Chapter 1 – Something is Different

Disclaimer: Nothing besides the story plot belongs to me and no copyright infringement is intended and all rights are reserved to Stephenie Meyer.

Something was different in the way he looked at her. It was there when he touched her too, the absence of emotion she felt coming from him. It's as if his motions were robotic—like they took no thinking at all.

She smiled at him and he smiled back. Again, it was robotic. His eyes held no depth today—his smile seemed feigned.

"Jacob," she said, barely capturing his distractible attention.

He glanced at her briefly before his attention was consumed once more by the contents of the refrigerator. He rummaged through the food, picking out a Pepsi and a meat sub.

"Jacob," she said again, more pronounced this time, grabbing his shoulder.

He stood up and looked down on her with an annoyed expression. "What?"

Her lips quivered before she could get the question out. "What's with you lately?"

Jacob's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about," he said, turning around to set the beverage and food on the counter. He turned back to her, leaning back against the counter and crossing his arms. "Look at you." He said, his eyes examining her face closely. "You're all worked up. What's wrong?"

Her breath was shaky as she starred at him. "This isn't about me. You've been acting different lately. I want to know what's going on…" her sentence trailed off as the intensity of Jacob's stare became more hostile.

"What are you even talking about, Bella?" he retorted defensively.

Her resolve seemed to crumble. "Nothing, nothing," she stammered weakly.

Jacob's eyes softened. He sauntered over, placing a hand on Bella's cheek. He kissed her forehead and Bella looked down, not daring to meet his gaze. He lifted her chin, never minding her protests, forcing her to look. He gave her one small peck on the lips. "My Bella," he laughed. "Always blowing things out of proportion." He rolled his eyes before he removed himself from her touch, grabbing the food and beverage before disappearing into his den.

Bella starred after him, bewildered by what had just happened.

"Mom," Bella whispered into the phone. She was surprised with herself; usually she didn't resort to this kind of thing like calling her mother in a time of need. Regardless of the abnormality of it, her mother answered the phone, delighted as ever to hear Bella's voice.

"Bella, sweetheart!" she rejoiced. "Oh, it's so good to hear from you. How are you?"

"Good," Bella responded absentmindedly. She twirled the phone cord in her hand as she searched for the words inside her head.

"Hm, it doesn't sound like it… Is everything all right?"

"I guess," she said. "But I just wanted to hear your voice."

"Aw, that's nice. Well, what have you been up to lately?" Renee questioned, curious.

"School and stuff…"

"Are you sure everything is all right, Bella?" she asked again. "You sound upset. Tell me what's wrong."

Bella sighed, defeated. "Mom, things are great up here, don't get me wrong. But it's that my relationship with Jacob has changed and I can't get through to him anymore. It's like he pretends things haven't changed when it's as obvious as a sore thumb."

Renee was silent for a moment. "What has changed?" she asked softly.

Bella didn't respond right away. She needed time to think this one over, deciding what was different not only for herself and her feelings for Jacob, but what was different for and not to mention about Jacob. He was more distant and easily distracted; defensive and almost insulting towards her.

"His personality, Mom," Bella told Renee. "He's so easy to upset and he seems so much more distracted lately. It's like my feelings aren't important to him anymore. He won't listen to me though. He thinks I'm blowing things out of proportion when I know something is different."

Renee was biting her lip on the other side of the line. She was debating on how to respond, not exactly being an expert in this department. After all, she'd had her own hand full of troubling relationships and she still hadn't mastered the art of understanding the male mind.

"Maybe something's been on his mind lately." She suggested.

Bella pondered this. It was a possibility. "Maybe you're right. I should ask him. Not that he'd listen." She sighed into the phone.

Renee frowned. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. If it helps, you can always call me to talk about how your day's been going; I'd love to hear from you more often."

Bella sighed once more. "All right. I'll try calling you tomorrow. Thanks for all your help, Mom. I really appreciate it."

Renee nodded, though she couldn't see. "I'm always here for you, Bella, honey. If you ever need anything just call me. And of course, if you don't have access to a phone there's always Charlie. I love you, please remember that."

Bella cracked a smile, rolling her eyes at her worried mother. "I know that. I love you too, Mom."

"Okay, I'll talk to you later then." Renee said, smiling warmly.

"Kay. Bye, Mom."

"Bye, honey."

The silence of the dead end of the phone made Bella feel lonelier than she should have what with Charlie right down stairs, patiently waiting on her as she told him she'd be a few minutes on the phone.

Keeping her guilty expression under wraps, Bella made her way to the kitchen, pouring her father and herself a bowl of tomato soup. She dug around in the cabinets for some saltine crackers and retrieved some cheese from the fridge and placed two sodas on the table as well.

"Could you get some spoons from the drawer, Dad?" she asked as she set cups full of ice on the table next to the sodas.

Charlie nodded, lending Bella a hand by setting the spoons next to the dishes.

"You can sit; the food's ready." Bella said, taking a seat.

Charlie took a seat as well, opening the can of soda and pouring it into the cup of ice.

Dinner was silent as usual, but a comfortable silence. Charlie ate his soup in peace, only pausing once to ask how her day was. Bella smiled and lied about how she'd had a pretty good day at school and returned the question, only to hear a quick story about him and Billy catching a good amount of trout which she'd already seen stored in the fridge.

Finally, when they were both done with their dinner, Charlie seemed to find some motive to start a lazy conversation. "I heard from Billy today that Jake was planning on coming over."

Bella tried to hide the way her face fell. "Really?" she said, picking up hers and Charlie's bowls and throwing them in the dishwasher and doing the same with the silverware. "That's nice. I wanted to see him today," she lied quietly.

Charlie nodded. "Billy also mentioned Jake's been having a rough time at school. The kids won't give him a break about the obvious change's he's been going through. And he's been a lot moodier lately, if you haven't already picked up on it."

Bella kept her face down as she placed the cheese and saltine crackers back in their rightful places in the kitchen.

He went on. "But try and give the kid a break; he's doing his best."

"At what?" Bella asked, turning to face her father.

Charlie's eyes narrowed. "Now, Bella," he scolded lightly. "Jake will come around. Just give him some time."

"I have been giving him time," Bella defended. "I can't remember the last time Jake and I shared a good laugh." Her frown deepened at the thought. "I don't know what's changed about him but it's definitely here to stay; it's not the moodiness, it's his personality. It's changed. Maybe you or Billy haven't noticed, but I have."

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked, concerned.

"Jake's not the same person he was a couple months ago. He used to be carefree and outgoing; he always made me laugh. Now it's like he's darkened in a way. His smile, it's bitter. I can't explain it right. I don't think you'd get it anyway. It's not temporary, either. I can feel he's going to stay like this. I just know it…"

Charlie's look of sympathy wasn't helping the raw tears collecting on the corners of her eyes.

"Bells," he said softly. "Calm down, honey."

It was awkward the way he tried to comfort her, not offering a hug or a pat on the back. His words were strained, as if he didn't know the right thing to say. She could tell the threatening tears were making him uneasy and it bothered her how he couldn't soothe her the way her mother could.

She took a deep breath to balance her emotions. "Sorry," she said, her eyes flickering to the stairs. "I'm going to bed." She said before bounding up the steps in the rush of embarrassment.

"Bella," Charlie called up the steps. He stood there for a second, at a loss at what to do. "Bella," he called again, with no response. He sighed, slugging his way back to his chair, sinking down in it, exhausted.

Just then the doorbell rang and Charlie's head lifted before he sighed, knowing who it was. Excellent timing, he thought sarcastically. He got up from his seat to answer the door, letting Jacob in routinely.

"Jacob," he said, eyeing him skeptically. "She's upstairs."

Jacob looked up. Charlie starred at the boy for a moment. Bella seemed to be right; there was the absence of carefree joy in the young boy's eyes that always used to shine through even on his gloomiest days.

"Charlie," Jacob returned before making his way up the steps.

Bella didn't respond to Jacob's touch the way she normally would have. He slid his hand down her side, caressing her curves gently with his warm fingertips. He showered her in kisses, all to which she was as unresponsive as stone. He seemed to become more agitated in her lack of interest, grabbing her face and forcing her to participate. When she didn't, he let go, standing up from her bedside and glaring down at her.

"What the hell is wrong with you today?" he nearly shouted.

Bella starred at him, bored, kind of actually hoping Charlie heard that. She hoped Charlie would rush up here and demand to know what was going on, but he never did and never would. It was just Jacob. Just Jacob…

Bella's mouth twisted as Jacob glared, waiting for an explanation. "Nothing," she responded simply, finally.

His eye's narrowed. "Bull shit. What the fuck, Bella? You owe me an explanation."

This time, Bella's eyes narrowed. "I owe you nothing."

"Is that what you think?" Jacob laughed bitterly. He took a step forward, leaning down in Bella's face. Bella starred past him with disinterest. "You owe me much more than an explanation, actually. You owe me an apology for all the shit you've been doing lately. Acting out and all this crap. Throwing accusations in my face, I mean, what the hell? Look at me when I talk to you!"

Bella's eyes slid icily to stare at Jacob. "First off," Bella said bitingly as Jacob raised his hand to her, "don't wag your fucking finger in my face like I'm your daughter. Second off, I don't owe you a God damn thing; I think you've got your shit backwards. So why don't you just get out of here, I really didn't invite you over, you invited yourself. I didn't want to see you tonight anyway." She smiled, satisfied with herself as she saw the look of pure shock on his face.

He recoiled as if he had been slapped, a dumb-struck look still plastered on his face. "You really want me to go?" Jacob asked in a small voice, and Bella's eyes softened. She thought she saw a glimpse of the old Jacob but that thought was quickly diminished as he glared angrily and said, "Fine, if that's what you want. Don't expect to hear from me again unless you're the one doing the contacting. Fuck it." He said, turning on his heel to stride out of the room.

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