Cat Got Your Tongue?

Chapter 1

There is a moment when you wake up, a moment of complete ignorance and obliviousness. There is that moment, that single insignificant moment that you are just coming into the wakefulness of consciousness that you know nothing at all. You don't know what the last thing you did before bed was, you don't know what time it is, let alone how light it is in your room, and you don't even remembers the horrors that were yesterday.

But only for that one peacefully blissful moment, because the next, it all comes flying right back like boomerang. No matter how many times you throw it and try to forget it exists, it'll come right back to smack you in the head.

I so hate, yet love, that one moment.

My hand comes down on the alarm clock as it startles me from my dreams, easily finding the off button without having to even so much as look at the thing.

I sit there on the edge of the bed, waiting for either the familiar stabbing pain in my chest, or the chilling numbness to take hold. Nothing happens besides a slight throb where my heart should be and I sigh as I push myself onto my feet.

Quickly changing and brushing my teeth in the bathroom, I soon find myself once again, like every day since that day, staring at myself in the mirror.

With dark hair that's almost black, chocolate eyes, lips not to plump and a light pink, and pale skin, I would call myself a decently pretty person. But that person isn't what I see anymore and it makes me grimace every time I look her.

Instead my hair seems to have lost its usual volume, my brown eyes have unattractive bags underneath from countless sleepless nights, and my once pretty pale skin looks almost translucent.

But I do look better than I had in that first week that they left. I carefully went through faces; first, complete breakdown where all I did was cry so much that even I got annoyed by it. It only lasted a week but the pain was, is, very much real.

Then the really terrible one: numbness. That one really scared Charlie, so much so that after two weeks, he threatened to send me to Florida to live with Renee and Phil.

After that, I found an even more effective way of keeping the pain out, but not looking so much like a zombie. After three weeks of this stage, I'm slowly looking like my normal self and I actually found some happiness to go in my life.

I watch myself carefully as indifference slowly slides over my face along with my heart. The way I see it is, if I don't care for anything or anyone, nothing can hurt me.

Jake is the only exception. He makes me laugh, he makes me smile and I need him as much as I needed Ed-… Him. Jacob is my sun.

But it's okay to let him in; he promised he would never hurt me like they did. He has no reason to because he is completely, undeniably, human.

After my mask is set in place, I stride out of the bathroom and go to the kitchen for breakfast, only tripping on the stairs once.

One glance out the window reveals the cruiser gone, therefor, Charlie as well. I eat my breakfast in silence before taking off to school, getting there just before the bell rings.

The school day is uneventful. People skirt a wide berth around me and the normal puppy-acting followers (Mike and Eric) keep to themselves like they have for the past four weeks. Everyone has seemingly gotten used to me and now I'm just background chatter like all the other people in this town.

Except, instead of being known as Bell-the-new-girl, I'm now Bell-the-depressed-girl-who-got-ditched-by-the-Cullens.

I wince as someone steps on my foot passing me in the halls.

Like the past five weeks, for lunch I sit by myself at the table He had first had lunch with me at. I sit alone at my table in the Biology classroom, my partner (Him) having moved to get away from me. At first, I had tried skipping, but Charlie got onto me about it the second day so I haven't done it since.

After the final bell, I make my way to my safe haven, my happy place, and my sun.

Jacob is running out of the house before I can turn off the engine, no doubt having heard it a mile away, and pulling me out of my old truck before I can put on the parking brake.

I laugh as he easily spins me around, burying my face into his neck and smiling into his warm skin, so very different from theirs. I love Jacob. He's like my younger (but taller) brother.

He sets me down, making me stumble before I can gain my footing.

"So what are we doing today?" I ask crossing my arms over my stomach.

"Well, I was thinking that we could go meet Embry and Quil down at the beach."

My smile grows wider at hearing this, having grown quit fond of them and them me.

"Well, let's go then." I say, quickly hooking our arms together. "You really should stop growing, I swear there is something in the water here that's making all you boys grow like vines." I comment, noticing how he seems to be like two inches taller than just yesterday.

He laughs and reaches over to pat me on the head with his other hand. "Maybe you're just shrinking Isa."

My heart sears with warmth at the nickname he had started calling me. Nothing about it reminds me of him and it's so incredibly Jacob that it couldn't be anything else.

"I'm not the mountain, Jay." I reply.

"No, you're more of a tiny pebble."

I roll my eyes and bump his shoulder with mine, but the only good it does is knock me off balance and trip.

His happy guffaw makes me grin despite my embarrassment.

After a ten-minute walk filled with mindless chatter, we reach the rocky banks of the ocean smelling heavily of salt.

In the distance I see two forms pushing and tackling each other as they race to be the first one to our sides and soon I can actually make out the faces of who is who.

Embry suddenly gets a mouth full of sand and rocks as Quil rams into him from behind and bounds over like a happy puppy.

"Isa!" He calls, snatching me from Jacob's arms and pulling me into a hug where Embry soon joins us.

"Hey Isa!" He says loudly in my ear and I just grin.

They had also taken up the nickname, claiming the name 'Bella' to be boring, but I had no qualms about it. They were friends and as solid as Jake was. They were my best friends, and would never hurt me like the Cullens did.

My feet leaving the ground bring me out of my happy musings and I instinctually squeak in fear. Horror quickly replaces it as the water line grows increasingly closer.

"Embry! Don't you dare! I swear to god, if you don't put me down right now, I'll-" My threat is broken off by my own shriek as I find myself suspended in air for a few quick seconds before I'm submerged in cold water.

I break the surface sputtering and laughing as hard as the boys.

A/N: Another one of the stories I started and just want to get out there. This one has quite a few chapters written though, so updates might be somewhat consistent until I run out. Then it will just be whenever I feel inspired. Just so you know, reviews do inspire me! (hint hint, nudge nudge)

~Silver~