thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you kind people! Someone told me that in the last chapter by mistake I wrote 'Edward Cullen' instead of 'Edward Masen'. Sorry for any confusion, but he is not a Cullen in this story! Usually I read over all of my own chapters, and try to get out all the mistakes, but some slip past me! If anyone's interested in being/has been a pre-reader/beta, let me know if you're interested in doing the same for my own stories. Just drop me a PM! I could use some friends who like to read as much as I do ;) Anyway! On with the story, before I keep rambling! Hope you enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight Saga or any of the characters in the story.
Chapter 5
The next few days progressed in a different way than the first two had.
Edward Masen and I had apparently become best friends, and the entire school knew.
We would sit together at lunch and talk about simple things. He'd tell me about his favorite music, and I would argue that while Debussy was good, sometimes you just needed some good Led Zeppelin. We'd discuss our favorite books, and I'd learned the he was also a sucker for classic literature. It felt as though we had been friends for years before we'd met. Turned out that he actually had a sense of humor when he wasn't a brooding asshole.
People stared and whispered just the same as they had at the beginning of the week. Except now, I didn't care half as much as I had.
Not to mention, there hadn't been any more midnight runs. The cuts on my feet and ankles were healing quickly, and I started to wonder if I had an episode of sleepwalking… Claire had sometimes slept walked when she'd just learned how to walk. She'd even escaped from her crib a few times. It wasn't hard to convince my mind that I had just slept walked and somehow found my way back into Claire's bed. It was perfectly reasonable, and I didn't need anymore weirdness in my life.
Angela had also turned out to be one of the better people in Forks, if not a bit on the horny side. I learned that as the local reverend's daughter she had a large history of sin. She also smoked, drank regularly, and snuck out of her room at least twice a week to go to her boyfriend Ben's house to have sex. If I hadn't thought it was such a funny situation, I would have been appalled at it all.
I was a total virgin in, well… Everything. Unless you counted the awkward first kiss at my sixth grade dance with Andrew Wilson. It had been three seconds of misplaced tongue and palpable disappointment.
She seemed to dislike the other people at school just as much as I did. Except she did a much better job of hiding it.
On friday afternoon, Edward and I were sitting together at lunch as per usual. He had just started to tell me about his classical piano training that had started when he was three.
"Everyone always says I could have been a concert pianist… But I don't know…" he said, looking down at his tray and running his hands through his hair.
"Wow, Mr. Modest over here. Does that mean you're ever going to play for me?" I asked with a smirk, nibbling on a celery stick. Edward suddenly got quiet, and I could feel the mood shift slowly into something darker. "You alright?"
"Yes… It's just, it was my mom that got me started on the piano. She used to play simple songs and let me dance around her when I was a toddler," Edward whispered, picking apart a bagel with his long, pale fingers. My eyebrows furrowed and I put a hand on his wrist, stilling his movements.
"I'm sorry," I murmured, looking into his jade eyes fast enough to see him cover up the look of pain and guilt. He shrugged his sweater covered shoulder and flashed me a crooked smile.
"You couldn't have known," he said softly and I nodded.
Removing my hand I went back to eating my lunch, but was surprised when Angela landed herself in the seat beside.
"What the hell are you doing over here? Lauren's going to shun you," I hissed, looking over my shoulders, "And then she's going to hunt me down because she'll think I stole you from her."
"Oh please, you've already punched her, so we know you could handle it," she rolled her eyes. I looked at Edward who seemed amused at our new guest instead of angry as I had expected him, "How're you, Edward?"
"I'm alright, thank you for asking Angela," Edward responded with the same small smile on his face. Angela nodded, seemingly pleased with getting that greeting out of the way and then fixed me with a look.
"What's wrong with you?" I asked finally, a laugh on my voice.
"Please tell me that you've heard about the party tonight?" Angela gushed, looking at me expectantly.
"Uh, considering that the only two friends I have are you and Mr. Broody, I have not," I responded, ignoring the flick that Edward delivered to the back of my head at the comment.
"Well, you have to come. It's going to be an awesome time. Mike and Tyler are bringing a keg out to the falls, and there's going to be a bonfire. You've got to come," Angela said. Meanwhile her bottom lip began to quiver and her eyes glistened.
"Oh please, nobody is going to want me to be there anyway. You want me to give those assholes a chance to get me drunk and possibly kill me in the middle of the woods?" I asked.
"They wouldn't do that, Bella," Angela huffed, rolling her eyes behind her glasses.
"You don't know that," I pointed at her, completely serious.
"Angela's right. They wouldn't do that. They'll be too drunk themselves to even form a plan. Besides, I'll be with you," Edward spoke suddenly and my head whipped to look at him.
"What? You're supposed to me on my side with this one. And anyway, why would you want to go get shit faced with a bunch of people that think you're a weirdo? You're hiding something," I narrowed my eyes at my traitorous friend. Edward laughed, and I found that his laughter was entirely pleasant to listen too.
"Yes! Thank you, Edward," Angela smirked and I growled under my breath. Crossing my arms and glaring at the two of them, "I'll go. But I make no promises to stay the whole time. While they might not be able to form a plan, I can't guarantee that I won't try to kill any of them," I muttered.
Angela left the table seemingly pleased with getting me to agree to go to the party, and the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. Walking to Biology with Edward I gave him a tongue lashing, letting him know exactly how much I did not want to go to the stupid party tonight. However throughout the entire ordeal, a smug smile was plastered on his face.
"Are you even going to try and look like you're sorry?" I huffed at him and he laughed.
"Absolutely not. I think that this will be a very beneficial night for the both of us. It'll be good for us to get out and do something different," he spoke softly. I stared at him, slightly open mouthed.
"Who are you, and what have you done with the Edward Masen who hated everyone three days ago?" I asked him, but he did not respond. He merely took his seat at our lab table and waited for class to start.
I finally dropped the subject of going to the party once I realized that Edward was not going to apologize for agreeing to go. Although I felt in my stomach that I did not want to go to the party at all. Partly because I didn't want to get in trouble for drinking so soon in the year, and mostly because I hated everyone's guts.
Class was slow as usual, and Edward had to help me with most of the things we did, also as usual. Biology was never my strong point, but he was patient with me anyway. Thankfully we had moved away from the blood typing, and were now working towards dissection. Something else I had to look forward to…
We parted ways afterwards with Edward promising to pick me up at nine thirty to drive us to the falls. Grudgingly I agreed and told him to part a little ways down the road and that I would sneak out to the car. I didn't want Charlie to know where I was going. And I'd definitely have to make sure that Claire was already asleep before I left.
When Charlie picked me up from school I talked about what had happened that day. Excluding the invitation from Angela.
"So you and Edward Masen seem to be getting on pretty well," Charlie said, his eyebrows furrowing.
"Yeah. He's a really nice kid. It's pretty unfortunate that this town is full of assholes that are too narrow minded to see that," I responded and Charlie grunted something. His face was getting a bit red, and I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously.
"Oh my god. You think he's a freak too, don't you?" I declared, understanding hitting me like a brick wall.
"It's not that, Bella. I knew Edward senior and Elizabeth for many years. They were always nice to me, and their boy was a great kid. But Bella, something happened to him after…" Charlie trailed off as we pulled into the driveway.
"After his mom committed suicide? Yeah, it's pretty fucking hard to stay the same after something like that happens. I can hardly imagine what it must be like for him," I hissed angrily and then shoved out of the car and walked quickly towards the front door.
I heard Charlie call my name out after me, but I rushed into the house and sprinted up the stairs to my room. Throwing my backpack off of my shoulder I glared around the room, the anger at his words surging through me. Zeroing in on the lamp sitting on the bedside table, I grabbed it and threw it at the opposite wall. The cord snapped and the pottery shattered on impact making a mess on the carpet, but I didn't care.
How could Charlie have said something like that, knowing that I had gone through exactly the same thing? How was it, that in this town everyone was too blinded by an oddity that they forgot that a this high school boy was still a regular human? He had feelings, and he had lived through a tragedy. One that I understood all too well.
Sinking to the floor on my knees, I started to clean up the shattered lightbulb and the pottery, throwing it into the small plastic wastebin. Some of the slivers managed to cut my finger tips, leaving specks of blood, but I finished the job quickly, and then settled in to get all of my work done before tonight.
I hadn't been sure about going before I'd gotten home, but now I was positive that a party might be exactly what I needed.
xXx
At nine fifteen, I was dressed in a pair of skinny jeans, a black blouse and my black boots.
Dinner had been an awkward, tense affair, but Claire was sound asleep in her own bed for once. I had my cell phone and house key tucked safely into the back pocket of my jeans. I was planning on sneaking out through the window since the tree branches were close enough to swing down onto the ground with.
Silently I opened the window and threw my leg out the window, ducking down so that I could squeeze out. Reaching with my right hand I grasped the tree branch only a foot away from the window, and then threw my other leg out the window and swung out onto the branches. With my left hand I gently shut the window behind me, quiet enough so that I wouldn't disturb Claire.
If she woke up before I got home and alerted Charlie to the fact that I wasn't home, I decided that I would tell him the truth. After what he had said to me today, I wasn't in any mood to do any groveling. If anything, he should be apologizing to me.
Crouching down on the tree branch, I grasped it tightly and then swung downwards. However the momentum made my hands slip, ripping the skin of my palm and making me land in a heap on the ground. The breath left my chest in a whoosh, but I pushed myself up and brushed off the dirt from my back.
Standing up, I jogged to the end of the yard and started walking down the dimly lit street. From my place I could see the shiny silver volvo sitting near the end of the road, quietly humming in the night.
When I opened the door and slid into the passenger side, I could see in the dark that Edward was wearing a pair of jeans and a dark colored longsleeve. It was the most casual I had ever seen him dress.
"Don't you look nice," I commented, and he chuckled, throwing the car into drive and pulling out of the road. "I was beginning to think that you only owned dressy clothes."
"I own plenty of jeans, Bella. I just think that it isn't a bad thing to try and look your best," he responded. I nodded, agreeing with him. Although I would definitely stick to jeans and sweaters myself.
"So how far away is this place?" I asked, trying to see out the window. However, the night was dark and the forest beyond the window was even darker.
"Ten minutes. People are probably already there though," Edward replied. Nodding, I settled into the soft leather seat and fiddled with the radio.
The car ride passed in comfortable silence and when Edward finally turned off onto a dirt road I sat up straighter in my seat. My palms had started to sweat for some unknown reason, and I could feel myself getting more nervous. What if the kids got really upset that we had showed up? Would they do anything to us?
I remembered Angela and Edward's words from earlier and tried to calm myself down. It didn't seem to work.
Edward parked in a small clearing where a couple of other cars were parked, but there was nobody in sight. Getting out of the car I could hear the sound of rushing water in the distance, and Edward walked around the car, giving me a small smile.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Are you sure we should do this?" I asked. I didn't want to sound like a wuss, but I definitely couldn't deny that I was a bit nervous.
"It'll be fine, Bella. Don't you trust me?" he flashed me a crooked smile and I found myself smiling back.
"Yeah, okay. You're right," I nodded, running my hand through my hair as we started walking towards the sound of water. We walked down a short dirt path through the trees that led to a small clearing next to a river. Upstream there was a large waterfall that came barreling over a cliff face, and in the clearing we had come out too was a large group of kids from school. Someone had set up some bluetooth speakers which were playing music and there was a keg off to the side.
No one had seen us arrive, and I searched for Angela, finding her sitting on Ben's lap with a solo cup in her hand and a smile on her face. Walking over to her, she noticed our approach and squealed happily.
"I'm so happy you're here! All of these people are such assholes," she grumbled, and I was sure that some other kids had heard her. I merely laughed at her. She was clearly on her way to being very drunk and her top was pulled down slightly, showing her bra cup to the world.
"Come on, I'll get you a cup!" she cheered, grabbing my hand and hauling me into the crowd of people towards the keg. Some of them seemed to whisper behind their hands, but no one dared to say anything about our appearance.
Filling up two solo cups, Angela passed one to me and then Edward, smiling at us and telling us that we hadn't missed anything interesting yet.
We got to chatting, and soon enough, I was much more calm about being at the party. The beer had definitely done it's job and I felt my head start to feel as though it was floating on my shoulders. The only other time I had gotten drunk was when I had been fifteen and I'd stolen a bottle of sherry from my mom. I'd puked my guts out and spent the next two days in bed.
This was much more fun though.
I was laughing with Ben, Angela and Edward about random things. I felt happy, for once. Maybe this was why Renee liked to drink. Because it made her feel so much better. I definitely wasn't worried about any of the kids giving me a hard time anymore, but I seriously had to go to the bathroom.
"I'll be right back. I gotta pee," I announced, then clapped my hand over my mouth, realizing that I hadn't meant to share that much. Angela snorted with laughter, but Ben was now preoccupied with sucking on her neck and inching his hand higher up her denim clad thigh.
"You gonna be okay?" Edward asked, his eyes still a bit sharp despite the fact that his voice was a bit slurred. I nodded and gave him a smile.
"I'll be back in a minute," I replied, and he looked appeased.
Walking towards the dirt path we had come down, I walked off and into the forest a bit so that nobody would see me going to the bathroom.
I leaned against the tree as I relieved myself. In my dizzy state I tried my hardest to make sure that it didn't get onto my pants, but I couldn't be sure that I had succeeded.
As I stood up again and pulled up my pants I could hear the laughter from the party down the trail. There was a slight breeze, but the beer had done its job and warmed me up sufficiently. Shaking my head slightly, I leaned against the tree to support my shifting weight. Perhaps I'd had too much? Although, I wasn't entirely sure how much was too much.
I was just getting ready to walk back to the party when I heard it.
A snap of a twig breaking underneath heavy weight.
My eyes searched wildly around the darkness between the tall trees, but there was nothing. Only the wind that blew between the branches.
Breathing out shakily, I felt as though I had lost my mind somewhere back at the party. I had to get a grip on myself. Maybe I should drink some of the water from the river and sober up?
Another snap sounded to the left of me, further into the woods, along with the sound of shuffling leaves. My heart leapt into my throat and I automatically felt like I was ten times as drunk as I'd felt before leaving the group.
The sound of more leaves shuffling came from the darkness, but this time they sounded like they were advancing on me. I let out a squeak and turned to run back to the dirt path. Swaying slightly from the alcohol, I pushed off of the trees and stumbled slightly. The footsteps got faster, and I opened my mouth to let out a scream, only to be hit across the back of the head with what felt like a rock.
I smashed forward, holding out my arms blindly and hoping to catch myself.
There was a stinging feeling in my right palm, and my head now throbbed from whatever had hit me. Before I could turn over, however something grabbed hold of my hair and wrenched my body upright and into the air. I whimpered at the feeling of my hair being pulled, but almost as soon as it happened, there was a thunderous snarl that echoed in the air, and I was dropped back to the ground with a thump.
This time I managed to roll over onto my back, pushing myself up onto my elbows and looking around. The leaves had stopped moving and there were no advancing footsteps, and my head felt even more fuzzy.
Reaching back with a hand I felt warmth at the back of my head, and pulled my fingers in front of my face. Blood coated the tips of my fingers and I could feel bile rising in my throat. Maybe it was the alcohol, or the memories, but I could no longer contain myself and twisted to the side, vomiting up everything I had drank in the past hour or so.
Unsure of how long I was sick for, I couldn't gauge at what point someone had knelt down beside me, holding my hair away from my face as I continued to heave up all of the alcohol, along with the food I had eaten for dinner.
I had assumed it was Edward or Angela that had found me. And in my hazy brain I managed to move my lips and murmur a thank you.
"You'll be alright," said a voice that belonged to neither Angela or Edward, but was still way too familiar. Lurching forward, I tried to crawl on my hands and knees away from the owner of that voice. However, I found that a thickly muscled arm had wrapped itself around my waist and pulled me back.
"No! Don't, please," I slurred, trying to break away from the grip. It was no use, since I could have been fighting against a tree trunk and had more luck with moving it.
"Stop it, Bella," came that voice again. It was so deep that it vibrated through my bones. Liquid smoke, and deadly, dark intention. Jacob Black had found me.
I felt my bones lock into place at his words and stopped moving.
"I'm going to take you home," he said in his honey rich voice that left no room for argument, but for some reason I spoke anyway.
"I have to tell my friends I'm leaving. They'll worry," I slurred again. Weakly I moved my head so that I was looking at the enormous man holding onto my body.
His face was only inches away, and although it was dark I could see the glint in his onyx eyes. Long strands of hair fluttered against my bare arms in the wind, and the warmth from his body seeped into my own. It called to me, and I wanted nothing more than to crawl up, underneath his skin and stay there forever.
"Your friends have already left. They were trespassing on Quileute land, and were made to leave. You will make your excuses tomorrow," Jake spoke, looking directly back into my eyes. His voice was soft and patient, but there was still and edge to it that made it clear that any argument was ill-advised.
My head flopped back and forth on my shoulders in what I drunkenly assumed was a nod. Eyelids heavy, I continued to study the chiseled features of his face in the dark. He didn't seem nearly as scary when I was so close. His skin looked so soft. I wanted to touch it.
Reaching up a hand, or maybe it was two hands. It looked like two hands. I stretched my fingertips out and brushed them down over Jake's brow, over his eye and down his cheek. Through my haze I saw Jake's own eyes close and I heard him release a sigh.
"You're not as scary now," I whispered, my mouth feeling as though someone had stuffed cotton balls into it.
Jake's eyes snapped open and he looked at me carefully for a moment.
"I never meant to scare you," he replied in his rumbling bass voice. I nodded and let my head drop backwards.
"I know," I said, although I had almost forgotten what we were talking about.
"I'm bringing you home, Bella. Alright?" Jake's voice traveled through my alcohol induced daze like a whisper. I felt my body being moved and then settled against a firm warmth. I tried to tell Jake that Charlie couldn't know that I was drunk. Not to mention I couldn't have Claire finding out about me sneaking out.
But the more I thought about it, the more the worry seemed to drift away. The warmth that encompassed my body was drawing me deeper into unconsciousness. My eyelids were too heavy to keep open anymore, and the peace that came from having no thoughts to worry about, was too tempting to give up.
xXx
When I woke up, it was a slow process. Like I was swimming up from the bottom of a pool. It felt as though my eyelids weighed a thousand pounds. My head was pounding, but my body was warm. Wrapped around me was a warmth that comforted me.
In my head I smiled. Claire must have snuck into my bed.
I wiggled a bit, to try and wrap my arms around Claire to cuddle her closer. But instead, my hands met with a wall of hot skin and hard muscles.
My eyes snapped open, all tiredness wiped away from my mind and I let loose a scream.
The man beside me was alert in a flash. His eyes were wide and wild and as I scrambled for the end of the large bed, my body was grasped tighter and tucked underneath the enormous, half naked body of whoever I had woken up next to. I was pressed up against the tense, quivering, hot skin of the naked torso of the man, and despite the fact that the heat was oddly comforting, I continued to push against it.
Underneath my ear, a rumbling growl vibrated his chest. So deep that it rolled through my body and made me shiver with the animalistic intent I could hear. It was the sound of a warning.
"Let go of me! Jesus Christ, where the fuck am I?" I growled and continued to push.
Finally the man seemed to understand that there was nothing to be alert about and loosened his hold on me. I jumped at the opportunity and scrambled off of the bed, leaping across the small room towards a sliver of light on the opposite wall. My hands found purchase on some cloth and I wrenched apart the curtains, letting a flood of sunshine fill the room.
Squinting my eyes, I groaned when it made my head throb. Once I had adjusted to the light I turned around and looked at the room. It was a big room. Honey colored wood floors, and forest green walls. And in the middle of the room was an enormous bed, with an equally enormous Jacob Black sitting up against the headboard and staring at me with guarded onyx eyes.
His long hair was disheveled as it hung down over one side of his naked chest. The same naked chest that was unbelievably muscled. Tawny skin flowed over the muscles that seemed to twitch and slither with restrained strength. I was relieved to see that he was wearing a pair of black boxer briefs, but my cheeks still heated with a red hot blush.
Embarrassment flooded through me, but I tried not to show it as I set a glare on my face, "Do you mind explaining to me what the fuck I'm doing here?" I growled, though I knew that he could see through my facade.
"Can you remember anything about last night?" Jake asked in his silky, dark voice. I tried to remember what had happened. I'd been at the party. I'd gone pee… Had something happened after that?
"Sort of," I shot back at him, another blush staining my cheeks. I realized that I was still wearing the clothes from last night, minus my boots.
"You were sick, and it happened to be at the same time that the rest of my boys found your trespassing party. Your friends were on Quileute property, and we sent them home," he said.
"So why not drop me off at Charlie's house? Huh?" I asked him, arching an eyebrow. My eyes kept flickering down to the smooth musculature of his chest, no matter how hard I tried to remain focused. Thankfully he didn't point it out.
"You would've rather had me drop you off at your father's house while you were extremely intoxicated? And do what, have me explain to him that you snuck out at night and were drinking underage with that band of moronic children from town?" Jake growled at me. My eyes hit the floor faster than I thought was possible. His tone made me feel ashamed of myself, but deep inside my chest I could still feel my anger bubbling up.
"Those moronic children are my friends. Not to mention the same age as me, so you know you're just insulting me too, right?" I asked him with an attitude. For some reason, it stung that he thought so little of me.
"It was not an insult. You are still a child. You made a bad decision, and as the adult in the situation, I did what was best," he replied, his tone still biting. My eyes were glued to the ground, unwilling to look up at his onyx eyes, which I knew held some kind of disappointment.
"Right, well. This child is going to go home and make her excuses to Charlie," I ground out the words, hearing my own attitude clear in the words. I looked up slightly, though not in Jake's direction and started walking towards the slightly ajar door on the other side of the room.
As my hand reached for the door knob to pull it open, I was surprised to feel a giant, hot hand wrap around my other wrist. The breath left my lungs in a rush, and my eyes frantically looked over at the large, russet colored hand on my skin. I had to admit that the colors of my pale, cream colored skin and his dark caramel looked incredible next to each other, but that wasn't what I had focused on. I hadn't even heard him get up from the bed, and while his grip was tight, his touch was extremely gentle.
Gaining the courage to look at his face again, I say a battle raging in his dark eyes. I could tell, in that moment that he wanted to say something, but the only words that came out of his mouth were "I will drive you home. It's too far to walk."
I barely nodded, and he let go of my wrist to walk over to a large chest of drawers. Reaching into it, he pulled out a pair of jeans and a shirt. Despite the fact that he was covering himself, I still dropped my gaze, a blush heating my cheeks as I remembered how naked he had been. And he had been sleeping next to me. In the same bed.
"What am I going to tell Charlie?" I muttered softly. It wasn't intended as a question for Jake, but he still answered.
"That is for you to worry about, but you should understand that lying, will not be tolerated," Jake said as he walked back to his space in front of me. His voice had dropped again and curled around me like smoke. It's deep, vibrating timbre pulsed through my bones with his words. With my gaze still rooted to the floor, I saw Jake's hand reach out and cup my chin. He gently pulled my face back up so that my eyes were stuck on his own again.
"Is that understood, Bella?" he asked me. I nodded at his words, my eyes never leaving his, "Good. And do not lower your eyes around me. It is not your place."
With those last words, I felt confusion roll of my body. However, instead of opening my mouth to voice that confusion, I kept my eyes locked on his, and then let him lead me through the unfamiliar house, outside towards a shiny red Chevy truck.
On the drive back to Forks there was only silence in the car. Not even the radio was playing.
There were questions buzzing inside of my head that simply wouldn't leave me alone.
He had been right about me lowering my eyes. I always felt the need to do that when he was around. Something about his presence was just overwhelming, and while it frightened me a bit, it also made me feel secure. Which was something that I couldn't wrap my head around. Surely, I should be more afraid of a man who had taken me from the woods, totally drunk off of my ass, and brought me, not to my father's house, but back to his own house. And then there was the way his voice had trembled when he'd asked me not to lie.
It was as if he was issuing a command. However, more disturbing than the overpowering need to follow that command, was how he had made it seem as though I answered to him. And strangest of all, was how comfortable I was with that knowledge.
So again, I'm sorry about the delay, but hopefully the Jake appearance made up for it? And what about Bella's drunk, peeing adventure... Interesting things are starting to happen to little miss Bella. Any theories? If you'd like to, feel free to leave a comment, and thank you so much for reading!