Bella's Different Beginning

An unexpected change

Jacob's POV

I'd woken up at 6am again. What was wrong with me? The unanswered question had been in my mind for a few days now. For the past couple of days everyone had been looking at me like I was some kind of alien because I had been going through a major growth spurt and had gained a lot of muscle. Bella almost didn't recognise me only after two days, "Wow Jake! What happened to you?" she'd asked. Dad just had a strange look on his face for a while now almost like he was worried about me.

I kept thinking about the Quileute tribe legends. But...werewolves and...the cold ones? No I couldn't believe it. It's impossible. But was it humanly possible for a teenager to gain this much muscle and grow this tall in a matter of days without it being something more?

Ok, time to stop thinking about that. I decided to get up and go for a run in the woods to run all this nonsense off. I got out of bed with more energy than I should have at this time of morning and dressed for a run. I walked slowly through my small house, careful not to wake my dad, opened the squeaky door and took off through the woods. After a couple of minutes I was panting and I suddenly felt hot. Really hot. Like I'd been shoved in a sauna,only I didn't sweat from it and the heat in my over grown body felt...natural. It was still weird though because I wasn't used to it. I started freaking out; my body temperature is not humanly possible. Again, I thought about that legend that had been bugging me for days. The Quileute's, which my father and I are apart of, are thought to be descended from wolves. Then there was the story about 'the cold ones' (vampires), who are supposed to be the enemy clan of the wolves and my great grandfather found them hunting on their lands once. But they weren't killing humans, they were killing a dear. There were two of them, a man named Carlisle with his wife, Esme and from what I hear; they have adopted five human teenagers, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, Alice and Edward. So he made a treaty with them, if they agreed to stay away from their land then we wouldn't expose them for what they really were, vampires. Apparently if 'humans' knew what they really were then the 'Volturi' would kill them.

There were more Quileute tribe members but some of them moved to Forks. I had no idea why and when I asked Billy about it he either changed the subject or said they moved because they wanted to.

Since a run was not helping me because all I did then was have more time to think about stupid legends, I decided to turn around and go home.

When I came out of the forest, I saw the other Quileute kids playing. Most were around twelve or thirteen years old and a few were only a year younger than me. I waved at them and went inside my tiny home to find my dad and his friend talking at the table. I had a feeling I walked in on a conversation I wasn't supposed to know about. Yet. My father heard the squeaky door and turned around.

"Oh hey, son. You were up early this morning," he said and then I heard him say "again" under his breathe.

"Yeah, I can't seem to sleep in past 6 these days. I don't know why," I replied, confusion clear in my voice.

Billy looked back at his friend and he nodded back as if to give my dad permission to say something. Then my father turned toward me again.

"Jacob, we need to talk about something important," he said with a serious face and this made me nervous.

"Um, okay. Should I be nervous?" I asked. He just shook his head which made me even more nervous. Then an unsettling idea popped into my head, was my father going to give me 'the talk'?! I hoped not. I didn't need it.

Dad's friend rose from his chair, gave us a goodbye nod and left.

"Okay, Jacob, please try to keep good self-control when I tell you and I'm sorry I waited so long to let you know because I know you've been freaking out. Please don't get mad at me for not telling you straight away because I wasn't sure, and that's why my friend, Harry, was here, I had to check with someone before freaking you out even more. Jacob, I know what is happening to you, why you are growing so fast and gaining lots of muscle. I was one but when your mother and I had that car crash, I was put in a wheel chair and have been unable to phase. Son, you are turning into a werewolf. Or a shape-shifter, as we call it," he finished explaining.

His words slowly sank in one by one. I couldn't speak; I was in too much shock to move my lips. Suddenly I got angry. Very angry. Not at my father but at the idea of being a werewolf, how could I be a werewolf? It sounded like it would ruin my life. Then I felt like there was steam radiating off every inch of my skin and a growl somehow escaped my frozen lips. My muscles tensed and my body crouched as if to explode at any moment. I had a very strong need to run as fast as I could through the forest that was just meters from my house. I turned to open the door and run out but as I did, I leapt into the air and landed on four massive paws which were covered in russet coloured fur and were also standing on grass.

My four legs rotated me around to see the door of my house broken in too pieces on the front porch. I realised then that I had done that and how strong I was. My father was sitting in the door way staring at me, "Jacob, don't run away please," he pleaded.

But I took off through the forest at full speed; I was going back, where else would I go? I stopped running when I came to the beach. If I am a werewolf now, does that mean that all of the legend was true? Even the part about the vampires? Just then I spotted Bella and a boy I didn't recognise walking along the wet sand with the water rippling over their feet. I suddenly felt jealous. Would I have to say goodbye to Bella now? What if I phased in front of her, or worse, what if I hurt her? Would we even be able to stay friends?

Questions, questions, and more questions. The only person I knew who would be able to answer them would be my father. I turned back and started running home. When I was almost at the edge of the forest I had calmed down. My body seemed to straighten up into a human trance and I watched as my paws returned to human form and the rest of my body followed. Horrified, I looked down and discovered I was naked, but I found a pile of my clothes on the forest floor, put them on, and walked toward my house that had no door.