Chapter Three
The next morning I woke up adnormaly warm. When I opened my eyes I turned and saw that Penny had crawled into the bed and was snuggled in and sleeping soundlessly in between Bella and I. I smiled and looked at th clock on my phone. 8am. I groaned and decided I might as well get up. When I got out of the bed both Bella and Penny snuggled closer to each other. My heart swelled with love. I wish I could stay here forever, but I knew I couldn't do that with Anthony. If I so much as even tried to move out of Atlanta he would fight for full custody of Penny, and I would never let them happen in a million years. Penny was my daughter, I practically raised her on my own with the help of my grandma. I quickly grabbed a change of clothes and went and changed in the bathroom before going downstairs. It was a Saturday and it was absolutely beautiful outside.
The sun was shining but I knew looks are deceiving in this town. I sighed and started to get things that I would need to make chocolate chip pancakes, Bella and Penny's favorite. I started pouring the batter onto the pan and began on making some bacon and scrambled eggs as well. I was almost finished with making breakfast when the three sleepyheads came walking downstairs around 9:30.
"Well good morning to you, too, guys." They grumbled a good morning as they took seats at the dining table. I shook my head at them and made Charlie and Penny a plate while made mine and his. I grabbed the extra chair that Charlie always kept in the corner and sat next to Penny. We ate our breakfast while listening to Penny make monster noises as she devoured her eggs.
It was Saturday mornings like this that I missed most about my family. There was a time when I was about fourteen that I wanted to know who my birth parents were, after searching all over the internet I eventually came across my mother's obituary. It said she was attacked by an animal when she was hiking somewhere in Alaska, about six months after I was born. Because they were unable to find a suitable relative for me to live with I was put into the foster system and then I was adopted by Charlie and Renee, there was a lot of difficulties with it at first because there was never a father listed on my birth certificate. I never told them I knew, but a year later they told me that they found my birth grandparents and they were very supportive that I wanted to meet them. They understood that I wanted to know who and where I came from, and it made me happy that they were supportive of that. I still wondered about my birth father though, if he was still out there and if he even knew I existed.
After we finished breakfast and Bella did the dishes, she and I decided to take Penny to the park for some fresh air while the sun was still out. I dressed Penny in a pair of jeans and gave her, her favorite purple sweatshirt that had a zebra on it. I quickly dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and put on a plain T-shirt with a grey hoodie and I slipped my black leather jacket over it. When we reached downstairs Bella was already dressed and ready to go with her shoes on and everything. Penny and I slipped on our boots and we were off to the park. Even with the sun out it was still a little chilly and I'm glad Anthony packed her with winter clothes considering it was nearing the beginning of October.
When we reached the park, Penny was practically squealing with excitement. She loved the park, it was her favorite thing to do other than color. Once we were parked I barely had Penny unbuckled from her carseat when she took off toward the playground. I shook my head at my overly energetic child. Bella laughed at me as she followed behind my daughter to keep and eye on her. After I had the jeep locked up I made my way over to one of the park benches and watched Bella play with P. I rested my elbows on my knees and laughed at them playing tag. Bella kept pretending to almost catch Penny to tag her and then letting her get away at the last second. I loved watching them play and my mind once again wondered back to my time in this town.
I looked around at my surroundings and couldn't help but feel a little sad and a little resentful. Sad that I wouldn't be able to move back here until Penny turned 18 and resentful that Renne and Charlie agreed to send me to live in Georgia. Don't get me wrong, I love that I did but at the same time I can't help but think what if. If I had stayed, would I have been the gossip of the town? Probably. Would I have cared? Absolutely not, if I did stay maybe Anthony and I never would have broken up. But I know deep in my heart that he and I would have always had an expiration date. He never even wanted Penny, he tried to talk me into an abortion so I wouldn't have to move. It still made me angry to think about him not wanting our child. I was brought out of my thoughts when Penny practically tackled me on the bench saying she was tired and ready to go home. I nodded and we went back to the house.
~~~~~~TOS~~~~~~~~
"102.8." I sighed as I checked Pen's temperature. As soon as we got back to the house I tried to get her to eat something but she refused claiming her tummy hurt. A little while after that she started throwing up and crying because she got vomit on her boots. She was now settled into her toddler bed in her pajamas cuddling her favorite teddy bear. I walked downstairs to grab her some juice when Bella's voice startled me.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Haze, I didn't mean to scare you. Do you want me to stay here with you and help you take care of little P?" I looked over at Bella and shook my head. She was finally getting out of the house and there was no way that I was going to hold her back from having fun.
"No, that's okay. Thank you for the offer though. You go out and have some fun, you've earned it." I saw her draw in her bottom lip and begin chewing on it. I rolled my eyes at her, she's done this since forever. It was one of you nervous ticks. After pouring Penny her juice into a sippy cup I smacked Bella on the arm. "Stop chewing on your lip, it'll scar."
"You sound like a mom."
"I am a mom, you weirdo." We both laughed at that. Her and Charlie both kissed me on the cheek goodbye and wished me luck on taking care of a sick toddler. After Penny got sick Charlie decided that it'd be better if he went to Billy's to watch the game so they wouldn't wake up P while she was sleeping, which I was so thankful for.
After I gave Penny her juice she started to calm down and she wasn't trying anymore, I think it was the drastic climate change that made her sick. I know that's how it was for me when I first moved to Georgia. As she slept I stroked her curls away from her face and couldn't help but really notice the similarities between us. She has wild curly hair like I do, although it's only to her shoulders while mine came down to the middle of my back. She has freckles across her nose like I do and she has a little beauty mark by her eye like me. She has my nose and my eyes and her face was heart shaped like mine. The only thing that she got from her father was her hair color, and even that has started to lighten up. My hair was a dirty blonde color and in the summer sun in Georgia it lightened up to be almost platinum.
I left Penny in her bed while I went downstairs to get my book that I left on the coffee table from that afternoon. When I grabbed it I looked out the window and saw a blur of red fly across the lawn. My eyes narrowed and I ran upstairs and grabbed my gun from the top of Bella's closet. I cautiously made my way back downstairs and opened the front door. I held the gun in front of me and kept the saftey on like Charlie always told us. I gently closed the front door behind me and peered around the porch. I didn't see anything but I did notice the air get chillier. I decided that it was just a figment of my imagination and went back inside to check on Penny.
~~~~TOS~~~~~
A couple hours later around 9pm I heard the front door slam and I glanced at Penny to see if it woke her up. She was still passed out from her cold medicine I gave her at 7:30pm. I set my book down after marking my spot and made my way downstairs. I saw Bella and Charlie both in the kitchen and Bella was crying. Charlie waved me over and turned Bella so that I had her in my arms instead. Charlie mouthed Jake to me and I felt my blood boil. What the hell did the dumb boy do now? Bella's loud sobs brought me back to earth as she tried to tell me what happened. I quickly shushed her and told her that she'll tell me in the morning. I helped her upstairs and I tucked her into bed. She didn't bother changing and I had to remind her to take off her shoes. I hated seeing her like this, and I can't believe that it was Jake that did this to her this time. I thought they were best friends. I crawled into bed next to her and just held her while she silently cried. It wasn't for another hour until she finally stopped and was calmed down enough to tell me what happened.
"A-after the bonfire, Jake pulled me to the side to talk to me. I didn't think anything of it, and I was having fun with all his friends and his friends' girlfriends. H-he told me that after tonight he can't see or talk to me anymore because it was too hard for him to be just my friend. I was finally starting to feel even slightly better and then just that one sentance made the hole seem so much bigger than it actually was. He's supposed to be my best friend and now he tells me he can't be my friend anymore because it was too hard." Her voice started to shake again and she took a couple deep breaths to calm down. "I just don't get it.." She whispered and hugged me closer to her. I sighed, this poor girl doesn't deserve any of this. I wanted to beat the crap out of the vampire and now I wanted to do it to Jake, the boy we've known forever. I could tell she wanted to say more but I hushed her because I know it would just make her start crying again.
~~~~TOS~~~~~
The next morning I was exhausted, I was dragging my feet and I didn't even brush my hair. Penny was feeling a lot better which was good and Charlie had no plans for the day so he decided to take Penny to La Push to visit Sue Clearwater. I was thankful for the little break as I made yet another cup of coffee for myself.
"Jake still isn't answering his phone." Bella came trudging downstairs already dressed for the day. She was in denial about the whole Jacob thing and kept trying to get ahold of him all day. Her phone beeped with a text message and the look on her face told me all I needed to know. Bella was pissed. "That son of a bitch! He told me he was blocking my number! What the hell!" She literally growled she was so pissed. I finished my cup of coffee and quickly ran upstairs to get dressed. I know what she was thinking and I was definitely in. I threw on my favorite white tank top, my light blue skinny jeans and my jean jacket and put on my favorite browning hat before running downstairs.
Bella already had her shoes on and keys in hand by the time I got to the front door. I slipped on my brown Ariats and followed her out to her truck. We were going to La Push to confront Jacob about what his problem was. The drive to La Push didn't take that long but we would have been there sooner if The Thing could go faster than 55mph.
When we pulled up to Jacob's house he came outside and he looked ready to kill. Bella rolled down her window and before she could even say anthing Jacob told her to turn back around and leave and that he didn't want anything to do with her before he started stalking to his backyard. My mouth flew open at what he said and I noticed Bella start to cry again. I looked back at Jacob and noticed a bunch of guys walking out from the line of trees.
"It's all their fault." I barely even heard Bella speak, she was talking to softly. I narrowed my eyes and opened my door. I shut it with a huff and started to walk toward where Jacob was going. "Hazel, wait." I felt Bella grab my arm to try and stop me. "Sam's the one leading the group, Jacob wont let you get close enough to talk to him." On the way up to La Push Bella finished telling me about last night and said that Sam is the one that told Jacob not to hang out or talk to her anymore. That just made me even more angry. What kind of person thinks they can just dictate another person's life and relationships like that. I yanked my arm from Bella's grasp and started walking faster. I heard her scrambling to keep up with me. As I got closer to Jacob and the group of boys I heard Sam ask him why we were here. Jacob tried to block me from walking up to Sam but I ducked under his arm and moved out of the way before he could grab him.
"What the hell do you get off at deciding other people's friends for them? You have no right to tell Jacob who he can or can't be friends with, do you have any idea how much that hurt Bella?" I couldn't help myself and I felt my anger rising as I shoved Sam back. He looked caught off and stumbled a little bit before he straightened out. I gave him the coldest glare I could possibly muster as he glared down at me. I noticed him start to shake and he bared his teeth at me.
"You better watch yourself, girl." The boy standing behind him to his left said to me as he stepped foward. I looked at him and before I knew what I was doing I slapped him across the face. He turned and looked back at me as his body started shaking violently. I heard Jake tell Bella to run before I was knocked to the ground by one of the other boys. I was about to yell at them to get off of me when my breath caught in my throat. The boy I slapped started shaking even more and then in a blur he was gone and in his place was a giant wolf.
I felt my eyes widen and my body start to shake. I wanted to scream but I had no air in my lungs. I heard Jake yelling at someone to get off me and then I was pulled to my feet and Jake was telling Bella and I to run, but I was frozen in place. I could hear Bella yelling at me and trying to pull me away but I couldn't. I watched the boy that knocked me down turn into a wolf as well as Jacob. I watched the three of them fight before they disapeared into the forest. Then all I saw was black as I fell back into Bella's arms.
~~~TOS~~~~~
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