Chapter Eleven
(Wolves, Parties, and the Three Little Envelopes)
"Stress: The confusion created when one's mind overrides the body's basic desire to choke the living daylights out of some jerk who desperately deserves it."
- Unknown
"Jacob called."
"Really? I haven't talked to him in forever," I said conversationally to Charlie, stirring the noodles in the pot. Charlie was a couple feet away from, grating cheese. With a spoon.
He had already hurt himself with the designated metal cooking appliance.
"Well, you should think about seeing him later. Apparently he's having a rough time."
"Highschool trouble?"
"No, boy trouble, I think," Charlie said this in a muffled voice.
I blushed.
"Erm, and how am I supposed to help with that?"
"Being a friend I guess? I don't know, Bells, I'm just the messenger!" He shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, alright," I only gave in because seeing Jacob sounded like fun. For some reason, he had this way of making things better. Then I turned and saw Charlie huffing and puffing at the cheese. "Don't stress yourself out dad – a spoon is a dangerous thing."
He threw me a dirty look as I tried to muffle my giggles behind my fist.
"Plus, it might be good for you to spend some time away from that Cullen kid."
"I've been on one date with him, dad. And his dad is a doctor."
Charlie muttered something unintelligible.
"What happened to the girls then? I haven't seen them in a while," Charlie demanded a few minutes later.
Ugh, the girls. "They were a little… overwhelming. I'm taking an unofficial hiatus." Of which they were unaware.
But overwhelming was an understatement. Not only did they flock around me with makeup brushes and halter tops every time we came in a twenty foot radius, but recently they had started making me put all of my pads into a specially sealed baggy during that time of the month because it was "really stressful when they stopped by and smelled blood reeking from the trash cans". Just thinking about it made me blush again.
Not to mention when Charlie stumbled upon the bag in my bathroom, mistaking it for a shopping bag he had misplaced. Now, every time he sees a bag from Nike, he gags.
Yes, I decided, a break from the house to see Jacob would be great.
"Well, whatever you do, Bells, be safe. Sometimes I think kids these days are just out for blood…"
Urgh.
Suddenly, it seemed like my little trip to see Jake couldn't come soon enough.
---
Driving to Jacob's house without Charlie felt weird, I decided later that day. It felt kind of like buying your lunch in middle school for the very first time, with your own money and no parents. So invigorating.
Plus, I remembered, this time I had better things to look forward to then microwave nuggets and fake cheese.
I was completely ecstatic by the time I reached my destination. I even rolled down my window a bit before turning off my car, just for fresh air. I rested my head back for a second in utter contentment. I loved La Push! I really didn't know-
BAMThe sound of a gunshot sent me flying into the air. Which, let me tell you, in the cab of my truck, was no easy feat. I slammed both of my knees against the steering wheel and my forehead against the visor (denting both), but I didn't worry about either. I had just heard the sound of a gun!
I opened my car door and ran into the woods on the side of Billy's house, where the noise had come from.
Just ahead, behind a large bush, I heard the sound of a panicked voice. My stomach squirmed in agony and despair – someone had been shot!
Taking a deep breath, I ran up to the bush and pushed its branches aside. And then I gasped in shock and embarrassment, for what I saw was certainly no gunshot victim.
I blushed and giggled, not able to take my eyes off the sight before me. It was like an accident – so horrid to look at, yet impossible to turn away.
Because there, standing stock-still in front of me (but thankfully not facing my direction) was a completely naked Jacob Black, looking healthy and fit and totally unlike a recent gunshot victim, besides the torn up clothes on the ground around him.
I noted, somewhat guiltily, how strong and smooth his back had grown since the time I had seen him. His hair was trimmed shorter and his shoulders were wider, leaner, and stronger. His arms bulged impressively. I also noted, blushing deeper still, that his beautiful russet skin tone was spread evenly throughout his body. His whole body.
"Urgh," said Jacob in anger, still not noticing me for some reason. I knew I should've looked away (ran away actually), but something in me wanted to stay and see what he did. It was something unheard of, standing in the woods naked. Or at least to me.
I pondered over how antisocial I actually was. Was my head really so deep in the sand that I hadn't noticed a new trend of teenage naturists?
I was just about to creep away when Jacob turned around.
"OhmyGod!" I shrieked when he saw me, like I was the naked one.
Smooth, I commended myself. Smooth.
His hands flew up to cover his, er, thing, and I wished vainly that the Earth would suddenly get hungry and decide to eat me.
The core, I was sure, would be equivalent to Antarctica compared against the heat radiating off my cheeks.
About a minute too late, I slapped my hands over my eyes.
"Bella!" Jacob called, his voice wobbly with embarrassment. "I, uh, didn't know you were coming over!"
And I didn't know you were a closet nudist, I thought bitterly.
"Er, yeah, Billy called me earlier… Didn't you hear my truck?" I asked, my voice high pitched.
"I was, um, a little preoccupied…"
"…So I noticed." My voice was dry.
It didn't occur to me how weird the situation would look to an outsider – me, crouched behind a big bush with red cheeks and my hands covering my eyes, conversing casually with Jacob, who I imagined to be standing there, still naked, using his hands for privacy.
Oddly, all I could think of was how I hoped the bush wasn't comprised of poison ivy.
"Do you, er, want to get dressed?" I asked, after several more uncomfortable minutes of silence.
"That sounds good," he said, his voice still shaky. I heard a whoosh sound and when I opened up my eyes again, I was alone.
Have you ever had one of those moments where you've seen something utterly astonishing that you knew you weren't supposed to see? And yet the said image keeps popping up in your retina everywhere you look?
That's how I felt on my slow traverse to Billy's front door. Everywhere I looked, naked Jacobs popped up before my eyes.
Which was really odd when I noticed an old Quileute woman jogging down the street.
"Bella!" said Billy genially when I reached the front door. As if I hadn't just gone Peeping Tom on his son. Maybe he didn't know. Oh, God, I thought desperately, please let him not know!
"I heard you and Jacob had quite the time in the woods a few minutes ago," he joked heartily, giving me a big wink as he held the door open for me.
I wondered wistfully how great it would be if the ground had an appetite specifically for short brunettes with the name 'Isabella'.
"Erm," was all I managed to say.
"He should be out in a minute. Fully clothed, I might add," he boomed, laughing some more as he headed towards the kitchen.
"Haha," I muttered, blushing.
It seemed like ages until Jacob's door squeaked open, announcing his arrival. Maybe he too had been giving himself a pep talk on acting normal. Though, if that episode of The Office had been at all correct, these pre-peeping jitters would be completely unavoidable.
It's not like I wanted to see that, I thought bitterly.
Stupid teenagers and their stupid naked trends.
"Hey, Bella!" Jacob said (a little too perky), coming up from behind me.
"Hey, Jake!" I responded with a big phony smile.
We moved in to hug each other, but it got too awkward around midway and we ended up giving each other half pathetic, half sympathetic pats on the back.
"Well, you've grown!" I said after several minutes of weird silence later. I meant it in the most sincere way possible, but then when I remembered the situation at hand, I blushed furiously and tried to back track. "Um, you know, I meant, er-"
"Sure, sure," he said, trying to act calm but failing miserably. A red haze was creeping up his neck.
I fidgeted with my hands. Jacob avoided making eye contact. Finally, Billy burst out of the kitchen in his wheelchair, looking exasperated.
"Are you two going to be silent all night?" he demanded. Neither of us answered him. "Fine. I guess I'll have to mediate. Bella, have you never seen a-"
"Dad!" Jacob shouted, eyes wide in horror.
"- Before?" Billy continued anyway. "And Jake, I know you've certainly never done that before, but there's no need to be all prude about it! Now talk!"
Bill sighed and shook his head before rolling back into the kitchen. Apparently, his job was done.
"Erm, sorry for that," said Jacob, looking sincere.
"Any more humiliation and I think I'll die," I replied, sighing. My cheeks felt like they'd be red forever.
"You?" Demanded Jake, laughing. "I do believe that I'm the naked one with the crazy father."
"And I'm pretty sure that I'm the one who hides behind bushes and watches naked kids talk to the forest."
We both started to laugh and slowly the tension ebbed away. We sat on the couch and started happily discussing normal things – school, homework, jobs (how the restaurant still hadn't been rebuilt. Apparently there were structural problems), and how we both agreed that High School Musical was slowly taking over the world.
So it was that I was taken by surprise when Jacob sat up, back straight and suddenly rigid, with his eyes glazed and unfocused.
"Jake?" I asked, worried.
"Oh, shi-" he started, on his feet in a millisecond. "Dad! Embry's on his way!"
This confused me – was it really worth getting so worried about? Last I checked, Jake and Embry were friends.
"So?" called Billy from the kitchen.
"He's coming by fours!" hissed Jacob back loudly. No sooner had he finished speaking than Billy came rolling full speed out of the doorway yet again.
"Can you tell him not to?" Billy asked, face pale.
"He's mad – not listening to anything I say. He's coming either way," Jacob responded. They both shot me looks of worry.
I, however, was completely lost. I hadn't seen Jacob say one thing to Embry. This, I knew, would require a phone, and it didn't take a genius to see that Jacob didn't have one.
"Um, should I be leaving?" I questioned, picking up on their tense moods.
"I hate to have to ask you to leave so soon! But it's a really bad time-" Jacob started to plead in a hurry, but I interrupted him.
"It's fine," I assured him, gathering my keys and heading for my truck. They walked me to the door, but they weren't watching me – they were instead shooting anxious glances at the forest and up and down the street.
I got into the driver's seat, shut the door, and tried to put the key into the ignition. My hand shook for some reason and I dropped it. I bent down to pick it up, and that's when I heard it: the loud noise of something stomping through the woods. I heard Billy shout a swear word. I quickly grabbed my keys and sat back up, looking out my window just in time to see a huge wolf-like beast leap across the Black's yard.
The wolf's eyes looked strangely like Embry's.
With my mouth wide in shock and my eyebrows somewhere around my hairline, I turned to look at Billy and Jacob through my windshield.
They were both shaking their heads sadly, obviously wishing I had just stayed down a second longer.
---
"No. I refuse to believe it."
"Well, it's true. You saw it with your own eyes, Bella."
"But werewolves?" I asked incredulously. It was too insane – there were already enough mythical creatures in this town to satisfy me for a lifetime. Not to mention how especially hard it was to comprehend, sitting in the Black living room on their tiny plaid couch.
"It's our heritage," Jacob shrugged like it was no big deal while saying this.
Though if anything good came out of this little revelation, it was that I had now forgotten the little forest incident and that I no longer saw Jacob naked every time I looked at him.
Oh, man!
But was it really so crazy? I had openly accepted the vampire story. Werewolves weren't really such a stretch… And it would explain a lot. Like why Jacob hadn't heard me earlier – apparently he was arguing with his friends (in his mind).
But suddenly Jacob tensed up and looked deep in concentration. He growled and narrowed his eyes at Billy.
"They're on their way. This time by twos," he muttered.
I was about to ask whom when Embry (who looked to be in a much better mood) and Quil, who I hadn't seen in forever, burst through the front door. Their hair was wild and all they had on were jagged jean shorts. Their were hitting each other playfully, but stopped when they saw the three of us in the living room.
"Hey, Bell-" started Quil happily, but Embry cut him off.
"She knows!" he gasped, staring at Jacob wide-eyed.
Oh, the joys of telepathy, I thought bitterly. My thoughts were furthered when grins broke out on their faces.
"She certainly knows," giggled Embry, elbowing Quil so that they both burst out into full on laughter.
"Yeah she knows! Because of you guys!" Jacob shouted, flushing and standing up, pointing rudely at them both. I got the feeling that he was trying to change the subject.
"Wait, what? I'm lost," I announced.
"Nothing, Bella, they're just being stupid-" Jacob started, not meeting my eyes, but Quil cut him off with a howl.
"We know about the little forest incident!" he said, bending over with tears in his eyes from his laughter.
Oh.
"Listen, Bella, he may not look like much, but he's a real beast in bed-" Embry wailed, and they both started laughing even harder.
My face felt like it was withering under the pure heat of my cheeks. Even Billy was chuckling now, and Jacob's chest was heaving in rage.
I stood up, flustered. "I have to go!" I squealed, speed walking out of the house.
I got in my truck and sped off, keeping my eyes strictly on the road, putting literally the pedal to the metal. No one bothered chasing after me.
If I never go back to La Push again, I declared internally, it would be too soon.
Way too soon.
---
When I got home, the house was empty. Charlie had probably been called in. I sighed, preparing to go up to take a shower, when I saw three letters on the counter.
I picked up the cream-colored one first, because it had the curly and over-the-top lettering of Tina's script on it. Bella, it started, you absolutely HAVE to go. This is it! We can finally test just how determined Edward really is to make him yours!
I had no clue what the letter was talking about, but it made me queasy anyway (thanks to Tina and her handwriting and her usually foreboding notes, there were roughly five fonts on Microsoft Word which now gave me the shakes).
I picked up the next envelope, a black envelope with metallic pink stripes going down it horizontally, hoping for further enlightenment. My whole name was engraved on the top in silver, techno-modern lettering.
Bella Swan, it started in a neat type, you are officially invited to the Blackout Ball, courtesy of the Forks High Class of 2007. A new type of invitation-only prom, this one will be electrifying.
A little asterisk was on the bottom informing me of more information that will be posted on the school bulletin board soon. They were really going all out this year!
My stomach plunged further still, and I realized that this was the party Vicky had mentioned. For the fiftieth time that day, I went: "Ugh."
Somewhat sadly, I opened up the next and last envelope in the pile: a plain white one with no words on the front.
I planned to just give it just a once-over, but stopped when I recognized the writing.
We should stop and talk before school tomorrow.
That was all it said, minus the little 'Edward' on the bottom. I didn't stop and wonder why he hadn't just called, because I was too elated to have gotten a letter from him that I didn't care.
I got a letter from Edward Cullen! I squealed inside my head. Even if it did sound ominous and bleak, I'd hold on to it forever.
I was briefly concerned with myself – a date like my last I could see getting excited over, but a letter?
I sighed happily anyways and drifted upstairs into the shower. I taped the note to my bathroom mirror, smiling like an idiot.
Naked boys and letters from that-girl-you-hated-in-highschool-turned-vampire aside, this was an absolutely great day!
Sorry for the big update gap - I got so much homework this week!!! But I hope you liked it, and reviews are always appreciated. Thanks for reading! ;D