Chapter 5: Rescue

Nessie's POV

It was Saturday morning and I certainly did not feel like spending at home or working on some science project as Edward had suggested. I could tell that he was really bothered by my decision to blow off my work for the day but he didn't say anything. As far as I was concerned, and I had already told him this, he was free to do it on his own if he wanted to. Well, lets just say that suggestion didn't sit very well with him at all. I got this huge lecture about work, responsibility, and fairness. He probably went on for about an hour. The longest hour of my life. The way he reacted you'd think he was my father.

I had to say this though, in the few days since I first met the Cullens I have grown to like them. They're really nice people despite what other people say about them. Sure maybe they are weird but then again so am I. So who was I to judge?

So here I was sitting on the couch contemplating what I should do for the day when I received a call from Jacob. I still didn't understand why this boy had chosen me over all the other much prettier girls in the school. Jasmine was certainly much prettier then I was and I knew she was going to take Jacob away from me. Jasmine was the type of girl that always got whatever she wanted which included men. Ever since I got here she always set her eyes on any guy that even looked at me. Every time a guys shows interest in me she turns them against me and they end up dating for a short period of time. She usually ends up dumping them after a weeks.

I let the call go to voicemail but instead of leaving a message Jacob just called again. Then this time I did answer.

"Hi Nessie I was just wondering if you had any plans for today?"

My skipped a beat. "Um no actually I don't. How about you?" I asked him.

"I don't have any either. So I was kind of hoping that we could do something together? I don't know what there is to do around here but as long as its with you I don't mind,"

"Okay," I said. "We could go into town I guess. Or take a nature walk. There is definitely a lot of nature around here to see. Its kind of beautiful and relaxing actually,"

"That sounds great," he said.

"Really?" I asked. "It doesn't sound boring? I'm not going to bore you to death am I?"

"Okay first of all I don't find nature boring and second I don't find you boring at all. Besides this way you and I can spend some alone time together,"

I took a few deep breaths. Alone time with Jacob was both nerve wrecking and exciting at the same time.

"I'll be over in 30 minutes, okay?"

"That's fine with me,"

After we hung up I started to panic. I only had 30 minutes to make myself look presentable. Only 30 minutes. I looked at the clock and freaked out when I saw a whole minute had gone by already. What was I still doing sitting around?!

I wasn't quite sure how I managed to get it done but I managed to make myself look halfway decent by the time Jacob showed exactly 30 minutes later.

He smiled. "Wow Nessie you look stunning,"

I blushed. I wasn't sure if he really meant it or he was just saying it to be nice. I wished that I could read his mind. At least he looked good. No matter what he wore he always looked good. I could only imagine how he must look without a shirt on.

"Thanks Jacob you look nice too," wow was that a huge understatement!

"Jacob I hope you don't mind if I bring Nathan with us. The babysitter is closed on the weekend so I don't have anyone to watch him,"

"Its okay Nessie don't worry about it. I don't mind,

"Hey," my sister said as she suddenly appeared. "I can watch him,"

"After what happened last time I left you along with him I would trust werewolves before I ever trusted you again!" I yelled. Jacob froze when I said werewolf.

"But-"

"You got a call from a friend and you left him alone for a whole hour!"

"Because I knew you were going to be home in an hour," she attempted to defend herself.

"You're missing the point Annie. You can't leave babies alone for ten minutes let a whole hour. I came home and found him crying hysterically. Honestly its a freaking miracle the neighbors didn't call the cops on us for child neglect and child endangerment!"

She stayed silent.

"Jacob can we please go already? Because remembering what happened is making me really angry all over again,"

"No problem Nessie lets get out of here,"

"You really do love your family don't you Nessie?" Jacob asked when we were alone walking in the forest.

"Why wouldn't I Jacob? They're my family. My sister might not be perfect but then again are any of us perfect? As for Nathan? Well ever since our parents died I have felt extremely overprotective of him. Out of the three of us he's the most vulnerable and I-"

I was cutoff midsentence by a scream somewhere in the distance. Then I heard more frantic screams. Without even thinking about it I passed Nathan over to Jacob and started running as fast as I could in the direction of the screaming.

"Nessie!" I heard Jacob scream somewhere behind me. Probably wondering why I had taken off so fast. As I got closer I could see a little girl struggling to keep her head above the water in the rough currents. A second later she went completely under.

I jumped into the water without hesitation. I looked around and quickly located the girl. I swam to her as fast as I could and grabbed her.

Did I mention that I can see underwater or hold my breath for up to 30 minutes while I was underwater? Well I can. I haven't told many people and the few that I have don't believe me. I wasn't even sure my parents really believed me when I told them. Didn't matter if it was salt water or clear water.

Nonetheless it is true. My underwater vision is perfect. Crystal clear. Nor did my eyes burn when I stayed underwater for 30 minutes at a time. Just two more tidbits of information about me that made me a freak. Oh God I could only imagine what Jasmine and her cronies would say if I had ever told them.

I was able to pull the little girl above the water but the raging currents made it very difficult to get back to land. I could see Jacob racing along the edge of the river to keep up with us. I've never seen a guy look so scared before.

I tried as hard as I could to swim back to shore but the current was to strong for me.

Then to my absolute shock he put Nathan down, took off his shirt, and dove right in. Let's just say if I died right then and there I would've died happy seeing Jacob shirtless.

He grabbed me and the little girl and pulled us both to safety.

"Renesmee what the hell were you thinking?!"

"That I had to save this little girl," I simply said. "By the way what's your name sweetie?" I asked the girl in question.

"Jennifer," she coughed. "My name is Jennifer,"

"Jennifer are you okay? What happened?"

"Some mean boys. They were chasing me but I was too slow so they caught me and threw me in!" she cried.

I was beyond shocked. Whoever tried to hurt this little girl was some seriously sick and twisted. I mean the girl was probably only four or five years old!

"Jacob I think we should take her to the hospital and this needs to be reported to the police,"

"I agree but Nessie?"

"Yes?"

"Please do not ever do that to me again. I almost died of a heart attack!"

"You know I used to be a lifeguard back in Hawaii?"

"What?"

"The Summer before I moved here I was a lifeguard at one of my local beaches in Honolulu, Hawaii,"

"I didn't know that," he said.

"How could you have known that when I never told you? Anyways swimming and rescuing people is what I love doing. What you just saw there? Well I've done that before in the ocean," Saving people is something I loved doing which made it that much harder for me knowing that I failed to save my parents that day. I was able to save Nathan but I was not able to save my parents. It was all my fault they were dead. If I would've been a little faster maybe they'd still be here today.

"Wait so you mean to tell me that you've endangered your life many times before?"

Oh boy this was conversation was not exactly going as planned.

"No Jacob I'm an excellent swimmer. I passed all the qualification tests with ease. I would've made it back to shore if you hadn't jumped in and rescued us. Not that I'm being ungrateful or anything. I really do appreciate it so thank you,"

I decided it was probably better just to drop the subject completely and not even mention the amount of times I endangered myself.

When we got to the hospital Carlisle was the only doctor available. He immediately took us in.

"What happened?" he asked when he saw how soaked all three of us were.

So I explained everything that happened from me hearing Jennifer's screams and to her telling me that she had been thrown in.

I lost track of how much time we spent at the hospital as Carlisle checked us to make sure that we were okay. Except Jacob. Jacob got a free pass for some reason.

Jacob took me home right after. He left right away but not after promising that he would call to check up on me later.

After taking a shower I noticed the pile of mail that my sister had brought in and left on the table. One of the pieces of mail caught my attention right away. It was a letter from New York University. One of the colleges that I had applied to over the Summer.

I opened it and was shocked by what I read. It said that my application had been rejected because my social security number was invalid. This was the third time I've gotten this letter from a college I applied to. The other two came from Stanford University and Georgetown University. I triple checked everything and I entered it correctly so it didn't make any sense at all.

I remembered how hesitant my parents had been to give me my social security card when I first asked for it. Were they hiding something? Then I had a flashback to an incident a couple of years ago when I asked my parents if there was anything they could do to find out about my past like hire a personal investigator. Oh holy crap was that a mistake. I mean they really flipped out. They went on and on about how ungrateful I was acting after all they had done for me. I assured them repeatedly that I loved them and was extremely grateful but I just wanted to know about my past. I wanted to know the life I couldn't remember.

They weren't having it though. Instead they got really angry and told me not to ever bring up the subject again and I respected their wishes no matter how much it hurt me.

I didn't think much of it at the time but now with this social security number problem I was having I started to wonder.

Lily, my best friend back in Hawaii, has a father who is a private investigator. I had known him since I was about nine years old. Many times he offered investigate my past at a discounted rate but I knew my parents wouldn't go for it and there was no way I could afford it.

I still couldn't afford it. I had to find out though. Maybe if I was lucky he'd let me give a downpayment now and I could pay the rest later. Even if I had to take out a loan when I turned 18 to pay him back.

All I knew is that I had to know the truth already. So I picked up the phone and called.

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