Welcome to Book 2, readers. There will be much more romance in this one. Of course, Jacob's still a wee bit of an arse if we're all honest here.

Onwards.

If your heart gets scared every now and then

Then put your hand on the heart and coax it

The heart is an idiot, persuade it with love

"Aal Izz Well" from the movie, 3 idiots

Chapter 1

"Maddie," Willow started quickly. Her hands were shaking, and I was entirely sure what was wrong, but Willow took one of my hands, holding it tightly as she smiled, "I need to tell you something, and to be honest, it took me and Embry a long time to convince the others that this was a good thing, but..." Willow dragged me along toward Embry, waving a hand.

"And it's going to be really hard to believe, I know," Willow continued, and I wasn't entirely sure what to say or how I was supposed to respond, but... it felt like I should be more than a little apprehensive. Willow was acting weird, and Embry was standing quite a ways away from us for some unknown reason.

"Okay," Willow said, taking a deep breath and looking me in the eyes, "Embry's a werewolf. So is Jacob and Quil and several other people." I stared at Willow for a long minute, holding back my laughter before it burst through my lips.

"What?" I laughed because that wasn't even possible. No, siree, supernatural beings simply did not make any scientific sense, so I was pretty sure Willow was messing with me. Willow tightened her grip on my hand.

"It's true. You know I wouldn't say something without it actually being true," she said seriously, and I was at a loss. Part of me wanted to believe her because how fucking cool would that be? My much more rational part of me screamed preposterous, and I was no good at ignoring it.

"I... that doesn't," I fumbled, when suddenly wolf came running out of the woods at Embry who poofed into a giant wolf, and dear me... everything sort of went black.

XXX

"Maddie...?" Willow was leaning over me with a concerned expression. I smiled slightly at her.

"You know, you say the weirdest things," I started in a dazed tone, "I could have sworn werewolves existed... Isn't that funny?" Then I saw Jacob, who was frowning slightly.

"Sam's going to kill you," Jacob said, staring Embry down. Embry didn't look like he regretted a thing though. He merely shrugged. Slowly, my brain started to think again, and I jolted upward.

"Wait! That really happened?" I gasped, staring at Willow with a wide eyed expression, "But you... and Jacob... it doesn't make logical sense!" I pressed my forehead into my knees in silence. Willow patted me on the shoulder gently.

"I felt the same way," she told me, which was a bit comforting.

"He won't kill me," Embry said after a minute, "Her sister knows, we could always say Bella let it slip." I stared at Embry.

"You want me to lie!?"

"No, no... just, uh, alter the truth," Embry attempted with a slight smile, and I stared at him in disbelief.

"There is no way," I deadpanned. Embry slumped slightly. Jacob sighed.

"You shouldn't have told her," he reprimanded Embry, "She's still an outsider." I flinched at that because I felt a little rejected. Bella knew, and she was dating Edward, so why wasn't she an outsider? I frowned, staring at my hands.

"She's not an outsider," Willow snapped, glaring at Jacob then. I smiled at Willow because she was great. Good, old Willow would look out for me no matter what, and that was a nice feeling. I could understand why it had been so hard for the both of them to tell me about it, and Jacob was making it more and more obvious to me, even though Willow valued honesty in her relationships. It was probably hard on her to keep this from both her mother and little brother. Telling me would probably make things easier for her.

"She's my best friend," Willow continued, standing with her eyes narrowed at Jacob. She looked like she wasn't afraid of him, but I could tell from the way one of her hands hand twisted to grip her pants that she was a little scared, "And I'm not going to lie to her and everyone else for the rest of my life! I have to have someone to talk to."

"You could talk to Emily," Jacob responded with a hard expression, and I pressed my lips together. I didn't know who that was... but Willow obviously did.

"No, I can't," Willow said with a long sigh, "I mean, I do, but the two of us don't... we don't like the same things." Willow had drawn into herself then, and I watched in envy as Embry pulled her toward him to offer comfort to her.

"Instead of fighting about what has already occurred, could someone please tell when all of this happened?" I asked, throwing my hands up so the attention was drawn away from Willow, who obviously didn't want it. Jacob stared at me for a long moment. His shoulders were stiff, and his fists were closed tightly.

"Last year," he said after a beat. I considered this for several seconds.

"Okay," I said, pushing up onto my feet, and brushing the grass and leaves off of me, "That makes sense... I'm going home now." I then turned and walked away from them with a sense of purpose. The sky was murky, and it smelt like rain. The walk home was going to suck.

So, uh, Maddie finally found out the secret. I think at this point Jacob's starting to be confused by his feelings... yadda yadda.

Maybe gimme a review?

~Minatu