Chapter Twelve

You say goodbye in the pouring rain

And I break down as you walk away

Stay, Stay

'Cause all my life I felt this way

But I could never find the words to say

Stay, stay.

Stay – Hurts

-0-

No Missed Calls.

No New Messages.

Week three and I'd still heard nothing from Jacob. Honestly if this was his way of breaking up with me I would have preferred he tell me instead of just cutting me off completely. None of it made any sense either, considering how good things were between us before that night. Or maybe I'd just been imagining how solid we were, maybe the age thing finally won out. I wish I knew what was going on, the not knowing was driving me crazy.

Add on to all of that, I was stressing out over my college applications, knowing decision letters were just a couple weeks away. At the time of sending them and writing my essays I'd been confident but now I was wracked with the sense that maybe I'd overreached on a few of my choices and probably should have stuck to something a little more reachable. Then there was Bella and I, the whole scene at the meadow still weighed heavily on my mind as did the stunning revelation in which I'd realised just how real, monsters were. Bella continued to deny me when I tried to talk to her, confront her which made the situation all that much worse I felt.

It was becoming increasingly clear that Dad was growing concerned over the tension brewing between my sister and I but really what could I tell him? That Bella and I had fallen out because she was making me feel like a crazy person over my accusations that she'd been hanging out with vampires and we were both nearly killed by one in the meadow…right before a pack of horse sized wolves chased them off? Yes, I'm sure that explanation would earn me a one-way ticket to the looney bin. I stayed quiet, blaming my own moods on college anxiety. Something which he readily bought.

In a nutshell, I was slowly beginning to lose it, choosing to hide out in the toilets in school when everything started feeling too much. Angela and Jess had found me, hunkered down beside the sinks with my head in my hands. Again, blaming it on school and college application worries, my friends bought it, even going as far as to say they were feeling the exact same way. Which was why Angela had suggested a girl's night and invited both Bella and I. Bella declined but I was so ready to just forget about everything for one night so I happily accepted the invite. A night where I could just be with the girls and be a teenager, yes please!

So, armed with a tray full of triple chocolate fudge brownies, my pillow, duvet, a change of clothes and already dressed in my comfiest pj's, I had Dad drop me off at Angela's on the following Friday night, ready to just forget my worries.

"So, it's definitely over?" Jessica asked as she idly played with her hair, holding her curls in front of her face before frowning at the tips.

"Right now, I have no idea." I replied, focusing as much as I could on the beautiful shimmering cobalt nail polish I was currently applying to my toes. So far, tonight wasn't the complete distraction I'd been hoping for it to be. I looked up in time to see Angela giving Jess a significant look that clearly told her to stop talking. Jess pulled a face and looked away, obviously dying to prod me some more but deciding to listen to Angela

"We should get our noses pierced!" Jess exclaimed out the blue. Surprised I replaced the lid on the polish and looked at Angela whose expression mirrored my own.

"That seems somewhat extreme." Angela said, looking at Jess as though she were crazy, her look mirroring mine.

"And out of the blue." I laughed softly, shaking my head at my friend.

"I don't know I feel like I need to do something wild…being our senior year." Jess said, reaching for another brownie and taking a huge bite of it.

I shared a look with Angela as Jess went into a lengthy explanation on why getting a nose piercing was the absolute best way to see out senior year. Like me, Jess wasn't having much luck in the guy department with her and Mike being on yet another break, so her reasons for wanting to go a little bit crazy, definitely had a Mike reason behind them.

"I don't think I'd suit a nose piercing." I said, shaking my head, almost laughing when I imagined my Dad's face if I came home with a new piercing.

"Besides that's what college is for." Angela pointed out, drawing Jess's focus on to her. "You know, weird piercings, tattoo's…questionable romantic choices" she joked but Jess seemed to really think it over.

"You're right." She said with a firm nod "Who knows, I might even get myself a girlfriend." She added and I looked up at her wide eyed, as did Angela. The silence hovered between us all before we all burst out into a chorus of laughter.

"You'd be the most high maintenance girlfriend." Angela teased, making me laugh as she dodged the twizzler Jess threw at her head.

"I'd make an awesome lesbian!" Jess declared, something warning me not to be surprised if in the future, she actually did follow through on her plan to give anything a try in college. Laughing at my friends I shook my head and looked down at my nails.

"How's poor Mike going to feel about that?" I asked, watching as Jess hesitated in replying. Glancing between her and Angela I rolled my eyes. "Oh come on guys, I'm not going to break if you talk about your boyfriends, might even help take my mind off everything."

"Well in that case…Mike probably wouldn't mind so long as he was included." Jess said and I grimaced at the mental image. Part of me was already kicking myself for not stopping this conversation before it had started, turned out being the one having relationship issues hurt.

"Ben would hate sharing." Angela commented quietly and both Jess and I turned to her in surprise.

"You and Ben have had sex?" Jess squealed, making Angela rolled her eyes.

"Well we're not at it like bunny's but yeah, we've been going out for a while now Jess."

"It's always the quiet ones." I teased, shooting her a playful wink. I was happy for my friends, they were happy in their individual relationships, both with guys who hadn't just ghosted them. It stung, I missed Jacob and I wanted him to talk to me, just to let me know he was okay and tell me what the hell was going on. I hated this not knowing, hated missing him and not knowing why he'd stopped coming around.

Pushing up from the floor, I clapped my hands together. "Right I think we just to do it." I said firmly, my expression blank as both girls looked at me. "We need to stop lying to ourselves and finish off that tray of brownies." I said, smiling at both girls who laughed after me as I headed to the kitchen.

Once out of sight I paused in Angela's kitchen and pressed a hand to my stomach. I was sick and tired of hurting and I was going to put an end to the not knowing.

-0—

I was tired of being ignored.

Part of me truly did believe that there was something more going on. This wasn't my best friend. This wasn't who Jacob was. He wouldn't just cut me off for no reason. So, what was going on? And if this was some foolish way of just cutting me out, then fine. It'd hurt and I'd be devastated but at least I'd finally know where I stood and maybe I could finally stop stressing over what was going on.

With that in mind, Jess seemed only too happy to give me a lift in to La Push. We made idle chat about nothing, her way of distracting me I had no doubt. As we turned down a familiar road, pulling up a little out the way of Jacob's house, I felt my fingers tighten into fists on my lap as Jessica cut the engine. I felt her eyes turning onto me but I didn't pay her any attention. Shaking my head, I climbed out of the car.

It was Jacob. My Jacob.

Kind of.

My mouth fell open as I took him in. He'd changed so much since I'd last seen him. In a way he looked older, all the remnants of childhood gone, in their place a hard expression, sharp even. His beautiful hair which I'd loved so much was gone, now it was cropped and choppy. He seemed so much taller, at least two or three inches and he was shirtless. His muscles had filled out and thickened in a way that immediately sent my heart racing but when my eyes were able to flicker to his left, I felt angry.

Bella!

"So, you're alive then." I said fiercely, directing my question at Jacob forcing him to look at me. Till this point he'd kept his eyes on my sister.

The physical changes to his body suddenly paled in comparison to what I was met with when he finally looked at me. His open, friendly smile was gone, replaced instead with an awful mixture of anger, pain, misery and something else. This wasn't my Jacob. I felt my heart breaking but my stubbornness refused to let me soften, not when he was here with my sister and couldn't even do me the curtesy of a break up text.

Jake stared at me, his eyes burning with such an intensity I had to cross my arms over my chest and force myself to break the connection briefly. My eyes stung and I had to blink quickly to try and hold back the tears before I could look at him again.

"Grace, you shouldn't be here." Bella said and just like that my anger bubbled to the top.

"Don't you dare!" I snapped, incensed that she would even say that. Hating the fact that ever since Edward, Bella had latched herself onto Jacob despite knowing about us and now she had the audacity to stand there and tell me I didn't belong here. Looking at Jacob I waited for him to say something, anything. "Jake what happened to you?" I asked.

It was then I realised that the three of us weren't alone. Just past Jacob and standing outside of his house were four others just like him, tall, russet skinned, muscled and all staring straight at me with what I could only say were curious looks and knowing gazes. I locked onto Embry for a moment before it hit me. Jacob had finally joined in with Sam's little gang, was that what this was?

"Is there any way we can do this without an audience?" I asked Jacob. There was a pause before Jacob looked over his shoulder. I saw Sam nod and shook my head, hating that Jacob felt like he had to ask permission first before we could be alone. He turned and walked into the Black house, with the others behind him. I in turn looked at Bella.

"I said alone," I said, glaring at her. Again, I felt a white-hot fury and annoying need to cry when she didn't move, instead she looked at Jacob her hand resting on his arm before she reluctantly began to follow the others inside. I waited until the door was closed behind her before I turned to look at Jacob, only to find him staring. "Three weeks. Three weeks and nothing."

"I'm sorry."

"I don't want you to be sorry Jake I want you tell me what the hell I did wrong. Why you just cut me out like you did." I spat, fisting my hand so as not to cry. I was upset and angry, angry at him, at Bella and even at Sam for finally having pulled Jacob into whatever madness this was. "This isn't you! Why are you acting like this, why are you with Sam? Last I checked we hated him and whatever was happening here!"

"I had wrong." Jacob replied huskily, "I didn't understand before Grace but now I do. I couldn't hate him even if I wanted to." He glanced over his shoulder.

"So what is it you understand or am I not privy to knowing what it is that changed your damn mind?" I asked, sniffling, feeling the traitorous tears already threatening to fall.

"I didn't…I'm sorry. It can't be like it was between us, not anymore." He bit out, his hands were shaking as he looked up at me again. "Don't ask me why. I just can't be what you want anymore." His voice, there was such a hopelessness to it that it broke my heart and everything in me wanted to reach out and comfort him but by some sheer strength of will I remained where I was.

But that dreaded lump in my throat returned at his rejection, this was him ending things properly and as ready as I thought I'd be to confront him, I was wishing now I'd just gone home. This time, the tears spilled over my cheeks. None of what was happening made sense, it didn't fit in with the beautiful relationship we'd had, how could it just be over? I looked away, wiping at my cheeks, ignoring the way Jake's eyes widened in horror at the sight, sucking in a sharp breath.

"Grace you're crying. I'm so sorry. Please don't cry." His fists were clenched at his side, those newly developed muscles in his forearms bulging. "I didn't mean. Please."

"What the hell did you think would happen Jake?" I spat. I was furious, but at whom I didn't know. Was it at Jake, or Bella, or even Sam. What the hell was happening because this boy in front of me, the one breaking my heart right now wasn't my Jacob.

"The last time we were together you hated those guys! You were only going out with Bella because I asked you to keep an eye on her! Now she's here, they're here and I'm out? I don't understand!" I allowed my hurt and anger to punctuate every word. Jacob flinched, but remained in the same tensed position.

"I didn't understand things before Grace, but now I do." Jacob replied, his voice husky as he looked back towards the door to the small house. "I don't hate them, they're my pack and Bella…" he trailed off and shook his head and I felt my heart shatter. Was Bella the reason we were broken up? Had me forcing them together actually done more than I'd intended? Why the hell wouldn't anyone explain anything to me?

"You and Bella…?" I whispered, unable to formulate anything else to say. Jacob's eyes widened and he shook his head quickly. He made a move to step forward before stopping himself and that hurt, that cut deep.

"No, it's not like that Grace, I'd never…" he trailed off again and sighed unhappily, combing his fingers through his hair. "This wasn't how it was supposed to be between us. I had a plan and now everything is wrong, I hate this…"

"You and me both." I studied the old battered Chevy truck that belonged to my sister, over his shoulder, unable to look at him scared I'd start crying again. "So why are you doing this to us?"

"I can't tell you."

"Can't or won't?" I asked, forcing my eyes back onto him.

"Won't." he responded and all I could do was nod my head.

We stood in silence for a miserable moment, the distance between us feeling impossibly large right now.

"I should go home." I whispered slowly.

That strange expression was back on his face, holding my gaze with a burning intensity. He seemed to reach towards me but then pull back almost as quickly. The agony in his eyes after that took my breath away, his hands shaking as he forced himself to look away, the muscles in his incredible arms bulging.

"Yeah, you should. I can't have you here, not a part of a this." he said, seeming to cut himself off from whatever else he'd been going to say. His head tilted to the side as Sam Uley stepped out of the house, his eyes narrowing as he looked between Jacob and I before taking a stand on the front porch.

"Well then…I should go." I replied, my body shaking but whether from the cold of devastation pulsating through me, I didn't know.

As if on cue, rain started to pour from the sky, but still I couldn't find it in me to move because there was one last thing I needed to say. I forced one lungful of air in, the out again. Fully aware I was getting soaked in the downpour that fell down to the earth relentlessly, I didn't care.

"You were my best friend. The one person I never thought would break me." I said, surprised I could keep my voice steady despite the tsunami raging inside of me. I could have sworn I heard a low moan come from Jacob but I hurried on. "You've broken my heart and I should hate you for that but I can't. I can't because I am still completely in love with you…and I feel like such an idiot for that..."

I shook my head, not fighting back the tears anymore, not when I saw Bella step out beside Sam as though she had some right to be there and I didn't…well, I guess that was right. I didn't have a right to be here, not anymore. Clenching my hands together I looked at Jacob, having to force myself to ignore the agonising look on his beautiful face when he heard that I loved him. He knew it, of course he had just like I believed he loved me.

"…and now I've got to figure out how to let go of that. I won't be coming back and if you ever loved me, ever felt anything for me you'll do the same…" I wiped at my cheeks again furiously, quietly referring to whatever was happening between him and Bella, before meeting his gaze and trying to ignore how my whole body seemed to scream out in protest at what was happening, "Goodbye Jacob…"

I was finally able to move. By now my clothes were soaked through but I didn't care, my heart hurt too much to care about much of anything right now.

I forced one lungful in and then another.

Turning around quickly, I walked across the yard to where Jessica was still sat waiting patiently for me inside her car. I climbed inside as she started the engine and began pulling out the drive. I didn't really notice much of anything as we drove. Not for the first couple minutes. However as the silence continued I felt something inside of me snap and I burst into tears. Jessica pulled the car over quickly, killed the engine and quickly leaned over, wrapping her arms tightly around my shoulders.

It was all becoming too much and the pain in my chest, my head…pretty much my whole body was almost unbearable. It felt like I was being ripped into two pieces…

…and the part I so desperately needed, I'd left standing in his yard back in La Push.

-0—

Like any good friend, Jessica stuck by me the rest of the day. Doing anything and everything she could to try and take my mind off my heartbreak and during the hours she couldn't she just sat with me on the sofa and held my hand. When it came time for her to go home, Dad took her place. He didn't ask questions, he didn't push me to reveal what had happened, he just sat beside me and turned on this weeks sporting highlights before ordering take out for dinner.

I hated the idea of being the kind of girl who completely shattered after a break up, even though that's exactly what had happened. At the same time I wasn't ashamed of my tears, I actually preferred them to the zombie like state my sister had fallen into. All I wanted to do was curl up and hide away from the world and grieve the loss of something that had meant so much to me. It wasn't just heartbreak it felt like something so much deeper, something

I'd believed we'd had a future, a real future together but I'd been wrong. A wave of anger an self-loathing washed over me, searing the wound in my chest like cold salt water. A pain that only became more crushing when I removed my beautiful gift off Jacob, the bracelet he'd carefully made for me. It felt wrong to remove it, but it hurt too much to wear it. That night I'd seen my future in his eyes, felt the love that went into creating the gift and now all it was, was a reminder that he didn't want me anymore.

Why would Jacob have done this? It went against everything I knew about him. Even if he didn't want me anymore, he wouldn't have just had things end like that. That wasn't who he was…right? It had to be to do with Sam and the others right? This had all started with them, and why was Bella a part of it. Why, after everything had Jacob turned his back on me, had I missed something in all those months we were together, had I been naïve in my belief that we had the kind of love that could survive anything the world threw at it?

I didn't know. Right now I couldn't figure anything out, both my heart and my head hurt too much.

When Bella finally returned home that night, I removed myself from the sofa and headed upstairs without a word. Locking my bedroom door I crawled into bed, allowing myself to drown in the pain I felt, crying myself to dreamless sleep.

-0-

Don't hate me guys! Their story isn't quite over yet.

I'll admit to being that writer! The kind of writer who as she wrote this, she broke down as Grace confronted Jacob. The whole scene played out like a movie inside of my head, in fact it was the first scene to ever pop into my head, it inspired this entire story if I'm honest! The first time I listened to the song Stay by Hurts, this whole scene acted out in my head and I knew as much as it hurt, I had to do it. I cried right along with Grace and with Jacob.

Give the song a listen! I imagined as the chorus kicks in, it's the same moment she turns and walks away *sobs*

Hope you all had a fab Christmas!

However don't lost hope guys! I promise this isn't the end even though right now it might seem like it…Jacob and Grace are soulmates.

Thanks to all the new followers and favourites, we seemed to have gotten a lot more for this chapter! So thank you guys - High Guardian, shadygrl91, vulpystarrs, MeninaExtranha, EffyinNeverland, Miss Cinder, elizabeethebumblebee, bookaddict19, Wiseguy9473, alliecat1998, MoonysLibrary

Guest - Thanks for the review lovely! I'm so glad you like Grace, I would've hated to think she was like the many Mary-Sue's I've ready, I never wanted her to be the obvious anti-Bella. I like the Twilight story as is, and in a lot of ways it's going to work for this story but from the end of New Moon onwards I will be taking a lot more creative licence and making it more unique! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Twin268 - Thanks for the review lovely! I hope the patience was worth it! Has this chapter only deepened your desire to slap Bella, because it did mine when I was writing it lol. The sisters are going to face a lot in the coming chapters, and things reach a point of no return I think. I think Chapter 14 onwards is going to really test your patience with Bella! Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to let me know and I hope you had a fantastic Christmas too!