Noonday Sun: A Post-Breaking Dawn Twilight Fanfiction

Chapter 19, Sacrifice

Chapter 19, Sacrifice

Jacob met me as I was racing to the parking lot. If vampires could steam, there would've been a cloud over my head.

"Hey, Nessie," Jacob tousled my hair. "What's the hurry?"

"I just want to get out of this place!" I hissed vehemently. "Let's go home."

I climbed in through the door Jacob had just opened and slammed the door before he could move to buckle my seatbelt. I angrily snapped it into place. Jacob's eyes were wide with astonishment.

He walked around to the driver's side and climbed in. He eyed me cautiously. He'd never seen me this angry. He faced forward and started the engine. We were out of the parking lot before most of the students had reached their cars.

The drive back to the Cullen home was quiet. Jacob could tell I didn't want to talk.

I marched up the porch and through the door. I landed heavily on the couch.

Grandma Esme looked at me in astonishment. The needle in her hand was poised above a complicated cross stitch that involved a vase full of flowers in front of an open window. Ordinarily, I would've sat next to her so I could watch the picture emerge while she worked.

Mom looked up from the magazine she was reading. Jacob sat down next to me and started to toy with one of my bronze curls.

His movement relaxed me. It was almost as good as having Jasper enter the room. I snorted. My bad mood was sure to act as a magnet. I briefly wondered where he was.

And Rose? Where is Aunt Rose? She is always here. Then I remembered the twins. She was taking care of Michael. She wouldn't be home much for the next while.

Mom was the first to break the heavy silence. "How was your day, honey?"

"Awful."

Her eyebrow rose in a question.

"I hate school. Nothing is worth this sacrifice." I flounced angrily. Jacob took my hand and gently rubbed the back of it. He was trying to calm me. I didn't want to be calm. I jerked my hand away.

Esme and Mom looked at me in astonishment. They'd never seen me act like this.

Mom's voice was pleading, "Honey, it was your first day. Just give it a couple of days, please. It can't be that bad."

Tears started to stream down my face. Mom and Esme exchanged a worried glance. I jumped up and ran through the back door, headed for the cottage. Jacob sat still for a moment then ran after me.

He caught up with me just as I was opening the cottage door. He quietly followed me into the living room and then sat on the cushioned sofa that dominated the room. He opened his arms, and I crawled on his lap and sobbed. He held me for several minutes. After I'd cried myself out and sat up, he gently dried my tears with a handkerchief he'd thought to grab on his way out of the Cullen house. A few tendrils of hair were wet with tears. He carefully pulled them off my face.

"Did you want to talk about it?"

I looked at him a moment, then nodded. My voice broke occasionally from the tear storm that had just abated, "I'd always im-imagined interacting with the humans would be... difficult. I'd just n-never even thought about how many emotions would be in-involved." My brow wrinkled. "I was mad and sad and bored and indignant... and then just furious because the teacher punished the whole class because I thought her request was stupid so I wouldn't tell her what I wanted to learn in her class." I ended my speech so fast and low that a human wouldn't have been able to hear me. Jacob heard every word.