Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
Friday, this is a day most students would welcome with open arms. Friday means the beginning of a weekend. A weekend that can allow a student to do things they normally can't do on the weekday because of school…unless they have awesome parents. Friday usually goes by very slowly, dragging on so that the weekend takes too long to get to.
So why is it that my morning classes have miraculously seemed to have passed by without me realizing it? Why is it that I find myself walking into my math class early, with no one else in the room? Well, no one besides Ms. Denali. More importantly why do I find that I don't mind as much about being alone with her, that it kind of seems comforting that she's here with me…alone?
I dropped my backpack onto the floor next to my desk before sitting down to fish out my homework. My mood all day has not been good, and I'm pretty sure my backpack is getting very close to suing me for abuse. I can't help it though. Jake is going to pick me up from school. How you ask? Charlie told me to leave the truck at home so that Jake can use when he gets in and that Jake can pick me up from school.
What could Jake possibly need my truck for to do in town? He doesn't know anyone but me and Charlie and he can't visit either of us at work or school. I know for a fact he won't go do any errands for the house like grocery shopping or anything. So where exactly will he be going that he needs to use my truck and gas (I doubt he'll give me gas money since being a Protector of La Push doesn't pay that well, last time I checked at least).
So all day, because of this bad mood I'm in, I've been taking it out on my stuff instead of people. I think that's a rather good idea right? I don't want to alienate the only people I have to sit at lunch with so early with me being here.
"Did your backpack call you names?" Ms. Denali asked from her desk; her tone letting me know she's teasing me.
"Maybe." I answered, not really wanting to go along with her.
I just want this day to be over with. I have Jake coming today and I know I'll have to make dinner for someone with five extra stomachs. The only plus about having to work and make extra food is that I happen to know Jake will clean the kitchen to try and get on my good side. I'm okay with that, even though I know he's doing for the wrong reasons; I'm still okay with it.
"Do you want me to have a talk with it and get it to leave you alone?" Ms. Denali asked, clearly amused by this conversation.
I finally found the homework I was looking for in my backpack and grabbed it. I walked up to Ms. Denali's desk and put the homework it's designated corner. I chose not to answer because any answer I give would make it seem stupid. I'm continuing a conversation about beating up my backpack when I'm in a bad mood.
"What's wrong?" Ms. Denali asked when I put my homework down.
This is the first time I've actually looked at her, and I'm slightly stunned by what I see. Her eyes show real concern. She's actually concerned about me, it's touching; I can't not answer her when she seems so sincere.
"It's nothing bad, I'm just annoyed about what my dad did." I answered truthfully.
I walked back to my desk since I'm not really expecting her to want to talk more on the subject; but of course I was wrong. As I walked back, I heard her desk roll away from her desk and I'm assuming she's following me. I sat down at my desk and she sat sideways in the one in front of me. She turned her body so that we can face each other. The position looks really uncomfortable, but because she's a vampire, I'm sure she doesn't care.
"What did he do?" Ms. Denali asked in the same concerned tone.
"Like I said, it's nothing really I guess. It's just a friend from Forks is coming to stay with us and I had to leave my truck at home for him to use, so now he's giving me a ride home." I answered.
In retro spec, it's nothing to really stay made about all day and beat up my stuff about. It makes me mad yes, but I should have dealt with it after school.
"I'm sorry he did that. I can give you a ride home if you want." Ms. Denali offered.
I'm really tempted to take her up on the offer. But she's my teacher; teachers don't give students rides in their cars. Aren't there laws against that or something? I don't think I'd feel comfortable with letting her give me a ride home. Plus what if Jake is there and smells her and throws a fit? I don't want Jake doing something stupid.
"No, thank you though. I'll just get a ride from him." I answered.
We silent for a couple seconds; I have nothing else to say and Ms. Denali isn't leaving. She looks like she has another question to ask me, so I'll just wait for her to ask. Fortunately I didn't have to wait long.
"Are you close to him?" Ms. Denali asked, sounding a little afraid and hurt at the same time.
"Yes." I answered quickly and saw her flinch at my words. Her flinch made me quickly explain my answer. "We're best friends. I knew him when I had lived in Forks when I was born; he's like a brother to me; nothing else." I said. I know that's what she wanted to hear, because I saw her relax a little.
"You're best friends with a dog?" Ms. Denali asked in her teasing tone again.
"How did y–…the Cullen's told you?" I asked to which she nodded.
I guess it would make sense that the Cullen's told their 'cousins' about the treaty in case they ever visited Forks. I wonder exactly how much they know though. Not only about the pack, but how much do they now about me?
It seemed Ms. Denali was going to ask or say something else, but the bell rang and instead I can tell she said something besides what she was originally planning to.
"I look forward to our afternoon date." Ms. Denali said as she stood up and walked to her desk, leaving me blushing.
The class didn't take long to fill up. Ms. Denali also wasted no time in going over the homework, teaching the lesson and giving out the homework. This time I made sure my phone was on silent for this class, I don't want to give Ms. Denali another reason to keep me after class on another day.
The rest of the school day after that class went by quickly. I was able to text Jake right after class that I have to stay after class so I would text him when I was done. I also made sure to tell him, multiple times, not to text me until I text him because he was the one that got me help over this time.
Just like last time, I took my time getting to Ms. Denali's classroom. As expected the classroom was already empty and Ms. Denali was sitting at her desk with the same chair from last time. The chair was also placed just as close to Ms. Denali's chair as last time also.
"Come have a seat next to me Bella." Ms. Denali said when I entered the classroom.
Just like last time, when I sat down I made sure to pull my chair out a little farther away from Ms. Denali. This time though, it doesn't like there's as much room to pull away from her though.
"I would like to do the same thing as last time and just go over your homework; once we're done you can leave." Ms. Denali said in almost too cheerful voice.
"Okay, so if my homework is all right, then I can go?" I asked in a hopeful voice, at which Ms. Denali only smirked at me.
"If you did have all your homework right, then yes you could go. But you don't, so you're here with me. You only got five questions wrong, so why don't you work on this first one and we'll go from there." Ms. Denali said.
Once again, like last time, I worked on the problems and Ms. Denali pointed out what I did wrong and how to fix the problem. This time though, I actually noticed Ms. Denali getting closer to me. I noticed when she wrapped her arm around my chair. I noticed when she put her chair so close to mine that I can feel her leg brush against mine. I noticed that her head was so close to mine that she practically lying on my shoulder.
Even though I noticed all of this, I didn't say or do anything against it. I rather liked having her this close. I know it's not normal for a student and teacher to be this close; but I don't really have a normal teacher now do I?
However, after all that went through my head, by the time I got to the last question and had it all worked out, I had forgotten it all.
"Done." I said excitedly that I got this last problem right without Ms. Denali's help.
"Very good Bella." Ms. Denali said then gave me a hug.
At first I couldn't help but tense. Not only was I not expecting a hug, but it's also been a long time since something as cold as her has given me a hug. It momentarily brought back all the emotions, all the sadness about Edward leaving me; but only for a moment. If Ms. Denali noticed, and I'm sure she did, she didn't say anything about it.
She released me from the hug and stood to erase the white board behind us.
"You can go now." Ms. Denali said, her voice sounding a little tense and forced.
I paused for a second, confused by her tone, but it wasn't my place to question it. So I grabbed my backpack off the floor and made my way to the door. As my hand was about to reach the door handle, Ms. Denali stopped me.
"Bella?" Ms. Denali said.
I turned around to see what she wants, but immediately my breath caught in my throat. Ms. Denali was so close that our noses were almost touching. Her eyes, once a bright golden color, were now faded into a murkier color.
"Y-yes." I said, her closeness making me resort back to stuttering.
"I'm opening the store with you on Sunday; I look forward to seeing you there." Ms. Denali said, her voice getting a little huskier with each word.
"O-okay." I stuttered again.
I attempted to turn and leave, but all I was able to do was turn the handle and barely open the door a crack before I felt it. I felt a pair of cold lips connect with my cheek. My whole face erupted in not only a blush, but also tingles covered my face. The lips, Ms. Denali's lips, lingered on my cheek much longer than was considered appropriate for even a friendly greeting or parting, but I can't find myself wanting to explain.
As embarrassing as it is to admit to myself, I don't plan on telling Ms. Denali though I'm sure she knows, I felt myself get a little turned on by her simple kiss. When she pulled away, her eyes even darker now, I was very tempted to pull her back or ask her to kiss me again. But I can't think like that. As painful as it is for to say this now, Edward made it clear, I don't belong in his world, with vampires.
So without saying anything, but with a silly grin on my face, I bolted from the classroom. As soon as I was out of the building I called Jake to tell him to come pick me up.
Fifteen minutes later, Jake pulled up in front of the front office and instead of letting me in the truck, he jumped out and he quickly gathered me in a hug; which is fine, I'm happy to see him, so was more than willing to hug him. Almost as soon as he embraced me though, he got weird. He actually sniffed me a couple times, until I had pushed him away.
"Why do you smell like that?" Jake asked through gritted teeth, obviously trying to control his anger.
I don't want him to explode, literally because he explodes into wolf when he's really mad, so I tried to feign ignorance to get us home. We can talk about this home where no one can see a giant wolf in the backyard, hopefully.
"What do you mean Jake? I smell like this all the time." I answered. I guess that isn't really lying. Ever since I moved to Forks and met the Cullen's, I always smelled like them. The only time I didn't was when they left me.
"You smell like a leech Bella, there's one here isn't there?" Jake asked. He started pacing in short strides in front of me, probably in an attempt to calm down.
I guess I'll have to tell him the truth; I don't want to lie to him. I believe it would be worse if he found out about Ms. Denali's family by just randomly walking into them somewhere rather than me telling him.
"My teacher is a vampire Jake." I told. I saw him get ready to yell at me, probably about how I shouldn't be in a school where a vampire teaches or something, but he talked I spoke up again. "She doesn't drink human blood, she drinks animal blood." I told him, hoping that would help calm him down a little.
I purposefully didn't mention her family, I'll tell him later. I want him to get used to the fact that there's one vampire first before he knows that there's actually five vampires.
"You shouldn't be at this school with a leech Bella; it's not safe." Jake said.
Great, he's going into this again. I got really tired of him doing this with Edward. It didn't work then, what makes him think it'll work now? Before I could say anything, a very annoyed sounding Ms. Denali spoke up.
"I don't believe you have right to tell her what do mutt." Ms. Denali said with so much venom that I almost thought it was Rosalie for a second.
"Listen leech, I'm her friend, I have every right to make sure she's safe." Jake said with not nearly as much as venom in his, though I'm sure he tried to sound scary, it just didn't work.
"Enough with the name calling, seriously guys. Listen Jake, she's just my teacher okay? I'm sure if she was any risk at all, she wouldn't be teaching around a bunch of humans." I said, trying to get Jake to calm down. From the corner of my eye, why I said Ms. Denali was just my teacher, I thought I saw a flash of pain go through her eyes. I think I may have just been seeing things though.
"I would never put Bella in a danger; however if you don't control your temper, you will be putting her in danger yourself." Ms. Denali said in a much calmer voice.
What she said actually affected Jake; he stopped pacing, took a couple deep breaths and calmed down a little. He still seemed really pissed off, but he didn't look like he was about to phase.
"Listen leech, I won't hesitate to fight you." Jake said as a warning. I wonder if we weren't on school grounds, or someplace so public, would he actually fight her?
"And I won't hesitate to defend myself. I must warn you though, I've been around much longer than any vampire you've come across, if you fight me, you won't win." Ms. Denali said. Her tone wasn't so much threatening as it was just warning him. I understood he to say if Jake picks a fight with her, she'll fight to win; permanently.
Jake must have understood the same thing, because he tensed a little when she said that. He was smart enough not push her buttons though; he didn't say anything else to her.
"Come on Bella, let's go home." Jake said, making it sound like it where we're going is his home to. I definitely won't stand for that.
"Okay Jake, let's go to my home." I said to Jake, then turned my full attention to Ms. Denali whose eyes are now pitch black. "I'm sorry about him Ms. Denali." I said, earning me a grunt of disapproval from Jake.
"It's no problem Bella. I can tell he's young and can't control his temper as well as he thinks he can. If you need anything, anything at all, call the number I gave, one of us will always pick up. It's connected to our house as well. So any time of day if you need me, just call okay?" Ms. Denali said.
"Okay, thank you Ms. Denali." I said as I turned around to get into the truck.
I made sure to get into the driver's side of the truck, even though I know Jake wanted to drive. This is my truck and I'm perfectly capable of driving it, I shouldn't have had to have him come get me in the first place. So when Jake got in, unsurprisingly, he slammed the door shut.
"No need to take your anger out on my truck." I said somewhat humorously, trying to get him to calm down completely.
"Sorry Bells; I just don't like knowing that your with a leech all day long. It's dangerous." Jake said in pleading voice. He must really want me to agree with him on this.
"I know how you feel Jake, but she's not going to hurt me. If she wanted to, she would have already. She's my teacher; she could have easily given me detention, had me stay after school with just her and attacked me. But she hasn't done that; so I pretty sure I'm safe." I said as I pulled out of the parking lot.
Jake didn't say anything for the rest of the ride home and either did I. I had intentions of saying anything because I knew whatever I would say would upset Jake because I would be defending Ms. Denali and gong against what Jake wants to believe.
When we got home we both angrily got out of the truck, this time he didn't slam my poor truck's door and we both stomped into the house. Charlie wasn't home yet, and won't be for at least another hour. He was coming home early today since Jake got in today. I decide to start on dinner, something that would take a long time to do; so that I wouldn't have to be bothered by having to play good hostess and entertain Jake.
Looking through the kitchen I decided to make lasagna, I don't remember when I had bought the stuff for it, or if it was even me that got or Charlie, but it was there. I know homemade lasagna takes a bit of time to make, as well as garlic bread, so it would take up the rest of my afternoon. After dinner I can do my homework, this way the rest of my day I can hopefully be mostly Jake free.
Jake of course wanted nothing to do with my plan and decided to sit in the kitchen while I cooked. He didn't even bother to offer to help me cook. He just wanted to talk about what the tribe and pack has been up to since we last talked. I don't know how he managed it, but he managed a full hour's worth of him talking about the pack basically doing nothing. I was actually kind of impressed by it.
While he talked about nothing that interested me, I decided that tomorrow, since I will be hanging out with him all day, I can try and corner him about some stuff. For instance, how he actually convinced his pack to let him go. I thought wolves have like a pack mentality and are supposed to be in groups, that there isn't really such thing as a lone wolf? I also want to know how exactly he got permission to be here; how he got both his dad and my dad to agree. I'm still happy he's here, I like seeing a friendly face, but I'm just curious.
When Charlie finally got home, both he and Jake made good use of the living room and watched sports until dinner was ready. Once dinner was ready, both boys came back and ate with me and the table. Jake did most of the talking, with Charlie about what's going on the reservation and a little about Forks, and I just sat and listened.
As I had predicted earlier, Jake cleaned up the kitchen for me; something about he wanted to be a good guest and that it's only fair that he cleaned up. So I of course, being the good friend/hostess that I am, let him do what he wanted and allowed him to clean the mess. After dinner, while Jake cleaned, I made a quick escape to my room to do my homework. Charlie complained at first that I needed to be with Jake since he was the guest, but when I pointed out that all he would do is watch sports, Charlie excused me. Neither Charlie nor Jake would be mean enough to make me watch sports; I just don't get any of it.
The rest of the night consisted of me listening to music in my room and doing my homework. When my homework was done I again made sure that my math homework was packed and ready to be turned in on Monday in class. I left my room after that to say goodnight to the boys then went to bed.
As I fell asleep I kept thinking of things I can do with Jake tomorrow that wouldn't seem to 'romantic' in any way, shape or form. I just want us to do stuff that normal friends would do. One's thing for sure: tomorrow will be interesting.
A/N: Next chapter: even though it's a day that is supposed to be Jake and Bella hanging out, I guarantee Tanya has other plans...