The Special Two

"Come on Clair-uh!" He whined from the sidewalk. "They're gunna take all the swings!'

I slid my shoelaces through one another carefully tying the knot before standing back up. "Seth Clearwater, boys are supposed to wait on girls." I stated with my hands on my hips.

He frowned, "I'm sorry." Seth took my hand in his and we walked to the swings that were surrounded by the mulch patch.

"Who is that?" My small finger was extended towards a boy on the jungle gym.

Seth glanced over there, "Jacob Black."

"Let's go over there." I made my small legs take me to the mulch surrounded area, with the lone boy that made me want to ask him a thousand questions. I climbed up to the top of the jungle gym and sat just two bars away from him, swinging my legs to and fro. After a few seconds, he stopped looking at the rest of the playground and turned to face me with a questioning expression.

I looked down at Seth, who stayed over by the swings, because he's a baby.

"I'm Clara Louise Robins." I held my small hand towards his large one, and he shook it awkwardly.

"Jacob Ephraim Black." He smiled and shook his head slightly.

"Nice to meet you Jacob Black." I grinned down at the swing sets, where Seth looked up at me angrily. "Jacob Black," Jake turned his head towards me slowly as I clearly interrupted his peace. "I have a very important question to ask you."

He shifted on the bars, relaxing a bit, and faced me more directly. "Okay."

"Do you know the Muffin Man?" My gray eyes were totally seriously as his brown orbs suddenly erupted with brightness. I wondered what made him so sad in the first place, but decided to leave it.

"I do not. Why did you wanna know?"

"We had blueberry muffins for lunch today, I hate blueberries. They look like big bugs and taste all mushy."

"And how would me knowing the Muffin Man help that?" He asked curiously.

I sighed, "Well, the Muffin Man is like the God of muffins. He controls all of it. Maybe you could have asked him to slip the some chocolate chips in instead. I like chocolate." I explained.

"Well the next time I see him, I'll tell him." Jacob smiled at me and hopped off the jungle gym, landing with a thud on the mulch ground below us. The adults were calling us all in to go back to class.

I stared down at the ground, it was a good four-foot drop. I'm terrified of heights. I thought about just climbing down, but I don't like going down things backwards, I have a tendency to loose my footing. So, I held my breath, and jumped.

Landing back on the ground with a thud, I was clearly pleased with myself until I lost my footing. I held my hands in front of my face, trying to save my small body from the mulch's unforgiving scrapes and splinters.

I was fully prepared for several splinters and cuts on my exposed legs, followed by a painful trip to the nurse’s office. But a strong pair of hands caught me before anything on that list could be accomplished. I, however, kept my eyes squeezed shut--call it a late reaction.

"Clara?"

"God?"

I heard a deep rumble in the chest I was pressed firmly against. "Open your eyes."

I did as I was told...you can't disobey God! My silver orbs looked up to see their chocolate counter parts, and I immediately straightened up.

"I was just testing your man-ness." I shrugged it off as I walked, Jake easily catching up to me.

"Sure you were. How'd I do?" He asked, amused.

"I guess you get an B minus."

Jacob gasped and turned to me, "A B minus! I never even gotten a B plus." His face was reddened by the sudden flush of emotions. "Why'd I get a B minus?"

I turned to him, "Because, Jacob Black, I have to go eat a blueberry muffin. A real man would have found the Muffin Man and told him to make chocolate instead."

Jacob whined and walked off, leaving me to smile from the way I irked him. The wind blew a gust of cold air my way and I rubbed my arms, my right one in particular. It held the scar that made me special, my Dad said, one of a kind.

Maybe Jacob Black was special too.

***

I left the hospital two days later with Jacob as my escort. Turns out I broke my left wrist and I have three claw-like scars--probably 5-7 inches long--on my back. Pair that with a few narly bruises, and those were all my external injuries. My internal one's weren't bad either, nothing the hospital couldn't fix anyway. Well, my human injuries.

For a reason previously unknown to me, the scars on my back weren't treated at all. Carlisle thinks they'll turn into brown burn-like marks when they do finally heal.

When I was home I was careful to put on a white camisole that would leave my scars exposed so they could heal. I put my hair in pigtails so they wouldn't irritate the open wounds and slipped into my favorite skinny jeans. My entire day consisted of re-runs of Project Runway, and when I was marveling on how they managed to make burlap sacks look stylish, there was a knock on my door. I tossed my brown knit blanket to the side of the couch and set the popcorn down on the table.

"Coming." I called, and slowly backed away from the TV to try to catch every possible second.

I opened my front door, and low and behold, it was Jacob. "You know, it seems like every day I have a werewolf on my door step."

Jacob smirked and I kicked the door open with the back of my foot, "Just wanted to see if you needed anything."

I blushed at his concern and shook my head, "I'm fine, thanks."

The pack had been staying within a two mile radius of my house since the incident. I knew Jacob was just there because Sam told him to be, but it still made my heart stop when he turned to leave.

"Actually, I'm a little tired of being alone." I admitted.

For some reason Jacob relaxed slightly and his shoulders drooped into their more natural stance; his eyes softened into the Jacob I was learning to know and love. I liked him like this, he wasn't a super protective werewolf sent to check up on a shape-shifter. He was Jacob coming to see a family friend.

I walked to kitchen and he followed suit. "I can't believe they didn't help with those scars Clara." I felt his warm hand trace the deep cuts on my back, making me shiver. This kitchen was way too small...were the walls spinning?

Right, drinks. We were in here for drinks.

The air became a little less crowded once I calmed my nerves, or more likely my hormones. "They couldn't help me." I said reaching for two cans of pop.

"What do you mean?"

I sighed and turned towards him, "The whole 'keeping the secret safe' thing."

Jake just continued to stare at me with those warm eyes of his, nearly making my legs give out on me right there.

"The world isn't ready to know that there are werewolves and vampires and shape shifters." I smiled, "Letting them see the cuts would have ruined the secret."

"How?" He leaned casually against the counter.

I picked up a small kitchen knife from its placeholder. Jake stiffened as I turned back toward him holding the small piece of metal in my hand. "Give me your hand." I ordered.

Jacob put his hand in mine with little hesitation, and I pressed the knife into his palm. He jumped a little before it healed. "That actually hurt!"

I laughed and pressed the blade to my own hand, making sure Jake was far enough away from me. With the same amount of force blood sprang from my own hand, although it looked completely different from Jake's. There was a small river of metallic silver pooling in the palm of my hand. Even though I didn't smell anything I saw Jacob's nose twitch slightly. I turned my palm over and let it bleed on Jacob's stained towel. As soon as the two connected smoke came up, I swished it away with my hand.

"Holy shit." Jacob muttered from next to me, I nudged him back with my shoulder. I wasn't completely positive on what they do when they mixed, but I knew I didn't want Jacob near it. Once the smoke was gone we leaned over to look. There was now a hole in the paper towel, counter top, and floor below the counter top. A clean splattered hole from where my blood hit it.

"Why does it do that?" Jacob hopped of the counter so he was facing me. I made sure I let all the blood drip from my hand before turning back to him.

"My blood has acidic properties when I'm around non-humans. That's why I need to be drowned," I explained. "No one has to worry about touching my blood because none would be spilt. If it touches another immortal being, they burn to death." I winced when I thought about taking a life and went to the living room.

"How did you figure this out?" He sunk into the seat next to me on the couch.

"Research, Carlisle gave me some paper work on Friday."

"When are you going to start being scared?"

I looked from the television to Jake, "What do you mean? There's nothing scary about it. As long as you guys don't do anything stupid, we'll all be fine."

"You just found out immortal beings not only exist, but that you are one and a vampire is trying to kill you, and you're worrying about our safety?"

I shrugged taking another sip of my soda.

"You're just like Bella, you know that?" He laughed and smiled, pulling me a little closer.

I cringed and my throat tightened, "Lucky me."