Jacob & Renesmee: Glowing Horizon

Chapter 2: Secrets

The car ride home seemed to take forever – even with my dad's extremely fast driving. I gazed out of my window absentmindedly, staring at the rain beating down on the car windows. I was so used to seeing nothing but glittering snow in Alaska – it was strange to be back to a different form of precipitation. I sighed, memories of my last visit up north drifting through my brain. I missed Embry – he was like a brother to me, and I knew Jacob missed him too.

When Tanya had come to visit us not long after the confrontation with the Volturi, (I remembered the situation, but only just. I don't have a flawless vampire memory like everyone else in my family does) Embry was over with Jake. And Embry imprinted – I still didn't completely understand the meaning of the word. Jacob had just told me that it was basically like falling in love, except ten times stronger, and Embry just couldn't be away from Tanya anymore. Jake blew it off, saying it was just a "werewolf" thing. I had tried to get him to explain further, but he said he couldn't. Eventually, I gave up, knowing he wasn't going to tell me any time soon.

So, because of the whole imprinting situation, we moved up north with Tanya's coven, because Jacob said he wanted to stay with Embry. And we did. But, eventually we decided to come back to Forks, because both Carlisle and my dad wanted me to have the experience of going to school. It had been a long process – after all, it had only been about ten years since we were in Forks last – we had to go through a lot to make sure it was a safe move. Carlisle spent days researching, and discovered that most people we had known that were in Forks before had moved on – college, out of state, etc…and Alice had seen that no one would recognize us. But, just to be safe, we had all taken on Jasper's real last name – Whitlock – while we were in public. We just had to be careful, that was all.

Finally, we pulled into the garage. As soon as the car came to a stop, I launched myself out of it and ran into the house. I grabbed the phone off the hook and dialed Jake's number. I waited impatiently, tapping my nails on the counter.

"Nessie!" Jake yelled into the receiver.

I laughed. "Jake, I'm going to kill you! Where have you been? What's going on? You realize I had to spend a whole day at school—my first day—without you there? I was going insane!" I said quickly.

"Ness, I'm so sorry! Look…I'll explain everything. Are you busy?" he asked.

"No, of course I'm not! Please come pick me up." I begged.

He chuckled. "I'm on my way."

I hung up, and then walked over to the couch to sit and wait. Everyone else had relaxed into their own pastimes – Alice was on the computer, most likely designing something…I prayed that it wasn't for me. Jasper was on a different computer next to Alice, and by the looks of it he was playing chess – he had learned to stop asking me to play, since I got frustrated every time he creamed me and I refused to continue. My dad was playing the piano – he created such lovely music, it was so nice having it in the background. Meanwhile, my mother came to sit on the couch next to me. She sighed, and put her arm over my shoulder.

"You're going to see Jake." It wasn't a question.

I nodded.

"You love him a lot, don't you?" She asked me, with a knowing look in her eye that I didn't understand. I heard my dad's music turn slower and more drawn out, like he was focusing hard on something else.

"Of course I do! He's my best friend." I said, but the words didn't fit what I wanted to say for some reason.

She continued to stare at me, like she was waiting for me to say something. But then I heard a car pull into the driveway, and I jumped up out of my seat and ran to the door.

I opened the door, and there he was. He was smiling up at me, his teeth white and shining. I had never been so happy to see him. When he walked in, I threw my arms around him.

"Jake!" I yelled.

And then I felt something I had never felt before. Jacob and I had always been extremely close, and I had always loved him because he had always been and would always be my best friend. But, as soon as I hugged him, I knew something was different. I didn't feel the pleasant warmth through me that always meant that I was happy to see him – instead I felt a slow burning fire mixed with a shot of electricity that zinged up my spine. What was wrong with me?

Jake pulled out of the hug awkwardly, obviously having felt the same thing I did. He looked at me with narrowed eyes for one second, and then my parents walked in, hand in hand.

"Hello, Jacob." My dad said with half a smile.

"Hey, Edward. Bella." Jake smiled.

"Nessie missed you today, Jake." Bella said with a small smile. I brought my eyes to the floor, embarrassed slightly.

He laughed. "She wasn't the only one."

"Not too late, Jake." My dad said. I rolled my eyes. He knew I would be safe with Jacob.

Jacob grinned. "Don't worry, sir, we'll only be gone for a few hours."

My mom laughed, and gave me a quick hug. I turned to my dad, and he gave me a tight hug as well.

"Goodbye, we love you." He smiled.

"Bye Alice! Bye Jasper!" I called out – even though they would've heard me if I whispered.

They called out a quick goodbye back, and then Jacob and I were out the door and in his Rabbit.

"Where do you want to go? The beach?" He asked, hands on the steering wheel.

I nodded. "Sounds good to me."

As we pulled away, I waved goodbye to my parents. My dad had both of his arms around my mom, but they both lifted one to wave back at me and smile.

It wasn't long before we arrived at the ocean, the waves crashing from a distance. I opened my door to get out, but Jake walked around and opened it for me.

"Thanks." I said.

He smiled, and took my hand. That same smoldering feeling washed through me again, and I gripped his hand tighter. We walked along the beach, and were silent for a few short moments.

"So how was your first day?" He asked unexpectedly. School seemed like it was far away – like it had never happened. It had completely left my mind.

"Oh—er, fine I guess." I shrugged. "Mostly I was just watching the clock."

"I wish I could've been there." He sighed.

"Oh, right. So why exactly were you not there?" I asked, staring up at him. He was so tall.

He took a deep breath.

"Leah's been acting weird lately. She hasn't been phasing, and Seth wanted me to come with him and make sure she was okay."

I never saw Leah much – she was there occasionally, but I always got the vibe that she didn't like me.

"Was she okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. She's just been down…I think she really wants to settle into a real human life, imprint or something." He muttered.

I didn't say anything for a moment or two. I hadn't had the chance to ask him about imprinting again, and this seemed like a golden opportunity to me.

"Jacob…you can tell me anything…you know that, right?" I asked quietly.

He looked down at me, and didn't say anything for a second.

Eventually, he nodded.

"Then, Jake…please…please tell me what imprinting really is. Please." I begged.

He took a deep breath.

"I can't."

I folded my arms, speechless. I didn't remember any time where he refused to tell me something. I had no words to describe my anger, so I reached up and touched his face, showing him that I was furious and confused.

He sighed, taking my hand again.

"I don't know how you'll react…and I sort of promised your parents that I wouldn't tell you until you stopped aging."

I was so sick of all the secrets. It was only a week away – why was it so important that my parents would care if I knew what imprinting was or not?

Frustrated, I started walking away from him, folding my arms again.

He didn't let me get too far. I walked a few feet before he wrapped his arms around my waist and stopped me. I struggled to free myself, but he wouldn't budge.

"Ness, I'll tell you. I promise. Just…just not right now, that's all."

I couldn't believe him! My mouth fell open, shocked. It was only one week! Was this a joke?

"I'm sick of all the secrets, Jacob. I cannot believe this." I said, my voice shaky.

I started running away from him then, tears threatening to fall from my eyes. I didn't hear him following me, but I ran faster just in case.

When I was far enough away that I knew he couldn't find me, I pulled out the cell phone in my pocket that my dad gave me for emergencies. I dialed my dad's cell phone.

On the second ring, he picked up.

"Renesmee? Are you alright?" He asked, his voice panicky.

"I'm fine, dad. Really. But…can you pick me up, please? I'm right by the La Push borderline." I said quietly.

"I'll be there in two minutes, stay where you are. What's wrong?" He asked, worried.

"Nothing really."

"Is Jacob with you?" He asked.

I was silent for a second. "No."

"Did he hurt you?" He asked, anger dripping into his tone.

I just sighed, unable to answer because I hated to have to say yes.

"I'll be there in a minute."

I hung up, and sat on the curb, waiting and wondering why Jake didn't just come after me. And also wondering why in the hell he wouldn't just tell me about the stupid imprint thing. Why was it so important for me not to know?

It was only two and a half minutes later that Dad showed up with the Volvo. I stood up, going to get in the car, but my father got out of the car first and walked over to me. He leaned against the passenger door, and I tried to control my thoughts.

"What did he do?" He whispered.

I took a deep, shaky breath, but I couldn't control myself any longer. I began to sob loudly, and he caught me in a tight hug. Neither of us said anything for several minutes, and only when it started raining did he usher me into the passenger seat, and get into the driver's side. He turned the heater on, but didn't start driving. He just stared at me wistfully. I wiped my eyes with the sleeves of my shirt.

I knew he was waiting for an explanation, but didn't want to ask. I took another deep breath.

"I asked him what it meant to imprint on someone."

My father's eyes turned hard, and his face turned blank. He stared ahead of us into the rain.

"And he wouldn't tell me. We always tell each other everything, and he wouldn't tell me. He also said that he promised you and mom that he wouldn't tell me until I stopped aging."

He leaned back against the seat, not looking at me.

"That's true. He did promise us."

"It's only one week away! Is it really that important that I don't know what it means?" I said, my voice getting louder.

He sighed, wiping one of my tears away with his fingers.

"Not really. Jacob worries of what your reaction will be to the situation."

"Well he's never going to know until he asks!" I said angrily, folding my arms again.

My dad chuckled lightly, and started the car.

"I just don't get it," I said mostly to myself, "Why would you both not want me to know? It's so confusing."

"Don't worry, Nessie. You'll find out soon enough."

I sighed, and my mind began to wander as we sped down the road.

So, what do you think of chapter 2? Hopefully any questions or concerns you had from chapter 1 were resolved here.

Thanks for reading!