o.0.o
PROLOGUE
She paced her room, biting her thumbnail.. She had one shot at this, and she'd been mustering up the courage to do it all week. When she heard Jacob leaving Bella's room, she ran out of her own room, pressing him against the hallway wall, climbing into his arms and kissing him.
It was a sheer act of desperation, and apparently, it did nothing to sort of show him how she felt about him. He sat her down and looked at her a moment before asking, "Umm, any reason you did that, Grae?"
She sighed and then said quietly, "If you have to ask me that, obviously it did nothing. Hint taken, Jacob.. You can continue to be my sister's idiot slave." before walking back down the hallway, back into her own room, shutting the door firmly behind her, locking it.
Jacob stood there as heat flowed through his veins and the scent of vanilla hung heavily in the air around him. All he could think about right now was how stupid he'd been, continuing to chase after Bella when all this time, Grace had been there, watching, waiting.. He could see her so clearly now, he kicked himself for not seeing her this way before.
He hadn't been a shifter long at this point, but he'd been one long enough to know what just happened to him. He'd imprinted on Grace. Grace was supposed to be his.
But, as usual, he'd gone and completely blown her off.
Knocking on her door had her rolling her eyes as she said aloud, "Just get the fuck away from me. I'm done now. You made it pretty damn clear how you really feel and that all we're ever going to be is friends."
Jacob stood on the other side of the door, biting his lower lip, his hand caught in his long black hair as he stared at the door, willing it to open. "It shocked me, Grae.. That's all." he tried as she laughed bitterly from inside the room and called out, "Yeah? Well you don't have to worry about me shocking you anymore."
"What's that supposed to mean, Grae?" he asked as she laughed and said "I'm done. Completely and totally done, Jacob. You've put me in second or not at all for the last time. Tonight was pathetic, I never should have done it, actually. If I had half a brain, I'd have realized that you are and you will forever be Bella's favorite little toy. Have fun with that." from inside the room, hurriedly throwing things into her suitcases, scribbling a note to Charlie, not that it'd make a difference or anything..
Because of course, like Jacob, he only saw Bella lately. What Bella needed, what was wrong with Bella, what was upsetting Bella.
But hey, she'd gotten used to it over the course of a year or two.
"Things will be better for me in California." she muttered as she eyed the acceptance letter and scholarship she held in her hand. It'd been easy enough getting her father to sign, she'd begged and begged after making the call back and waiting list, and he finally caved in and said that if this was what she really wanted, if she made it and got a good scholarship, he'd gladly let her go.. Provided of course she come home for every major holiday and call at least 3 times a week to check in with him or with Renee.
What she'd done tonight had been sort of a last ditch effort to give herself any sort of tangible reason to stay here in Forks where she felt like she really wasn't and never actually had been wanted around by anyone.
She'd given her father a similar test when she got him to cave and sign for her to actually attend this school, or at least by now, the way he just sort of did it without much fuss on his end just served to show her just how 'unwanted' she was and enforce her overall feelings of not being wanted by anyone.
Sure, her father told her it was nonsense, but then every single time Bella needed or wanted something, it was all attention on her, of course.
The door to her bedroom from the bathroom she and her sister shared opened and Bella peeked her head in, asked quietly, "Grae?"
"What the hell do you want?" Grace asked quietly as Bella said "What are you doing?"
"Packing, Bella, what's it look like? Look, he's all yours. I tried to kiss him, I tried to tell him how I really feel so many times it's pathetic. If you want Jacob Black, he's yours. And now you'll have Dad's undivided attention also.. I get it, finally. I don't matter to anyone. I never have and I never will."
"You don't have to leave for that school until the end of summer though.." Bella said as she ignored her sister's little hissy fit about Jacob. Grace looked up and shrugging said "Beats the hell out of staying here and watching you get everyone's undying love and attention. Not just Jacob, Bella.. Everyone.. When you get done sucking the life out of them, there's really never any room left for me, is there? There never has been and there never will be.. And hey, now you don't have to worry about me being in the way anymore. You should be happy now, Bella.. I mean isn't this what you wanted all along? A world where you are the absolute center of everyone's universe? Enjoy it, Bella."
Bella gaped at her and started to say something but Grace smirked and said "You can go now, really. I don't want to hear anything you have to it'll all either be lies, or it'll be something made for me to pity you, and frankly, Bells? I just don't. I did, at first, but now I just see how pathetic you really are. He's gone, he's not coming back. Deal with it. Personally, Bella, seeing the way you've acted since he left, can't honestly say I blame the creepy bastard for leaving in the first place." before shoving past her, walking down the stairs and out to her own car.
She took off for California, that performing arts school. And for almost 3 years, she didn't look back.. But as life often does, eventually, things would come full circle. And when they finally did, the lives of 2 people would finally be as they should be..
AUTHORS NOTES:
Okay, slightly tweaked rewrite of my original story, A New Dawn. I lost muse with the original and there were too many inconsistencies for my taste. So I sat down, and made a few revisions. So, bare with me, because here are the changes that will be taking place:
- Jacob will not be a part of Eclipse. Instead, he starts to shun Bella, because he's obviously realized just how he felt about Grace, imprintee or not. He's realized that he actually did love Grace all along, and that she loved him, until of course, he shoved her to the side for Bella one time too many.
- He still leaves town during Breaking Dawn, but instead of going to Canada, he actually goes to California, for Grace. Remember, he's now old enough to just pick up and do that. Also, he won't be an integral part of Breaking Dawn's events either.. This is just sort of his going off his own way, having his own story, as opposed to being a part of Bella's story, since it's obvious hopefully that I actually kinda hate her.
-Loose setting for this is in between Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.. To make things a little more realistic, I've opted to make Breaking Dawn take place when the twins (bella x grace) would be 19. Meaning that Bella actually spends a good part of New Moon alone, as the middle of New Moon is when the prologue takes place.
FYI:
At first, Grace seems like she wants/needs as much attention as Bella. She actually does not, it's just that she's finally gotten that sick of her family, friends, the guy she's always wanted choosing her sister over her. She's too nice and good a person to really say anything, but the prologue was sort of her 'snapping moment', so to speak. She's the quiet and good natured twin, she's the one who tries her best not to make anyone angry at her, so she hates confrontations, so the prologue, at this particular point in the storyline, is/was definitely OOC for Grace.
Because be honest with yourself, people.. If you had to live with that, those of you who didn't murder Bella in her sleep as a child would have left as soon as you could also.. I know I would've.
And this will take a while for Jacob to fix. I don't intend to rush into things this time around. Besides, I've only got this part written and maybe one other chapter, I still haven't actually decided if they go back for Bella's wedding or not. Parts of me wants to do that, but parts of me (the parts that wish I could salt n burn Bella, lol) sort of want to keep Cullens, volturi, Bella and all other outside interferences out of their life together. So if you have an opinion on that matter, weigh in by all means.
