DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bella, Jacob, or any others mentioned in this story. What a pitty. :[
"This is pointless," I sighed. I had been working on this research paper for my Earth Science class for nearly three days now, and I was still at a loss. I could not for the life of me find anything cool or remotely interesting for this dumb paper.
"Hey Bells! Whatcha up to?" I turned around from my computer screen to match up the voice with a face. The voice and face of my Jacob. I am really glad that we have gotten close these past few months. I've really needed someone to keep my mind of things ever since he left… Jacob was always like a breath of fresh air to me. He always seemed happy to see me, and he immediately always made my mood better. He was like my own personal sun here in Forks. So, I gladly welcomed the break when he poked his head through my door. All of this research was becoming mind numbing.
"Hey Jake. Did Charlie let you in?" I asked him as he flopped down on my bed. I was curious as to how he got in. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he said 'no' to the question. Charlie only left the T.V. for a few things, and I'm pretty sure answering the door this close to the playoffs, was not a priority on that list.
"Yeah, I got lucky. It was a commercial." Jake and I laughed almost in unison. "He said you were working on something for school. Anything I can help you with?" 'Anything I can help you with?, just another excuse to spend more time around me. If I wasn't for the fact that I needed to do actual research, I would be doing this paper at Jake's house. I suppose he was missing me a lot since I'd been writing this paper for the past half of the week.
"Not unless you know anything about wetlands that could be considered cool or interesting, Jake. I already have the basic info about them, but I need more. Specifically what is cool about them, and how we can save them. They're endangered, you know." Jake gave a half-snort. "That doesn't sound like too much fun, Bells. What are wetlands anyways? Some sort of water pigs?"
Really Jake? What the heck is a water pig? How ridiculous could he get? But, his humor always made me laugh. I would have to point out that his humor could take off a year or two of his 'age'. I thought about it for a few seconds, and they laughed. I couldn't help it.
"No Jake! Wetlands are like swamp lands, but they are a lot cleaner. Wetlands also homes to a lot of different kind of land and water species. As well as lot of plant life, land and water." I knew I had picked up some stuff, but this still wasn't interesting. Let alone cool. I was growing tired of the topic, I really just wanted to get this paper over with.
"Any water pigs?" Jake asked, looking hopeful.
"No Jake, no water pigs. I'm pretty sure you made that animal up, anyways. But they do have other, real animals. They have thousands of different species of land and water species. Like fish, birds, amphibians, and mammals, too. It is actually kind of cool because of all of the wildlife that they support…" Huh, did I just say that? I was pretty sure that the past three days of research had told me that there was nothing cool or interesting about these things. So who cared if they went extinct?
"Sure, sure." Jake said. I could tell he was probably disgruntled with the fact that he was wrong about the water pig. 'Tendency to Pout', another reason to take a year or 3 off of his 'age'…. "But how can they be going extinct if they aren't animals? I mean, all they do is give a habitat to plants and stuff. Do they do anything else?"
I turned back to the computer screen, smiling to myself. He was making this easier. Not only the research, but the mood. He just seemed to make everything so carefree and almost weightless. I hadn't felt this way since he had left…
I reached across my torso with my left hand and tried to hold myself together. What away to kill the mood. Thinking about him still hurt. It felt like the hole he had left in me was going to tear me apart completely. Was this thing ever going to get better? Even when Jacob was around, I can't seem to shake his memory. Maybe one day I'll be about to think about him, and I'll just learn to tolerate the pain that he left me. I looked back at Jake from over my shoulder. He seemed be distracted by something he found on my dresser. Ever since I had told him what it meant when I held myself together, it hurt him to see me do it. To Jake, not only did it mean that I was in pain, but it also meant I was thinking about him. The two things that Jake probably hated the most were seeing me in any sort of pain, and him. So when I feel it coming on, I try to hide it from him. He does so much for me, I would hate to see him upset. I just want to make Jake happy.
"Well, the website says that they not only provide homes for all of those plants and animals, but they are also a natural filtration source."
"But then how are they going extinct?" Jake was confused. I could hear it, and I suppressed a laugh. That would only make him mad.
"Well, they are going---," I had started to explain it to him, but we were distracted and interrupted by a loud bang and a string of profanities. Charlie's team must be behind or something. Jake and I just looked at each other and started to laugh. After that, I started again. "They are going extinct because people destroy them. Basically, it's like habitat destruction. Due to building developments from recent times and times around the 1800's, the wetlands can't expand they are supposed to. They still get a little bit of growth in, but it's not as substantial as it needs to be. The wetlands aren't growing enough to keep up with the loss." How sad. It seems like they don't even care that they are destroying them. The wetlands are a natural filtration source. They could be doing so much good. Not only that, but they are homes for all of the animals. How could people be so heartless about something like that? Holy crow, when I start to care about these things? I shuddered. I was begging to think that I was being sucked to the dark side.
"Do they do anything else?" Jacob questioned me some more. He seemed to be finding all of the questions that I couldn't.
"Yeah, actually they do. Down south they act as hurricane absorbers."
"Bella say, whaa!!?" Jacob demanded. Obviously, this was not a subject of interest for him. He practically seemed confused by every sentence that came out of my mouth.
"Calm down, Jake," I couldn't help but chuckle. "You see, the land in a wetland is like a sponge. It absorbs a lot of the rain that a hurricane produces, and without the rain, the storm becomes a lot weaker. But the site says that due to the loss of land, they wetlands aren't as absorptive as they used to be…" I thought I heard him snoring. He must be really tired. I wouldn't blame him, from what he told me, he had been pulling double shifts the past few weeks. I kept reading. Maybe I would find something cool now that I had some more thoughts flowing. "Holy crow! Jake!" Yeah, he was sleeping. My shout startled him awake, causing him to urgently ask what was wrong.
"Nothing. Sorry to startle you, Jake. But I found something pretty interesting. Did you know that the Louisiana wetlands lose a football sized field chunk of land a day?! That is a lot of land. Every. Single. Day!" Wow. That is not only interesting, but scary. Where was all of that land going?
"Anything else?" Jacob half yawned. Maybe I could find something more to hold his interest, but my hopes weren't high.
I started at the computer for the second. I looked hard for something cool. Eureka! "Yes, actually," I said smugly. He got up from the bed and walked over to read with me. "This says that in upstate New York, they are using their natural wetlands to filter their sewage and the flowing water from them is used to create hydroelectric power for their small cities and towns."
"So, those ones aren't endangered?" Jake asked.
"Looks like it, Jake."
"Hmmm." He sat back down on my bed. "So how did they manage to save those ones in New York? Can't we do whatever they did in New York to save other wetlands?"
"Well, it says that they did it by just letting the wetlands restore them selves. They stopped destroying the land, and let the wetlands re-grow. It says that it did take a little bit of time, but when the wetlands were ready, they harnessed their resources."
"Why can't they just do that down south?" I don't think he understood that it did take some time to restore the wetlands.
"They are working on it, Jake. But it's harder because the ones down south are surrounded by some really big cities. They would have to get rid of those cities completely to let the wetlands go about their natural growth again. But they are trying to fix it. They have started to release the levees so that sediments can start to build the ground back up again. They are working on it, and they will fix it. Slowly, but surely."
"Sounds like somebody I know…" Jacob mumbled. He though I didn't head him say that, but I did. And I forced me to think about him, again. I reached around and held on tight. I was still facing the computer screen, so he didn't see me. He didn't mean that, I told myself. He is still bitter too. It wasn't until I took a breath that I realized I had stopped breathing. And Jake noticed it.
"Oh Bells, honey. I'm sorry." He got up from my bed, and raced across my room to pull me close to him. "Hey, let's go get some ice-cream. My treat. And we can talk more about the wetlands. They are starting to sound kind of cool, and maybe we can come up with some more ideas for your paper…. Ok?"
"Ok Jake. Sounds good." I looked up at him, forced a smile, and unwilling let go of my sides. Jacob let go of me at the same time. I knew he was faking his interest, but at least he was trying. The wetlands weren't the only things that needed fixing quickly, and that was for sure. But things would get better, and that was also for sure. They would get better slowly, but surely.
A/N: I know, I know. What a weird topic. Haha. But the story behind this story was that I had to write a creative piece for my Senior Project in high school. My project was on wetlands and how to save them, and this was the only thing I could think of because I was in the middle of re-reading New Moon. haha But, I hope you enjoyed it. And learned something while you read! :]
oh! and just a side note, I classify my self as part of Team Switzerland, so I swing both ways, so to speak. [ :/ ] so, I am sorry if i made any team edward fans mad. I didn't mean to, it was just all I could think of at the time.
thanks for reading! and review, please!?