Darker Shades of Gray

- Once Before Falling-

(2 years before)

Bella Pov

If you were to meet me you would say to yourself she's that girl that used to hang out with him… And you would probably never want to see my face again. Yes, I am the girl who dated Jacob, died my hair a Dark Maroon with black under that color, and smoked most of my life but that's not any reason that you shouldn't want to talk to me. We came from two different backgrounds but I have to say were one in the same.

We were trouble makers but not like the ones that you would see robbing and committing crimes. We're type of trouble makers that did what we did for the pure boredom that needed to be filled in our everyday lives.

It was the summer of my eighteenth birthday when I met Jacob, Him and his smooth black hair with yellow spikes. Jacob with his smooth dark skin and brown eyes that never moved from mine. He was different than any other I'd met but, there was a sort of innocence about him that I wanted to find out so when he asked me to meet him behind the Winn-Dixie in Jacksonville, Florida I was curious as to go. I lived in lakeside so I was surprised when he asked me to go out of town twenty minutes out of my way. I went out of interest to know what he was about.

When I got there I parked my red beat up Chevy in the front and walked to the back. People in Jacksonville must have thought I was crazy or weird because I wasn't from there. But with my truck I blended in just fine. People from Jacksonville are more glares than anything so looking them in the eye is criminal. I kept looking in the direction to which I was headed.

Jacob was smoking a cigarette when I turned the corner. I started to turn around but he was close enough to catch my arm. I was stuck there and he was high so anything I was to do to leave I would make him follow me which was a bad thing.

He offered me a smoke and I had to accept. Why not? It's just a smoke. Mom's always telling me to try something new well. "you'll be proud of me, Mom." I said under my breath before I puffed the cigarette. I started to gag and cough.

"Easy girl, don't kill yourself!" a voice came from behind. "Your first time behind Winn-dizzy?" the voice laughed hard and pounded me on the back. There were three other men with him. One had brown hair about past his ears and a fedora. He was a constantly puffing his cigarette in his mouth and once he just had it hanging in his teeth. Another man was cute as girls at my school would say, his name was Michael, but he wasn't my type he was also a brown head. He was smoking as well as the other but not like the first he was… well come to see now the all had a cigarette in there hand whether it was constantly to their mouths or it was just dangling at their side as they flicked the ash off the tip just to look like they fit in. the last of them was a handsome tall man with straggly Brown hair and black and blond died in. he had a pack on that I was guessing carried their stock. I felt surrounded. I was trapped once again.

"Hey" I said in between a cough. Catching my breath I looked over my shoulder and saw a man about my age. He had curly blond hair and a bit of after shave but that didn't take away from the sexy features of his face.

"Whoa okay! The names Emmitt." He took a good long look at my figure by circling me and then said, "You pretty girls don't belong around these places." My hair was a chocolate brown and I was wearing a tight fitted t-shirt with my college on it, University of Phoenix. I guess I shouldn't have worn that shirt because they can now stalk me to my school.

"I'm here for him" I pointed to Jacob and half smiled. Jacob was so handsome that I don't even know how to act. He was just so perfect I couldn't resist a grin.

"Oh! You mean you're here to see Jake Jake?" he finally understood, "well you came to the right place"

I didn't want to know what that intended but turns out I've grown from old ways to new ways… until he came along.