Enchanted | Jacob Black

one

It all began when Bella Swan returned to Forks last year.

One night, when I went over to Jake's, he started telling me about Chief Swan's daughter, who was moving back, how he used to play with her during the Summers growing up. Yet, I had no memories of her myself. Apparently, her visits always coincided with my time in Montana with my grandparents.

Then came the day he returned from a visit to her house to drop off Billy's old truck. And I swear it was like Jake had stars in his eyes. It started off small at first; he'd mention her here and there. But I didn't think too much about it. He barely knew the girl, and she didn't come to the reservation.

Well, except for one time, she went to First Beach with her friends. I wasn't there that day, but I was there the day after when Jake wouldn't shut the hell up about it. Claiming that Bella was flirting with him. 

Then came the day Billy offered Jake twenty dollars to go see Bella at her prom after her accident to "deliver a message." Which threw both of us way off because it felt so random. However, Billy also promised to get him the car part he needed for the rabbit, and he couldn't pass up the offer. What I didn't expect was Jacobs' excitement at the thought of seeing her.  

Things settled for a few months after that, and he didn't mention her as much.

Come January, Bella Swan reentered the picture after getting dumped by her boyfriend. Eventually, Jake had found himself spending more time with her. Even cancelling on me sometimes, and as much as I didn't like admitting it, it kind of hurt.

Even Quil and Embry seemed to like Bella simply because she was new and different. 

And then things got weird. Embry started changing, getting taller, and gaining muscle. He no longer wanted to be around any of us. I honestly thought he was going through some kind of second puberty. The next time we saw him, he had cut off his hair and gotten a tribal tattoo I'd never seen before on anyone. He was hanging out with what he once called "the hall monitors on steroids." The random trio that consisted of Sam Uley, Paul Lahote, and Jared Cameron.

So while Embry was off getting initiated into some kind of cult. Jake was busy rebuilding rundown motorcycles with Bella. I had gone from hanging out with Jake almost every day after school to hardly at all.

And to make things worse. He started avoiding me even more than before, just like Embry. And eventually completely. And as if losing two best friends wasn't already a stab to the heart, Quil went ahead and followed them.

I would call Jake constantly, and every time, Billy would make some excuse about him being sick, supposedly with mono. But I knew Jake. He rarely got sick, and even if he was, that wasn't an excuse to act like an asshole and pretend I no longer existed. I decided I was fed up with it one day and went to his house:

Billy initially refused to let me in, claiming Jake was still sick and couldn't go out. But I knew he was lying. It took almost five minutes of back-and-forth with him before he let me walk into the house. I made my way to the first door on the right, opening it to Jake's closet-sized room. He was quietly sleeping in his bed.

"Wake up, idiot."

His eyes fluttered open, and he sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. That's when I noticed it.

The first thing was his hair. It was cut short now, barely brushing the tops of his ears. Gone were the long, shaggy strands he constantly pushed out of his face. This new look made his jawline stand out sharper and somehow more grown-up.

And then... the muscles.

I blinked, taken aback. His shoulders were broader. His arms looked like they belonged to someone who could probably benchpress a car. His chest stretched tight beneath his worn t-shirt. One that probably fit two weeks ago but now clung to his frame like a size too small.