A/N: Hello and welcome to my first fanfiction posted on here. Reviews would be awesome. Please no flaming, but constructive critisizm is nice.
Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer and I do not own anything related to Twilight. But, I do wish I owned Jacob.
Chapter One
Wake Up
The wind was mild and the sun was shining. A rare event in La Push, Washington. A somewhat tired, and extremely lonely young boy was perched on the side of a tree root, staring out into the ocean. The beach used to be one of his favorite places to come and relax. He rarely came here anymore, knowing that as soon as he arrived memories of iher/i would plague him. They did have quite a few good times in this place. In all honesty, they may not have seemed like they would be looked back on as some of his fonder memories at the time they occurred, but now he realized that he would give anything to go back to that moment in time. He would have literally chewed off his own leg to see her sitting next to him, smiling that innocent smile that he so loved to see on her beautiful face.
A stray hair blew in front of his eye, catching his attention and drawing his gaze away from the endless expanse of blue in front of him. He'd had to cut his hair after she'd left. He'd blamed it on convenience, but he wasn't sure if there had been a different, more rebellious reason. It was once again starting to get long, though. She liked it that way. The dark locks barely reached the tips of his ears, but he knew he had no intention of cutting them for a long while. The seventeen-year-old knew that he was letting his appearance get somewhat out of control. Dark bags were almost permanently etched under his eyes, he rarely smiled anymore, and he was getting pale. The Native American in him refused to let his complexion soften too much, but it was obvious that he was not as healthy as he should be. After all, being sickly was not good for his "special talent". He knew he needed to be fit and ready, just in case one of them decided to show their faces again. He didn't know what he would do if or when they returned to Forks. He figured they would come back eventually. But not until she was better. "Under control" possibly.
The young man had no idea when it had happened, but he knew it had happened. He had had to be one hundred percent sure before he had resigned himself to wait in misery. If there was one thing Jacob Black was good at, it was sulking. He supposed it was the teenager in him that made it so effortless. The endless mass of drama that seemed to take up his everyday life was a tribute to his pessimistic views on the world at this moment in time. Sure, there had been a time when he was hyper, witty, and (dare he say) chipper. But that was back when his Bella had been around. Bella was no longer alive. Not the Bella that he knew and loved with all his heart. She had been taken away when her monster of a husband had stolen her soul.
It had been two months. Two long and painstakingly boring months since Bella had "gone off to school". Jacob was still stuck in La Push, still in his old high school. The same faces flitted past him every day, and the same places swirled around him in an unrecognizable blur. It was almost too much to bear. Nothing was new or exciting. Sure, his late-night trips with his "brothers" always held some sort of thrill. But even the exhilarating feeling of running free through the woods was loosing its magic. Ever since Bella had left, it seemed that the luster of Jacob's hometown started to fade and slowly vanish. He almost couldn't remember why he had once loved this place so much. It was like he had been going through life with a candle, but when she had come along, all the lights had come on and Jake had been able to see everything clearly for the first time. Now that she was gone again, even his candle was no longer alight. The world was dark and cold with no hint of changing anytime soon. Poor Jacob was lost in this sea of darkness, wondering if he would ever find his way out.
A sigh escaped his lips and Jacob turned his dark eyes back to the water. It was surprisingly still, small ripples erupting when the light breeze would pick up. It was the polar opposite of what was going on in his heart. The waters were rough, being tossed about by gale force winds that showed no mercy. Sadly, he was not the only one suffering the effects that came with his heart break. He had been ragged on more than once for bringing down the mood when he changed into his other form. Leah liked to remind him at least once a day what a drag he was anymore. No one wanted to feel depressed when they were out patrolling or following a possible lead to a bloodsucker. But it was hard to ignore the intensity of Jacob's feelings when he was right there in their minds. He did feel bad about causing the others pain. He didn't want to. But there was no way he was going to just wake up one morning and suddenly be happy. His damn heart was broken. They had to understand that it wasn't something that he just got over. No matter how badly he wanted to.
A sudden vibrating sensation pulled Jacob out of his reverie. Reaching into his pocket, he snatched up the cell phone that he had recently invested in. He didn't really need it. Not when he could so easily contact his makeshift family members by simply changing form. It did save him the time of taking his clothes off, though. Which he was thankful for. Squinting he eyes to read the letters that spelled out who was contacting him when he was trying to be alone, he gave another sigh before flipping the phone open. "Hey, dad." He greeted in a low, unemotional voice.
"Jacob, you're going to be late for school if you stay out there too much longer." The familiar growl of Billy Black's voice rang in his ear and he couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"Okay, dad." He answered in the same voice. He heard his father mutter something inaudible before hanging up the phone and a small shadow of a smile played on his features. He knew the old man was just trying to be fatherly. Jacob had to go to school. As much as he didn't want to, he had to go to those monotonous classes and talk to the same mind-numbing people for the next eight hours. He finally stood up and walked away from the beach, preparing himself for another fantastic day of school.
--
Quil and Embry were already waiting for him as he neared the entrance to La Push High School. Mustering the best smile he could, he walked up to them. "Hey guys." He greeted.
"Jake, please inform our good friend, Quil here that that new girl over there is not eyeing him down." Embry playfully punched Quil in the shoulder as he spoke.
"Quil, the new girl is not eyeing- Wait, what new girl?" Jacob was halfway through repeating the sentence just to make Embry happy before he realized what he was saying.
"Annah Cole." Quil put emphasis on the words like he was calling out the name of a contestant in a beauty pageant. "She's just moved on to the reservation." Both boys pointed their eyes in the same direction and Jacob couldn't help but shift his gaze to follow their invisible line of sight.
The name rang no bells in his head, and honestly, he was only mildly interested. He hadn't seen a new student in a while, but he was sure she would be no different than the rest of the juvenile kids that resided here. He was somewhat frustrated when he saw a small crowd gathered around a body that he could not find. "I can't even see her." He stated.
Embry snickered. "Apparently she's like a celebrity or something. She's traveled the world and been in commercials or something like that."
"I heard she lived in France and was a huge star. They all know her name over there and she has, like, statues." Quil grinned wider, stepping up on his tiptoes to try and get a look.
"Statues, Quil?" Jacob could tell that Embry was keeping the laughter out of his voice.
"Hey, don't make fun of me, it's just what I heard."
"I heard that she spent this last summer in complete silence, trying to focus on showing emotion through art."
"Okay, and you thought my theory was funny?"
Jacob shook his head. Didn't they realize that they were gossiping like old women? He didn't try getting on his tiptoes as Quil had. Other than the fact that he was much taller than his friend, he wasn't as eager to get a look at this Annah Cole. There was no reason to get overly excited about another face in the crowd. Besides, even if those rumors were true, she was still just another girl. She was simply one of those silly little girls who would giggle and gossip with her friends, not bothering to acknowledge the realities of this world. She would be lost in her own little world for the rest of her high school career and then go off to some college leading her oh-so glamorous life. None of this would affect Jacob in any way, and so, he almost didn't care. She was nothing to him.
The bell rang, causing Jacob to turn back to his friends. "Time to continue our fabulous education." He said in a sarcastic voice.
"Hear, hear." Quil piped up before the three of them began to make their way into the building. The start of another school day was upon them and Jacob wasn't sure he could handle the excitement he was now feeling.
--
The first three classes of Jacob's day went by normally enough. They seemed to drag on, purposefully trying to keep him in the school for so long that he would eventually go insane. He knew he should pay more attention in his classes, especially math, but lately he just didn't care as much. Sure he did enough to get by, but he rarely remembered anything he'd learned when the test was over. Even Automechanics, his once favorite class, now seemed to be boring his brain right out of his skull.
By the time he got out of his History class for lunch, he was seriously contemplating taking a nap in his remaining two classes. Who needed English or Spanish, anyway? He already knew one of those languages, and he had yet to use the other in real life. As per usual, he met up with Quil and Embry at his locker where he switched out the books he no longer needed with the ones he would be using later on. He was paying no attention to their mindless chatter the entire trip to the cafeteria.
Suddenly, Embry turned back towards the hall they had just come down and a grin appeared on his face. "Hey, Quil, there's Annah. Maybe you can ask her to sit with you at lunch." His voice was mocking with a hint of laughter.
"Shut up." Was Quil's gruff reply. "And, for your information, she happens to be in my pre-calculus class and I already got a chance to talk to her. She's very nice."
"Of course she is." Embry patted Quil on top of the head before the shorter smacked his hand away and punched him in the arm.
Mild curiosity flared up in Jacob once again at the mention of this girl. He hadn't even been able to get a look at her earlier, yet Quil had already spoken to her. He turned, expecting to see the swarm of people around her and he was not disappointed. Putting on a grimace he spoke. "I don't see what all the fuss is about. She's just a- " But he didn't have the chance to finish his sentence. Because he had finally gotten a look at her. At first glance he would say that she was pretty. But, as he took in her full appearance he noticed something different about her. She didn't look Native American at all, yet Quil had said that she just moved to the reservation. Her hair was a chocolate brown, coming down to rest on her shoulders in prefect waves. Her skin was possibly the only thing that would show any sign of her heritage. It was dark, on the verge of being golden brown. She wasn't overly tall, not to Jacob anyway. When she shifted her gaze in his direction, he noticed that her eyes were a deep blue, completely contrasting his own dark brown orbs. She rested her eyes on him and offered a smile.
And then Jacob snapped.
Well, more like something inside him snapped. He didn't know why, but it was like everyone else in the room disappeared and she was the only thing he could see. The entire universe shifted underneath him and he felt an incredible pulling sensation so powerful that he almost fell over. Time slowed almost to a stop and his hearing all but deserted him. He saw her expression change from friendly to confused and slightly shocked, most likely mirroring his own. He had no idea how long he stared at her. It could have been seconds, minutes, or hours. He hadn't even realized he was moving towards her until he felt a hand on his arm. Finally able to blink, he looked away from that trapping gaze and into the eyes of his friend. It took him a second to recognize that Embry was talking to him. "-you okay, man? Is there a particular reason you've suddenly gone into zombie mode?"
Jacob could do nothing but stare at Embry as if he didn't speak his language and was trying desperately to understand what he was attempting to communicate to him. His lungs were burning for air before he noticed that he was not breathing and he relieved them with a sharp intake of breath. Shaking his head vigorously to try and get his muddled head together, he chanced another look at Annah. She was still staring at him, the same perplexed look on her soft features. The same strange pull tugged on Jacob's every being and he found that the only thing he wanted to do in the moment was to run to her and run his hands along her smooth skin. His legs ached from the effort he was using to stay in one spot and his eyes were burning in their sockets from the strain they were under.
"No!" the boy suddenly shouted, taking off in a run in the opposite direction of everyone. He forgot all about lunch or classes or anything as trivial as he fought to get away from the war that was going on in his mind. Bursting through the doors and into the sunlight, he didn't stop running as he exited school property. He made his way into the close by woods, but didn't dare change form now. He needed to be the only one in his head. The unthinkable might have just happened.
Familiar violent tremors racked his body. There was no way. He couldn't have possibly done it. It was all wrong. She was all wrong. Jacob collapsed to the ground, throwing his book bag in front of him. His fist connected with the hard earth as he let out a frustrated growl. He deepened his breathing to help stay in control of his body. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right.
He had just imprinted on a girl he didn't know.
