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As I stared hard at my reflection in the window, the glare from the sun hurting my eyes, I let my mind wander. Suddenly, I made a decision so unexpected that I didn’t even see it coming, much less Jake. I swung my body around until I was fully facing him, wrapped my arms tightly around his waist, and hugged him.

“Thanks for being so nice,” I whispered, my voice hoarse with anticipation. Would he accept or reject my embrace?

After what felt like an hour of waiting nervously (although most people would have observed it as a second), Jacob slowly wound his large arms around my waist. Immediately, I was overwhelmed by the heat of his skin. This didn’t bother me at all. In fact, I found it quite soothing. The Quileute boys were all very hot, temperature-wise.

I let a silent sigh of contempt escape my lips before pulling away. I have known Jacob long enough to know that he is not a huge fan of prolonged physical contact. His large brown eyes followed me curiously as I traipsed through the empty parking space beside the Rabbit. I knew the words were coming before he spoke them.

“Do you have multiple personality disorder?”

I smiled at him. “I seriously think so.”

“What is up with you now? I insult you and you agree.” He scoffed. “Learn the rules, Heather.”

“I wrote the rules, fool. Of course I know ‘em.”

Jacob shook his head tauntingly. “No you didn’t, and no you don’t.”

“Yeah,” I poked him playfully, “I do.”

“Sure you do.”

I brought my shoulders up then let them fall down in an over exaggerated shrug before returning to my exploration of the parking lot. As much as I visited this macabre institution, I only knew the places I visited often. Behind the school was not one of them.

“Will rabid raccoons eat us if we go behind the school and jump in the trashcans?”

Jake did not appear at all roused by the question, seeing as he was all too accustomed to my randomness. He merely shook his head. “No raccoon danger.”

“Coolness.” And without further ado, I marched in a direction I hoped would lead me to the wonderland that accompanied the space behind La Push High School. I vaguely heard Jacob’s weight lift off the Rabbit, but no footsteps. I knew he was following me though. There are things about Jake that I just notice, and his strange gracefulness was one of them.

Amazingly, I found my destination without trouble. With my sense of direction, it’s a wonder we weren’t behind Forks High.

“Jacob I-Still-Don’t-Know-Your-Middle-Name Black, welcome to my kingdom.”

I spread my arms wide, gesturing to the smelly trashcans and buses that inhabited the small space between the high school and a vast sea of trees. I assumed the buses were only there because it was the weekend. I had seen them in front of the school during the week. But it was very potently apparent that the trashcans were permanent residents. The smell wafting from under their rusty lids was revolting. I pinched my nostrils down with my index finger and thumb, breathing through my mouth.

“Does the smell bother you? Are you sure you want to make this your kingdom?” Jacob’s sudden appearance in front of my face made me jump, as his inhuman speed often did.

Still holding my nose, I yelled at him. “Jacob! Why do you always do that?!?” I noticed that all of the hard consonants sounded nasally. I giggled swiftly before returning the angry expression to my face. “You are literally -- and I mean literally -- going to give me a heart attack one day. I’ll just be standing around, minding my business, and then bam!” I slapped my empty palm against my thigh for effect, “You’ll jump out of nowhere and I’ll keel over in fright. I can totally see that happening.”

He nodded amusedly. “So can I.”

I rolled my eyes. “Sarcasm isn’t the answer to everything, you know.”

He responded to my snappy words with a snort. “You, the absolute Queen of Sarcasm, are denying its fantastic powers? Has the moon turned brown or something? Pigs flying about? Something has definitely gone afoul in the tiny innocent town of La Push. Heather Brown has gone back on her engagement to sarcastic remarks!”

I stared at him wordlessly, a crease digging deeper and deeper into my brow line. “Jake, I don’t know about you sometimes…”

“Well, that’s how things are. So deal with them,” he added smartly.

I opened my mouth, a perfect sarcastic reply forming on my lips, but stopped and shut my mouth with a loud snapping pop.

What’s the use? I thought dully.

I shrugged instead and walked to the Rabbit, feeling glum. I didn’t know why I was so moody. It probably had something to do with the fact that Jacob teased me as a friend would taunt another friend, not a flirty kind of teasing. When was he going to realize that we were kind of made for each other? I groaned and opened the door of the now familiar rickety vehicle. Maybe I was having a depression. Or maybe I was PMS-ing. Who knows? I certainly don’t.