A second

A minute

An hour

A day goes by

I'm hopin'

Just to be by your side

I'm turnin'

The handle

It won't open

Don't make me wait

Cause right now

I need your smile

Knock knock ~ Knock Knock - Lenka

After that incident, Grey took me back to the back house. The whole day, I was in my room. I didn't have lunch or dinner. I didn't talk to anyone either. I felt bad later. The next day, I was staying back from school again. My pack wanted to keep Ashley or Katie back with me but I firmly refused, which they didn't like but had to accept. An hour after they left, I got off my bed. I went inside the bathroom and took a long shower. I towel dried my hair. I let my hair curl up. The ol' Jessie hairstyle. I put on slight eyeliner but then removed it. A green shirt and black jeans. I was set. I walked out of the door, a file in my hand. It was a cloudy but bright day. All children were in school and most adults off to work. My eyes set on the back of the main pack house. I was going to meet an old friend.

I knocked on the clinic door. 'Come in!' a familiar voice sang. I clasped the door handle, taking a breath in. How much does she remember? 'The door's unlocked, dear.' the voice encouraged me to open the door. And I did. Inside, sitting on a stool beside a patient's bed was Mama Ebony. A smile made its way on my face. My automatic reaction to her.

When her eyes locked with mine, she stood up. 'Jessie...' she whispered. I was supposed to shake my head and give her a look like 'What are you talking about?' Instead, my eyes teared up and I nodded, moving closer. 'Jessie!' she said as she grabbed me, giving me a much needed hug. 'Mama...' I started to sob. I missed her so much...

'What are you doing here? When did you return?' she asked, not letting go, as if I was a dream. It made me want to cry more. How horrible... leaving her like I did.

'I-I'm with the other pack, mama.' She let me go and took me to the bed, making me sit along with her. 'I'm a White Wolf.' I smiled, rubbing my eyes and she gasped. I explained to her everything. Everything ever since I ran away to when I beat that guy John. After everything, she hugged me again. 'My strong girl.' she whisper and my eyes teared up again. 'Not as strong as you, mama. Who's the lady who helps all those injured little wolves?' I grinned and she slapped my hand lightly 'Oh, you.' we both laughed.

'Mama,' I got serious 'Where's Evan?' I asked and she smiled. He transferred to Chicago shortly after you left.' She patted my hand when my face visibly turned sad. 'He earns more there anyway, sweetheart. Don't worry.' I nodded with a frown 'So you were alone all this time... ugh. I'm horrible. So stupid and selfish.' I turned to mama 'Mama I'm sorry. I'm so sorry-' 'Silly girl.' she laughed 'Who said I was alone?' I looked at her, confused 'I was taking care of all the clumsy people in this pack! My goodness, you won't believe how many wolves end up hurting themselves. Especially during the weekends!' That made me laugh and mama smiled. Before she could say anything else, there was a knock on the door and I stood up, alarmed.

I didn't have my colored contacts and my hair was curled. Other than my brown hair turned black, I looked exactly like Jessie. 'Hide me!' I whispered and mama pushed me onto the bed, surprising me, and pulled the curtains around the bed. I cut of my scent just as the door opened. I smelled Noah and my heartbeat sped up. Idiot! I have to calm down or he'd hear me!

'Ah, Noah. How are you today?' Mama Ebony asked, her voice expressing true concern immediately. She made him sit down on a stool and checked him. 'Honestly mama, I feel much better. I don't know why they made me take off from school today.' he grumbled and I heard a slap. 'What makes you think you are much better? Look at those bruises! What made you jump in the middle of the race is beyond me, you silly kid!' I would have laughed at mama Ebony's scoldings if I wasn't hiding from my mate. 'It will heal by itself, you reckless child. You may go.'

'But I was doing a good deed! I was protecting my mate!'

All logic went to hell my heart skipped a beat at "mate".

'Mate...?' Mama Ebony asked. 'What are you talking about, Noah?'

It was quite for a few seconds before Noah said 'Jessie's back, you know.'

I heard mama filling water in a glass. 'How can Jessie be back?' She gulped down the water. My sweet and innocent mama. Against lying at all costs but trying her best right now. 'She left the pack a long time ago.' Noah stood up.

'I broke a bone yesterday, mama... but my nose is fine.'

I heard the door open and slam shut.

Mama let out a breath and I opened the curtains. We locked eyes.

He knew my scent.

I left the clinic soon after and went back to my pack house. If I wasn't there when they got back from school, they would go mad searching for me. I was happy about that.

I walked into the kitchen, putting on an apron. I may be good at photography, painting and fighting but cooking was... a bit tough. Anything other than cereal could be poisonous. Okay, maybe that was a bit of exaggeration.

I remembered the waffles I made. After eating them, Troy was taken to the hospital for food poisoning. I had put in vinegar instead of butter or oil.

Okay... maybe I wasn't exaggerating. But it won't be so bad this time!

I took out the cooking book from my bag and decided to surprise my pack when they returned. There were still three and a half hours left. I decided on the Indian rice dish called Pulao.

Usually, we always eat take-out unless Lily, Sammy or Grey cook something.

Yeah, it wasn't so good. The onions had burned and the rice was not cooked properly and the vegetables had become way too soft. There was only about half an hour left. I hid the disaster and looked through the Indian cuisine recipe book for something quick and easy to make. I found this dish called "Dosas" which was Indian pancakes. After seeing the picture on the web I remembered a neighbor of mine when I was with my parents. This Indian lady used to give these to us when she visited sometimes.

It was pretty easy.

Yeah, even though it was slightly burnt and I remember them being whiter, my "dosas" didn't look too bad. It was slightly brownish and plate size. It got suck to the pan when I tried to remove and and got a huge whole but it tasted fine and crispy when I tried it.

I made more and put was putting them on the table when my pack entered. They looked shocked alright, when they saw the apron around me and the mess in the kitchen. I saw Troy take a step back and frowned. 'Maybe yesterday's incident went to her head, Grey.' Katie whispered, staring at me. Sammy took a step towards me 'Jessie, are you okay?' As my pack came up with all sorts of reasons why I would be cooking -all reasons other than 'Aw, she just wanted to surprise us! How nice!'- Grey put a hand to his mouth, trying to control his laughter. What the-!

'You people this is edible stuff! I even tried it myself!' Everyone went quite and nodded as if I was scolding them. I sighed putting a dramatic hand to my forehead. 'Just go and wash your hands, kids.'

When everyone sat down, I explained what they were about to eat, along with the recipe to earn their trust. I ended my speech with 'It's not poisonous.' They all nodded in sync again and poked the food, as if it was gonna explode. Not the food, but I was sure I was gonna explode. To calm myself, I stuffed a huge piece of dosa into my mouth and tried to chew it. Hey wait a minute... something was missing...

'Chutney!' I yelled as I stood up. I had forgotten to make chutney, the side dish that people usually eat dosa with! I groaned as I sat down on my seat and rubbed my forehead.

'Sammy... order Chinese, please.'

*~*~*~**~*~*~*

Thanks for all your support, you awesome people! Life's been super tough and it might get worse. I don't have a laptop and it was hard to get the internet on this stupid old computer working but it's been done and here is Chapter 23! I seriously hope you enjoy reading this. I'll be awaiting comments and votes to make my parents support me more but that... eh. Just enjoy this chapter! :D