Chapter 1.
Ring
Ring
Ring
Finally the school day is over. I pick up my books and sprint towards the door. Well I was meaning to get to the door. Instead I ran into something. Or someone. I looked up to see Paul Lahote standing in front of me. I had run into him.
Our eyes lock for a moment until I hear Jacob yell " Jess, hurry up." I quickly break our eye contact and jog over to Jake just as Embry and Quil are getting there. " What was that about?" they all ask.
See we use to talk to Paul until he joined Sam Uleys pack of steroid users who think they are all that. They walk around the town like they own the place.
" Nothing." I state plainly. " I ran into him, he looked at me all weird and I walked away." I say not even realizing. They look at me with the same amused face. " What?"
" Why are you smiling like that Jess?" they ask I look at them confused. " Do you have a crush on Paul?" once they ask that I turn and punch them all in the arm.
They wince and I smile. But my smile fades as I remember my car is broken and I have to walk home. Of course it's raining too!
" Jess do you need a ride?" I think then nod.
Then I got the best idea ever " Guys we should go cliff diving today. The weathers perfect." I say smiling. They all nod eagerly but then their smiles fade a little. " What is it?" I ask with a confused voice.
" We all have really hard math homework." Jake said. He saw my upset face and said " But how bout you go up to the cliff and we will be there in about 45 minutes." I nod as I get into the front of the rabbit.
I turn on the radio and start to dance in my seat. The guys laugh as soon as they see me dancing and I join them. We drive for about 10 minutes before we get to first beach. When we do I hop out of the car while saying bye to the guys.
As they drive away I start to walk up the cliff while taking of my tank top and shorts. I have my cutest suit on. It's a black and red cheetah print bikini. When I get up to the top of the cliff I see that I am not alone. Paul is also up here.
He turned around as I came through the trees and smiled. Uhhhhhhhh since when are we buddies? I think to myself but on the outside I return the smile but it is forced.
" Sorry if I was disturbing you." I admit. I really was sorry for bothering him up here.
" Oh no you weren't bothering me I was just about to cliff dive." He says and I feel a little better. Then he says, " Would you like to join me?"
I nod eagerly and walk over to him but stop at the edge. " You ready?" I say with a real smile this time.
He doesn't respond for a moment until he grabs my hand and interlocks our fingers and nods signaling he's now ready to jump. I look down at our hands with surprise all over my face. For a moment I marvel at how warm and soft his hands are. My hand feels just right with his.
I look away from our hands and at the same moment we jump into the air and start to fall down into the water. The rush I feel jumping with Paul is so much more than with the guys. Maybe it's just the fact that he's holding my hand. But some part of me thinks it's more than that.
Before we hit the water I wrap my free hand around my legs so I am in a cannon ball position. To my surprise the water is warmer than usual. I swim to the top of the water felling myself smile from ear to ear. I look around for Paul only seconds later feeling his warm arms wrapped around my waist.
I struggled to turn around and once I did I realized just how close we were. His face was just inches from mine. I could feel the warmth of him all around me and it just felt so right. I look at him in the eyes and just got lost.
I don't know how long we were in that spot. I never wanted to move. Everything just felt so right. " Do you want to go again?" Paul asked in a whisper. I nod my head and within seconds we are on the shore walking hand and hand up to the top of the cliff.
When we got to the top I decided to check my phone for the time and saw that I had ten missed calls from Jake. I reluctantly pulled my hand from Paul's and called Jake back. The phone only rang twice before Jake picked up the phone.
" Jess! Why didn't you answer before?" he asked without even saying hi.
" A happy hello to you to." I say and hear Paul chuckle. When he sees me looking at him he smiles a warm smile and I return it. " I went in the water for a little bit Jake. No big deal."
" Yeah I know I was just worried." He says in an apologetic voice. " Anywho were on our way to first beach. We'll meet you at the cliff."
" Ok Ill be here. Take your time." I say silently hopping there is a lot of traffic. He says bye and I hang up the phone turning to Paul who is closer than I expected he would be. He's right in front of me.
I look up at him smiling but he wasn't looking at me. He was looking over my head and into the forest. I hear a wolf faintly howl in the forest and see Paul's smile turn into a frown. I am about to ask him what's wrong when I hear another howl this time closer.
" I have to go but will you come to a bonfire with me tonight?" Paul says. I think about it for a minute and nod. " I'll pick you up at your house." He says and I remember that I don't have his number.
" Give me your phone." I say a little demanding. He looks at me confused and I repeat what I said and this time he slowly grabs his phone from the rock next to us and handed it to me never taking his eyes off me.
I put my number in his phone and call my phone with his. After saving his number I put his phone into his hand. " Call me or text me when you want to come pick me up and I'll give you my address." I say explaining my actions. He nods and before he walks into the forest he gives me a quick hug. Well I think it was supposed to be a quick hug but it turned into a few minutes.
But he did have to go and when he pulled away from the hug and walked into the forest it felt like there was a hole in my heart.
I wasn't alone for long. After about five minutes the guys got there and we went cliff diving for a few hours. Around five I told the guys that I needed to get home and that I would see them tomorrow. They said their goodbyes as I jogged into the forest.
It was a quick jog to my house and when I got there I showered and straightened my long curly black hair with red strips. I had dyed the red in last week and I loved it. It was a bright blood red. Everyone kept telling me that they thought it looked good on me because I had bright green eyes with hints of black in them.
After I did my hair I put on a red tank top with torn black skinny jeans. I put on my make up and decided that I was going to smoke a quick joint.
Yeah I know what everyone says. Drugs are bad, drugs are wrong, blah blah blah blah. But I have my reasons. The two biggest reasons are it helps my back. When I was about two years old a horse kicked me in the back and it would always hurt. But when I smoke the pain goes away. The other reason is that it keeps the dreams away. About a year after my back incident my parents dropped me off at my aunts and just drove away and never looked back. I don't know about you but that can scar someone for life.
I always think about this when I smoke and I sometimes think about stopping but if I stop ill always be in pain and ill never sleep. I hear my phone ringing from the living room where I left it and ran inside while taking another hit off the joint. I pick up the phone to see that it was Paul. I felt a smile come across my face.
I answered it and said " Why hello there." (Yeah I talk weird when I get high)
" Hey" Paul answers. " I was going to come pick you up," he says hinting that he needed my address I told him it. "Ill be there in about 30 seconds," he said laughing and 30 seconds later he knocked on the door. I took the last hit off of my joint and put it out.
I sprayed the house with febreze, put on some perfume and grabbed my jacket while popping a piece of gum in my mouth. He knocked again but this time louder. I got to the door and just now felt the high coming on. When I opened the door I was met with a smile.
" You are very accurate on time." I said trying not to laugh.
" I try my best." He said grinning. " Are you ready to go?" he asked.
" Yeah but I need to lock up the house." I said. " Want to help me?" I ask hopping he'll say yes. He nods looking excited. I led him inside and tell him to go lock the back and side door while I find the keys. He's back within minutes and helps me look for the keys. Once I find them we walk out the door and I lock it. Making sure it's locked
" A little paranoid are we?" he says in a teasing voice as he grabs my hand and leads me into the woods.
"Maybe just a little." I admit. " But I do have my reasons." I say right before I run into a tree. I stumble back and fall into Paul's arms. " Oh. Uhhhhhhhh. Sorry about that. I guess im just really clumsy at the moment." I say hoping that I don't smell like weed.
" Oh? And why would that be?" he asks in a mocking voice. But some part of me thinks that he knows im high.
" Uhhhhhhhh just Ummm reasons." I squeak.
" Well I here smoking weed does that kind of thing to you." He whispers into my ear. I stiffen up.
" Ummm how did u know that?" I asked looking up at him with a worried face. What if he tells someone? I could get in so much trouble.
"I can smell it." He says. " But don't worry I'm not going to tell anyone. I will never tell anyone anything you don't want me to. I can promise that."
Well that gives me a lot to think about. " Ummm thanks. Do you have like any spray or something? I don't want people getting the wrong impression. And im really sorry its just I have things that it helps me with and I know im rambling but I really like you oh my god I cant believe I just said that im just going to shut up and go home now."
I turn to walk around but he stops me. " Jessica." He says to get my attention. " I really like you and you have nothing to be sorry about. Its your business what you do and no one else's. But please don't go." The last line was said with pain. Like it pained him to see me leave.
" Ok ill come." I say. " But I wasn't kidding about spray or something." I say giggling a little bit.
" It not that bad and anyway we'll probably be going cliff diving again when we get there." He says and I immediately feel better.
" Well im happy that I kept my suit on." I say with a smile. With that we start to walk again with Paul carefully keeping me away from all of the trees. We get into a huge clearing and I decide to scare him. Just for the fun of it.
I fall to the ground dramatically and stop breathing. Paul freaked out! He just kept saying are you ok. Please be ok. It took all of my will power not to burst out laughing. It felt like I only sat there for about a minute but before I knew it his lips were on mine pushing air into my lungs. I couldn't keep this up any longer. I burst out laughing and opened my eyes.
He looked into my eyes and got that it was all just a joke. So this time instead of trying to put air in my lungs he kissed me. It was the best kiss I have ever had. We just felt so right together.
Before I knew it he had picked me up off the ground and broke away from the kiss.