"No. I'm not going. No." I crossed my arms over my chest and refused to budge. Annie grabbed my arm and tried to pull me forward. A year or so ago that would have worked, but not anymore. I was the strongest now, the most athletic. That used to be Annie. But hey. Sometimes being a mystical feline has its advantages.
"Jace. You have to go in, you know you do. It's required by law. And you'll make new friends, I know you will! You're so nice!" I glared at her. "Okaaay, maybe you're not so nice. But people like you! I mean, look at Hylla and Jason! Look at Peter!" The glare became more vicious. "Okay, I get it, bad thing to bring up. But it'll be fine, I promise. We can even sit together at lunch. Pleease? I don't want to be late!" Hazel and Beth had already gone inside, but Annie had stayed behind to try to get me to come in. I deflated. I had a soft spot for my little sister.
"Fine. But I'm not coming back tomorrow." I warned.
"Yay!" She jumped up and down and clapped her hands. "And yes you are!" She walked quickly and enthusiastically in to the school and I walked unhappily behind her. This was going to be a long and truly awful day. I could feel it.
My prediction, it seemed was coming true. A lot of the girls here seemed to not think that jeans, converse, zip up hoodies and handmade leather bracelets weren't exactly in style. Why they cared, I'm not really sure, but I got some pretty some pretty strange looks. But by far the worst thing happened in my sixth bell which, regrettably, was Physics. I hate Physics. And some dumb bitch had the nerve to ask me if I used to go to the school on the reservation because I didn't look familiar. I swear to God, I nearly slapped her in the face. Unfortunately for me and fortunately for her, Mr. Blackburn walked in just as I was about to destroy her face. She was lucky. But based on the look on her face, she wouldn't be trying that anytime soon. And if she did… Well let's just say Peter wasn't there to remind me to keep my temper. I wouldn't have phased, of course. That's not a problem I have. I do, however, have a problem with not beating people up, but I've always had that problem.
So when I got home that afternoon, I was in a horrible mood. My sisters were bubbling and chatting like usual and I was glowering. Like usual. So I did what I always do when I need to blow off some steam. I pulled on a tank grey top over the sports bra I was already wearing (I hated real bras), put on a pair of purple Nike running shorts, threw my hair up in a ponytail, and laced up my favorite pair of Puma's (ironic, huh?).
"Mom! I'm going for a run!" I yelled, trying to rush to the door before she could see me but still not act like I was trying to leave quickly.
"Oh no you're not." She stood in front of the door, glowering while holding her wooden cooking spoon. "Not like that, you're not. Young lady it is November. You are wearing shorts and a tank top. Not acceptable."
"Mother," I groaned. "I'll be running. I don't want to get too hot and end up losing my clothes. I'll be fine. Please. Plus, you know I run hot." She glared for a moment, then relented.
"if you get sick it's your fault. And you come home the minute you get cold, you hear? And be home by dinner, you were nearly late last night." I nod and yes ma'am my way out the door until I felt the cool air on my skin. That's when I started running. I stuck to the road to avoid encountering those wolves and to make sure I found my way back in time. I don't normally pay attention to where I run.
I used to love running. I did track in junior high all the way up to my freshman year. Then when I was a sophomore, I was training in the early fall with my coach and some other girls for shot and the two mile run. In was pretty good, I'm not going to lie, but one day when I practicing suddenly I could throw a million times farther than before. I beat the school record easily. I could run faster without getting tired. One of the girls I was training with used to be number one in the league for the two mile. I outstripped her easily. Needless to say, she was not pleased. My coach, on the other hand, was thrilled. He had visions of regionals, of state, even of one of his students being in the Olympics. I shared his dream. I was decent at track, but Annie was the athletic one. She played volleyball, basketball, and she ran sprints for track. I was never best. And the idea of being the best, was intoxicating. The elders had other ideas.
Two days later I changed for the first time. It was a horrifying experience, but I got over it. I was happy. After all, I was the new track star. The softball coach was begging me to play. That was when I was called before the elders. The curse had skipped a generation, so the only other cougar left was kind of old. When they found out I was planning on doing track, they completely shut me down.
"No Jacey," they said. "It's unfair and it will raise suspicion. They'll try to drug test you and discover something that would be even worse. If you don't want to spend the rest of your life being a test subject then you'll listen to us."
I listened to them. It was miserable, but I listened. I still ran, but only for my own pleasure. No one could figure out why the newly discovered track prodigy had quite. I talked very little. I spent my time running and killing any Apotamkin that wandered closely to the reserve. My two best friends, Hylla and Jason, begged me to tell them what was wrong. I wouldn't. Then Bradley changed. I was there to help him and tell him it would be alright. We began to spend more time together. Hylla and Jason were angry. Until Jason changed too. The three of us spent more time together than most people. I suppose to an outsider we would have looked inseparable. That was not the case. It was just that we were the only ones who knew. Hylla was furious. And then she joined us too. A month or so later, Peter. We didn't hunt together, but we spent most of our down time together. It was easier that way. We didn't have to explain why we would suddenly run away or why we wore shorts and tank tops in the fall. We understood. It was hardest for Bradley and Peter. They had other friends, friends they had to leave behind. They saw them occasionally, but not like before.
This was what went through my mind that night I went running. What always went through my mind. Every time I went through this in my mind, I was struck by the injustice of it all. And then I was struck by the realization that it didn't really matter. Every time that came to me, I stopped. Somehow I just lost the motivation to go forward. But not this time. This time something else made me stop.
"Jacey!" I swear, if it had been a cartoon I would have skidded in to a tree. But I didn't. Instead, I stopped on a dime, and looked around. Who had called my name? It sounded almost like Bradley, but I doubt he would have stayed in the shadows.
"Bradley? Brad, is that you?" I looked around. Damn, I wished I was a cat right now. The sun was setting and it was getting difficult to see.
"Jacey?" There it was again. I heard leaves rustling to my left. "That's what you said your name was, right?" A boy stepped out of the forest. He looked my age, but I doubted that anyone else would think that. My perception of age had been warped since Hylla, Brad, Jason, Peter and I looked so old. Maybe I had met him at school. I didn't remember. But one thing was abundantly clear. This boy was not wearing a shirt. I realized that could be a part of the problem, given that when you meet people you look at their face and not their body (well, girls do). I closed my eyes for a second, then reopened them.
"Think about Peter," I thought to myself. "Remember, you have a boyfriend." But hey, I mean, I'm teenage girl and guys with nice bodies are very attractive. "Peter." I reminded myself. But Peter didn't look like this guy. Most of the girls at my school, including Hylla, would be drooling right now. I, on the other hand, had a little more dignity than that. Sure, I was distracted (I said a little, not a lot) but I could focus fi I wanted to. I just had to want to. I looked up at his face.
"How do you know who I am?" His face was not friendly, nor welcoming. But he didn't look like he was dead set against me or like he was going to rape and/or kill me. If he did, well… sucks for him. He looked as if he almost wanted to laugh.
"We, uh," He chuckled a little. "We sort of met last night, I guess you could say." Somehow, to him, this was funny. I did not find it so amusing. I was certain that he wasn't the sandy wolf, and doubly certain he wasn't one of the Apotamkin. "Figured it out?" Then it hit me. His voice.
"You!" I advanced on him probably faster than he thought I would have. "You little traitor! How dare you—" I pointed my finger accusingly at him and he grabbed my wrist.
"You're calling me little? Yeah, that makes sense." I tried to hit him, but he grabbed my wrist. I didn't expect him to be as fast as me. "I gotta say, I didn't recognize you at first either, now that you're actually dressed." I blushed and prayed it was too dark for him to see.
"Let go of me or I swear—" He let go and backed away a little, holding his hands up in mock surrender. I was not feeling the "mocking" part.
"Hey, you're the one who attacked me, remember?"
"Well you're the one who is siding with the enemy!" I growled, once again advancing on him aggressively. He gave me a "you really wanna do that?" kind of look and I stopped about four inches away. "You're the man from the North! You taught us how to protect ourselves and now you're stabbing us in the back!" I yelled.
"What are you talking about? Who are you talking about? And the Cullens aren't the enemy! I used to think they were, but they're not!"
"Liar." I hissed. "This is why dogs and cats have always been enemies. Dogs will always bow to a master." I turned and tried to walk away but he grabbed my wrist.
"What did you say?" He looked genuinely angry now and I recalled a fact about the man from the north being easily angered and dangerous. Oops.
"You surrender yourselves and you serve what you accept as a higher power. You could kill them, but you don't. You know why? Because you're a weak, pitiful…" He let go of me and his body started to shake violently. Oh God. Bad decision, Jacey, baaad decision. I didn't want to phase. I was pretty sure that wouldn't help and I wasn't totally confident in my ability to beat him. I mean, I was good, but a small part of me said he was better and I wasn't exactly interested in testing that theory.
"It's okay…" Damn, what was his name? "It's okay, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean it." He hadn't phased yet, so I assumed he was pretty good at controlling his temper. The Elders said anger was a problem in the Northern men. That it caused them to phase. That wasn't our problem; we assumed it was because we chose a different species to bond our souls with. "Please, just, just calm down okay?" I slowly approached him.
"God, think Jacey, think" I said to myself. "What do you do to calm Bradley down?" He was the most aggressive and the one with the worst temper. He had changed out of anger before. To calm him down, I usually hugged him and sang whatever song came to mind. Bradley confessed it reminded him of his mom, who had passed when he was young. I didn't really want to try that with him, though. "But what are my options?" Hesitantly, I began to wrap my arms around him. I tried to make sure he knew I wasn't restraining him, so I wrapped my arms around his waist and started to sing. God, this made me feel ridiculous.
"Hold on, to me as we go. As we roll down this unfamiliar road. And although this wave is stringing us along, just know you're not alone. Cause I'm going to make this place your home" Slowly, he stopped shaking and he seemed to be calming down. "Settle down, it'll all be clear." I continued. "Don't pay no mind to the demons, they fill you with fear. The trouble it might drag you down, if you get lost, you can always be found…"
"Umm…" He wiggled uncomfortably in my arms. "What are you doing?" I suddenly become aware that I am furiously hugging and serenading a complete stranger whom I had been arguing with moments before. I release him and back away awkwardly. I look away to avoid any eye contact.
"My friend Bradley, whenever he's super angry I hug him and sing and he calms down," I admitted, embarrassed. "I figured it was better to hug a stranger than to fight one who was a lot bigger than me and also had a pack on his side."
"Yeah, okay…" He looked at me strangely. "Before, when you said 'you taught us how to protect ourselves'… Who was the 'us'?" I sighed and ran my fingers through my ponytail.
"Oh God… Okay. So according to the legends of my tribe, the Shasta, a man from the north came down one day. He warned us of the cold ones and their dangers. Then he taught us how to bind our souls to those of animals. He was a wolf and recommended that we choose the wolf as well, but we chose the cougar. He ended up leaving in disgust. He thought there was less honor in the panther. We disagreed. In the end, he left us and we shunned him, but he taught us everything we knew about the Apotamkin. Even our word for it comes from him. In times of need, one child from each family bears the curse. I was the child from my family that was chosen. And the first child to be chosen in two generations. Four others were chosen. That's the us I was talking about."
"Then you should trust us on this. We know what we're talking about. We taught you what you're talking about."
"But you're not the man from the north. Just a man. And when I see my cousins cavorting with them…" I laughed bitterly. "Well forgive me if it doesn't bring joy to my heart."
"The Cullens aren't our enemies. They swore a treaty not to harm us and the hunt only animals. That's why they're eyes aren't red. I used to think they were the enemy too. I still don't like them, not even close. One of them, he…" the boy shook his head. I looked around me at the forest. You could hardly make out the individual trees in the darkness. Wait. Oh no.
"Shit!" I swore.
"What? I'm supposed to be home RIGHT NOW. Oh shit, my mom's gonna kill me." A smile spread across his face.
"Yeah, I know how that is. Listen, you want a ride home? My house is right here and I have a motorcycle. It's as faster than running and defiantly less suspicious." I thought about it for a moment.
"Umm… okay." We ran back to his house and I told him where I lived. As we pulled up to my house, I prayed to any merciful god or being that I was not late. Apparently, I should have prayed to a specific deity. Because just as I was getting off the motorcycle…
"JACEY AMANDA ANDREWS!" My mother can out of the house, angrily baring her wooden spoon. "YOU GET IN THE HOUSE THIS INSTANT!" And that was before she saw the motorcycle and shirtless guy. Yeah. It got worse. "A MOTORCYCLE, JACEY! WHO IS THAT MAN?!"
"This is umm… uh…" I looked to him for help.
"Jacob Black." He said helpfully. Unfortunately, it didn't actually help.
"JACEY YOU GET IN THE HOUSE THIS INSTANT! YOU'LL BE LUCKY IF YOU EVER SEE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN!" She dragged me towards the house then turned on Jacob once I was safetly behind her. "And YOU, young man. Stay AWAY from my daughter." She waved her wooden spoon, menecingly and Jacob backed away.
"Yes ma'am." She forced me in the house before I could say good bye and I could hear the roaring of his motorcycle as he left.
"Jacey." I gulp as she turns to face me. "Go to your room. I'll deal with you later." I retreat my room, fearing what is to come.
Definitely not my best, if I do say so myself. But I'm sick, so things haven't been the best. But anyway, thanks for reading and I would appreciate if you suggested ways I could improve or told me what you thought. Thanks bunches!
Andi
For anyone who thinks pictures are worth a thousand words: oregon/set?id=63653460
Also, idk why, but for some reason I always picture my characters as different actresses. Incase you were interested, I pictured Jacey as that girl from Slumdog Millionare. My life makes no sense.