Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns it all. I have no claim over any of her characters.
Touching the Dark
Chapter 7
Taking Notice
The silver Volvo screeched to a halt outside the Cullen house. Edward and his brothers bolted inside at lightning speed where Esme and Carlisle were busy making cupcakes.
"Cupcakes?" The boys questioned.
"It's for the people at work tonight, I'm taking the late shift considering that it's good to have a doctor on duty that requires no sleep to function," Carlisle smirked, expertly mixing the batter.
"Hey, aren't you boys suppose to be in school?" Esme asked, then a worried expression appeared on her face, "Did something happen?" She looked at Jasper who immediately put his hands up and shook his head.
"Hey, don't look at me, Edward was the one who almost lost his control!" Jasper grumbled, crossing his arms.
"EDWARD?" Carlisle and Esme exclaimed together and looked at their adopted son in shock.
"Yeah... Something happened but not how you think." Edward stood as still as he could as he stumbled to find the right way to explain. After a brief moment he decided to start from the beginning. "I met this girl named Alice in my first class and I could have sworn she knew about my power. She was hiding her thoughts the whole time, she was either singing or humming or concentrating on math and very loudly too. It was like she forced herself to seem happy even though I know she shouldn't be because most of the people in school think she's 'some kind of freak'." Edward used the harsh words that the other students did in order to give Esme and Carlisle the full effect of that morning.
People think she's a freak?, he heard Jasper think, but she's so different... so special.
"Yeah, that's why they ostracize her," Edward whispered to his brother who sighed. He continued on with his story, "Then in the second class she introduced me to her friend, Bella, who was scared of me -"
"That's because you almost bit her, genius!" Emmett yelled out, having heard the story in the car on the drive home.
"Yes, well, I don't know why, her blood smelled..." Edward couldn't find the words again. He couldn't believe he was so inarticulate all of a sudden.
"Yeah," Jasper interjected with his side of the story, "her blood smelled different than other people. I would have lost control but I was too busy trying to see if Edward was all right."
"No, you were too busy checking out Alice!" Emmett groaned, "Esme and Carlisle are old!" He turned to his parents and quickly added in, "No offense", which caused his parents to smirk despite the fact that they were listening to a serious story, "but they know that just because we aren't human anymore that we don't think like boys. I met this super hot girl named Rosalie in my first period. It was this girl we passed by in the car last night. She drove this red BMW and she was speeding out of town. She looked very upset about something, she caused Edward and Jasper to go into power overload."
"What do you mean?" Carlisle asked, now very intrigued by everything. He guessed Forks wasn't the quiet little town it used to be last time they were there.
"Her emotions hit me harder than a pack of newborns," Jasper explained, "Whatever she was running away from...Well... I never felt so bad in my life."
"Edward, you couldn't make out any of her thoughts?" Esme questioned, her motherly instincts kicking in as she began to feel sorry for the poor girls she hadn't even met yet.
"No, she wasn't thinking clearly and her emotions disrupted her thoughts too much for me to make sense out of them, I know now that she was thinking about Alice and Bella but then she also mentioned someone who was suppose to be taking care of her but no one specific came in mind," Edward was in deep thought as he tried to remember the night before, "Although, I do remember the face of a man, he was definitely not seen in a good light like her friends but I have no idea who he might be."
"Well, seems to me like whoever this guy is, he must be the one that made this... Rosalie," Carlisle nodded toward Emmett, "so upset."
Emmett had a stoic expression on his face, he was at a loss for words yet he could feel anger boiling up inside. Why would someone want to hurt such a beautiful angel? It was hard for Emmett to understand how hurting her would even enter a person's mind. He barely met her and he already wanted to get to know her, figure her out, earn her trust, and protect her. He could tell from the way that she kept to herself during class that she wasn't a slut like that Janice girl. He could also tell she was a good friend from the way Alice and Bella sprung out of class to make sure she was okay. He knew from the car she drove and the music she listened to that she had good taste. She was already more complicated, frustrating, and intriguing than any other girl he had ever met, and it made him feel emotions that he had never felt before.
"I want to help her," Emmett announced, "I'll kill that guy if I see him."
"Emmett, you cannot do that." Esme advised, "You have to give that girl some space. I know you want to help her but I think it would be best if you earned her trust first."
"Yeah, Emmett, I want to do everything I can to help these girls but I think it is important that we make friends first." Jasper whispered and then smirked, "You do know how to be friends with a girl, don't you?"
"Hey! Of course I do!" Emmett assured. His entire family looked at him with their eyebrows raised which made Emmett look at the floor. "I'll figure it out," he said dejectedly. Everyone in the room chuckled as the truth came out.
"That's not the strangest part," Edward, looking serious again, continued to say causing Esme and Carlisle to look at him again, "The girl... Bella, I couldn't read her thoughts no matter how hard I tried. I got nothing, not even a noise or a whisper."
Carlisle's eyebrows furrowed in thought.
"Could it be that someone out there is immune to our powers?" Carlisle thought aloud. The boys and Esme stiffened at the thought.
"My powers were fine, I was able to feel what she was feeling," Jasper mentioned. Carlisle looked at the boys with his hand to his chin. He was still trying to make sense of it all.
"That's not the strangest thing," Emmett acknowledged.
"What else happened?" Esme asked. She was sitting on the kitchen counter by now seeing that this conversation was going to take longer than expected.
There was a silence in the room as the boys shifted uncomfortably. They had discussed this in the drive home and they still couldn't make sense out of it. They knew Edward was telling the truth since he seemed genuinely confused by it all. Edward let out a sigh, he knew what he was about to say wasn't going to set in easily, but it was the only thing that made sense.
"Just tell them, Edward," Jasper whispered.
Carlisle and Esme looked at their son. They were doing their best to look patient but they were really curious as to what could be stranger than what they had already been told. The silence dragged on for a moment until Edward put his hand up to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose as if to brace himself for the thoughts to come.
"We think Alice can see the future," Edward finally announced.
"Bella, I need to talk to you, you need to come with me." Jacob said seriously, which made Bella wonder what was going on. She found it so weird that so many strange things were happening in one day. She knew she told Jacob they couldn't be friends anymore and the only times they talked were to put up appearances for whenever Billy came to visit Charlie. So the fact that he was actually waiting for her outside her school meant it must be something really serious. No matter the circumstance, Bella was glad Jacob was there. She remembered when she first moved to Forks Jacob had told her many stories about his tribe during their many adventures together. He would probably be the only one who even came close to believing her if she told him who the new boys in town were.
"Yeah... sure, of course," Bella managed to let out despite her digressing thoughts. She hesitated at first but eventually got on the back of the bike.
"I'll see you guys tomorrow?" Bella looked at her two friends. She saw as Alice went deep in thought and then nodded.
"We have lots to discuss," Rosalie reminded them, "we'll figure out a way to talk. Have fun!" she added with a smile. Rosalie knew from their talk earlier that Bella missed Jacob so much that if there was ever a better moment for him to come back into her life it would be now.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Alice sang out and laughed as Bella gave her a nervous look when the motorcycle roared to life.
"Hang tight!" Jacob yelled out to Bella, "See you girls!" He smiled at them and sped away.
"Man... when did Jacob get muscles?" Rosalie looked over at Alice who was also staring at Jacob and Bella's figures in the distance.
"I don't know... but they sure look better on him than any shirt I could have ever picked out," Alice said breathlessly.
"Haha, yup, well c'mon, we have an hour to kill before you need to be home, Royce won't be home till tonight so maybe we can get some homework done at my house," Rosalie walked to her car, Alice climbed in and they sped off to Rosalie's house. Alice looked into her bag to check the damage, luckily Rosalie got her and Bella some kind of weatherproof bookbag as a present when they first became friends but that didn't mean it could not have gotten torn or dirty during their run in the woods.
Oh no, I forgot my textbook in class, ugh, oh well, hopefully someone gives it back to me in one piece tomorrow, Alice shrugged, not really making a big deal about it. She was actually more worried about something else.
Why didn't I see Jacob coming? Alice finally focused on her deeper thoughts as she looked out the window, and why did I get the vision of Rosalie so late?
Jacob pulled up next to his garage and parked his motorcycle. He and Bella walked inside just as the rain decided to unleash itself once again.
"I have an hour before I have to get home and cook dinner for Charlie," Bella said sadly. She didn't want to leave Jacob but she was so hungry and scared of James somehow finding out she didn't go straight home afterschool.
Jacob sighed. He was hoping to have more time to say all he needed to say and to get his many questions answered.
"Okay, well, I guess I'll get right to it then," he sighed, "Bella, why did you decide to stop being my friend? Why have you been avoiding me all this time?" He asked and looked into her eyes.
Bella's breathing stopped. She knew this question would eventually come, yet she still hadn't prepared a convincing lie to answer with.
Jacob watched as Bella looked away from him. She was in deep thought, which could only mean one thing. She was trying to come up with a lie.
"Bella," he whispered but she didn't snap out of it. "Bella," he repeated, "look at me."
Bella's chocolate eyes met his. He stepped closer to her but she backed away and shook her head.
Bella felt helpless. She wanted to tell him everything but she simply couldn't. She wouldn't dare risk anyone's safety by telling someone. It was easy to tell Rosalie and Alice because they did their best to hide it. They understood Bella's pain and they also understood how important it was to keep your loved ones safe. Bella, though, felt that Rosalie and Alice had it much worse since the people hurting them were their own parents and choosing between putting your parents in jail or living a lie was a much harder situation to deal with. She felt that if she told Jacob exactly how James treated her, he would throw a fit and go after him himself. As much as she felt safe around Jacob, he couldn't protect her or her family all the time. James had tons of money and friends that were just as bad, if not worse, than him. She would not be surprised if James had backup plans set in place for whenever she decided to tell Charlie or any other authority about the abuse.
"I should go..." Bella whispered with tears in her eyes. She turned around to hide her face from him and began to walk toward the door. Jacob couldn't let her leave so with a huff he reached for Bella's upper left arm where her well hidden cut was.
"Ahh!" Bella screamed and began to hiss in pain. Jacob flinched and let her go.
"I'm sorry," he quickly apologized even though he could have sworn he didn't grab her roughly.
"It's fine, I just have to go," Bella backed towards the exit. She was holding her arm tight because she knew the blood would seep through the bandage and eventually make itself visible on her shirt.
Jacob was confused. The old Bella would have hit him back, yelled at him, done something to retaliate. She wouldn't just accept the pain and leave. She was definitely hiding thing from him and one of those things was right under her sleeve.
"Let me see," Jacob quickly ran to the door to block her.
"Jacob, no!" Bella groaned, her face showing clear signs of pain. She tried to shove him out of the way.
"Bella!" He yelled out and grabbed her by the shoulders forcing her to face him. She was still holding onto her arm.
"Let... me... see," Jacob commanded.
Bella never knew he could sound so serious. She sucked in her breath to keep the tears at bay as she put her arm down. How was she going to lie her way out of this one?
Jacob looked at her arm. He could immediately tell she was bleeding. He gently lifted the sleeve of her shirt and gasped when he saw the bandage.
"You can't blame this on me, so don't even try," he growled. He felt his blood boil, but inhaled slowly to keep his cool, "What happened?"
"You know, typical clumsy me," Bella tried to laugh but it turned into an uncertain exhale.
Jacob continued to stare at the wound, getting angrier by the second as the bloody bandage became bloodier. It didn't help that Bella actually thought she could lie her way out of this.
"Did I ever tell you that you're a horrible liar?" Jacob whispered.
"Jacob, it was an accident," she tried to explain. That part was true, James meant to push her but he did not mean to push her into a knife.
Jacob was starting to see red. He didn't like the fact that Bella was hurt and trying to hide it. It meant something happened and it wasn't due to clumsiness. He was suppose to be there to protect her! He should have been there all along but she pushed him away. He knew that was because of James. It had to be, he could tell that guy was an asshole the second he saw him. Unfortunately, Bella was too blind to see him for who he was and she told Jacob that the only reason he didn't like James was because he was afraid she would stop spending time with him. She was right, Jacob was extremely jealous when Bella found a boyfriend, but he couldn't help it. He tried spending more and more time with her in hopes of getting her to fall for him instead, but after her and James became official, she practically disappeared. There were even nights where he tried to go to her house to talk to her and she would beg him to leave her alone. Anytime he came over for a visit with Billy, she would cook, yet she would rarely ever see her eat any of it. Bella had changed so much that she no longer had that spark in her eyes. He heard about overprotective and jealous boyfriends, but this was more than that. She showed no signs of being happy.
"Where did it happen?" Jacob asked through gritted teeth, playing along with Bella's explanation.
Bella thought for a second. She had to think of something fast. He couldn't say it happened at her house because that would connect it to James. She had to choose a neutral place.
"School," she quickly said, "in P.E." James graduated the year before so they no longer went to school together. That made school a neutral enough place and everyone knew P.E. was her worst subject.
Jacob was too angry to check to see if she was lying. School? he thought. If Bella was bleeding and it happened at school then it had to be those goddamn vampires! But Sam said there was a treaty! Sam had gone with other members of the pack earlier that week to find out what was going on. There had been many vampires in the area the last few weeks and the pack thought they were going to hunt some more down. When they caught wind that the vampires had actually wanted to settle down in Forks, the pack went to hopefully scare them out of town and kill them on the outskirts. Jacob had to stay behind to protect the reservation because he was the newest addition, which pissed him off since he wanted to kill some vampires. Sam said that a man they called The Doctor had told them about a treaty he had established with the tribe long ago. Sam had heard of it, but he was unsure if The Doctor was the same vampire that had made the treaty. The Doctor understood their apprehension and allowed the wolves to patrol the woods around the area so they could see that the vampires were keeping to the treaty. They knew The Doctor and his wife were able to keep to the treaty but now they were patrolling the school to make sure their adopted sons could keep from biting others. They were suppose to keep their fangs away from humans! Now the first day that these leeches go to school, his precious Bella gets hurt.
"Fucking vampires," Jacob growled, unable to control his anger and unaware that Bella was still there. He heard her gasp and he realized what he said. He looked at her in fear, he hoped she didn't hear that.
"What did you say?" She asked, her mouth wide open.
Shit!, Jacob yelled in his head. "What? I said something?" He tried to play it off, his anger quickly dissipated and was replaced by anxiety.
"You know?" She cried. The smell of her blood and her thoughts were beginning to make her dizzy.
"Know?" He quickly asked. Did she know?
Bella sat on the floor, no longer being able to stand without being dizzy. She didn't know how to explain what she was asking him.
"Remember those stories you used to tell me about your tribe? The ones about the Cold Ones?" She began.
Please Review! Hello, everyone! No I haven't died! I know this chapter is shorter than most but I wanted to put up whatever I could to remind people that I'm still working on my stories! There's not much action here, just cliffhangers mainly because I lost my notes to the outline of the plot, so anything after these scenes are things I've forgotten or else I would have finished them. But I'll find those outlines, no worries. :P Just please review so I know you all are still reading! More chapters to come soon. Already started the next one. :)
