While Amber stood, browsing through the rows of books the school library offered, Bella instead sat within earshot of the girl.

Bella was starting to regret being so close to her.

"I mean, have you ever even been to a party before Bells? And now you're wanting to throw one?" Amber shook her head before shooting a glance at the stationary brunette.

She scoffed. "I'm not the one throwing it - Alice is. I'm being forced to go, and yes it would be nice to have you there."

"Totally not cool with the guilt trip thing going on there." Still, Amber rolled her eyes as she sat down, shoulders slumping in defeat. "Fine. If the punch isn't spiked, I'm leaving."

Chuckling, Bella nodded. "Thank you so much. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"Mmm," she hummed out. "Give me your Literature notes for the test and I will call it even."

She took back her promise a few days later.

Walking into the large house, she held her hands up in disbelief as she spotted her friend. "You make me come to a party that you don't even want, make me spend all afternoon getting ready, only for you to show up in a tee shirt and some jeans? I mean, c'mon Bella, they are not even the best jeans you own. You could've at least picked the ones that made you ass look great."

Bella quirked an eyebrow. "I did wear my good converses though." When Amber groaned, she continued on. "I just asked you to come. Nobody said you had to dress up."

"Come to the Cullens house and not dress up? Honestly, Bella, I'm offended." Still, Amber cracked a smile.

Of course, it was that exact moment when Edward decided to make an appearance, followed by Alice. "Is our house really that special?" He teased.

"Please," she retorted, playing it cool. "I get more dressed up to go to the grocery store."

It was a weird relationship between Amber and the Cullens. She was wary of them at first, and even more so when they had left Forks out of the blue. Their disappearance had launched Bella into a major depression, and try as she might, Amber wasn't able to shake her out of it. Still, she had remained loyal to her friend.

When they had returned, Amber wanted to be mad at them but saw how well he treated Bella when he returned. The entire family even reached out to her and it didn't take long for Amber to fall for the charismatic nature the family possessed. Even Jasper, who was the quietest of the bunch, always made her feel at ease. She was still cautious in the back of her mind but always put it out of her mind.

Amber raised an eyebrow as Edward simply smirked. "Now, I was promised spiked punch."

The hours went by and the house started to fill up with more and more people. Soon the entire placed was packed, which made Amber slightly baffled. She didn't even know this many people were in Forks, much less went to her school.

She couldn't help the snicker that emitted from her as she saw Bella chatting with Amber and Jessica in the next room. Well, Bella wasn't really talking. More like Amber and Jessica talking while Bella stood there trying to look happy. As she caught Bella's eyes, she motioned for her to come over. Looking relieved, she watched as her friend bid them goodbye and walked over.

"Really, Bella. If I'm interrupting you from having too much of a good time, feel free to go back over."

Bella looked down. "Oh, shut up Amber."

The said girl clicked her tongue. "Now you owe me again. Honestly, Bells, you're going to be in some serious debt soon."

As she was about to respond, something caught her eyes over Amber's shoulder. "I'll be right back," Bella mumbled, gently pushing past her.

Amber looked behind her, but Bella was already almost completely out of sight from the crowd. Shrugging, she turned back around and headed towards the group of people who might have been dancing. Or, in Amber's opinion, were imitating a fish out of water.

Still, she joined right in and continued to dance until the punch really went through her system. Which really made her want to find a bathroom as soon as possible.

After searching for at least six minutes and fifty four seconds, she found one that wasn't being used already, and just as she was about to reach it she bumped into somebody.

"I'm so sor..." The voice trailed off as she turned to look at him. "Hey! I know you from somewhere."

"Right," Amber drawled. "So not that I'm not thrilled about this slightly creepy conversation, because that totally what I came here to do, but I have to excuse myself." However, as she looked at the him longer, he did seem familiar. She brushed it off though and made her way around him, until he grabbed her arm.

He peered closer, eyes suddenly lighting up. "Wait, your Jamie's sister! I remember you from the time you came to the beach in La Push. I'm Quil."

"Don't really wanna know how you remember that, but it's nice to see you again." Giving him her best (sarcastic) smile, she headed towards the bathroom.

But as she stepped back out, she felt slightly guilty with how short she was with him. He wasn't too bad on the eyes either, so Amber set out to find him and apologize.

After a good ten minutes of searching she was just about to give up when she spotted his profile in a separate room. Not paying attention to the others, she opened the door and stepped in. It took about .14 seconds for her to regret that decision.

As she scanned the room, she noticed the Cullens on one side. The four present, along with Bella, all had grim expressions on their face. All five heads snapped towards her, and she felt the heat rising to her face.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "Didn't mean to interrupt. I'll just..." Trailing off, she pointed towards the door. As she was turning, she quickly looked over at the three boys standing on the left.

Quil was there, but his face was void of any happiness she saw in him earlier. Next to him was another familiar looking face, but she couldn't place him right away. Neither were looking at her.

The third however, was looking directly at her with an almost confused expression on his face. She met his gaze and her entire body froze. Somewhere in her mind, she was internally screaming at her feet to work and exit the room. Clearly, something serious was going on and she had no desire to find out what.

The other part of her mind was ignoring the voice to run. She couldn't force herself to break eye contact with him. Her breath caught in her throat. Body was obviously listening to the unreasonable part of her mind and wasn't moving. Hands trembling.

What the hell was happening to her?

On the other hand, it took Embry everything he had for him not to stride across the room towards her. He felt like his heart was about to beat out of his chest, could feel the pressure in his body rising. He forgot about the entire situation in Seattle. Forgot about the Cullens standing five feet from him, or even his brothers right beside him. All the mattered was her.

His knees felt weak, like they were about to give out on him at any time. Hands gripped the table to support him like his life depended on it.

Time had felt like it stopped as he continued to stare at her. Dimly, in the back of his mind, he knew he recognized her. Remembered her from the night at La Push, remembered how nervous she had made him, even then.

It was like a million strings were pulling him towards him, but he continued to fight the instinct to hold her close. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her.

Amber snapped out of it. She didn't know how long their little moment was. It could have been five seconds or five hours. She was honestly clueless about all of this.

No boy had ever made her feel this way, and she didn't like it. She didn't like giving anyone that much control over her. Not again.

She choked out a breath, unaware of how long she had been holding it in. Her eyes flashed around the room, taking in the expressions of everybody else. The one expression that everyone seemed to share was shock.

Edward looked the most calm out the group. His eyes flickered back and forth between the two and finally settled on her face as his face showed a trace of understanding.

That look scared her the most.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, shaking her head. "I didn't mean to, I should..."

Instead of finishing her sentence, she gave him one last look before darting out the room. Pain settled in her heart as she heard a whimpering sound emit from behind her. She ran out and slammed the door shut behind her.

Not once did she look back.