Eyes Wide Open

JacobxBella

Rated M

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or the franchise, as it belongs to Steph Meyers

Eyes Wide Open

Chapter 10

The rest of the week went by and each day Bella took a different exam in the cafeteria with Henry proctoring her. Today was the last day of exams, and then next week would be the last week of school before summer. And then in the fall, Bella would officially be a high school senior, something she found both exciting and daunting. Of course, that wouldn't happen unless she finished her exams and passed them, something Charlie, Jacob, and Henry were certain of.

Bella typed away on the testing laptop, finishing up her response to the question Henry had asked her to answer. She was confident in this answer for Biology, believing that it was one-hundred percent correct. Just as she finished typing her answer, the bell rang to signal the end of the exam period. Sighing Bella sat back in her seat as Henry went on to do his ending speech as required per exam, popping and flexing her cramped fingers. When Henry finished his speech, he smiled and said, "You did it, Isabella. You finished your exams for junior year; congratulations."

"Thanks Henry," Bella said with a smile. "And thanks for being my proctor. I know you didn't have to, but thanks anyway."

"It's no trouble at all, really."

"Do you think we'll stay in touch following this?"

"If you want to, and I would like that." Henry then smiled. "Besides, I think Miles wants to meet the blind girl that I proctored for the week."

Bella's eyes widened. "Oh, really? Your boyfriend wants to meet me?"

Henry nodded. "Yeah, at some point. But he does work and is pretty busy, so we'll see."

"Well I would love to one day. And again, thanks for doing this for me. I don't think any of my teachers would have known how to accommodate for me."

"My parents and I have helped my brother's teachers accommodate his testing needs since he was in kindergarten, and now he's in eighth grade, so it was no problem."

Bella stood up from her seat as she listened to Henry pack up everything, picking up her bookbag and putting it on one shoulder. She grabbed her white stick and stuck her hand through the loop on it so it could hang from her wrist. She then took her cell phone out of her pocket and opened it, scrolling through it and listening to it speak the name of each contact in her cellphone phonebook. When it said Jacob's name, she pressed on his name to call and held the device to her ear. She listened to it ring for a while before Jacob finally answered.

"Hey Bells," Jacob answered cheerfully. "Are you done with your exam?"

"Hey Jake. Yeah, I'm done with it. I was wondering could you come and pick me up. If you don't mind, of course."

"Of course I'm picking you up, Bells. And I'd drop you off and pick you up every day if I could."

Bella blushed at his honest words, a smile appearing on her face. She bit her lip before asking, "So, how long will I have to wait for you to get here?"

"Not very long," Jacob answered, his voice coming very clear from behind her.

Turning around Bella smiled as soon as she saw Jacob's golden aura standing before her. Walking over to him Bella hugged him and said, "You should have said you were already here."

Jacob grinned down at the brunette and replied, "I wanted to surprise you, honey."

Henry chuckled and said, "I'd say you did, Jacob." He walked over to them and said, "I'm off to deliver Isabella's test scores, and then head back to Washington State. I have a few students to tutor for summer courses."

"Okay. Wait, let me get your number," Bella said, passing her phone to Henry. She listened to him type his number in it, then call his own phone so he could have her number. When he handed her phone back to her she said, "Bye Henry. Talk to you later."

"You too, Isabella. Bye Jacob."

"Bye man," Jacob replied as Henry left.

Jacob took Bella's hand in his and led her out of the cafeteria and towards the exit of Forks High School. He wasn't really surprised when Bella didn't extend her white stick since he was the one helping her along. She had told him once that she felt comfortable enough with him by her side to not have to use the thing. Once they were outside, Jacob helped her down the stairs and to his car, opening the door for her and allowing her to sit in it. As Bella sat down she frowned and said, "This is a new car."

The Shifter chuckled and closed the door before walking around to the driver's side and getting in. As he started the car he said, "Actually, she's old but I'm patching her up. It's a VW Rabbit, and she's my pride and joy."

Bella giggled and said, "Well, she seems pretty patched up if she came all this way."

"Don't let that fool you, she still has some kinks to be worked out. But anyway, I figured that if you wanted to, I'd take you to La Push to visit Ms. Opal."

Chocolate brown eyes brightened as Bella said, "Yes, I'd love to!"

Jacob grinned and nodded, driving out of the parking lot and towards the Reservation, looking in the rear-view mirror briefly to see golden eyes watching them leave.

Knocking on Ms. Opal's door, Bella and Jacob waited patiently for the kind blind woman to answer the door. Eventually the door was opened, but not by Ms. Opal. Bella blinked as she took in the silver aura before her before looking at Jacob. Jacob looked at the man standing before them before saying, "Hi Randall."

"Hello, Jacob," Randall said to the tall boy. His hazel eyes moved to Bella and stared at her for a moment before saying, "This must be the Bella my Opal speaks so fondly of."

Bella blushed lightly before holding out her hand saying, "Bella Swan, it's nice to meet you, sir."

Randall took the brunette's hand and shook it in return saying, "Randall Phillips, pleased to meet you."

The brunette was almost surprised to hear his last name. She figured Opal wasn't Ms. Opal's last name, but it also could have been. Clearing her throat, she said, "We're here to visit Ms. Opal. Is she here right now?"

"She is; please, come in."

Jacob and Bella stepped inside the Phillips's home, going to the living room and settling down on the couch. As they sat, Randall walked down the hallway to his and his wife's bedroom, letting her know that she had visitors. Two minutes later he came back down the hallway, Ms. Opal following behind him. The moment Ms. Opal stepped into the living room she smiled and greeted, "Hello Jacob and Bella. I'm so happy that you've come to visit."

Bella smiled at her Ms. Opal, or rather her blue aura and said, "I missed coming to visit and haven't had a chance to until now"

"Yes, Jacob told me you were studying for your exams. How are those going?"

"They went well, and I finished my last one today. So, there's only one week of school left and then I'm out for the summer."

"That's good."

Randall nodded and asked, "Did they accommodate for you?"

Nodding Bella answered, "Yes, they did. They even got me a proctor from Washington State to overview my testing for me."

Jacob nodded and said, "His name is Henry and he's studying to help the visually impaired. He has a younger brother that's blind too, and he wants to help all he can."

Ms. Opal smiled happily. "That's so sweet of him. Not many people understand the needs of the blind and how to accommodate for them. Sometimes they don't even realize that we aren't invalids and don't want to be treated any different from anyone else."

Bella smiled and nodded slightly, taking in the wise woman's words and coming to find them to be very true. She knew herself that though some things would have to change for her, she didn't want to be treated any different. She was still the same Bella Swan she had always been. And she was so glad that Jacob, Charlie, and Angela didn't treat her any differently now that she had lost her eyesight. She frowned however at the thought of Edward, and how the moment she started venturing outside her home again, he took it upon himself to do things for her that she didn't ask nor need him to do. He had always treated her like she was fragile, and the moment it was confirmed she was blind it had only gotten worse. Of course by then, she was realizing that she didn't really love Edward and tried to make the breakup easy on him, but he instead was obviously taking it hard and not believing in the slightest that they were broken up, even though everyone else knew they were. And now he seemed to be stalking her and she didn't know what to do, especially as it was becoming summertime. She was glad she got Charlie to install that alarm on her window.

Ms. Opal seemed to sense Bella's change in mood and asked, "Are you alright, dear?"

"Y-Yes, I'm okay," Bella answered.

Ms. Opal said nothing, just raised her eyebrow in suspicion before deciding to let the matter go. Instead she engaged Bella in conversation about whether she wanted to learn more from her, to which Bella enthusiastically agreed to. Bella even told her about how she had quickly gotten the hang of reading in Braille and how to type on her phone and a computer and such. Ms. Opal smiled and told her that was great before telling her that if she wanted to start, she could begin teaching her how to read the printed word rather than Braille, walking over to her bookshelf and going to the shelf with all her folders that she kept. She browsed along the folders for a moment before taking one and opening it, running her fingers along the page for a moment before smiling.

"Ah, here we are," Ms. Opal said. Turning back to look at Bella's pale yellow aura she said, "Let's go into the kitchen and get started."

Bella smiled and nodded, standing from the couch and following the lady into her kitchen, her white stick bumping into the wall and doorway to help guide her through it. Once the two women had disappeared from sight, Randall looked at Jacob and said, "Come walk with me, Jacob."

Jacob nodded and followed Randall out of the house and outside. The two of them walked away from the house and down the road a ways in silence, passing by people and saying 'hello' to them as they went. After a while Randall stopped walking and turned to look at the teenager in front of him. He himself was a tall man, but Jacob towered over him by at least five inches. He said nothing for a moment, but then began to speak.

"Tell me something, Jacob," Randall started. "Your feelings for Bella, are they reciprocated?"

Completely taken aback by the question, Jacob flushed and scratched the back of his head. Clearing his throat he asked, "What makes you think I have feelings for Bella?"

"Because you look at her the same way I look at Opal now."

Jacob flushed darker before sighing. Shaking his head he said, "No, Bella doesn't reciprocate my feelings for her. I get the feeling that she probably knows about them but isn't acknowledging them. With her still getting used to her blindness and such, I think dating is the last thing on her mind, especially considering she broke up with her boyfriend not too long ago. And I don't want to burden her with these feelings and expect her to return them just because I want her to. Don't get me wrong, I definitely want her to, but not if she's not serious or only half-hearted; I don't want to be pitied."

Randall nodded in understanding before saying, "That may be so, but I see something that you don't seem to be seeing." At Jacob's confused look, he smiled softly and continued. "Bella's feelings for you are reciprocated."

"Th-They are?" Jacob couldn't believe that. That wasn't true, was it? God, he so wanted that to be true.

"Yes, she does. She returns your feelings Jacob, but she hasn't realized them yet. As far as she's concerned, you are her best friend. Now there is nothing wrong with that, though it can be frustrating when you're the one who's feelings are easily seen."

Jacob was quiet for a moment before asking, "Are you speaking from experience?"

Randall nodded. "Yes, I am. Like you, it was pretty obvious that I was in love with Opal, even back when we were in middle school together. She never reciprocated my feelings, instead just being my friend and I was content in that. However, the moment we entered high school, all of the guys seemed to want to date her; I've never felt jealously like that before in my life. Even so, Opal refused to date any of those guys. Many people thought we were dating because we were always together, but that wasn't true. But then in senior year, she began to return my feelings. I didn't notice at first, or at least did but thought she was just messing with me. But then she asked me to prom and kissed me there in the middle of a slow dance. Then she fully confessed that she loved me."

Jacob chuckled at the thought, finding it amusing that Ms. Opal not only made the first move, but confessed her love after making her display. He could just imagine a teenage Randall looking shocked and speechless.

Randall chuckled at the memory before continuing. "Anyway, from that point on we were dating. But then the day came when she lost her sight. It was at a graduation party and some girls thought it funny to play a prank on Opal, only it wasn't funny. It was a pool party and people were splashing water in buckets at each other. These girls thought it funny to replace a bucket of water with bleach and splashed it in Opal's face. A lot of it got in her eyes and we had to rush her to the hospital. However by the time we got her there and they rushed her off, the damage had already been done to her eyes and the tissues and nerves in them."

Jacob was horrified to hear that had happened to the kind woman, and all because of a cruel prank played on her.

"Opal had a hard time coping and hated how everyone acted around her. I guess she thought I would too and broke up with me, saying that she didn't want to burden me with a blind girlfriend and that I would be better off with someone that could see. I tried telling her differently, but she seemed to believe what she believed, and thought instead that I was pitying her because of her situation. It was the first time I've ever seen Opal insecure about anything. She's so confident that having her sight taken from her, she didn't know what to do and began to drift away from me. In that moment, I realized I had to prove to her that she was worth it all to me and that no matter what, I was always going to love her. I won't go into the details of what I did, but in the end she realized that I was truly serious about her and we got back together, and have been together for twenty-three years. Anyway, I'm saying all of this to simply say that you just need to wait on Bella. She likes you romantically too, but she just hasn't realized it. Either that or she doesn't feel as if you would want to be with her because of the insecurities she carries. Jacob, prove to Bella that you mean it, that you really like or love her, because I feel like you love her by this point. But if you are letting Bella find her feet for herself right now, then do that and be there for her. Just know that your feelings will be reciprocated once she realizes what she feels, and I'll believe it'll be sooner than you think. Just give her time to see that."

The two of them stood in silence for a moment before Jacob smiled. He would hold onto Randall's words, believing that they were true. He could be patient with Bella, for as long as needed to. Looking at the older man he nodded and said, "Thank you, Randall."

Randall smiled and said, "It's not problem. Now let's go back before Opal starts wondering where we've gone off to."

Jacob chuckled and followed Randall back to his and Opal's house. As they walked back a sudden thought came to Jacob. How did Randall know he was brooding over his unreciprocated feelings for Bella? Getting his attention, he decided to ask that question. Randall smirked in response and asked, "You mean other than the way you look at her?" At Jacob's nod he continued. "Because you have a giant sign above your head that says: I want to mate Bella."

Randall laughed at Jacob's shocked expression, laughing harder when Jacob yelled, "I do not want to mate her!"

Giving Jacob a knowing look Randall said, "Jacob, be serious. You may not want to now, but you will later. Your hormones are off the charts already with your current size, so try to keep the testosterone down a bit."

"Randall!" God, this was embarrassing! He was getting an impromptu sex talk, one that he really didn't want at the moment.

"What? Do you want to have it with Billy?"

"Well, no, not really."

"Alright then. Besides, he'll probably go into detail, something I'm not going to do."

Jacob groaned and covered his face, Randall laughing at him as he clapped his back. He enjoyed messing with Jacob, but he would only embarrass him but so much. Even so, he hoped he would take his advice to wait on Bella. Because he knew that in the end, it would be worth the wait.