"Hey, Elly, I heard that some of the kids from Forks are coming down tomorrow to go to the beach. Do you want to go meet them?" Jacob asked. We were sitting at lunch alone. Our other two friends, Quil and Embry, were sick so Jake and I got the pleasure of being alone.
"Hmmm...I guess. If Charlotte doesn't have me working on the house," I said. I rolled my eyes. My stepmother loved to keep me in during the weekends while she went out and had fun.
"Sneak out. My dad will take care of it," he said.
Jacob's father, Billy Black, was on the tribal council. He had pulled a few strings on my behalf when my father died, leaving me with my stepmother. Charlotte wasn't Quileute, like the rest of my family is. She's white and you can't get any whiter than her, I think.
"She's about to move me just on the other side of the reservation's border so she can punish me the way she sees fit," I said. Jacob and I both rolled our eyes.
"We'll talk about it tonight," he said. "You coming over after school today?"
"I'll try," I said. The bell rang and we went to our classes.
After school, I walked with Jacob to his house. Of course, it was raining. Lucky for me, I was wearing white. Not!
I sighed and tried to cross my arms across my chest. Jacob was trying not to laugh as he gave me his jacket.
"Most guys would love this. Like Quil," said. I slipped my arms in his jacket and zipped it up.
"Yeah, but I can't look at you that way. You're like a sister to me," Jacob said.
"You're like my brother," I said. I smiled. I had once considered him as a crush when we were in middle school. But I couldn't ever think of us dating.
"Hey, maybe you can stay the night," he said.
"Oooh. Do I get to do your nails?" I asked. Once when he stayed the night, he fell asleep earlier than we normally fell asleep and I gave him a makeover. I painted his nails pink.
"To be truthful, you can. I liked the way my nails looked clean...after I took the pink off," he said. After a moment's thought, he said, "You should go into cosmotology. You can do nails well, and you've always done my hair when I needed it cut, and my dad pays you to do it! He almost begs sometimes."
"I've thought about it. But, I love sports. I want to be a coach, or maybe a physical therapist, since I also love science. Or maybe a doctor of all sorts!" I said.
"Do cosmotology on the side," he suggested.
"It's too early to decide, Jake!" I said. "You sould be a mechanic or design and build cars."
"No duh! What else am I supposed to do?" he said laughing.
We got to Jacob's house soon. Billy welcomed me warmly.
"Do you mind trimming up his hair a bit? It's getting too long..." Billy asked.
"Of course. I'll do it tonight," I said. To Billy, it was no surprise for me to be staying the night.
Jacob and I started on our homework, helping each other on everything. He walked with me to my house so I could get my clothes.
"How old are the kids from Forks that are coming down?" I asked. I thought about flirting around with some of the guys, if they were worthy.
"Juniors and seniors, I think," he said.
"The non cute ones? Great," I said. I was in my room now looking at clothes. I settled for something casual and comfy.
"You don't need any of them anyways," Jacob smirked. "You have your adoring Quil to follow you around and shower you with gifts."
For the past three years, Quil would give me little presents to express his feelings on my birthday, Valentine's Day, Christmas, any holiday. He always asked me out or tried to make a move on me, but I always turned him down.
We started to walk back to Jacob's house. "How often do I hurt his feelings?" I asked.
"Hardly. Well, except for the first time," he answered.
"I don't even want a boyfriend...right now," I said. "But between my two admirers, I'd choose Quil in a heartbeat."
We were almost to his house now. "Who's the other?" Jacob asked.
"That sophomore...umm...Mark Renthrall," I said.
"Oh, him," he said. "Watch your back around him. I heard he can get pretty crazy."
Jacob told me some of the rumors he'd heard about Mark, some most likely true, like the girl he got pregnant, and the some not true, like the one where he got a teacher fired because they had sex. He supposedly did it because he didn't like her. Billy was ordering a pizza for dinner when we walked in.
I got Jacob to sit down as I contemplated his hair. I trimmed his ends off and put it back into his ponytail. We spent most of the nigh in the garage playing around with his car he was building. The pizza came and we went back into the house to eat with Billy and watch a movie.
We laid in Jacob's bed together. We were terribly tired. He moved played with my hair.
"Charlotte would flip if she knew how often we slept in the same bed together," I said yawning. Jacob laughed and I joined him. We soon fell asleep.