*A huge thank you to whoever nominated me, jacobiterose, for this year's Energize WIP Awards! If you enjoy this story, than please vote my story "Just As I Am", at the following link. I love you all so very much and am so honored by the thought!

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*I in no way shape or form, own these characters, or any rights to the unbelievable fortune that Stephenie Meyer is surely raking in due to the invention of these characters.

*Thanks to all of the very kind reviews and critical, that I have received. I love them all, for the encouragement, as well as the teaching. I love you all!

* Warning, lemons in this chapter.

Chapter 4

Exploring New Possibilities

It was Monday morning and Bella felt as if she were going to be sick. She and Charlie awaited not only Jacob, but Sam, Embry, and Quil, who all insisted upon coming with her to Fork's High to un-enroll herself. Even with the Pack around her, she felt a twisting in her stomach at the thought of even having to see Edward Cullen.

The pack arrived, announcing themselves with a whoop. Charlie nodded and shook hands with each one of them, thanking them for willing to be there for Bella. It was a procession of mortification for Bella. She hated drawing attention to herself, but she hated the thought of being there by herself even more. Not that she wasn't thankful for the Pack being there, she truly was. It made her feel surrounded and safer. Charlie's cruiser led the way in front of Bella's truck, Jake in the driver's seat and the boys in the back. Reaching the parking lot of Fork's high, Bella understood how Angelina Jolie must feel, just going out for groceries. Every single student in that parking lot stopped to stare, mouths open at the arrival of Bella Swan after the return of Edward Cullen to Forks High School. Her fears were made reality when Edward Cullen pulled into the parking lot in his Volvo, just after them. He wore a smug look on his face as he made his way into the school. Alice, Jasper, Emmet, and Rosalie, all looked disgusted with him as he entered with that cocky smile on his face. They gave Bella sympathetic looks as she got out of the truck, but also turned their noses up at Jake and his buddies.

Charlie got out of the cruiser and started shouting, "What are you all looking at? Get to your classes!"

Students started scurrying just as the first warning bell for homeroom started ringing. Jake kept his hand protectively on the small of Bella's back and she was surrounded by a solid wall of pack mates and Charlie, gun belt visible to all who could see. They were an imposing group to be sure.

They headed straight for the office and the secretary, who obviously felt horrible for Bella, helped her withdraw herself and wished her all of the luck in the world. "You are a very smart girl, Bella. I'm sure that you will do great things. Don't let that boy get the best of you." The woman gestured toward the window and Bella turned to look. There stood Edward with his arm slung around a hypnotized and blissful, Lauren's shoulder. If this was meant to make Bella feel sorry that she didn't give Edward the time of day, it didn't work. Instead, she felt frightened for Lauren, who gave her an extremely dirty look as she headed out of the school with her entourage.

Outside, Alice begged Charlie to let her talk to Bella. Finally Charlie relented, on the condition that she spoke to her in front of him and the boys. To her credit, Alice readily complied.

"Bella, I'm so sorry. I don't know what's gotten into him. He's making such a spectacle of himself. Seeing what I've seen him capable of lately, I'm just glad that you got away when you did."

Bella tried to smile. "It's nice to see you again, Alice, but honestly, you all disappeared and deserted me for nine months. I don't even know if I can trust you right now." Quil made a snorting sound deep in his throat at Bella's retort.

"Well, I guess that I can understand why you feel that way." Alice felt ashamed of herself. "All that I can tell you is that it was Edward's idea and he fed us some stupid story about you that we believed. We were stupid and I am sorry for that."

"Apology accepted, Alice. Now if you don't mind?"

"I miss you, Bella."

"Yeah, well, come by sometime without Edward and then maybe we can talk."

Alice seemed encouraged by this. "I will. If you'll notice, Rosalie's opinion of you has gone up quite a bit since you gave Edward the business end. She thinks that you 'have a brain after all', in her own words."

"Well, Rosalie can shove her opinion of me right up her blond ass, Alice. She never was a friend to me, but you were, so stop by sometime, while Charlie is home, and maybe we'll talk. Just keep your brother away from me. He won't last long if he doesn't, if you know what I mean." Charlie gave Bella a questioning sideways look.

Alice's long eyelashes flitted toward the ground. "Thanks for taking the time to talk to me, Bella. I'll see you soon."

"See you soon, Alice. I've got to go now."

"What are you going to do, now?"

"I don't mean to be rude, but that is none of your business. I'll see you later, Alice."

And with that, everyone took their places in the vehicles again and headed off toward the continuation school.

By noon, Bella was enrolled in the continuation school and dropped the pack off at La Push. Charlie went to work and Jake drove with her to Port Angeles to enroll herself in the upcoming pottery class.

She filled out her enrollment papers in the office and paid the two hundred and fifty dollar fee. The secretary there was a fairly friendly person, pointing out that there was no class in session at the moment in the pottery studio at the moment, so if Bella would like to have a look around, she could feel free to do so. Looking at Jake, he smiled encouragingly. "Go check it out, Bells. I know you want to. You're eyes say it all." Bella smiled at him and playfully nudged him in the side.

They walked to the second floor and found the studio. It was immense. At least the size of two classrooms and the walls were bare cement, not dry walled like the others. Bella liked the loft feel of it as she looked into the window. Suddenly the door opened and caused Bella to jump. Jake hugged her to his side as he could hear her heart beating a mile a minute. She had been through a lot lately.

A small framed woman, who reminded Bella a lot of Alice popped her head out. "Sorry that I scared you." She smiled at Bella, who blushed in return. "I'm China Francis. I'm the pottery instructor. Are you interested in the program?"

Jake chuckled. "Huh, China, who's the pottery instructor. That's funny."

China gave him a withered look. "Yes, and that's the first time I've heard that one." Jake blushed to the tips of his ears from the suddenly intimidating older woman's rebuke.

Sparing Jake anymore embarrassment and giving him a few moments to pull his food out of his mouth Bella addressed the diminutive woman. "I'm Bella Swan. I've actually just enrolled. I'm sorry if we've disturbed you, I was just curious."

The older woman smiled warmly at her newest soon to be student. "Oh, no. I was just getting a few things out of the kiln. Would you like to come in and have a look around?"

Bella brightened up at this. "Please, if you don't mind. We won't touch anything."

"Thanks for that." China laughed behind her as she headed in, holding the door open for Bella and Jacob. Bella walked in and looked around. There must have been three hundred pieces that hadn't been glazed yet, setting on a shelf. She admired the different shapes and sizes of them all. Each had their own personality about them. The next shelf over had pieces that had been finished and were being pulled out of the kiln. Bella was staggered by the glaze work on these. Some were a uniform color, others looked as if they had been dipped in one color, fired, and then dipped in another color and fired again, causing an almost oil on water finish. She was fascinated.

"Bella? Would you like to try the wheel?"

"Really, could I?" Bella's heart began to beat quickly again, but this time with excitement.

"Sure, but you may want to take off your jacket and your ring. This can get messy." Without needing to be asked Jake obligingly took her coat and her ring while he smiled his encouragement.

Bella sat down in front of the wheel.

China pounded a lump of clay hard onto the table for a few minutes. Bella listened as China explained she was breaking up any bubbles that might be in the clay. After a few moves that looked so easy she knew it couldn't be so, China then plopped it onto the wheel. A moment later t a bowl of water and a small sponge joined it.

"Okay, the first thing that we learn to do is to center. Try and use your senses and your arms to make the clay run smoothly through your fingers. It shouldn't wobble at all, just find it's center and let it start to decide what it is going to be."

Bella wasn't so sure of herself, but she pushed her sleeves up and wet her hands and touched the slimy clay and lumped it as close to the center as she could. She nodded at China who turned on the wheel. At first Bella felt as if she were fighting the clay, to get it to stop wobbling, then she dipped her hands in more water and closed her eyes, just feeling the clay. Suddenly it centered perfectly and she could feel the fluid smoothness of it as it slid between her fingers. China suddenly shut off the machine. "Bella, that is the quickest that I have ever seen anyone learn to center in my life. That was amazing!"

"Really?" Bella had always been such a klutz, she couldn't imagine being really good at anything, but that felt so natural.

"That was fantastic. When do you start?" China looked just like a little China doll.

"Tomorrow. Tomorrow night."

"Wonderful! I can't wait to see what you can do." China grinned. "We might even get a first piece out of you on your first night. That would be well done, wouldn't it?"

Bella smiled and nodded, wishing that tonight was tomorrow night, she was so eager to continue this experience.

"Well, you don't talk much, Bella, but I like you. You've got talent, that's for sure and I can talk enough for the both of us. Let's get you cleaned up." China moved about the room like a hyper active pixie.

Bella washed her hands and arms of the last of the clay in a big metal sink in the studio and dried her hands on some paper towels Jake had retrieved for her.

"Okay, well, thanks for letting me try that. That was a great feeling!" Bella smiled brightly.

"You're welcome, Bella and it was nice to meet you and Jacob?" Jake nodded his head and shook her hand. Bella felt a grin tug at the side of her mouth noticing how hard Jake was trying to keep his mouth shut without looking like he was trying to.

"Alright then, Bella, see you tomorrow night then." China smiled and went back to work, carefully removing fired, glazed pieces from the kiln and Bella and Jake left the pottery studio and headed back to the car.

"So, you're Dad's at work 'till four. What do you wanna do?" Jake tried to hide his smile.

"Let me drive." Bella winked at him and took the keys. After grabbing some lunch in Port Angeles they headed back to Bella's house. Bella didn't know what it was, but there was something about feeling the clay slip through her fingers, that aroused her. It was sensual and she wanted Jake. Leading him by the hand, she took him into her room and locked the door. Still facing the door for just a moment longer than needed she took a slow deep breath steeling herself for what she was going to do. Bella turned slowly to Jake bringing her burning eyes to his own. A matching fire seemed to dance within his dark eyes. Slowly, she pulled her shirt over her head and stood in front of him keeping her eyes locked on his. Jake stared back and pulled his shirt off over his head, revealing his strong pecs and beautifully sculpted abdomen. Bella could imagine him as sculpted out of clay or marble.

Lost to sensations and emotions of the moment she created, Bella walked forward and placed a hand on his stomach and slowly felt the grooves of muscle. Smooth skin on hard flesh. She slid her hand up and memorized his chest with her touch. Jacob stood, breathing hard, with his eyes closed, allowing Bella to touch him. Walking around his body, she let her fingers wonder over more muscle groups than she knew that a human had in their bodies. Jacob was beautiful. Making the full turn, she studied his huge arms and appreciated even more, the protection that they offered her and how gently that they could hold her. Reaching up to his face, she looked into his eyes and traced the lines of his face with her finger tip. Stretching herself on her tippy toes, she placed a shy kiss on his lips. Jacob couldn't take anymore. He lifted her up off of the ground and carried over to her bed. Laying her down, he reached around and unsnapped her bra.

"My turn, Bells." Jakes voice was half growl but all lust when he spoke. His features were concentrated as he took in the sight of her small, but rounded breasts. Each topped with a small, perfect pink nipple. He rubbed the backs of his fingers over them, causing her eyes to flutter closed and her to squirm underneath of him. If touching her there did that to her, then what could his mouth do? As if he could read her mind he ducked his head into her chest guiding one gently with his tongue into his mouth. Bella shivered barely noticing her whimper from the sensations he gave her. Taking the whole nipple in his mouth, Jake licked and worshiped until she couldn't take it anymore. With a shutter she grasped his head with both hands holding him steady against her crying out his name. Only after she relaxed her grip did Jake pull back from her. He looked down at how her chest flowed in one perfect line into a tiny waist and then into the perfect curve of her hip, still covered by her jeans. The crashing waves of pleasure began to rise again when he started kissing his way down her belly creating new and wondrous pleasures for her to experience. Jake unsnapped and unzipped her jeans, gently pulling them off and pulled down her panties, studying the beautiful V that the tops of her thighs made. Jake slightly touched the inside of her thighs asking silently with just a small amount of pressure.

Bellas already reddened face burned darker with her blush as he studied her closely once she allowed her legs to part. "Don't be shy, Bells. You're absolutely perfect. Amazing." One tear slipped out of her eye and on to the pillowcase. Jake could tell that she was still shy about his kind of intimacy, so he made his way back up her body, kissing her and touching her breasts, until she was writhing again, underneath of him. He looked into her eyes. Do you want to?

"Yes. Don't stop, please."

Jacob took off the rest of his clothes and just lay there for a minute, torturing himself and letting his hands explore the curves and bends of her body. Finally, he reached down into his jeans and pulled something out. "I came prepared, this time. We need to be careful from now on."

"You're right." Bella was so immersed in her own pleasure that she could barely speak. The feel of Jake's one hundred and eight degree skin against her own, was heaven. He was so gentle with her, yet held such power in his body. Feeling bold she suddenly grabbed the condom from him. "Here, let me do it." She smiled like a vixen and his eyes widened as he felt himself grow harder. "On your back." It was more of a statement than it was a request. Jacob quickly obeyed.

Bella carefully tore open the condom, just as she was taught in health class and gently rolled it onto his iron hard length allowing her short nails to lightly tease him while she did so. Not something she learned from health class, but from two girls who wouldn't shut up behind her during it. Jake sucked in a breath at the feel of her cool hands on him. Kneeling before his prone body, holding him while fitting the condom just right, she dismissed thoughts of that day from her mind. The look in Jakes eyes did not allow much room in her lust fogged mind for anything else. He started to roll her over, but she put her hands on his chest. "No. I want to be in control this time."

"Oh God, Bells. You're going to drive me crazy!"

"That's the idea." She smiled at him and then straddled him and held him into place and carefully aligned him with her entrance. Little by little, she inched him in, until he was fully sheathed inside of her. She experimented with different feelings that came with flexing and unflexing her inner muscles. Finally, she started to move slightly, until the feeling of him rubbing against her got to be too much to control. She rode him harder, squeezing him with her muscles, with her thighs, digging her fingers into his rock hard sweaty chest. She could feel her perception of the world slipping until nothing existed except for where they were joined. She needed to be closer, needed more, and had to have more of him inside her. When he groaned out her name it hit her. Her world had boiled down to only the sound of her name wrung from his lips, the feel of him inside her, under her. The sounds of their bodies colliding and the scents of their combined lust. Her hips bucked as she rode out the white hot bliss that encompassed her. Curious about where it was that was so sensitive, she reached down and felt herself as she pumped up and down on him. His eyes rolled back in his head.

"Are you trying to kill, me, Bells?" She gasped as she found the spot and gently massaged it with one finger, causing her to once again crest over the waves of ultimate pleasure. Jake couldn't take anymore. Watching her breasts gently bounce and the look of pure abandonment on her face, he came hard inside of her. She moaned as the warmth of his juices filled the condom. She rode him through it until he was done and then collapsed on his chest. They both breathed hard together and laid there until their breathing slowed.

"We've definitely got to try that position again." Jake looked awed. Bella laughed lazily.

"According to a book that I read, there are lots of things that we could try."

Jake leaned up on an elbow and giggled at Bella. "You read a book?" Bella flushed. "Let's see it."

"No!" She covered her face.

"Fine, but if you want to try those other things, then I'm going to need some kind of diagram. You're going to have to show it to me sometime." Jake tickled her and she smacked him in the shoulder. They lay there, holding each other and slept for a bit before getting up. Both dressed reluctantly out of necessity. Neither wanted to be found by Charlie, in this state, when he got home. Jake stood silently for a moment before he put his shirt back on. "Do you want to come over to my house for a little while?"

"Sure, I'd love to see Billy."

"Billy would love to see you." Jacob smiled at her. "You know that he thinks the world of you, Bells." Bella grinned at this.

"He knows about the imprint." Jake's words stopped her in place.

"What did he say? Is he going to make us get married or something?"

Jake laughed, loudly. "No, nothing like that. Especially since technically you're sleeping with a minor." Jake laughed again, until he got a pillow in his face. Just then, they heard Charlie's cruiser pull in. Jake threw on the last bit of his clothes.

Making their way down the stairs, they sat on the couch as if they had been there the whole afternoon, turning on the T.V. Of course it was animal planet with two lions coupling. Charlie just walked in the door, hung up his gun belt and looked at the two of them sitting innocently on the couch.

"Uh huh. Right." Was all that he said before heading to the kitchen and popping open a Rainier beer. Bella chuckled into Jake's shoulder at the look of guilt on his face.

Charlie came and sat down in his Lazy Boy. "So what did you kids do today?" He could barely hide his smile.

"Well, Dad, I got enrolled in the pottery class."

"Did you? Well." He glanced over at Jake and laughed without reserve.

"So what was it like?" Charlie looked at Bella. Bella blushed for a moment.

Oh, the pottery class, right. "It was great! I met the instructor and she's really nice. She let me try the pottery wheel. I was able to center the clay really quickly and she said that I was a natural. I can't wait until tomorrow night!"

Charlie nodded as he watched the lion's getting it on. "Are you all watching this, or can I change the channel now?" Jake blushed a deep fuchsia. Bella laughed and tossed him the remote, knowing that they were busted.

"Well, Bells, I told you that you would be good at anything artistic. You get that from your mom, I guess. I can't wait to see what you come up with out of that class!"

"Thanks, Dad." Bella smiled at him.

"Just stay out of trouble, both of you." Charlie looked pointedly at Jake and then went back to watching ESPN. Jake elbowed Bella in a plead to get him out of there.

"Dad, we were just about to head over to see Billy. Wanna come?" Charlie thought about it for a minute. "Sure, sure. But you drive. It wouldn't do to have Fork's Chief getting a DUI, now would it?" Finally Jake laughed and they all got up and grabbed their jackets to head over to Billy's house. Just then, Charlie got a text on his phone. Pulling it out of his pocket, he read. "Come over. Want to talk to you about something. You're gonna want to bring some beer. Billy." Charlie shrugged his shoulders and went to the fridge and grabbed a twelve pack and followed Jake and Bella out to her truck. This ought to be interesting, he thought to himself.

*Thanks to my wonderful Beta, FantasyRa, for cleaning up my grammar and adding more flesh to bone.