to sit around at home and not really have much to do. She cooked dinner for herself and Billy, and then the two of them watched TV together for a while. Once Billy had decided he was going to head off to bed, Callie retreated into the kitchen the wash the dishes from dinner and put leftovers away for Jacob if he came home hungry.

She was still in the middle of washing dishes when the front door opened and Jacob stormed inside the house. "Hey, how'd it go?" Callie turned toward him with a smile, only for it to drop when she saw how utterly furious he looked. "Jake, what's wrong?"

"I don't know." His voice was curt and angry as he snapped at her.

"Jake... you're shaking," she noticed, drying her hands off with the dish towel and setting it down as she focused on her cousin worriedly. "What happened at the movies that made you so angry?"

"I said I don't know, Callie!" He shouted at her, slamming his fist on the table. The wood cracked underneath his fist, an indent being formed in the table. Callie flinched, at both his actions and the venom in his voice as he spoke to her. "Just leave me alone!"

"What's going on in here?" Billy called out as he wheeled himself into the kitchen. It only took one look at his son for the pieces to put themselves together in his head. "Jacob, go outside."

"Why?" Jake demanded.

"Because I said so, son," Billy told him firmly, pushing himself over to the telephone as Jacob stormed out the door angrily. "Callie, don't follow him," he told his niece, but Callie was already out the door. "Callie!" Cursing under his breath, Billy quickly dialed Sam's number as he listened to the sound of his son shouting at his worried cousin. 

"Hello?" Sam's husky voice filtered over the phone line once he answered the call.

"Sam, this is Billy. I think Jacob's ready to shift."

"Where is he?"

"He's here, outside. With Callie."

"Get her away from him. We're on our way."

"I don't understand, Jake," Callie was saying as she stood on the porch and watched as Jacob paced back and forth in the yard near her. He kept yanking at his hair in frustration as his entire body shook with fury. "If nothing happened at the movies, why are you so upset?"

"I'm not upset, Callie, I'm pissed off!" He yelled at her. "God! For the third time, just leave me alone!"

"No," Callie retorted stubbornly. "You're worrying me, Jake. I'm not just gonna ignore that."

"I'm fine! Stop being so— so — so fucking annoying!" He spat at her, so angry that he couldn't even think of what he was trying to say. "Jesus! Sometimes I wish my dad would have just let them send you to your dad when our mothers died! Maybe then you would stay out of my business!"

Her breath caught in her throat at the words she had never expected Jacob to say to her. Sure, the two of them had bickered plenty of times before but never had Jake spoke to her so hatefully. "He doesn't mean it," Billy said quickly as he wheeled out onto the porch, reaching for his niece's hand. "He doesn't know what he's saying right now, Cal."

Calliope pulled her hand out of her uncle's reach, crossing her arms as she glared down at Jacob. He glared right back at her. "Yes, he does," she told Billy. "He knows exactly what he's saying."

Jake shouted then, but this time it was different. It wasn't just in anger— it was in pain. "What's happening to me?" He cried out.

All the annoyance from Callie's face faded as concern flooded her brown eyes with tears, watching as Jacob began convulsing on the ground in agony. She attempted to run off the porch toward him, but Billy grasped onto her wrist firmly. "What are you doing?" She demanded, trying to pull away. "We have to help him!" Seeing the phone in Billy's other hand, she said, "Call 911!"

"911 can't help him."

She looked at him incredulously. "Bullshit!" Callie yanked the phone out of his head, beginning to dial the three numbers— but the animal-like growl protruding from her cousin caused her to stop and stare at him in shock. Suddenly, he started to change. Physically. His bones cracked and somehow grew larger, his back arched at an angle that shouldn't have been possible for him. Before she knew what was happening, there was a huge wolf in the yard where her cousin had once been. "Oh, my God." Her voice shook as she stared at the russet-brown animal in shock. "Jake?"

The wolf whined in response, clearly afraid at what had just happened. She knew for certain that it was her cousin then. Her mind briefly flashed back to the wolf she had seen in the woods the night Bella had went missing. Was that wolf just like Jake? A werewolf?

As if the mere thought of him had summoned his presence, the very wolf on her mind tore through the trees in her backyard and sprinted toward them. His silver fur glinted under the moonlight, and there were three other wolves running alongside him. The largest one had black fur, and the one beside him had brown. The last one, who was behind the other three, had dark gray fur with black spots here and there. Callie stared with wide eyes as the four of them circled around the wolf that her cousin had turned into. They growled and barked at him, somehow communicating with him while Jacob whimpered, not understanding what happened. He looked back toward the porch where his cousin and father were watching— and then suddenly, he turned and sprinted into the forest. The others followed after him, trying to catch up.

Once they were all gone, Billy turned toward his niece, who was staring out at the trees in utter shock. "Let's go inside, Callie-bear," he told her softly, patting her on the back. "We have a couple of things to talk about."

Shell-shocked, Callie didn't know what else to do other than turn and follow her uncle inside the house.