5: Katie

KATIE'S POVSeptember 12th

Over week passed, each day near identical to the one before it. I went to school, tried to act like I wasn't bored of my classes, and then went back home to do homework, run, and read. I was invited to various activities over the weekend, but denied under the excuse that I was still settling in. A good excuse, perhaps, but not exactly true.

I did agree, however, to going to Bella's birthday party at the Cullen house. I had tried to make Edward promise that the vampires would ignore me, but he refused. "They want to... feel you out," Edward had tried to explain in a hushed tone. "None of us understand your situation. They want to be..." he hesitated again, frowning. "They want to make sure you aren't a threat to us here."

I snorted. "Shouldn't this scenario be reversed?"

Edward shrugged. "They did this to Bella, too. Just the fact that you know us," he avoids the word vampire deliberately, considering the students wandering the halls around us, "makes you a threat. To my sister, at least."

"Alice?" I clarify, raising an eyebrow.

"No, although she wants to figure you out, too. I meant Rosalie."

My mind conjures the image of blonde, scowling Rosalie. "Sure. I'll go to the party. For Bella," I clarify, pointing at his chest. "Not to be interrogated."

He grimaced, rustling his bronze hair under a hand. "I can't stop them from asking you questions." His body language implied that he won't stop them from asking me questions.

"Fine." I had snapped, shutting my locker. "I don't need to dress up, do I?"

He had shrugged, looking away from her. "Wear what you'd like. My family is dressing up, if that changes anything. We don't get to celebrate many birthdays." His tone was sharp and clear: this was important to him.

The warning bell rang, and I pushed my lock to make sure it was secure. "Okay." Was all I said, before slinking off to class.

Despite the days of repeated dullness at school, I knew that I had it better here in Forks than I would have back in Oregon. Back home, the reminders of my family would have been too painful. Everything in the city reminded me of them, and of Johnathan. Even friends were a reminder, since they avoided me when they heard the rumors about my parents' deaths. Not that I wasn't in a constant state of emptiness here, though. The day before Bella's birthday, however, broke the cycle of empty days.

"Katie," Charlie's voice echoed from the living room. I glanced up from my spot at the kitchen table, my math textbook still open in front of me. "A friend of mine is coming over tonight to watch the game. He wanted to wish Bella a happy birthday."

Made sense— you only turn 18 once. And, around here, everyone seemed to know everyone. "Alright. Thank you for telling me," I say, turning back to my math homework.

"He's bringing his son, too. His name is Jacob. He's your age," Charlie called, his voice a little hesitant. "If you want to introduce yourself."

I rack my brain, trying to think of a sophomore or junior at Forks High School with the name Jacob. My mind comes up empty. "Does he go to our school?" I call back, an awkward silence filling the gap in speech.

"No..." Charlie calls, then walks over to the entry of the kitchen so he doesn't have to shout. "He goes to school on the reservation."

The reservation I remember. While I had never actually been there, Bella had described it before when showing me a map of Forks. "Oh." I blurt, not sure what to say next. "What time does the game start?"

Charlie blinks. "Seven," he says, making his way to the fridge. He opens the door and pulls out a beer before looking at me again. "Will you tell Bella for me?"

I glance at the clock— it's 6:30 already. "Sure," I say, scooping up my textbook and homework from the dining room table. "Do you want me to start dinner?"

Charlie looks guilty. "Billy said he was going to bring some fish fry with him— if it's not too much to ask, would you cook some fish when they get here? I have some in the fridge."

"Sure," I repeat, glancing towards the stairs. I've cooked fish plenty of times before, anyhow. And it gives me something less awkward to do, considering I don't know Charlie's friend. Charlie rubs the back of his neck, watching me hesitate. "I'll go tell Bella now." The unfamiliarity between Charlie and I is painful. More than painful, actually— excruciating.

——————————

A half of an hour later, I hear a car pull up into our driveway. Because the window in my bedroom faces the back of the house, I can't see them, but I'm fairly nervous. Stalling, I look in my reflection and finger comb any lose strands of hair before attempting to steel my nerves. Breathe, I console myself. It won't be weird unless you make it weird.

As soon as I hear the front door open, I leave my bedroom. I head down the hall, noticing that Bella's bedroom door is already open. Good— at least she's down there to break the ice. I take the steps two at a time so that I don't have time to chicken out, gripping onto the handrail for support.

"—see you again, Bella," a gruff voice speaks, low and even. "Happy birthday."

"Thank you, Billy. It's nice to see you too." Bella is in view now, talking to a man sitting in a wheelchair. Billy, I note, taking the last steps. The man in the photo with my father!

Everyone's heads turn toward me, and I mentally cringe. "Hello," Billy says to me, his voice warm. "You must be Katie. It's nice to meet you."

I smile sheepishly. "It's nice to meet you too," I say as polite as possible.

The boy behind him, Jacob, if I remember correctly, has a smile plastered on his face. The smile suits him— boyish and playful, matching the laughter in his eyes. He's tall, taller than me, anyhow, and has a slim muscular build. "Hey," he says, extending a hand. "I'm Jacob." Something about him looks familiar, like I've seen him before.

"Katie," I reply, trying to match his smile. "Sorry to ask, but have we met? You look familiar."

He blushes slightly. "No, I don't think so."

"I've still got your Christmas card on the fridge," Charlie laughs, and I can instantly picture the card in my head.

"That explains it," I laugh, glancing at Bella. She meets my gaze with a small smile, taking the fish fry from Billy.

"Ready for some baseball?" Billy asks jovially, wheeling himself towards the living room. Charlie follows, leaving Jacob, Bella and I next to the kitchen.

Jacob clears his throat. "Happy birthday, Bella," he says, glancing up at her. I can tell by the weight of his glance that he has a crush on her— to what degree, I don't know. "I have a present for you. Hold out your hand," he adds, reaching into his coat pocket.

I take the fish fry from Bella, taking it to the kitchen countertops. I'm trying not to be nosy, so I don't look at what he gives her. "It's beautiful," she murmurs, taking a second to inspect it.

"It's a dream catcher. It's supposed to ward off nightmares," Jacob explains. Next to Bella, he seems extremely tall.

"Thank you," Bella says, blushing crimson. She's one of those people who don't like receiving gifts, a trait which I find equally respectable and annoying.

"It's the least I could do. After all, you're old now," Jacob jokes. For a second, Bella's expression fills with despair, and then rights itself. It's so fast that I wonder if maybe I imagined it.

"Let me go put it in my room," Bella excuses herself, leaving Jacob and I alone in the kitchen.

We both watch her leave, then awkwardly smile when we meet each other's glances. I work up the courage to ask him a question, but he beats me to it. "You two look alike," he says, matter-of-fact. "Almost like sisters."

"Really?" I ask, quirking an eyebrow. "I don't think there's much of a resemblance."

Jacob tilts his head, inspecting my face. "No, there definitely is. You both have the Swan nose," he states simply, hopping onto the counter. He hesitates for a second before adding, "I was going to bring you a present, but I forgot."

I can't help but smile at him and his position on the counter. Sitting down, he's still taller than me. "Don't bother," I reply, hopping up on the counter a little bit of a distance from him. I try and keep my tone light as I say, "It's not my birthday. I don't have much to celebrate."

Jacob's eyes crinkle. "You should celebrate your welcoming into Forks! We're kind of a limited population, y'know. It's always nice to see new faces."

I give him a pointed look. "I'm not much of a new face, if what you said about Bella and I's resemblance is true."

He laughs at that, and the sound is contagious. I can't help but laugh with him, a low chuckle under my breath. He looks over my face again, up and down, and his cheeks twinge pink. "How's Forks treating you?" He asks eventually, once the comfortable silence had stretched on a moment too long.

"Fine," I shrug, hopping off of the counter. "I feel a little out of place. But I'm managing." My words are more honest than I had intended them to be. I tug down on my sweater, the dark material thin and warm.

"Ah, so Forks High School is really as bad as it seems," Jacob coos, the tension dissolving.

I laugh again, but the sound is sharp. "You could say that. It feels like I've already been taught all the material from my classes. And I have, like, 3 extra credits that transferred from my old school. I could graduate early, if I wanted to."

"Do you want to?" He asks, his hands braced on the countertop. "Graduate early, I mean." I open the fridge and pull out the fish, which has luckily already been thawed.

I shrug. "I would, but I'm in athletics. I need to stay in sports as long as I can so that I can get a scholarship."

Bella comes back down the stairs, glancing between Jacob and I. "What are you talking about?"

Jacob's smile widens. "Forks High School," he says, and her answering look makes me think this is a conversation they've had before. "Us on the Rez are lucky, although our social circles are even smaller."

Bella smiles shyly, pulling out a chair at the table. I can tell she wants to offer her help cooking the fish, but in the last few days I've been trying to prove to her that I don't mind cooking. She lets me be, which I appreciate. "Katie has no problem making friends at school," Bella says simply, in a way that's supposed to be encouraging.

I grimace. "More like stalkers. Everyone wants to know all of my business."

Jacob and Bella laugh in tandem, to my benefit. "That's small town life, for ya." Jacob says through his chuckle. He asks Bella a question about Edward, and the conversation becomes relaxed. Comfortable. There's something easy about talking to Jacob, a quality which I appreciate a lot.

At the end of the night, Jacob mentions how he is fixing up a car, and invites Bella and I to come check it out. For the first time since arriving in Forks, I actually want to take someone up on their offer to hang out. "Of course," Bella promises, on my behalf. "We don't see each other often enough," she adds, friendly and genuine.

Jacob doesn't blush, to his credit, just gives another lopsided smile. "I'd have to agree." Billy and Charlie are already outside, chatting outside of Billy's truck. Jacob glances between Bella and I, waving and insisting that we don't forget to swing by sometime, before shutting the door behind him.

That night, I went back up to my room, and laid in bed. My head felt fuzzy. Not in a pleasant way, but a dizzy way. Like, now that they had left, the ringing in my ears had finally stopped. I tried to scan my memory for any sign of something being wrong, but I couldn't find anything. It was an odd feeling. Like the one I felt when I was around vampires, but... not quite. Instead of a sharp, ringing alarm, I felt... wound up. Like my mind was deciding between fight or flight.

I curl up on my side, hugging a pillow close to my chest. I barely remember to set an alarm before drifting off to sleep, my dreams carrying me to a clear picture of the woods.

Glimpses of moonlight shone through the trees, illuminating the world in a soft glow. In the middle of the woods sat a large russet wolf. From a distance, the wolf seemed huge. The wolf turned, and his eyes met with mine.