Chapter Thirty Four: Jake
Bella and Edward would be back tonight and the whole pack was on edge despite the unlikeliness that the Cullens had been stupid enough to turn Bella while she was away with Renee. Embry wanted me to stay on the rez an extra night, but knew as well as I did that sleeping in my own bed on a school night was one of Uncle Charlie's few rules and there was nothing we were allowed to tell him that would convince Charlie to let me stay at Leah's an extra night. As a result Embry was insisting on driving me home later to check out the situation himself.
As a distraction Emily brought up the dance during lunch and now Embry wanted to know what the dress looked like. He was annoyed that his mom and I were keeping it a secret, but I wasn't budging on telling, especially with how annoyed he was due to not knowing.
"Why won't you just tell me what it looks like?" Embry asked with a huff and I smirked.
"Because I don't know what it looks like." I said casually and Embry's eye twitched.
"What do you mean you don't know what it looks like?" Embry asked, his voice going up in pitch with his disbelief.
"You two went dress shopping and came back with a dress, how can you not know what the dress you bought looks like?" Embry continues and I laughed. Honestly I was surprised by how much he cared about the dress. I hadn't expecting him to care what I wore as long as I went with him. Uncle Charlie hadn't even asked if I'd found a dress when I came from the shopping trip.
"Well I know what the dress looked like when I bought it, but it doesn't fit the theme of the dance, so you're mom is embroidering it for me. I have no idea what the dress looks like know. You'll just have to wait till the dance to find out."
"Really, babe?" Embry grumbled and I rolled my eyes.
"You know, curiosity killed the cat, right babe?"
"But satisfaction brought him back." Embry countered.
"But I thought you were a wolf?" I said coyly and Embry rolled his eyes.
"I am, but we're talking about the curious cat." He stated completely exasperated by our ridiculous conversation.
"I didn't know you could be a cat and a dog at the same time. Did you Sam?" I leaned around Embry to look at Sam who was leaning against the counter next to Emily watch the two of us with an amused smirk. Instead of answering he just shook his head with a laugh.
"Quit trying to change the subject." Embry whined and I grinned.
"I'm going to help Emily." I stated and walked away from an exasperated Embry. Emily smiled as I took a dish from the counter next to her and started to wash it.
"Wolf-cats, really, Anna?" She asked and I chuckled with a shrug.
"Sure, why not? It's not like we haven't dealt with the improbable before." Emily rolled her eyes but her smile stayed in place.
Jake walked in as Emily and I were pulling lunch out of the oven and getting out plates. He gave a small wave at the two of us before walking through and joined the rest of the guys in the living room. I wasn't completely surprised by Jake's less than sunny disposition. When I'd called Uncle Charlie earlier to let him know I was going to be eating dinner at Emily's I had been greeted with a gruff 'what?' when he picked up the phone and had been more than a little surprised. As it turned out Jake had been calling incessantly for most of the day asking if Bella had made it home yet.
Emily called the guys to lunch and I moved out of the way till Jake almost walked past me. I grabbed his arm and waited for the others to file through before speaking though we both knew it was pointless, the others would be able to hear everything we said from the kitchen.
"What?" Jake grumbled.
"When Uncle Charlie says that he'll call you when she gets home, he means it. You don't have to keep calling him." I said gently and Jake scowled.
"Why don't you just mind your own business, Anna?" Jake growled, pulling his arm away.
"Because you made it my business when your calling him so frequently that he almost bites my head off when I call. He's already stressed Jake, you're not the only one upset and angry about Bella's actions. Just give the man a break." I said angrily and walked away before Jake decided what to say back, not caring what he was going to come up with to defend himself.
Jake and I both sat silently through lunch and when it was over Embry and I headed outside. Embry lead the way down the path to the beach and we walked hand in had along the water's edge, hands swinging between us. It was nice as we walked in peace watching the tourists and the little kids in the sand running in and out of the water that was still pretty cold despite the approaching summer. After a while we took a seat on a fallen tree at the edge of the beach and just watched the waves as they came ashore and then returned to sea.
"Anna?" I picked my head up off his shoulder to look up at him. He seemed unusually anxious as he picked at the edge of his cut off shorts.
"I know we haven't been together all that long, but I want you to have this." He dug into his pocket and pulled out something that looked like a bracelet.
"I want to know that what we have is never going to change." Embry said seriously and gently pulled my hand closer to tie the ends of the bracelet together around my wrist. When he was done I moved my hand to look at the bracelet, it was a thin strap of leather entwined with purple beads, a small wolf charming hanging among them. I beamed at the bracelet and turned to Embry throwing my arms around his neck and pulling back just enough to kiss him.
"I love you." I said when we pulled apart, the smile very leaving my face.
"I love you, too, babe." He said with a smile and pulled me back into his side and we turned back to watching the water.
After a while we headed back to Sam's for dinner and the whole group rolled their eyes when Jake made another call to Uncle Charlie. From the way the conversation was going I assumed he was talking to Bella.
"Are you going to school tomorrow?" Jake asked and he nodded to himself with whatever her answer was.
"Alright. Talk to you later." Jake said and hung up the phone. With a quick good night to everyone he darted out the door before anyone could get the chance to pull him back. The room was quiet for a long moment before I glanced at the clock and saw how late it was getting. I nudged Embry, motioning to the clock, he nodded and we got up.
"We're going to head out." I said and Emily stood quickly, giving me a hug before we headed out the door. The car ride was mostly quiet with the radio playing.
"Sam said I could start patrol after I drop you off." Embry said breaking the silence.
"That was nice of him." I smiled.
"Yeah, but I'm on with Jake tonight." Embry grumbled and I took his hand in a small show of comfort.
"I hope he imprints soon, or at least finds someone else. Bella's never going to return his feelings and he deserves someone that actually cares about him." I said and Embry made a noise of agreement. We stayed quiet till Embry pulled my car off the street in front of Uncle Charlie's house.
"Love you." I said and got on my tip toes to kiss him.
"Love you, too." He said as we broke apart before running into the trees. I quietly slipped inside and up to my room, making sure not to make as little noise as possible as I made it up the stairs and locking my door behind me.
The next morning I was up and out of the house before Bella came out of her room. I figured to sit in my car and listen to music for a little while before heading in for class. I was one of the first cars in the parking lot and a few others joined before the loud growl of a motorcycle pulling into the lot. The sky was gray and looked like it was going to open up on us at anytime, so a motorcycle was an unusually thing to hear. I turned to see who had been dumb enough to ride one to school and cursed to myself when I recognized Jake parking the bike right in front of the school.
I quickly climbed out of my car, grabbed my bag and headed toward Jake hoping to get him to leave before he could make a scene. The group of students that were in the parking lot were whispering among themselves and looking at Jake as he leaned against his bike looking almost as intimidating as Sam as he crossed his arms and kept his face blank with a stone mask.
"What the hell are you doing?" I growled as I got closer to Jake.
"Hey Anna. How you doing?" He asked with a bright smile, dropping the stone facade to avoid answering my question.
"I'm fine Jake. What are you doing here? Why aren't you at school?" I asked pointedly with a glare. Jake's smile dropped and he sighed, finally looking me in the eye.
"Sam sent me to talk to Cullen and Bella. To make sure that our suspicions are true and not just wishful thinking." Jake explained and I understood that Sam would want to make sure that Bella was completely human, but it seemed to be ignoring the obvious. If Bella had been changed while they were away then Edward wouldn't be bringing Bella to school, in fact he probably wouldn't have brought her home yesterday. With a sigh I gave up though, it was probably more that Jake needed to see Bella completely human with his own eyes before he'd completely believe it.
"She'll be here in a couple minutes with Edward. See you after school." Jake nodded and the stone mask fell back over his features as I walked away, headed inside the building were it would be warmer than standing outside in the morning chill.
I could see the front of the school from my homeroom window and could see when Edward's Volvo pulled into the lot. Bella and Edward got out of the car and marched straight to Jacob. They seemed to have a heated argument before Principal Greene intervened and sent Bella and Edward to class. Jake scowled at Mr. Greene and at Bella and Edward's backs before getting on his bike and leaving the school lot.
The class was starting to fill up now and Ashley flopped down into her seat next to me also peeking out the window.
"You know the hunk on the motorcycle?" She asked with a coy grin.
"Yeah, that's Jake. He's a friend, he's the reason Embry and I met. We've all been friends since we were kids." I explained with a shrug and Ashley nodded with an appreciative whistle.
"The rez sure knows how to grow them down there. Any idea what he was arguing with Edward and Bella about. I shrugged and thought about what to say.
"Bella's been down to the rez a lot lately and she became good friend with Jake up until the last week. She ghosted Jake when she took off. He's pissed about what she did and that she's back with Edward after how he left before. Jake just came to talk to her face to face." The bell rang then and Ashley was forced to stow her questions till later. I hate when the two parts collide. While the teacher drowned on I let myself daydream about what life would be like when I finally graduated and I could finally stop being stuck between Forks and La Push.