CHAPTER ONE: CAN'T BE THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING
Crouched by the treeline, his pack by his side and at his back, Jacob Black watched as a trespasser first stepped foot on the sand– firmly inside the La Push reservation, and he watched as Paul barely held in a rumbling grumble, uncomfortable with the slight against their territory. Just as quickly as that growl had risen, Jacob chased it with a commanding one of his own. Be patient, he pushed the thought out of his head and broadcast it down the pack's mental link. She doesn't look like an intruder.
She really didn't. It'd only taken a few steps for her to appear in their full line of vision. Most intruders didn't carry surfboards and threadbare backpacks. A keychain jingled on the zipper of her bag– loud to his sensitive ears– that didn't exactly shout 'subtle.'
I'll chase her off. Warn her away. He didn't have to speak. His intentions communicated enough, and Paul and Embry. An opening in their learned line of defense on the higher ground overlooking the water was immediately made for him. Between one step and another, Jacob shifted back into his human form. It used to hurt, make him sweat and pant, but the change was as easy and seamless as breathing. Fuck, he didn't even have to catch his breath from anything anymore. The shirt he put on was Sam's by the smell of it, but it was the only shirt within a few miles radius, and it fit almost perfectly. The cargo shorts were his own, though. Barefoot, and fast enough that no human eye would catch more than a blur moving, he made his way down the slope and curled his toes in the sand when he firmly stood on it.
"This is private property," he called out, hoping to get this over with without the pack getting tenser than it already was. The girl turned around, a curtain of blonde hair moving along with her, keychain noise and surfboard and all, and–
Jacob lost his breath. Her eyes, a deep molten– like the contacts the Cullens desperately wore to mask themselves as humans but real– froze him in place, stuck his feet in the sand like it was concrete and cement instead. Dark eyebrows furrowed in concern at his appearance and statement, and Jacob almost swallowed on his own tongue in his mind's fierce prodding to speak.
If someone had told me Forks, Washington had people this beautiful, I would have made my way here a lot faster. Romance novels always filled my head with too many dreamy descriptions. Few people in real life had been worthy of them, though. Maybe a few girls, and a few movie stars. Now? Romantic adjectives raced to the front of my mind. I barely kept them from my tongue. This might just be the most good-looking guy I'd ever met. This is it, guys, I wanted to let the rest of the world know. The epitome of beauty, of manliness, of perfection, has been located. The rest of you can go home.
As pretty as the package was wrapped, what he was saying registered with me. My excitement, which had ridden me all morning in anticipation of swimming, faltered. "Aw, really?"
I cast a longing look at the crystal clear waters. The perfect wave tempted me then, teasing me. I'm here, it seemed to tell. Why aren't you here, too?
"Water's no good for going in right now, anyway. You don't wanna go in," the guy says.
His statement results in me investigating its validity. I'd briefly glanced at him when he'd spoken, but I returned to the water to my right. A picturesque beach stared back, inviting waves lolled lazily, slamming into the sand with the strength of a toddler. The sky, while absent of a lot of light, was sunny enough that it warranted an eyebrow raise. Jacob chuckles confidently at my evident doubt.
"Tide's dangerous," he says. He then shrugs. "Give it a few hours, and it will be pouring, too."
"It's summer," I say, disbelief marring my tone a little.
"It's Forks," he counters easily. "You'll have better luck tomorrow."
"It will still be private property tomorrow." Why would anyone be selfish enough to keep this slice of paradise to themselves anyway? Already, the answer presented itself to me. If I had this haven tucked away somewhere, I would guard it with the ferociousness of a lion defending its territory. It would be just me, the sand, and the sea. No trespassers allowed.
An arrogant smile, one that's self-deprecating and hella confident at the same time, teases at the guy's lips. Perfect, bright white teeth make an appearance. "The owners…might be lenient, though."
Ah, okay. I smile back. "Yeah?" I say, my voice betraying my thoughts. I tilt my head against the shininess that suddenly reflects in my eyes. Although his smile might have been a contributing factor that I felt a need to cover my face, the sun was also beaming directly at me.
"I'll have to check, but yeah; it should generally be okay." For a moment, our eye contact is broken when something way up over our head steals his attention. I try to follow his gaze; it's aimed at the small cliff that hugs the shore. There are so many trees and branches that the cliff looks like it's overflowing, all of them reaching out to touch the water. I don't find what he's looking at by the time he finds my face again. He studies me; smiles again.
On paper, on a magazine cover, it should be perfect. It looks too sharp around the edge, sharkish in nature. I wish I had my camera.
"You know," I find myself saying, unable to help myself. "I watch, like, an unhealthy amount of crime documentaries. A newcomer is invited to an isolated place in the middle of nowhere by a guy who comes out of nowhere sounds like the start of one."
His smile sharpens into a grin. "What, you think I'm a serial killer?" The thought is more amusing to him than I thought. Then, I find out why when he says, "All right. Invitation rescinded. Find a new swimming spot." He starts to turn around mockingly.
"No, wait," I say laughingly. "Wait, well, how do you know I'm not a serial killer?"
"Are you a serial killer?" he asks. The fact that he's indulging me makes me like him more. "Would I be your type?"
"Oh, no. My type is girls." Instant gratification at his reaction and widened eyes breaks whatever cap I had on my amusement. "But a few guys may pass."
He still looks caught off-guard. "Are we still talking about serial killers?"
I giggle.
A few heartbeats pass, after which he says, "I'll see you tomorrow?"
I nod firmly. Nothing short of a cyclone could keep me from this beach now that I had permission to come back.
I think he's about to say goodbye, but then he looks like he suddenly remembers something. "Hey, I never did get your name."
"Oh, that never came up, did it?" I'll blame it on his overwhelming smile and overwhelmingly good looks. They scrambled my brain and basic etiquette. I raise a hand for him to shake, which he does. I almost draw it back. His palm is abnormally hot to the touch, almost scalding.
I shake my head at myself. I'm being dramatic; 'playing at being an actress' as my aunt would say. "I'm Katherine," I introduce myself. I tear my focus away from my thoughts– and how his touch feels, and smile charmingly as my aunt had taught me. "But people call me Kat or Kitty."
The snort that escapes him is almost bark-like. "Kitty? Jesus Christ, you're gonna get eaten alive here."
My mouth drops in offense. "What? You don't like my name?"
He sobers up from his amusement, but he doesn't shake the smile that stretches his expression. "Oh, no. I love it. Sure you don't go by Kate or Katie?"
It's what my family called me before. Katherine is the name my aunt referred to me with. Kat and Kitty were the names my friends called me. The ones that seemed best suited to me. Katherine was what my grandparents wanted me to be named. Growing up, my best friend's actual name was Kate, so she was nicknamed Katie– and I wasn't going to touch that with a ten-foot pole. It seemed easier to pick something else to be called to avoid confusion, and so my aunt's nickname stuck.
Of course, I wasn't gonna tell a stranger all of that. No one deserved me unburdening my emotional baggage, no matter how pretty they were.
"I'm sure," I tell him, pursing my lips to add extra firmness to my statement. "Come out with it, then. What's your name?"
Like being called out in class, he straightens. "Jacob Black, at your service. But people call me Jake sometimes."
Katherine Fermi always believed in balance, so it seemed especially cruel to have her transition from living her entire life in a sunny, artificial type of city to what had been hailed– or criticized– as one of the United States' rainiest towns: Forks, Washington. She went from a concrete jungle to one of the thickest, most overwhelming forests of all time, or at least, it seemed that away. It rained more than it shined.
She went from penthouses and mansions to a rundown cabin in the woods. Katherine's paranoid nature, inherited from her parents, didn't help in the slightest. Every croak, screech, and howl she heard– which were more frequent than you'd think, made her jolt and stare wide-eyed at her home in case anything broke in. Also by nature, Katherine was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. She might have been glad to leave North Dakota in the rear view, but hunkering down in the armpit of civilization was a new low.
If she didn't have enough to complain about regarding her surroundings, the people of Forks didn't provide a respite. They stared, and they gossiped, and they avoided her like the plague.
Freshly out of high school and deep into her gap year, which was turning into two years, there wasn't anywhere where she could really meet people. School had at least forced her to interact with the same people for so long that it was inevitable to find someone to befriend. Her old friends, Katie, Scott, and the rest of the gang had stuck together throughout all of their growing years, leaving her a little rusty on her social skills.
The problem was that Katherine liked people. She liked conversations with kind strangers while she was out; bonding with someone for a brief minute over a common interest. She liked the unlikely friendships she could strike up; the wholesome feeling of being greeted by name when she came into a store or a cafe.
There had been a silver lining yesterday. Jacob Black. Funny, kind, and hot Jacob Black, whose family apparently owned one of the most beautiful beaches Kat had ever laid eyes on. Their encounter may have been aided by the picturesque background, but the charm had been all Jacob. Kitty? You're going to get eaten alive here.
Forks, Washington was supposed to be a pit stop, anyway. There is no scenario in any multiverse that she'd willingly stay in the same country as her family, never mind her uncle, whom she now shared the cabin with. She just had to endure until the day she turned 21, got that big fat check that was her own right and inheritance that her parents had left her, and skedaddled out there.
She's biking 'home' when she stops at the edge of the treeline that leads to her uncle's poorly maintained front yard. A spiel starts in her head; there! Nosy townspeople who had no excuse for acting like she was an alien; one was even peeking into her windows. It aggravated her to no end– so much so that she dismounted her bike and upped the ante on her pace. The first thing she saw was the back of an attractive, pixie-like hairstyle. It led to dainty shoulders, a slip of a dress in a black and white polka-dotted pattern, and– as the girl turned around, one of the most beautiful girls Kat had ever laid eyes on.
Just like that, her irritation burned out dramatically quickly, the sight of a gift basket at the girl's side making the process easier.
Her darkened mood may have been sifted away, but Katherine was aware of the scowl still resident on her face. Whoever the girl was, she was undeterred at the expression. The picture, the embodiment of sunshine, she beamed at Kat like life-long friends. "Hi!"
No matter how much of a bad mood she was in, she would never be rude to someone in a clearly good mood. An artificial smile, but one she'd been complimented on her entire life, was easy to conjure up.
Plus, she'd never been one to turn down a pretty person.
"Hi." She crossed the rest of the distance to her front steps. To her surprise, the girl jumped into action, leaving the gorgeous basket on the beatdown couch her uncle usually sat and drank beer on, and came to help her carry the bike inside. Knowing that her uncle was nothing more than a leech, and possessive of her belongings, the bike stayed the night strictly inside her room under lock and key.
"Hi!" Kat tried not to show her amusement at the girl repeating herself. The pixie-like girl waited until they'd easily hefted the bike up those three steps before huffing a breath, a nervous but bright expression on her face. "I'm Alice Cullen. It's very nice to meet you."
Maybe it was the nerves, or her usual manner of speaking, but the words sounded rehearsed somehow. As someone who struggled with anxiety most of the time, Kat understood the struggle and softened her voice.
"I'm Katherine Fermi, but you can call me Kat or Kitty." She raised a hand for Alice to shake. If she'd thought Jacob Black's skin was unbearably hot to the point of radiating warmth, then Alice was the polar opposite. She was almost freezing to the touch. Then again, looking as delicate as she did, Kat guessed the next heavy wind would knock Alice over. Katie, who she'd known since they were awkward teenagers, always had cold hands and feet. It made sleepovers a nightmare.
"Kat Fermi," Alice confirmed, then tilted her head. "Fermi. Like the paradox?"
Before she knew what was happening, a smile had stretched her face. "You know the Fermi paradox?"
"Of course!" Alice said. Her gaze drifted far as she quoted, "It's the contradiction between why there's no evidence of extraterrestrial life, despite the fact that logically, it should have been discovered by now."
"Omg, yes!" Her friends used to make fun of her being interested in space. Scott used to say If all you care about are the sky and the sea, there's nothing left on Earth for you. As it sounds, she and Scott weren't the best of friends. Presently, she was enthused at finding someone who shared her obsession. "It makes total sense, doesn't it? There's got to be something other than humans out there, right?"
Agreeably, Alice nodded. Katherine ducked her hair. "Um, I'm not sure we were named after the actual paradox, but it's cool that you know that."
"I like knowing things," is Alice's perky response. Her flinch at the sudden clap of thunder followed Katherine by a second. Between one blink and another, something Kat would never get used to, apparently, one of Forks' many attributes is randomly having its sky open up and shower rain with little to no warning. Thankfully, the front porch provided them with cover from the inevitable rainfall, but not from the cold.
"Do you wanna come in?" Katherine has to raise her voice over the second rumble of thunder. In the distance, she thought she could see the entire forest shake with the force of the weather. Oh God, was that lightning? Alice follows her line of vision and winces as well.
"May I?" Her cutesy, delicate voice sounds the same even raised. Katherine chances a warm expression at her before she retrieves her bag from her bike and starts rummaging through it for her keys. A few seconds into her search, Alice, unprompted, suddenly blurts, "We're your neighbors!"
"Oh, yeah?" Katherine remembered her uncle grumbling some very unsavory descriptions of their 'neighbors,' which was an overreach considering they were miles and miles away. They were the closest human contact, though. Freaks, Katherine, her uncle's welcoming lecture came to mind. I know you like to congregate with your own kind, but if you know what's good for you, you'll stay away.
The mere fact that her uncle hates them made her like them more.
"Esme, my mom– and I, we made you a welcome gift." Alice brandishes the elegantly wrapped woven basket. Inside, an assortment of mouth-watering treats awaited, along with knickknacks that she couldn't wait to dive into. It might have been a coincidence, but Katherine loved knickknacks. She could get lost in a gift shop from how fixated she could get on them.
"That's very kind of you," Kat tells Alice, who immediately looks pleased, but Kat quickly grows distracted. The search had gone on for a few minutes before she grew frustrated and decided to give up.
Alice seems to notice Kat's lack of keys. "You can't find your keys, can you?" she questions. At her sheepish expression, Alice grins. "That's okay! You can come home with me." Before Kat can contemplate refusing out of not wanting to inconvenience her family, Alice quickly says, "It's gonna rain soon. If we leave now, we'll make it back indoors before it happens."
Frankly, Kat doesn't mind thunderstorms. She used to love them. The rain part, however? She would have been at the Cullens' doorstep if Alice hadn't offered.
There was one issue, though. "I can't leave my bike." With her luck, her uncle might auction it before she got home again.
Shrugging lightheartedly, Alice says, "Bring it." With a gleam in her– wow, her eyes were really bright– gaze, Alice starts making the trek down the steps. "Come on, my family will love you."
