I DON'T OWN TWILIGHT

Chapter Thirteen

EDWARD'S POV

After Jake leaves, I go upstairs and blast my music as loud as I can. How will Billy take this? I wonder. Will he be okay with it? What did he want to tell Jake in private?

I never would've admitted it to Jake, but I was kind of worried that his dad would kick him out. What would happen then? Jake will always have a place here with my family, but wouldn't he hate me if his dad kicked him out for imprinting on me?

The ringing of my cell phone brings me out of my thoughts. I look at the clock and notice that almost an hour has gone by.

Ring, ring. Ring, ring.

I turn the volume down on the stereo and pick up the phone, putting it to my ear, "Hello?"

"Edward? It's Jake."

"Oh," I say, turning the stereo off completely, "Um... how did things go with Billy?"

"Really well," Jake says, a smile in his voice, "After he'd gotten over the shock, he took everything great. He even wanted me to tell you he's sorry for being so rude."

"That's great," I say, glad that Jake's so happy.

On the other end of the phone, Jake tries to stifle a yawn, but I can hear it anyways.

"You should probably go to bed," I say with a sigh, "Stupid boyfriends that have to sleep."

"Huh?" Jake says, "Does that mean that you don't have to sleep."

"Didn't you know that?" I ask, "I mean, I thought werewolves were supposed to know this kind of stuff."

"We probably should," Jake says, "But we don't know everything about your kind. It's not like whenever we see a vampire we sit down and have a nice long chat with it. With the exception of your family, we've killed every vampire we came across."

I force down the urge to shudder, "Well then when we meet up tomorrow we can talk more about this. You might know quite a bit about vampires already, but I know next to nothing about werewolves."

"Alright," Jake says, before giving a huge yawn.

"You should go and get some sleep before tonight's strategic meeting," I say.

"Yeah," he answers, "Bye."

"Bye," I answer, before hanging up the phone.

I climb off my bed with a sigh and go downstairs to see if my family's doing anything that will keep me busy until I can go visit Jake.

I head down to the living room, but the only one there is Carlisle watching the news. I turn around and start to head up the stairs, but Carlisle turns off the television and calls out, "Edward?"

"Yes?" I ask hesitantly.

"Can you come here for a moment?" he asks.

I turn and go back into the living-room, "Yes?" I ask again.

"I want to talk to you," he says, motioning for me to sit on the couch next to him.

"Alright," I say, sitting down, "What do you want to talk about?"

"About you and Jake," he says, and I feel myself tense up.

"What about Jake?" I ask, forcing myself to respect his privacy and not search his mind.

"I wanted to explain to you my views on this sort of thing," he says, and I feel a long speech coming on, "It's just that it seemed really rude when I told you that- that you being gay grosses me out. It's really been bothering me and I thought I should apologize."

I open my mouth to tell him that his apology is accepted, but he continues on.

"It's just that growing up in my time everyone was taught that being gay was wrong. Me especially coming from a family as religious as mine. But I used to hate vampires as well, and... I guess what I'm trying to say is that if I can learn to deal with vampires I'm sure I'll get over you being gay."

"Uh... thank you for apologizing," I say awkwardly, though I really am glad that he said something.

He pauses for a moment as if struck by a sudden thought, "How has Jake's father taken the news?"

I smile, "It must be a good night for fatherly acceptance; Jake just called me saying that his father was okay with... uh... everything."

Carlisle looks sheepish, "His dad got over faster, didn' t he?"

"No," I say, fighting laughter, "Jake brought me over to his house this morning and his dad fainted. He freaked at first, he's just now getting over it."

"Oh," Carlisle says, with a smile,"That makes me feel a lot better."

I nod and look at the clock. Six hours until the meeting.

JAKE'S POV

Beep, beep, beep.

Through my grogginess, I try and hit the snooze button.

Crunch.

I sit up and look sleepily around my room.

It's still dark out. It's too early to go to school, I notice. Then I see my smashed alarm clock. Damn it! Not again!

I go to the bathroom and splash water on my face.

Now why am I awake again? Edward's face flashes through my mind. Oh yeah! The strategic meeting. I'm gonna be late.

I run out the door, taking off my pants and shifting into wolf form.

What took you so long? Sam asks in my mind.

Forgot what was going on, I explain, I smashed my alarm clock.

Again?

I let out a growl. Yes again.

Whatever, Sam says, Just hurry and get down here. Everyone else is already here.

Sure, sure. I say, running towards the border. Is Edward there?

The rest of the pack groans.

Yeah, he's here, Sam says, But could you try to keep the 'I-love-my-vampiric-boyfriend-so-much' thoughts quiet?

Uh... I don't think I can.

The pack groans again.

I could shift to human form when I get there, I suggest.

But that'd leave you unprotected, Embry says.

I let out a bark of a laugh, They won't hurt me.

Maybe Edward won't, Embry says, But how can you be sure about the others.

They've been really nice to me, I say, The mother-figure, Esme, even invited me over to their house.

Did you go? Embry asks.

Well, yeah, I say, It would've been rude not to.

You went to their house and they were nice to you? Embry asks, disbelief coloring his tone.

Yeah. I'm pretty sure it's only because I make Edward happy, but they're nice to me. I'm going to switch back to human form, I say as I come close to the clearing.

After I shift, I jog into the clearing.

Just as Sam said, everyone is there waiting for me, and when I show up they all turn and stare.

"Uh..." Edward, can I come sit by you? I ask mentally.

He nods his consent and I run over to him.

"You look sleepy," He whispers to me as I sit down.

"I feel sleepy," I answer, "I had a hard time waking up. I broke my alarm clock."

Edward smiles at me affectionately, before pulling himself up onto my lap.

Emmett lets out a wolf-whistle and I turn to glare at him.

"One of these days," Edward says, "I'm going to rip him into little pieces and burn him."

"He's not that bad," I say, "He's just... on second thought, I think I'll help you burn him."

"Hey!" Emmett shouts.

"Only joking," I say, trying not to laugh.

"You better only be joking," Rosalie says, "Even if Emmett is an idiot, if you or Edward hurt him in any way, I'd-"

She stops abruptly as Alice falls over, her eyes glassy.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"She's having a vision," Edward explains.

After a moment, Alice gasps and looks up, her eyes no longer glazed, "They'll be here in two weeks. There's twenty, maybe thirty of them."

Jasper nods, "Okay then," he says, "We're going to have to work faster if we want to be prepared."

And then he immediately launches into a lecture on complex fighting techniques, and for once I actually try to pay attention instead of staring at Edward's face.

The meeting is long, and by the time Jasper is finished my eyelids feel like they weigh ten tons. I'd wanted to spend some time with Edward, but I'm really too tired to manage it.

"Good night," I whisper to Edward when it's time for me to go.

"Sweet dreams," he whispers back.

"I'll see you tomorrow when I wake up, okay?"

"Sure," he answers, a smile twisting on the edge of his lips.

Then I turn sleepily and run back home.

Well, I was just reading the first half of Midnight Sun on Stephenie's website when I remembered that I hadn't updated this story in a while. So, obviously, I updated.

Since I updated, it's your job to review.

(Please?)