THE WRAITH / J. HALE

10 / Sabine Does Not Like Jacob Black

CHAPTER TEN
SABINE DOES NOT LIKE JACOB BLACK

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TURNS OUT, SABINE WROTE BEST WHEN SHE WAS STRESSED OUT. Thinking back on it, she didn't know how she hadn't figured it out before. When she'd started writing Carrie, Emmett had gotten into a fight with a kid at their school and almost revealed their identity to them because he hit him too hard. She finished Lisey's Story back when Bella was causing havoc on their family by simply existing, and pretty much finished Blaze while they were living in Denali and Dale was stalking her.

Now they were back, and everything was normal. Bella and Edward were happy, nobody had any more secrets to keep. And yet, she still typed on that keyboard like it was her lifeline — and had written two more books already. She was debating which one to publish first, Duma Key or Just After Sunset. She also didn't know whether publishing a new book so soon after Blaze was a smart decision.

Okay, so she was avoiding the subject. But what else was she supposed to do? Jasper was still mad at her and showed no signs of talking to her anytime soon, and she needed to fill her mind with something so she didn't have to think about it.

Oh. There was the stress she was talking about.

Whatever. She didn't care. Well, she did. She cared a lot, but she had other issues on her plate. Like how all of her Shined pages had been stolen by her crazy ex, or how her brother had proposed to Bella three times now, only to get rejected every time. He wasn't too worked up about it — I mean, she was ready to die for him, so they'd probably get married at some point. Sabine figured his issue was with the fact that he wanted to bone her, but his morals and ideals were still in nineteen-twenty.

Despite this, however, Edward was still the happier twin. For the first time ever.

Her brother was sympathetic. Out of any member of their coven, he understood the most the levels someone would go to protect their love. Sabine lied for fifty years, Edward dragged his family to Alaska. All of that, despite how much it pained them, was in the name of protection. He understood her — he always did.

Because Jasper wasn't talking to her, she was condemned into sitting with Edward and Bella — and thus, Bella's friends — at lunch every day. Not the ideal situation for the girl, but it was better than being on the receiving end of one of the blonde's glares. That particular day, the group of humans were helping Jessica write her Valedictorian speech. Sabine had heard plenty in her time, and they were never as philosophical as they wanted them to be.

"Alright, hey, check this out." Mike quipped, looking up from his notepad just as Bella and Edward joined them, "My fellow students, right? Right? We are the future...anything is possible, if you just believe...blah, blah, blah, perfect."

"Yeah, nice." Jess nodded with a snarky smile, "This'll be my speech when I want everyone to throw diplomas at my head, so..."

She balled up the paper and chucked it at Mike's head. The rest of the table giggled, and Sabine shook her head. She leaned across the table and took a peek at what Jess had written already and nodded, "What if you say something like...hey, none of us know where we're going after this, but at least we aren't the only ones. Right?"

"Right." Jess nodded, jotting it down, "I get that, that makes total sense. Thanks."

"That's exactly what I said." Mike murmured pathetically. They laughed.