Weirder By the Minute

Quil and I drove into town, not sure of where to find Embry. We figured that we would try to scour every inch of the town until we found Embry, but we had no luck. There was no sign of him, just Sam Uley's two disciples, Paul and Jared, walking around, looking like they owned the place.

"No sign of him," Quil stated, voicing the thought that was implanted in my brain.

I nodded reluctantly. "Maybe we should head home?"

Quil sighed. "Yeah, that might be the best option. Who knows, he may show up at school tomorrow."

"Yeah, maybe," I replied, a little unconvinced. I reckon Quil wasn't convinced by his own reassurance.

So, the next day, I got dropped off by Dad again and trudged into school, unsure of what I would expect. As I opened my locker and sorted through my books, out of habit, I glanced at Embry's locker just down from mine. What I saw made me do a double take. Embry was there; at his locker, collecting his books like nothing had happened over the last week.

I pulled out my phone and quickly texted to Quil, He's here, his locker! I turned and shut my door quickly, and began to make my way over to him. As I walked, I noticed slight differences in Embry. He seemed taller, like he was standing taller, and no longer crouching. His shoulders seemed wider, and the biggest difference of all; his hair was cut short! I decided then that something had gone down over the last week.

"Hey dude," I greeted him as I approached. He glanced briefly at me, and then continued to rummage in his locker like I wasn't there.

"What's going on?" I continued, a little perturbed by Em's lack of response. "You've been away for a bit. Quil's been getting note-copying withdrawal symptoms," I joked, trying to clear the air, calling on the fact that Quil loved to copy Em's notes, as Em was a very dutiful student. I think on occasion I had called him a nerd.

The only response I got from him was the echo of the locker door being slammed shut. He turned like he was headed to class. Confused with his attitude, I grabbed his arm and forced him to look at me. His eyes were colder than usual. This threw me off guard.

"Dude, come on, what's going on? You know you can tell me. Don't act like nothing has happened, 'cause I know it has. I'm not stupid."

"It doesn't concern you, Jacob," was his low reply. "You won't understand. Not yet."

With that, he shrugged off my hand, and walked down the corridor. I lost sight of him as he disappeared into the crowd.

"Dude, this is friggin weird!" Quil exclaimed later as we drove home from school in his car. "Em practically cold-shoulders you this morning at his locker; he avoids us all day at school; and now he's hanging out with Jared and Paul. Seriously, dude, what the f—"

"Hey," I interrupted. "I'm just as confused as you are."

Earlier, at lunch, Quil and I witnessed Embry completely by-pass us and head over to a table with Jared and Paul. He didn't even glance at us as he passed or at all during lunch. When either Quil or me would try to confront him about what was going on with him, he would either cold-shoulder us or give us a cold glare.

"You think that may be Sam got to him?" Quil asked a loud.

"I wouldn't cross that from the list of possibilities."

Quil shook his head. "He better tell us what's going on. This just gets weirder by the minute."

A/N: Hey guys, I apologise for not updating in a while. I know this chapter is short, but rest assured, there will be more of Jacob and his friends to come over the next few days. Keep reading and commenting :D.