I'm baaaack!
This one-shot, like many others, came to me while listening to one of my favourite songs at the moment. It's by Soluna Samay, who will represent Denmark with this song at the European Song Contest, and I just love it. I don't expect you to know it, but I would highly recommend finding it on YouTube :)
If you like the story, I would also recommend checking out my other Twilight one-shot called "Who Knew?" and my on-going cross-over of Twilight and Supernatural called "Exceeding Boundaries". It would mean a great deal to me :)
Side-note: Like in my other Twilight related stories, Jacob never imprinted on Renesmee. Like I explained in EB, I found that to be such a wrong move on S. Meyer's side. Bella getting pregnant already reeked of Meyer needing a new plot twist, but Jake imprinting just ticked me off. I actually got angry, to a point where I threw the book across the room and didn't touch it for weeks. I'm not kidding. Foul play, S. Meyer. So Jacob/Nessie shippers, sorry to burst your bubble.
DISCLAIMER: I own neither the Twiligh Saga or the song featured in this story.
Should've known better
Now I miss you like Sahara miss the rain
Changing like the weather
Maybe it's true
Maybe you're not gonna change
Arianna knew she should have known better. Having lived next door to him most of her life, she shouldn't have been so surprised. Yet she couldn't convince herself that it didn't hurt when he acted like he had. They had been practically inseparable growing up, but now she rarely ever saw him, and she missed him terribly. Her mother had patiently tried explaining to her how people change when they grew up, but Ari refused to believe her. He wouldn't change. Not her Jacob.
I feel like you have two homes
Yet I feel you are homeless
Where we live I feel like a stranger
When you're home I feel even stranger
Growing up, she was the only white girl on the reservation of La Push, home of the Quileute tribe. After her mother fleeing from an abusive husband, Billy Black had offered them to stay in La Push, making them the only white family. Growing up she hadn't been affected much by her paleness, but in high school the kids got crueller. They never failed to remind her how she stuck out like a sore thumb in the sea of russet-coloured skin. Through those past years, her only friends had been her neighbour Jacob and his best friends Quil and Embry.
Suddenly everything started happening fast. Embry had missed school for a few weeks, and when he came back, Ari hardly recognized him. He started ignoring them and instead followed Sam Uley around like a puppy. She was worried for her friend. Rumour had it that Sam and his so-called gang were involved with drugs or other illegal activities, and Ari had a hard time believing that sweet, dear Embry could ever be involved in any sort of crime. Then a month later Jacob followed the same pattern. He skipped school and came back ignoring Ari and Quil. This sudden alienation coming from two of her best friends made the snide comments worse, and she felt more and more like a stranger in her own home.
I live in no-man's land
With no way home like you don't understand
Cause you're so here, you're so there
Not really anywhere
She said
About a month later nothing had changed. Ari had only Quil to comfort her when the comments from the other students became too much. Quil too suffered from his supposedly best friends suddenly ignoring him, and the two found solace in each other. Still Ari felt like she didn't belong on the reservation, and the feeling of alienation grew every day as she watched Jacob flit in and out of his house at all times of the day and night. She was confused and didn't know who to turn to for answers.
Should've known better
Now I miss you like Sahara miss the rain
Changing like the weather
Maybe it's true
Maybe you're not gonna change
Jacob felt horrible. He knew Arianna already had a hard time fitting in on the reservation. Hell, he had been the one to comfort her when the popular kids at school would make rude comments about her pale skin. Every word that hurt her had hurt him as well. Now he had gone and done the same. He had ignored her as he had been told to do, but every time he saw the hurt she felt, he felt it twice as hard. He had no idea why, but with every cold shoulder he gave her, he felt his heart break a little more. She was his best friend. He just wasn't allowed to let her in on his life changing secret.
Feels like I'm always
Living out of my suit case
What about all the years in between
Just trying to find my place
About a month after Embry had started ignoring them, Jacob felt his own body change as well. He brushed it off though, being busy helping Bella regain a little bit of life after Edward Cullen had left her, causing her to walk around in a zombie-like state. Now he couldn't even make himself useful in that way either. It seemed like he was constantly on the move except for when he was sleeping or when Billy or Emily Young, Sam's fiancée, forced him and the others to actually sit down for their meals. He had an important job to do while he was still trying to adjust to the changes of his life. A few months ago he was a regular teenage boy who spent his time goofing off or working on cars. Those days were over. He was a werewolf.
I live in no-man's land
With no way home like you don't understand
Cause you're so here, you're so there
Not really anywhere
She said (sha-sha-la x3)
He knew he could have gone around this more smoothly. He knew he could have pretended being mad at her to somewhat justify him ignoring her. It was all too late now. He was now a part of a supernatural world where werewolves and vampires existed. It was a world where a human like Ari would be in constant danger. He couldn't allow himself to bring her into that world.
She says, oh (sha-sha-la x3)
We could've written words on a mountain high
Reminding ourselves we'd be climbing right
Sometimes we have to lose
Put it first to find the truth
Glancing out her bedroom window, she saw that Jacob was home. Feeling the familiar pang in her chest, she decided she would take it no more and went to the Black house to get the answers she craved. Storming up the porch, she didn't even wait to knock on the door. Walking right in she ignored Billy sitting in his wheelchair in front of the TV, heading straight for the familiar bedroom. This time she did take the time to knock before hearing the familiar voice on the other side of the door calling for whoever had knocked to come in. As she opened the door, she was met with a look of utter surprise. The surprise was then quickly replaced with anger.
"What are you doing here?" he practically growled while being careful not to meet her gaze.
"I want to know the truth, Jacob! What happened to you?" she demanded.
Silence filled the room. Jacob felt the hard stare of the girl who used to trust him. He wanted to tell her everything, but he knew he couldn't. Sam had forbidden him to tell, and he couldn't disobey an order from the pack Alpha.
"Did Sam get you into drugs or anything else illegal?" she pressed on, and he felt his blood start to boil.
"Never! If anything, Sam has helped me! He has helped me in ways no one else could," he replied with a sneer, still not making eye contact with Ari.
The words hit her like a whip. He had basically told her that she was unable of anything concerning his current situation.
"Oh yeah? What did he help you with?" she challenged.
"I can't tell you, I literally can't!" he retorted.
"You can't or you won't?" she asked.
"I can't, Ari, I really can't."
Nothing more beautiful than the way
You used to breathe me into your lungs and soul
Sometimes we have to say
I'm sorry I can't stay
She scoffed lightly.
"I can't believe you, Jake. For years you were my rock, my protector. When everything was hell, you made life worth living again. You saw me, you really saw me! You saw past the pale skin and saw an actual person, and for a while, I actually thought you meant it when you told me I was beautiful and that the colour of my skin didn't matter. I guess the joke's on me, huh?" she said with an even voice, though the hurt and anger were visible in her words.
Surprised by her words, he forgot his promise to himself of not looking at her. What he saw broke his heart even further. In front of him stood the girl, who was supposed to be his best friend. Now she seemed only a ghost of her former happy self, and it was obvious to him how he had hurt her.
Next thing he knew she lifted her head and met his gaze, and he was frozen to the spot. It was like he saw her for the first time, her beauty dazzling him like the sun would dazzle a man seeing it for the first time. Gravity shifted, and he felt like the only thing holding him there was her.
Scared of this new sensation, he did something he would end up regretting.
"Ari, I… I have to go."
Should've known better
Now I miss you like Sahara miss the rain
Changing like the weather
Maybe it's true
Maybe it's true, oh
Not wanting to tempt himself by getting closer to her, he jumped out the window and ran. He had barely made it to the edge of the forest before he felt his body change into his wolf form and was immediately met by the concerned voice of his Alpha. Incoherently and stumbling over his words, Jacob retold the events of the afternoon to Sam. To his confusion, he heard Sam chuckle and congratulate him. He, Jacob Black, had imprinted.
Should've known better
Now I miss you like Sahara miss the rain
Changing like the weather, yeah
Maybe it's true
Maybe we're not gonna change
After Jacob had jumped out of the window, Ari was left in his bedroom stunned beyond belief. The look on Jacob's face as he looked at her had stunned her. It was so full of love and adoration, and for a moment she thought she would get her best friend and protector back. Then, when he jumped out of the window, her heart had dropped and shattered like glassed being thrown on a hard floor. Tears started falling before she knew it, and for a moment all she could do was cry. Then a voice sounded from behind her.
"It will be alright, Arianna."
She turned to see Billy sitting in front of her in his wheelchair, looking up at her through genuinely concerned eyes. Shutting her eyes tightly, she slowly shook her head as more tears fell. She didn't see how that was possible.
"He has changed, Billy. I should have known."
Should've known better
Should've known better
Ta-daaaah! There you go, ladies and gents! If you would take a moment to review, it would be greatly appreciated, even if it's just to say "good" or "bad".
Ta-ta for now!
Unicorns and butterflykisses.