Disclaimer: All characters with the exception of Kristine Fay belong to Stephanie Meyer. Kristine Fay is of my own making.
The silent rhythm to which my foot was tapping to gradually began to speed up as the two people most important in my life shared perhaps one of the longest conversations they ever had. Of course, most of my annoyance stemmed from the fact that Jacob's end of the phone call didn't give me much to piece together. He would only agree or disagree to something, or sometimes even stop mid-sentence – no doubt Eddie was reading his mind and putting a literal stop to Jake's thoughts.
"All right," Jake seemed to say at last before disconnecting the call. Why did he look so… eager? What had happened in the past ten minutes? Before I could even ask though, the words tumbled out of Jacob's mouth as he got off my bed and began to excitedly pace around my room. "Bells wants to go to the gathering, so the bloodsucker and I had a few things to arrange. I'll have to warn the old man, make sure the real meeting takes place after she conks out, and…" He must have caught sight of my expression then, because his feet stopped moving and he stood there, frozen on the spot. The smile that had been on his face started to melt away as the moisture in my eyes grew in mass. I didn't want to cry, I really didn't, but… It had taken only seven minutes for Jacob to forget that he was here to apologize to me, to ask me to go to the gathering. It only took seven minutes for Bella Swan to make him forget me. In all honesty, a part of me was surprised it even took that long.
"Aw, Kris, don't cry," Jake pleaded, hastily taking his seat next to me once again. I hadn't even noticed that my eyes had teared up, but before he could comment on them further, I roughly wiped the offending moisture away. "They didn't fall from my eyes so that doesn't count as crying," I shot back hoarsely, the sudden rush of emotion causing my throat to tense up. Jake nodded, his voice easy going as he said "Sure, sure," but I could still see the worry in his eyes. I could see he wasn't going to let it go, and the last thing I wanted was for my little tear leakage to keep him from having a great time with the girl he loved. He deserved to be happy, after all.
Jacob was still beside me, frozen on the spot in front of my tears when I took a deep breath and put on the most natural face I could. (He and Eddie were so alike when it came to dealing with crying girls, but I don't think either would be too happy to have that little fact pointed out.) I didn't smile, knowing it would have caused him to be even more suspicious, but I didn't look completely miserable either. Just remotely… shocked. "Jake, I'll be fine. Go and have a great time with Bella. I have that American History report due next week anyways, plus I have way too many work in progress canvases in the other room." He didn't look completely convinced though, so raising my right hand, I recited in the most sarcastic voice I could, "I promise not to die of boredom while I'm alone and you're at the reservation." That seemed to persuade him and, after very roughly messing up my hair – "I hate you," I grumbled, but I don't think he heard me – Jacob rose to stretch and reach for the door. "Sure, sure, I'll see you tomorrow Kris."
Distantly, I could hear the muted 'click' of the door closing, which I knew was Jake's way of telling me he had left since he was more than capable of exiting my house in complete silence. Ignoring the slight buzz the absolute silence brought to my ears, I hugged my knees as I contemplated what had just happened. Jacob Black had ditched me to go on a date with Bella Swan, who was currently dating my Eddie, mind you, on the exact same day our friendship had almost crossed into the 'more than friends' territory. Of course by now, the news of Bella wanting to go to the gathering with Jake would have caused his brain to reset everything that happened today. Either way, I had to choose what to do now. I could write my essay and paint, all the while moving about my house moping. Or…
Outside, a very familiar honking of a car brought me out of my thoughts. I nearly threw myself out the window in my hurry to see who it was that came to my rescue. "Did someone call for a taxi?" Laughter shook me as I ran out of my room, down the staircase, and out the door. "Eddie!" I squealed as I threw myself at him. Nonchalantly catching me, he answered all my silent questions. "Alice saw you disappear, which probably would have freaked her out if this hasn't already happened about 50 times before. No, Jacob is not aware that you changed your mind. And yes, it is cold, which is why Alice made me bring a jacket for you because she knew you wouldn't think to bring one. It's in the backseat." He opened the passenger seat door for me – ever the gentleman – and as I sat down and reached for the seat belt, I sniffed indignantly. "It's not that cold." He didn't reply but we both knew I would take the jacket nonetheless.
Author's Note: Haha, I went and did it again, didn't I? I ended up taking two whole months to update this when I had only planned to take two weeks! But in my defense, it was a huge holiday over here and I'm down with the cold. Not that convincing, I know, but I'll try to make up for it with more updates before midterms come around. Also, I've been getting some reviews from people stating that they don't want to read my story because it's a Bella hate story, but I'd like to state that it isn't. Yes, I've bashed Bella a bit in the previous chapters but those are from Kris' point of view, not mine. I'm planning on portraying Bella in a much more humane way in future chapters, so please keep your eye out for that! Once again, review and I shall love you forever and quite possibly be willing to give you fudge brownies. Mm, brownies.