Disclaimer - Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer--not me.

Chapter 16: Lunch Break

My mother and Jake drove me to school the next morning. Even if there was some sort of strange truce at the moment, I refused to let my father near Jake and me if I didn't have to.

Stupid mind-reading vampire.

The one thing everyone collectively agreed upon was my safety. So, luckily a compromise was brokered, and Jake was going to spend the day outside the school monitoring the "situation" just in case. I had no problem with that.

Before exiting the car, I gave my mother a quick peck on the cheek, and then turned to Jake. He was stretched out across the entire length of the back seat. He looked squished. I giggled, shaking my head slightly. I touched my finger under his chin.

I flashed the image. Sardine can.

"Sure, sure, still better than the plane, although I gotta say, it's a pretty good thing your dad got a full-sized."

I leaned around my seat to give him a quick, but slightly lingering peck—I knew my mother wouldn't miss a thing—but that didn't mean I wasn't going to have a little fun…

I hopped out of the car—shutting the door and grinning mischievously. I turned and raised my fingers to signal a quick goodbye to the both of them. Jake looked a little pained. Huh. That wasn't what I expected. My mother looked both irritated and slightly amused. Funny. Even though she couldn't read my mind, my mother seemed to know my thoughts almost as well as my father sometimes.

She would head home as soon as the parking lot cleared.

Luckily, I had arrived late enough that the parking lot was mostly empty. Alyssa, May, and Abby had probably already headed to their classes.

I slipped into English to see a very bemused Abby sitting on my desk. Crap. There were still two minutes until class started.

"Hi, Nessa," she greeted me.

"Hi, Abby. How are you?"

"Good. How are you?"

"I'm goo-duh." Oh, help me, did my voice just do that?

Her eyes brightened and she positively beamed at me.

"He kissed you." Not a question.

I squiggled my nose at her and sat down in my chair. She laughed and then started clapping happily.

"Yay! Nessa, that's just the best! I could just tell yesterday it was going to happen—we all could."

She was very sweet. Much sweeter than Alyssa and May were going to be…

Ms. Carter called the class to order, and Abby bounced over to her seat. She kept turning to look at me throughout the lesson, a huge smile spread across her face. Was I really that obvious? But then again, I easily recalled Alyssa's expression at the hospital—so pathetically obvious. If I was half as bad…

I turned my attention to the window. My peripheral vision had been keeping an eye on the Volvo since I walked in the room. I saw my mother's slight figure walking across the parking lot before she suddenly faded into the woods. Now, Jake was all alone—with nothing but boredom to keep him company.

Hmmm…

Oops. Wouldn't you know? Seems like I left my trig homework in the Volvo. I think I'd swear my big toe on it. Seems like I would need to make a quick trip.

I didn't think I would be spending lunch with my friends.

My entrance into German began with a series of squeals and squeaking and swearing (yep, Alyssa). Despite my superior hearing, I did not understand a word of any of it, but Abby seemed to. She answered the two with a very smug nod, and then the squeals and squeaks jumped to operatic decibels.

Next thing I know Alyssa had swiped my phone and was punching a double date with Luke into my calendar alerts, giving me ridiculous winks and nudges the entire time. Meanwhile May Li had grabbed my shirt and was snapping open buttons and adjusting my shirt sleeves.

I still had not said a word. I stood there like a turkey being dressed for Thanksgiving dinner.

Abby sat in front of the three of us with her hand covering her mouth, attempting to stifle an outpouring of giggles.

Once again, I was saved by German class starting. Danke Gott.

I happily absorbed myself in the lesson. I had actually never studied German before I started this class—granted it did not take me all that long to pick up the general rhythm of things—I spent the first few classes reading through the text while Mr. Kern warbled on and on. I already knew the grammar lesson Mr. Kern was explaining—but I liked listening to his pronunciation. He was from Munich—and so I liked comparing his accent to the standard pronunciation directions in the text. I actually wished he would speak more German…

I only noticed that Alyssa had been kicking my chair when Mr. Kern asked Alyssa if she was having a spasm of some kind.

"Sorry, Mr. Kern." She shot him a dazzling smile, and then she turned the death glare on me.

Oops. I looked over at Abby—to see her anxiously trying to nudge a note in my direction.

But of course, it was from Alyssa.

Coffee after school? And don't slip up and tell my brother's lover about my own at lunch. –A.

I wrote the reply in German. I told her I was going to be skipping lunch and that I would try to get coffee with her.

I saw her brow furrow when she opened the note. Yeah, uh, huh, that's right. Focus on your German in German class—not Nessa's love life. She gave me an evil glare before opening her dictionary to figure out what I'd written. She gasped once she figured out the lunch part.

Crap. She was animatedly trying to capture my attention now.

Give 'em an inch…

Since I was ignoring her, she decided to inform May Li of my little update.

Double trouble.

Now I could see May Li scrutinizing my outfit as if to see how she could get me as close to butt naked as possible without getting me sent to the office.

Finally the bell rang. May Li made a lunge for me, but I ducked under her arm and scampered out the door—barely human speed.

The three of them—along with a few other classmates—watched my hasty retreat.

I caught Alyssa's call as I ran out the front doors. "Do have FUN, Nessa."

And then I was in the parking lot.

He knew I was out here. At this proximity, I could feel the invisible cord between us. I could see his back leaning against the window in the back of the Volvo. He was not facing me, but I knew he could hear every step, every breath, and had probably caught a good deal of the chatter following me out the front doors.

When I opened the car door, he had a very bemused expression on his face.

"Hiya, Jake."

"How's it going, Ness?"

"I thought I might have forgotten my trig homework."

I started crawling in the car.

"Sounds like a fib to me."

I hesitated in front of him, putting on my most fake horrified expression. "A fib? Why would I lie about something like that?"

He yanked me around and into his lap, securing his arms around my waist, and putting his lips to my ear. He whispered huskily, "Because you want me."

I was not going to let him have me so easily. "That's a bit presumptuous don't you think? Really, you—"

But my own words were cut off with my own gasp. I was wearing a pleated wool skit that came to my knees with some knitted tights, yet despite the tights, I could feel Jake's hand slowly sliding up my inner thigh. It was making speaking rather difficult.

"You were saying?" he murmured into my ear.

I think I whimpered.

Then he was kissing me again. Left hand still moving up my thigh, right hand moving to my breast. Lips making my brain shutdown.

And then his left hand reached the end of the alley, so to speak, and he slowly dragged the pad of his thumb up and down.

I moaned. This was wrong—and so right—he was doing this to me in my dad's car in my high school parking lot.

I could feel the pressure and heat building in my core, and once again, it seemed like too much, causing my back to arch away from him—but then Jake grabbed my bronze ponytail and yanked me back to him, pushing me up so that he had full access to my neck. He held me there, kissing me and still running his hand against the crease in my tights.

When he realized I wasn't going to pull away, he released that hand from my hair, still kissing me, and lifted each of my arms so that they reached above his head. I grabbed his hair, needing something to hold onto—but he didn't seem to mind. All the while, the pressure and heat kept building.

I was gasping as he lowered his free hand to my breast, gently cupping and kneading it before his hand continued to my low abdomen, letting his fingers slide under the ban of my skirt. I moaned—I thought he was going to touch me, but then he stopped short and pressed his fingers firmly down in exactly the right spot, and my world exploded.

I was yelling out his name, and he was pushing his thumb even harder against me. I knew he could feel the wetness even through my tights. In between kisses, I could hear his pants alongside mine. My vision blurred and I knew I was going to scream—and in the back of my mind I was still vaguely aware I was in a school parking lot—so I jerked my lips from his and bit into his firm shoulder, and my body disconnected from my mind.

When I came back to reality, I realized that I was tasting blood—and that Jake had an expression that was a mix of pain and total smug self-satisfaction. I drew my face away from his shoulder, gently pressing the skin back together and kissing softly along the crescent while it faded before my eyes.

All the while, I could feel Jake hard against my backside. It seemed like my little bite hadn't killed certain things.

I moved my hand toward him, but he grabbed it and kissed it. "Not now, Ness."

"But J—" He cut me off with a kiss.

"I don't think you could ever know how much I liked hearing you say my name."

This chatter was still not going to distract me from my mission.

"Well, Jake, maybe I want you to say my name." I moved my hand toward him, but once again he pulled it away and kissed it.

"Nope. Time's up. You need to get to class."

I gave a sad little whine. It felt like I had just opened the door to the Volvo, and yet, I looked at the clock and I had about three minutes to get to class.

He laughed and kissed my forehead.

"I don't like leaving you like this." I purposely wiggled my butt against him. He groaned.

"See now, Jake, I suppose you'll have to think of being trapped in a cell with a naked Emmett or something."

"I love you. Leave Ness. It doesn't matter what I think about as long as you are in my line of sight."

"Love you, too." I gave him a quick peck before hopping out of the car and walking up the steps.

I blew him a final kiss and headed back to class.

And now I was the one doing the plotting.