Act One, Scene One…
Enter DAVE ULEY and QUENTIN ATEARA, two younger werewolf boys…
Dave and Quentin rode down the roads of Forks on their motorcycles, built by Mr. Black after an old one he had given Alex. They whooped as they shot down the street, enjoying the wind on their faces.
Suddenly, Dave hit down hard on his brakes and skidded to a squealing halt. Quentin shot past him, but wheeled around and came roaring back. "What?" he asked, pushing excess strands of floppy brown hair out of his eyes. "Why'd you stop?"
Dave didn't answer, but was staring at a side alley off to the right of them. Quentin slowly turned his head, instinct telling him what was fueling the venomous glare Dave was giving. His expression turned into a bitter smirk as he noted his instincts were right. Almost in confirmation, a sickly sweet scent crashed into his nose.
Enter JASPER CULLEN and EMMETT CULLEN, two vampires of the Cullen clan…
Emmett was coaxing Jasper down the street, saying, "Come on, Jazz, we have to buy groceries or people will ask awkward questions and all that stuff!"
Jasper exhaled sharply out his nose. "Emmett, I understand perfectly well, I just don't like being out in pub- OOF!"
Emmett had stopped dead in the middle of the street, staring with pure venom to his left. As Jasper was about to inquire about the abrupt halt, a sharp scent hit his nose, triggering a burning desire to attack…
"Oh, wonderful," he growled. "Werewolves."
The two parties walked slowly down the connecting street, glaring at one another all the while. Jasper's eyes narrowed dangerously, and he spat, "What are you doing out of your pen, dogs? Shouldn't you be on a leash?"
The aggressive Dave scowled, and made a move towards the thin blonde vampire. Quentin shot an arm out to stop him before he did something stupid though. "Passing through, no problem," he hissed tightly at the vampires. He struggled against Dave's bigger mass, trying desperately to avoid fighting. In the town, they couldn't go into wolf form. Snarling, Dave relented, but shot the middle finger at the Cullen brothers.
Emmett's eyes widened, as Jasper's tightened into deadly slits. With a ferocious snarl, Emmett lunged at Dave. Quentin backed out of the way quickly as Emmett cannoned into Dave. The other boy shot backwards into the alley wall, hitting with a vicious crack. Growling furiously, Dave peeled himself off the brick.
Quentin grabbed his arm tightly, noticing his quivering form. "STOP!" he yelled. "We can't, not here. People will see us all! We'll all be exposed!"
Jasper snorted and looked at Quentin with utter contempt. "What, is the wittle baby werewolf afwaid?" he mocked in a baby voice.
Quentin tightened his old on Dave's arm. "No, just trying to keep the whole town out of our fight!" he snapped. "Is peace so bad?"
Jasper smirked. "When it comes to you smelly mongrels… yes."
That did it. Quentin let go of Dave, who immediately flew at Emmett. Quentin launched himself at Jasper roaring an angry battle cry.
The two teenaged werewolves started to vibrate viscously. They tore at the vampires, their looks becoming increasingly feral with each swing they made. A few more seconds, and transformation into wolves would have been inevitable. But…
"What is going on here?!"
All four fighters froze. Jasper's teeth were inches from Quentin's arm, and Dave's now abnormally long nails were about to drive into Emmett's chest. At the voice, they all looked towards the end of the alley where Jasper and Emmett had come from.
Enter EDWARD and BELLA CULLEN, two married vampires…
Edward Cullen stood there, amber eyes blazing with fury. A few paces behind was Bella, her newly vampiric skin glowing faintly in the gray light of Forks. Her hands were twitching in small directions, giving away the fact that she was working to cast her aging illusions.
Emmett and Jasper detangled themselves, and moved quickly backwards towards their brother. Edward glared at Quentin and Dave, and spat, "Wolves. Of course. Always looking for a fight." He made to step forward, but an icy cold hand clamped on his arm.
"No." It was Bella, speaking softly but looking stern. "Don't you dare, Edward. Those are someone's children."
The two were still staring down when yet another voice echoed down the narrow alley. "Quentin, Dave, what the hell?" Bella broke her gaze with Edward and her gold eyes grew huge.
Enter JACOB and LEAH BLACK, two werewolves themselves…
Marching down from where the motorcycles were parked was Jacob Black. Bella hadn't seen him since she returned to Forks a year ago, but there was no mistaking him, especially the pained way he regarded Bella's vampiric state. Behind him was an equally recognizable Leah Clearwater.
Dave whipped around to look at his best friend's father. "They started it, Mr. Black!" he accused. "Quentin tried to stop it, but the blonde one goaded him into it…" Behind him, Jasper snarled softly.
Jake looked towards the pale group at the other end. He pointedly ignored Bella, instead glaring at her husband. "Cullen." He said it completely flatly.
"Black," Edward acknowledge. "What's the she-wolf doing here?" Bella dug her nails into Edward's wrist at his bluntness.
"The 'she-wolf'," Jake growled, "is my wife." Bella gave a little gasp that caused Edward to wrap a protective arm around her.
"Mr. Cullen? Mr. Black?" Yet another person joined the fray. He was a tall African-American, with buzz cut black hair and stormy gray eyes.
Enter JOHN ROBERTS, police chief of Forks…
"Chief Roberts," Bella said politely. The police chief looked at her and smiled. "Bella," he chuckled. "Good to see you. How is Charlie?" Bella gave him a dazzling vampire grin. "Oh, he's fine. I think if I didn't check on him he'd spend the rest of his life fishing!"
Roberts spared a chuckle. Then his face grew solemn as he surveyed Jasper, Emmett, Dave and Quentin. "You've been fighting again." It wasn't a question.
"I'm sorry sir, it won't –" Jasper began, but was cut off. "I don't want to hear it. You've all been causing chaos all over Forks with your fighting. I don't know what the problem is, and I don't care. If you don't stop, I'll arrest you all."
He looked between both parties – the Cullens and the La Push natives. He nodded curtly to Edward and Jacob, then strode down the alley and out of sight.
With an exasperated sigh, Edward ran his fingers through his bronze hair. The once-pure copper was now streaked with gray thanks to Bella's illusion, making the eternally 17-year-old look closer to 47. "All right, let's go home," he sighed. "We'll talk about this with Carlisle."
Jasper, Emmett and Edward turned away from the werewolves. Bella followed a half second behind, but whispered "Bye Jake," and gave a little wave. Jake made a move as if to reply, but Leah grasped his arm and glared. Jake looked between his wife and Bella, then simply nodded.
Bella's warm gaze frosted over, and she walked stiffly away from him. Dave watched her go, then muttered, "I should probably go home before Chief Roberts calls my dad…" He jammed his helmet over his wildly curly brown hair, got on his motorcycle, and roared away.
Jake sighed and ran a hand over the side of his face. "Okay, Quentin, what happened?"
Quentin described the whole scene, trying to be as unbiased as possible so Jake wouldn't get mad. As he finished, Leah growled under her breath. "Stupid Cullens," she hissed. "I wish they never came back."
Seemingly coming back into her senses, she asked Quentin, "Have you seen Alex? I'm glad he wasn't in the fight, but he was gone when I woke up…"
Quentin nodded quickly to reassure the temperamental Leah. "Yeah, I did. He was up before dawn at the river, throwing stones. I was up fixing my bike and saw him go," he answered.
Jake groaned. "Brooding again," he said. "He's been like this for a few days." Quentin furrowed his brow. "Really? Do you know why?" Jake shook his head. "He won't say."
Quentin looked over Jake's shoulder, and saw the boy in question walking down the sidewalk. His hand were jammed into his pockets and he kept his gaze on the concrete.
Enter ALEX BLACK, a moody and impulsive young werewolf…
"Hey, there he is," said Quentin. As Leah made to turn around, he said hurriedly, "No no, let me talk to him. He'll listen to me."
Leah paused, as if contemplating his words, and then nodded. "All right," she agreed. "Come on, Jake." And with that, she snatched her husband's arm and led him off down the street.
Quentin ran over to Alex, who only looked up when his best friend was a few paces in front of him. "Hey," he said dully. As soon as the word was out his dark eyes were glued to the pavement again.
"Dude, what's wrong with you?" Quentin asked. "You haven't really spoken to anyone in a few days." Alex shrugged, and scuffed his sneaker on the sidewalk.
Quentin rolled his eyes. "Alex, I'm you're best friend. I can tell that something's up. Tell me now."
Alex gritted his teeth. Sometimes having a best friend who knew you all your life was a pain. "Fine," he mumbled. "Remember Katie Newton?" Quentin nodded. "From school?" All of the teens of Forks attended Forks High since the La Push school burned down five years ago.
"Yeah, you like her, don't you?" Quentin asked. Alex clenched his fists. "Yeah, but she… I asked her out and she laughed. Laughed!"
Quentin rested a hand on Alex's shoulder. "I'm sorry man," he said. "But you didn't imprint on her, so…" Alex shrugged away. "It sure felt like it," he muttered. "But she would have said yes if you had!" Quentin pointed out.
Alex's head shot up. "It doesn't matter!" he yelled. "I loved her, I think. And she laughed at me when I told her! You're lucky – you imprinted on Lena as soon as you saw her, she wouldn't say no!"
Quentin stepped back at his harsh words. "All right, all right," he confessed. "I don't know anything about it. But come on – we'll go back to La Push and find you some other hot girl to love."
"Like that will happen," Alex growled mutinously. But he allowed himself to be led away by Quentin.
And so concludes Act 1 Scene One of No Simple Thing. Please tune in soon to see what next unfolds in our tale of star-crossed lovers.