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Jacobs POV
"This is driving me crazy, Leah!" We're sitting at a table outside of a coffee shop across the street from West Bartlett High. We had arrived in the city this morning but because all of this nonsense going on at the school we've been waiting out here for nearly 12 hours! The sun is just about to set and the police and detectives are wrapping up their work for the evening. We're not the only ones sitting here waiting for them to go home. There is a group of kids sitting at the adjacent table waiting to make their move too. Some are from West Bartlett while the other few seem too young; Junior High students perhaps.
"Just give it a few more minutes, Jacob, don't burst out of your skin or anything," she mutters and licks her spoon clean on the foam she was stirring around in her cappuccino. I feel something vibrating on the ground and take a peek under the table to see Leah's foot tapping the concrete at 100 miles an hour.
"Maybe next time you should order a decaf," I glance back over to see the last cop get in his car and drive off.
"What?" she looks confused. I stand up and start to walk across the street. She follows close behind as we make it to the other side and start to look around for a means to get in. My eye catches the other group of teenagers opening a large window leading into the cafeteria.
"Should we go with them?" Leah asks me, motioning over to the kids.
"Why?" I frown at her.
"Because if there really is something in there other then Nessie then shouldn't we keep an eye out for them so they don't end up monster-chow?"
"You can go with them. I'm going to find Nessie," I whisper firmly and in one quick motion, scale the wall and enter through an open window on the third floor. I look back out the window; Leah is talking to the kids and is heading in through the cafeteria. Well I don't need to worry about that anymore.
I take a deep breath and my hands ball into fists. I smell Nessie, it's her scent!
"Nessie?" I whisper and look around the room. It is some kind of musical education class. There are chairs all lined up with no desks and a piano at the front of the class. The scent starts to drift in the background and that's how I know she hasn't been here in a while. I frown and start wander into the hallway looking to catch her scent again. I start to pick up a trail, before I can realize it I'm running through the halls at full speed until the strongest scent hits my nose and I stop in front of a locker.
It's coming from inside, I pull the lock clean off, breaking the metal hook and swing the door open. I half expected to see Nessie's small 5' 5" frame squished in here, ready to jump out and yell 'boo!'… but she isn't in here. Just a coat—Nessie's coat! I pull the long black coat out of the locker and bring it up to my face breathing in the sweet scent. It's strong, but I know she hasn't worn this coat for a few days. I don't know how I know that, but I do.
"Chickens!" I hear Leah's voice taunt and my head snaps up to see the group of kids running as Leah casually walks over to me. I roll my eyes.
"What did you do?" I ask her and put Nessie's coat back in the locker.
"Nothing, just told them that I saw a bloody girl walking the halls crying and looking for her boots," she snickered and then shrugs at me when I give her a stern gaze.
Wait… boots.
"Where did they say that they found Nessie's boots?" I ask Leah.
"Oh the uh… girls locker room!" she says.
We head over to the girl's gym and find the door to the locker room.
"Well…" I motion for Leah to go inside.
"You're kidding right?" she laughs at me, "Jacob, the school is closed!"
"Can you just do this? It is girl's territory in their!" I anxiously cross my arms and watch Leah shake her head and roll her eyes before she disappears inside for a few moments.
"Well?" I call into the locker room without looking.
"She's not in here, Jake. No one is in here—get in here!" she snaps at me and pulls my arm until I'm inside of the locker room.
"Fine, I'm in here. Are you happy!" I scowl at her and I'm surprised when she starts to laugh at me.
"What?" I ask and feel the corner of my lips turn up a little bit. My mood is a little better, even though Nessie isn't inside the school we know that she has been here and the trail is hot.
"You just look so awkward," she laughed harder and has to rest her hands down on her knees to catch her breath. "You're such a dork, Jacob Black," she laughs and playfully punches my shoulder.
I roll my eyes, "alright, noooo more caffeine for you," I chuckle at her hysterics and wrap my arm around her, pulling her with me out of the girl's locker room and into the cafeteria, a few steps away.
"Hey, Jake…"
"Yeah?" I ask and drop my arm from around her shoulders; we inspect the kitchen of the cafeteria. There is no other scent in here that is out of the ordinary. I suspect that the little beast responsible for making monster-chow out of those slabs of meat was none other then Nessie.
"Did you really mean what you said when you told me that you wouldn't let me do anything that I'd regret?" I stop at Leah's question and focus in on her and take a deep breath.
"Leah, what is this all about?" I can't take it anymore. It's like one minute she is normal pain-in-the-ass-Leah, then the next minute she is all vulnerable. This is extremely out of character of her.
She doesn't look at me, her eyes drift down to the floor and her arms wrap around herself like they had back at the train station. Oh-no, not this again.
"Leah—I meant what I said. But you have to tell me what is going on if there is something I should know… Leah?" I move in front of her and grab her shoulders, "I won't let anything bad happen." I tilt her chin up so she has to look at me, her eyes are clouded over and a little unfocused.
I look into her eyes trying to search for Leah in there; it's like the lights are on but no one is home.
"Leah?" I shake her shoulders a little bit trying to get her to focus. I am stunned and shocked when out of the blue she locks her arms around my neck and pulls me down into a lip-crushing kiss. My eyes are wide with shock and I try to search for a reaction in Leah's eyes but they have not changed, they are still reading blank.
"Leah!... Leah—," I force the she-wolf off of me and hold her still by her shoulders, "get off! What is the matter with you?! You've been acting weird ever since we got here! It's like you're in heat or something!" I say gripping her shoulders tightly, I feel them slump a little in my hands.
Her cloudy eyes suddenly become focused again and I am shocked by the terror I see, in her expression, looking back at me.
"Leah… you're in heat? Oh man!" I hear myself laugh out abruptly and my hands drop from her shoulders. I can't stop laughing and I feel the need to hold my ribcage or else it just might fall out.
"Stop laughing! It's not funny—okay," I'm shocked when she suddenly bursts into tears.
"Oh come on, Leah. Hey… don't cry," I wrap my arm around her and pull her to my side like I had before, "this is a good thing for you, you thought you were barren; turns out you're just not on the same cycle as everyone else!"
She scowls at me and pushes me away, punching my shoulder quite hard.
"Hey! What was that for!? You're the one who attacked me—remember?" I rub my shoulder.
"Yeah well… you don't have to be a jerk about it!" she cries and pulls her fists into her sleeves, drying the moisture from her eyes.
"Alright, I'm sorry," I apologize and walk over to one of the tables and lean against it. "So, before when we were in the woods and… that scent—no new shampoo?"
"Pheromones, I guess. I think it's supposed to attract males—I don't know, I haven't studied it enough. As far as I know I'm the first she-wolf. Anyways, it's nothing to celebrate. I may not be barren but that does not mean that I'm ready to become the pack's sex puppet."
Poor girl, I guess I've been a little out of the loop these days. I hadn't phased back into a wolf since the night we all returned from the towns that Nessie set us up to go to in her diversion. I had no idea that this was going on. Something clicks in my brain and my eyes snap up at her.
"Wait, Leah… when we were at the train station and you said that you were afraid of doing something you'd regret. You said that you thought you already had," I glance at her troubled expression, "Leah, have you slept with that pack?"
"No… not the entire pack," she says, looking down at her feet.
"Oh man! Who was it? Embry… Quil?"
"No! It was not either of them!" she glares at me.
"Well Who else is left? Seth?"
"Ew—Gross, Jake! He's my brother!" her face contorts at the very thought.
"Yeah well, back at the train station you said that I was your brother but that didn't stop you from trying to jump me a moment ago."
She rolls her eyes, "maybe not from your pack."
"Paul? It was Paul wasn't it!"
"No it wasn't Paul!" She huffs. Too bad, if it was Paul I'd definitely be able to use that to my advantage.
"Was it-"
"Stop guessing! It was Sam alright!" she shouts at me and lets out a shaky breath.
"Sam?" I watch her flinch when I say his name and I feel an anger build up inside of me, "son of a bitch! I'm going to give him a piece of my mind. Teach him to keep his filthy paws off of my pack… Leah how could you? What about Emily?"
I see more tears spring from her eyes but I am in no hurry to comfort her like before.
"I didn't know it was him!" she shrieks, "it was too dark and it all happened too fast."
"Yeah right! How do you not know who is on top of you!?"
"He was behind me I couldn't see-"
"Alright—I don't need the details at what position you two were…" I trail off when I see something in her eyes that scares me a little. "Leah, you were phased?" I ask her in a gentler voice, realizing what she had meant.
"I know, it's sick," she shudders and more tears roll down her cheeks.
"So that son of a bitch jumps you from behind and then takes off like a well planned out attack?" I feel sick now. Leah is my sister, she's apart of my pack and Sam Uley has no business with her. He made his choice, Emily, and he left his mark on her face to show for it. He can't have it both ways.
Leah looks down, ashamed.
"Okay… Don't cry, Leah," I move from the table and wrap my arm around her and pull her close to my side again, "we're going to figure this out… but for now I need you to go home. Don't phase, alright. Stay away from the pack for a few more days. When I get back to La Push I don't want to have to deal with any more then I have to."
She nods, "alright. Thank you, Jake… oh and—I'm sorry about before. Can we just forget that it ever happened?"
"It's not your fault, you were confused. We're going to figure this out, consider it forgotten" I ruffle her hair and then point to the window. She nods then disappears through it leaving me to this city… to find Nessie.
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