Chapter 8: Graduation day

I'd been staying at Leah's since the clothes incident. A vampire had been in Bella's room, took some of her things that had her scent on them. The strangest thing had been that the smell had carried into my room as well. What would a vampire want with me? Bella ran with them, I didn't. Needless to say, Embry and Jacob lost it. When I was in danger I was all Jacob cared about, any other time he was all about my sister. Embry was yelling at Edward, he should have caught this. He yelled at Jacob, he should have been watching over me. Jacob had caught the scent and now the whole Pack was on red alert, this vampire had threatened one of their own: me.

It was bittersweet to have my sister at the bonfire that was last Sunday. We should have been sitting together, listening to the legends and exchanging glances only we knew what they meant. When we were little we had made up our own language, so we could talk to each other without anyone else knowing. It was sad to think of what we were and what we are now. Now she was sitting beside Jacob and I was across the fire with Embry, Seth, and Leah. She never even looked at me.

Bella was being shuffled between the Cullen's and Jacob for her safety, the Pack had me on lock down in La Push. Leah told dad that I was staying with her to study for finals. We both had French. I'd already taken my English, Math, and Science finals. I just had French and History left. Leah and I were going over French when I felt it.

To eat? Manger

To love? Aimer

To live? Vivre

Can I have French fries? Puis-je avoir des frites

"Leah something's wrong." I cut her off before she got to the next flashcard. My heart was beating fast and at an irregular pace. My vision was getting blurry and it felt like I was hearing everything from far away. I blinked but it did nothing for my vision. "Abby? Abby, can you hear me? What's wrong? Abby!" Leah's voice was getting softer and softer. My eyes closed on their own accord and my breathing was disturbingly slow. I didn't even feel my body slip off the couch and convulse on the floor.

"Abby-Lynn….sweetheart." I groaned. I could hear Sue's voice and feel something cold on my forehead. I opened my eyes to see five worried faces surrounding me: Seth, Leah, Sue, Embry, and Emily. "Wha-what happened?" Leah wrung her hands together. "We were going over French and then you just faint and then fell to the floor. As soon as you hit the floor you started seizing. I didn't know what to do, I called mom from the hospital." I was lying on Seth's bed. Before I could ask anything else Emily's cell phone rang.

"He did WHAT?" Emily never yelled, or cursed. She was the mellowest person I knew. Her behavior was made even stranger when she grabbed Leah's arm and hauled her out of the room. It was nice to see Leah was putting aside her feelings for her cousin because of me, but I didn't know how she'd react to having to be one on one with her.

"This is bullshit, since he won't tell her. I will. He could have killed her." Leah growl I was much more accustomed to as they both came back into the room. Leah walked right up by me and sat down on the bed, "There's something you need to know Abs..."

"It's not your place Leah..." Embry said wryly. "She deserves to know." She shot back. Embry simply nodded.

"Jacob imprinted on you." And then everyone began explaining to me what being an imprint was.

"What does that have to do with me passing out?" I would process being Jacob's imprint later.

Emily interjected, "He kissed Bella, and he was unfaithful to the imprint so it hurt you. It caused you to get sick. It happened to me when Sam was fighting our imprint with Leah." I think a saw a small bridge being formed between Emily and her cousin. Good, we all needed each other.

"Jour de l'obtention du diplôme…" I sighed. It was finally graduation day. I woke up back at home so dad could take both his girls to the high school. All the Cullen's and the entire pack would be coming, the latter only coming because of me. The box at the foot of the bed was the first thing I saw when I came back upstairs with a mug of fresh coffee. I picked the card off the top.

Abby-Lynn,

I got Bella something to wear for graduation so I thought it only fair I give you something as well. I saw us becoming the best of friends, though you will be closer with Rosalie oddly enough. Edward told me about what you think of us, you are a very nice soul Abby-Lynn.

You love it,

Alice Cullen

Huh, well that's interesting. I never told anyone in the pack about my ride home with Edward, I didn't want to rock the boat any more than it already was. I figured it unnecessary. I suppose I wouldn't be able to hide this from them though. I opened the box curiously and gasped, it was beautiful. Alice was right, I loved it. It was my favorite color, ballet pink. I t was dyed to match my hair perfectly. It was a high-low with an empire waist tied with a black bow. The top was chiffon and the bottom was shear and flowy. A pair of black designer heels was at the bottom of the box. Alice had really out done herself. I spent my time doing my makeup, making sure my wings were both even on my eyes, and my smoky eye wasn't too smudged. I glided pale pink gloss across my lips and rubbed them together. I put on an extra coat of mascara and started in on my hair. I was slowly gaining back weight and my face and hair looked healthier for it. I curled my hair, it felt in soft ringlets down to my waist and I slid a black silk headband on behind my bangs. I put black hoops in my ears and pink bangles on my wrist. I slipped my feet into the heels and looked at myself in the floor length mirror hanging on the back of my door. I cleaned up pretty well, a pastel doll with wide brown eyes reflected back at me. I was supposed to be Jacob's perfect match; we were destined to be together. I looked amazing and it didn't matter. It would never matter how great I looked because he would always prefer my sister. But fuck him, I looked hot. I smirked in the mirror and pasted by Bella's room on my way downstairs.

I paused to peak me, she kept stabbing herself with the wand of her mascara. She wasn't even dressed yet and we had to leave in an hour. I sighed and walked in without thinking.

"Here let me do it before you go walk across the stage looking like you have pink eye." She looked up at me surprised, me being taller than her for once. She handed me the wand wordlessly. I tilted her face and put mascara on her flawlessly. I was good with makeup because of dance; I had to learn how to put on stage makeup. I riffled through her makeup bag and finished her makeup myself.

"The dress Alice gave you looks really good Lynn." She tried feebly. I just shook my head and turned her to face her vanity mirror. She gasped, "Oh Lynn wow, you made me look so beautiful." I felt so old as I looked at my sister, she was getting the life she always wanted and I was stuck with whatever life I could scrap up after she destroyed mine. To be fair, I had my hand in destroying my life; I was the one who came here to begin with.

"You've always been beautiful Isabella, makeup just enhances it." I talked quietly, too damn tired to fight anymore.

"Who told you that?" She got up as I motioned for her to slip into the dress I was holding out. It matched mine but in a beautiful light blue color. It reminded me of when we were little, mom loved to dress us like twins. "My dance teacher Madame La-Laree, she was like my second mother." I answered fondly, I would have to call her and tell her how I was doing. I zipped Bella's dress up and helped her into her heels.

"I'm going to fall." She said to her feet as she grabbed her bed post tightly.

"I won't let you fall…" I said automatically. She looked at me and burst into tears.

"Oh Lynn I'm so sorry, I was such a bitch to you. I was hurting and I brought you down with me, you didn't deserve that. Even Edward said that you did nothing to deserve how I treated you. You were just so…happy. I envied that, I felt like since I wasn't happy what right did you have to be happy? I was so wrong. You've been nothing but a fantastic sister to me. You are so selfless and bubbly, you just radiate goodness. People naturally gravitate towards you. I was jealous of you, I was jealous if how Jacob looked at you when he was the only thing keeping me alive, I was jealous that the pack accepted you in a way they never accepted me. I was jealous that you forged a relationship with Angela so easily. I was just so jealous of you Lynn. You came over and took my life. Or at least, that's how I saw it at the time." Bella looked so uncomfortable.

What was I supposed to say? That everything was forgiven? That every hurtful thing she ever said to me was magically erased? I felt like I was drowning and gasping for air at the same time. I couldn't look her in the eyes, for fear of her seeing the monster she had made me.

We would talk for hours about absolutely nothing. We would laugh until we couldn't breathe. We could fight and scream until our voices were hoarse and throats scratchy. Nothing we ever did was simple. Our love was the purest form, the love you had for your family. She was my other half, she was my sister. She had been my built in best friends for years. We had turned into something ugly, we were family and we barely spoke. If I had any hope of surviving this insane supernatural world, I might just need my sister to do it. I had Leah and I had Emily, hell I even had Embry but no one knew me better than Bella. I didn't trust her, and I was still mad at her, but I felt like something big was about to happen, and we all needed to lean on each other.

"I forgive you, you don't deserve it, but I forgive you." Bella clung to me like a child.

"I think I know what Victoria is doing…" I had Bella sit down so I could do her hair before we left. "What do you mean?" I plugged in the curling iron.

"Jacob said the killings were in Seattle were by vampires. Then a vampire comes in and gets our scents? I think they're all connected, I think Victoria is creating an army."

"A newborn army…" I accidentally burnt myself with my iron as it dropped from my hand and onto the bare top of my foot where the heel didn't cover. "Ouch! Damn it…"

I finished curling Bella's hair and pinned two braided pieces across her head to make a headband out of her own hair. We walked hand in hand downstairs to find Edward, Embry, and our dad with a camera waiting for us. Charlie took lots of pictures, and Embry looked proud. He came over and hugged me tight, "I'm so proud of you Abs…" I whispered 'thanks' quietly.

Graduation went by without a hitch and without a word from Jacob. We all headed to the Cullen's house where the graduation party was being held. Bella had told Edward what we had figured out on the way to the house; he was tense and quiet the rest of the way. The party was in full swing by the time we got there. Angela came up and hugged me, "We did it! CWU here with come!" We had gotten assigned to the same dorm room last week and we were already packing to go. We twirled in a circle for a minute before I spotted Jacob, Embry, and Quil. I excused myself from Angela and walked over the same time Bella did. I hugged Embry and Quil. "I didn't think you guys would come." Embry hugged me again, "Jacob needed someone to keep him in line." Quil punched me lightly, "You didn't think we'd leave you alone with a room full of leeches did you?" I smiled.

Jacob looked over at me, "You look beautiful Abby." I rolled my eyes, "flattery will get you nowhere Black." He looked dejected. We had attracted the attention of the rest of the Cullen's and Alice had a vision and froze. Jasper and Carlisle surrounded her, she focused back in, and "They're coming here…" she whispered. I gripped Quil's hand as we made our way to Carlisle's office.

"How are newborns different from all of you?" Jacob crossed his arms over his chest. In that moment, he looked exactly like an alpha. His feet his planted firmly apart and his crossed arms made his chest appear bigger. He gave off pure testosterone and power. He seemed to get taller as he commanded answers from Carlisle. It turned out Jasper was the expert on newborn vampires. He answered all of Jacob's questions.

"We're in…" Jacob decided with finality while Quil and Embry nodded.

"It'll be dangerous…." Bella pleaded. I stayed shockingly silent.

"At least we'll get to kill some vampires…" Jacob smirked. He looked down at me and his look set me on fire. Pure protectiveness and lust.

Author's Note: Chapter 8. Comment, Lottie