Hello!

Yes, it has been a hot minute, but I have finally finished this chapter! I cannot tell you how long I was stuck on one of the scenes in this chapter. It's one of the scenes towards the end, I literally re-wrote it like 6 times before finally getting an idea to flow with and end it off. And right at the end of summer too...

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this one. It's a PART 2 to "Consequences" because you all know damn well I wasn't about to just leave that as a cliffhanger. And I can say the same for this chapter as well. If you guys want more from this mini Jacob Black series, please let me know, because I'm kind of falling in love with my character for this ship, sooooo...

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Twilight or any of its characters.

"I don't need you to call me tonight.
I don't need you to see if I'm alright.
You left me, so leave me, I'm fine
I'll be here getting on with my life."

One Year Later…
OCTOBER

Breathe in… Breathe out…

Michelle had to remind herself to do these two simple things over and over again as she stared at the pristine looking envelope on the table in front of her. She had been staring at it for the past thirty minutes, her eyes going dry from forgetting to blink.

It seemed like a simple task. Just open the envelope and read what is inside. It's really not a hard thing to do.

In theory, that is. In reality, finding the will to look inside that neatly folded bit of paper was nearly impossible. The uncertainty of what it said, however, brought her to grab ahold of it, pulling it gently into her hesitant hands as if it were made of glass.

She grabbed the scissors that she brought from her desk and looked it over one more time before opening up the scissors and slicing the envelope open.

Pulling out the small packet —something that was hopefully a good sign—she took in another deep breath before unfolding the stack of papers and reading through them, starting from the beginning.

Her heart stopped as she read over the words at the top of the lengthy paragraph.

Her hand flew to cover her mouth and tears slipped down her face.

NOVEMBER

"Tell me again why you're working so many hours? I don't care what you say. You're clearly miserable."

Michelle groaned, her face planted firmly into one of the throw-pillows that litter her friend's couch.

"I'm not miserable, I'm just a bit tired." Said friend rolled her eyes in response.

"Yeah, tired and miserable."

Michelle rolled her head to the side to glare in the other girl's direction. "I'm fine Natalie, I just had a long day."

"Every day is a long day for you. Hell, you're in school for six hours and then working for another eight. That's fourteen hours of strenuous misery, and that doesn't even include homework! Which by the way, how do you still have a perfect GPA? Do you just not sleep or something?"

Michelle listened to the girl rant with her eyes closed, trying to soak up as much rest as she can before she has to get started on the Crucible essay that's due tomorrow for her literature class.

She mentally groaned. Just thinking about it was making her head hurt.

"Look at you! You can't even keep your eyes open. Why don't you just go to sleep?"

Michelle sighed before moving to sit up. She yawned loudly, stretching her limbs in the process, and shook her head.

"You know I have that essay due."

"Then you should have called out today. I'm sure your manager would underst-"

"Natalie," Michelle held her hand up. "You know I need the money. The first payment is due next week and then I have two more after that. And with what I'm being paid, I need all the hours I can get to be able to afford the airfare and food costs. I need this job."

Natalie quietly looked at Michelle. Finally, she sighed and leaned back into the love seat she had situated herself on.

"I know, I know." she said. "I just… You worry me sometimes."

Michelle smiled. "I'm fine, I promise. A few less hours of sleep isn't going to kill me. If anything, it'll get me ready for the years to come."

They both chuckled at that. Natalie shook her head. "I can't believe you're going to be gone in a couple months."

Michelle stared at the coffee table in front of her. "Yeah, me neither. It still doesn't feel real."

"And when are you supposed to be coming back?"

She picked at the logo on the bottom corner of her work uniform, a small frown pulling at her features. "Next December. Right in time for Christmas."

Natalie nodded. "Well, it's not too long. But you better call me every day. I want to know about all the cute Irish boys you meet."

Michelle's frown disappeared as she chuckled. "I'm not going there to meet boys Nat."

Her friend shrugged. "Doesn't mean you aren't gonna. I'm serious though, you better not be holding out on me. I want all the details."

Michelle laughed, throwing the pillow she had been using at the girl's head. They both took a few moments to revel in the light air that surrounded them. Michelle was so busy these days with school or work that moments like this, where she was just able to sit back and laugh, were rare. Despite having been staying with Natalie and her family for the past couple of months, she barely saw her friend anymore. Their schedules just didn't match up.

Their laughter finally died down and the room fell into silence.

Natalie was the one to break it. "For real though, this is an incredible opportunity and I'm really happy for you. If anybody deserves this, it's you."

Michelle looked at her friend for a moment before a smile broke out on her face. "You're the best, Natalie. Thank you."

The girl waved her hand. "Don't thank me, just deliver on what I asked for. I want to hear about everything, and if you don't send me pictures I'll come for you. Seriously, I can't believe my best friend is going to study abroad in Ireland without me. The audacity."

DECEMBER

Michelle had been leaving the mall—she needed a new pair of work boots due to the tragic state that hers were in—when her phone went off in her pocket. She went to grab it while juggling all of her things, before finally managed to pull it out after a few rings.

Without even checking to see who it was, she swiped to answer the call and shoved the device in between her shoulder and her ear while simultaneously readjusted everything she was carrying.

"Hello?"

After a moment when she finally had everything situated again, she realized that nobody was answering her.

"Hello?" she tried again.

"Mitchie?"

She froze. Pulling the phone back, she saw a familiar number across the top of the screen that was no longer saved in her contacts but could still easily be recognized.

Without a second thought, she ended the call. Why was he calling her? She hasn't seen or heard from him in over a year. She thought that he moved on with his life at this point.

Jacob Black.

That was a name she hadn't had to think about in a long time. After she and him had their big blowout fight in the diner on the reservation over a year ago, she hasn't so much as stepped foot on the reservation since. And that was pretty easy to do, considering once Jacob and her stopped talking, so did her and everybody else on the reservation. Hell, even Billy doesn't talk to her anymore—the man that was practically a second father to her.

Not a single one of them stayed in contact with her and honestly, she's happy they didn't. Without them dragging her back into all of the drama that became her old friend-group she was able to move on and push herself to expand and do better things. She wasn't stuck in the limbo that was her life back then.

However, as miserable as that part of her life seemed to be, looking at where she is now makes all of it look so insignificant. It was a rough patch for her, no doubt, but now all of her windows are open with so many opportunities for her. The biggest reason that everything hurt so much back then was because she felt stuck. Stuck in the same place with nowhere to go and no money to get there. Stuck with no friends to talk to and no family to rely on. She was just stuck.

It's amazing how so much can change in such a short amount of time.

Now, she's living with the girl that has been with her through all the ups and downs that the last year has had to bring. Now, she is working hard to save her own money so that she can study abroad in Ireland through the college that she got accepted into early due to her outstanding grades and extracurricular achievements. Now, she is moving onto a new phase of her life that's completely uncharted and ready to be explored. This was her life now, and it was a life that she was creating with her own two hands. She was finally pushing past the barriers that used to hold her back.

So, while the Michelle back then might have answered Jacob's call and tried to work things out with the boy she used to love whole-heartedly, the Michelle that exists now is content with how things worked out.

For now, all she is going to focus on is herself, and whatever happens later can be left undecided. For now, she's just going to enjoy her time left here in Forks and prepare herself for the new chapter that's opening up before her.

A chapter that Jacob Black is not going to be a part of.

JANUARY

"Moody! Get back here!"

Michelle laughed as she watched her best friend leap out of the car and run down the dirt path towards the beach. The dog she ran off chasing had created a sizable distance between the two as he rushed towards the water, diving in before Natalie could get her hands on him. Michelle shook her head in amusement and took it upon herself to grab their stuff.

She slowly made her way down towards her friend, taking her time to enjoy the view of the sun setting over the horizon. One thing that she would actually miss about Forks was the view. When it wasn't pouring out, the rocky, cliff-ridden shorelines of the Olympic peninsula made for some spectacular sunsets.

Michelle caught up with Natalie a few minutes later. The girls stood there for a moment, watching Natalie's dog, Moody, run around in the water before Natalie shook her head and sighed. "I swear, that dog is going to get himself killed one day. How the hell am I supposed to keep up with him when he just takes off like that?"

Michelle smirked. "For a three-legged dog, you'd think he'd be easier for you to catch."

"You're real funny, you know that?"

Ignoring her friend's scoff, she turned to her. "You wanna go walk around a bit. Maybe we can wear the little speedster out a bit? Make him easier to wrangle back into the car later."

"Yeah, yeah. Make fun of me all you want, but next time, you can be the one that takes Moody Watch. See how you like it."

Michelle shook her head while setting their stuff down into the sand. She slipped her phone into the pocket of her jeans and slid her shoes and socks off, waiting for Natalie to do the same, before they started making their way down the shoreline towards some of the well-known coves.

Every week, they liked to pick a day to take Moody to the beach and let him run around to get out some of his never-ending energy. He absolutely loved it, and it gave the girls a chance to relax and push all the stress of their busy schedules out of their minds for a couple hours. This, however, was their last time going as Michelle was leaving for Ireland in a couple of days.

"So, are you excited to be going soon? I know we always talk about it, but now it's only a couple of days away and… I don't know. It just feels more real now."

Michelle nodded. "Yeah. I'm a bit nervous, of course, but I can't wait. This might sound harsh, but I just feel like I'm finally climbing out of the cage I've been stuck in here. I don't know. As dramatic as that sounds, I know that as soon as I get on that plane, I'm going to finally feel some relief."

Natalie shook her head. "No, I completely understand that. Living here does sometimes feel like we're just stuck in a bear trap. But at least you have a way out now. That's all that matters."

Michelle glanced at her friend out of the corner of her eyes. The girl was looking down at her feet as she waded through the sand, kicking at it absentmindedly every now and then.

"You still have a chance at UCLA and Santa Barbara. Don't give up hope just yet."

The girl sighed. "Yeah, I know. I just can't help but feel like what I'm doing isn't enough. I mean, 5 universities have already declined my application Elle. That doesn't really do good things to a girl's self-esteem."

"To be fair, you only really applied to top tier schools. So really, the fact that you still have a chance at two of them after coming from this small town is a feat in and of itself."

"I know…" Natalie trailed off. "I'm just worried. And nervous. God, I'm so nervous. If I don't get into one of these schools I'm stuck going to Peninsula College and I really don't want to do that."

Michelle nodded. She wanted to mention that the girl could always apply to the same university that she had already been accepted into, but she figured she would keep her mouth shut for now. She knew that wasn't really an option for the girl. University of Washington was a decent school, but it wasn't Ivy League. And at this point, Ivy League was what was going to get Natalie as far away from this town as possible. Michelle couldn't blame her friend for her way of thinking. If her situation were different, she would probably be thinking the same way. But with her being accepted into the early study abroad program, Michelle didn't have to worry about location so much. Nothing was further away from this trap of a town than Ireland. She made sure of that...

She just really hoped that Natalie gets accepted into one of these schools. She was worried about what would happen if it doesn't happen.

"Anyways! Let's not focus on that right now. Let's focus on spending as much time together as we can before the fateful day arrives and I lose you for a whole year."

Michelle chuckled, and was about to respond when they turned around a bend filled with large rocks and stumbled upon a sight that made her stop in her tracks.

A bonfire. And judging by all the massive figures hulking around the firepit, it was a La Push bonfire.

"Elle? Why'd you stop?"

She barely registered what her friend had said. She was too busy trying to figure out if it would be easier to keep walking and just ignore them or simply turn and walk away before she's spotted. The second seemed like an almost childish thing to do, but the first ran the risk of them trying to communicate with her, and while she really didn't think that would even happen with how they dropped her the way they did, she wasn't sure she wanted to take the chance.

"Seriously Elle, Moody is running off again. Come on, before he jumps into those poor peoples' firepit and roasts himself alive."

Michelle was brought out of her thoughts by her friend's weird statement. Looking at the girl, she raised a brow in question of what the hell she was talking about. Natalie only smirked in response. "I knew that would get yuh, but seriously, that dumb dog is teetering dangerously close to that big group over there. Hurry up!"

After that, Natalie took off towards her dog, who was now hopping around a good fifty feet away from the very people Michelle did not want to see at the moment. She sighed. Of course this would happen. She was actually surprised that it hadn't happened sooner with how often they came to this beach.

After staring at her friend's figure as it moved further and further away from her, Michelle sighed for a second time. Looks like she's going to have to risk it. Slowly, almost hesitantly, she continued walking towards where Natalie was trying to catch her hobbling, excited pup. As she got closer, she heard the girl yelling out profanities as the dog kept managing to worm himself out of her grip. She couldn't help but laugh at the sight. It was in those few seconds where she let down her guard that she heard a familiar voice call out.

"Mitchie?"

Her eyes widened and she quickly turned to see one of the large figures jogging over to her.

Why did she think that this was a good idea again?

"Holy crap, Mitchie! I haven't seen you in forever! How are you doing?"

At first, she didn't recognize the boy with his big, bulky form. The cheerful rambling that came out of his mouth before he had even reached her, however, told her all she needed to know.

"Seth?"

Natalie stood up after finally wrangling Moody into her arms. She was panting slightly as she looked between Michelle and Seth with a look of confusion on her face. "You know this guy Elle?"

Michelle was unfortunately too busy being shocked stupid to answer her best friend. Seth—little, dorky Seth—looked like… this? She couldn't process that for the life of her. How did somebody so small and scrawny end up looking like a cheesy romance novel cover photo?

And then she remembered something that she had managed to forget after so long of not being around the La Push boys: their insane growth spurts. She forgot about how weird everything revolving around La Push really was.

Pushing those thoughts aside, however, she managed to reign in her surprise. Who cares if Seth looked like a 20 year old marine stuck in a 15 year old's body? That wasn't her concern anymore.

All of her nerves regarding running into her old friends started to disappear at that realization. None of that was any of her business anymore. She was no longer friends with them. She wouldn't say that the La Push boys were strangers to her now, because that simply wasn't true. They were acquaintances now. Not friends, not strangers, not enemies. Just acquaintances.

"Yeah, met him through one of my old friends."

Seth's smile faltered briefly at her explanation, but it didn't last long as his signature goofy smile quickly reappeared. He looked at Natalie to introduce himself. "Yeah, sorry about that. I'm Seth."

"Natalie…" she trailed off giving Michelle a questioning glance. The girl simply shook her head, a sign that she didn't want to talk about it in front of this person. Taking that as her cue, Natalie opened her mouth to relieve some of the subtle tension that was building between the other two. "Sorry you had to see all that by the way. If I didn't stop this little monster, he probably would have tossed himself right into your fire. He's not the brightest bulb in the bunch."

At that, Moody groaned and nipped at his owner's ear. She yelped in shock, bringing a hand up to check for damage. "Moody! What the hell dude?!"

The smug look on the dog's face made Michelle sigh in exasperation. Turning away from the two, she smiled sheepishly at the amused boy standing next to her. "I'm so sorry about them. You can just ignore them. I do it all the time."

"Hey! Don't rope me in with this mangy mutt!"

Another sound from Moody followed by a yelp rang out..

"Alright that's it, I'll give you five seconds to run before I fry you up myself you little demon-spawn!"

And then they were off. Michelle once again sighed, her hand coming up to rub the bridge of her nose. "Again, so sorry about them."

At this point, Seth looked like he was trying his best to hold back his laughter. He waved a hand, "Don't worry about it. They seem like quite the duo."

She scoffed. "You have no idea."

Seth's face quirked into an amused smile. She has never been super close with the younger boy, but she knew him well enough to know that he probably felt her absence when she stopped coming around. She couldn't help but wonder if Jacob or Quil ever told the others what happened between them. After all, she was sure that people like Embry and Seth had questions. Or maybe they just lied and said that she decided to ditch them for something better.

Whatever the case may be, it wasn't her problem now.

"You know," Seth drawled. "Jacob's here too. And I'm pretty sure everybody heard me when I said your name earlier. Maybe you two should-"

"Stop Seth."

His feature straightened out. "I'm just saying, maybe if you two talk-"

"No."

"Mitchie…"

"Don't call me that." Seeing Seth flinch at the bite in her voice made her regret losing control of her emotions like that. She took a moment to calm herself before continuing. "Sorry, there's just no reason for us to talk anymore. He made that clear a long time ago."

"I guess… But maybe you guys-"

"Seth," she stopped him. "Look, I'm not angry at anybody anymore. There's nothing to work out or fix. I've just moved on. Plain and simple."

The boy looked at her for a moment, letting her words sink in. He seemed like he wanted to say something, but held it back.

"Alright. But I'm pretty sure Embry and Quil really want to see you. Quil was originally going to come over here, but I figured you'd rather talk to a third party. Plus, I kinda missed you. It really is good to see you again."

Her expression softened. This boy was just a big sweetheart. Looking over his shoulder, she realized how close she was to the rest of his group. Most of them were sitting around the fire while a few of them were standing in a circle off to the side—their eyes focused on her. They didn't even bother looking away when she looked over either. Embry and Quil simply smiled at her, giving her a wave. Glancing over them, she made eye contact with Jacob for the first time in over a year. Instead of the boyish grin she remembered from all the time she spent with him, his face was drawn impassively with a hard edge that was never there before. As soon as their eyes met, however, something in his hardened expression changed. His eyes widened and a look of awe settled subtly into his features. She looked away. She couldn't handle that expression anymore.

"It's good to see you again too Seth. I should really go catch up with Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb over there before they accidentally trip into the water and drown themselves. You can tell everybody hello for me though. "

Seth nodded slowly. "Yeah, I will. But hey! Maybe we can hang out sometime soon. Just you and me? You can always stop by for dinner too. I'm sure my mom would love to see you again."

Michelle grimaced at the hopeful expression on his face. She hoped that this wouldn't come up. She hoped that she'd be able to just slip away without having to tell anybody else.

"Actually Seth," she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "That wouldn't really work. I'm kind of leaving in a couple of days."

Seth's head tilted in confusion. "Leaving? You going on a vacation or something? Doesn't school start up again in a couple of days?"

Michelle sighed. "I'm not in school anymore, Seth. I graduated early. And no, I'm not going on a vacation. I got accepted into an undergrad study abroad program through my college, so I'll be studying abroad this year."

He seemed surprised before his face dropped into mild disappointment. Michelle wanted to walk away as the two fell into a small bout of silence, but would feel weird if she did, so she stayed were she was and remained quiet.

"That's… congrats I guess."

Michelle nodded awkwardly. "Thank you. I'm really looking forward to it."

Seth nodded. "I just... can't believe you're leaving. I don't know, I guess people from this town don't really leave very often. Where are you going to go?"

"I'll be in Ireland. I'll be working as an intern in architectural photography while I study cinematography. I got really lucky too. Practically everything is being paid for by scholarships through the university, so all I have to pay is airfare and living expenses."

The more she said, the more Seth's shoulders began to drop. Michelle felt bad. She could tell that the kid was really trying to mend whatever little friendship they had left, but her sudden news of moving across the world was no doubt crushing any hope he had. And to think, she wasn't even that close with Seth before all the drama that happened. She can't even imagine what it would be like to try telling this to somebody like Embry or Quil.

She really needed to get out of this conversation.

"That's fantastic! I'm so happy for you Michelle. Well, I should be getting back to the guys. Are you sure you don't want to talk to Jacob? Or even Embry and Quil? I'm sure they'd want to at least say goodbye to you."

Michelle thought about it for a brief second before standing firm in her decision that none of this was her problem anymore. She was moving on and running back to people from her past was a horrible way of going about it.

"I really have to go. Just say goodbye to them for me, would you?"

The poor kid looked torn, but nodded anyways. With a quick, awkward, one-armed hug, the boy turned and made his way back over to the rest of his friends, only looking back to give her one last smile.

"Hah! I finally caught you, you mangy mutt! Look Elle! I grabbed the little shit by his harness!"

Michelle sighed, a small smile creeping back onto her face as she watched her friend dangle her dog up in victory by the back of his harness while the dog squirmed, trying to knip at his owner's fingers.

Yeah, she made the right decision.

Michelle was viciously dragged into a group hug—the group consisting of Natalie, herself, and of course, Moody.

"Natalie... you're crushing... my lungs," Michelle gasped in between short breaths of air. Natalie only tightened her hold, burying her head into the crevice of Michelle's neck. Moody, feeling left out, pressed his head up from his position in Natalie's other arm and licked Michelle's face. He managed to get her right over the mouth and up into her nose, causing her to step back in disgust. She wiped his drool away with the sleeve of her shirt. "Yuck! Moody, I love you too buddy, but I thought we talked about this already. No tongue action…"

Finally managing to get a majority of his saliva off, Michelle focused on Natalie—who had backed away in Michelle's attempt at thrusting Moody's tongue away from her.

"Aw, come on Nat. Don't cry. You're going to make me cry."

Natalie sniffled and blinked rapidly in hopes of preventing any tears from falling. "I'm sorry, I just didn't think it would be this hard."

Michelle practically melted. Reaching out, she pulled the girl into another tight embrace, the two rocking on their feet as they held each other. "It won't be that bad, trust me. Watch, it will go by so fast, you won't even realize I'm gone."

Natalie scoffed sadly. "I call bullshit. I have no clue what I'm going to do without you for a whole year."

Michelle pulled back, hands firmly planted on the girl's shoulders. "Don't be like that. You'll be fine." She smirked slyly. "Especially after I send you pictures of all the cute Irish boys I meet."

Their laughs were loud and boisterous, causing those around them to give them weird looks. The two girls ignored them, however, in favor of enjoying their last few moments together in person for the next 11 months.

"Seriously though," Natalie's smile straightened out a bit into something more melancholy. "Don't forget to call and text me. Oh! And we can video-chat too. Also, text me when you land and let me know you made it safe. I want updates Elle. Don't forget and make me think your plane crashed and that you're floating on a seat cover somewhere in the Pacific. I'll never forgive you for that."

Michelle just watched as her friend rambled about all sorts of things, like "don't forget to get something to eat, you don't want to pass out in the air" and "I hope you went to the bathroom before getting on the plane, those plane toilets are atrocious."

She really couldn't have asked for a better best friend.

"Flight B23 to Belfast International is now boarding. I repeat, flight B23 to Belfast International is now boarding. Thank you."

Both girls—and surprisingly, Moody as well—grew serious.

"Well, this is it."

Michelle nodded. "Yep."

Natalie sighed and pulled away from Michelle. "You go and kick some architectures ass."

Michelle's eyes narrowed contemplatively. "Not sure that's how that works-"

"Just," Natalie shrugged, a small smile tugging at her lips affectionately. "Don't forget where you came from."

The heavy weight that had constantly been pressing into Michelle's chest ever since she discovered her father's sick secret finally felt like it was starting to loosen. Her throat welled up without her permission, leaving her feeling rather breathless.

She shook her head, lips pressed into a firm line to prevent them from quivering.

"Never."

As she walked onto that plane and took her window seat all the way in the back, she looked out of the window and sighed a huge breath of relief.

There was so much she could do from here. So many different directions she could go, and for once, all of these directions seemed accessible to her. She had so many opportunities lined up in front of her.

And they were all hers for the taking.