The Nicest Thing
Summary: Bella's life has been one tragedy after the next. When she meets Jacob. Well, he's the nicest thing she's ever seen.
Chapter Three: I wish that we could give it a go
"Maybe friendship can't begin until someone chooses you. But... that doesn't mean you don't get to make a choice too. You can't do that...unless you know who they are. And they can't choose you...until they know who you are."
― Miyoshi Toumori, A Devil and Her Love Song, Vol. 1
She is an idiot.
That is the only explanation for why she continues to seek out Jacob's company. Well, she doesn't exactly seek him out, more like he continues to hang around and she doesn't push him away.
He has taken to volunteering to be her partner whenever there is an assignment that requires working with someone other than yourself. He's says "Hello," if they pass each other in the hallway and he once held a place for her in lunch.
She knows he's a nice person. She's seen him defend a freshman from Bullies, help a girl carry her science project to class, and stay behind to help the teacher clean up after class.
He sits with his friends at lunch and she watches from her place by the tree, her headphones playing listening to The Goo Goo Dolls.
"And I'd give up forever to touch you
'Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now
And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
And sooner or later it's over
I just don't wanna miss you tonight"
He's almost always surrounded by people and she's almost always alone.
He still takes the time to walk home with her on days he doesn't have practice, talking about school, his friends, and stuff, not seeming to care that she's not speaking back. And she continues to come to his practices and sit there. Though she tries to talk herself out of it.
She has things the she needs to do. She's barely been managing to finish dinner before Charlie gets home. She's risking a lot by continuing to come watch practice for a game that she doesn't even understand.
She notices that other students are staring to notice her coming to practice and she tries play it off like she isn't interested by pretending to read her book or taking out her sketch book, but she can't help herself.
She's just waiting for that moment.
The moment when Jacob notices that she's come to his practice and he smiles.
She's seen him smile a lot since he started hanging around her, heard him laugh, heard him joke. But the smile he gives her at practice is different.
It's not like the ones she's seen him give the rest of his friends, it's a little brighter, his eyes are softer, and it makes him look…like he cares about her. It makes her feel warm and good and…some other emotion she can't describe.
It also makes her feels weird and shortly after he smiles at her, when his attention is back on practice, she'll slip away unnoticed and go home.
Sometimes, she'll find herself drawing his face when she's sitting in class and she lets her mind wonder. She quickly covers it up before anyone can see it and she rips those pictures out of her sketchpad. She can't bring herself to throw them away though, so she shoves them in her bottom drawer and prays that Charlie doesn't find them.
"Are you going to be at practice?" Jacob asks, at the end of the day, when she's leaving class.
She didn't know that he knew where her last class was.
Bella shrugs, even though she knows that she's going to be there.
"Well, if you decide to come, maybe you can stay until the end today, so I can walk you home?" Jacob suggests and Bella shakes her head, "You can't stay? Are you sure? There's something I wanted to talk to you about,"
Bella bit her lips and fiddled with the strap on her messenger bag.
Practice ended at 6, Charlie got home around 7. That wasn't enough time to fix dinner or do the laundry before Charlie got back. Charlie said that she didn't have to fix dinner every day, he often said that she could just order a pizza or something.
"You don't have to do the laundry every day,"
"You don't have to make big meals. I'd be fine with just a sandwich,"
"You don't have to take out the trash in the morning, I'll get it on my way out,"
You don't have to…you don't have to…you don't have to…
But…if she slips up, and starts to lax on her work then Charlie might get rid of her.
This is the longest she's ever been in a home and she does want to go back to the group home.
She just has to make it until she graduates...then Charlie can kick her out.
"I just can't do it, Izzy," Phil said, eyes red from crying, "It's just too much. hope one day you'll forgive me."
Bella said nothing, just hugged her bag tighter to her chest, staring out the window while he drove.
People always get rid of her.
Bella shakes her head, and Jacob grins, looping her arm around her shoulder and pulling in for a half hug.
"Well, alright, Bella," Jacob says, not bothered by her refusal, "I'll talk to you tomorrow,"
He pulls away and gives Bella a two-fingered salute.
"Be careful on your way home, okay? And look both ways before you cross the street," he tried to give her a stern look, but the twinkle in his eyes took away the illusion.
Bella nods and Jacob starts to walk away, making it halfway down the hallway, before turning around and coming back.
"Just in case," he states, giving her his umbrella, before walking away.
Bella can still feel the heat from his arm wonders what it would have been if he'd given her a real hug with both arms.
She shakes her head and shoves his umbrella in her bag, before heading home.
She's never had a friend before, apart from her mom.
There had been a few nice kids in some of the homes but never a person who actively sought out her company. But she's not sure if that's what Jacob is. He might just be being nice to the quiet girl who almost got hit by a truck. He might not even like her and he probably doesn't think about her when he goes home. He probably does feel anything when he touches her.
Bella's shoulders slump, and she walk home with her head down.
She wishes that Jacob Black was her friend.
"I think of you as a friend. I used to think "friend" was just another word... Nothing more, nothing less. But when I met you, I realized what was important was the word's meaning."
― Masashi Kishimoto, Naruto, Band 11
Author's note: Please review and let me know your thoughts.