Chapter Two - Gravity

Seth POV

Jake and I walked into the cafeteria ten minutes into lunch. A lot of people stared at us, but nobody said anything thankfully. My eyes were on the food that the Cullens had snuck onto the trays they'd got for us - to make it look like they were eating.

We sat and started wolfing down the food, literally. Rosalie made sort of a scrunchy face at us. I just winked at her. She pretended to be so cold and horrible, but I knew she thought I was cute in a little brother kind of way.

Jake kept throwing looks at Nessie between mouthfuls. She was sitting at a table with three others who had their backs to us. Two guys and the girl from Socials class. I recognized the back of her head. Her hair really was lovely. I didn't even realize I was staring until my eyes met Nessie's. Her brow was slightly puckered. She was giving me the 'Dude, cut it out' face.

I just went back to focusing on my carb intake. The Cullens quietly discussed their days. So far, no trouble with the humans. A few were crushing pretty hard on various members of the family, but they all had the decency to avoid us.

The bell rang, signaling it was time for art class. This would be exciting, because Jake and I were really good with our hands. We followed Nessie and her friends out of the cafeteria, moving down the hall towards the art room. People began to fill the space between our two groups, so Nessie turned to wave us forward.

Everything happened in slow motion. Suddenly, the hallway was completely silent. Laughter, shouts and conversations turned to a dull ringing. Nessie twisted, her bronze curls catching the overhead lights and reflecting. Her movement caught her friend's attention. The girl turned as well, her eyes passing across Jake, traveling up my face and meeting my eyes with the force of a shotgun blast.

My entire world exploded with color at that moment. Everything was sharper, brighter, sweeter. Her lovely eyes, a blend of greens, golds and rust red, were infinite as the forest under my paws. Everything she was surrounded me suddenly. The freckles dancing along her face, her curly brown lashes, messy hair. She was the only one who mattered.

"Dude," Jake's voice echoed. "Seth? Seth!"

A strong hand thudded my back. It had only been about two seconds in real time. The girl's lovely face was slightly tweaked with concern. I kept moving, ducking my head. The last thing I wanted to do was look away from her, but I had to maintain normalcy.

"Sorry, guess I ate too fast," I said loud enough for everyone to hear. A few people had noticed my little holdup. Jake stared at me as we made our way through the crowd. Did he know what just happened? Being an imprint himself, he probably did.

We entered the art room as a pack. Some Asian kid with his arm possessively around the girl's waist, the girl, Nessie, Jake and I. We found a table in the corner of the room and sat on the low stools. When we were settled, the girl met my eyes again and smiled.

"Hi," she blinked. "I'm Juliet."

"Juliet," I repeated. "Hiya - er, I'm Seth. Clearwater."

"And I'm Jacob," Jake nudged me. I swallowed, trying not to creep the girl out.

"I'm Harper," the scrawny kid said annoyingly. "Julie's boyfriend."

He was sizing me up, obviously. I flexed slightly. Nessie kicked me under the table, obviously annoyed with my display of masculinity.

"So, Nessie," Jake said loudly. "Seth just im-printed out his essay on Romeo and Juliet."

"The term is printed," Harper corrected without looking away from me. "Also, it's the first day of school, how could you possibly have an essay?"

"We take extra online courses," Jake announced. "Because we're advanced."

"Evidently," Harper rolled his eyes. Juliet nudged him, shaking her head slightly. She was so kind.

Nessie's eyes were wide. She'd caught the hidden meaning behind Jake's words easily.

"Seth, how was your essay?" She urged, meeting my eyes.

"It was amazing, I really feel like my insight on the world has changed now. Juliet's character really influenced me," I told her, blushing.

"It wasn't even that good of a play," Harper interjected.

"Harper," Juliet said quietly. "Can you not?"

They had a quiet discussion. Through class, Nessie tried to lighten the tension and I tried to ask Juliet questions about herself. Every little detail was so interesting to me. Harper tried to block every attempt at communication between us - but Juliet could feel the spark too. I knew it. She looked at me with such warmth, such easy acceptance. She had to feel it, too.

Renesmee POV

I was warring with myself for the entire hour of art class. Juliet was Seth's imprint. They would grow up together and die. It hung, inevitably. Juliet was sixteen, now. We had just over sixty years until I'd lose my best friend and possible best friend. The pain looming in the distance crushed me.

It made me want to hate her, hate Juliet. But it wasn't possible. She was so warm and fun, it was impossible to make myself hate her. I only hated what she was, what happened between her and Seth.

And what about Harper? This would ruin their little group's friendship dynamic completely. How would Harper feel when his girlfriend left him for the hot new guy? Harper wasn't unattractive, but he wasn't the best looking guy and obviously had self-confidence issues.

When the bell rang, Seth and Harper walked us to drama, shouldering for dominance. I banished them both, annoyed, and dragged Juliet into class.

"Seth is so nice," Juliet gushed the second we were alone. "I mean wow - he's really something special."

"You're dating Harper," I reminded her, unable to keep slight resentment out of my voice. She definitely noticed. A slight dent formed between her brows.

"Okay, who said I wanted to date Seth?" She sounded slightly upset. I genuinely felt bad.

"I'm sorry," I told her. "I didn't - I'm just protective over Seth. I didn't mean to accuse you of anything."

"That's alright," Juliet put an arm around my waist, side-hugging me. The human contact actually felt really good, for someone who'd grown up with only vampires and werewolves. I was almost disappointed when she let go.

Alice bounded into drama class, bright as ever. I went in to hug her and quickly placed my hand on her cheek, letting her know who Juliet was and that Seth had imprinted.

"I'm getting better at seeing around the wolves," she breathed as the teacher entered. "I don't get unexpected visions of them but if I strain, and know the wolf well enough, I can get a really good picture of what'll happen."

"Can you see anything now?" I hissed back, looking nonchalant.

"I'll have a look. Thanks to the imprint, some things are likely to be set in stone at this point," she told me, scanning the room to make sure no one had clued into our private conversation.

"Thanks, let me know what you find," I nodded once. We tuned into the teacher after that. The hour and fifteen minutes was boring. We mostly played get-to-know-you games.

"You should come over and hang out sometime soon," I told Juliet as the bell rang. "We can do girl's night, and you can get to know my sisters."

"That sounds awesome," Juliet grinned. "I'd really like that, actually."

"Why don't we do dinner and some movies tomorrow? Come over after school?"

"Would that be okay with your aunt and uncle?" Juliet asked, looking a little worried. I reached out and smoothed the dent between her eyebrows with my finger.

"Yes. It will be fine, I'll let Esme know when I get home," I smiled. "Text me tonight!"

We said our goodbyes, Juliet heading for the bus. I met up with the rest of the family in the parking lot.

"Ness, want to ride with me?" Jake gestured to his motorcycle. Seth was straddling his own bike with a dreamy look on his face.

"Sorry, Jake, gotta talk to Bella and Edward," I kissed his cheek. He pouted at me, grabbing my hand.

"Please?" He whined. "I haven't seen you at all today!"

I laughed, knowing damn well he'd seen me barely an hour and a half ago. I let him helmet me anyways, climbing onto the bike behind him. With my arms wrapped around his waist and my cheek pressed into his back, I felt complete. I could easily hear his steady heartbeat with my hybrid ears. I squeezed a little tighter than necessary. Jake was my wolf.

We ripped through the streets, my long bronze curls flying out behind me. We rode alongside Seth, dipping this way and that with the engines purring underneath us.

The sun started to set, creating a fire in the sky. It was still overcast, so the huge yellow orange and pink clouds blanketed the little town. Everything wasn't perfect - but everything was good. Seth threw back his head, laughing into the dusky air.