Here's chapter five for ya! Happy New Years to all! And questions, comments, or concerns . . . PUT IT IN THE REVIEW BOX!
Pairings:
Harry/Edward (duh!), Alice/Jasper, Esme/Carlisle, Rosalie/Emmett, Draco/?, Luna/?, ?/? (I'm allowed to keep some pairing secret, and if you know the pairs DON'T RUIN IT FOR THE OTHERS!)
Disclaimer:
All comment or scenes that may look familar do not belong to me and are the property of Stephenie Meyer and all Harry Potter characters belong to J. K. Rowling
Chapter 5
"Good morning," Bella greeted Edward as she got into his silver Volvo. She gave him a smile although she was just a little suspicious over the reason as to why he would want to drive her to school. Then again, she was still suspicious over the reason on why he wanted her to visit Renee all of a sudden – not that she was complaining, but she had noticed how distracted and reclusive he had seemed during the entire trip to Florida. Even her mother had noticed.
In fact, she had taken Bella to the side and questioned her on what was going on. Bell had to admit, she was a little disgruntle to see the relief in her mother's eyes when she had told her that she and Edward had broken up.
Shaking her head, Bella buckled herself in the looked around the empty car in confusion.
"Did I miss something?" she asked Edward as he swung expertly out of her driveway and began to accelerate down the street.
"Hmm?" Edward hummed, as if he'd been distracted from his thoughts. He turned his head to the side and fixed his gaze on her and that was when he noticed Bella's pointed look. "Oh, nothing really. Alice just decided to skip today."
Bella nodded her head slowly, her lips pursed in suspicion. She didn't really have any reason to be, all of the Cullens skipped school at some point, but as of late Edward's behavior had been just a little too strange. Bell had chalked it up to his situation with Harry at first, but now she wasn't so sure.
The car ride was done in complete silence as she thought this over, the only sound coming from the radio – which was spilling out low classical music. As they neared the school, however, Edward suddenly tensed up, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly that the plastic creaked in protest.
"If I told you to do something, would you trust me?" he suddenly asked of her. There was an edge to his voice and his jaw was clenched tightly. Bella narrowed her eyes slightly as she said, "That depends," in a cautious tone. Edward sighed in exasperation and pulled the van into the parking lot.
"I was afraid you'd say that."
"What do you want me to do Edward?" Bella asked him with a sigh, mentally rolling her eyes at him.
"I want you to stay in the car." He spoke in a deliberately slow voice. He pulled into his usual parking spot and turned off the engine with a simply twist of his wrist. He glanced at her quickly – those amber orbs were guarded – before gazing straight ahead. Whatever he saw just served to make him tenser. "I want you to wait here until I come back for you."
"But . . . why?" Bella asked, perplexed, her brows pinched together in confusion. She moved her gaze away from him and glanced out the window. Immediately she spotted the reason behind Edward's tension.
It was hard to miss him, seeing as he towered over the students, even leaning against his black motorcycle – a motorcycle that was parked illegally on the sidewalk.
"Oh," was Bella's only response. She was surprised to see Jacob Black at her school, and then she was immediately suspicious as she took in the calm mask on his face.
"You jumped to the wrong conclusion last night," Edward murmured, talking about the out-of-nowhere call Jacob had made the other day. "He asked about school because he figured that I would be where you were. He was looking for a safe place to talk to me. A place with witnesses." Now curiosity coated Bella suspicion. She was very much aware of Jacob's animosity toward Edward, so why would the werewolf suddenly want to talk to the vampire he detested very much?
"I'm not staying in the car," Bella declared in a matter-of-factly tone and was amused when she heard Edward groaned quietly.
"Of course not," the teenaged vampire said as he opened the door. "Well, let's get this over with." Bella grinned and got out of the van. There were a whole lot of people milling about – just as they had done when Harry had arrived – and there were gazing at Jacob with wary curiosity.
Jacob's face hardened when Bella and Edward walked toward him, and then it turned slightly curious as he took in the very obvious amount of space in between them.
Bella was nervous as she took in the faces watching them. She felt oddly like a bystander walking right into the middle of a showdown. As she took in the faces of those around she walked by she realized that the wary curiosity was not because Jacob was a stranger, but because Jacob actually looked dangerous to them.
Weird, was the thought that flashed through her mind. She just couldn't place the Jacob that they saw with the Jacob of her mind. He was simply the same awkward teen that had a smile like the sun and was her best friend.
Edward stopped a few yards away from Jacob, twisting his body slightly in front of Bella and holding an arm out across her body like a shield. Bella ignored it, although it irritated her greatly, and slanted a glance at her best friend turned angst-y werewolf.
"You could have called us," was the first thing said between them. Edward's voice had taken on that steel-like quality that knew he only used for those he could just barely tolerate.
"Sorry," Jacob shot back, a sneer twisting his face into something Bella really didn't like. "I don't have any leeches on my speed dial."
"You could have called at Bella's house." Jacob's jaw flexed and Bella wanted to hit Edward – which really wouldn't have been a good idea given his stone-like body – for giving Jacob the wrong conclusion.
"This is hardly the place, Jacob," Edward continued. "Could we discuss this later?"
"Sure, sure. I'll stop by your crypt after school," Jacob snorted before demanding. "What's wrong with now?" Edward glanced pointedly around the lot at the curious faces of the student population.
"I already know what you came to say," Edward reminded Jacob in a voice so low even Bella had a hard time hearing him. "Message delivered. Consider us warned."
"Warned," Bella repeated blankly. "What are you talking about?" she demanded, catching the worried look that had appeared on Edward's face.
"You didn't tell her?" Jacob asked incrudiously, his eyes widening in disbelief. "What, were you afraid she'd take out side?"
"Please drop it, Jacob," Edward said evenly.
"Why?" Jacob challenged, his dark eyes flashing in clear amusement – bitter amusement.
"What don't I know?" Bella asked, frowning in confusion and looking between the two. "Edward?" she then demanded but Edward didn't answer, too busy glaring at Jacob. "Jake?" Jacob arched a brow at her and Bella knew he was more than willing to tell her any information she requested. That was one of the reasons why he was her best friend.
"He didn't tell you that his big . . . brother crossed the line Saturday night?" He said, sarcasm coating his words. His eyes flicked from Bella to Edward as he said the next words. "Paul was totally justified in —"
"It was no-man's land!" Edward hissed out, cutting him off.
"Was not," Jacob shot back almost childishly.
"Emmett and Paul?" Bella whispered lowly, her brows pulled together even more in her confusion so that a wrinkle creased her forehead. She then asked in a louder voice – not that she really needed to – "What happened? Were they fighting? Why? Did Paul get hurt?"
"No one fought," Edward said quietly for only her ears. "No one got hurt. Don't be so anxious." Jacob stared at them with incredulous eyes.
"You really didn't tell her anything at all, did you?" he asked. "Is that why you took her away? So she wouldn't know that —"
"Leave now," Edward cut across evenly. Bella noticed that in that single moment he looked terrifyingly like a vampire. Jacob raised his eyebrows but made no other move that he even heard the threat in Edward's tone.
"Why haven't you told her?" It was silent for a long time. Bella could see more students gathering in her peripheral vision, and in the silence she heard the purr of a car's engine as it pulled into the lot. She also saw Ben standing next to Mike Newton, Mike had his hand on Ben's shoulder, like he was holding the boy back – from what Bella wasn't really sure.
Then, with a flash of intuition, the pieces fell neatly into place and suddenly realization came over her.
It was all so clear now.
What Edward didn't want her to know, but Jacob wouldn't keep from her. What would have two enemies out in the woods together and have Edward take her on a sudden trip out of the state – despite his own issues with his mate.
It was something Bella always knew was coming, something she had been dreading.
As this sudden realization came over her, she could hear her breath coming out in short gasps. Was she hyperventilating? Over that she could also hear someone calling out her name.
"She came back for me," Bella managed to choke out. For one moment Bella was gazing Edward's torn expression and then she was suddenly staring into a pair of familiar emerald eyes protected by thin glasses.
"Bella, are you okay?" Harry asked her, cupping her face gently between his slightly large hands. "What's wrong?" Bella shook her head as best as she could with Harry's hands holding her face. She could never tell Harry her problems; they were too big for him, the consequences too great to handle.
Harry let out an animalistic growled – Bella wondered if all her male friends were able to grow as realistically as that – and pulled Bella roughly into a protective hug. His arms were strong around Bella's body, holding her firmly against his chest. Then he turned and glared at Jacob, not seeming the least bit imitated by the younger teen's height.
"Who the bloody hell are you and what did you do to Bella?" he demanded, and in his anger his eyes looked like they glowed. Draco and Luna came to flank him on both sides – an uncharacteristically serious look on Luna's face – and Jacob blinked in surprise, having not expected the new arrivals.
"Harry," Bella mumbled into his shoulder, which was her face was pressed thanks to Harry's hand. "It's okay. Jake didn't do anything."
"Then who did," Harry asked, pulling back to look down into Bella's pale face. Bella's eyes drifted down to the right so that she was avoiding his gaze. She was torn between wanting to tell him and protecting him from the craziness she often found herself involved in.
"It's nothing," she whispered again instead. "Don't worry about it."
"Bloody hell it is," Draco mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. Harry chose to ignore him, focusing all his attention on Bella. He stared into her eyes for a long time with a heated intensity that made Bella squirm, before looking away, a slightly hurt expression filling his face.
"Fine," he finally said on an exhaled breath as he let her go. He was determinedly not looking at her and the action made Bella bite he lip. She did not like the wounded look on Harry's face at all and she silently cursed herself. Was she determined to only hurt her friends? It certainly seemed so.
"Okay, get to class," a stern voice suddenly sounded from behind them, cutting off what Bella had been about to say to get that look off of Harry's face. "Move along, Mr. Crowley." Bella glance over at Jacob anxiously – he was still looking at Luna, Harry, and Draco with a deeply confused expression.
"Get to school, Jacob," she whispered. Harry turned his head only slightly so that he could watch the interaction before he turned fully to watch as a pudgy man pushed his way through the crowd of students surrounding them.
"I mean it," the man threatened. "Detention for anyone who's still standing when I turn around again." The audience quickly melted away before the man even finished making his threat, taking with them a nervous-looking Angela who was holding a fussy Teddy. When all the students had cleared out, the man approached their group.
"Ah, Mr. Cullen," the man started, his beady eyes landing on Edward first. "Do we have a problem here?"
"Not at all, Mr. Greene," Edward said smoothly, giving way to an open smile. "We were just on our way to class."
"Excellent. I don't seem to recognize your friend." Mr. Greene turned to glower at Jacob. Bella could practically see an imaginary figure stamping 'Delinquent' across Jacob's forehead. "Are you a new student here?"
"Nope," Jacob answered popping the 'p'. He tore his gaze away from Harry, Draco, and Luna so that he could smirk at the man.
"Then I suggest you remove yourself from school property at once, young man, before I call the police." Jacob's smirk turned into a full blown grin – Bella wondered if he was envisioning Charlie coming to arrest him, that would be interesting to see – before he said, "Yes, sir." He snapped a military salute before he climbed on his bike, kicked it into start, and then raced out of sight. Draco watched the performance with his lips twitching in amusement. Bella thought he looked slightly impressed.
"Mr. Cullen, I expect you to ask your friend to refrain from trespassing again." Mr. Greene said, his face a little red. He appeared angry over what had just transpired and Bella couldn't fault him for that, Jacob was being annoyingly cocky.
"He's no friend of mine, Mr. Greene, but I'll pass along the warning." Mr. Greene pursed his lips, assessing the situation.
"I see. If you're worried about any trouble, I'd be happy to —"
"There's nothing to worry about, Mr. Greene. There won't be any trouble," Edward reassured, giving the man another charming smile.
"I hope that's correct." Mr. Greene responded, mollified for the moment. He then puffed up his chest and fixed them all with a stern stare. "Well, then. On to class. You four too." The group nodded as one before hurrying off.
Harry spent the morning in an irritating depression, as Draco had so gracefully put it, and it was for no real reason at all. So what if Bella didn't trust him enough to tell him a secret that she no doubt held dearly. She's only known him for a few weeks now, so it really shouldn't matter. Nope, Harry should not be mad that a person he was coming to think of as a best friend wouldn't tell him when something was extremely wrong.
No he wasn't.
Not a single bit.
Oh, damn it all, he was irritated!
"Alright class! Settle down, settle down!" The words of his Music teacher, Ms. Abel, drifted into Harry thoughts and pulled him into attention. He gazed up at where she was standing at the front of the room behind her large desk, hands on her hips as she glared her students into submission. When everyone was silent a dimpled smile Harry had come to expect from the woman bloomed on her cherubic face.
"Alright, now that you'll are all nice and quiet, I have some wonderful news to share with you." Everyone who hadn't been paying attention now turned to look at Ms. Abel with avid curiosity. Ms. Abel clapped her hands together once, her smile stretching even more.
"We're going to host Fork's first ever talent show!" Silence met her excited statement. Harry blinked a few times before looking around the room to see how everyone else was taking this news. From their shocked expression, he had to guess that stuff like this didn't happen very often. After a few more second of silence, the room exploded.
"Alright, alright, calm down," Ms. Abel called over the raised voice. "Silence!" The room fell into a strained silence, a few whispers here and there.
"Good, now the show is optional, I know some of you have finals to study for and such. The show will take place the day before Graduation. That's one month people! Sign-ups for auditions are Friday. The actual auditions will be held from the 4th to the 7th. That's all." With that said and not permitting any question, Ms. Abel dismissed them to independent study.
Harry leaned back in his seat, a thoughtful look on his face. Maybe now he could finally put those instruments to use.
"A talent show," Draco repeated in a skeptical tone when Harry had relayed the news. "What the bloody hell —"
"Draco," Harry scolded quietly, giving the blonde a glare. "Teddy just learned how to talk; I'd rather not have him swearing so soon."
Draco rolled his silver eyes and muttered, "We really need to get him a babysitter or leave him with the house elves," lowly so that Harry wouldn't hear him. Then he said in a louder voice, "I swear Po-Harry, you're worse than a mother hen." Harry glared at him but the blonde simply brushed it away.
"I think a talent show is a wonderful idea," Luna spoke up in a pleasant tone, nodding her head to further her point. "Are we entering?"
"We," Draco demanded at the same time as Harry said, "Yes."
"Um, we, Potter? I'll have you know that I have no intention to enter some —"
"Give it a rest Draco," Harry cut across with a roll of his eyes that made Luna giggle. "Besides, this way you can show all us lowly commoners how wonderful your talents are." Draco puffed up like a peacock at the praise and looked momentarily satisfied.
"Oh, are you guys entering the talent show too?" Bella's voice drifted over to them as she joined the group at the lunch table. She was greeted with a murmur of 'heys' and 'hellos'.
"Too," Harry then asked, clearly confused.
"Yeah, Alice is thinking of bullying Edward into it," Bella informed him, grinning madly to herself. Harry nodded, suddenly looking just a little bit queasy and Bella suddenly let the grin come out. All she had to do was say the words as Alice had told her and everything else would fall into place.
"You know, I suddenly had a great idea," Bella told him sounding nonchalant. When Harry looked at her quizzically, she said, "Why don't you guys perform together." Harry opened his mouth to object but Luna cut him off and Bella had to wonder if she was in on the plan.
"That sounds like a delightful idea." Bella laughed at the girl's word choice.
"You know Luna; I think you're the only person I know who says thing like 'delightful'."
"Well, Luna has always been a little odd," Draco muttered, and Luna reached over the table and slapped him on the arm before turning to look at the Cullen sitting next to her. When the two had appeared, Bella did not know.
"So, shall we meet this weekend?"
"How about next weekend," Edward suggested instead in a smooth voice, although he was jumping in excitement on the inside – secretly very glad over the whole idea. Across the table Alice winked at Bella who grinned in return.
"We're not going to be in town this weekend." Luna tilted her head to the side and stared unblinkingly at Edward for a long moment before nodding her head.
"That's quite alright. We'll be happy to meet at your house next weekend." Then she stood, grabbing her rather full tray, and skipped away; but not before dumping a giggling Teddy into Draco's lap. Harry stared after her in shock then turned to look at Draco, who shrugged.
"Like I've always said, she's completely loony." Harry rolled his eyes and the comment before turning to look at Bella.
"Bella, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a word with you." Bella blinked, looking a little shocked but she stood anyway.
"Sure, I guess." Harry nodded and the two moved to leave. Harry however stopped and turned back to the group, his eyes landing on Edward who was just getting up.
"I'd like to have this conversation alone, thank you," Harry told the teen. Bella was sure Edward would have protested, but he didn't. He just sat back down and picked up a conversation with Ben.
Well that was weird, Bella thought as she followed Harry to Chemistry. The halls were mostly empty seeing as the bell had yet to ring yet, but there were the odd student here and there that turned to stare at them.
"Um . . . Harry, what exactly is this about," Bella questioned after a bout of uncomfortable silence. "You sounded serious back there." Harry sighed and paused outside of their classroom door, moving the lean back against the wall with one foot propped up.
"Bella, about this morning —"
"It was really nothing Harry," Bella immediately told him, hoping desperately that he would drop it. She hated lying to him, but this was necessary. Harry's jaw clenched however, in a motion Bella was coming to find was stubbornness.
"Bella, really, I doubt what happened was nothing and I'm insulted that you would think I would buy that." And there it was again, that hurt expression flashing across his face and lighting his eyes. Bella shifted the books in her arms, her gazing drifting down.
"It's . . . complicated," she said after a moment.
"I can handle complicated," Harry said back in a soft voice. "Please Bella; tell me what's going on. I'd like to help you if I can." Bella sighed and casted her mind about for some kind of truth to tell him that would not be incriminating.
"Okay," she finally said on a sigh. She peeked a glance at Harry from between her bangs to see a relieved expression plastered on his face now, and then she immediately felt guilty for the half truth she was about to tell him.
"But on one condition." Harry tensed a little bit.
"What condition?"
"You move back to our table," Bella told him. For a moment Harry looked like he would completely drop the subject, but after a moment's thought he sighed and agreed.
"Alright, well it was all actually just some kind of misunderstand with one of Edward's brother got into," Bella explained slowly, taking the information Edward had given her in English and attempting to hash it down so it sounded completely normal.
"What kind of misunderstanding?"
"Well, you know that guy that came here?" Bella looked up to see Harry nodded and then went on with her explanation. "Well, he lives in this Reservation about a mile out or so from here and the Natives there have some kind of weird superstitions going on. To put it short they don't really trust any of the Cullens." Harry's brow rose in skepticism. "I know, it's completely ridiculous and I tried to tell Jacob that time and time again but he just —"
"Uh, Bella," Harry cut in, a smile twitching at his lips. "The point."
"Oh, sorry," Bella apologized, blushing up to her roots. "Anyways, the Natives claim they have some kind of treaty with the Cullens. None of them are allowed to even step a foot into La Push. However, this weekend, Edward's brothers were hiking in the woods and some kind of trouble came up. Supposedly Emmett, crossed over the treaty line or something and one of the Natives there started a fight or something. Jake came up to the school today to tell Edward to tell his family that they needed to stay over the line or whatever, that's what this whole thing was about." Bella let out a deep breath and waited for Harry's response.
"Alright," Harry said slowly after he had thought over the story. It sounded pretty believable, but Harry was sure there was some kind of magical creatures thing going on somewhere in that. "Alright, I can believe that," Harry told her instead. "But that doesn't explain your reaction to that."
"Well I thought that Emmet had gotten hurt or something, but it turned out that I was wrong and he's completely fine; at least Edward told me he was completely fine."
"Oh, well . . . huh?"
"Yeah, I didn't want to say anything because it's pretty embarrassing and everyone's spreading this rumor that Edward and Jacob were arguing over me." Bella was able to conjure up a real blush at this when she remembered the bets Mike, Austin, Ben, and Eric placed in Calculus earlier.
"Where they," Harry asked in an amused tone.
"No!" And much to Bella's embarrassment, Harry began to laugh. Bella glared up at him before turning around and stalking into the classroom, her head held high. Harry's laughter followed her in and she could still here it when the bell rang. Bella continued to glare at him as he walked over and requested that he seat be moved back. He was lucky Mr. Bennett was such a laid back teacher, because he had no objection.
"Would you shut up," Bella hissed when Harry came to sit by her, snickering now. Harry shot her a cheeky grin and ducked his head into his text book when she glared at him once more.
Oh, Edward so owes me for this one, Bella thought.
Draco was having a bad week, and what irritated him the most was that he didn't even know why he was having bad week. Ever since Monday this foreign feeling had been welling up inside of him, and since he didn't know what the feeling was, he antagonized over it. Which in turn made him irritated, which also made Harry irritated because when Draco was irritated he took it out in the former Savior. The last time Draco and Harry fought this much, it had been six year and Harry had cursed him so bad, Draco had though he was going to die.
But the thing is, when Draco and Harry fought, everyone noticed – which at this point wasn't a very good thing seeing as they were trying to blend in. But at the moment Draco was just so bloody irritated, he just didn't give a damn. So when Harry demanded that he get out of the house and go cool off before he killed him, well Draco took it and ran.
If there was one thing Draco loved more than everything, it was the feeling of the wind rushing around him. And the only way he could get that was by running in his wolf form.
It was always so exhilarating, second best to flying.
It was so easy to just simply pour all that he was into running. And it certainly helped to clear his mind. When he ran – or flew like he really wanted to do – every thought fled his head. There was not irritating feeling or annoying Saviors. It was just him, the ground under his feet, and the wind through his hair – or in this case, fur.
Draco bounded out and ran wildly through the forest that was Forks. He didn't care if anyone saw him, they'd people just think he was some wild wolf.
It was refreshing.
It was exciting.
It was peacefully.
After long he came across the scent of salty, damp air. As curious as he was, he decided to head toward it. It was simply a blessing when he came upon a beach. The sand was pale white, the sea was dark and frothy, and the breeze was cooling. There was a rock-like structure at the far end of the beach, but the area he ended up in was completely blank, except for a ring of drift wood he suspected was for bon-fires or the like.
The area was empty due to the still slightly cold weather, but that was just another blessing to Draco. He didn't need, nor did he want anyone company.
Shifting back into his human form, Draco walked slowly toward the water, relishing in the feel of the air on his face, in his hair. As he neared the water, he shucked off his black shirt and stepped out of the pair of shorts he deemed old. He folded them carefully and placing them on the rocks out of the way of the water so that they wouldn't get wet.
Then he turned and walked into the ocean. The water was curiously warm and Draco used that opportunity to get some much needed relaxation. First he ducked his entire body underneath the dark liquid and then he let all of his muscles relax so that he was resting peacefully on the waves. He floated over the water on his back, gazing up at the slate grey sky and allowing his thoughts to wander meaninglessly nowhere.
All too soon, however, the serene quiet was broken. The disturbance arrived in the form of three rowdy teens, laughing loudly and fooling around. With an irritated glance at the sky, Draco sighed and then swam back to the shore. He pulled himself out of the water, grabbed his clothes, and then headed for the tree line to make his way back home. It was as he was just crossing the sand that one of the boys called out to him.
"Hey!" the teen called again when Draco did not immediately turn around the first time. Draco sighed irritably wondering what he had done to deserve being disturbed when he had finally been having such a nice day. Knowing now that the boys were not likely to leave him alone, he turned to face them with a bored expression plastered on his face.
"What?" he drawled impatiently, one brow arched for good measure. The three blinked at him, all seemed to be stunned into silence.
They were all tall, Draco noticed. A lot taller than he was and he was at least a good 6 ½ feet. They were also really muscular – kind of like Beaters. It was easy to see since two of them weren't wearing a shirt and the one that was wearing one had on a white-beater. The all were sporting similarly cropped dark hair – was that some kind of fashion statement here, Draco wondered – although the one in the middle had hair that was slightly longer.
Upon closer inspection, Draco realized the guy in the middle was the one from the Monday. An odd thrill filled him, that feeling he had been trying to identify all week crept up on him once more and he quickly tried squashed it down – mostly out of fear for the reason behind it showing up now of all times.
"You don't look familiar," the guy who had called out to him was saying. "You new?"
"What's it to you?" Draco asked in a bored tone, allowing his gaze to shift off to the side to show his disinterest in the conversation.
"Hey, aren't you Bella's friend," the guy in the middle suddenly asked, when his friend elbowed him in the gut. Draco slid his gaze over to him.
"Not really," he answered before he could help himself. Then, to his further confusion, he found himself asking, "And aren't you that Jake guy with that bike?"
"Jacob Black," the teen introduced with a wide grin. Then he pointed at his two friends respectively. "They're Quil and Embry." Draco nodded absently, trying to figure out why he was still there. Then something Jacob had said caught his attention and had his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Black, huh? Do you happen to have any English relatives?" Jacob lifted and dropped his shoulders in a shrug, the muscles in his arms rippling. Draco's eye widened just the slightest bit when he found his thoughts turning in a direction he did not want it to.
"Not that I know of," Jacob spoke breaking Draco from his horror. Draco nodded absently again, turning his mind to trying to figure out what had prompted him to start a conversation with the three. Finding nothing else to say he turned away from them, not offering any sort of farewell, only to be stopped again.
"Hold on," Jacob called. Draco sighed and turned to face him again, abet warily. "You never told us your name," he explained, a blush darkening his cheeks. Draco scrutinized the teen for a moment before saying, "I'm Draco Malfoy." Jacob rocked back on his heels and whistled lowly, behind him Quil and Embry shared a confused look.
"Draco?" Jacob repeated, and the foreign feeling rose up inside Draco's chest again for some odd reason. "Is that, like, Latin for dragon or something?"
"That's exactly what it's for," Draco informed him coolly, although he was actually a little surprised to find that an American Muggle had actually known that.
"Now, if you'll excuse me." For the third time Draco turned to leave and this time he wasn't stopped, much to his relief. One he was far enough into the trees that he knew he wouldn't be spotted, he transformed and ran straight for home. The whole way there, his thoughts were conflicted.
Bella was nervous as she slowly approached her room. She had to remind herself that Edward wasn't truly mad, just worried – really, really worried.
Taking a deep breath, she shut the door quietly behind her. When she turned around she wasn't the least bit surprised to see Edward, standing in the shadow near the window, glaring at her. She did, however, cringe at the sight of the glare and lowered her head as she waited for the reprimanding. But it never came and she guessed that Edward was possibly too mad to speak.
"Hi," Bella finally said; Edward, however, didn't respond – didn't even twitch a little. He could have been carved from stone for all Bella knew. She counted to one hundred in her head – adding Mississippi also but there was no change.
"Err . . . so, I'm still alive," she began again. That got a reaction out of him.
A low growl sounded through the room, but Edward remained frozen where he was.
"No harm done," Bella insisted with a shrug, trying to be casual.
Edward finally defrosted. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose between the fingers of his right hand. It was a pose of immense patience, one Bella knew all too well and she tensed, waiting for his response.
"Bella," he whispered. "Do you have any idea how close I came to crossing the line today? To breaking the treaty and coming after you? Do you know what that could have meant?" Bella gasped and Edward's eyes opened so that he could stare at her – the dark orbs were cold and hard as night.
"You can't," Bella nearly shouted too loudly. She worked to lower her tone so that Charlie would not here her, but she wanted oh so desperately to shout at him. "Edward, they'd use any excuse for a fight. They'd love that. You can't ever break the rules!"
"Maybe they aren't the only ones who would enjoy a fight," Edward shot back evenly, his eyes narrowing.
"Don't you start," Bella snapped. "You made the treaty — you stick to it."
"If he'd hurt you —"
"Enough!" Bella said, cutting him off. "There's nothing to worry about. Jacob isn't dangerous."
"Bella," Edward started, rolling his eyes. "You aren't exactly the best judge of what is or isn't dangerous."
"I know I don't have to worry about Jake. And neither do you," Bella pointed out, sounded smug and very much cure of herself – which she was, it was just Edward that was being difficult.
Edward grounded his teeth together, his hands moving to ball up into fist at his side. Bella sighed and crossed the room. When she was close enough, she wrapped her arms around him hesitantly. He didn't pull back so she supposed this wasn't crossing any line or anything.
"I'm sorry I made you anxious," she muttered lowly. "I know you don't love me that way anymore, but I know you still care." Edward sighed and relaxed a little, his arms curling to return the friendly hug for a moment before pulling away.
"Anxious might be a bit of an understatement," he murmured in an equally low voice. "It's been a really long day."
"Well you were supposed to be hunting," Bella scolded him in an accusing tone, leaning in to him so that she could look into his eyes. She frowned when she noticed that they were still coal-dark.
"When Alice saw you disappear, I came back," he explained.
"Well great. Now you're gonna have to go back," Bella said in a disapproving tone. She mentally bereted Alice in her mind, the fortune-teller was going to get hell for messing up their carefully placed plans. Edward looked at her questioningly and she shrugged. "What? Harry was supposed to come over to your house next weekend," she explained. Edward poised a thoughtful look at that.
"I can wait," he finally said and Bella found herself smiling at his response.
"That's ridiculous. I mean why should you suffer because of me. I know Alice can't see me with Jacob, but you should have known —"
"But I didn't," Edward protested. "And you can't expect me to let you —"
"Oh, yes, I can," Bella interrupted this time. "That's exactly what I expect —"
"This won't happen again," Edward cut across evenly, his jaw set. Bella was reminded of Harry and thought that the two of them were perfect for each other. They were just too alike.
"That's right!" Bella agreed instead, turning her mind back to her conversation. "Because you're not going to overreact next time."
"Because there isn't going to be a next time."
"Edward," Bella said, her voice holding all the patience in the world. "This isn't going to work. You can't expect to protect me all the time, especially when you have to leave."
"I'm not exactly risking my life when I leave," Edward said rather tensely.
"Neither am I."
"Werewolves constitute a risk."
"I disagree."
"I'm not negotiating this, Bella."
"Neither am I." Bella crossed her hands stubbornly across her chest and met Edward's glare head on. After a few minutes she gave up, throwing her hands up in frustration.
"Ugh . . . what is it with you guys? Is it some weird vampires-and-werewolves-are-always-enemies nonsense? Is it just a testosterone-fueled —?"
"This is only about you," Edward cut across, his eyes blazing. "You're right when you said I don't love you that way anymore, but I still care. I just want your safety." Bella sighed at that and uncrossed her arms, letting them fall limply at her sides.
"Okay," she said on another sigh. "Okay. I believe that. But I want you to know something — when it comes to all this enemies non-sense, I'm out. I am a neutral country. I am Switzerland. I refuse to be affected by territorial disputes between mythical creatures. Jacob is family. You are family. I don't care who's a werewolf and who's a vampire. If Harry turns out to be a wizard, he can join the party, too."
Edward stared at her silently through narrowed eyes.
"Switzerland," she repeated again from emphasis and Edward sighed in reluctant agreement.
The week that Luna had planned the meeting with Edward came too quickly for Harry's taste. It didn't help that Draco was in a piss-y mood, which in turn put him in a piss-y mood. And Luna's constant reminders of the meeting was not helping his mood any either. Harry had considered bailing a good number of times, but Luna had seen to that had had taken the liberty of signing them up, with Edward included – so he was latterly stuck.
Then, to make matters worse it seemed like it was Bella's turn to be in a sour mood. This week was slowly turning into a worse one than the week before when he had to put up with Draco's constant taunts and fights.
Harry had taken to clinging to carrying Teddy to ever class now – even in Music where everyone like to fawn and coo over the boy – just so that he could have some semblance of piece.
Thursday found Harry to be in an even worse mood when he arrived to find that Edward was missing, not like he cared a whole lot.
Mumbling irritably to himself, he turned toward the Arts building where he was supposed to be meeting up with Luna – he was allowing her to take Teddy for today, but just so he could get away from the headache that were the girls in his music class. He caught sight of Bella leaving the English building which was near the Arts one. She was talking with Mike from Chemistry. Harry's mood brightened a little when he saw her and he called out to the teen.
"Hey, Bella!"
Both of the teens turned around and for a second Mike looked like he wanted to bite Harry's head off for interrupting them. Harry was thinking of just walking on – no need to move in while Mike was trying to make his move – but Harry noticed that Bella's mournful expression had eased up a little and so he made his way over to them. Before anything could even be said, however, their voices were drowned out by a loud, growling roar.
Everyone within the vicinity turned to look as a black motorcycle pulled to a screeching stop at the sidewalk near Bella. The cyclist – the large, bulky teen that Harry remembered was called Jacob – waved Bella over urgently.
"Run, Bella!" he yelled over the engine's roar. Bella froze for only a quick second before moving into action. She whipped around to face both Mike and Harry, her eyes bright with excitement.
"I got really sick and went home, okay?" she said quickly, her word running together in her rush to get them out. Mike blinked, gapping at her openmouthed.
"Um . . . okay," Harry agreed reluctantly when it looked like Mike wasn't going to say anything.
"Thanks, Harry," Bella said, relief washing through her. She leaned over a pecked him lightly on the cheek before spinning around. "I owe you one!" Then she was speeding out of the parking lot on the back of the bike and disappearing around the bend.
"What the hell was that," Mike finally said in a whisper, amazement in his voice. Harry shrugged, his eyes landing on Alice, who was standing near the cafeteria and staring after Bella in frozen fury.
"I have no idea," Harry murmured. "But I'm about to find out. Don't forget to tell your teacher that Bella got sick."
He then turned away from Mike and nearly crashed right into Luna. His mouth opened, about to question her on her sudden appearance but the girl just took Teddy out of his hands and winked before walking off. Harry let her go this time, smiling after her fondly before turning to head off. He caught up to Alice just as she was entering the art classroom.
"Hey, Alice!" he called out to her, waving his arm to get her attention. She paused and turned around to face him, still looking slightly angry.
"Oh, hi Harry," she greeted uncharacteristically unenthusiastic.
"Um . . . do you know what all that was about with Bella?" Harry asked uncertainly, waving his hand in the air. Alice frowned delicately at the mention of what had just transpired. Then she huffed out a breath in annoyance.
"That was Bella being unnecessarily difficult and annoyingly reckless," Alice grounded out. Then she adopted a sad look and sighed. "And I only just got the Porsche." With that said, she turned away and drifted into her class, leaving Harry very much confused.
Bella knew immediately when they were over the treaty line. Jacob straightened up and let out a howl of laughter.
"We made it," he shouted, lifting one hand off the handle so that he could pump it in the air. "Not bad for a prison break, eh?"
"Good thinking, Jake," Bella said with a laugh of her own.
"I remembered what you said about the psychic leech not being about to predict what I'm going to do," Jacob went on to explain, joyously. "I'm glad you didn't think of this – she wouldn't have let you go to school."
"That's why I didn't consider it," Bella agreed. Jake threw back his head and laughed triumphantly.
"What do you want to do today?"
"Anything," Bella laughed back. Boy did it feel good to be free. They ended up at the beach wandering the sand and talking about meaningless things.
"So, what's the latest pack scandal?" Bella asked lightly. Jacob skidded to a sudden stop and gapped down at her with shocked eyes. "What? That was a joke," she said when she caught his expression.
"Oh." He looked away, slightly embarrassed.
"Is there a scandal?" Bella then asked when nothing more had been said. Jacob chuckled once, dryly.
"I forgot what it's like, not having everyone know everything all the time. Having a quiet, private place inside my head." They were both silent for a while as they started back down the beach.
"So, what is it?" Bella finally asked. "That everyone in your head already know?" He hesitated for a moment before sighing.
"Quil imprinted. Everyone starting to get worried. Maybe it's more common than the stories say . . ." he trailed off, looking like he wanted to say more. Bella waited patiently but he didn't continue he just went back to walking. Eventually they came upon a familiar piece of driftwood. Bella sat down and Jacob sat beside side her.
"Okay, why is Quil's imprinting such a scandal?" she finally asked when she knew he wasn't going to go on without prompting. "It it because he's the newest one?"
"That doesn't have anything to do with it."
"Then what's the problem?"
"It's another one of those legends things," Jacob said on a sigh. "I wonder when we're going to top being surprised that they're all true?" he then muttered to himself.
"Are you going to tell me?" Bella demanded when he stopped speaking again. "Or do I have to guess?"
"You'd never get it right," Jacob said with another sigh. "See, Quil hasn't been hanging out with us, you know, until just recently. So, he hadn't been around Emily's place much."
"Quil imprinted on Emily, too?" Bella said with a gasp.
"No! I told you not to guess. Emily had her two nieces down for a visit . . . and Quil met Claire." Jacob left it there and Bella poised a thoughtful look.
"Emily doesn't want her niece with a werewolf? That's a little hypocritical," she finally said. But she guessed she could kind of understand where Emily was coming from. Bella could remember all too clearly the scar's marring Emily's face and arms. Sam, her imprinter had been standing too close when he had transformed one day and . . .
Jacob groaned and shook his head, breaking Bella from her thoughts.
"Would you please stop guessing? You're way off. Emily doesn't mind that part, it's just, well, a little early."
"What do you mean early?" Jacob scrutinized Bella with narrowed eyes for a minute.
"Try not to be judgmental, okay?" Bella nodded cautiously.
"Claire is two," Jacob said flatly.
Suddenly rain started falling and Bella blinked furiously as the drops splashed against her face. Jacob waited patiently for her response in silence. He wasn't wearing a jacket; the rain made dark spots in his black T-shirt and dripped through his shaggy hair. His face was expressionless as he watched Bella's.
"Quil . . . imprinted . . . with a two-year-old?" she asked finally.
"It happens." Jacob lifted and dropped his shoulders in a casual shrug. He reached down and picked up a rock, sending it flying into the ocean. "Or so the stories say."
"But she's a baby," Bella protested. Jacob looked over at her in dark amusement.
"Quil's not getting any older," he reminded her, a bit of acid in his tone. "He'll just have to be patient for a few decades."
"I . . . don't know what to say." Bella admitted, her face twisting into an unreadable expression. She was trying her hardest not to be critical, but really, the thought was kind of horrifying. Up until then nothing about the werewolves every bothered her, but this one just about freaked her out.
"You're making judgments," Jacob accused. "I can see it on your face."
"Sorry," Bella apologized. "But it sounds really creepy."
"It's not like that," Jacob defended vehemently. "For Quil it's nothing romantic. It's more like . . . like gravity is no longer holding him. Like she's the only thing keeping him on Earth. Nothing else matters more than her." Bella nodded but Jacob's expression was one she didn't quite understand. It was like he was no longer talking from Quil's experience.
"You sound like this has happened to you," Bella observed.
Jacob froze, looking pointedly out at the sea. He picked up another rock and tossed it.
"Has it?" Bella asked. Jacob didn't say anything so Bella took that as a yes. "Jake! This is great! When did this happen?"
Jacob sighed, finally giving in.
"Last week. Saturday. Right here. On the beach," he said in a clipped tone.
"Oh, well, what's her name? You did get her name, right?" Jacob looked away again, looking like he'd swallowed a lemon whole. "What? Jake, what did I say?"
"I never said it was a her," Jacob whispered lowly. Bella's mouth dropped open with an audible pop. She had not expected that!
"Oh," she breathed. It took her a moment to recover and then she said, "So, what's his name?" Jacob looked over at her in surprise at her casual response.
"What?" he demanded, having expected something like disgust. Bella shrugged, like his sexual preference didn't matter to her one bit.
"I said, 'What's his name?'" Jacob gapped at her, his mouth opening and closing, giving his the impression of a fish out of water.
"You mean you don't mind?" Bella shrugged again.
"Why should I care if you like guys or not? It doesn't matter to me. Besides, Edward's gay too, so it'd be a little hypocritical of me if I was." Jacob's eyes suddenly looked like they'd pop right out of his head. "Are you going to tell me the guy's name or not?" Bella asked after a minute of silence, just a little irritated.
"Oh, right," Jacob said, shaking his head to clear his mind. "Um . . . he said his name was Draco Malfoy," he told her in a quiet voice, savoring the name on his lips. He wasn't sure how many times he'd said that name since he met the boy.
Now it was Bella's turn to do the fish-out-of-water impression, and then she burst into a round of laughter that had Jacob shifting nervously.
"What! What's so funny," Jacob demanded, shaking Bella's shoulders lightly. Bella shook her head, still shaking with laughter.
"Sorry, sorry. It's just . . . Draco? You imprinted on Draco?" And then Bella was rolling with laughter again.
"Is that bad," Jacob asked, feeling uncertain.
"Not bad necessarily. It's just that Draco's . . . um . . . hard to get along with."
"Bella, be honest with me," Jacob pleaded, looking sort of like a desperate puppy. Bella sighed.
"Well, he's kind of . . . standoffish, and . . . um . . . stuck-up. But hey," Bella said when Jacob started looking downcast, "Maybe you can change him for the better." Jacob looked up, suddenly hopeful and Bella sighed again.
She had no idea what she was going to do with these guys.
Hmm? I don't know if I have a favorite in this one. Maybe Draco joining Harry in De Nile? Oh well. You know what to do? You just gotta Review? Hey! That rhymed!