Chapter Six

Jealousy thy name is Stupidity


Jacob hadn’t come to see me at school, even though he had been given permission to do so, and I was enjoying the normality that my life usually lacked. My life was boringly normal and I actually loved it, I was met every afternoon by Jacob and this was the highlight of the day. Frina had asked questions about Jake but I asked her not to mention him to the others because I didn’t want them knowing my personal business, she had thought I was crazy to want to hide Jacob and not flaunt him in front of the other girls. I had laughed but pleaded with her to do this for me. She had reluctantly agreed. The normality I craved lasted for about six weeks and those six weeks had been the best I could remember. That was until we were walking from our last class before lunch, which just happened to be math, and Harrison pulled me aside. We hadn’t really spoken alone since the incident on his stairs and I wasn’t really in the mood to do so now especially since I didn’t want to encourage him. I stopped but remained at Frina’s side. Harry closed his eyes briefly before opening them to say “Ah Renesmee can I ask you something?” I looked at him strangely and said “As long as it’s not ‘can I borrow your homework’ ‘cause the last time that happened you copied it word for word and I had to redo mine.” He laughed self-consciously and I was even more intrigued. Frina looked slightly annoyed and since I knew she had feelings for Harry that went beyond the friendship façade, I was even more concerned. Harrison didn’t see the look and he said “Hey Frina can you go save our seats please, we won’t be long.” I felt annoyance at his obvious ignorance to the hurt that Frina felt at his attitude; surely after her tearful exit from his house he wasn’t so blind to the fact that she loved him. I waited as she walked away, it took Harrison several seconds to speak again and I felt irritation sparked inside me, I was tempted to touch him and hurry ‘it’, whatever ‘it’ was, up. He looked around at anything but me when he spoke again “No Renesmee I don’t want to borrow your homework, I wanted to ask you a serious question and I didn’t want to do it in front of everyone.” My irritation was definitely surging now as I waited for him to actually get around to asking his question. He lifted a hand and tucked a stray lock of my hair behind my ear, I didn’t speak and I think this threw him because when he did speak again his voice was hoarse and his words were rushed. “I want to know, would you’d like to go out with me? You know like on a date.” I was shocked and I didn’t know how to answer. Sure I liked Harry but I like Frina’s friendship more. I opened my mouth to answer him but a deeper more fearsome voice sounded from behind me.

“No she wouldn’t like to go out with you beat it.” Both Harry and I spun around and faced the person whose voice had interrupted our conversation. I recognised Jake’s voice immediately but I had never heard the tone he was using and when I looked up into his face I saw anger and something else shining there. Harrison, although not the brawniest guy in school, stepped in front of me and said to Jacob “What the hell is it to you anyway?” I tugged on Harrison’s hand succeeding in freeing myself without hurting him, but before I could say anything Jake was growling low in the back of his throat “I happen to be her boyfriend, so unless you would like me to re-arrange your good looking face I suggest you leave, now!” Harrison shot me a stunned look, it was streaked through with confusion and anger but he left. I watched him go, my feeling of disappointment sharp and slightly painful. I hadn’t wanted to hurt him and if Jake had given me the opportunity to explain things to Harry I’m sure it would have gone far better than it had. Rounding on Jake I slapped a hand against his chest and said “What the hell was that for?” he was breathing heavily as if trying to control his temper and I waited, hands on my hips, for him to answer me. It took him a full minute before he had controlled himself enough to say “I saw him pull you away from the crowd, I was curious why you went willingly and I came closer. I could tell the second that I looked at his face what he wanted and then when he touched you, I snapped and I wanted to rip his arm off.” He dropped his head to rest his forehead against mine, wrapping his arms around my waist he whispered. “I’m sorry Ness. I overreacted. I was so jealous and I wasn’t thinking properly.” I rolled my eyes and asked “Honestly? Jake are you crazy? As if he could hold a candle to you and I get the whole jealousy thing, but I thought we covered that already, I like him of course I do he is a friend. Can you remember what they are? Now he probably hates me for this and I’m gonna have to work at regaining his friendship. If you had’ve waited for like ten seconds you would have seen me let him down gently” my voice changed to one of mocking regret as I said “I’m sorry Harry but I already have a boyfriend and he is one very large, over-protective werewolf and sometimes he acts before he thinks.” Jake twisted his mouth into a self-mocking smile and said “Okay, I get it. Take me to him so I can apologise, I’d hate to damage any friendships you have here. I just want you to be happy.” Quickly kissing my lips he pulled away, took my hand and allowed me to pull him in the direction of the cafeteria.

As we entered the long room that housed the cafeteria I noticed that more than the usual amount of people stared as we walked through the doors. I ignored the looks and the increased whispering and walked towards the table that I shared with the friends I had managed to make. They were all staring too, well except Harry who was glowering down at his pizza as if it had done something to offend him. I stopped and looked around awkwardly and said “Guys, this is Jacob.” There was a small pause while my friends stared and then they all choked out various forms of greetings. I jerked my head in the direction of a spare chair and Jake grabbed it while I slumped into the one that Frina had saved for me. Conversation was slowly starting up again and I concentrated on the topic, it was Jensen’s car (the rev head in our group, he loved anything that had an engine) and the trouble it was causing him. I felt Jacob’s interest peak and I knew that within seconds he would have absorbed himself in the conversation. My thoughts proved prophetic and within seconds Jake was giving advice and asking questions about Jensen’s car. I rolled my eyes at the female population, which until today I hadn’t noticed was out-weighed by the male population, we laughed at the guys and their conversation. My eyes lingered lovingly on Jake’s face and when I turned back to the girls Frina said quietly “Wow! I never noticed before he is huge!” I chuckled because I forgot that to everyone else Jacob was unusually tall and muscular, to me he was perfect. The rest of the girls laughed too and suddenly they were all asking me questions like ‘how come you never told us about him?’ ‘When did you guys meet?’ and from Grace, a very shy Asian girl in the group ‘what do your parents say?’ That one was the easiest to answer because it was part of our ‘cover’ I took a deep breath and said “My parents died” which technically they had “and I am staying with my Aunt and Uncle.” Which most of the time we did “They love Jake and they treat him like part of the family.” Most of them did anyway. I thought about which question to answer next but Frina interrupted with another question “What did Harry ask you anyway? When he came in he looked terrified and angry all at the same time.” I sighed and without thinking I reached out and touched Jake’s arm. Frina’s question lingering in my thoughts, he turned and lovingly touched my face with a small smile that said ‘blame me I have broad enough shoulders’ which made me smile before turning back to Frina and seeing the stunned faces of the girls in our group I panicked, I forestalled their questions by saying “He wanted to ask me out but Jake kind of took offence, he yelled at him. That was why it took us so long to come inside, I was yelling at Jake.” I hadn’t wanted to actually tell Frina the true reason behind Harry getting me alone. I was worried that it might damage our friendship and if she hadn’t been looking at the way Jake and I interacted I think it might have destroyed it completely. The girls all sat staring at me with open mouths, Frina was the first to recover and she whispered incredulously “You yelled at him?” I nodded and she continued amazement in her tone. “Wow, I don’t think I’d have the nerve to yell at a boy let alone one that was as big as Jacob.” I smiled softly “He is a big softy. There isn’t anything in this world that he wouldn’t do for me, and vice versa. I love him.” The combined sigh that came from the collective female genre was loud enough to draw attention back to us and conversation once again became a group affair.

The bell rung to signal the end of lunch and we were all heading to our next class which was History but I lingered outside the cafeteria saying goodbye to Jake. I kissed his mouth and said quietly “You have nothing to worry about, I love you and there couldn’t be anyone else.” He pulled me closer and kissed me hard, when he put me away from him we were both breathing hard and his voice shook when he said “I’ll be here to pick you up. I love you Nessie.” Kissing his hand I said “Bye Jake, love you too.” I watched as he sauntered away from the school buildings and I waited until he had descended the stairs that led to the parking lot before racing to catch up with the rest of the small faction of our group that I had History with. I made it through History and Language, even Gym but my mind kept skipping out on me. I had one more class, which was English, and I knew it was going to be even harder to concentrate when I knew I had an hour left until I saw Jake. We filed past Mr Philips and took our seats, the second we were seated he proceeded to drone on about Shakespeare and within minutes my mind was wandering. “Renesmee” I was jolted back to reality, Oh crap, Mr Philips’s voice called my name again from across the classroom and I had absolutely no idea what it is he had been talking about, so pasting what I hope is a winning smile on my face I trilled “Yes Mr Philips?” Oops I need to tone it down, my voice is way to musical and clear and people are staring, that’s another thing about being a hybrid, you need to work on things that everyone else does effortlessly, like talking. Mr Philips seemed momentarily stunned but he quickly got past the stunned and anger sent a wave of colour up his neck. “I asked you a question, what was Shakespeare’s reasoning behind this use of alliteration?” I felt my heartbeat return to normal and I answered his question without really thinking about it. Before he could scold me for not paying attention the bell rang, leaving me wondering just how much I had missed in that lesson, sweeping my things into my bag with humanly-impossible speed; I forced myself to walk with human fastness out of the classroom. As I stepped from the classroom I smelt Frina come up from behind me. “Renesmee what is going on? Did something happen after lunch? You have been totally spaced all afternoon.” I cringed but before I could answer her I caught a whiff of a familiar smell and a whispered sigh passed my lips “Jake”. Frina huffed out an impatient sigh but I ignored her, throwing her a quick and vapid good-bye I flew across the campus and down to the car park where, parked on his motorcycle, Jacob waited for me.

I knew he heard me coming and, without really looking to see if he was prepared for it, I leapt into his arms. Wrapping mine tightly around his neck I bent my head and placed a lingering kiss on his mouth. He returned my kiss while holding me effortlessly off the ground with his massive arms corded with muscles no normal eighteen year old possessed. He finally put me down and as my toes grazed the bitumen I clung tighter, shaking my head and pressing my hands against his face and neck. “I know you don’t wanna be put down Nessie but I can’t drive and hold you too.” As my hands were still pressed against him the quick flash of thought that ran through my head, the thing I wanted to do more than anything in the entire world, was passed into his. I heard him groan and he dropped his head to rest his forehead against mine. “Oh Nessie do me a favour and don’t think about that anywhere near your father because as much as he likes me I think he still might kill me.” He placed me more firmly away from him and I stared petulantly up at him, and not being able to voice my fears and feelings of rejection I touched his cheek. His gaze bore into my downturned head and he whispered “I want you more than life itself but I don’t think you’re ready. We have an eternity together and I’m not going anywhere plus we don’t know if it’s even possible and what the consequences could be.”

I let my hand fall from his face and before I could answer a voice thick with disgust and annoyance growled from behind me and my senses, the ones I had ignored while in Jacob’s embrace, belatedly kicked in and I tensed before I recognised my fathers’ voice “Too late for that favour to be granted Jacob Black. I should kill you where you stand for what I just heard from inside your head.” I turned and attempted to shield Jake with my body, an attempt that should have been laughed at because at five and a half feet tall and weighing about one hundred and ten pounds I was still a lot smaller than Jacob, I looked at my father and thought ‘Over my dead body!’ My dad looked at me and said “Go home Renesmee.” I felt a quiet snarl rip through my chest and as it vibrated through the tense space the sound of my mothers’ musical voice came from the top of the stairs to the car park “Edward you will not kill him!” and even though she had spoken in a normal voice from her position way above us we all heard it as clearly as if she had been standing beside us instead of thirty feet away. My protective stance relaxed because I knew with smug assurance that my mother wouldn’t let anything happen to my Jake. Hearing the smug thought pass through my head my dad glared at me. I looked at him and said “What are you guys doing here anyway?” I looked into the gorgeous faces of my parents and waited for them to explain why they were here. They didn’t and I felt anger rising inside me. I knew that every thought I was having my father could hear so I made the annoyance I felt extremely loud. Seeing that his temper and patience was fraying I turned to Jake and said “Fine let’s go home.” Momma stepped closer to us and said “We just had a call from Alice she wanted to know what you had planned that had wiped us all off her radar.” I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders, Jake did the same and then he said “Nothing, I swear, I haven’t made any plans.” He moved away from my parents swinging his leg over the motorcycle and shooting an apologetic look at my dad he said “Come on Nessie let’s go.” I looked at my parents and letting my gaze rest on my dad I thought ‘I’m sorry Daddy’ he just jerked his head to acknowledge that he had heard me, before I climbed onto the back of Jakes’ bike. I rested my head against his broad back and let the exhilarating feel of speed rush through me.