Disclaimer: Characters, locations, concepts – Stephenie Meyer
Story idea- Lost in Austen creator.
Everything else – ME
A/N: Ha ha, weekend! Writing time! I like it. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy.
It wasn't surprising when Mike called that night to cancel our beach trip. Going out to have fun at the beach was probably the last thing everyone felt like doing after we'd found out the news. A funeral was being put together and would be held on Sunday. Everyone was welcome to attend. I hated the crying and the pure depressing atmosphere of funerals but I also believed that I didn't deserve to be there considering how it was my fault he was gone. I had screwed up this story and it was my fault. Even though these characters were fictional, they had now become more real to me than many of the people I had met in real life. It didn't mean that they weren't people.
Trying to keep myself occupied, to avoid thinking about my guilt, I cleaned, cooked, read and did more than was expected of me in terms of home-work. In some ways I was slightly disappointed about the beach trip. True it wasn't appropriate after Tyler's death but I couldn't help but feel like I was missing out on my chance to meet Jacob. Oh well. Time would tell.
"I heard about Tyler Crowley," Charlie commented when he got home the evening I received the news. I nodded solemnly. "He may have gone through his share of trouble but he was a good kid. He didn't deserve to die the way he did."
"I feel bad for his family. This must be horrible for them."
"Were you close?" he asked.
In truth, no we weren't but that didn't mean I didn't care whether he was dead or alive. "Not really, we were more like acquaintances." Watching his face, I continued, "But I still wish he'd avoided that ice slick."
We ate the rest of our meal in silence. This was the usual but somehow this quiet had a whole new meaning. One in which the both of us had a great many things on our minds.
School the next day was filled much with the same atmosphere despite the warmer and sunnier weather. Everyone knew everybody here so losing someone appeared to effect the entire student population.
Jessica chose a different approach to the loss. In a way, I was appreciative of it. She was trying to continue moving, to allow us to regain some sense of normality. The only problem was that her idea of another subject just happened to be Edward and I.
"So what did Edward Cullen want yesterday?" she asked, eager for details after an entire lesson of boring trigonometry. I couldn't blame her.
"I don't know. It wasn't anything important. He more just talked around in circles." Hmmm…that was one way of putting it.
"Really? You both looked a little…mad." She added on.
Oh right, when I told him I knew what he was. "Just a misunderstanding," I left her with.
"You know, I've never seen him sit with anyone but his family before. That was weird."
"You're telling me," I whispered under my breath before merely saying, "Yeah, weird." to her.
Not being able to look forward to seeing him today was also disappointing but that didn't stop me from keeping an unconscious eye on the other members of the Cullen Family. Alice Cullen seemed to have an interest in me as well, one that I hadn't noticed up until now. I wondered what it was that she was seeing in my future or Edward's for that matter.
I ignored Lauren making a spiteful comment about why I don't just sit with the Cullens now, Mike defending me, blah, blah, blah. I've heard it all before and it's pretty inconsequential as far as I'm concerned.
That afternoon I was given the biggest shock I'd had in a while. When I arrived back at Charlie's an unfamiliar car was sitting in the drive beside Charlie's police cruiser. He was clearly already home, but why? Who else was here?
I headed up the drive and swung open the front door. I left my bag in the hall before following the sounds of conversation emitting from the living room.
Sitting in an armchair was Charlie, beside him, watching the television was another man. I'd never met this him before, but his identity was unmistakable.
"Oh, Ashley," Charlie noticed me standing in the doorway. "This is a friend of mine, Billy Black. Billy lives down on the La Push reservation."
"Hi," I said brightly.
"And this is his son Jacob. He's about your age." Another person stepped into the room from the kitchen, causing a wide smile to spread out across my face. Jacob Black. Well, well. What do you know?
"Hey," Jacob said warmly.
"Ashley is a friend of Bella's. She's been staying with me while she's on student exchange here. Bella's in Australia." Charlie explained briefly.
"Student exchange eh? How's that working out for you?" Billy asked, shooting me a smile equally as warm as Jacob's greeting.
"Fine, thanks, it's a nice change." I began heading toward the kitchen. For no reason whatsoever, I was starved. "Charlie, do you want anything?" I asked, remembering my manners towards my host. "Billy? Jacob?" And guests.
"I'm alright thanks Ash, Billy?" Charlie turned to ask Billy.
"I'm right." Billy shook his head.
I headed past Jacob into the kitchen. He followed as the chatter in front of the TV picked up again.
"It's Ashley, right?" Jacob checked, watching me bustle around the kitchen to make some cream cheese on crackers as an afternoon snack.
"Mmhmm," I nodded, shoveling crackers in. Jacob laughed at my lack of courtesy.
"Sorry, bad habit. I've always talked with my mouth full." I spoke clearly, swallowing the mouthful in one large gulp. "I can actually talk through an entire slice of bread squished into my mouth but my mum says that that's not something I should brag about." Jacob laughed harder at this.
"Can't everyone do that?" Jacob asked to my surprise.
"Oh no, this is an acquired skill." I shook my head. "Just like tripping over the same object twice within the space of five minutes."
"Well, I bet I can do it better than you can." He was confident about this.
Eager to accept the challenge I smiled, "Really now? Fine then, you're on." I hurried over to the fresh packet of bread I'd left on the counter earlier and pulled out two thick slices. I handed one to Jacob and then waited.
"Okay, on the count of three." I said.
"One, two…" he began.
"Three," At this we both shoved the piece of bread into our mouths until it fit fully inside. I had to resist the urge to laugh at Jacob's enlarged cheeks.
"Rwght, see!" He said, muffled by the bread.
"Swre, 'nd jus when I taut I wuz special." I pushed out.
At this moment Charlie walked into the kitchen to get another can of beer. He froze when he caught sight of Jacob's and my puffed up faces.
"Okay, I'm not going to ask." He said as he walked to the fridge, grabbed a can and left as quickly as possible. The moment he exited, Jacob and I swallowed our bread and burst out laughing.
"Well, that was…interesting." Jacob choked out between chuckles.
"Definitely," I went back to making more cheese crackers before Jacob started the conversation up again.
"So you're fifteen?"
"Yep, just like you." Wait, be careful Ashley. Let's not be all weird like we were when meeting Edward. He already thinks you're crazy. Let's not have the same effect on Jacob. Before you know it, both werewolves and vampires will be putting you on the hit list in the near and not so distant future. Then again, Jacob still had quite a few months before the whole werewolf change.
"Cool. Are you liking Forks?" Hmmm…tricky question.
"Yeah, it's good apart from the weather, car accidents and fact that I have to walk all the way to the closest Thrifty store which isn't exactly close."
He smiled. "You should come down and visit me in La Push sometime, less warm and fuzzy that Forks."
"Warm and fuzzy, huh? Maybe, you guys have got some pretty cool legends."
"Oh, you've heard some of our tribal stories?" This surprised and interested him.
"I've read about some, yeah." Technically true.
"Which ones?"
Oh dear, "Umm…the one about how you guys are descended from wolves, the spirit warriors and one or two about err….vampires."
I had expected him to go quiet at this one but instead he grinned, "They're pretty stupid aren't they? Cold ones, wolves..."
"Yeah, stupid," I shook off the fact that I knew they were true. Jacob was yet to find out this small piece of information.
"Jacob," Billy called out. "We're leaving."
"Already?" I asked. Jacob looked happy at my reaction.
"Afraid so," He grinned at me. "But we'll see each other soon right?" behind the causality there was hope. He was clearly looking forward to it as much as I was. I could see why Bella called him her personal sun. Jacob had this sort of aura that brightened up a room without him even knowing it. It was a very nice feeling.
"You betcha," I said positively.
I followed him back into the living room and out into the front yard where Charlie was helping Billy out of his chair and into their car. Jacob rushed over quickly to help him. There wasn't much I could do but stand there while they did this.
When Billy was sitting comfortably, Jacob hopped in and wound down the window. "Thanks Charlie, Ashley." Billy said, nodding at us. "Come down and visit us sometime soon. We'd love to have you. I'm sure Jacob would too," He winked at Jacob blushed slightly. How cute.
"Yeah, yeah, let's get going. Nice seeing you Charlie, see you Ashley." He said as the car pulled out of the drive and headed up the street.
That night my head was filled with unusual dreams, ones that blended together characters from life, from stories, scenes I'd pictures, creating a serious of extremely confusing events. My brain often worked this way while I was asleep. One day I'd be dreaming about dinosaurs taking over my school, meteors flying from the sky while skeletons with swords held up students in their classrooms and the next I'd be having a conversation with Robert Pattinson walking along a city street until I turn away and all of a sudden he'd be dressed in an Easter bunny suit – I did tell you my mind worked in strange ways.
This dream featured many people. Edward was there, as beautiful as ever and Jacob, grinning and looking like sunlight was actually shining out of the core of his being, literally. Apart from that I couldn't remember much when I woke up the next morning.
Having woken up slightly early and unable to get back to sleep, I decided to get on the internet and on a whim, search for the Vampire A-Z website Bella had found when researching vampires. It would be interesting to read about all the different types of legends throughout history and from different cultures.
Pop up after pop up appeared on my screen but finally I found the website. The rest of my morning until I forced myself to get dressed and start my essay for English was spent reading.
On Monday, to my disbelief the entire town of Forks was covered in a bright layer of sunlight. It shone on my hair, reminding me of the golden colour it turned when under natural light. I breathed in the nice weather, enjoying it as much as possible before it was soon disappear, most likely tomorrow.
Edward would definitely not be at school today, damn. I'd been looking forward to seeing him.
When I got to school, I found myself a prime place in the yard on a table right under the light. I read for a short minute before Mike found me, dressed in a rugby shirt and shorts. Gosh, it might be sunny but it wasn't exactly beach weather.
"Hey Ash, how's it going?" he asked cheerfully.
"Good. Great weather isn't it?"
He nodded in agreement, "Yeah. It's a nice change, we don't get many days like this here."
I smiled, "I've noticed."
"What'd you do this weekend?"
"Mostly just worked on that essay we have for English."
He looked worried, probably forgotten to do it. "That's due Thursday, right?"
"Wednesday actually," I corrected him.
"That's not good. I better get working on that later." He frowned at the idea of it. "I was going to ask you if you wanted to go out," he continued. Damn, damn, damn.
"Oh, right."
"We could go grab dinner or a movie or something."
"Mike, I don't think we should…"
"Just as friends," He added on.
I sighed, you couldn't say no to someone when they were asking to do something as friends. Fine, who could it hurt. Maybe I'll try to get some of the others to go to make it less date sounding.
"Okay, just a movie. I don't want to hurt Jessica's feelings." I told him.
He looked confused. "Jessica?"
How stupid can you get? She likes you you idiot! "Mike, honestly. Can't you see it?"
"Oh," he exhaled, dazed. Finally!
"Maybe you should ask her out. Anyway, I have to ask, how was the funeral?" the change came over Mike very quickly. The sunny outlook dampened slightly and his features froze up.
"It was…good to be able to say goodbye. Nice service." He said briefly. Not wanting to continue the subject I decided to end the conversation.
"I'm sorry Mike, I've got to go or I'll be late for class. I'll talk to you later."
Later that day, I made sure I mentioned to the others about Mike's and my movie plans. I didn't want anyone finding out and thinking I was keeping it a secret or something. Plus, it gave me the chance to invite the others and make it sound more casual and friend based. Jessica was okay with it, thank goodness, Lauren was a pain as usual and the others said that they were too busy to go out tonight. Jess did talk about going shopping for dresses for the spring dance. I commented that I wanted to come – I'd always loved shopping – so Jess postponed the trip until tomorrow. Thank god Lauren was busy. I couldn't take hours of her sniping continuously.
The only problem about this was that knew they were planning to go to Port Angeles. I was curious as to how this would turn out with no Bella and no Edward following her. It would probably just be a boring evening with dinner just the girls at Bella Italia – squeal! Oh well, at least knowing the book would stop me from getting attacked by those guys.
I spoke to Mike in the afternoon, convincing him to ask out Jessica for this evening instead of going to the movies with me. Finally, he agreed not so enthusiastically, leaving me with a gushing Jess for the rest of the day. Still, I couldn't complain, this was how the story was supposed to be.
I remembered to ask Charlie about whether or not I'd be able to go out with Jess and Angela the next evening even though he wasn't my parent. It was done purely out of respect and asking someone's permission out of habit.
"But you're not going to the dance, right?"
"No, but I'm helping them find dresses."
"Who's them?"
"Jessica Stanley and Angela Webber," I filled in.
"Well, alright. Jess is giving you a ride?" he checked, knowing I couldn't drive. "I'm not about to let you get on a bus to Port Angeles by yourself."
I rolled my eyes, "Yes, Jess is giving me a ride."
"Then it's okay with me. Just make sure you're not out too late, it's a school night." Thanks pseudo parental figure.
"You'll be right for dinner, won't you?" I checked.
"I was feeding myself for years before you or Bella got here, I can take care of myself." He reminded me but not unkindly.
"Okay, if you say so."
The rest of the night went smoothly except for one moment at a later hour in which I was just about to get ready for bed. I'd been about to removed my clothes in order to get changed into my pajamas when a crash sounded from outside my window. The sort of noise made by garbage cans. I rushed over to the window and looked outside but by that time all I could see was a set of disappearing headlights flying up the street.
The next night I was eager to get out of the house and do something different for a change. Going from home to school to home every single day was boring. I needed something…more. I changed quickly once I got home from school, grabbed one of Bella's small purses and rushed out front as soon as Jessica pulled up. I smiled brightly – ready to see how my own Port Angeles sequence of events played out – as we drove quickly out of the Fork's town limits
A/N: Guess what guys. I was hoping to make the 100 reviews mark on my last chapter but it didn't happen. As it is I'm at 98. Very disappointed. Anyway, sorry that this chapter wasn't so big on the interesting but the introduction of Jacob was needed. Ashley cannot go to Forks and not meet Jacob. It just isn't done. Okay, remember to review and get me up to that big one-oh-oh and over. Let me know your thoughts, predictions and how you like the story.
Next Time on Living in Meyer: Ashley arrives in Port Angeles. She knows how things here are supposed to play out but will things change or will she aid them in following the same course?
More importantly, will Edward be there to save her?
Next Time.