Jacob jumped up out of his seat into the aisle as soon as the captain turned off the fasten seatbelt sign. The flight had been long, and he was way too tall to be crammed into these tiny Hawaiian airline economy seats for hours on end.
"Really, Jacob?" Rachel hissed.
Jacob ignored her. She'd been grouchy ever since they'd said goodbye to her twin, and even before then, really. He wasn't sure about the details, but he gathered that Rebecca had confronted her one more time about why Rachel was so adamant that Rebecca didn't come to La Push and it had ended in an argument. Rebecca was convinced that the rest of the family was keeping something from her. And to Rebecca's credit, they were, so Jacob understood her frustration.
"Son, we have to wait for everyone to deplane and for them to get the chair," Billy said from the middle seat, "You might as well take a seat."
Jacob shook his head and grabbed both his and Billy's carry-on bags from the overhead bin disregarding the people in the seats in front of them, "I can meet you guys in the terminal."
"Jacob…" Rachel sighed.
"We don't all need to wait," Jacob said harshly, "I'll take the bags and wait in the terminal. You two can wait for them to get the chair."
"Why should you get to go?" Rachel spat back.
"Let him go," Billy cut in, sounding equally tired as Rachel.
Jacob shot a triumphant look at Rachel, who was glaring at him with her arms crossed. The people in front of Jacob were starting to move, so he grabbed both his and Billy's bag.
"You got your bag, Rachel?" he didn't wait for her to respond before he followed the people in front of him off.
Jacob followed the passengers in front of him off the plane and through the jet bridge. The weight of the bags he was carrying was nothing to him, but the relief of getting out of that stupid metal tube was everything. Apparently, vampires could swim across oceans if they wanted to; he hated those stupid leeches but he'd give a lot for the ability to never set foot in a plane again. If Rebecca ever wanted to see him again, they'd have to meet somewhere where Jacob could drive to, or wait until all the wolves had imprinted and Rebecca's precious marriage was no longer at risk.
The worst part about all of this was that they still had nearly a four-hour drive home. Jacob was sure he could do it faster as a wolf, running, but the bigger question was whether or not he could do it undetected. Both Jared and Sam had done it before, he knew, not from the airport but all the way to Seattle. And Jacob was starting to think it was a risk worth taking.
Jacob waited for Billy and Rachel at the end of the gate area. He watched almost a full flight of people deplane and hurry off to wherever it was they were going before the other passengers who were wheelchair-bound were helped off. Finally, Billy and Rachel were the last people off the plane, Billy with Rachel's carry on bag on his lap being pushed by a glaring Rachel.
"Thanks for your help, Jacob," Rachel snarled as she pushed Billy up to Jacob and let go of the handles, clearly telling Jacob to push Billy. She took her bag from Billy's lap and grabbed Billy's from beside Jacob.
Jacob couldn't help but laugh, "I took care of Dad for years while you and Becca were away. It won't hurt you to help out this once."
"Jacob, we can discuss this later," Billy said, exhaustion evident in his voice.
"Fine," Jacob snapped.
In silence, the three of them trudged through the Seattle airport, all the way to baggage claim. It was late enough that the airport was mostly empty, the only crowds being the ones at the gates to overnight flights to faraway places.
As luck wasn't on their side, the baggage carousel was empty and showing no signs of moving when they finally arrived. Their fellow weary travelers had already gathered there and they joined them, standing in silence as they waited for the bags to appear. They had managed to only check two bags among the three of them, and waiting for those checked bags felt like an eternity. And of course, the two checked bags were some of the last on the carousel.
In the same silence, the three of them made their way to the long term parking garage. Jacob had never dreaded a car ride more. The car was parked in the handicapped slot, near the entrance to the airport.
"Can I drive?" The only thing that would make the long drive back better would be if Jacob were behind the wheel. Nothing on Earth sounded worse than spending four hours crammed into the backseat of Rachel's car.
"It's my car," Rachel retorted.
"That I fixed up," Jacob muttered under his breath. But there was no point in arguing. Rachel always got her way when she was like this. Eldest child privilege or whatever.
"C'mon, you two," Billy grumbled, "We had a nice trip – let's all get along for a few more hours till we make it home."
Wordlessly, Rachel unlocked the car. Jacob immediately started loading the luggage into the trunk of the car, while Rachel helped Billy transfer to the passenger seat. Not for the first time that day, Jacob wished he knew the way from Seattle to La Push through the forest.
By the time Rachel had reached the 101, Jacob felt physically sick. The backseat, after the long plane ride, was tiring and claustrophobic. The pop radio station that Rachel had chosen was giving him a headache, something he rarely experienced now that he was a wolf.
"Can you let me out at the rest stop up there?" Jacob doubted that Rachel would pull over, even though there was a rest stop only a mile or so down the road. He contemplated jumping out of the moving car, but even with his wolf abilities, he wasn't sure he'd be able to land it and still make the journey home. Plus, there were other cars around that would surely see him jump. But the forest was thick around the roads. If he could just make it to there, it was heavily wooded enough that Jacob had no doubt he would be able to run home without detection.
"Jacob, why?" Rachel sighed. She strummed her fingers against the wheel impatiently.
"So I can run home," he answered piercingly.
"So you can run home," Rachel mocked, "Well aren't you so lucky! We all wish we could get home faster. There's nothing wrong with the car."
"You don't wish that. You don't wish you were me, stuck in La Push while you went away for college." Jacob was starting to tremble.
"Pull over and let him out, Rachel," Billy instructed before Rachel could say anything else.
"Dad…"
"Rachel, pull over." Billy's voice left no room to argue.
Rachel obeyed with a dramatic sigh. As soon as the car came to a stop, Jacob jumped out of the car, feeling like freedom had come at last.
"We'll see you at home, son," Billy said through his rolled-down window. Next to him, Rachel was scowling.
Jacob responded with a triumphant wave before he hurried off to the forest. No one else was parked at the rest stop, so without worrying about the watchful eyes of others, Jacob stripped and phased as soon as he was away from the lights.
There was no one else phased when Jacob joined the pack mind. Jacob couldn't remember the patrol schedule exactly, but he was pretty sure that it was someone in Sam's pack night to patrol. He tried to imagine what the rest of his pack would be doing on a Saturday night, but he had a feeling none of it would involve any wolfish antics.
With the trees rushing by him, Jacob felt a sense of freedom that he hadn't felt the entire time he was in Hawaii. It hadn't been a bad trip. It was good to see Rebecca, and he liked Solomon. Billy had enjoyed the beach and seeing his whole family together and even Rachel seemed to have fun and enjoy herself until Rebecca had talked to her today. But there was something about being stuck with his family without the opportunity to go run around that had made him almost claustrophobic.
He hadn't blamed the twins for leaving La Push in the beginning. And he rarely did now. Sure, it had sucked when he was the one who had to help Billy manage his diabetes medication. And it was shitty that Jacob was the one who had to go to doctor's appointments with Billy and cook dinner and all that other stuff. But in many ways, Jacob had gotten used to it. It was just part of his life, and the twins didn't know much about it. Even now that Rachel was living at home again, she didn't help out very often. Perhaps the strangest thing about the trip was seeing both Rachel and Becca help out so much with their dad. The entire time they were there, it was Becca and Solomon who helped Billy navigate the stairs that led up to their small house. Rachel always got the wheelchair for him when he was in the car. It was a strange, jarring twist in the reality that Jacob was so used to.
Jacob wasn't sure what time it was when he started to recognize the signs of La Push, the signs of being home. But he didn't feel like going back to the house yet. Instead, he found himself running a bit further as he tried to imagine life if his mother had lived. Would Billy be in a wheelchair? Would Rebecca live in Hawaii? Would Rachel help out more? Questions that Jacob knew would never be answered. All Jacob knew was that life would be different. Different and probably better.
He ran circles until his legs ached and his anger had faded and he didn't feel the need to yell at Rachel anymore. Only then did Jacob find his way back to the familiar house he'd lived his whole life in.
There was only one light on in the house when Jacob arrived back home. Werewolf hearing meant that Jacob could tell that there was only a single inhabitant there: Billy.
"Where's Rachel?" Jacob asked immediately after he let himself in the door.
"She went to go find Paul after she dropped me off," Billy told him. His chair was pulled off to the side of the living room, but the TV was off, almost as if he had just been sitting there, waiting for Jacob. But Billy never waited up for Jacob.
"Do you need help getting to bed?"
"No, I'll be fine. But Jacob," Billy started in his voice that he used only when he was about to make a speech and Jacob mentally braced himself for what would come next, "I know you've done a lot to help me out these last few years. And I know it's been tough on you. It's more responsibility than any kid should ever have to take on. And I understand why you're frustrated with your sisters. They haven't always been there to help and you've had to pick up the slack. But I'm thankful for everything you've done and all your help. You're a good kid and your mom would be proud of you."
"I… Thanks, Dad," Jacob said. He looked over at Billy, who somehow looked older than usual, sitting with his hands in his lap. Jacob had been expecting a lecture and yet he'd gotten this.
"I'm proud of you, son."
"Thanks, Dad."
"I'm going to bed now. Have a good night." With those words, Billy rolled himself back to his bedroom, leaving Jacob alone with his thoughts.
The familiar sound of rain pounded against the roof of the garage. Jacob fiddled with the engine of Leah's car. Since landing last night, he'd arrived back at the house, slept for approximately ten hours, and then headed out to work on it. He really did feel bad that it wasn't done yet; he'd meant to finish it by the time he left for Hawaii.
It was still fairly early in the morning, though Jacob had gotten used to Hawaii Time when he was there, so it felt earlier than it was. Unfortunately, since he'd been sleeping on the couch in Rebecca and Solomon's living room, he hardly got a chance to sleep in – Solomon woke up early each morning to train and Rebecca normally got up with him, and the two of them made enough noise to wake up even the soundest of sleepers.
Jacob dug through his toolbox, looking for his good screwdriver. Everything seemed slightly off like someone had moved everything an inch to left. He decided that Embry or Quil must have come to borrow the screwdriver in his absence since it was nowhere to be found.
"Yo, Jacob!" Quil yelled. Speak of the Devil… Jacob heard the door handle move.
There was a pounding on the door to the garage, "Let us in!"
"It's open, you losers!" The door occasionally got stuck, but Quil and Embry had werewolf strength. They could force the door in if they wanted.
A little more fiddling with the door, and one of them finally got the door open. Quil and Embry stumbled into the garage.
"Dude," Quil said, as he came forward, Embry not far behind. Both boys sat down dramatically on the couch, "How was it?"
"Good," Jacob said, keeping his head under the hood of the car.
"Jacob, man, it's been over a week. Leah's car can wait. We want to hear about your trip," Embry popped open one of the warm sodas that Jacob kept in the garage. He took a sip and stared at Jacob.
Jacob closed the hood of the car and faced his friends, "I went to Hawaii. It was good. Rebecca's husband is a nice guy, not a creep like everyone thought. I went to the beach. That's all. How were your breaks?"
Embry rolled his eyes, "We were both here in La Push doing nothing."
"You gotta give us more details than that, Jake," Quil pressed, "Were there hot girls on the beach? Did you surf? Did you swim?"
"Yes. To all of the above," Jacob said grouchily. Quil and Embry both gave him an annoyed look, and Jacob relented. He recounted his various Hawaiian adventures, including surfing with Solomon and family dinners and the luau that Rebecca had dragged them all to and in the name of experiencing Hawaiian culture ("Did you get any pictures?" Quil asked, "Cause I need to see those!"). Embry, who was known to occasionally surf here in La Push, asked many questions about Solomon and his professional surfing career, much to the irritation of Quil, who had never managed to master the art of standing up on the board for longer than thirty seconds at a time.
"Are the girls there beautiful and tanned?" Quil asked, clearly bored after Jacob described everything he knew about Solomon's training routine to Quil.
"Uh…" Not as beautiful as Leah. The words came to Jacob's head before he could stop them and he had never been so happy that he was talking to his two friends in human form, not wolf form. He couldn't handle the two of them knowing that he thought their grouchy Beta was hotter than all those bikini-clad girls he saw on the beaches in Hawaii. Leah would kill it in a bikini. He just knew it.
"What happened to the whole 'I don't see other girls' thing, dude?" Embry asked Quil, ignoring Jacob's stammers and giving Jacob a chance to recover.
Quil shrugged, "I don't see othr girls, but that doesn't mean Jacob doesn't. He could go for a hot Hawaiian girlfriend."
"Well I didn't end up with a hot Hawaiian girlfriend, that's for sure," Jacob assured Quil as soon as Jacob's mind managed to stop picturing Leah on the beach in Hawaii.
"Did you even try?" Embry asked.
"What? No, of course not," Jacob said, "Why would I have tried? What type of hot Hawaiian girl would want to date a seventeen-year-old?"
"Ah, but you don't look seventeen," Quil pointed out, before popping open his own warm soda, "You look twenty-five. Surely you flirted with some girls while on the beach?"
Jacob could remember talking to exactly one woman who wasn't a waitress or one of his sisters on the trip: some wrinkly old lady old enough to be his mom who approached him and asked for directions while he was on the beach. Even when Jacob said that he was a tourist and didn't know, she kept pestering him until Rachel came up and yelled, "he's seventeen, you creep!" The werewolf body came with perks, but it had a few downsides, too.
"No." He turned to his friends, "Why do you guys care so much anyway?"
"It's just been a while since you've dated anyone, that's all." Embry shot Jacob an overly innocent smile.
"Well, the last girl I was into – "
"Ditched you for a disgusting leech and got turned into a vampire. We know, we know," Quil supplied for Jacob, "But she was never that into you anyway. What about before that? Alyssa Morgan?"
"Are you two tag-teaming me?" Jacob demanded, looking at his friends suspiciously.
"We're just saying, Jacob!" Embry protested, "Wouldn't hurt to get your feet back in the water again. Could have been nice to do it with some hot Hawaiian girl."
Jacob rolled his eyes, "Yeah, well, that didn't happen. But what about you, Embry? I haven't seen you date anyone in…" Jacob paused for a second. He couldn't remember the last girl Embry dated. Embry went to homecoming with some girl all the way back freshman year, but that was the last date that Jacob could remember.
"Yeah, well, the only thing I got going for me is Rowena," Embry sighed and fiddled with the lid of his soda can, "She asked me out again when she saw me over the break. Not sure how many times I gotta say no to her until she gets the idea that it's never going to happen."
"Yeah, Rowena's a piece of work," Quil agreed, "She made it pretty clear that she thought that we should be 'study buddies' when I saw her last week. Even though she'd just asked out Embry a couple hours before!"
"Jacob!" Billy's booming voice echoed into the garage, "Jacob, can you give me a ride to the Elder's meeting?"
"Guess I gotta get going," Jacob said happily, before calling back to Billy, "I'm coming, Dad!"
"Whatever," Embry laughed.
"Go do your stupid Alpha things or whatever," Quil said, "But this isn't over! We want details!"
"Sure, sure," Jacob muttered, "Hey, did one of you borrow my screwdriver? I can't find it anywhere."
"Oh yeah, sorry, it was me," Embry said, "I was just trying to fix the garbage disposal at my house. Get back on my mom's good side. You know how it goes. I'll bring it to you, I promise."
"Jacob! We need to leave now!"
"I gotta go." Jacob gave a quick wave to his friends before jogging out to meet Billy, who was already sitting by the Rabbit, waiting to be helped in.
"You're just eager to see your friends after a week away," Jacob complained. A quick glance at the old clock in the Rabbit told Jacob that they did, in fact, have plenty of time to make it to the community center for the meeting.
"That was Quil and Embry out there, wasn't it?" Billy asked with a sly smile.
"Fair enough, old man."
The drive to the Community Center was quick and easy. Jacob could have made Billy roll himself there, but Jacob couldn't help but feel slightly guilty about everything that had happened last night. And this gave him an excuse to get away from his friends and their pesky questions about his love life, or lack thereof.
As Jacob drove, he took in the sites of the glorious reservation. The rain had let up and the sun was peeking through the clouds. It wasn't Hawaii, but it was home.
Old Quil and Sue were climbing out of Sue's car when Jacob pulled into the parking lot. He immediately went to get Billy's wheelchair from the backseat.
"Billy, I would have come to pick you up!" Sue said as Billy opened the door of the Rabbit. Jacob set the wheelchair down in front of Billy's door and helped his father into the wheelchair.
"Jacob didn't mind driving me," Billy said.
"Speak for yourself, old man," Jacob said under his breath, though he was mostly just kidding. The wolves were set to join the meeting only 30 minutes after the Elders started it and Jacob did feel bad about the prior night. And secretly, he hoped that Leah might come to the meeting a bit early. He'd been avoiding her for so long and – despite his better judgments – he missed her.
Jacob took a seat on one of the picnic tables in front of the community center. From here, he could see the beach, which was not yet crowded with tourists, though it was hardly deserted, either. He could hear the shrieking laughs of a group of kids and the pounding of the waves on the pebble beach. The ocean air filled his nostrils; even though it was the same Pacific Ocean he'd seen all week, it smelled different. Like home.
As luck would have it, though, it was not Leah who appeared first. Jared instead came bounding in from woods on the side of the community center, struggling to put a shirt on.
"Hey, Jake! I didn't miss it, did I?" Jared asked.
"Hasn't even begun yet."
"Oh, thank God. Kim and I were hiking and we lost track of time. I had to get her to the car but then I came running over here as fast as I could," Jared said with a huff. He took a seat across from Jacob at the picnic table, "How was Hawaii?"
"It was good," Jacob responded tiredly. He knew that there would be no end to the questions on how his trip was until everyone in La Push heard everything they wanted to know.
"That's great, man," Jared responded, "Hawaii. That's cool as fuck. Hook up with any hot girls out there?"
Why was Jacob's love life under such scrutiny lately?
"'Fraid not," Jacob answered coolly, making a conscious effort not to let his annoyance be known. He glanced over at the beach. No bikini-clad girls in La Push. It happened only in the summer months, and even then, only on the hottest days.
"Too bad," Jared said before he launched into a story about his week without any prompting from Jacob. Jared was always easy to talk to like that.
The roar of Sam's old Ford truck driving up to the community center interrupted their conversation. As Sam parked the car, he hopped out and exchanged brief greetings with Jared and Jacob. Unlike Jared, however, Sam asked Jacob no questions about his trip to Hawaii, and instead immediately told Jared that they needed to discuss the patrol schedule. Jared followed Sam to one of the other picnic tables and began their discussion.
Jacob pulled out his own patrol schedule from his pocket. It was nothing more than a scribbled piece of paper that he had worked on while in Hawaii. On the list for tonight, Jacob had written his and Leah's names, though he was tempted to change it. The patrol shifts were arbitrary; it was common for members of his pack to switch shifts at a moment's notice, and Leah and Jacob hadn't patrolled together in quite a while. Unlike Sam, Jacob had no problem with last-minute changes, so long as someone showed up to patrol.
Light footsteps made Jacob lookup.
"Jacob!" Leah greeted him breathily. She flashed Jacob a smile. Like Jared, she too came from the direction of the woods, and by the way she took a second to adjust her tank top, Jacob knew that she had run here as a wolf.
"Hey, Leah!" Jacob smiled back at her.
"How was it? Or the rest of it, I should say," she glanced around, noticing Sam and Jared talking to themselves about the patrol schedule. From what he gathered, Sam wanted to decrease the number of night patrols that Brady and Colin did, which of course meant that Jared, Sam, and Paul would have to do more. Every time Jacob had to hear these discussions, he became more grateful for his ragtag pack. At least none of them were middle schoolers.
"Good, great, I had a wonderful time," Jacob told her dismissively. Surely Leah wouldn't pry into his love life. He couldn't handle that, "How was the rest of your week?"
"Can't complain."
"You ready for this meeting?" Jacob asked.
"Yeah, I just wanted to ask you something real quick. You don't mind if I patrol with Embry for a while, do you?"
"You want to patrol with Embry?"
"Yeah, if you don't mind. He's, uh, teaching me how to control my thoughts better. You ever notice how Embry never lets you know anything he doesn't want you to know?"
Jacob hadn't, in fact, noticed that about Embry before. He'd never really realized that Embry had any secrets before. But now that he was thinking about it… Jacob couldn't remember a time that Embry had been embarrassed about something revealed in the pack mind. Other than maybe his shame about his unknown parentage, but even that was something that Embry would discuss in person if asked. Unlike everyone else, Embry had managed to avoid that particular aspect of wolf life.
"You got something you want to hide from us, Clearwater?" Jacob teased.
"A girl's entitled to her secrets."
"Where were you coming from anyway?" Jacob asked.
"Port Angeles. I spent the night there." Leah looked him straight in the eyes as she said it, as if she was challenging him. But he knew what her words meant.
"Right."
"So can I patrol with Embry?"
"Yeah, that's no problem," Jacob said, looking down at his scribbled list of patrol ideas. He'd put himself with Leah again for the first time in months, realizing after they had talked in the bond while he was in Hawaii that he could, in fact, manage to share his thoughts with her. Instead, he'd be with Seth and Quil now. Two of his best friends, but not as exciting as patrolling with Leah, "I'll swap you now."
"Thanks." Another stunning smile. Leah opened the door to the community center and gestured for Jacob to go in. He did, and she followed. As they walked to the room where the weekly meeting was held, Jacob couldn't help but notice Leah's palatable happiness. It was as if a light had switched while Jacob was gone. It was the happiest Jacob had seen Leah in a long time. And Jacob didn't know what had caused the switch.
Signing up to do a night patrol the night before he went back to school and after still adjusting back to the Pacific Time zone was a giant mistake, Jacob concluded as he struggled not to fall asleep in chemistry the next day. True to his word, he had patrolled with Seth, not Leah. Other than Seth's nagging questions about Hawaii (even Seth asked if the girls in Hawaii were hot – innocent little Seth!), patrol had been boring as ever.
Mr. Johnson was droning on, wasting no time before jumping right into the lesson about something to do with thermodynamics. Chemistry, Jacob decided, was truly his least favorite subject.
"Alright everyone, pair up," Mr. Johnson instructed. In his tired stupor, it took Jacob a minute or two to realize what Mr. Johnson had said. And by the time he looked up, Quil and Embry were already sitting closer to each other.
"Sorry, bro," Embry whispered.
"Can we do a group of three?" Quil asked loudly.
"There's an even number of you today since Laurel is absent. So, no. Sorry boys."
Jacob looked around to try to find the other singleton. Normally, the three of them got away with always being the three-person group, which worked well for Jacob and Quil because Embry always did most of the work. Jacob's classmates had all paired up, and it took him a second to find the only other person who was sitting alone. Alyssa Morgan. Great. It figured, seeing as Laurel was one of Alyssa's best friends.
Alyssa put her hand up, "Hey, Jacob."
Jacob pushed in his chair and walked awkwardly towards Alyssa, "Do you know what we're doing?"
Alyssa bit her lip, "Uh, no. I was hoping you would."
Jacob glanced around the room and managed to push his way back towards Quil and Embry. Alyssa followed him, huffing around.
"Embry!" Jacob whispered, "What are we doing?"
As Embry whispered directions for the lab assignment back at Jacob, who desperately scribbled them down, Alyssa stood there with a shocked look on her face.
"How could you hear him?" she demanded.
"I have good hearing."
Alyssa glared at him, "Okay…"
"Do you want to know what we're supposed to be doing or not?" Jacob asked irritably.
"Yes, of course, I do," Alyssa backtracked quickly, glancing between him and Embry, "Thanks, Embry."
Embry shook his head, "You two should pay more attention in class."
Both Jacob and Alyssa scoffed and headed back to their workstation before Mr. Johnson or Embry could lecture them any more. Alyssa grabbed the instructions that Jacob had jotted down from Embry and immediately got to work, barking instructions at Jacob.
"So where is Laurel anyway?" Jacob asked as they waited for their experiment to heat up.
"She's sick. She has the flu. It's been going around, haven't you heard?"
"Uh, no," Jacob admitted. One of the perks of spending time almost exclusively with people who were unable to get sick.
"Oh. Well I was sick a few weeks ago and now Laurel is sick," Alyssa looked at him, "You really didn't notice? I feel like everyone is getting sick."
"No," Jacob reaffirmed. Alyssa kept staring at him, so intensely that it made him blush, "What?" he asked.
"Nothing…" Alyssa looked down quickly, seemingly embarrassed. She immediately picked back up the thermometer and got back to work. Jacob followed her lead, confused about what had just happened.
They spent the rest of the class period working, but in between heating chemicals, they managed to talk some, as well. For what felt like the hundredth time, Jacob found himself recanting his adventures in Hawaii, while Alyssa listened carefully (unlike most of the other times he'd been asked about his trip, Alyssa did not once ask about hot girls, a break which Jacob had to admit that he was grateful for). Jacob asked Alyssa about her break, and she launched into a long-winded story that ended with her spending the entirety of spring break on the res. This led to a discussion about the best ways to annoy tourists on the beach, something both Jacob and Alyssa had expertise in.
"So, uh, we didn't finish this lab write up at all," Alyssa said lamely after Mr. Johnson announced that class was ending.
"We can meet up later this week to finish it," Jacob said as he packed up his bag. It wasn't like he wasn't still trying to finish Leah's car and had patrols and other homework, "Thursday work?"
"Yeah, Thursday's great. We can meet at my house." Alyssa started putting her notebook into her book bag, "Do you still know where it is?"
"Uh, yeah." Jacob had lived in La Push his entire life. He knew where everyone lived, "I'll see you later."
Alyssa smiled at him. She moved her mouth like she had something else to say, but nothing came out except a quick, "See you later!"
Jacob grabbed his book bag and walked over to Quil and Embry, who were waiting for him right by the door to the classroom. They were both apologetic about Jacob being the odd one out, but Jacob didn't really care. He spent enough time with Quil and Embry as is. One chemistry assignment without them wouldn't hurt him, as long as Embry promised to help. They walked to their next classes and complained about the amount of homework they had.
"Honestly I probably won't even do it," Quil said.
"Dude, that's an awful idea," Embry shook his head, "You're barely passing anyways."
"Yeah but it's so much…" Quil protested, "And it's not like we're going to be here next year anyway."
"We don't know that for sure. Not till we get our test results back. But we can work on the assignment together," Embry promised.
"Does that mean you'll do most of the work?" Jacob asked.
"Ha-ha-ha, very funny."
"Jake!" Alyssa called, interrupting their conversation. Jacob spun around and saw Alyssa following him down the hallway.
"We'll see you later, yeah, Jake?" Embry said as he and Quil continued on.
"Yeah, see you later," Jacob mumbled.
"Jake!" Alyssa repeated as she caught up to him.
"What's up?"
"Do you want to go to prom?"
"Prom?" Jacob asked. He hadn't thought about prom since Billy had paid him to interrupt Bella's prom. Was that really almost two years ago?
"Yeah… like you, know the dance at the end of the year? Only attended by juniors and seniors?" Alyssa's attempt at teasing was thwarted by her nervous expression.
"Right."
"Do you want to go?" Alyssa asked again, and after he didn't respond, she added, "With me?"
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Quil and Embry both spin around, no doubt listening in with their supernatural hearing. Embry had a giant grin on his face and Quil was giving him the thumbs up.
"Alyssa's hot!" Quil mouthed. Embry nodded enthusiastically.
Next to his two friends, Jacob could see Rowena Ascarrunz glaring at Alyssa with her arms crossed, and Jacob remembered what Embry said about her asking him out. Alyssa was definitely a step up from Rowena.
"Jacob? If you don't want to go with me, you can just say so. And I know we went out before but that was a while ago, and it feels like we've both changed since then." Alyssa babbled, "and I'm just gonna be honest with you, there's not a ton of people on the reservation and Laurel already has a date and I don't want to third wheel but I also don't want to just not go so I was thinking maybe we could go together?"
Why not? Quil was right. Alyssa was hot. And last time they went she let him touch her breasts, who knew what she'd let him do on prom night? And if Leah was dating, then why shouldn't he?
"Yeah, sure. Why not?" Jacob said quickly before he could think too much about it.
"Really? You'll go with me?"
"Yeah."
"Sweet." Alyssa had a huge smile on her face, "I'll call you later, Jacob!"
"Yeah," Jacob said somewhat numbly, "I'll talk to you later."
Suddenly, he looked up and saw his friends looking back at him, each with a huge smile on their faces. Jacob narrowed his eyes at them and hurried to catch up to them.
"Did you know?" he hissed.
"We might have had a slight clue," Embry admitted.
"She asked about you every time she came into the store over break," Quil elaborated, "So I had a feeling."
"And you didn't tell me?" Jacob demanded.
"Some things are better left a surprise," Embry shrugged.
Quil laughed, "Don't be mad at us! You have a hot date to prom!"
"Even Leah's dating, dude," Embry said, "You gotta get out there some time."
"I hate you both,"
"You love us both!" Quil practically sang. Jacob thought that Quil might be happier about this development than Jacob himself was, "And you'll love us even more after prom night!"
The warning bell rang before Quil could say anything else.
"We gotta get to class," Embry said. The hallways had cleared out significantly; the three of them were some of the few remaining students, "Bye guys!"
With quick goodbyes, the three friends split up and went their separate ways through the nearly empty hallways and Jacob found himself wondering what else his friends might be keeping from him.
A/N: Hopefully everyone was able to read the last chapter after the weird FF issue last time. If not, please go back and read it because it was a big one! And thank you to everyone who let me know there was an issue - I wouldn't have realized it otherwise! In case it happens again, just know that this story is also available on AO3, same username and same title. Thanks for reading!