Chapter Four – Hold my hand
And please, say to me,
You'll let me hold you hand
Now let me hold you hand
I wanna hold your hand
The Beatles - I want to hold your hand
-0-
"Is Bella sitting with Edward again?"
I looked away from Mike and Tyler, to face Jessica who was staring off to something behind me. Glancing over my shoulder, I stared across the canteen to where my sister was currently sat and I had to fight back the frown that threatened to appear on my face. There sat on a separate table to his family was Edward and Bella, doing that weird staring thing they did. This was the third time this week they'd sat together and it was taking some effort not to let it bother me.
I didn't know Edward and hated judging but the first impression I had gotten from him through my sister hadn't been a good one. Added to that, was the fact I didn't like how Bella was acting around him, it was almost unhealthy how infatuated she was with him already. I had to remind myself though that it wasn't my business, not really, but I was still set on talking to her later and maybe pointing out she was diving in way too fast, especially considering only last week he was treating her like a bad smell. Yes, I was going to talk to her, after try-outs.
"I guess so." I said as I turned to face Jessica again, shooting both her and Angela a small smile as I reached for more fries. Brushing my hair behind my ear I looked at Jessica, "So anyone I should watch out for today?" I asked her by way of turning the subject off my sister and onto something else. For a moment it looked like Jessica wanted to say more about Edward and Bella but she seemed to catch on and instead indulged me in the topic change.
"Well there's Chelsea, she's still bitter over Meg being kicked off the team so she's not too happy about you guys trying out…" she explained and I groaned, "Don't worry about her though, the others are pretty cool so you'll be fine." She added, smiling at me before popping the straw of her drink into her mouth. Glancing past her and to Angela, I laughed, sharing an amused look with the other girl.
"Well alright then, thanks." I said shaking my head. Chelsea wasn't exactly known for being the most welcoming or kind spoken girl around school, so knowing she wasn't too into the idea of me or any other girl trying out set my nerves a little on edge. Not enough to contemplate skipping out, no I was confident I could do this. I was excited and I knew the more extra-curricular activities I did, the better it would look on any college application I filled out next year. With my AP classes and the extra credit work I was doing, I felt like I had a good chance of being accepted somewhere half-way decent when I graduated.
Shooting a smile at Jessica and Angela I looked down at my plate again, drowning out the conversation at our table to once again look over my shoulder back towards my sister. I wanted to tell her everything but she'd been somewhat distracted this week, if she wasn't at lunch with Edward she was fixed to her computer back home, claiming 'research'. On what I didn't know but only last night she'd turned down sitting with me and Dad and retired to her room, skipping dinner.
Sighing softly, I let my gaze linger on them for a second longer, ready to turn away when Edward focused his attention on me. His eyes narrowed somewhat as though he was struggling almost, to figure something difficult out. Frowning I turned away quickly, struggling to push down that knot in my stomach, the knot that felt like a warning, a warning of something life changing occurring.
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"Get it!"
Rushing forward, I jumped up as Jessica hit the ball, using my fist to punch it over the net, watching as I landed on my feet and we scored the point. A cheer erupted from my team as the game ended. I had to admit I'd been expecting something else but try-outs had consisted of the current team being split up and pitted against each other, in a bid to see what I had to offer. Without sounding too big headed I'd been happy with how I'd played and could only hope Tori and the others had been too.
"You were great." Jessica whispered as we high fived, clasping hands briefly as Tori approached. Taking a breath, I wiped my hands together and shot the other girl a smile, as she came to a stop in front of me, her arms crossed over her chest.
"You did good." She said, and I bit down on my bottom lip, strangely nervous. I watched as she looked around her team before turning her focus back on to me. "I may be the captain but we've always made decisions as a group, that's how it works here…so with that said…all those in favour of Grace joining the team raise your hand." She said, brushing a lock of her blonde hair over her shoulder as she raised her own hand.
Again, how they were doing things was new, but I wouldn't say I didn't like it. It almost felt more personal this way. Holding my breath I watched as one by one the girls raised their hands and I was finally accepted onto the team. Clapping my hands internally I ticked off yet another thing off my list of things to do this year to pump up my resume for college.
-0-
"So…you and Bella were gone for a while today."
I watched as Jacob looked up at me from his position on my bedroom floor, his brow furrowed slightly from either confusion or concentration. It'd been three hours since we'd returned from the beach and Billy and Jacob had dropped by again. I didn't mind them being here so much, in fact I think I liked it a lot more than Bella did, getting to spend more time with Jacob and all. Speaking of Bella she locked away in her room with one of her new books, refusing dinner again.
"Yeah, she had a few questions about tribal legends and such." Jacob replied, returning that confused expression back down to the laptop I'd perched on top of my dressing table chair. Frowning, I debated pushing on what Bella had wanted to know but I found I didn't really care. With all the pulling away crap she'd been doing since that incident with the van, I didn't have much time for her. Chewing on the end of my liquorice whip I returned my focus onto the screen as well. "Is she really interested in that Cullen guy?" Jacob asked, breaking the silence after several moments.
Slightly startled I looked down at Jacob and felt my face pull into a sort of grimace. "Seems that way; though heaven knows why." I said, shaking my head. I was happy to see Jacob's expression closely mirrored my own and pushed away the slight worry of why he would be asking such a question.
"Yeah, the Cullen's are weird." He said and it was hard to miss the slight hint of something else in his voice, so my interest was piqued. Though I wasn't going to push him to elaborate any further, Edward Cullen was one of my least favorite people at the moment and since I hated the hold he had on my sister, I refused to waste any of my own time trying to find out more on him. There was something off-putting about the whole family, something that didn't sit right to me, but to Bella…you'd think he was the guy who hung the moon and stars, she was smitten.
"Pass me the pepperoni?" I said, holding out my hand and wiggling my fingers to Jacob. He smiled and leaned over to grab two slices of pizza from the takeaway box, passing me one and keeping the other for himself. I smiled before biting into the slice, enjoying the warmth I was feeling sat here with him. A movie playing on the laptop, Dad and Billy watching a game downstairs, and the rain battering down against the window outside, I'd never felt more at home.
"There's a serial killer, bumping off all of her friends and she decides to sleep alone…what the hell…" he exclaimed some seconds later, his face one of outrage as he turned to look at me. Laughing I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders,
"Girls in these movies tend to be a little stupid; a lot of the time it makes our gender look bad…" I told him, shaking my head as the girl on screen proceeded to have a conversation with her stalker instead of hanging up and calling the police. Then as if on cue the killer struck and the heroine began running up the stairs, completely bypassing the front door. "See, it's all there." I scoffed and Jacob laughed.
"Nah, the girls kick ass at the end…stands up to the killer, fights back." He pointed out and I smiled, I had to give him that. As I finished my pizza I glanced at Jacob again, then smiled, shifting so I was sat up. Crossing my legs I moved behind him, "What you doing…?" he asked, yet instead of answering I carefully removed the hair tie from his hair and reached for the brush on my bedside cabinet.
"Just be quiet and watch the film." I told him teasingly. To my surprise Jacob did what I asked and allowed me to play with his hair. Sat there in silence I began to put thin braids throughout, happy that I'd finally managed to get my fingers in his hair. Like I'd thought, it was incredibly soft, the strands silky smooth and what made it better was he seemed comfortable enough to allow me to mess with it.
"So you comin' next weekend or what?" he asked some minutes later, his eyes fixed on the movie I was supposed to be watching. "Embry and Quil are gonna be there…" he added and I smiled, the boys I'd met today were nice. Boyish and playful but nice, Jacob trusted them and that was all I needed to know that they were good people.
"Sure sounds good, we headin' the beach again?" I asked, finding it was quickly becoming one of my favorite places to hang out.
"Yeah, the guys wanna do a bit of cliff-diving…"
"Cliff-diving? That sounds…dangerous." I commented, cutting him off as he spoke. Jacob though chuckled and shook his head.
"Nah, scary as hell yeah but a total rush…plus we're not jumping from high up" he explained but still I had my doubts. Instead of voicing them however I felt my mouth snap shut when Bella entered the room, dressed and ready for bed. Her eyes flickered between Jacob and I, a slight frown on her face. "You forget how to knock?" I asked, still a little hurt by her lack of interest when I'd announced my acceptance onto the volleyball team.
When I had come home last night and told both her and Dad, Dad had been ecstatic, somewhat proud that I was pursuing something sporty, even if he didn't completely understand how it worked. Bella however had said a simple, yet distracted 'well done' and slinked back up to her bedroom. If we were being honest, her coming into my room now was the first time in a week she'd approached me of her own accord. Her eyes were wide, excited, like she was in on some big secret.
"Sorry, I just wanted to talk to Jacob…Jake, do you remember what you said on the beach?" she asked and I felt a flare of irritation erupt in my chest at the nickname and the fact she was still obsessing over whatever it was she had been talking to Jacob about. "About the Cullen's supposedly being this enemy clan…the cold ones….?"
"You've got to be kidding me…" I muttered, letting my hands fall away from Jacob's hair, frustration flooding through me. I felt Jacob shift, his back against the bed and in turn my crossed legs, and then he shook his head turning his head to look up at Bella.
"Bella they're just stories…" Jacob reasoned, but looking at Bella I knew her well enough to realize she didn't believe that. Jacob seemed to pick up on that as well since he elaborated. "There are probably books on the legends though in Port Angeles." Bella's face lit up and she nodded before rushing back out of the room without so much as a thank you. Jacob slowly turned to look at me, "What's going on with her?" he asked and I found it to be a very valid question.
"Your guess is as good as mine. She's fixated on this Cullen guy at school." I told him, combing my fingers through my hair and I saw Jacob shift again, so he was sitting more on his side, resting his arm across my legs.
"You don't like him?" he asked. I looked across at the door then back to Jacob, shaking my head as my fingers played with his hair tie. Jacob put his hand over mine and squeezed lightly, drawing my attention back on to him.
"I don't like the hold he has over her, he's been a total ass since they met and she's just…I don't know infatuated…" I told him, sighing softly. "He just, really creeps me out." Jacob nodded his head, still holding my hand and it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
"Yeah, the whole family is a little weird." He replied
"Jacob, your Dad's ready to go!"
Jacob groaned and pulled a face, making me laugh lightly as I ruffled his hair. I was disappointed Billy had chosen to leave so soon, we were barely done with the movie and Bella had ruined the otherwise fun night in a matter of seconds. "You should get goin'." I sighed, lightly and playfully pushing his shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah…" Jacob chuckled, pushing himself up into a standing position and stretching his arms over his head, groaning as he did. Laughing lightly I made to tie my hair, only to have my hands taken by Jacob when he tugged me up as well. When I was stood in front of him, Jacob pulled me in for a hug leaving me to wrap my arms instinctively around his shoulders. "Don't let it get to you."
I smiled softly against his shoulder and closed my eyes. Even this, hugging him felt so natural and almost like breathing. The frustration I'd felt over Bella quickly dissipated, it was just Jacob and me. Me and a guy I knew now, for sure was my best-friend. I'd learned pretty early on that Jacob was a very physical person, he liked to hold hands, he gave out spontaneous hugs like this and I found, I liked it. It was comforting and like him, I was very physical, I liked to touch, to hug.
"Not making any promises." I replied honestly, as we pulled out of the hug, the sound of the front door opening downstairs, indicating it was time to go. Jacob smiled lightly and nodded before taking a few steps back, "I'll call you tomorrow." I told him, standing in the middle of my room as he moved to the door. It was with a smile he looked back at me
"Sure, sure." He said lightly, giving me one more wave before he stepped out into the darkened hall and disappeared from sight. For a moment I remained looking at the bedroom door, before I turned and walked to the window. I watched as Dad helped Jacob get Billy into the truck, before closing my blinds and turning to sit on the edge of my bed.
Once again I was alone and that feeling of unease washed over me. I didn't like it, I really didn't mind being alone but lately there was something setting me on edge and I had no idea what the cause was. Trying my best to shrug it off I began the nightly routine I went through before bed, looking forward to burrowing beneath my covers, today had been extremely tiring, fun with Jacob and my friends, but tiring and I was looking forward to sleeping…if only I'd known then what was waiting for me when I closed my eyes.
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Waking suddenly I sat upright, unsure of what had woken me up. The room was quiet but cold, extremely cold and I slowly turned my gaze to the bedroom window. The curtains billowed in the wind, staring at them curiously I realized I couldn't remember leaving them open. I pulled back my covers and slid out of bed only to pause as the sound of creaking floorboards outside the room caught my ears. Then, just like some kind of creepy horror movie, my closed bedroom door slowly began to open, creaking as it did.
Holding my breath I waited for someone to appear but no one did, instead all I could see was the flickering of the hallway light. Without conscious thought my feet began to move of their own accord towards the door, before slowly leading me out into the hallway. "Dad? Bella?" I called out but no one replied, I felt my heart thumping against my chest with the uneasy feeling of being watched.
"Dad?" I slowly moved towards the stairs where I could still see the light from the television, indicating he was still up. Making my way down I tried to shake off the sense of foreboding, of dread and my skin prickled from the cold. With my hand trailing across the wall I quietly stepped into the living room, frowning at the static picture on the television. Letting my eyes move to the couch I breathed a sigh of relief, seeing my Dad laying down fast asleep.
With a small smile I made my way over to him, "Dad…Dad, come on you fell asleep…" I said quietly, moving around the couch to give his shoulder a shake when he didn't move. "Dad come…" I trailed off, frowning deeply the feel of something wet on my hands. Slowly I withdrew my arm, staring at my palm but unable to see anything I leaned over to turn on the lamp.
A piercing scream echoed throughout the room as I stared down at the unmoving figure of my Dad. The wet on my hand was blood, vibrant in color and trailing down my arm. My Dad lay there, his throat ripped so viciously his head was practically detached from his body and his eyes and move were open wide, pure terror on his once handsome face. Screaming out again in agony I tore out the room and back up the stairs, the blood on my hands leaving blood smeared along the banister and the wall. "Bella!"
Bursting through into Bella's room, I didn't break stride, instead I ran to her bed and shook her, tears streaming down my face. "Bella…Bella wake up it's Dad, something happened…" I cried out and shook her but she didn't move and it took me too long to realize just how cold she was. "Bella?" I shook her again and pulled back the covers, my stomach recoiling at the sight of her blood soaked sheets, bite marks tattooed all over her pale skin.
Stumbling back I collided with something solid, something that shouldn't be there and something as cold as both my sister and Father. Spinning around I came face to face with none other than Edward Cullen. His eyes were black; blood was smeared all around his mouth, over his teeth as he grinned at me manically. Before I could move his hand was around my throat and he was lifting me high in the air, clean off the ground. My fingers clawed at his marble like skin, not causing any real damage.
"Should have trusted your instincts Gracey…" he chuckled evilly, and my eyes widened in terror and panic as his other hand tightened in my hair and brought my neck to his open mouth, before a searing burning pain filled my body and everything went black…
I screamed, screamed louder than I ever had before as I shot up in bed. Panicked, my eyes were wide, my tear streaked face was pale and my hair in disarray as I pushed and pulled against the tangled sheets around my legs. I could feel myself hyperventilating and unable to do anything about it because I was still in that stage of being awake but still caught up in the nightmare that had me terrified.
"Grace?!"
My bedroom door slammed open and my half asleep Dad came running into the room, gun held high. After scanning my room quickly, he dropped the gun on the desk and ran over to where I was sat panicking, his hands grasping my shoulders and then cupping my face as he repeated my name again, forcing me to look at him. "Grace, baby, look at me." He ordered, and I turned my wide eyes onto him.
"Dad…?" I croaked out, my hands reaching up to grab his arms as I tried to breath. My Dad smiled slightly and nodded his head and I was too focused on him to realise Bella was standing in the doorway, observing me quietly. "There was…and you and Bella…there was blood everywhere and he…" sobs wracked through my body as I remembered the horrible images.
"Baby, it was a nightmare. Just a nightmare okay, you're okay." He assured me and I used my hands on his arms to anchor myself onto his words, allowing myself to trust them. Still my heart raced and the tears still fell, though they were at least now slowing down. I knew he was right, it was a nightmare and it wasn't real he was prove of that, as was Bella but still I couldn't shake off this sick feeling that had followed me out of the dream, and why was Edward there?
"You okay sis?" Bella asked me quietly, stepping a little more into the room though he arms were crossed and she looked tired. Nodding my head I looked at her again only to have her nod, smile a little and head out the room back to her own. Now that stung, part of me half expected or hoped she'd jump into bed with me like we did whenever one of us had a bad dream, like a sort of comfort thing we shared.
Dad's hand now rubbed my arm reassuringly and I took another breath, glancing at the clock. Part of me wanted to tell him to go to bed but the selfish part of me needed him for just a while longer. "I'm sorry I woke you." I croaked out some quiet moments later. Dad though smiled, patting my hand.
"Don't worry about it kid, you goin' to be okay now?" he asked me and I nodded, then shook my head, clasping onto his hand. Dad waited patiently for whatever I was about to say.
"Will you stay with me until I fall asleep" I asked of him, feeling very much like a five year old but as of right now I didn't care. That dream had shook something inside of me, the terror I'd felt inside of it still hadn't left me. Dad's presence offered comfort so if I wanted to try and sleep again I wanted him here. To my immense relief Dad nodded, leaning over to press a kiss to my forehead.
"I'll stay until you go to sleep." He said, sliding down off the side of the bed to sit on the floor, his back against the bed and still holding my hand. Swallowing down the lump in my throat I shuffled back down into bed, curling the covers around me and burying my head into my pillow, though I didn't close my eyes and Dad noticed, "It's okay." He said softly and I nodded, taking a breath before shutting my eyes, focusing on breathing and Dad's hand holding onto mine. It didn't take long for me to start to drift off again and just before the blackness consumed me, I heard one last thing, "I got you baby girl, nothing's ever going to hurt you."
If only we'd realized what was coming…
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Here is the long awaited Chapter update. Reasons for it being so late are many, I could blame work, or life and I guess in a way they do factor in but the truth is I just lost muse for this story. However after a lot of plotting I've come to the some interesting points. I'm not going to focus too heavily on Book 1 in fact I'm skimming it as best I can and those parts you recognize are necessary for the story. This is Jacob's and Grace's story not Bella's, so yeah. You may also notice some differences in time here, I will be messing about with it a little to make it fit Grace's story.
Part of me has been worried not many people like it. If you're a follower and you've never reviewed, please let me know what you think it's those reviews that make it such a joy to write because you know then that people appreciate these characters just as much as you.
Really hope to hear of you all!
Layla347 – I know it's been a while but I hope you're still with us. Hope you enjoyed this chapter; things are set to get increasingly more intense.
Captain-Spangled – Bella and Grace's relationship is fun and I'm really looking forward to seeing if it can survive what Bella's bringing into their lives. It'll be fun to see how her selfish decisions affect her family and what repercussions hanging out with vampires will have on them. They do love each other but I am worried for them. Grace and Jacob are my favorites and their phone call was fun…I hope I'm making their relationship natural here…starting it off with a fast friendship? What do you think?
RiekeMe – Grace totally has the feelings already she just doesn't really recognize them as that right now. Age definitely won't be an issue for them, she's not Bella. As you can see she does have her reservations about Edward, reservations that get worse, she's not going to be someone who is going to like him very much, he's going to be at the center of her world tipping upside down…I think Grace will see him and the others for what they are…she's not going to have rose tinted glasses like Bella. The lovey dovey chapters are a bit away but that doesn't mean there won't be a lot of interesting stuff leading us up to that…lets just say though Grace isn't the only one with feelings already…hope you like this chapter.
Lytebrytehybrid88 – Will Bella ruin Grace and Jake? Will Bella just use Jacob when the Cullen's leave when he should be focused on Grace? I don't know but thinks are about to get interesting and I am looking forward to Bella's depression. It's going to make Grace open her eyes to her sister, it's going to make her realise a few things and well, her life is going to change dramatically. Grace's heart will be hurt, her life will be in danger and can her and Jacob still come together after all that? We will see…but Bella's about to do things that will greatly affect hers and Grace's relationship.
Cassie-D1 – No Jacob is not obsessed with Bella. I couldn't stomach that and neither will he ever be obsessed with her. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!