Hi, Lovely Readers! Another Update and Jacob Black joins the brood!
I enjoyed geeing him a bit. Hope you like him!
Thanks for all the readers with this story as a favourite and the followers! Here's a huge hug from me.
inuyashademons14 - Thanks for the review! Glad you like Tulika! Hope you enjoy the rest of the story!
marlastiano - Thank you so much!
ivoryrose690 - That comment meant a lot to me! Hope you like this chapter, say hi to Jake from me ;)
I dragged myself into the house and flopped on the couch, completely exhausted. I so badly wanted to go to sleep but I knew that if I fell asleep on the couch with wet clothes on, I'd be nagged and I'd catch pneumonia.
Hobbling up the stairs, I shed off my clothes then took a hot shower with my left leg handing out. Pulling on warm sweats, I fell into bed and dialed my mother.
The number you're calling is busy…
I sighed, what could she possibly be doing that made her so busy? Not seeing another way out, I called Renee. "Tulika, honey, how are you?" she answered.
I sighed, happy to hear a motherly voice, mine or someone else's.
"I have a brace around my leg, Renee. A trolley ran me over." I told her then gave her a brief rundown of the incident. By the end of it, I could tell she was shaking her head. "I don't know which one of you is clumsier," she said.
"Hey, at least I'm not accident prone," I said.
"There's that," she said and I heard the front door open and close.
"Renee, I think Bella's home, talk to you later." I said. "Sure sweetie, and tell her to call me back please." I said ok and hung up just as Bella opened the door.
"Hey, how are you?" she asked, dropping her bag on my desk chair and sitting on the bed.
I pulled my busted leg up and showed her the brace. "I'm supposed to take it easy for the day." I told her. She nodded. "The nurse called me to the office and told me to tell you to take tomorrow off. She said if you work it too much you could tear the ligaments or worse and to take something for the pain." She said.
I fell back on the bed.
"I'm not really one to hustle with meds, Bell," I told her.
"It's going to help you." She stood up and walked out before returning with a glass of water and two pills. "Tylenol, go on," she told me.
I obeyed and let the two pills knock me out.
When I woke up, the windows were dark. I turned and looked at the shiny digits in my phone showing the time. It was , I pulled the covers back over my head. Might as well go back to sleep now.
The next morning, Charlie came over to check on me.
"Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you? Bella told me to look after you," he said. "No Charlie, really, I'm just going to be here and Bella set me up with a private restaurant and all." I pointed to the chest of drawers.
Every inch of it was covered in snacks. Crackers, spice sticks, chocolate pastries lined the front with a bottle of water and juice behind it; Efforts of Bella to make me comfortable before going to school. Seriously, I was beginning to love this girl.
"If you need me call, ok?" he asked, chuckling.
I nodded as he left.
I spent the entire day catching up with homework, studies and laundry although I had to use one of the extra metal rods in the linen cupboard as a crutch.
I finished eating and stuffed the rest of the food back in the pantry and watched some Cable till Bella came home.
At dinner, Charlie seemed enthusiastic about the La Push trip.
Bell seemed less so and looked at me. "Can't you please come? I really don't want to go alone." She said. I shook my head. "Nope, I don't want to risk the leg, besides you need to be seen out without me you know." I told her.
She didn't seem to think it was a good idea at all but Charlie backed me up.
"She's right, kid, you need to move about more and Tulika needs to have some rest. Tell you what, I'll try to take the early time out and look at her, that way you don't have to be so strung up about her." He said.
I nodded and Bella sighed, giving in.
Bright light woke me up on Saturday. Sitting up, I smiled at the yellow light flooding my room and I fell back asleep contentedly until Bella woke me up again.
She was wearing hiking boots, jeans and a thermal shirt. "Can I borrow your green jacket?" she asked. I nodded absently as she rummaged in the small wardrobe and shrugged it on before starting to braid her hair.
"So, tell me, how did it go with Edward? Did you annoy him more?" she asked.
I squinted up at her with one open eye. "Are you jealous, Swan?" I asked.
She laughed.
"No, I just think he's taken by you." She said. I sat up. "Say what?" I asked. "Oh you know he called me over at lunch and most of the time he asked me where you came from. I told him about the whole problem back at home but I couldn't really tell him what it was." She said.
I frowned.
"What problem back at home, Bella?" I asked. She shrugged. "Like I said, we don't really know. It's between Renee and your mom." She said.
She tied off the braid and waved before leaving.
I waited for the tell tale slam of the front door and the roar of Bella's truck driving off before I picked up my phone dialing my mom.
The familiar dial tone went before the woman on the caller said the number is switched off. I put the phone to my lip and began chewing at the plastic cover.
What was this problem that Bella had talked about?
I didn't remember any such problem that would force my mother or father to shove me off across the continents to some obscure friends.
I lugged my leg downstairs where I stared out the window.
I really needed to get back home but how to do it…? The going with the flow plan didn't seem to be working and in my long time of collecting information about tons of supernatural and paranormal phenomena, I had never heard of one where an individual was transported to a book world.
I headed to the pantry to pull out some spaghetti and sauce and began cooking me lunch. A glance at the clock told me it was nearly 12, so I pushed and pushed the food till I had a decadent lunch at near 2 in the afternoon.
Setting the table, I sighed, wishing I was in Vadodara so I could grab something quick from one of the stores but no deal. I ate and washed up while still trying to come up with various wild theories about getting home.
Uh, all of this was giving me a headache.
Climbing back upstairs, I let myself into Bella's room, looking through her books to find her set of Austen works.
I had nearly picked it up when the sound of the front door opening startled me.
"Tulika," Charlie called.
"Charlie…?" I asked, descending the stairs to find him standing in the hallway, undoing his work belt.
"Hey, I ran into some old friends and decided to bring them home. Since you were all alone, thought you might like some company." He said pointing his thumb over his shoulder.
I looked over his head to see a tall, lean boy helping a man in a wheelchair take off his raincoat.
"This is Billy and his son Jacob Black; they're from the La Push reservation. We're fishing buddies." he said. My eyes widened as I took in the pair.
Wasn't Jacob supposed to be fifteen in the first book?
He looked up at me, fixing me with a dark gaze. "Hey," he said cheerfully. Billy smiled too as I slowly climbed down and stood beside Charlie.
"Hi," I said.
"This is Tulika, the girl I told you about." Charlie said patting my shoulder. "Let's get the game, Billy." he called.
"Nice to meet you, Tulika," Billy said as he passed me by, creaking on the linoleum floor. "You too," I said as Jacob and I were left alone.
"So, how you liking Forks?" he asked.
"Its fine," I motioned him to follow me and we hobbled to the living room where Charlie and Billy had already started the game. "You want to watch the game?" I asked.
"Nah, the game bug skipped me," he grinned at his dad then at me. I nodded. "You guys want something to eat? Sandwiches…?" I asked. They nodded absently and I rolled my eyes, smiling as I went into the kitchen.
As I pulled out ingredients, Jacob leant against the fridge.
"Have you had a chance to drive the truck?" he asked. I smiled. "Yes, I didn't try to go over sixty," I said, looking over at him.
Jacob Black looked nothing like Taylor and there was nothing childish about his face that Meyer had described. He had an angular face with dark eyes and hair mussed up on his head. He was slightly muscular and tall, probably a few inches shorter than Edward but still a good height. "How old are you?" I asked.
"Seventeen," he answered.
Damn, what happened to being an inexperienced fifteen year old that was lamely charmed by Bella into telling tribe tales?
"So, you live on the reservation?" I asked.
"Yeah, I go to school there," he said, smiling shyly as he scratched the back of his neck. "And you like to make cars," I muttered. "Sorry, what?" he looked surprised and I jumped, "Oh, Charlie said something like that." I said hastily and his eyebrows settled down.
"I'm working on a Volkswagen Rabbit," he said proudly. "That's great, is it fast?" I asked.
"It's decent,"
We grinned at each other.
"So, I also heard you guys have a lot of legends in the lands," I said archly, curious to see if he would blab about the Cold Ones…
Ha, Cold Ones, I mean they seem more like some alien breed than the sparkle citizens in my school.
"Yeah, you know Quileute's?" he asked. "I'm familiar with the vampire/werewolf story," I told him. "Oh god, that's the most embarrassing one, I don't know how the Cullens get along with that stuff." He rubbed his neck again, it was rather endearing.
Christ, Bella had to be mad, using this charmer to get information, I mean, he was a sweetheart.
"Hey, what are you two crazy kids talking about?" Charlie said. "Cars," I said smoothly as I handed him the plate of snacks. "Oh, huh, I got a call about that engine you wanted kid, I'll fix up a call with you soon," he said, patting Jacob's shoulder as he carried the food out.
"What happened to your leg?" he asked finally.
I sighed and told him and by the end of it he was laughing, clutching the chair and I couldn't help it, I began to laugh too, hurting my leg in the process.
"Sorry, sorry," he said, helping me into a chair as he continued chortling.
"Don't worry about it, I can take it off tomorrow." I said as Billy wheeled by. "Come on then, Jake," he called.
"Already…?" I asked, unable to help feeling a little crestfallen.
Jacob smiled at my expression. "Hey, when I get my license…" "You should come see me…and Bella," I said, adding Bella's name hastily.
Not your story, Tulika…Bella's…he's to fall for her…I thought to myself sternly.
I followed him out to the hallway where Charlie and Billy were saying goodbye. "Take care of that leg, Tulika." Jake said and I nodded as Billy shook my hand and Jacob wheeled him out, leaving me and Charlie in the house.
And so Tulika meets the last wheel in the Twilight tricycle.
What did you think of the new version of Jacob? Did I manage to catch his charm? What do you think of their interaction?
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