A/N: This is Twilight through Eclipse from Jacob's perspective. Thanks for reading!
These characters are not mine and all belong to Stephenie Meyer.
Charlie's Kid (Twilight)
I woke up to the usual Saturday morning murmurs. My dad was a social guy. There was always someone over to chitchat with.
"...still struggling with it?"
"Eh, Leah's tough. More like Sue. She'll be okay."
Or to gossip with.
"Hey, sleepyhead," Billy greeted me when I emerged from my room. He was sitting at the little wooden table sipping coffee with Harry Clearwater.
It was just past seven - not all of us woke up at the brink of dawn - but I let it slide.
"Morning, Dad. Harry." I inclined my head towards them before digging through the cupboard for breakfast.
"Talk to Charlie lately?" Harry asked, trying to sound casual.
"Ha," Billy snorted. "I answered the phone when he called to wish Jacob a happy birthday yesterday. Does that count?"
I genuinely missed Charlie. The guy was like an uncle to me. Family. He'd held me the day I was born and I'd known him ever since. He was funny - often unintentionally - and a bit uptight and anxious. Him and my dad, such extremes, were amusing to watch together. Or they had been before my dad got weird about the new doctor in Forks a couple years back. Now they hardly talked.
Harry, though he believed the same superstitious legends that had led to Billy and Charlie's rough patch, kept his head and didn't alienate Charlie in the same way. They still went fishing sometimes or watched games up at Charlie's place.
"Did he happen to mention his big news?" Harry asked.
"Has he got himself a girlfriend?" Billy chuckled.
"Nope. Can't believe he didn't tell you..." Harry was a little smug. I wondered if it was put-on, though. Harry had been trying to get the two to reconcile.
"You gonna make me guess?"
"Isabella's moving to Forks."
"Charlie Swan raising a teenage daughter? I'll keep him in my prayers."
I remembered her from a few years back. She'd been an awkward pre-teen with Charlie's dark hair and pasty skin. Anti-social. Long bangs that fell into her eyes. Always off in some corner curled up with a book. Rebecca and Rachel had tried to befriend her, but Isabella - hadn't she gone by Bella? - was shy and so were they, so mostly they let her be.
But she'd stopped visiting before Billy and Charlie's fallout. Apparently the weather here was too much for her. So instead Charlie saved up a years worth of vacation time to travel around California with her each year. Pretty high maintenance for a kid. Or maybe not. There was probably more to the story.
The news was big enough that Billy felt obligated to call him. He told me that Charlie was looking to buy an inexpensive car for her and I begged him to sell Charlie the old Chevy.
I drove it up with Harry trailing to give me a ride back. Charlie wasn't pleased - I didn't have my license yet - but he said he'd let me off this one time. That was probably the fifth time I'd been let off by Charlie "just this one time."
I didn't think about Isabella again. Not until a Suburban rolled into town one sunny March day.
I was hanging out with friends outside the store when we saw an SUV and a min-van full of pale folk pass. It was a couple weeks early for the spring break crowd so I assumed it was kids from Forks or one of the other little towns nearby. I didn't really think much about it.
Probably half an hour had passed when Sam Uley, a stalled out recent high school graduate, passed us.
"Where you headed, Sam?" My friend Quil asked.
Quil was sort of obsessed with Sam. He was into lifting and Sam, completely ripped, must have been, too... though I guessed steroids were involved. He'd bulked up over night almost.
"Down to the beach. Why?"
"Just curious," Quil said. "There are a couple car fulls of white kids down there."
"White kids?"
I wondered why Sam sounded so suspicious. Tourists were a part of life here.
"Uh, yeah," Quil answered, confused, too. "Think I recognized some of them from Forks. Pretty nice car."
"Oh," Sam said, his tone oddly light now. "Maybe I'll stop by and say hello."
Quil and I shared a glance.
Something had gone down with Sam, but no one really knew what. Except my dad, and for once the gossip was determined to keep the secret. I wondered if it was Sam's somewhat recent buddy buddy relationship with the elders that had him appointing himself as the head of the La Push welcoming committee.
Bored, Quil and I decided to follow him and a few of the others came, too. Sam seemed agitated, but he didn't directly ask us to go away, so we didn't take the hint.
He slowed down as he walked past the empty SUV and mini-van in the parking lot. His hands, which had been balled into tense fists, were relaxed now. Maybe he recognized the cars.
It turned out the kids were from Forks High. I'd seen some of them around. They welcomed us into their circle around the little driftwood fire.
I was trying not to laugh at Quil, striking out with the too-old-for-him junior girls, when more of the Forks kids showed up. Probably returning from the tide pools based on the direction they were coming from.
A kid named Eric started introducing the newcomers but I was focusing on Quil again.
"...Angela, and Bella."
Wondering if this was Charlie's Bella, I glanced up looking for the awkward girl with overgrown bangs I remembered.
She was definitely Charlie's kid. You could see it in the stark contrast between her hair and her skin. Mahogany and porcelain. But not pasty as I had remembered. The ugly bangs were gone, too. She was... she was really pretty. Must have gotten her mom's face.
Sam introduced us and I stole another glance at her when he said my name. She didn't react to it so she probably didn't remember me. I wasn't surprised - I was a little kid the last time she saw me.
I was pleased that, as the Forks kids started to wander the beach, Isabella stayed.
Quil was watching me now. I was trying to be subtle, but he knew me well. After a few minutes I worked up the courage to talk to her. What did I have to be nervous about? We were old family friends, after all.
She watched my approach with a tentative smile.
I took the spot next to her. "You're Isabella Swan, aren't you?"
Her face soured. "Bella," she sighed.
I guessed she probably just didn't like her full name since she hadn't seemed annoyed until I'd said that.
"I'm Jacob Black." I extended my hand. "You bought my dad's truck."
"Oh," she said, relief clear in her voice. She took my hand. "You're Billy's son. I probably should remember you."
Wow, her hand was soft in my calloused hand. And too cold. I wished I'd brought gloves or something - I would've lent them to her.
"No," I reassured her. "I'm the youngest of the family - you would remember my older sisters."
"Rachel and Rebecca," she said, looking as though the names had just come back to her. "Are they here?" She glanced at the La Push girls at the ocean's edge.
I shook my head. "No. Rachel got a scholarship to Washington State, and Rebecca married a Samoan surfer - she lives in Hawaii now." I felt a little ache. My sisters had practically raised me after my mom died but they were gone the second they graduated high school. Though I couldn't imagine leaving this place myself, I was happy for them.
"Married. Wow." I could hear the subtle judgement in Bella's tone. She wasn't the first. Eighteen was pretty young. But Rebecca loved him so what did it matter what anyone else thought?
"So how do you like the truck?" I asked, changing the subject.
"I love it," she said. And I could see she meant it. "It runs great."
"Yeah, but it's really slow," I pointed out with a laugh. "I was so relieved when Charlie bought it. My dad wouldn't let me work on building another car when we had a perfectly good vehicle right here."
"It's not that slow," she objected. She sounded almost protective of it. Like it was her only friend in this too cold place she didn't care for. I was glad she liked it. It meant I didn't have to feel guilty about persuading Billy to sell it to her dad.
"Have you tried to go over sixty?" I teased.
"No," she admitted.
"Good. Don't." I grinned.
She grinned back like she couldn't help it. "It does great in a collision."
"I don't think a tank could take out that old monster," I agreed with another laugh.
Seeing she was obviously here and perfectly fine, I was amused the chief of police's daughter had already found herself in a fender bender. I pegged her as the over-cautious type like Charlie, so maybe it wasn't her fault. Then again, I doubted someone from Arizona really knew how to drive in the rain.
"So you build cars?" She asked, clearly impressed.
I ignored Quil's snickering across the circle. Maybe I looked a little too puffed up over her interest. I tried to temper it.
"When I have free time, and parts. You wouldn't happen to know where I could get my hands on a master cylinder for a 1986 Volkswagen Rabbit?" I joked.
"Sorry," she laughed. "I haven't seen any lately, but I'll keep my eyes open for you."
Her mildly sarcastic tone told me she probably didn't know much about cars. That was fine. We probably had other things in common. Plus, maybe she'd come see me for truck repairs sometime rather than pay an arm and a leg at Dowling's shop in Forks.
The thought made me smile.
"You know Bella, Jacob?" asked a blonde with an unpleasant voice. I hadn't caught her name.
She seemed jealous of the attention I was giving Bella - or maybe I was just really full of myself today... Quil would set me straight later. But either way, it was clear she had something against Bella.
Running off the first assumption, I trumped things up a little. "We've sort of known each other since I was born," I laughed.
Bella met my eyes and we smiled at one another.
I knew her eyes - they were Charlie's eyes. So why did they look so damn pretty in her head?
"How nice," the mean girl muttered. "Bella," she called after a moment. "I was just saying to Tyler that it was too bad none of the Cullens could come out today. Didn't anyone think to invite them?"
Bella blushed a little, but Sam saved her from whatever embarrassment she had.
"You mean Dr. Carlisle Cullen's family?" He asked too intensely. Of course. He'd been hanging out with my dad so he'd be all nuts about this stuff, too. I really wished he wouldn't. I was kind of foolishly hoping to see Bella again and the last thing I wanted was for her to go back to Charlie and report on this topic of conversation.
The blonde was irritated with Sam for her own reasons. "Yes, do you know them?" she asked condescendingly.
"The Cullens don't come here," he said with finality, ignoring her question. A question he wouldn't have gotten if he'd just kept his mouth shut in the first place.
Bella was frowning at Sam. A little bewildered. A little defensive. Like how she'd been about the truck.
She must have befriended one of the Cullens or something. And maybe the blonde thought they'd bailed on her, when really there was just a group of superstitious men who'd throw a hissy fit if they showed up here.
Dumb.
"So is Forks driving you insane yet?" I asked, trying to distract her.
"Oh, I'd say that's an understatement." She grimaced.
I smiled sympathetically. I felt bad for thinking she was high maintenance before. This just wasn't home to her. I'd probably feel the same way if Billy flew me out to Phoenix for a month every year.
Her eyes slipped from mine as she looked down. It seemed this topic hadn't been much better than the Cullens.
I tried to think of some way to cheer her up when she distracted me.
She looked up slowly from underneath her dark eyelashes and I felt my heart stutter in my chest. "Do you want to walk down the beach with me?"
Down the beach. To Arizona. Into a pit of vipers...
I jumped up, ignoring Quil again as he shook his head.
The clouds moved in muting the bright colors of the stones beneath our feet. Bella had her hands in her jacket pockets now. Hopefully she was warm enough.
"So you're, what, sixteen?" She asked. Her eyelashes fluttered delicately. They looked so beautiful against her bright skin.
I wished I was sixteen. But still... that meant she didn't see me as a little kid. "I just turned fifteen," I confessed.
"Really? I would have thought you were older."
"I'm tall for my age." I pursed my lips to keep away the huge grin threatening to take over my face.
"Do you come up to Forks much?" Was I imagining the invitation in her tone?
It didn't really matter. No car. Plus, Charlie would give me crap again about the whole license thing.
"Not too much," I admitted, frowning. "But when I get my car finished I can go up as much as I want - after I get my license." Ugh. That sounded so juvenile.
"Who was that other boy Lauren was talking to? He seemed a little old to be hanging out with us."
It was pretty funny how quickly she'd turned on Sam. Couldn't say I blamed her.
"That's Sam - he's nineteen."
"What was he saying about the doctor's family?" I think she was trying to be subtle, but it was obvious she was more than a little interested.
"The Cullens. Oh, they're not supposed to come onto the reservation." I looked out at James Island, uncomfortable we were back on this topic.
"Why not?" she pressed.
I glanced at her. Her large eyes were eager and I hated to disappoint her. But Billy had drilled into me the importance of protecting our secrets for as long as I could remember.
I bit my lip. "Oops. I'm not supposed to say anything about that."
"Oh, I won't tell anyone. I'm just curious." She flashed me a big smile and I found myself studying her lips. Their color - a perfect pink. The way her top lip was just so full...
I smiled back, feeling the butterflies swarm my stomach. And my head a little, too.
Well, what the hell?
I'd put on a good show for her. Maybe a little mystique would help make the Olympic Peninsula more appealing.
I raised an eyebrow. "Do you like scary stories?" I lowered my voice, trying to make my tone sound ominous.
"I love them." Her eyes were smoldering.
There was an excited energy threatening to take over me. Like I wanted to leap or skip or something. I led us over to one of the pale beached driftwood trees before I could do anything stupid like that.
I sat up on the twisted roots and she took a spot on the body of the tree.
"Do you know any of our old stories, about where we came from - the Quileutes, I mean?"
"Not really."
"Well, there are lots of legends, some of them claiming to date back to the Flood - supposedly the ancient Quileutes tied their canoes to the tops of the tallest trees on the mountain to survive like Noah and the ark." I smiled dismissively. I didn't want her to think I was a kook like Sam. "Another legend claims that we descended from wolves - and that the wolves are our bothers still. It's against tribal law to kill them.
"Then there are the stories about the cold ones."
"The cold ones?" Her eyes were locked onto my face and I could tell this was the juicy part for her.
"Yes," I said gravely, imitating my dad when he really got going on this stuff. "There are stories of the cold ones as old as the wolf legends, and some much more recent. According to legend, my own great-grandfather knew some of them. He was the one who made the treaty that kept them off our land." I rolled my eyes.
"Your great-grandfather?"
My bloodline connection to the stories was sort of an annoyance to me usually, but if she thought it was cool...
"He was a tribal elder, like my father," I said, playing into it now. "You see, the cold ones are the natural enemies of the wolf - well, not the wolf, really, but the wolves that turn into men, like our ancestors. You would call them werewolves."
"Werewolves have enemies?"
"Only one."
I was pretty sure she'd stopped breathing as she hung onto my every word.
"So you see," I said, "the cold ones are traditionally our enemies. But this pack that came to our territory during my great-grandfather's time was different. They didn't hunt the way others of their kind did - they weren't supposed to be dangerous to the tribe. So my great-grandfather made a truce with them. If they would promise to stay off our lands, we wouldn't expose them to the pale faces."
I winked, hoping she wouldn't take offense to the term.
She bit her lip. "If they weren't dangerous, then why...?"
"There's always a risk for humans to be around the cold ones, even if they're civilized like this clan was. You never know when they might get too hungry to resist," I finished menacingly.
"What do you mean by 'civilized'?"
"They claimed they didn't hunt humans. They supposedly were somehow able to prey on animals instead." I smiled, picturing some pale doctor sucking on Bambi's throat.
"So how does it fit in with the Cullens? Are they like the cold ones your grandfather met?"
"No." I paused dramatically, fighting to keep the smile off my face. "They are the same ones."
Her eyes were huge. I smiled, pleased my theatrics were so well received.
"There are more of them now," I continued. "A new female and a new male, but the rest are the same. In my great-grandfather's time they already knew the leader, Carlisle. He'd been here and gone before your people had even arrived."
She was so invested her expression was almost humorous. I was fighting a smile again. It came back to me how much of a reader she'd been when she used to visit. I'd have to come up with more stories - non-top-secret ones - for the next time I saw her.
"And what are they?" She finally asked. "What are the cold ones?"
I smiled darkly. "Blood drinkers. Your people call them vampires."
She looked away from me at the water's rough surface.
"You have goose bumps," I laughed. And she'd the lost the little color that had been in her cheeks.
"You're a good storyteller," she said, still looking out.
Now that the story was over and I wasn't getting the immediate reward of her interest, I could picture Billy's face and just how furious he would be if he'd realized what I'd done.
"Pretty crazy stuff, though, isn't it? No wonder my dad doesn't want us to talk about it to anyone," I hinted.
"Don't worry. I won't give you away."
"I guess I just violated the treaty." I laughed nervously.
"I'll take it to to the grave," she promised, and then she shivered.
"Seriously, though, don't say anything to Charlie. He was pretty mad at my dad when he heard that some of us weren't going to the hospital since Dr. Cullen started working there."
Now, knowing Bella, the last thing I wanted was for things to get worse between Billy and Charlie.
"I won't, of course not," she said. And I believed her.
But then something occurred to me. "So do you think we're a bunch of superstitious natives or what?" I said, trying to keep my tone playful.
She turned to look at me with a small smile on her lips. Her expression was kind, accepting. "No. I think you're very good at telling scary stories, though. I still have goosebumps, see?"
"Cool," I said lamely.
I heard a clattering of rocks and looked up to see a couple of the Forks kids walking over. I was pretty sure they were Mike and Jessica.
"There you are, Bella," Mike said. He sounded a bit territorial.
"Is that your boyfriend?" I asked, keeping my voice low.
"No, definitely not," she whispered, sounding horrified by the thought. She turned her head to wink at me so Mike wouldn't see.
I smiled, elated, which I hoped annoyed Mike.
Too caught up in the moment to process how out of my league she was, I decided to test the waters a little more.
"So when I get my license..."
"You should come see me in Forks," she said, not missing a beat. "We could hang out sometime."
"Where have you been?" Mike asked brusquely.
Jeez, she wasn't his property.
I realized I recognized him. His family owned the sporting goods store in Forks.
"Jacob was just telling me some local stories," Bella said, throwing me another smile. "It was really interesting."
"Well," Mike looked between the two of us a couple times. "We're packing up - it looks like it's going to rain soon."
We all glanced up at the darkening sky.
"Okay." Bella jumped up. "I'm coming."
"It was really nice to see you again," I told her, taunting Mike.
Bella played along. "It really was. Next time Charlie comes down to see Billy, I'll come, too."
"That would be cool," I said. It was a nice picture. Charlie back in our lives. Bella part of the comfortable picture, too.
"And thanks," she said sincerely.
Embry was kicking himself for going to the movies instead of bumming around with us.
"Junior chicks? Your kidding."
"Nope," Quil said smugly. "And Jacob was a hopeless flirt the entire time."
"Did you get her number?"
I snorted. "I guess I already have it. She's Charlie's daughter."
"And, Embry, she's hot."
I shot Quil a glare. He seemed a little too into Bella.
"It's more than that, though. Like, she's really nice. She's a good listener." Kindred spirits.
Quil started laughing. "You're not going to get over this one quickly are you?"
"It's Vanessa Roe in the fifth grade all over again," Embry piled on.
"It doesn't matter. She's a junior. I'm a freshman." I shrugged.
Billy was annoying about it, too.
I was in the kitchen fishing through the battery drawer. It was the drawer that we stuffed every odd and end into, including all those awkward wallet-sized school photos parents gave to their friends.
I finally found what I was looking for paper-clipped to a note from Harry. Bella Swan in a dark green shirt with her elbows propped up on a foam '2004.' She wore a compulsory smile not nearly as pretty as the one I saw today. But, otherwise, she looked the same.
"I ran into Sam earlier."
I dropped the photo into the drawer and slammed it shut. How had I missed his creaky chair coming out of the bathroom?"
I cleared my throat. "Yeah, I saw him earlier, too."
"He said you hit it off with Bella Swan."
My guilty conscience left me confused. Was Sam suspicious I'd done some treaty breaking today? Or was this just me getting the readout on the La Push gossip mill?
"Yeah, she's really nice," I said, spitting out the same line I'd fed the guys earlier, but with more nonchalance.
"Okay..." Billy said, holding his hands up.
"Okay, what?"
"Just, okay...," he said, but he had a huge grin on his face.
I rolled my eyes but I smiled, too.
I was in my room when I heard the battery drawer slide open. And, shoot, I knew what would be right on top.
A/N: The newest chapter will always be the second to last since the last chapter is from Eclipse. I wrote it first to help me with my EPOV story, but I really liked writing from Jacob's POV, so I decided to make it its own story. Everything else will be sequential going forward.
Thanks for reading. And thanks to those of you who reviewed the First Kiss chapter. You're awesome :)
