If there's one thing that Ariadne Walker does well (not including cooking bacon, guessing people's heights and shotgunning three beers in a row), it's minding her own business. It's a family trait of sorts, really. When she was younger and her good-for-nothing father decided to leave her, her mother and her little brother for a much younger (white) woman - it was the talk of the town. It didn't help that after he left, her mother suffered from quite the public breakdown and cut her hair in a fit of rage in the middle of a shift (she's better now though). It also didn't help that La Push was a small community and thus it was pretty much anything anyone could talk about for months.

And it really freaking sucked.

They'd whisper amongst themselves and she'd have older women come up to her mother at the supermarket and offer her their (unwanted and unnecessary) sympathies or teachers would try and be nicer to her and say things like 'we heard about your home issues' and would never push her to answer in class. Ariadne hated it. But thankfully, it died down by the time she reached high school but after suffering from almost a year of that bullshit, Ariadne vowed she'd never be like those gossip mongering vultures who thought it was their job to stick their noses where it didn't belong.

So, when Jared Cameron, Paul Lahote, Embry Call, Jacob Black and Quil Ateara all contracted some sort of "illness" that had them growing a foot overnight and muscles as big as her head - she didn't say a word about it. The general consensus among the student body was that they were all on steroids and part of some cult led by the ever-so-elusive. Sam Uley. She wasn't really sure who came up with that brilliant idea but for obvious reasons, she didn't buy it (truthfully, she thought that only idiots would believe that).

She didn't know what was happening to them and quite frankly, she didn't think she really cared all that much. Sure, she was in the same year as a few of them but they weren't ever friends. Ariadne was fine with minding her own business.

Of course, then she stumbled across an old Quileute book about the legends and well… she began to take notice of certain things.

It was hard not to notice things. Like the one time, she saw Jacob playfully nudge Quil into the wall and in turn, made a dent in Michael Burke's locker. Or the time she brushed past Jared's shoulder and she almost jumped a foot in the air because she thought she touched a heater. And there was the time her phone vibrated in her pocket and Embry perked up at the sound despite the fact that he was sitting all the way at the front of the room. And the amount of time they spent in the forest, barely dressed was questionable as well. It all added up and she came to the quiet conclusion that these boys were, most likely - as the legend went - wolf warriors.

Of course, it was really just a theory and she didn't really know how it worked exactly (how did they turn into wolves? How long did it last? Were there any female wolves?) but it was better than anything else anyone had offered up as an explanation.

Instead of doing anything about the information, she kept it to herself and began to actively avoid them. It was easy to do anyway considering they were never friends in the first place but she made a point to never go anywhere near them. Sure, they protected the rez from 'the cold ones' (she still wasn't really sure what those were) but that didn't mean they weren't dangerous and she had a feeling that having any involvement with them would lead to trouble. And she didn't think that they'd appreciate her knowing (tribal secrets and all). So, her plan was to stay away from them until she went off to college.

And for the most part, her plan went well. She stayed out of their way and they went about their cold-one-killing business.

Until the day she got partnered up with Embry Call for a history project.

xxx

"Embry Call and Ariadne Walker."

When Mr Miller called out her name, Ariadne fought the urge to groan. It was bad enough that she was getting paired up with a freaking werewolf (she didn't really know what to call him) but there was also the fact that said werewolf barely even showed up to school these days and when he did, he was always half asleep. And the project spanned over the course of two months. She would've mumbled something under her breath but she was pretty sure he would've heard it.

But instead of showing any reaction at all, she picked up her books and bag and made her way to where he sat at the back of the class.

"Hey Embry," she gave him a small wave and plopped down into the seat beside him. He turned to her and gave her a small nod in greeting.

He was as polite as ever which wasn't all that surprising - he was always the most reserved of his friends. And she did like him best although that had a lot to do with the fact that they both terrible cringe-inducing names (she would never forgive her mother for naming her after a mythical princess) but she liked to think that although her own name was pretty crappy, it was better than being named after a character from an old soap opera.

"Hi Ariadne," he replied before he shifted in his seat so he was facing her. She almost wanted to rear back at the sight of him - she knew he was big but she didn't realize just how big he had gotten. Pre-wolf, he was pushing 5'9 but now she was pretty sure he was 6'3 and his entire frame was almost double her size. He didn't seem to notice her tenseness and merely rested his chin on his palm and waited for her to say something; he looked as if he were about to fall asleep at any given second.

She gave him a hard look and felt a pang of sympathy - the bags under his eyes weren't a good look which she felt kinda annoyed by since usually, Embry was quite handsome and served as great eye candy. He was still attractive despite the tiredness but the haggard look he was wearing didn't suit him (although Ariadne didn't think anyone could pull off that look) (except for maybe Jacob Black) (or Paul Lahote).

"We should probably do this later," she decided after a moment's silence. He looked surprised at her decision and raised a single eyebrow.

"Shouldn't we do it during school hours?" He asked in between a yawn. He stretched his arms out over his head and Ariadne could feel the warmth radiating off his skin.

"No offence but your attendance rate is pretty outrageous," she kept her tone judgement-free and was relieved when he didn't show any annoyance at her jab.

"Okay, fair point but I'm not free all the time - I - uh -"

"That's fine," she cut him off before he could spin some lie and she saw the flash of relief in his eyes. "We can work around your schedule. What time are you free?"

"I'm free until midnight," he answered automatically. He didn't seem to realize the oddness in his statement (who made plans for midnight?) and just absentmindedly drummed his fingers against the table.

"Okay, Cinderella," she snorted, purposely ignoring the way his eyes widened by a fraction when he realized what he'd said. "Well, I'm not planning on keeping you until midnight but we can work on it after school at my place or something."

"Your place?" He echoed with an unsure expression on his face.

"Unless you want to do it at yours?"

"No! Yours is fine," he shook his head hastily and again, she didn't badger him for his reasoning and merely nodded. She pulled a book from her bag and flipped the pages to where her bookmark was. Embry stared at her for a few moments, curious and somewhat relieved by her laidback attitude.

"Uh...what should we do now?" Her reaction to him was slightly jarring as most of the girls in his class were either afraid of him or crushing on him. Ariadne didn't seem to fit into either category.

"You look like you could use a nap," she told him honestly. "Why don't you catch up on some sleep while I start an outline? Mr Miller isn't paying any attention anyway."

She nodded her head towards the front where their teacher was paying more attention to his laptop than he was to his students.

"I don't want you to do the whole thing -" A scowl began to form on his as he immediately assumed that she thought he was some loser who couldn't at least help in a project.

"Relax, Call." She rolled her eyes and leant back into her seat. "I'm just doing an outline - you look like a zombie so do us both a favour and have a little nap before you start drooling."

He looked like he wanted to protest but she returned her attention to the book at hand and he was left staring at her side profile.

"Go to sleep," she told him firmly without looking from the book in hand. Instead of complaining, he merely grabbed the opportunity given to him and laid on his arm and promptly fell asleep.

He didn't wake up until the bell went.

xxx

The first time someone from the Pack came to her house, it was a Thursday night. The doorbell rang only once and Ariadne hurried to open the door, hoping it was the pizza delivery guy with the large cheese pizza she had just ordered.

Instead of her cheesy pizza, it was a shirtless and barefoot Embry Call looking as if he had just had a fight with a grizzly bear. There were leaves in his cropped hair, dirt along his bare shoulder and faint scratches running along bis naked torso.

"Holy shit, are you okay?" The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"Am I late?" He breathed out, eyes flickering about her house. "And I'm fine... I tripped."

"Late for...?" Her eyebrows pinched in confusion at his question, unsure of what he was talking about. She disregarded the second half of sentence - she wasn't going to get the truth out of him so there was no point in disputing his lie.

"The project?" He prompted, as he lifted a hand to pick a twig out of his inky hair. "Didn't we agree to meet up today?"

She looked at him and fought the urge to laugh. Thursday's were the only days they finished school early and so they'd agreed that they'd meet at her place but after waiting around for hours, she'd assumed he'd forgotten and didn't bother to come.

"You're like nine hours late," she deadpanned, unsure if he was being serious. "Embry, you were supposed to be here at one, it's almost nine."

"I know but I had to swap shifts with Jake… at my job … and there was lots of trouble but I'm free now," he shrugged as he balanced on the balls of his feet.

"Embry -" she started to protest but he shook his head.

"We should definitely start this soon." He cut her off and peeked into her home. "Or are you busy?"

"Not really but -"

"Awesome, let's do this." He clapped his hands together as if that settled things and he shot her a bright grin.

"It's pretty late and I -" She wanted to point out that it was almost 9 pm and it wasn't normal behaviour for him to rock up and demand they work on a history project but just one look at him told her that he wouldn't listen.

"I'll probably be busy after this so…"

"We can do this tomorrow -" she wasn't particularly interested in the idea of spending her Thursday night working on her project

"I won't be at school tomorrow," he interrupted with a guilty expression. "I, um... yeah, I won't be there."

"... Okay, fine. Whatever," she shrugged and gave in. She understood that his schedule was whack and if this was the only time he was going to be free, she supposed she'd have to work with that. "Come in. You can sit in the lounge, I'll go grab the stuff."

She moved aside and made room for him to enter. He slowly shuffled to her living room while she bounded up the stairs to her room to grab her history things. She returned downstairs to see him on her sofa, legs folded and arms stretched across the back of the long seat.

"Ready?" She called out and made her way to him. She dropped the pile of books onto the coffee table and gave him a small smile.

"Yeah." He didn't seem eager to start and she wasn't sure why he was forcing himself to be there but she didn't bother asking and merely sat on the rug across from. Before she could appoint him some work, her mother's voice rang through the house as she heard footsteps rush down the steps.

"Ariadne, I'm leaving now! Who was that at the door - oh hello," Ariadne's mother paused at the doorway when she caught sight of the tall boy sitting on her black couch. "Who is this?"

"Oh, hi Miss Walker," Embry shot her mother an awkward smile and his hand flew to the nape of his neck.

"This is Embry Call, we're doing a project together." Ariadne's explanation was to the point and she didn't even bother glancing up at her mother.

"You Tiffany's boy?" Her mother recognized the surname as well as the dimple in his left cheek.

"Yeah," he nodded once although looked uncomfortable on the topic of his mother. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Walker. Uh, sorry for being here so late."

"You can call me Lori," she told him with a brief smile as she slipped her jacket on. "Boy, you look like you've just been run over by a truck. You okay?"

"I just got off a shift," he explained quietly as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He glanced up at Ariadne, hoping she'd jump in before her mother asked any more questions but she wasn't even looking at him

"Where do you work?" Lori was asking more out of politeness than curiosity as she pulled her hair up into a tight ponytail.

"Oh… it's like this… um… like… security thing I do for the tribe," he stammered as he looked anywhere except for her eyes. Ariadne couldn't help but snort at his terrible lie - it was really a surprise that no one else had figured him out by now.

"Right, okay." Luckily for him, Lori was even less intrusive than her daughter so she didn't even flinch at his obvious lie and merely shrugged her shoulders. "Ari, my car is still getting serviced - can I take yours?"

"I thought Sue Clearwater was picking you up?" Ariadne asked as she fished her car keys out of her own bag. When she found them, she tossed them over to her mother who was getting ready in front of the mirror that hung in their hallway.

"I'm at Forks Hospital tonight," Lori sighed as she caught the keys with ease. "Mason is sleeping over Colin's house tonight so don't worry about him."

Ariadne didn't even feel slightly guilty about the fact that she hadn't even noticed her younger brother's absence. It was nice not having the little punk playing his video games on full blast.

"What time will you be home?" She asked her mother, dreading having to catch the bus to school.

"Don't worry I'll be back before you leave for school," Lori replied as she finished adding the final touches of her lipstick and pulled her handbag onto her shoulder. "Don't stay up too late and lock the door. Embry, are you staying over tonight?"

"Huh? No - I'm not - I wouldn't -" The boy in question quickly straightened and shook his head - visibly appalled by her assumption.

"Okay, well if you change your mind, there are spare blankets in the linen cupboard." Lori didn't seem affected by Embry's shock and just carried on until she was halfway out the door. "Bye, Ari! Bye, Embry! Remember to eat some dinner!"

And with a final wave, Lori was gone.

"Is she actually okay with me being here or are you going to get a growling later?" Embry voiced his doubt when he was finally able to close his gaping mouth.

"Did it look like she cared that you were here?" Ariadne snorted at his question and pulled her assignment paper onto the desk.

Her mother had a unique way of parenting. When Ariadne's father left, he had told Lori that she was too controlling and that he felt like he was being suffocated by her - Lori took that to heart. Out of fear that her kids would one day feel the same way, she had a very blase way of handling things. As long as Ariadne and Mason weren't doing anything unsafe, illegal or in negatively affected their school life, they were practically allowed to do anything they wanted.

"But what if I do some weird shit?" He wondered aloud, taken aback at how cool Lori was with leaving her daughter home alone with a shirtless guy that was clearly lying about having a job.

"Are you planning on doing some weird shit?" Ariadne quirked an amused eyebrow at his question.

"What? No! Of course not!" He immediately shook his head and she saw a faint blush appear on his cheeks.

"Then we're good," she replied as flicked through her textbook to the page she'd bookmarked and highlighted.

"Your mum is pretty cool," he commented in awe.

"Yeah except for the fact that she named me Ariadne," she complained, shuddering at her unfortunate name. Embry didn't refute her claims and merely snorted in agreement. "Here, you read this and write some points and I'll do the introduction."

She handed him a thick booklet she had compiled the previous night and he took it gingerly. He leant back into the seat and started to read it while Ariadne went about her own work.

An hour later, the only thing Embry had actually finished was three-quarters of the large pizza she had ordered (and she had a feeling that he wasn't eating as much as he could). His "work" which she could tell he was actually trying to do remained undone as he fought the urge to shut his eyes.

"Embry…" Unable to hold herself back, Ariadne heaved a sigh and placed her pen down with a frown.

"Yeah?" He mumbled back in reply as he stared down at the textbook, rereading a line for what felt like the thirteenth time.

"You look like absolute shit and you smell even worse," she grumbled and made a point by rubbing her nose which had been suffering for the last two hours.

"Huh?"

"For God's sake, just go home," she crossed her arms and gave him an exasperated look. "You're half dead! Give yourself a break, go home and sleep!"

"I can't - I mean - I don't need to!" He blustered out, looking panicked for some reason. He immediately straightened his back and shook his head frantically.

"You've been reading that same page for the last forty minutes," Ariadne clicked her tongue in exasperation. He'd written a total of three dot points as opposed to her three pages of notes.

"I'm fine!" He insisted and tried to prove a point by staring at the book in his hand. "I'll write more - I promise!"

"I'll seriously call Tiffany right now!" She threatened, not believing for a second that he was okay to continue. The moment she mentioned his mother, his head shot up and he stared at her in disbelief.

"No! I - no - Look, I can't really go home right now, my mum… she's - she's not in the best mood right now," he scratched the back of his neck and looked away. "But I'm totally fine! I'm just a little tired from the job but I can still -"

"You can cut the bullshit with me," Ariadne cut in before he could finish and rolled her eyes. "I know you don't work as a security guard or whatever lie -"

"I do work -!" He spluttered, a look of pure panic encompassing his face.

"I don't know what it is that you do every night with your shirtless friends that has you looking like you this." She gestured to his tired frame with a pointed look. "And honestly, I don't really care. That's your business - I'm not going to ask you to explain yourself but I am going to ask that you don't make me feel guilty and just get some sleep or something. Even if it means you have to sleep on my sofa."

"... Huh?" Her response wasn't anything he was expecting and he stared at her as if she had grown an extra head.

"Embry, whatever it is you're doing has you exhausted and for whatever reason, you don't want to sleep at your own place so you can crash here." She slammed her book shut and began to pile the other textbooks on top of each other.

"... But…"

"We have two months to do this stupid project and I refuse to try and do it while you're recovering from your little … forest trips," she finished off with an impassive shrug. Sure, she had planned on avoiding him and his little crew but that wasn't going to happen and she couldn't help but feel pity for the guy - the least she could do was offer him a place to sleep.

A thank you of sorts - for protecting the rez.

"Are you being serious?" He didn't seem convinced and was staring at her with wide eyes.

"Yeah, I am. For the duration of this assignment, you're free to sleep here whenever you want as long as you promise that you some of the work and that," she reasoned with him as she stood up from her position on the floor.

"And you won't ask any questions?" He gave her a sceptical glance but she could see that he was seriously considering her offer.

"Have I asked you a single question about your private life?"

He remained quiet as he mulled over her question and when he came to the realisation that she hadn't pried into his personal life despite being blindingly aware of his sketchiness, a grin spread across his face.

"Holy shit, you're actually the greatest person in the world," he lifted his legs onto the chair and stretched his long arms above his head.

"That's the sleep deprivation talking," she pushed him down so he was lying flat on his back on her comfy couch. "Go to sleep and next time you come over, bring some clothes to change into so you can shower."

He didn't respond and she watched in faint amusement as his eyes fluttered shut, his exhausation clearly taking over. She remained motionless for a few moments just watching him, before she snapped out of her daze and picked up her books and quietly made her way up the steps to her room - she doubted he needed a blanket, he was already warm enough as it was.

When she offered him a place to sleep, she was unaware of three things. The first being that he took the promise very seriously and would continue to show up at her house at odd hours of the night to take his spot on her couch. The second thing was that by offering him her couch, he took that to mean she offered her friendship as well. And finally; that somehow, her offer was also extended to anyone else in the pack who needed a place to sleep.

a/n: lol this is very different from my other twilight fic but fun to write anyways heh also this is NOT an Embry/OC fic but there'll be lots of Embry/Ariadne friendship (and well pack/Ariadne friendship) (this is a paul/oc)