Folktale

1839

Forks, Washington

The choir was dismissed after their weekly reunion. Father Tobias approached Izzy as she stepped off the stage with her friend Jane and said, "I seem to remember well when you were a young girl rolling around in the grass."

Izzy frowns. "Pardon me?"

Father Tobias chuckles and reaches for the bit of grass Izzy had in her hair. Her cheeks blush. She had not noticed she had a bit of grass stuck in her hair after she saw Edward in the meadow.

"Oh, I didn't notice."

"It had been bugging me since you walked in," he chuckled, tossing the leaf aside. "We'll see each other for Sundays service, you have a lovely evening, ladies."

"You as well, Father," Jane and Izzy say at the same time.

The girls lock arms and begin their journey back home.

"I had noticed it as well," Jane said. "Though, you are a tad bit too old to be rolling around on the grass."

Izzy avoiding all eye contact with her friend. "It's been a rather windy day, it could have flown into my hair," she said as an excuse.

"And the bruise on your neck?"

"Bruise?" Izzy stopped, touching her neck. "I don't have a bruise."

Jane sighed, looking at her friend in disappointment. "Izzy, you're not a good liar. That mark you have on your neck is a love mark. I've been watching you."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"I know, Izzy."

"Jane," Izzy snapped, glaring at her friend. "I don't know what you're talking about, and if you know what's best, then neither do you, understand?"

Jane shakes her head. "It's not my place, I know that, but if I'm ever asked, I won't lie for you, Izzy. I worry about you."

"And you think they'll believe you? You? The farmer's daughter? What credibility do you have over the chief's daughter?" Izzy asked bitterly. "You may be my friend, Jane, but you need to learn your place in this world. No one will ever believe you."

Jane had never seen such bitterness from her friend. It hurt deep inside, knowing that regardless of how smart she was, her manners, her behavior and even the people she was able to befriend, especially Izzy, she was still seen as the farmer's daughter. Izzy, who has always been blind to her friend's social status, throws her only weakness back at her. It's a low, even Jane realizes that.

Izzy, acknowledging her mistake, sighs and takes her friend's hand. "I'm sorry, Jane. I didn't mean what I said, you know you're very special to me." Jane, not at all convinced of her friend's remorse, only nods. Izzy continues, "but you have to understand, it's better if you pretend you know nothing. Trust me, I know what I'm telling you."

"Is that a threat, Isabella?"

Izzy smiles. "Not at all, not unless you want James Masen to find out about your bastard brother, Alec? How would he feel when he finds out just as he's planning on proposing to you that your mother was unfaithful to your father while he was away? Nonetheless, had a child she passed as his. What will the Masen's think?"