10. Black
It was a brisk day in early November. Bella was wrapped snuggly in a scarf to ward off the cold, but not even the weather could keep her from holding on to Edward like a lifeline. Her cold hand was clasped in his warm one, and her nerves were making her grip tighter than usual.
"I know I'm behind, but how behind are we talking? Am I going to need to stay up all night for the next month to catch up? I need my sleep. I don't know how to function without sleep. I'm dead on my feet if I get anything less than seven hours," Bella rambled.
"Calm down there," Edward interjected trying to rub soothing circles into her hand with his, "you are going to be completely okay. Yes, you're a little behind, but I have faith you'll catch up quickly. And under my expert tutelage, you're not as behind as you think. Now take a deep breath. Your first day will go great, you will be the best in the class, and you'll get lots of sleep tonight."
But not even Edward's attempt at comfortable could assuage her fears. She redirected her entire educational goals. She had given up on a normal human non-magical degree, career, life. And if that wasn't scary enough, she was jumping into the whole magic school thing months behind other students in her year. Bella's doubts would edge away for a few seconds and then crash again like a wave on the shore. They kept pounding until it felt like all the confidence she had built up eroded away.
Much too quickly, Edward and Bella had reached a building in a secluded corner of the campus; it was where all the first year classes were located.
"Do you want me to walk you in? Show you the right classroom?"
As nervous as she was, she still had her pride.
"That's okay. I can find it. Thanks for all your support, Edward." Bella reached up and gave him a quick kiss. "If I don't make it out alive, bury me with my mattress."
"Has anyone ever told you that you're a tad dramatic?" Edward teased.
"Maybe once or twice, but I refuse to believe it."
Bella moved toward the building and was about to let go of Edward's hand, but he gently pulled her back into his arms and gave her another longer, sweeter, tingle-inducing kiss.
"For good luck," he explained with a wink.
She was shaking her head, but couldn't wipe the smile off her face. She walked away before he could distract her again. She wanted to make sure she had plenty of time to find her classroom.
The building was no different than any other building she had been in on campus. All the hallways and doors looked the same as every other hallway and door she had ever walked through. But once she found the correct classroom, and stepped over the threshold, she stepped into an entirely new world.
The classroom complemented the sixth floor of the library. It too had large vaulted ceilings with floor to ceiling windows. All of the walls were lined with bookshelf after bookshelf, but these books looked more modern and had definitely seen more use than the ones at the library. At the front of the room was a medium sized oak desk off to a corner, papers haphazardly placed on top, and a very large blackboard filling up the rest of the space. The center of the classroom had neatly arranged tables so that two students could fit to a table and at least fifty students could fit in the classroom.
And of course, like a typical cliché, even though class had not yet started, everyone was already seated and talking; the professor, a mousy looking man, short in stature, with light brown hair, was rustling through his desk trying to locate an object amongst the clutter. The chatter died down quickly as every set of eyes landed on her.
"Ah, there you are. Class, class," the professor announced not realizing that he didn't need to call attention as everyone watched Bella walked across the room towards the professor, "in a very unusual circumstance, I'm very pleased to welcome a new student to our class today. This is Miss Isabella Swan." A few people gave small waves and some friendly smiles, but mostly Bella could see the confusion on the faces. Looks like new students in the middle of a semester was not typical. She gave a quick nod to the class.
The professor turned towards Bella, "as much as I am happy to have you as my student, you have a lot of hard work ahead of you to catch up. And so, I am going to pair you up with another student to help. Let's see, let's see."
The professor took stock of his students, till his eyes landed on a student towards the back of the classroom. "Ahh yes, Miss Swan I would like to introduce you to your new partner, Mr. Black. Mr. Black if you could be so kind as to stand so Miss Swan could locate your table."
Up from the crowd of students rose a tall, slender but well-built student. His hair was pure black with dark brown eyes. Bella could pick out the hints of his Native American background from the russet color of his skin, to the proud way he carried himself, shoulders back, attitude calm and commanding.
Bella gave the professor a quick nod of thanks before she walked to the back of the room, trying to simultaneously get there quickly so that she would not be the center of attention, but also not walk too fast and draw more attention. She gave a quiet sigh of relief when she reached the table, and the professor began talking to the students up front.
The student offered out his hand, "Hi Isabella, I'm Jacob."
"Hey, you can just call me Bella. Thanks for pairing up with me. I know it's kind of a drag to be burdened with the new kid," she replied shaking his hand.
"No burden at all," he flashed her a smile. He turned to a guy sitting next to him, and lightly slapped his head. "Move, Quil, so Bella can take a seat." Quil rubbed the back of his head and tried to give Jacob a quick punch back, with some of the fastest reflexes Bella had seen, Jacob averted the jab. Quil gave up and moved to an empty seat at the adjacent table.
Bella settled herself into the seat. She jumped the first hurdle. Hopefully the rest of the time she could just knuckle down, absorb as much as she can without causing Jacob too much trouble, and study like crazy at night.
"So what's your story? Not very often we see someone new around here? Family just move to town?" Jacob asked.
"Not exactly. It was more of a sudden decision, but I ended up weighing out the choices of going here and doing this whole magic thing right or trying to ignore it," Bella responded truthfully.
"Well I think you made the right decision. Life without magic is no life at all. Anyway, let me introduce you to the crew. You've met Quil," Quil gave a friendly wave. "Behind us we have Seth and Leah." Bella turned around and gave both of them a smile. "And in the table next to them is Embry."
Bella repeated all the names again in her head just to make sure she had it straight.
"Okay, so what do I need to know for this class?"
"Nothing much, but you might need to brush up on the Latin chapters we've covered so far," Leah answered, "the professor is easy going just super monotoned so his lectures seem to go on and on. Doesn't help that this whole class centers around Latin and Latin history, snorefest."
"Well I find it interesting," Seth defended.
"Spoken like a true, nerd," Leah snorted.
"Oh really, should I tell everyone what you were reading last night?" Seth smugly replied, knowing he had the upper hand.
"You wouldn't dare." Leah had a mortified look on her face.
"I'm sure this doesn't need clarification, but if you couldn't tell, those two are related," Jacob said to Bella.
"I would've never guessed," Bella replied sarcastically as the brother and sister continued to bicker and threaten each other.
The professor interrupted, clapping his hands together, "Settle down now, let's begin where we left off last. Please turn to the chapter on lineage in your textbooks."
Bella nervously glanced around at the other students, she wasn't aware she needed any textbook for the class. But before she could panic, Jacob leaned closer to her and whispered, "Don't sweat it, I have you covered."
With a flick of his wrist, two books appeared on his waiting palm. He placed one on the table in front of her. Bella's shoulders sagged with relief.
"Thanks, Jacob. I have a feeling I'm going to be saying that a lot to you."
"I don't think I'll mind," he smiled back.
The professor began to lecture on the importance of lineage in the Latin world. Bella was mesmerized, not just because the topic was interesting, but as the professor spoke, a piece of chalk was continually writing key points on the board behind him. When he finished with one topic and moved to the next, the eraser would move on its own to clear the board, and the chalk would begin again, without the professor needing to even twitch. Despite how impossible of a feat this would've seem to Bella just months earlier, she could now appreciate the complexity of magic it required to both conduct magic while lecturing.
Throughout the lecture Bella also gathered that most of this stuff was common to Jacob and his friends. They spent the two hours mostly fooling around except for Seth who paid close attention to every word the professor said, dutifully taking notes from what appeared on the chalk board. But yet, if any of them were called on to answer a question, they knew the information without hesitation. It made Bella more aware just how out of place she was compared to all the rest of the student who grew up learning about magic.
Class was coming to a close, and just as the professor was wrapping up he decided to give everyone a little homework.
"In the vein of lineage and in the spirit of our new student, I think we would all benefit from getting to know each other a little better. I would like you to work with your table partners to map out each other's lineage. Learn about one another's rich histories! Let's say, due in two weeks. Class is dismissed."
There was a collective groan from the class, but Bella on the other hand was grateful the assignment was simple and one that she could complete.
"I guess you're really stuck with me now," Bella joked to Jacob as the groups started walking towards the door.
"Lucky you, I have a fascinating history," Jacob commented.
"He doesn't really," Emory interjected, "but you're better off than Seth and Leah."
"This is why we shouldn't sit together," Leah argued. "Now an assignment that could slightly be interesting is wasted cause I'm writing about my own family."
"Oh please, we all know that without sitting near me, you'd fail every class," Seth defended.
The two bickered all the way as the group walked out the building with Emory and Quil goading them on with sentences like "remember the time when Seth helped you on that test…" or "remember the time when Leah covered for you…".
"It was nice to meet you, Bella," Seth was able to get out in between the arguments. Quil, Embry, and Leah all said variations of the same as the group walked off towards the nearest parking lot.
"Well," Bella began turning to Jacob who lingered behind, "I guess we should trade numbers. Maybe meet up and work on the project this weekend?"
Jacob nodded in agreement and they began to exchange information when right as they finished Bella heard Edward call out her name from behind.
A smile lit up her face, and she turned to face him. But as Edward started to approach Bella, his expression changed drastically to a dark and guarded demeanor. She was taken aback as she had never seen Edward look anything other than happy and goofy.
She was about to ask if he was okay, but Edward spoke first.
"Black," he muttered in an emotionless voice.
"Cullen," Jacob greeted in an equally passive tone.
Bella could feel the tension rise between the two. Whatever they had going on, she didn't want to be in the middle of it.
"Thanks for all the help again," she said as tried to end the conversation and get the two away from each other.
Jacob hesitate a few seconds before responding, analyzing how closely Edward was standing next to Bella, until something clicked, and a small smirk formed.
"Happy to help anytime. Look forward to seeing you again this weekend," Jacob answered nonchalantly, but he knew his aim was true as Edward's body tensed. He turned and walked toward the same direction as the rest of his group.
Bella steered Edward in the opposite direction and waited till they were safely out of earshot.
"What the hell was that?"
"It's nothing," Edward tried to brush it off.
"That was definitely something," Bella said as she pivoted to face Edward directly.
"Well long story short, our families don't get along."
"What for? He seems nice enough."
"The explanation is a little long. Are you sure you want to hear it?" Edward asked.
Bella nodded in response. Edward sighed and guided them to a vacant bench.
"Jacob is a member of the local Native American reservation. His family along with many others have been living on that reservation as far back as anyone can recount. And they are a very territorial group. I told you I grew up around here, but I wasn't born here. My family moved to the area when I was young. The reservation was already very suspicious of newcomers so that definitely didn't help us get off on the right foot.
"But one day, my dad received an urgent call at his office to come to the reservation to treat a sick woman. I was with him for the day hanging out at the office. But since no other staff were on call, I went with him. We were briefed by the time we arrived that their local reservation doctor was away for the day and the woman had took a turn for the worse. We arrived at a small house in the center of the reservation. We were guided to a room upstairs were the woman had been bed ridden. She looked like she once was young, but sickness had taken a toll on her body. She was very pail, with a constant wheeze, and oxygen tank next to her bed. We knew the diagnosis before her husband told us, cancer. And from the looks of it a very advanced cancer. There was nothing we could do. The cancer was too far gone, and my dad was called in too late. He did his best to make her comfortable, put an IV drip in because she was dehydrated, an small injection of morphine to numb the pain-"
"But what about magic? Aren't there healing spells?" Bella asked.
"Magic can do amazing things, but even it has limits. When your soul and body has been eaten away by disease no magic in the world can help a person recover. No good magic, anyway."
"So what happened?"
"Unfortunately, the woman died within an hour of our arrival. And they ended up placing the blame on my dad. They said he wasn't a good enough doctor and that he accelerated her death. We were kicked out of the reservation and never allowed to return. I promise you Bella, my dad did his best. I was there and watched it all, replayed it more times that you can imagine over the years. There was nothing left to do. But that was never factored in. Anyway, since then our families have never gotten along."
"That's horrible," Bella finally said after a pregnant pause. "I can't imagine having to go through that."
"And you're seeing him this weekend?" Edward asked trying to exude a calm voice.
"Yes, but only because we were paired up on a project for class. You have nothing to worry about." Bella responded.
"I'm not worried exactly, I just hope he doesn't treat you badly cause he knows about us?"
"And what would you call this 'us' ?" Bella asked both interested in the answer and also trying to change the subject and improve the mood.
"Well…," Edward began, not sure how to answer the question, "we…are…very close…"
"Mmhmm, go on."
"And…we are…friendly…"
"Sometimes a little more than that," Bella prodded.
"And…we are-," but before Edward had to suffer any longer, his phone buzzed with a call. He let out a sigh of relief. "Hi Alice!" he answered more enthusiastically than needed. He mimed to Bella it was an important call he needed to take.
Bella was pretty sure she could hear Alice ask him what he wanted for dinner, important her ass, but she let him off with a playful shoulder nudge. While he continued his conversation, Bella couldn't help but wonder how this project was going to play out and what type of person Jacob really was.
Well, she was going to find out soon.