Chapter Five
Jacob's Point of View
I pull Bella through the halls of La Push high school seeking out her locker to put her newly acquired book in and then set out for our next class together, English with Mrs. Herbert. I grabbed her hand before entering class; she was going to need someone to hold on to once Mrs. Herbert got a hold of her. We round into the room where an old man sits; oh god a sub, in this class? I pull Bella to the desk where an old man sat leaning as far back as he could, reading a book.
"Hello, Im Bella Swan your new student"
"Hello Bella, Im not your teacher, I'm your sub for the day. Mrs. Herbert had a little accident with a window and gravity last Friday." He sighed signing her slip and let her sit where ever we wanted, unlike the normal schedule for this class. Mrs. Herbert likes to randomly mix things up. She'll place our names randomly on the desks and in her book and that would be our participation for that day if we don't sit where the paper says our name we fail for the day. The subs knew better, fill out the papers and chillax the rest of the day, maybe pop in a movie. Why? Mrs. Herbert doesn't DO lesson plans, as if you could find it on her desk that is.
"What's up with this class" I smirk she should know what's coming.
"I can't tell you. You've gotta figure it out for yourself."
"Jacob" She whines softly, pulling my hand into hers.
"Bella" I smile with my new found breaking point. Should work for just about anyone right? "So what do you want to do today, we have a sub so all normal routines have banished."
"You could tell me more about this class" I laughed; At least she tried. "Or you could tell me about you?" She whispers blushing like a tomato shining in the sun.
"What would you like to know?" I turn to face her, watching her skin turn a more vibrant shade of red.
"Ummm what's your favorite color?"
"Blue" I smile. "What's yours?"
"Same" haha and Charlie thought it was purple… "What's your favorite animal?" I shake my head at her grinning.
"A Wolf, you?"
"Will you stop copying me" She glares, although it's playful.
"Hot or cold" I ask
"Hot"
"Forks must suck for you then."
"We're in La Push, and I can get used to it"
"What's your mom like?"
"Erratic, childish, sometimes I feel like I'm the adult in the house."
"Why did you want to move here then?"
"Mom wanted to travel with Phil even though she never said; I could see she was sad to see him traveling without her." Her voice broke, but she kept her gaze even. "So what do you need to do after school" She changed the subject.
"Just some work for a few people around La Push, for some extra cash for the rabbit I want to build" I could already see myself in it now, driving my own car, that I would put blood, sweat, tears, and boot impressions into.
"Do you need any help?" Was she seriously offering to help me work for a car?
"Uhm you don't need to help me Bella"
"I won't have anything else to do" She shrugged. "What are friends for" Friends… she thought we were friends. I grinned hugely at her, probably scaring the life out of her.
"Sure" I smiled, as the bell rings signaling for us to go to our next class.
We drop all of our stuff off at our lockers before walking to the art building. It houses all of our fine arts, music, band nerds, art, wood shop, fun stuff like that. I walk up to Mrs. Foster, the crazy art teacher who hates everyone.
"And who do we have here" She sneers looking at Bella.
"I'm Bella Swan today is my first day here." Bella held out her hand since she didn't have anything else to occupy it with. Mrs. Foster takes her hand lightly, and gives it a small squeeze.
"Very nice to meet you Mrs. Swan, if you will both take a seat, we can get on with our lesson plans for today." I grab Bella's hand as she is released from her grip, and head towards my table that I share with Embry and Quill, who are both eyeing our handholding suspiciously.
"Hey. Bell-la. how. Are. You.?" Embry asked slowly like she was stupid.
"I'm great Embry how about you" She replied smiling sweetly at him making his jaw slightly drop.
"I'm alright" he slumped into his seat.
"Jacob Black do I need to send you to the office" Mrs. Foster calls out.
"Uh n-no ma'am" I stutter looking up at her confused.
"Then how about you stop running your mouth so Bella can learn?" She asks tauntingly.
"Yes ma'am" I sink into my seat the same way Embry did seconds earlier. Bella glances at me questioningly through the corner of her eye. I shrug slightly turning my attention to the teacher.
"Today we will be painting, pick whatever scene you want and paint it, you know where everything is so don't hesitate." She sits down in her chair taking out her laptop so she can get on Facebook; the school computers block out anything fun. I get up and grab our painting box for our table; adding in a few extra canvases and brushes for Bella. I placed the box down in the center of the table which was attacked by Quil. When he handed the box back I took out my things, and Embry and Bella's before setting the box back down in front of Quil, knowing how much he liked it.
"What are you going to paint" Bella whispers to me, staring at her canvas. I shrug looking down at my own canvas. Bella dips her brush into the green and pushes it to the canvas biting her lip. Hopefully she got her artistic skills from her mother, I grinned inwardly at the memory of Charlie attempting to draw a simple square for our house plans.
I grab some of the same color absent mindingly dabbing it on my canvas while resting my chin on my hand watching Bella paint. Large green trees appeared on her paper, although she only has used one color I can see what she is picturing, I know this place. I switch from green to brown when Bella does, and continue blotting my page. I take my eyes off of her masterpiece and focus on my own, I want it to be a surprise to me when she's finished with it. I grab some orange on my brush filling in more of the white blanks absentmindingly; my mind still revolving around Bella; the rosiness of her lips. How I just wanted to feel them beneath my own.
"Dude what are you doing" I glance over to Quil who was looking at my canvas; I looked down seeing it covered randomly with patches of brown, orange and green.
"Uh nothing, I didn't know what to paint." He looked at me like I was stupid before turning back to his painting of some chick. I look over at Bella's seeing the forest coming to life with little birds in the trees, and a large sandy wolf in the background. It was an abnormal size like half the size of the trees around it. The wolf looked angry, the way the eyes sat square on its face, its muzzle opened slightly, two rows of sharp white teeth bore into my mind. My mind flashes to Sam and his gang for some reason, the stories my dad tells at the bonfires, are they true? But how would Bella know this, she's not a native here and she's only heard the stories once before she fell asleep that is. Sam passes our table glancing at me then at the painting; pausing a small second before his gaze turns to a glare. He storms off back to his table, not remembering to dump the murky water in his cup. Jared looked up when Sam sat down catching my eye, his look turned to a glare, just like the wolf in the picture.
Just as Bella signs her names at the bottom of the already dried acrylic paint as the bell rings signaling us to go to lunch.
"You sitting with us today Bella" Embry asks looking down at her painting, making his jaw hang slightly.
"If you guys want me to." She replies shyly.
"We want you to" I tell her placing my canvas at the center of the table my name jotted down in the bottom right corner.
"Nice painting Jake" She blushes looking at mine.
"It's nothing like yours; I can get you a frame if you wanna hang it at the house." She smiles brightly at me before turning back to hers. I hear a gaging noise from behind me and turn to glare at Embry and Quil who just busted up laughing, drawing attention to us; making the teacher come over. Great now I was going to get a detention.
"What's going on here boys?" She asks darkly, looking at each of our paintings suspiciously. "Who painted this one" She holds up Bella's painting looking at each of our faces. Bella blushes holding her hand up half way. "This is an excellent piece of art work Bella. Maybe you can teach Mr. Black her how to use a brush correctly." She walks away still looking at Bella's painting. I head for the door before Mrs. Foster can grace us with her presence once more. Bella follows me closely; I open the door swiftly for her before following her into the hall. Quil and Embry walk ahead to their lockers not waiting for either of us.
"Sooo how'd you like art class" I tease, wanting so badly to hold her hand again to close the distance between us.
"She seems… to like you… a lot" she teased back grinning, glancing back over her shoulder.
"You think?" I grin as we approach the cafeteria. She nods taking in the sight of the entire class body. She must now realize she is the only pale kid here. I see Sam's group in the corner of the cafeteria his eyes never leaving my frame. I shudder at his gaze, drawing attention to the situation to Bella, her eyes dance between us, trying to decipher what was happening. Luckily she drops the subject before ever bring it up; not pushing me into a conversation I never want her to be a part of. "What do you want for your first La Push high lunch? My treat." She bites her lip looking up at the options at the snack bar, I hardly ever bothered with the main questionable cafeteria food, might turn me into a monster or something; my mind flashes to the painting making me a little dizzy.
"I'll just get a soda, im not really that hungry." She lies; I could hear her stomach growling all through art. I order two subs and two drinks, despite her attempts to stop me.
"I offered to buy you food Bella, it's rude for you not to oblige" She blushed taking the food into her hands and follows me to a table where Quil and Embry have already dug into their lunches they brought from home. Bella unwraps her sub and digs in, I knew she was hungry. I do the same, chewing my food slowly, not knowing what to talk about. Thankfully Quil and Embry stay silent.
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