sorry this took sooooooooo long to write guys xoxoxox
When I arrived home, Esme and Carlisle scolded me while my siblings stood behind them, Edward attempting to choke his laughter down and Bella staring with sympathetic eyes. I was pissed at Edward because, well, I thought he'd be on my side given that we are brothers. Bella, on the other hand, greeted me in the office with a pat on the back.
"Jake, you can't just hit people whenever you get mad," Esme said with a confused tone. "I don't understand, this isn't like you." Then Carlisle jumped in.
"We're going to have to punish you for this, which you know I hate doing. But, some discipline is in order," he said.
"Go to your room and we'll come talk to you about it later," Esme said.
I walked past them to the stairwell with my head hung low, hoping to milk some sympathy from my overly-kindhearted parents, but I doubt it worked.
I flopped onto my twin-sized bed and stared at the ceiling until Bella burst through the door with a painfully happy grin on her face.
"Thanks for knocking," I said. "If you don't mind, I kind of want to be alone, Bells."
"I know, but I need you to explain," she exclaimed placing her hands on her hips.
"Explain what?"
"The violent outburst and random hot flashes, of course. Jake, I'm worried about you." Her smile lowered into a grimace.
"Bells, I'm fine. No need to wor-"
"It could be the supernatural aspects of the tribe you're from, you know?"
"What are you talking about?" Leave it to my sister to overthink everything. Even if her conclusions featured zombies and mermaids, she held them as truth. "You're completely insane, you know that?"
"Jake, you have to consider everything even if it sounds silly. I'm still sure about Rosalie-"
"Being a vampire? Yes, I know she's a cold-blooded blood sucker, that doesn't mean she's part of the undead."
"Before I came and saw you in the office I went to the library and did some research on the Quileutes. From that research there's a strong possibility that you're turning into a werewolf."
"You realize that sounds insane, right?"
"It's either a werewolf or menopause. You're not a 50-year-old woman, Jacob."
"Menopause is more likely than werewolf. Sorry, Bells, I'm just not buying it." With sulking shoulders, she slowly paced out of my room and shut the door. A minute or so later, my phone dinged with an email notification from her with links to Quileute information sites.
I read through them, delving into a culture that was much more interesting than I thought it would be. I read that I was a descendant of wolves, and if at some point I was exposed to "cold ones" aka vampires, I'd gain the ability to shape shift. So Bella was wrong, I wouldn't be a werewolf because I would have the choice when to transform, rather than a forced transformation on the full moon. I'd be a shape shifter-I can't believe I'm actually buying into this. It would explain my behavior lately, but it also implies the existence of vampires and that's not something I'm ready for. A knock at the door startled the craziness in my head. It was Carlisle and Esme.
"Jake," mom said opening the door, "We've decided to take your laptop as punishment."
"What? But I need it for school," I said. They glanced at each other with 'uh oh' looks.
"Ok then, we'll take your phone," she said.
"I need it in case I get a call from one of the jobs or internships I applied to." Their looks of panic grew even bigger. My dad snapped his fingers as he got an idea.
"You can't go to Jessica's party," he said.
The color drained from my face as the regret of me telling him how psyched I was about it last week washed over me. He mouthed a 'sorry' and Esme was on the verge of tears from seeing me so heartbroken. They left in silence while I continued to stare at the door in disbelief. I was going to ask Jessica out at the party so I had to go. And I guess climbing out of my second story window was how it was going to happen.
It was Saturday night and I was in the process of make the jump from my window to the ground with two stories in between. I've never climbed out before and probably should have practiced beforehand, but it didn't seem too hard in my head. Edward had elected to hang out at Jasper's rather than with us underclassmen and Bella was sitting on my bed, waiting for me to hit the ground, and when I did she would shut the window and double check my room to make sure it gave off the 'I'm asleep in bed' vibe. I lowered my body down with my hands with grasping on for dear life. For a moment I just dangled until Bella propped herself over me.
"Just jump. You're a werewolf, you'll be fine," she said.
"Shape-shifter. And no, I'll probably die."
She rolled her eyes and started yanking at my hands.
"Bells, what are you doing!," I yelled.
"Shut up, or mom and dad will hear," she said continuing to pry my fingers from the window sill.
"You're insane," I said in an elevated whisper. She let go of my hands and stepped away from the window, only to return with my little league trophy.
"Let go or I'll smash your hands."
I immediately loosened from the window and dropped landing perfectly, no strain on my legs or anything. She grinned smugly and shut the window. I waited for her to pull off in Edward's Volvo before I met her down the street, better safe than sorry.
"Told you you're superhuman," she said still grinning.
Whatever," I said.
We pulled up in front Jess's house next to a ton of other cars and got out. The bass of the music was pounding so hard the vibrations made the cars wobble outside. There were two girls making out on the front lawn as we walked up the driveway. Bella nudged me because I was staring just a little too hard.
When we got to door she pulled on the knob, but it was locked. Our loud knocks and door bell ringing went unnoticed under the music, so we stood on the porch wondering how we were going to get into the awesome party just on the other side of the wall.
"We can try the back door," Bella suggested. "If that doesn't work we can try calling someone in there. And if that doesn't work you can smash in a window because we worked too hard and risked too much not to get in."
I grinned, admiring the boldness and slight insanity that crept out of her on occasion. We walked around to the back of the house, the walls shaking along with the bass. I tried the door, and as luck would have it, it was unlocked.
"Nice," I said expecting Bella to comment. I turned and she was peering into the woods behind Jess's house. "Bells? What are you-"
"Shhhh," she said. "There's someone in there."
"In the woods? Look, Bells, this has serial killer written all over it. Let's just go insi-"
"Get over here and use your super hearing. Now." Her insanity was creeping up again. But, I followed directions and stood next to her and tried to focus my hearing on whatever she heard.
There were voices, two of them, two guys, I think. The fact that I could hear them sent a chill up my spine because it furthered proved Bella's supernatural theory.
They weren't angry, they were just…softly talking to one another. They stopped for a moment and then I heard something I'll never forget.
"What is it, Jacob? Jacob?" Bella said as the color drain from my face again. I could hear sloshing and sucking and the smell of blood filled my nose in an instant.
"He's killing him. I can smell his blood. We have to do something, Bells." She darted forward into the woods. Not what I had in mind.
"Bella, stop," I said as I tried to grab her, but that courageous spirit of hers was hell bent on saving someone's life with her bare hands. She halted in front of me and I grabbed her shoulder to yank her back to the house. She stared daggers ahead at what I assumed to be the killer and his victim, but I didn't dare look up. Not until she said his name.
"Jasper," she said with confused desperation in her eyes. My head snapped up, my nose completely filled with the dry tart smell of blood.
"Edward," I said. He was on the ground bleeding from his neck and writhing in pain. My heart pounded and my eyes watered because the realization that my brother was going to die had suddenly hit me like a train. Bella raced to him and cupped his head in her lap with tears streaming down her face. Jasper stepped towards them and suddenly my body was once again coated in heat. I charged, and tackled him to the ground. His eyes widened at my strength and he struggled knock me off.
"Stop," he yelled under me, "he's okay!" I released a little bit at his statement, just enough for him to throw me off into the base of a tree. I snapped back up, quicker than I've ever been, and lunged for him again. This time he caught me by the neck and slammed me to the ground. "Stop," he said. "He'll be fine".
Bella's eyes blinked rapidly through a soaked face and roughly shook her head. "I can't believe this? You're like Rosalie, aren't you, Jasper?"
He nodded slowly, his stone face never leaving hers. My head spun hearing their conversation. I squeezed my eyes shut so that a part of me could block out what I didn't want to believe.
"Why did you do this to him," she asked in between sobs.
"He begged me," he said. "He wanted to be like us. I love him, so I couldn't say no."
I stopped moving and he released me from his grip. I got up and ran over to my siblings. Bella's hand had turned red from Edward's tight grasp, and my brother still shook as bolts of pain shot through his body. We could only sit there and watch.
"How long is he going to be like this," Bella asked.
"It varies." I huffed at his useless answer and stood up.
"If he dies, I'll kill you," I said staring at Jasper's unmoving face with the heat around my body getting thicker every second. Bella stared at him, too. She's usually harmless, but when her family is touched, mercy is something she ignores. But he didn't pay her any attention. His focus was on me. He opened his blood stained mouth in either awe or disgust, I couldn't tell. He was pungent and with every breath I took in I was closer to vomiting.
He stepped closer and for a moment I thought he was going to lunge at me so my body stiffened in preparation. But he only stood, and cocked his head a bit to the left like a confused dog as he spoke.
"Tell me what you are right now, or I'll snap Bella's neck before you can even blink."
