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Chapter 6

Back to Everyday Life

Jake

The most normal thing about last week? We had visited our relatives. Grandpa Charlie and his wife Sue, Grandpa Billy, Aunt Rachel and her husband Paul.

But after an extensive dinner with everyone the first night, it stopped being a normal visit.

Sam and Seth had been yelling and provoking us for a few hours.

We were children who had no idea. They doubted that we had what it took to be good wolves. The vampire coven would laugh at us if we tried to stand in their way. And - with which they hit us in our most sensitive spot, after the stories of Mom and Grandpa Billy - our father would be ashamed of us to the core. That was the straw that broke the camel's back, and we became furious. We were trembling all over, jumped at both of them - seized by a glowing heat - and immediately stood in front of them as wolves. This is exactly what they had intended with their trash-talk. It felt fantastic! The fire that spread inside us, how our human form blurred, and now we stood on four strong paws, as if nothing in this world could be dangerous to us. The whole thing had only one drawback: We were both advised to cut our hair short!

Leah had gone for it and I had to admit that the short hair cut looked very good on her. She now looked sassy and her pretty face came out better. But I refused.

My shoulder length hair would stay nicely where it was! I didn't care what I looked like as a wolf.

The week was tough, but we had seemingly learned everything we needed to know as wolves.

The thought sharing thing was strange, but practical. Seth had shown us many memories. Of the former pack, Mom's vampires, Mom herself, and especially our Dad. Also, those memories, which he had not experienced himself, but that he had also been shown by his 'brothers'. And we were educated about the treaty: The peace between the Quileute and these vampires existed only as long as they did not bite a human.

Bite! Not kill! I wasn't sure what difference there was. Wasn't a vampire already dead?

But another point from this agreement had burned itself into me: The treaty did not mention any territorial restrictions! Sam cautioned us, however, that the treaty should not be held quite so strictly anymore. Our mom had made him come to that conclusion, however, he had only come to accept it a few years ago. Mom would have wanted to be transformed into a vampire, and for that these vampires should not be punished for it. I saw it quite differently!

Sunday in the early morning hours we said goodbye to everyone.

Sam, Seth, Paul and Billy had still assured us that we were fine wolves and that our father would be very proud of us. Leah and I weren't quite so sure about that.

When we had our layover in New York, we made a few phone calls to our friends and told them that we would be back soon. Everyone said they would see us that evening. Mom didn't mind.

They lost it when they saw us.

"Dude! What happened to you guys? Did you bathe in anabolic steroids?" Brandon asked me as we all sat together.

We had only texted them the same thing that we had already told my mom's boss: a family emergency. But how to explain how we had changed so much in just a few days; we simply had no explanation.

"Nonsense! We wouldn't take something like that! ... But there was a death in the family and to take our minds off of it one of our relatives trained with us. A real professional. A personal trainer. And as you can see, he really knows his stuff."

I didn't think anyone would buy it. We had not only become stronger, but also taller. You couldn't train that. If that worked, Lisa would have started doing it many years ago. She was downright tiny at just four feet, nine inches. My answer seemed believable. No one asked anything more about our appearance.

It was a nice evening.

Like every evening the seven of us spent together.

We were sitting on the lawn behind our house and had lit a fire in the fire pit. Around it were lots of blankets, drinks, and tons of snacks.

Mom was in the living room and had a visit from Andrew.

Andrew. Of all people! I didn't like the guy. He was way too nice to be real. Greasy nice.

Leah had the same opinion. Every now and then, one of us would go into the house, into the bathroom, into the kitchen, or ask for something, preventing it from getting too romantic in there.

Not just Leah and me.

Our friends helped. They didn't like him any more than we did, but they thought our mom was very cool. Many times, she had sat out here with all of us - or when she picked us up or brought us somewhere - and kept us company.

Our two couples made out like crazy. We chattered about God and the world. Made plans for the coming weekends. We were told what we had missed the last week at school. This Thursday we were going to the movies and on Saturday camping at 'Sebago Lake'.

I smirked.

Would Mom ask me again to make sure Leah came home as the same as she left? Untouched? Virginal? Leah now looked like she was in her early twenties, after all. Just like me. Ben didn't seem to mind that Leah had changed physically. Rather the opposite.

Her feminine curves were perfectly proportioned, but she was still skinny. Ben seemed to like her short hair as well. He twirled through the strands a few times and unlike before, it didn't bother Leah anymore.

Leah had become different in the few days. She was calmer, as if she finally had her temper under control. How she also controlled the wolf inside her.

The newcomers apparently smart monsters. No matter what the teachers asked them, they always had the right answer. Also, they would correct the teachers or point out others mistakes.

I smirked at that thought.

Brandon had since learned the story that they were not biological siblings. Not all. The parents had married only a few years before and had each brought children into that marriage. And then they had adopted two more.

Who belonged to whom was part of an extensive discussion, because everyone thought they knew more. However, our friends could not come to an agreement. And these kids seemed to all be paired up with each other.

That was so ... disgusting.

Samantha piqued my curiosity.

And increased my hatred for Edward. He had lied through his teeth to my mother. It had to be a lie! Mom was just addicted to him. She was ready to follow him. But he had left her behind. Seth had shown us how Sam had found Mom in the middle of the woods. No longer with the will to live - and then the months afterwards when our dad brought her back to life. Edward had done that to her. But he seemed to have nothing better to do than to look for someone new: Samantha. I had no doubt about that. She looked too similar to our mom. He apparently had no qualms about destroying her soul in order to spend the rest of his life with her. The love he had made my mother feel was out of proportion to the pain she suffered because of him. I would destroy him if it was the last thing I did! But not immediately. We had given Mom our word not to give them any clue as to who she was. I would wait. Check him and his family out first. To get through tomorrow at school, in the presence of a mind-reading vampire, I had needed this very evening. An evening among friends. So, nothing could surprise me tomorrow and make me lose control.

Mom was already sitting nervously in the kitchen when we came down for breakfast.

I guessed cup of coffee she had in her hands was her third.

Saying goodbye that morning was difficult for all three of us.

Harder than it had ever been.

We promised again not to think about them or our origins as long as we were in school.

Perhaps we had made this promise too lightly.

Usually, we didn't think about her when we were at school. There was enough else to keep us busy. Our friends, Ben, Becky, gossip about our teachers or the usual craziness of a high school ... Who was together with whom, or who had broken up with whom, who were in bed with each other, who had a date, and so on ... Did I forget anything? ... Oh yes. School work. Oops ... Today would show how we would face these bloodsuckers. Whether we were still able not to think about it.

Leah and I gave Mom a big hug, and then we left.

As usual, I drove to Ben's and let Leah out. She threw herself right at him and which I thought was good. Ben would distract Leah from her own thoughts.

So far, I've been in a good mood, and wanted to bring that good mood home tonight. I turned the radio up so loud that the speakers were already rattling and sang along with the songs.

I sang off key. That's why I had to turn it up so loud. So that I would no longer be heard.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I already saw Bran and Jenny - smooching as they usually do - and Lisa and Jason standing there, annoyed.

Everything as usual.

I returned my attention driving, concentrated on parking, and then went to my friends while looking at the ground.

It was difficult for me to control my thoughts. This stench was horrible. Now I understood why Seth had warned about it.

Without looking the newcomers, (who were standing by their two swank cars) I went to my regular spot, dropped onto the bench - facing away from the newcomers- and immediately became engrossed in a conversation about the classes I had missed.

I had noticed already that some people were looking at me strangely. It was obvious. No one could fail to notice that I had grown taller and stronger. Most would assume steroids or something, but I wasn't interested in most people's opinions. My friends knew it wasn't. Even though they did not know the truth, they still believed us.

"Let go of me!" I heard a girl swear a bench away and involuntarily turned around.

The voice had an anxious undertone that she tried to hide.

Becky!

She stood with her back to me and Michael held her rather roughly by the arm.

Immediately, I walked up to the two.

No one had the right to hold a girl so fierce. Especially not Becky!

Already I could see the skin under his fingers turning red and I was getting angry. And I was getting warm.

"I'm not done with you yet! And if I have to I'll take it by force," Michael threatened her angrily, looking at her greedily.

"You're not entitled to anything!", Becky tried to retort as adamantly as possible, but in truth she had to be pretty scared.

Only now I had arrived at the two and immediately grabbed Michael's arm.

"Didn't you hear? You should let her go!" I threatened him.

I said it pretty quietly, but not without a lack of emphasis. I didn't want him to feel challenged in front of the whole school if I yelled at him, which I would have preferred a lot more.

"Take a hike! It's none of your business!" said Michael condescendingly, but I was not ready to leave.

"Let go of Becky!" I demanded, my grip on his arm tightening.

The idea of doing to him what he was doing to her went through my head. I was stronger than him, even if it was not so obvious. No matter how I had changed the last few days, Michael still appeared beefier than me.

My fingers intentionally clawed into his flesh just as mercilessly as his fingers were around Becky's arm.

I felt the circulation of the blood and controlled my strength. I was about to break his arm, but I couldn't let it get that far.

Michael obviously realized that he had underestimated me.

I saw his surprise, but also a little fear in his eyes when he finally let go of Becky. So, I also took my hand off of him. He pushed me boastfully, as if he had done me a favor, but went away.

Becky collapsed onto the bench directly behind her and breathed deeply in and out in relief.

I was still watching Michael to make sure he was really gone. Only then did I turn to Becky and look into her blue eyes.

Everything started spinning - except her face. Everything blurred. Smells, sounds, people walking back and forth. I saw nothing more but those eyes. I felt as if I were seeing them for the first time today. I didn't know why, but I dropped to my knees without letting her escape my gaze. I dove into the blue of her eyes, which seemed to be the depth of the sea. I sank to the bottom. Drowned. And was happy with it. Nothing in my life meant anything anymore. The laws of nature no longer applied. The earth's gravity was meaningless. There was only one thing left in my life that mattered. More precious than anything else ...

Only her! ... Becky! ... My life! ...

"Thank you, Jake!" she breathed gratefully back at me.

My thoughts slowly focused again as I carefully pushed a strand of hair out of her face with gentle fingertips.

I could not take my hand away. I knew it was way too intrusive, after all there was nothing between us so far. But I just couldn't help myself and put my palm all the way on her cheek.

"Are you okay, Becky?" I emotionally asked.

She closed her eyes, gently leaned against my hand, and covered my hand with her own.

"You're so warm," Becky whispered as she opened her eyes again and looked at me lovingly.

It was not a question or an accusation. But a statement. She liked it. I was relieved.

"That's up to you," I replied quietly, which wasn't even that much of a lie.

She smiled slightly.

Suddenly someone grabbed me from behind and dragged me away from Becky. In the corner of my eye, I recognized Michael, who pushed me to the ground, flipped me upwards and gave me such a tremendous punch to the chin that I rolled over on the lawn several times. Becky jumped on his back, punching him over and over and shrieking hysterically. But Michael hardly paid any attention to her. It wasn't until I finally straightened up that he grabbed her and roughly threw her off him, causing her to slam onto the walkway and bruise her knee.

Becky was hurt!

I almost thought I felt her pain myself and started to get hot. I saw Leah and Jenny got to her immediately, so I could focus on Michael.

We fought and I had to control myself not to actually kill him.

The fire to phase was growing, but I had to push it back. Somehow! I focused on the flames inside me and let me hit hard a few times of him. Fuck, it didn't matter what I looked like afterwards, it worked!

It wasn't until the principal stood between us with the nurse that I really calmed down.

Somewhat at least.

The bell rang for class.

The nurse, with a smug and satisfying look that was impossible to mistake, threw an ice pack at each of us and took Becky with her, who gave me another wonderful smile.

Only now did I notice the pain in my face and put the ice over my eye.

The crowd emptied slowly.

"Well done!" I heard a soft voice right behind me.

In disbelief, I turned around and saw Edward's face in front of me.

He smiled contentedly. His gaze became piercing and extremely tense for a moment.

What? What was that? What did he of all people want from me? What was he trying to tell me anyway? Well done? What exactly had I done well in his opinion? That the ass was still alive? That I had myself so far under control? ... 'Do you know what I am yet, you miserable bloodsucker?'

"He deserved more than just a few slaps in the face, and they certainly won't be the last!" he continued to whisper, immediately turning away from me to walk with his siblings toward the school building.

Completely in awe, I stared after him.

How was he supposed to know what Michael was planning? Did he just warn me not to underestimate Michael and to be careful?

The principal was still standing between me and Michael and now spoke loudly, distracting me from my own thoughts. "Mr. Black! I'm expecting your mother in my office! Today!", he almost shouted at me yet.

NO! Anything but that!

Panic gripped me!

"Please, Mr. Taylor," I began.

But he wouldn't tolerate any arguing with him.

Great, you ass! You did a great job with that! You couldn't even keep your promise for a ridiculous hour! Mom had to come here. Near the vampires. How pathetic was I? I had screwed up big time. She would be mad at me ... Mad? ... Worse! ... She would be bitterly disappointed in me!

I still saw Edward turn to me once more. Pure curiosity was in his gaze.

Crap!

"And you, Mr. Hanks, are coming with me right now. I'm very curious to hear what your father has to say about this when you're suspended from class for two weeks yet again. Just a week after the vacations. I think that's a new record for you," Mr. Taylor stated adamantly, walking away with Michael protesting loudly.

Brandon lingered for a moment as I discontentedly plopped myself down on the stairs outside the entrance and pulled out my cell phone.

"Oh, come on. Your mom is cool on it. I'm sure she won't pull the fur over your ears," Bran tried to cheer me up.

Fur over the ears!

I almost laughed out loud.

"You were just helping a girl ... And not just any girl, but Becky!"

Brandon went to class and now I was really laughing.

Becky. There were some sparks flying earlier. And not only with me!

"Mom. I'm sorry. Mr. Taylor wants to see you ... today."

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