It's Our Last Chance to Feel Again

"Oh come on Uncle Jack. Please?"

"In the very unlikely chance that you didn't hear me the previous nineteen times, let me say it again: no," Uncle Jack huffed, annoyed that I was wasting his energy.

I folded my arms and fell onto the couch, sighing at my dilemma. Should I continue to pester him, or just leave him be? In an unexpected turn of events, Uncle Jack had decided that he no longer wanted to be at risk of a coronary heart disease and so had taken to exercising every morning, yesterday being the first day he started. Yesterday being the day I had broken my personal record and had begged him no less than a hundred and sixty-nine times.

As I watched Uncle Jack attempt to heave his body up, a frown that would only grow deeper etched on my face. If I continued to pester him, he might be so desperate and finally give in. But then again, I had been asking him for three days now, and he still showed no sign of giving in except for throwing down his already soaked towel even though he had just begun with his sit-ups that marked the beginning of his exercise routine slightly more than three minutes ago.

"Please?" I persisted although my determination, or lack thereof, had wavered my once demanding tone into a mere whisper.

"Kat... Kather-" Uncle Jack wheezed, sounding unremarkably similar to that of a suffocating pig.

With sheer concern empowering me, I cut him off, "I got it, you're calling me. Just let me know: yes or no."

Uncle Jack, whose torso was in midair as if deciding if it should disappoint Uncle Jack or reward his hard work, puffed for a while before going silent. His eyes were squeezed shut, and his face was scrunched. As I silently watched him, I hoped for his sake that his body would make it up.

Finally, after much anticipation on my part and a lot of struggling on Uncle Jack's, his body raised itself such that Uncle Jack could grab his chubby knees in a weak attempt to keep his torso lifted off the ground. As Uncle Jack turned to look at me, I couldn't help but laugh. His face was completely red, from either the amount of effort he had exerted into his sixteenth sit-up or from annoyance from my pestering.

Uncle Jack took a deep breath before whispering, "No."

With that, he turned his face back to face the plain wall in front of him and slowly lowered his torso back onto the floor as he readied himself both physically and mentally for the painful climb he knew he'd have to endure.

Smirking, I took advantage of his situation. "And why not?"

Uncle Jack's back was now resting completely on the floor, and taking another breath, he panted, "Prom... Promised Jake."

Hearing that name made my heart beat faster, and I roughly tugged at my hair. He was the reason I couldn't go out, and he was the reason I needed to go out. Stupid La Push and all the complicated shit it brought.

"Yes well, I'm sure Jacob would appreciate a visit from his imprint."

Uncle Jack gave me a look that clearly told me he wasn't going to let me out anytime soon, and so I grumbled and made my way noisily to my room.

The moment a triumphant looking Uncle Jack came to mind, I yelled over my shoulder, "I'm only doing this for Jacob!"

---

The door closed loudly behind me and even though I could hear Uncle Jack's complaints about my lack of concern for his house, but I paid it no mind. I was hungry from depriving myself lunch for the sake of proving a point to Uncle Jack, and I honestly didn't care about anything else.

"Katherine, nice to see you out of your room!" I heard someone say, and when I finally reached the dining room, I saw my father smiling at me.

"Uh, yeah. Okay. What are you doing here?"

Uncle Jack sighed, "Your father thought it would be nice if we spent time as a family."

I narrowed my eyes and warily looked from Uncle Jack to my father. "Isn't that usually something that... You know, a parent would say about his spouse?"

My father rolled his eyes and snorted, "Oh, don't be so stereotypical. It's been forever since I've had dinner with my brother and my daughter without anyone around."

Uncle Jack and I shared a look that told us both not to voice our opinion on what my father had just said. Instead, we sat and stared at the table dumbly, waiting for my father to serve us the food he had made because of "the special family event" we were having.

The moment he placed the plate of spaghetti in front of me, I grabbed the fork and dug in, shoveling a forkful of noodles into my already open mouth. Uncle Jack and my father, however, held a deep conversation that made me doubt if I were supposed to be part of the "family event".

I continued eating, nonetheless- My stomach was empty, and needed food. Nothing as trivial as my involvement in the dinner was going to stop me from filling it.

However, the moment I heard the words "fight" and "the pack" in the same sentence, I stopped mid-chew and stared dumbly at the brothers sitting in front of me. "I'm sorry, but what's going on?"

Uncle Jack looked over at me and wrinkled his nose in disgust, while my father rolled his eyes, "What's going on is that you have spaghetti coming out of your mouth and it's making me sick."

Impatiently, I chewed and swallowed the noodles that were preventing me from getting my answers. Once the food was on its way to my stomach, I stared expectantly at my father who proceeded to fill me in.

"Basically, that girl you were so jealous about the other day — I found out her name's Bella, by the way — is in danger because some vampire girl's gone crazy about the fact that those stupid Cullens killed off some other vampire who happens to be her husband or something like that, and so she wants revenge. That vampire girl-"

"Victoria," Uncle Jack cut in knowledgeably, which earned him a glare from my father.

"Victoria wants Bella dead and went all psycho and got a bunch of newborn vampires to come after Bella in Forks. So since Victoria's killing too close to our turf for comfort, and Jacob feels somewhat responsible for his 'best friend' — I honestly don't think Jacob should consider a girl who chooses to mix with those bloodsuckers a best friend, but whatever floats his boat ­­­­— the whole pack's gotten involved and they're preparing for the huge fight that they think should happen tomorrow.

"Honestly though, it's silly. The Cullen that's some sort of psychic can't even see Victoria or her little vampires. And to fight along those monsters?! The pack might be big, but against a thousand blood thirsty nuggets? I don't know, you think they've got a chance Jack?"

Without giving Uncle Jack any time to respond, or giving me time to voice my concern for a particular wolf's life, my father continued, "I really can't wrap my head around the fact that they're fighting with those damn vampires. I doubt they're going to do anything if one of our wolves die. I don't... Really, those vampires are nothing but shit heads. They're such arrogant bastards that kill innocents — innocent animals, Jack, whatever — and when they need help, they use the people that they previously had not much regard for. That's some pretty big shit Sam's letting the pack get into."

By the time my father was done, I was just about ready to launch myself out the door and into Jacob's house to beg him not to go to that stupid fight. Was he really going to put his life at risk for a girl that was... Well, okay. Fine. His best friend.

Uncle Jack looked at me with a horrified expression, and even though it took my father time to realise why Uncle Jack was worried, he simply laughed it off, like I had expected him to. "Don't worry, Kat. I'm sure Jacob will be fine. That boy's a good runner. He'll know when the fight gets too much for him."

Even though I knew my dad meant it assuringly, my eyes couldn't help but widen in panic. "You mean you don't think they'll be able to win the fight?"

My father considered it for a moment before shaking his head slowly, "It's not that I don't think the pack can-"

"I'm sure the wolves will be fine. I'm sure Jake will be fine. They've been training, haven't they Ryan? Don't worry, Kat. Your father just likes to bring despair," Uncle Jack cut in before I fainted from the panic I felt at that moment.

Looking down at my plate of half-finished spaghetti, I suddenly felt bloated. While I was inside this stupid house, Jacob was going to be outside fighting against the monsters that had so heartlessly killed Julia, alongside the very same monsters.

All because of Bella. It was probably really stupid of me, but I felt something chewing at my heart, gnawing it into little pieces.

Oh God, no. I couldn't possibly be jealous. Jacob was my imprint.

And yet, he was out fighting for some other girl. Some other girl named Bella. It was horrid, but at that moment, I suddenly wished Sam would be as insensitive to Bella as he had been back when I first arrived. I suddenly wished that Sam would call the whole thing off and let Bella and the stupid Cullens fight their own battle.

Frowning, I scooted my chair back and stood up, solemnly making my way back to my room.

Behind me, I heard Uncle Jack's harsh whisper, "You see what you've done?! This is her imprint, you idiot!" before he shouted, "Don't worry Kat! They'll be able to win the fight!"

Whatever hope Uncle Jack had sparked in me was immediately extinguished by my father's careless snort, "Yeah, if they get some sort of unpredictable help."

I furiously wiped away a bitter tear that had made it's way down my cheek. As much as I didn't want to, I couldn't help but cry over a boy I barely knew.

Stupid imprinting bullshit.