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I was walking through an old forest. I knew it was old; the trees were thick, and they reached up beyond what I could see. It was twilight; I could see the soft silver light drifting through the trees, sparkling on the soft forest floor. It wasn't raining; instead, I could tell it had just rained. Everything felt fresh; the air was cool and smelled like pine. The moss beneath my feet was soft; it had soaked up the rainwater like a sponge. I could almost hear the splatter a drop of water made as it hit a rock. The crickets were out, and they were alive, each one singing out in its own unique rhythm. The trees around me were breathing; as the wind blew, the trees swayed. The leaves rustled. The forest felt alive.
I walked slowly through the trees; I couldn't remember why I was there, or how I had gotten there.
Slowly, everything became quieter. One by one, the crickets' songs came to an end. The trees stopped swaying, and the rustling of leaves ceased. The forest was completely, entirely, and inescapably silent. The silence was something I couldn't ignore, like something nagging in the back of my head, but more prominent. It was so quiet the silence was an uncomfortable pressure against my eardrums. I hurried through the gloom, trying to get away from the overbearing quiet.
Then, I heard it. A scream pierced the silence; the sound was like a knife to my ears.
I started to run. Towards the sound, or away from the screaming, I couldn't tell. All I knew was I had to keep running. But it was getting harder the farther I went. My legs couldn't go fast enough. I convinced myself I needed to keep going, but the pain was too much. I stopped, and fell to my knees.
The scream sounded again; this time it was closer. Much closer. I looked up– terrified– into the face of a girl. I knew this girl. Somewhere in the back of my mind was the knowledge that this girl was in some way familiar to me; that she was somehow important to my life, now and forever. It was a strange feeling, but as hard as I tried to remember, I didn't recognize her. She was beautiful, with dark hair, pale skin and dark eyes. She screamed again, looking behind me.
Quickly, I turned, and found myself staring into the red eyes of a monster.
I woke with a start. My heart was pounding out in a broken, disjointed rhythm. My forehead was damp with sweat; my breath was coming in short gasps.
I laid there until my breath slowed, and I felt my heart beating at its regular rhythm. I shook my head, trying to clear the strange image of two blood-red eyes. The image of the beautiful girl plagued my thoughts as well. Who was she? I thought to myself. It was such a ridiculous nightmare.
I closed my eyes, and then slowly got up and out of bed. I had woken up early; the light coming in from the window was silver. I peered through the blinds; it was dawn. I blinked. It was snowing.
I smiled as I looked at the literal winter wonderland outside my window. What I could see of the sky beyond the trees was white. But then, so was everything else. A blanket of snow had fallen over everything throughout the night, and it wasn't stopping there. Little white fluffs danced through the air. The ground was laden with snow; it sparkled slightly in the faint sunlight. The pine trees sagged beneath the extra load.
With a bit of a struggle and an audible groan from the unwilling metal, I pushed my window open. The crisp, January air bit at my face. I breathed deeply, tasting the ever-present salty tang that came with living near the ocean. The wind was refreshing, and it left me completely awake.
Leaving the window open, I bounded down the hall to the kitchen, where I found Billy, eating cold pizza. "Good morning, dad," I said, grinning. I started whistling while I put bread in the toaster.
"Morning," he said, "someone's awfully chipper today." His face broke out in a smile.
I shrugged. "I like the cold," I replied, nodding toward the window.
Billy laughed. "Well, enjoy it while it lasts," he said, glancing at the TV. 'Promises of showers' flashed on the weather channel, along with a little cartoon rain cloud. "Better hurry up, school starts soon." and with that, he left, maneuvering his wheelchair in the direction of his bedroom.
As I started on breakfast, I let my thoughts wander. My mind strayed back to the dream last night. It almost felt like a warning, but of what, I had no idea.
The girl pushed herself back into my thoughts, and with a jolt, I realized who she was. Isabella Swan.
I frowned, confused. Now that I knew who it was, there was no mistaking her. The feeling of importance I had felt in the dream swelled up again.
Why had I been dreaming about her? I thought, puzzled. The whole dream made no sense. Figuring it was a result of hearing her name again after so long, I pushed the dream from my mind. I continued getting ready for school
Thud. Not expecting it, the snowball hit me squarely in the side of my head. "Agh!" I muttered, and shook my head like a dog. Drops of water flew from my now wet hair.
Embry was walking away nonchalant, and Quil− along with a group of kids near us– were laughing. We were outside the school, enjoying the time outside before the first bell rang. I bent down, and scooped up a handful of snow. I packed the snowball hard; it was closer to ice than snow.
My aim was true. I smiled at the faint thump that resulted of my snowball connecting with the back of Embry's head. He turned around and I laughed.
The second snowball Embry threw I was expecting. I ducked, and it hit Quil on the shoulder. He stopped laughing, and bent down to retaliate. As he threw his snowball, a few other kids joined in. I grinned at the prospect of the most epic snowball fight ever.
Fifteen minutes later, dripping wet, tired, and cheeks red with cold, we all filed into class. Almost everyone had been hit at least once; the fight had included half the school. I took my regular seat near Quil and Embry, and the bell rang.
Class went by slowly, and I mean, slowly. I couldn't concentrate on the math discussion in the slightest. Numbers swirled confusingly around on the paper in front of me. I blamed it on my lack of sleep – and giving up – I took to watching the clock.
At first I thought it was broken; there was no way the little black hands could move that slowly. I watched them lurch around the edge of the clock, until – finally – the bell rang. I jumped up and grabbed my books, eager to escape.
Happy to be free from math, I started whistling, until I thought of my next class. History, I thought, frowning. It was the only class I really hated. History wasn't something I was good at, I guess. To make it worse, neither Quil nor Embry was in my class.
". . . 1000 words or more. And remember, Family History. Ask your parents, your grandparents. This isn't really something you can Google," the teacher finished.
I almost laughed; the history of my family was a bunch of old legends. I thought of all the stories my dad had told about my family history. Descendants from wolves. That will go over well. I sighed, and thought about how I was going to do the assignment.
Before I knew it, the bell had rung, and I was heading to lunch with my friends. We were – of course – talking about the Rabbit, when we passed a group of girls in the hall. They started giggling and whispering excitedly.
As they passed us, the girl closest to us– Sarah, I remembered– waved. "Hey Jake," she said, smiling and batting her eyelashes. Her friends started giggling madly, while I just stood there like an idiot. Her friends were making me nervous, standing there expecting me to respond.
"Oh, uh, hey Sarah," I stuttered. They giggled again – What was with girls and giggling? Sarah didn't giggle, I noticed with relief.
"So Jake, we should hang out sometime." Sarah continued, smiling.
"Uh, yeah, that would – um – sure." I mumbled. Her friends were still whispering – it was starting to freak me out.
Why couldn't I talk? It was just Sarah, she was in one of my classes, but she had never really tried to talk to me before. She was really pretty. There was something different about her; I tried to put my finger on it. She was more confident, that was for sure . . .
"Y–you got your braces off." I realized the difference; it was her smile
She grinned. "You noticed." I tried to ignore her friends. Giggling should be made illegal. I couldn't think when they were all staring at me excitedly.
"Yeah, um, it uh looks good." I couldn't think of anything else to say, so I just stood there.
"Thanks," she said, still smiling. There was an awkward pause, and one of her friends said something quietly. "I have to go. But I'll see you later?" I nodded, not trusting my voice, and smiled back. They made their way down the hall, Taylor waving goodbye. I shook my head, embarrassed.
When they were out of earshot, Embry and Quil started laughing.
"Heeeyy Jaaake," Embry immediately mocked, making his voice high and feminine.
Quil joined in, imitating Embry's high voice, "Yeah, Jakey, let's hang out sometime!" He blinked rapidly, trying to imitate the way the girls batted their eyelashes, and flashed a huge smile. My cheeks burned.
"Shut up." I said, hitting both of them in the shoulder. They teased for a minute more – blowing kisses at me – only stopping when I pushed Embry into the lockers.
"Geez," he said, rubbing his shoulder where it had hit the locker, "Touchy, touchy." Quil laughed, and I ignored them both.
Later, in class, I thought again about the way Taylor had smiled at me. I'd never really had a girlfriend before. I noticed girls, obviously, and I knew that for some reason, they seemed to like me. Though I had thought about them, I'd never really thought of any of them as my girlfriend.
Maybe that's why Quil and Embry teased so much. Girls seemed to love them too; the difference was that they responded to it. Embry had a girlfriend at one time, and Quil had gone on quite a few dates. I just never really wanted to have a girlfriend. Not that much, at least. Yeah, sure, it would be nice, but unlike half the male population of the school, I didn't find it necessary.
I shook the thought from my head. Girls were confusing. Too much to think about. For the first time today, I concentrated completely on class.
When school was over – after going to my locker – I caught up with Quil. He was walking with Jared, they were talking.
"Hey Jake," Jared said as I walked up to them. "So, I'll see you guys there tonight?" – Quil nodded – "Cool. Later!" He left, hurrying forward to meet Paul, who was farther down the hall.
I frowned. "What's he talking about?"
"Oh, a bunch of kids are going down the beach tomorrow night. You in?"
"Sure, sounds fun," I replied, grinning.
"Billy won't care?"
"Nah, Billy won't mind," I said. My dad always gave me a lot of freedom. "Who else is going?"
"So far, I only know of us, Jared, Paul, Sam and some of their friends."
"Okay, cool." I grinned, "So you guys coming over today?"
"I don't know, maybe," he said as we reached the doors, frowning.
"Ugh." I muttered. Rain was washing down the window, wiping away all traces of snow from this morning. The weather channel was right for once, there wouldn't be snow this weekend.
Quil shrugged, and we tromped out into the rain. "So, tomorrow night! See you!" He called over his shoulder as he ran to meet up with Embry.
On the way home, I thought about the beach trip. I guess I was excited. The kids on the reservation did this a lot – though we didn't go with them much.
I smiled at the thought of my Saturday night. I didn't know what to expect.
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