Back in Black

Jacob

I stared unseeingly out the window, sitting in a seat that was made for a kid half my size and bored out of my mind. I hated this stupid pretense, going to school when I knew it was all for nothing. It wasn't like I had a choice about my future.

I snorted, considering the possibilities: 'Yes, I'd like to apply for a job here—oh, but I think I should let you know that I'm a werewolf, so any time a vampire shows up I'm kind of obligated to burst into a wolf and go tear it to shreds. So, when do I start?'

Embry gave me a sidelong glance from the desk next to mine, raising an eyebrow at my random snicker. I waved it off and went back to attempting to make myself fit into the tiny desk. Only about half my butt fit onto the stupid seat, and my legs were jammed up against the back of the chair in front of me, tilting it forward in a way that looked pretty darn uncomfortable for the poor guy sitting in it. The attached desk was pressing into my stomach so hard I had my doubts about whether or not I would need a chainsaw to get out of it.

I sighed loudly for about the hundredth time that day and resumed gazing out the window, my thoughts inevitably turning to the same thing I was always thinking about these days. I sighed again, this time loudly enough so that even the teacher, droning endlessly on about theorems or some other kind of crap that I would never again use, glanced sharply up from the textbook she had been quoting all class and glared at me.

"Mr. Black? Would you care to inform us why you felt the need to disturb the class?" Mrs. Leeman's dry, yawn-inducing voice cut through my thoughts, and I cocked an eyebrow at her.

She had caught me on the wrong day.

"Yes, I would," I told her, my voice clear and loud, rousing several students out of their stupor.

"Jake," Quil hissed, somehow managing to twist his thick leg around and kick the back of my seat. I ignored him, getting to my feet—and taking the desk with me. My classmates snickered as I braced my hands against the desk, shoving it down off my body.

"Excuse me, young man?" Mrs. Leeman, bristling furiously, stood also—though it hardly made a difference, as short as she was.

"Jake!" Embry barked, probably after noticing my trembling hands. I glanced sideways at Embry's wide, pleading eyes, then at Quil's narrowed eyes and ready-for-action expression, and my anger deflated. It just wasn't worth getting upset about.

I wedged myself back into my desk, exhaling slowly through my teeth. "Never mind," I muttered to Mrs. Leeman, who seemed to think that she had successfully scared me into submission. Yeah, right.

"Detention, Mr. Black," she trilled smugly, whipping out a yellow form, "for disturbing the class. Monday after school."

I just shook my head, glaring out the window and ignoring her completely as she made a show of presenting my detention slip to me.

After Trig, my second class of the day, I just couldn't take it anymore.

"Hey, Jake, where're we going?" Quil called out as he jogged up to me, slipping into the pack plural.

"We still have four hours left till school lets out—unless Sam called you down?" Embry glanced up at the speakers attached to the ceiling as if expecting Sam's voice to suddenly come booming out of them.

"Yeah, has he finally got a lead on the redheaded bloodsucker?" Quil asked eagerly, tripping over his own mammoth feet in his excitement.

"We are not going anywhere," I interrupted them, irritated.

Embry stopped in his tracks, stung. Quil, not bothered in the least, kept walking with me, rolling his eyes and motioning to Embry to catch up to us. "Of course we are. Where you go, we go. And vice versa. We're brothers."

"Look," I growled, stopping so suddenly that Quil—who had been practically stepping on my heels in his eagerness—ran smack into me. I couldn't believe he was playing the brother card. Again "This is just something I need to do, okay? Alone," I added quickly, flinging out my arms to keep them from walking any farther.

"Oh," Quil huffed suddenly, "this is about Bella, isn't it?"

Embry grinned and started in with the immature 'Ooooooooh' as I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, that's really old now. What is it, the three hundredth time?" I narrowed my eyes, glancing from Embry to Quil and back again.

"No, this obsession you've got it really old. She loves a leech!" Quil threw his hands into the air in his frustration.

"She doesn't love him," I muttered, shouldering my backpack and taking off again.

"Pack meeting at ten!" Quil called after me as I strode through the crowded hallway. I suppressed a smile as everyone within hearing range paused to throw Quil bizarre glances, wondering what in the name of all things furry he was talking about. Quil smirked happily at the attention, and Embry rolled his eyes, jerking Quil away from the confused crowd of students and heading toward their next class.

I strode forward down the hallway and into the parking lot, jumping onto my motorcycle and roaring off to find one of the only people who mattered to me.