Stealing Butterflies

Chapter Seven

I love it when a librarian remembers my name.

Even with teachers it makes you feel really cool because they always say "Mr." or "Miss" before your name. I would always get really bummed when a teacher would say "Embry" instead of adding the much-desired title. It made me feel like a prince, or some fancy-smancy lawyer that had a big house and a shiny briefcase, even though I would make a horrible professional anything.

Mr. Call.

It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

When I phased for the first time and found out that Sam, oh-almighty-alpha, was sort of the "teacher" of the pack, I automatically expected him to say "Mr." before our names. But he didn't. Which was kind of a letdown.

Anyway, I think it's even cooler when a librarian remembers, because teachers have to. They get paid for it. Librarians, though, the ones that work at the public libraries, they just remember because they want to. Which is really super empowering. Hearing that little old lady say "Good morning, Embry" just makes me feel like I've won a ton of money, or food. Food would be good, too.

So today at the public library, I was freaking out over my kind-of-sort-of date with Katie, because I'd never actually been on an honest-to-God date before. Well, unless you count Eloise Jenkins in seventh grade when we got ice cream and walked down the beach talking about Pokémon, which I don't.

She was my first kiss, actually.

It was at Henry Akena's birthday party in the summer after ninth grade, in his mom's linen closet.

I'd like to say it's a good memory, but to be quite honest, it really isn't.

She had on really sticky lip-gloss and then after those seven minutes in "heaven" wouldn't even look at me for the rest of the night, which was a major blow to myself-confidence.

It doesn't matter though, since I phased a few months later, anyway.

And, thus ended romance for me.

So I was heading out to the parking lot of La Push's very own Tribal Library, spazzing out so much I couldn't walk straight when the librarian Mrs. Goldstein popped out of nowhere in her shiny-white Nikes.

"Hello, Embry."

She smiled at me through her thin bifocals and then just went on her merry little way.

And it felt good, being remembered.

I regained some feeling in my legs and could walk correctly without worrying that I might plow headfirst into a wall. I was smiling, and even almost started whistling because I was excited now.

Mrs. Goldstein remembered my name.

Katie was gorgeous.

And I couldn't wait to introduce her to everybody at the bonfire.

Quil was still where I left him, leaning against the passenger's side of my truck seething to himself. He had this whole dark-sexy-brooding look on that was scarily similar to the stalker-vamp, whose name I'm not going to even try to remember.

"Dude," I said, smacking his head, which sent that expression flying.

"Ow!"

"Quil, I love you man, but the modeling career is just not going to work out for you."

"Where's Seth?" he asked after giving me a tough sneer.

"No idea," I said, slipping into my car. "I couldn't find him."