CHAPTER 1 JACOB POINT OF VIEW
I sighed as I stared at my open closet and the piles of clothes that were flung everywhere. I couldn't find one decent thing to wear for tonight. I already picked out a pair of faded jeans, but I could not find a shirt to wear with it! I was being picked up in 20 minutes for my date and all I could find was that dark blue shirt. I sighed again as I finally picked it up and tugged it on. I was seriously running low on time. I picked up a brush and ran it through my hair and tied it back in a ponytail. I had just splashed on a little bit of Dad's old cologne when I heard a honk coming from out front. I ran down the hall and shouted to Dad that I was going to study with a friend and was about to race out the door when I heard him call to me. I stopped and turned slowly around to face my dad.
"Jake, you be careful around the Cullens. They aren't what they say they are." I groaned; I absolutely hated it when my dad acted like this. He was always saying the Cullens were lying about what they were. I already knew that. My boyfriend, Edward, let me know that awhile ago. I learned the secret long before Bella even moved up here. Dad didn't know I knew though so I played dumb as usual.
"I don't know what you mean Dad. The whole family is just really strong. I don't see what you mean by they're different!" I did know what he meant though. He meant that they were vampires. And it was true. They were real, live, blood-drinking vampires. Okay, maybe not live; but you get what I mean. Dad was just so prejudiced against them! I'm in love with Edward and Dad just keeps trying to convince me that they're inhuman-which is true- and unnatural- not true. We eat meat because we need to. They drink blood because without it, they'd die. Another thing Dad doesn't know is that I'm gay. I feel bad about keeping it from him, but he's pretty strict about some things! He would flip out if he found out that I'm gay; not even mentioning the fact that my boyfriend is Edward Cullen. Besides the rest of the Cullens, no one else knows.
"Just be careful Jake." He looked concerned, so I sighed. I wish he would just lay off a little.
"Sure, sure Dad." He looked slightly relieved. So hopefully he'll be off my back for tonight. "Dad I gotta go, Edwards waiting out front." He waved me away so I raced out the door towards the shiny, silver Volvo waiting out front. I eagerly pulled open the passenger side door and jumped in.
"Jake! I think you got taller. There's no way though, right?" I looked at him and grinned.
"As a matter of fact I did; by 3 inches; Which means that now I'm 6' 4". Beat that Eddie!" He glowered at me. He hates being called Eddie, which is exactly the reason why I call him that. And I know for a fact that Edward is only 6' 2". He can't grow anymore because of the whole vampire thing so I'm going to be taller than him forever. Forever. That's a touchy subject; like Bella, I want to be immortal so I can be with Edward forever. Edward would change me anytime I was ready; I just don't want to leave Dad yet, not forever. He needs someone to live with and check up on him every once in awhile. Getting around in a wheel chair is tough and he can't do it alone. That's what I told Edward. Unless we can figure something out with Dad, I can't be changed yet. Edward understands that and is trying to help me figure out if there's anything we can do. Until then, we're happy just the way we are.
"Where are we going to go today, Edward?" It was his turn to decide what to do. Last time I picked, we went to see a movie. Neither of us could focus on it; it practically had everyone asleep. Everyone except for, like, 2 people left early. No joke. We decided to just go out to eat after that; which we both enjoyed. We went to the Italian restaurant in Port Angeles that he and Bella went to when she got into trouble dress shopping. Who gets into trouble while dress shopping? I mean, it just doesn't happen!
"Tonight we're going to go on a hike." He smiled smugly. I was thrilled; I knew where we always went when we go on hikes. To his beautiful clearing that he found years ago. It was the perfect time to go too! It was mid-spring and the flowers would be mostly full. The wind was usually gliding gently around the meadow and made the flowers dance. Look at me, I'm a poet! I laughed aloud and Edward laughed along with me; he was following my train of thoughts and he knew everything I was thinking. He knew what everything that everyone was thinking: even pretty little Bella. She truly believed she was the only exception to his little gift.
"I know, Jake, but you know that I have to keep up the pretense of being in a relationship with Bella if we don't want people to think we're gay. She gives us a reason to be around each other sometimes. Jake, no! You know we can't do that; not yet." I sighed. He read my mind again. I was thinking that maybe we could come out and tell everyone that we were dating. I'm tired of keeping this a secret and I am really jealous that he spends so much time with Bella now; even though I know that Edward doesn't care for her at all. I was pretty focused, and I was more than a little startled when he pulled the car over.
"Tell you what, Jake. Let's compromise. We'll talk about this later today as long as we can have a real date for a little bit, deal?" Then, he smiled that damn crooked smile, the one that always made me do whatever he wanted. Damn him.
"Sure, sure. It's a deal. But we will talk about it later, right?" He nodded once and he reached into the back of the Volvo and pulled out a picnic basket. I grinned knowing that it's just for me. He doesn't need to eat food or drink water. Then I try to figure out how I missed seeing the huge picnic basket that was in the back seat. How do you do that?
"Don't worry Jake. I know you're unobservant. It's part of what makes you so cute." I started to protest when he pulled me close and kissed me once, on the lips. He kept me close for a few seconds, and then pulled away. He kept my hand in his though and he started jogging to the clearing. The actual walk there was no fun; I liked sitting around, talking, and just kissing in the meadow. We finally got there after about a half hour of walking. Months earlier, we found the perfect shortcut to get there. I was right, the wind was perfect and the flowers were blowing everywhere. It was absolutely beautiful.
"Come on, let's go sit somewhere!" I gotta admit, I was so glad to be back here. In the winter it's impossible to get here, so I haven't been here since last fall. I glanced around and saw what I was looking for; a tall, old oak tree. I raced towards it, but as always, Edward beat me there. Damn. I fell beneath the tall tree; literally there was a branch or something that tripped me. But as I was falling, I grabbed Edward's hands and dragged him down with me. I really loved this meadow; we could just be ourselves here. He doesn't have to act like he loves Bella and I don't have to act like I don't know him.
"Clumsy, clumsy Jake. I know you're not exactly graceful, but dragging me with you? " Edward shook his head teasingly at me. I snorted and decided two can play at that game.
"Yeah, well, we can't all be ballet dancers."
"Not fair! You know Alice decided we all had to ballet dancers for a few years! It definitely was not my choice!" He sputtered and coughed as he protested. It was hilarious watching the normally perfectly poised Edward sputter and cough. I couldn't believe I finally caught him off guard. Ah, the magic of the meadow. I grinned and laughed as he tried to regain his normally perfect self control. I was kind of hoping that he wouldn't anytime soon.
"Whatever dude, you still promised to let me see those videos; I'm sure Alice would be more than willing to show me them," I smirked, Alice would show the whole school if she wanted to, Edward made her promise not to though. He made a promise to her in return; I just don't know what promise he made to her. I shrugged it off; I'll find out someday.
"You will Jake. When you're part of the family you'll learn everybody's secrets." His golden eyes twinkled as he said that. It makes me wonder exactly what the secrets are that he knows.
"Like yours? Cause let's face it; you're a secretive dude." I leaned closer to him to see if he would tell me more about himself. He is really secretive about his life.
"Hmm, yes, like my secrets." He was being sincere. Man I wish he could just change me now; it would hurt like hell for a few days, but it would so be worth it to live forever with Edward. We always mentioned it a few times when we were here.
"Any ideas about Dad? It's too early to ask what he's going to do when I go off to college. Especially when you think about the fact that I've always talked about being a mechanic and you don't have to go to college for that." I made a face. I really didn't know what I planned to do about leaving my dad.
"Jacob, we're in this together. The rest of the family and I are thinking of everything. Alice claims she has the 'most perfectest idea already!' but she refuses to tell until you're there. She's thinking of such complicated things around me so I can't read what she's thinking." He groaned there. I knew how frustrated it made him when someone was deliberately hiding something from him. I'd done it a few times but I never kept secrets for too long near Edward.
"It doesn't involve me running away, does it? That is really not an option."
"I love how you care so much about your dad. I think it's sweet. Nobody can guess what Alice is thinking usually; even with my gift I still don't understand her half the time." I snorted at that; it was true after all.
"Let's talk about something else now. I told you that Embry quit hanging out with me and Quil right?" After he nodded I went on, "he's starting to look at me the way that Sam and the others looked at him. Do you think I should be worried?"
"Why would you be worried? What do you think is the worst that could happen?" he shifted uneasily and I realized right then that he's hiding something from me.
"Edward, what are you hiding?" He started to protest so I went on, "You never shift when you're uncomfortable. You're never uncomfortable, ever, to be honest. What is it? You can tell me." He nodded ruefully.
"You're far too perceptible for your own good. I'm not sure I would be welcome to tell you why that group has been watching you closely. And I really hope I'm wrong because I'm not sure what would happen between us." When he said that, I shot straight up to my feet. What the hell does he mean that he doesn't know what would happen between us because of Sam's gang watching me?
"What the hell do you mean by that?"
"Jake, calm down, I might be able to explain! Just listen to me!"
"What do you mean? I'm so confused!"
"Jake! Calm down! Really, I shouldn't have said anything!"
"And leave me in the damn dark that something might happen to break us up?"
"Let's just talk about something else right now! I promise I'll explain as soon as I can. Please? I can't explain now; don't ask why, I just can't. Not right now." I have to calm down and think. If I get angry and push it now, we'll have a tense date. Better to ask again about it later. I sighed.
"Okay. But later you will explain, right?"
"As soon as I can. Something might happen soon and when Sam or someone from that group tries to explain it to you, I want you to get away as soon as possible and come to me and I'll explain. Promise to come to me?" I nodded and was rewarded with a kiss I pulled away and went to lay back down by the picnic basket where I was lying down at before. I stretched back and rested my head down on my hands.
"Eddie, come look at the clouds. I swear that one looks like a duck!" He came next to me and lay down next to me. He glanced up once at the cloud and turned to look at me funny.
"What? It's so a duck! Look there's the bill thing, and the little feet, and those are so wings!"
"Whatever you say, Jake; if you say that that's a duck, than it's totally a duck."
"Oh yeah, smart guy? What do you say it is?"
"A wolf." Now it was my turn to look at him funny.
"A wolf?" I looked up at it and stared at it for a minute. "You call that a wolf and refuse to say that it's a duck?"
"Listen carefully, Jacob, it is a wolf." Okaaay, it's apparently a wolf. Why does he seem like he's stressing it?
"Hey Edward? Does being a vampire make you psycho?" I think it's an honest question. He really seemed crazy saying that cloud was a wolf.