INTRODUCTION

Hi. My name's Colby Swan.. Yeah, yeah, unfortunately, my older sister happens to be Bella.. I mean not that I actually dislike her but... Sometimes (okay, alright, damn it, all the time) I just wish she'd get her period in a shark tank. And no, before you all go rushing to conclusions, this has nothing to do with her getting at least 90 percent of the attention from every single person we know, friends, family, or otherwise..

Personally? I just think she's pathetic. I mean she can't do anything for herself, she doesn't take any sort of real risks, she's just basically here.. And half the time, lately (well, at least since I've moved back in with her and Charlie, my father, in Forks) she acts like she doesn't even want to be here, either..

Saying the above might make me a heartless bitch but frankly?

I don't give a damn. That's just how I feel about her lately... I mean when we were little I really couldn't stand her either.. Everyone just sort of always heeded her beck and call. And since we're older now?

It's gotten so much worse, so much more annoying to constantly deal with..

But hey, I suppose I should thank her for that... Because if they weren't all so damn busy being up her pathetic helpless ass I'd never have half the adventures I manage to.

You've all probably heard (and been put to sleep by) her story.. Now let me tell mine..

It all started on Halloween with your cliché high school party.. I never expected to see Jacob there.. I really didn't expect him to finally acknowledge I wasn't the bratty kid sister or the bane of his existance anymore, either, because I'd been leaving the damn guy alone (or pretending to hate him, acting annoyed and a little mean if I had to deal with the guy) since I'd moved back to Forks..

And I damn sure didn't expect him to suddenly start showing interest in me..

Neither did my big sister.

And that's where it all started.. But I'm gonna stop babbling now and start with the story.

"Charlie is going to have a stroke if he happens to see you going out like that." Bella stated matter of factly as she eyed her baby sister(who currently wore a corset like black top, devil horns, a plaid micro mini and over the knee boots with a longer jacket) with a raised brow as Colby continued to get ready to go out to some house party.

Naturally, Colby hadn't bothered with the formality of actually asking for permission.. She always did this, she never seemed to get caught, either, which to be honest, baffled Bella and sort of made her a little jealous.

Her life sucked right now and obviously, Colby was living it up, having a blast.

Colby was hardly ever home, always out on dates, usually never with the same boy more than twice, she was always involved in stuff the school did like fundraisers, dances, plays and talent shows.. She made friends easily, she basically did whatever she want whenever she wanted to do it.

Bella asked their father once how come he never enforced a curfew or anything on Colby and he'd said that "She makes good grades, she's not always with one guy and isolating herself from everyone else."

Lately Bella was starting to get really, really jealous of her little sister. Nights like tonight just rubbed it in.

"He's not going to see what I'm wearing, idiot.. What the hell do you think the trench coat's for, huh?" Colby asked as she slid a headband into her long dark hair and puckered her lips, slicking on red tinted lipgloss, blowing a cocky kiss at herself in the mirror before turning around to actually look at her older sister and smirking for a few moments.

"What time are you coming home?" Bella asked, not that she cared, she was just curious.. Was she going to have to wait up, yet again and tiptoe downstairs to let her sister in the house? Or was her sister going to actually come home at a decent time?

"Whenever.. What are you, my mother?" Colby asked as she gave her sister an annoyed eye roll. She knew Bella wasn't asking these questions because she actually cared and worried by now, nope.. Bella was asking them because it put her out to have to wait up until one or two am and let her in the house.

Especially because there was nothing in it for her.

"Happy halloween, sis." Colby said as she slid her feet into a dangerously high heeled pair of leather over the knee boots and took off at a run down the stairs.

She'd almost gotten out the door and her father called her name.

"Shit.. Fuck my life right now." she muttered anxiously, -afraid that her luck might be about to run out, she might be about to finally get caught or something,- as she took a deep breath, slapped on her best innocent face and skipped into the den as Charlie asked, "Where are you heading?"

"Amber, this friend of mine.. She wanted me to come over.. Might even want me to sleep over.." Colby said after faltering for a few seconds.. The party was at Ambers house so it wasn't a total lie, of course.. Her father just didn't need to know that it was a no parents party..

Even if nothing happened, he wouldn't allow her to go and she'd been dying to go to the party all week..

According to Amber, a cousin of hers that lived in the dorms at Port Angeles University was coming and bringing older guys with him. . Older guys that for once would not know who's kid sister she happened to be or that her father was a cop in town..

Colby was sick to death of all the boys in Forks, really.. The only one she'd actually liked, Mike Newton, well.. he used her to get to her older sister because he didn't have the actual balls to approach Bella. This wasn't counting Jacob Black, of course, but she learned not to count him long ago, back when they were kids and all he wanted to do was hurt her feelings or make her cry.

"This late?" Charlie asked, brow raised as he fixed his eyes on his youngest child. Colby didn't even break a sweat, she'd gotten so good at this good girl/bad girl thing while living here, she knew exactly what was needed to get out.

"She's having personal problems, Daddy.. She doesn't wanna be by herself right now. She's in pajamas, sobbing at old movies, the whole bit. It's sad, really.. I was just trying to be a good friend." Colby said as she gave her father a pleading look and waited impatiently...

"And her parents are okay with you coming over this late and maybe staying over?" Charlie asked.. He sensed that there was more to Colby's going out than she was letting on, but Colby hadn't been doing the things his oldest had lately, so he gave her a lot more leeway than his oldest daughter Bella got.

After all, she seemed to be a good girl.. She kept an all A grade point average nearly (one B and understandably, that was in Math) she was always volunteering or on some committee for Forks High, she didn't turn into a mess or a shell of herself if a guy broke it off with her and left her..

In fact, she was doing what every normal teenage girl did and she dated different guys casually.

Some of them he hadn't been too fond about, of course, and sometimes he worried about her, wondered if he gave her a little too much leeway, but..

She wasn't in the shape her older sister was in currently.

"Mhmm. They said it was fine.. I mean all we're gonna do is maybe walk around town.. And her parents make her carry pepper spray, Daddy, before you go freaking out on me.. Besides, I doubt anyone is gonna mess with me."

"Why's that?" Charlie asked, hiding a chuckle as Colby hugged him and said with a teasing grin, "Because my dad's like the most amazing cop in this town. Duh." while thinking to herself in amusement 'Because I'm not a pathetic succubus loser like my big sister, per chance?Because guys only notice girls who have problems and have to have a guy to complete them.. Or the fact that I'm too smart, I don't actually care what anyone thinks of me.. Take your pick, daddy dearest.' as Charlie finally relented but called out the door behind her, "No boys!"

She pumped the air with her fist in a self congratulatory kind of way and texted her best friend Amber, not bothering to watch where she was going. In the process, she collided with a rock solid chest and looking up, a scowl lit on her face briefly as Jacob Black stood there, eyeing her in this really, really strange way.

Jacob had been following the scent of coconut as it tickled his nose and bewitched his keen shifter sense of smell.. He'd had to phase back to human, but he continued to jog, using his intense focus, his keen sense of smell to guide him. He turned down the Swan's block and then he saw her as the smell got much stronger.. His lips twitched and curved into a slightly softer than normal smile and then it hit him.. If Colby was his imprint and not Bella... How the hell was he going to survive the whole process? Because Colby, with good reason, obviously, hated him. Of course, she didn't know that the only real reason he was her biggest childhood tormentor when they'd been younger was because he was actually was completely crazy about her back then..

It went without saying that actually hadn't changed at all, but now it was too late.. She seemed to hate him.. Or spend ninety percent of her time avoiding him, which lately, had been driving him absolutely crazy and making a mess of the friendship he had with her older sister Bella, but now at least he knew why..

Colby was clearly meant to be his.. He'd just imprinted on her and right now the handsome Quileute male was torn between 3 distinct emotions because of it.. He was happy it was her and not Bella, and he was angry, because he knew he'd made a huge mess of things back then and lately, they fought nonstop when they were around one another, and he was worried.. Because lately, he'd noticed things about her that concerned him.. Until this exact moment, he hadn't been able to figure out why.. Now that he knew she was his imprint, he knew why he'd been worried about her lately.

She just seemed to be going totally wild.. Hiding it well from her father and almost all other adults of course, but she was definitely not a little girl anymore, and she didn't mind acting like it, either.

"Aren't you a little old to be trick or treating?" Jacob asked as he tried to get his head around what he had just realized had happened... And who it'd happened to.. Given the past history with his apparent imprint, he wasn't sure if this was going to go well at all.

"Going to suck up to Bella again?" Colby retorted as she slid off the trench coat and tapped her foot impatiently, wishing this conversation was over already. The more she was around him lately, the more upset it made her watching him being sucked into Bella's trap just like everyone else.

They'd never actually been really close, but.. She'd always had this huge crush on him.. Sadly, the feeling wasn't likewise.

"No, Colby, I'm going over because she needs a friend." Jacob said quietly as he eyed the skimpy costume she was wearing for a moment, musing aloud, "Why not an angel?" and immediately mentally kicking himself.

Colby laughed -and coughed a bit because the way he was looking at her, that smoldering look in those sexy brown eyes, and the tone of his voice shockd her - and then shrugged as she said simply, "Why be good when you can be bad and have more fun though?" as her friend's silver Mustang convertible pulled to a stop on the curb nearby them and Amber laid on the horn impatiently.

"Have fun babysitting the zombie.. Just remember, Jacob.. He'll come back.. He always worms his way back in.. And when he does? It'll be Jacob who all over again.. It's a shame really.." Colby said casually over her shoulder as she walked towards her best friend's car.

"What's a shame." Jacob asked, brow raised as her sharp observation hit it's obvious intended mark.

"All that.. Wasted on her pathetic ass." Colby said then added with a moment's pained look in her eyes "But hey, it's none of my business and it never has been, right?" as she gestured to him, winked and flopped into the passenger seat of her best friends car. As they drove off, he gaped at her in shock..

And then the fact that he'd just let his imprint take off.. In a car full of older teenagers, at least 3 boys in said car at that.. To a party where there was definitely going to be no adult supervision whatsoever and lots of drinking if he had to guess.. When that sank in, he did something that if asked a month prior, he'd have laughed about and called you insane..

He walked away from the Swan house, (because he'd been intending to at least go and check on Bella so his having followed his nose here wouldn't be quite so obvious),and back towards the general direction he'd seen the car go in when it had left.

About two blocks away, Bella texted him and he looked at it, laughed and shoved the phone back into his jeans pocket.

Why bother with her when the sister he'd always secretly wanted more was being a bit more flirty lately and seemed like she might actually care just a little about him, according to the statement she'd just made before getting into her friend's car...

Bella sure as hell never had anyway.

As he walked into the party, he heard Def Leppard playing, Pour some Sugar on Me, and he heard people towards the front chanting and laughing, whistling and yelling.

As he got closer to the front, he figured out why.. And it took all the self control he did have, which wasn't a whole lot to begin with, to keep from killing half the guys around him as Colby and at least three other girls were standing on a counter, beer in hand, dancing way too sexy and being entirely too comfortable with it..

Which made him really stand there and take a good look at her, take stock of her.. When the hell had she went from shy and sweet to wild and outgoing?

When had she developed her attitude as of late?

Before he could stop himself, he was pulling her off the counter and carrying her over his shoulder back outside.

"What the fuck? Seriously?" Colby hissed as she glared at him angrily, while also blushing so badly she could feel her skin heating up.. She bit her lower lip, shuffled her feet and for whatever reason, she couldn't look up and meet his steady gaze.

"You're asking me what the fuck?" Jacob snapped as Colby looked at him and muttered something he couldn't hear then said aloud, "I didn't tell you to fucking follow me.. Why did you follow me, Jacob? Babysitting Bella get a little too boring finally? Or did you maybe realize I was right about her and what I said before I left?"

"Neither.. Does your dad even have the smallest clue what you're doing right now?" Jacob asked, rage taking over. He was trying his best not to wolf out at this point, jealous at all the catcalls she'd been getting with her little skin show, her sexy dance,when he walked into the party and plucked her off the bar.

"I told him where I am." Colby said defensively as she looked up at him then asked "Who died and made you the fun police, huh? I don't mess with you when you're over at the house mooning over my selfish bitch of a sister, do I?"

He looked at her and the smirk came before he could stop it.. So she was jealous of Bella's clingy and almost obsessive need to be around him.. Maybe that explained why she either avoided him or gave him attitude.. and sometimes he'd look up and happen to see her watching him this look in her eyes like watching him with her sister was killing her.

He couldn't actually think of anything to respond to that so instead, he grumbled and picked her up again, carried her back towards a playground nearby the house he'd just ran out of with her over his shoulder..

She protested angrily, all the way there, of course, but he sat her down on the swingset in the play area and paced in front of her, his hand in his hair, swearing to himself.

Colby watched the strange and bizarre meltdown of Jacob Black with an amused and curious look on her face. When she laughed a little, his head shot up and his eyes practically burned as he looked at her and asked, "What the fuck are you laughing for?"

"Nothing, carry on.. Does this all have a point, or?" Colby asked as she bit her lower lip.. The way he was acting right now was sort of scary.. But it sort of thrilled her too, she'd seen the jealousy in his eyes earlier when he'd pulled her off of the bar back at Amber's parents house.

"What the fuck's gotten into you lately, huh?" Jacob asked her as he looked at her, arms crossed, feet tapping impatiently. He was expecting an answer.

"Nothing. I'm just being me." Colby said as she watched him, brow raised.

"This" he gestured to her outfit, "Is not you."

"I'm not a little girl anymore, Jacob, and I haven't been around for a while now.. So how do you know this isn't me?"

"Because, Colby, I can tell, okay?" Jacob said quietly, starting to calm down. He could sort of sense that the intensity in his arguing with her, the way he'd overreacted earlier in general was sort of scaring her even if she wouldn't show it.

"Whatever. How the hell can you tell? I mean answer me because I'm dying to know.. Last I checked, you were Bella's biggest fan.. I don't get why, but hey, to each their own.."

He shrugged and said quietly, "I'm just worried about you.. Nobody else seems to."

She looked at him with a wary gaze as she bit her lower lip and sighed then said "Damn it, I just wanted to have fun tonight, okay? I wanted to forget about Newton's insignificant ass dumping me because he heard Bella was single again and she might be looking... I was hurt and I wanted to do something that'd kind of seem like he hadn't hurt me. I wanted to get out there and show him that I didn't need him, damn it. That as usual, I'll be alright, I can handle me. Kinda blew up in my face because he didn't even show. Not that it'll matter to you.."

"Mike? You're upset because Mike dumped you?" Jacob asked with an amused expression on his face.. Until the jealousy that came with hearing his imprint (and the girl he'd loved before imprinting on her) talk about her feelings for another guy.

Colby gave him a raised brow and then wondered to herself, 'The actual fuck is his deal tonight? His moods are all over the place.. And why'd he look so jealous? It's not like he'd ever want me so I stopped bothering to try for the one I really wanted. This whole being hurt by Mike's my fault, anyway, my whole 'if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with crap. ' but kept quiet, watched him a few moments as she rubbed her arms. He'd dragged her out of the party without even letting her grab her coat and she was kind of cold now as a result.

"You cold?" Jacob asked as he held out his jacket to her.

"Someone kind of dragged me out of that party like a caveman and I left my jacket." Colby said with a small scowl as she took the jacket, covertly inhaled the way his cologne clung to it, wishing he'd given it to her for another reason besides his just being a pretty nice guy.

"Sorry.. I guess I overreacted." Jacob admitted, though he knew that if he had a choice, he'd have done it again in a heartbeat. She was his, she was meant to be with him.. And it'd made him crazy jealous watching her dance like that, hearing guys yelling and whistling at her and her friends like they had been.

"Not really.. Maybe you're sort of right.. Maybe this isn't me.. But neither is just lying back and doing nothing, dealing with pain.." Colby said as she stood then asked, "If it makes you feel better, Jacob, you can come back and hang out with me.. I just.. I hate going home.. That means I have to see her.. I can't s tand watching how pathetic she's being about Cullen's choice to leave her."

Jacob nodded and then thought it over. "Guess since you really seem to want to go back to this party, I can go with you." he said as she raised a brow, obviously shocked by his saying he'd come back with her.

"So.. Why did you drag me out of there?" she asked as they walked back down the street towards the house. He shrugged, tense, not sure what to say..

How do you explain to someone that they're your entire life now.. That you've always kinda loved them.. Especially in a situation like their present one?