Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight Saga or any of the characters in the story.
*Author's Note*: Hey everyone! I'd like to give my sincerest apologies, I said I would update on the seventh and obviously I'm a little late. My boyfriend ended up staying until the eighth and after he left yesterday I was a bit upset. (I'm a baby when it comes to that stuff), so I wasn't entirely in the mood to finish the chapter until after a few glasses of wine had been finished off and the movie Bridesmaids had ended! But! Here it finally is! I hope you aren't too upset with me, and I'm going to hopefully be back on schedule from now on! Happy reading!
Chapter Thirteen
When Bella's alarm went off in the morning, she could not explain the sense of relaxation that her body had drifted into. She felt so well rested, that she'd stared at her clock, wondering if the time was off and she'd overslept. However, she quickly decided that it had been the best sleep of her life, and continued getting ready for work.
She had been alright while she'd showered and dried her hair. But as she'd started to pick out her clothes, she began to feel the fluttering in her stomach that she'd thought she'd never feel again after high school. Bella found herself trying to find an outfit that Jake would find appealing, but as she reached in for her cream colored peplum dress, she froze in her place.
Her heart, instead of pounding quickly, almost seemed to slow down. The intensity at it's beating made her chest feel as though it was going to break free of her body. Not only that, though, she was suddenly overcome with the strongest feeling of aggression. It was a completely animalistic aggression that consumed her, and was gone in an instant like a shooting star, leaving her shoulders hunched and a light sheen of sweat on her skin.
Something was wrong.
Before she could dwell on figuring out what was happening she gasped in pain as she felt something slice at her shoulder. feeling as though the skin had been cut through like butter. Falling to her knees she felt the stress and anger weigh down on her shoulders, coming from some unknown source. But at the same time she felt the desperate need to find Jacob. She knew something was wrong, and it had to do directly with him.
After a moment of sitting on the floor, her breathing started to calm, and when she felt at her shoulder, there was no evidence of being cut. The pain had since ebbed away and she stood up in a daze. Completely confused by what had happened. Her butterflies still occupied her stomach, but a new sense of urgency to get to the reservation had burned through her like a match doused in gasoline.
Without any regard for what Jake might like, she threw on the peplum dress and her favorite nude heels. She fluffed her hair once as she ran into the kitchen and stuffed all of her things into her tote bag. She didn't even grab her raincoat as she dashed out of her apartment and to her car.
Bella wrapped one arm around her chest as she sped towards the reservation. She didn't even have time to think of how lucky she was that she had not been stopped. The feeling of absolutely needing to be closer to Jake was overwhelming and dulled all of her other primary thoughts.
She pulled into a random parking space when she reached the school and whipped her door open. Bella snatched her bag from her seat and started moving before her mind could even register it. She walked as fast as she could without looking insane to her classroom, her heart pounding as she drew closer to the door. She needed to see Jake. He had to be alright. What if he was hurt, and what she had felt was just a shadow of something he had suffered? Someone would take care of him, right?
The thoughts buzzed in her head sporadically as she felt helpless. But when she reached the door and finally walked inside, there was no one inside.
Bella felt like sobbing. She felt like turning around and walking out of the school and never coming back. She wanted to run into the forest behind the school shouting for her Jacob, her wolf to come to her and show her that he was alright. She wanted to hold him, and cry in his arms out of the fear that perhaps next time he would not come back to her.
But she was a grownup. And she had to go to work. And no matter how strongly she wanted to tear into the woods to look for her mate, she could not.
Just then someone tapped her shoulder, and sent her jumping with fright.
"Oh, I'm sorry Ms. Swan! I didn't mean to scare you," Kim said with a small frown. Bella felt her heart calm as she stared at the girl. She was a beautiful native girl. And she knew that in some small way, Kim understood what she was going through, even if she said nothing about it.
"I-it's alright, Kim. I was just thinking," Bella whispered and Kim tried to smile at her.
"Taking a deep breath, and distracting myself always helps me," she replied back cryptically and Bella stared at her. She didn't have time to dwell on it because the other students started to file in. Robotically, Bella walked to her desk and began unpacking the things she would need, all the while keeping an eye on the door to the classroom and hoping that her Jake would walk through it.
-8-
It had been twenty minutes. Twenty full minutes since the bell had gone off signaling the beginning of class. Twenty minutes of Bella glancing at the clock and jumping out of her skin at the slightest sound coming from the hallway.
Jake still had not shown up to class, as well as both Embry and Quil, and after the gripping fear and anxiety she had felt this morning she felt as though she was going to burst out of her skin. She had no way of knowing what had happened to him, and she could do nothing about it. All she could do was ask her students to open their books and fill out the chapter review paper she had handed out.
Without realizing it, her eyes drifted back to the clock hanging next to the intercom speaker near the door... It had been twenty three minutes.
The air left her lungs as she blew out the deep breath she had taken. She tried to steady herself. Tried to calm her mind somehow, but she knew it was futile. Only Jake could truly relax her, and there was absolutely no chance that she would find any kind of peace today unless he was to give it to her.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw one of her students, a boy named Andrew, walk up to her desk, paper in hand.
"Can I help you, Andrew?" Bella asked in what she hoped was a light voice. She cringed inwardly when it came out sounding tight and tense. Andrew looked her over for a moment and she kept eye contact with her before speaking.
"I was confused with the wording on number four," he said as he showed her the paper.
"Okay, it says, 'Chillingworth seems to be growing increasingly suspicious, what are some of the things that he has noticed of Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale?'. Do you understand what I'm asking?" she asked slowly, pointing at the sentence and then looking back at Andrew.
"So you're asking us to write down the things Chillingworth is suspicious of?" he asked and Bella nodded, opening her mouth to answer. However, her words were stole off of her tongue as the classroom door opened sharply. Immediately her eyes snapped to see the three tall native boys that had been missing from her class for exactly twenty seven minutes.
Her heart stuttered in her chest as her eyes found Jake's deep espresso ones. She could feel her body relax slightly, though her questions raged harder in her mind. He was here now. He was alright, but what had happened? Was he hurt?
"You're late."
That was the simple phrase that had fallen over her lips as she stared at the trio of boys. They all seemed confused for a moment and Bella realized that she was now standing, her entire body buzzing with the need to touch Jake. To truly see if he was alright.
"You know how I feel about being late, boys," Bella said, trying to put a glare on her face, though she was sure that the relief on her features prevented her from looking upset.
"Right, we're very sorry, Ms. Swan," Embry spoke up quickly since the other two boys had not provided anything.
Bella nodded, keeping her eyes on Jakes as he walked to take his seat with the others.
"I'll want to speak to you after class, please. Perhaps you'll need some reminding of my classroom rules," she said and then sat back down in her seat. Her hands shook and she clasped them tightly in her lap, focusing in on Andrew who had been seemingly paralyzed in front of her desk throughout the entire ordeal.
"Was that the only question you had for me, Andrew?" she asked in an even tone. It was taking every ounce of control she had not to stand up and cross the room to Jake. She could feel his eyes on her face, watching her. They burned her alive in the most incredible way that made her feel so utterly safe and at peace. She wanted to hold him and listen to his heartbeat. She wanted to be completely surrounded by the knowledge that he was safe and with her.
"Yeah, thanks," Andrew muttered and then returned to his seat. Some of the kids who had finished the review came and handed them to her, but she barely focused on them as she continued to be absorbed with Jake's presence.
"Alright, once you are done with the chapter review, I'd like to go over a few things since you're test is coming up in one week. I know that you all will ace it, but it doesn't hurt to review some things," Bella stood up as she spoke and grabbed a piece of chalk to write on the blackboard, trying to steady her ever shaking hand.
And so the class continued. Just like the beginning where Jake had not been there, it was now painstakingly slow because she could not wait until she could speak with him about what had gone on this morning.
Whenever a student asked a question Bella had to prevent herself from rolling her eyes. She had always loved teaching and helping students to understand something, but today she was not in any mood to indulge them. She wanted the bell to ring. She was sure she had never wanted a class to be over so bad, not even back when she was in high school.
It was another grueling thirty minutes that had passed when the bell on the wall finally gave its shrill ring and the students all packed up their belongings. She tried to appear as steady as she could while she watched the students leave, but she was taken aback when she watched Embry and Quil both leave the room as well, leaving her completely alone with Jacob Black.
Her eyes snapped to him as he stood and rapidly walked towards her desk. His hand had just barely brushed her cheek when she came to realization and jerked her head backwards. Every bone in her body was compelling her to lean into his touch, but she fought to regain control considering where they were currently.
"Jake, you can't do that here. It's not that I don't want to, but please don't make this any harder for me!" she whispered to him and his eyes softened.
"I understand, honey," he replied quietly and straightened back out. His height was even more daunting to her while she was seated, but she focused on his face and found herself comforted by the aura of safety surrounding her.
"For the record, I really am sorry I was late... There was a small dispute among the pack. It had to be taken care of quickly," Jake said to her in a serious voice as if he could read her mind and one of the millions of questions in there.
"What kind of dispute? Between whom?" she asked quickly. She wanted answers. Real answers. She felt a connection to the pack, as if she should also know their affairs, just as Jacob did. She knew that she had no true power over them, but the feeling as though she was helping to bear some of her mate's burden was enough to ease her mind.
"I really shouldn't say, Bells. It's complicated enough as it is," he said as he shifted on his feet. Bella was stunned for a moment that Jake, for once, seemed a little unsure of himself.
"No, you can't leave me hanging. I must know Jake, even if I can't do anything about it," she said with a small glare on her face. She saw Jake's lips twitch with a small smile as he looked back into her own eyes. Before she could find herself falling into the fathomless dark pit of his iris', he spoke again.
"It was between Leah and myself," he said in a hard voice. Bella's eyes rose on her forehead, almost touching her hairline.
"You and Leah? What was it about? Please tell me, Jake," she said to him, glancing at the clock on the wall. She had five minutes before her next class, and she'd be damned if she went through the rest of the day without any answers.
"Bells, c'mon. You don't need to get involved in that pack stuff," Jake tried to justify, but Bella's scoff instantly silenced him. In fact, she felt satisfied that he seemed a bit surprised by it.
"Don't even pull that on me, Jacob Black. You involved me in all of this 'pack stuff' as soon as you imprinted on me. Now tell me what you and Leah were fighting over," she nearly growled at him. He was silent for a moment and then sighed.
"She was upset over what I had told you yesterday. She doesn't like that you know why she's so angry all the time... It's just Leah being Leah... Don't look into it too far, Bells. She's all bark and no bite," he muttered and Bella pursed her lips.
"Oh please, didn't she hurt you this morning?" she asked and Jake's eyes snapped to her own.
"She managed to scratch my shoulder, but how would you know that?" he asked in a tense voice.
"My shoulder... It sort of felt like something scratched it. Of course that was right after I felt a surge of anger and aggression that was completely out of character for me. I wonder if it has to do with imprinting..." Bella trailed off, just as the five minute warning bell sounded for second period. In a split second she realized that Jake's body had started shaking violently in front of her desk.
She was out of her seat in a split second and standing in front of him in the next.
"I'm fine. Look, unharmed. there's nothing on my body, I'm not actually hurt. Please calm down Jake, I'm okay," she whispered to him in a soothing voice. The knowledge of what to do had suddenly sprung into her mind, but it had seemed to be working so she didn't think too hard on where the instinct had come from.
"I can't stand the thought of you being hurt," he said through clenched teeth as another tremor went through his body.
"I'm not hurt, Jake. Look, I am perfectly fine," she said again and he looked her over intensely. She eyed his hands at his side, they twitched with the effort not to reach out to her. They stood in silence for a moment before Bella saw movement outside of her door. Her second period students started to enter and take their seats, and she looked back at Jake.
"Perhaps if you need more help on this material we can work out a schedule of you coming to me after school, Jacob. Now please get to class," she said in a loud enough voice that the other students would be able to hear her if they were eavesdropping. Jake said nothing as he looked at her, his eyes rolled over her face and he finally nodded tightly.
She watched him pick up the rest of his materials from his desk, but she had to force herself to turn her back to him as he walked out the door.
As she picked up the chalk to write notes for her second period class she realized that her hand was shaking once again... This time, for an entirely different reason.
So, there it is! Leave me your thoughts if you care to. I hope you liked it, thank you for being patient with me, and as always, thank you for reading! :)