Falling To The Sun | B. Swan + E. Cullen

vingt-six

The morning wasn't any different than normal.

Roman bikes to school, arriving minutes before Edward and Bella, ten before Angela and Ben, twenty before Jessica or Lauren. She has a thermos of coffee tightly in hand, work shirt shoved deep into her bag.

She was full of energy, still thrumming off the buzz from the best weekend in the history of ever, not even the ugly, taunting rainclouds could dampen her good mood.

Waking up tucked in close to Bella while stealing kisses from ever had that sort of effect.

So yeah, it was a great morning and that alone should have tipped her off that something was going to go terribly wrong at some point. She didn't expect it to start so early.

And certainly not with Jacob leaning against his illegally parked motorbike towering over high school students. The younger boy had a flare for the dramatics it seemed, pulling a page from Sam's book as he borrowed the serious scowl that near permanently marred his handsome face.

It sent shivers down her spine each time he tried to use the expression, especially around her.

She wasn't going to let it slide with her. She wasn't going to be intimidated by the likes of him.

"You can't park there," she says, rolling her bike up next to him. "You have to move it... and then try a gentler approach if you're going to try and talk to Bella. She's already pissed with you."

"I'm not here to speak to her."

"Lies. You wouldn't come otherwise. Don't try and fool me, Jacob Black," she snaps, knuckles turning white with how hard she grips the handlebar. "Now move your bike and try to act like a decent person before you do something else you regret, like, oh, I don't know, accusing her of visiting her mom as an excuse to turn."

His jaw tenses. "I never said that."

"Right, just like the rest of your friends didn't waste my time by keeping me on the phone for hours," Roman seethes with a sharp smile. "Because I did figure that one out around the same time Bella did, thanks, I'm just not sure if it was to keep me away from Edward and Bella or if it was to make sure I didn't time to turn as well.

"Either way it's infuriating and insulting, and I don't know what to even say to that sort of terrible attempt to make me unhappy! How little do all of you think of me if you think it's alright to just blatantly hurt me like that?" she continues, twisting her hand around the plastic. "I take pride in the work that I do, and it might not be much to any of you, but my maps are important. To act like you're just amusing me, using me to keep track of a situation that isn't even a big deal makes you... makes you... makes you horrible people!"

He shifts, shrinking so that he didn't look so tough and intimidating, more approachable. "Sam listened to all of your suggestions, for what it's worth, and Seth was genuine about asking for your help. I'm sorry for what the others did but they thought they were doing good."

She sniffs. "They're idiots."

"I know," he snorts. "I'll help Seth kick their ass if it makes you feel better."

"You sound like you want to do it anyway.'

He shrugs. "They deserve it. They should've known better."

"Yeah, well, you should have known better than to just call Bella to make her feel back like that," Roman says. "She wasn't happy with you, to begin with."

"That wasn't why I called, and if that's the approach you want to take, then that bloodsucker shouldn't have come onto our land so I wouldn't have needed to call at all."