Chapter 2 Mending Bonds
Thanks to my beta ForTheGun for proofreading my story even though you aren't the biggest Twilight fan. :)
Disclaimer: I don't own twilight, just this plot line. If I had my way, Bella would've never looked twice at Edward. Anyway, back to the story...
Bella POV
I looked up to see the person I least expected. It was him. He was here. I felt my heart soar with joy. He looked up at me, his espresso colored eyes staring straight at mine.
Jacob.
I gasped. Instead of seeing his eyes light up at the sight of me like they usually did, they hardened with anger. He frowned at me. He straightened and crossed his arms, watching me walk slowly towards him.
"Bella, love!" I heard Edward behind me. He looked peeved. He grabbed my arm roughly and started dragging me away from Jacob.
"Ow! Edward, stop!" His ice-cold grip was hurting my arm. I knew this would leave a bruise. Suddenly, I felt a hand grab my other arm, and I whipped around. If Jacob looked mad before, he was furious now.
I felt the icy hand whip me back towards him. I looked at Edward, who was glaring threateningly at Jacob. When I looked back, I saw Jacob growl at Edward, teeth bared.
"Stop it! Both of you!" I yelled, glancing around. We were getting lots of unwanted attention. I pulled my arms away from both of them and stepped back. Edward had a pained look on his face, and Jacob was pointing death looks toward Edward.
"We'll talk about this later. Jacob, go home. Edward, stay away from me. I need some time alone." I said, walking towards the school. What the fuck just happened? I thought. I was just in a tug-of-war fight between Edward and Jacob, and I didn't choose Edward. Why not? I wondered. Why would you? Said that annoying little voice. Because he's my fiancé! I thought furiously.
I stalked away quickly, feeling their eyes boring into my back, and didn't dare turn around.
Jacob POV
I watched her walk away. Then, I turned to glare some more at the leech.
"What are you doing here?" he hissed at me.
"I wanted to talk to Bella, not you." I said while trying to breath through my mouth. The leech stench was clogging up my nose. It was horrid. It was taking all of my self control not to faze right here and tear the thing apart.
He just looked at me. "If your having so much trouble with your self control, you shouldn't be around Bella." he stated. I growled, furthering his point.
"You don't own her, and you can't keep her from seeing me forever. When she wants to see me, you better not
get in her way. Again." I was referring to the time he broke her truck to keep her from seeing me. Of course, the leech saw it in my mind, so he couldn't claim ignorance.
He frowned. "You weren't safe for her to be around then. You still aren't. It's best if you just stay away from Bella." he stated blandly, turning on his heel and walking away as the bell rang. I stared after him until the principle came along and asked me to kindly leave on "that death machine".
I kicked up my motorcycle and drove off. I had planned to spend the day with Bella, discussing things we needed to attend to, but she had surprisingly blew me off. It actually hurt, that she would just walk away. She had never done that before. I guess I wasn't the friendliest person to her leech boyfriend, but he had hurt her. That was something I wouldn't stand for. He had no right to hurt her, and I had no right to defend her. She could take care of herself.
Now, I had nothing to do, since I'd traded shifts with Quil. I decided to stop by Emily's, since I needed to talk to Sam. I wasn't sure Edward had broken the treaty, but Sam needed to know about it. The Alpha should be told anything of importance. Sam had always stressed that.
A few minutes later, I screeched to a stop in front of the Uleys house. I bounded up the stairs, and was greeted by the familiar smell of blueberry muffins. Yum.
"Hi, Emily! Smells great!" I called. She turned around from making her muffins. She looked different today, almost like she was glowing.
She gave me a huge smile. "Hey there, Jake! Want a muffin?" she asked, motioning towards a plate.
"Of course." I said. "Know where Sam is?" I asked grabbing a muffin and biting into it. Yum. Almost worthy of Bella's cooking. Almost.
"Right here, Jake." Sam said while entering the room. Emily beamed at him. He reached over and gave her a passionate kiss. I turned away, not wanting to intrude. It hurt. It was making me think of Bella. Right. Edward hurting her. I turned to Sam.
"I don't mean to intrude, but I have some bad news. I'd prefer to talk to you alone, Sam." I stated. He nodded and we headed outside. He turned around when we reached the edge of the forest.
"I'm not sure how far the treaty goes about the Cullen's hurting a human, but the Leech hurt Bella today. He definitely bruised her. I'm worried about her safety." Jacob said quickly. Sam's face got more serious the longer Jacob talked.
"Jacob, I can understand why you're worried about Bella's safety, but she's not on our lands. She's on theirs. We can't protect her over there, and honestly, Jake, I don't think the pack would want to either after the way she treated you." Sam said grimly.
Jacob sighed. "I know, Sam. But, I also noticed that she told Cullen to back off afterwards before she left. She actually seemed genuinely upset at him for once." Jacob looked at the floor. When he looked back up, Sam's eyes were hard.
"Don't get your hopes up." was all he said before he walked back inside to Emily. I sighed, debating going home, or trying to see Bella again. I finally decided to go home. Billy probably needed me, and Bella would come see me when she was ready.
Bella POV
I was starting to find out how hard ignoring Edward could be. None of my friends would talk to me since my depression, and when I went running back to Edward. They didn't trust me anymore. I couldn't really blame them, but I made a point to show them I was interested in being friends again.
I saw Edward in the halls, not to mention in all of my classes. He had pulled a few strings in order for us to have the same schedule, and now I was stuck with him. At lunch, I decided to ditch the Cullen's altogether, and sat by myself next to a window, reading Withering Heights yet again.
I was surprised when someone approached me. It was Jessica, who plopped down in the seat across from me. I looked up.
"Are you in a fight with Edward? Is that why you're so interested in being friends again? Or did you decide to detach from him and look at the real world for a minute? You know what? After all of this, I don't care. I even tried being friends while you were all depressed. Remember the movies? Yeah. You probably don't even remember. Or care, for that matter." she sneered at me and got up to leave.
"Wait, Jessica!" I jumped up. "Please, just let me explain." She have me a 'yeah right' look, but sat down.
I sighed. "We're not in a fight. Like you said, I decided to look around for once. And I realized how much I messed up with you guys. I really regret not bothering to stay in touch, well, with the real world." Her glare softened slightly. "I just thought he was the one, you know? I mean, you know how that feels right? When you're completely in love, and then he suddenly up and leaves you?"
She nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I do." she said sadly. I put my hand on hers, trying to comfort her.
"Well, I've never loved anyone before. I never had anyone take care of me for a change, and I was so torn when he left me. I forgot how to take care of myself. If it weren't for my friend, Jacob, I don't think I would have ever come back from that stage. He taught me to respect myself and be who I am. I know it doesn't excuse my actions, but this is the real me speaking right now. I really want a second chance with you guys, if your willing to give it to me."
Jessica's gaze had become less angry and more compassionate as I went on, and somewhere in there, Angela had come over to listen. They both nodded at the end of my speech.
"Of course you can, Bella. We were just disappointed that you didn't let us help you through it. Would you like to come sit with us?" I nodded gladly. With that, I spent the rest of lunch cracking jokes and fending off Mike Newton, just like old times. I couldn't remember the last time I'd laughed so much.
It wasn't until later that I realized the Cullen's could hear every word I said to Jessica and Angela.
After school, I walked to my truck, hoping to see Jacob leaning against it. I was disappointed to see Edward instead. Of course you were. Oh great, the annoying little voice was back. I just miss Jacob. I told it firmly.
I thought about going to see him. Did that seem really desperate after my display this morning? I wanted to show Jake and Edward that I was strong and didn't always need them around.
But, Jake and I had shared everything for a very long time. He was my best friend, until Edward.
Edward. I needed to mend things with him. He must've been torn when I asked, no, told him to stay away. What had been going through my mind? He was standing right here, watching me. Here was my chance. I took a deep breath and walked up to him.
"Hey, love." I said, watching his face carefully. Although his face barely moved, I could see his pleasure and his relief at still having me. I smiled at him and walked around to my truck, hopping in. I waited until I heard him shut his door before driving off, a feeling of dread settling in my stomach.
A/N: So, I just wanted to thank everyone for reading, following, and reviewing! I want to especially thank gagirl0181 for being my very first follower, and Dottyanne for being my very first reviewer! I did the whole jumping up and down squealing thing when I saw the alerts from everyone! Please review and let me know how you liked it!
Love you guys already,
Emmabunny
