A/N: I am SO SO SO SO SO sorry it took this long to get this chapter up!!!! I plead your forgiveness from the bottom of my heart, but trust me, this really needed another day to simmer, because during History today I added so much more! Where were we? oh yes... dun dun DUHHHH!!!!
"SURPRISE!" yelled nearly the entire senior class of Forks high school. Edward used the split second in which he realized what was going on to put Bella in a position where they didn't look as if they were ready for a fight to the death. Her throat burned and the thirst was overwhelming, but these were her friends- this was her father, and while she desired their blood more than anything she had ever wanted in her life (besides Edward), she wanted them alive even more. Bella gasped as the flashbulb of the camera she had gotten for her eighteenth birthday went off in her face. She looked up to find a giant banner hanging across the living room ceiling; in bright red letters it read, "Good luck, Bella!"
While she was still trying to get over the staggering realization that the smell which had nearly knocked her off her feet was her first whiff of human blood, Charlie came forward with a fatherly smile on his face. "I couldn't let you go without everybody seeing you one last time, Bells," he embraced her.
Her voice was still a little shaky when she replied, "Thanks, dad," from the crook of his shoulder. She was glad she had the jacket on, so he wouldn't ask why she suddenly had the temperature of a corpse.
When he released her, he grabbed her hands and his expression changed dramatically. "Bella, your hands are freezing! What's wrong?"
She quickly pulled them from his grasp. "It's nothing dad- I just asked Edward to open the moon roof so I could see the stars, and I had my hands outside." Ordinarily, it would have been Edward to come up with something clever so quickly; did vampirism automatically improve lying skills?
As she shook him off, she caught sight of one of the few faces that was not smiling; a small group of boys in the back of the room. Jacob Black's eyes glittered with tears of shock and anger as he turned to follow the rest of the pack, who were sneaking out the back door into the woods. She was still staring after them as she whispered to Edward, "I have to go to the bathroom." When she turned to glance at him, he was looking to the back of the room as well. He mouthed the words "be safe" as he stroked her cheek, already knowing where she was really going. She pushed through the crowd with "excuse me's" and "just have to use the restroom's", having to remind herself to slow down to a normal human pace.
When she finally reached the back door, she saw Jacob stop as he passed the first line of trees on the path and shoot a longing look of desolation back at the house. Was it just her imagination or was he looking at her bedroom window? When he made eye contact however, resentment filled his features once again and he took off into the woods at a jog. "Jacob!" she yelled after him, but he didn't stop. She narrowed her eyes and sprinted after him, exhilarated with the speed at which she caught up with him. "Jacob," she said quieter this time, when she was a few feet behind him. Her throat grew tight as her tear ducts tried to produce tears where there were none. She closed the distance between them and hit him on the shoulder, hard. "Jacob Black LOOK AT ME!" she screamed at him, her voice cracking.
He spun in surprise, because of her words or tone of voice or the strength which she possessed now, she didn't care- she had his attention. He wiped furiously at the tracks of tears on his cheeks and growled, "What do you want, Bella?"
She visibly flinched at the ferocity in his tone and replied in a whisper, "Just to talk."
He barked out a wolfish laugh and gestured wildly as he asked, "What could you possibly want to talk to me about? You've got the bloodsucker. You're one of them now. You don't need me anymore."
She interrupted him, "Jacob, I was in Italy." He was shocked into silence. "That's where I went with Alice. They held us there- they wouldn't have let us leave unless we swore that I would be changed. A few days ago, they came to the Cullens' house. If I hadn't agreed to the change, they would have killed me."
He stared open-mouthed at her for a few seconds, trying to comprehend what she had just told him, then spoke. "Can't the younger female see the future or something?"
"Even Alice makes mistakes," Bella replied defensively, making sure to emphasize her name, and shivered internally at the memory of the mistake Alice made a few months ago.
"Or maybe she just wanted you changed so she didn't tell you," he retorted, sounding like a tattling five-year-old.
Bella was taken aback- it was entirely possible that Alice had known the Volturi were coming and concealed it from the rest of the family. Plus- no she countered herself, this was something even Alice wouldn't have kept from Edward, or me. Jacob's baiting was making her angry; her tone reflected it. "You might find this hard to believe, Jacob," her voice turning acidic as she said his name, "But I wanted this. I've wanted to become a 'cold one' for a long time now."
His eyes opened wide in revulsion. "No," he breathed as he backed into a tree behind him.
She stood her ground, for once feeling as if she had overpowered someone almost a foot taller than she was. "After graduation, I was going to be changed no matter what. I begged for it. The only reason it happened now is because the Volturi came for me. In fact, Edward was the most vehement about me staying human, whereas I was the exact opposite. There was nothing you could have done to keep me human, Jacob."
He took a deep breath, body shaking erratically, as if about to scream at her, or hit her or something, but all of the sudden, his air rushed out unused. It was as if the wind had abruptly died in his sails; when he spoke, his words were meek and his cheeks wet anew. "The treaty is broken. Tell the rest of the leeches they've got one week to be out of Forks, or we'll come after them. That was the only reason we came to your stupid party anyway. If you leave peacefully, we won't bother you again."
The familiar words replaced her anger with dejection, and evoked a phrase she had uttered once before: "If… that's what you want."
He nodded slowly, as if he didn't trust himself with words at that moment. He took tentative steps toward her, like he was going to hug her, but instead he said, "Just one request, Bella."
"Anything," she vowed for the boy that had once been her only friend in the world, her crutch, her savior.
"I know you're basically indestructible, but- be careful. Don't do anything stupid okay? Take care of yourself."
"I will," she whispered. He hesitated, then leaned forward and kissed her forehead, his burning lips branding the skin there. He took off at full speed; a few seconds later she heard the explosive sound of cloth ripping, then he was gone.
Why did this feel so familiar? Being left in a forest… someone you had loved telling you they'd never see you again… oh yes. Now she remembered. But this time, there was one difference. When she lay down in the bracken, there was a pair of arms and a comforting chest to sob dryly against- a deep voice telling her he loved her and would never leave her again.
A/N: Wow... I kind of love myself for that last part... sound familiar? hehe :D Again, thank you to my reviewers, and again, SO SORRY! I just started adding a little here and there, and before I knew it, Bella and Jacob's dialouge was suddenly twice as long... so much better though! OH and plus I got totally distracted last night writing Bella/Edward gettin hot and heavy in chapter 8... you know you want to read it! But just warning you, it might take a while. I have the whole rest of the story outlined in my head, but Bella and Edward are a couple of horndogs, so I'm making some adjustments ;) Review! It makes me write faster, honestly.
