/Chapter One: Seven Seconds
"What is wrong with you? Why are you so frickin mean?" Jacob Black yelled in her face. The girl wasn't fazed. She was used to this.
"If you kept that leech out my face, we'd make progress."
"Throwing trash like a three year old is NOT progress." He sighed. This sort of thing was getting even worse with these two. "Whatever. You should keep your girls in check." She waved him off.
"Bitch!" He spat. She scoffed, rolling her eyes. Like I haven't heard that before. I should get it tattooed on my forehead, so when I meet people and they say confused 'Bitch?' I'd say 'Yeah, I get that a lot.'
That's me, Leah Clearwater. Local Bitch. And believe me; I didn't even to start this fight. Renesseme isn't an angel like everybody wants to believe. Poor, uneducated buddies o' mine. Jacob was also accompanied Seth, and Jasper who was there to calm me down. Why does everyone think I'll go on a rampage? I'm not a time bomb, but Paul…
And then a cool feeling creeped over me. "Stop that." I snapped at Jasper. He didn't speak, that wasn't his thing, and he only stared. The most peculiar melted caramel eyes dug into my memory. And then I had to look away because I felt chilled to the core, but my body still blazed more than usual. It ravaged on my skin.
At that moment Jacob tried to grab my wrist, and when he did, it shot every nerve to a smoldering state.
"AAAHrgah!!" Leah screeched and howled in pain. A grayish wolf took her place and charged into the woods. Jacob started after her, but Jasper stopped him. "I've got it," Seth looked at him in wonder. "Whatever man, if you want to get an ear torn off, be my guest."
He already had clothes in one arm when he took off after Leah.
* * *
!0 minutes before
When I walked into the Cullen household, a sickly sweet aura slapped me in the face. It made my stomach churn. Besides, I was only there to drag Seth home. He had been camping out here for two days and Mom wanted him back home. This house was impossibly huge; did they really need all the space? Surely Carlise's doctor gig doesn't pay this good. Wonder where they get it all. HA! Probably a Swiss bank account.
Going through the kitchen, I just happened to spot the little monster eating a sandwich on the way out. Trying to ignore her, I move back near the stairs, But too late. She spots me. "Hi." I cringe and I turn around. She's technically 7 years old, but she looks about 17 years old. And a fabulous perk of being immortal—she's beautiful. Nessie is even more annoying than Bella (astounding, I know) and just as pretty. It always reminds me why people think I'm beautiful in an exotic, why can't I be just as pretty as they are? Frivolous things like this shouldn't upset me, but they do.
"Hello, Renesseme." Leah grits through her teeth.
"What are you doing here?" I really tried not to take that the wrong way, but I guess it was the tone of her voice.
"None of your business, kid."
"Are you here for-"
"Shut up!" Leah growled "I don't need to answer to you." Nessie turned defensive as well.
"Well excuse ME if you PMS on a daily basis," Leah and Nessie looked about ready to start fighting in Esme's kitchen, which she wouldn't have liked.
"Other than the fact that you are Jake's imprint, I would've torn your face off a long time ago-"
"I can see why Sam got rid of you know. Too rough for your own good."
Nessie had a smug look on her face, thinking she had the upper hand.
But she went too far. A millisecond later, without hesitation, a trashcan was flying towards Renesseme head. Once she screamed, everybody filled the kitchen. Nessie was trying to scratch Leah's eyes out, but she was already storming outside. Jacob followed, by Seth and Jasper in case I went on a rampage, which didn't sound too bad right now.
*Present Time*
I ran to the center of the forest, everything a blur of green and brown. This was best part of being who I am. To be able to run, to flee from all problems and just relax in my surroundings. It was an unseasonably warm day in Forks, so the tempeture was comfortable. The only part that sucked about this was that my stuff got disintegrated every time I phased. Sometimes this gets so-
Leah stopped, listening to the silent air around her. The air reeks of saccharine and sugar cane. Vampire. I was going to attack when I heard a voice. "Leah? Are you back there?" It was unfamiliar, with a barely noticeable southern accent. But I knew it was Jasper. He was the goose in all those ducks. Everybody had something that hade them stand out, but when you got to Jasper, well…
But I do remember that one pixyish vampire, Alice I think, took off a few weeks ago. Seth told me; some vision about another mate across the world. She shocked everyone and apologized for her abrupt departure. Jasper apparently was mute about the whole situation. He didn't say a word when it happened. No sign of emotional trauma.
"Yeah!" Leah called, trying to cover herself up with her arms and a tree. Don't know why I cared, but hell, I had my dignity. He politely looked away as he handed me the clothes, then turned the other way. I took a close look at what he gave me. "You can't be serious," It was a SUNDRESS, one with frilly white lace at the bottom at that. It was gold and pooled out at the bottom. The corset part was attacked by pinkish brown sequins. It's not that it wasn't pretty; it just was not my thing. The dress went above my knee but still held its own. I considered going naked, but that would probably upset Esme.
"It's all we had," I could see him smirking from behind. Not funny. "Fine, Whatever. If I find out you picked this, I'm coming back for you." Leah huffed, zipping up the dress. A perfect fit.
The two started to move toward the house, walking side by side. Until he chose to break the silence.
"Why you do act that way?" At first I thought I heard wrong. "What are you talking about?" He was staring at the ground, not looking at her.
"Go on rampages, get angry, start fights and yell. Why?" She took a good look at Jasper, his perfect features. Curly brown hair with candy eyes that would be devoured by any human girl who looked. Intelligent after 300 years, hard bodied and sophisticated to the core. But it made me wonder if he was still human in there.
"Well," She said sadly "It's natural to share emotions, but I guess that's something you don't have, am I right?" His eyes held anger and sadness, shock and realization. It was such an enormous amount of emotion, that it looked foreign on his face. It was seven seconds of awareness of how raw torn open we are. It was realizing that Alice tore him open as much as Sam did to me. His looks were calmly vicious, if that makes sense to you. Something that makes you heat up, from the inside out. Defrost. It's like going to sleep in Paris and waking up in Tokyo. Like taking a train to a wintry Rome then riding camelback across the desert sands. I realized that he walked ahead, so I yelled after him, "It's not healthy to act this way! You know she's not coming back. You're tuning me out, aren't you?"
Jasper stopped, not looking. "Don't you think I know that? I thought you knew what this felt like." '
Was…was he talking about Sam? Why does everyone feel the need to throw that in my face? Why do they ALWAYS…' She thought angrily.
"Well at least I can talk about it! You just get worse everyday." She nearly spat, feuled by his comment. "Shut up," He said quietly, his eyes tightly closed. But she went on. " Look, I know you loved her, but she is across the PLANET now," Amazing how far you can push someone over their limit. He snapped.
"Shut UP! Shut…Up. Just shut your mouth for once in your goddamned life and hold your tounge!" He bellowed. He almost matched her anger.
"At least I can open my mouth and say something! You can't even act human…" He started to sneer
"You're not human, And neither am I."
"Get over it, Jasper."
"You haven't even gotten over Sam—your'e a damn hypocrite!"
Leah started to walk away when she shot him a humorless expression. "Whatever. We aren't going to talk about this again, agreed? Good." Then she walked away into the brush.
* * *
By the time we got home, everybody as waiting for us. Not even giving a damn that the whole pack was there, I ignored them. Jasper was already up the stairs
Bella: What happened?
Rosalie: Are you two listening?
Jake: What happened? Leah-
"You know what?!" Leah shouted completely worse than how she usually yelled "Go ask Captain Sparkle and his hybrid kid." She gestured to Edward and Nessie. She muttered curses on her way to the back porch. Jacob tried to say something but she interrupted him "Point blank, Jake? We are done here."
"What is it with that girl?" Jacob said under her breath.
A few seconds of awkward silence between everybody. And then from Emmett, who chooses the most inappropriate time says:
"Call it what you want, But this seems a lot like foreplay." This sparked a loud verbal argument between Jacob and Emmett.
Nessie then asked her father "Daddy? What's 'foreplay?'"
Edward dawned a look of exhaustion and anger. He closed his eyes.
"Nessie? Go to bed." Emmett and Jacob were still fighting.