Swear I’ll See This Through

Gabriella sat quietly in the back of Mrs. Harden’s English class. Her hazel-green eyes watered as she stared at the screen, watching Fitzwilliam Darcy deliver his epic line, “By you, I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased."

A soft gasp escaped her full lips when Elizabeth took his hand in hers and kissed it softly, relishing in the way that his hot flesh felt against her own. When the film ended Elle waited until her peers left the classroom to make her way out the door; she didn’t like being pressed up against them as they attempted to make their way out the door.

No one ever paid any attention to Elle as she walked through the halls of La Push. Her timid nature and soft voice make her blend into the surroundings, making those around forget that she was even there. Most people would be bothered by this, but not Elle.

Elle’s never been one to be the center of attention. She prefers to be in the background watching things unfold, keeping a good distance between herself and others to avoid the drama that runs rampant in high schools across America.

She walked in through the side entrance side entrance of the cafeteria and sat alone in the far corner table. No one ever really approached her there, but it’s not like she minds. Elle likes being by herself it gives her time to write down her poetry or sketch.

Lately all of her sketches have consisted of Jacob Black. His beauty rivals that of Michelangelo’s David and she can’t help but try and capture his beauty and simple elegance on paper; even if she doesn’t really do him justice.

Elle stared at Jacob’s side profile for a few minutes, squinting slightly as she tried to figure out how she was going to do the sketch. Once it clicked in her mind, she began her endeavor.

Her brow furrowed as she worked to get his lips right, they were pouty, larger than most guys lips but they weren’t of an exaggerated size like Mick Jaggers; Jacob’s were perfect.

“Dude she’s staring at you again,” whispered Embry as he saw Elle staring at Jacob from the corner of his left eye.

Jacob eyed his friend and responded, “I don’t care if she’s looking at me Embry!”

“Well you should. She’s really pretty,” stated Embry with a smile on his face.

“No offense Embry but your opinion of pretty and my opinion are two completely different things.”

“Why don’t you just look at her and then you can tell me that, she’s on your right.”

Elle managed to get his lips done, she was about to start working on his eyes when Jacob Black suddenly turned, the moment that his eyes met hers a look of shock spread across his face.

Elle misread his shock as rage and in hopes of avoiding an awkward situation she grabbed her belongings and walked out the back door quickly, not raising her gaze from the floor.

“Jacob what’s wrong,” inquired Quil as he shook Jacob slightly.

He turned around, the twinkle in his eyes giving away what had happened. Jacob opened his mouth and attempted to tell them that he had imprinted on her, but no words came out.

“You imprinted on her,” Jacob nodded his head still unable to find his voice; “You should talk to her sometimes because she sure as hell won’t approach you.”

Elle had never looked Jacob directly in the eyes and now that she had all she could do was think about him and attempt to capture the essence of his soulful brown eyes as she sketched the night away.

Jacob scanned the students walking into the school; he had shown a half hour earlier than usual in hopes of seeing Elle and speaking with her but was having a lot of trouble finding her.

A smile spread across his handsome face when he spotted her petite figure in the crowd, but just as quickly as he had spotted her she was gone.

Elle’s heart pounded erratically when she saw Jacob standing at the high school entrance staring right at her. She was afraid that he was going to confront her about staring at him, so she decided to slip away.

Jacob didn’t stop looking for Elle though and when she walked into the cafeteria he stood up from his seat and walked over to her table. If Elle had seen him walking over she would have up and left but she was to busy working on a sketch to see him approaching her.

“Hello,” greeted a deep masculine voice that made her stomach do back flips.

She raised her gaze slowly, like a fawn when it’s barely about to open its eyes for the first time and responded with a soft smile, “Hi.”

“Do you mind if I sit here,” asked Jacob pointing to the seat across from her.

“You can sit wherever you like,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper.

Jacob sat down in front of her, smiling as he watched her return her attention to the sketch. He couldn’t help but gaze at her lovingly, admiring how her shoulder length chocolate brown hair got in her face as she lost herself in her art.

“You don’t talk much, do you,” inquired Jacob softly not wanting to bother her too much.

Elle looked up, her hazel-green eyes sparkling and replied, “I’ve never been much of a talker.”

“Why not,” he questioned.

Elle furrowed her brow, she thought about it for a bit before responding, “I don’t know. I’m just not.”

With that the pair fell into silence. Elle expected Jacob to stand up and leave but he just sat there quietly watching her work. When the lunch bell rang Elle stood up and swung her bag over her shoulder, she grabbed her sketch book and began to walk away when she slipped on some milk.

Elle readied herself for the impact that was fast approaching, so she was shocked when she felt a pair of incredibly warm arms wrap around her. She opened her eyes and saw Jacob staring at her, his eyes radiating concern.

She shivered under gaze, but was unable to look away from his chocolate brown that is until someone said, “Hey Jake she’s been sketching you.”

At those words she broke out of his grasp and rushed over to grab her sketch book from Embry’s hands. Elle didn’t even bother looking back at Jacob she simply dashed out of the cafeteria, her cheeks a dark shade of red from embarrassment.

“Dude she fucking sketched me,” asked Jacob with a massive grin spread across his face.

Embry nodded his head fervently and shouted, “Dude you’re all she sketches, if she wasn’t your imprint that’d be fucking creepy.”

“This is good news! She likes me,” exclaimed Jacob happily.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself Jake, sketching doesn’t mean she likes you it just means that she thinks you’re pretty to look at,” countered Quil.

“Do you always have to be such a downer,” questioned Jacob.

Quil shrugged his shoulders as Embry responded, “He feels a need to bring everyone else down because his imprint is only two.”

“I’ll have you know that Claire has the intelligence of a four year old, she knows how to identify colors now and the other day she made a finger painting,” stated Quil as if that statement actually proved something.

Elle tried to stay home from school the next day but her mother wouldn’t let her, she said that if Elle’s older brother Dustin was going to go to school that she was going to have to go as well.

She was looking at the ground muttering under breath when she walked into a boulder, yet again she almost fell but just like the day before Jacob grabbed her before she hit the floor.

“I think I’m gonna get you a wheelchair that you won’t be falling all over the place,” joked Jacob.

Elle didn’t respond she simply got out of his grasps and started walking towards the entrance. Jacob jogged over to her and said, “Why don’t you want to talk to me? I thought I was your favorite model?”

Jacob couldn’t help but grin wider when he saw her cheeks flush with color. Elle looked up at him and said, “You do this on purpose don’t you?”

“Do what?”

“Embarrass me, I think you really like embarrassing me.”

Jacob shook his head as he responded, “I don’t like embarrassing you but I do love the way you look when you blush.”

“I have to get to class,” whispered Elle before leaving Jacob standing there.

A month passed and Jacob slowly but surely began getting closer to Elle. She now carried conversations with him during lunch and Jacob let her sketch him, which led to her finally being able to master sketching his eyes.

“Hey Elle I was wondering if you wanted to go to the bonfire with me tonight,” asked Jacob.

Elle smiled and responded, “Yeah that sounds like fun. What time should I be ready?”

“Seven, I’ll go over and pick you up.”

“Let me write down my address,” she said as she began to write down on a piece of paper.

Jacob laughed and said, “I know where you live.”

“Stalker,” joked Elle.

“Says the woman that had pages and pages filled with sketches of me,” shot back Jacob with a smile.

Elle took her time getting ready that evening, Jacob hadn’t said that this was a date but inside told her that it was and she wanted to make sure that she looked the best that she could.

Jacob Black arrived exactly at seven, he spent about a minute staring at Elle before looking away embarrassed that she had scene him gawking at her so shamelessly.

Her eye’s couldn’t help but widen when she saw the bonfire raging, she hadn’t been to one since she turned twelve because that was the age when kids started going as couples and well Elle’s never been one to throw herself at a guy so she didn’t have someone to go with and choose to remain at home.

“Elle I want you to meet my dad,” said Jacob.

“Your dad,” squeaked Elle both terrified and flattered by the idea of meeting Jacob’s father.

“Come on he won’t hurt you,” reassured Jacob as he took her hand in his leading her towards his father.

Elle couldn’t help but feel calm; Jacob’s warm calloused hand engulfed her soft small hands making her feel like nothing in the world could ever go wrong.

“Dad this is Gabrielle, Gabrielle this is my dad Billy Black.”

Billy Black shook Gabrielle’s hand and exclaimed, “It’s great to finally put a face to the name. Jake here doesn’t shut up about you. Gabrielle does the best sketches; she has a beautiful smile…”

“Dad,” interrupted Jacob.

Elle smiled loving the fact that for once Jacob was the one that was red as a tomato, “I hope I’ve lived up to his description of me.”

“You’ve surpassed them.”

The teenagers walked over to a tree log and sat down, watching as Billy and the elders told the legends of their tribe. When it ended Jacob asked Elle if she would go for a walk with him, she agreed and they made their way into the forest.

“Did you like the legends,” inquired Jacob as they walked.

Elle smiled and said, “Yeah they were really interesting.”

“What if I told you they were all real,” asked Jacob with a serious look on his face.

Elle stared at him, searching his eyes for any trace of insincerity but there was none, “I would be shocked, but not scared.”

“Close your eyes then,” he whispered as he ran into the bushes.

Moments later a massive russet wolf emerged from the bushes, Elle wanted to scream and run but when she saw the wolves warm chocolate brown eyes she knew that it was Jacob.

Ever so slowly she made her way over to Jacob, she extended her hand which shook violently and rubbed the wolf’s fur gently.

“You’re beautiful Jacob,” she whispered which then caused the wolf to lick the side of her face playfully.

Jacob ran back towards the bushes and emerged fully clothed in his human form. He smiled at her and said, “I’m glad you didn’t take off screaming.”

“I must confess that the thought did cross my mind. So, I take it that the cold ones must be true as well.”

“Yeah, and something else is true to. Do you remember the story of imprinting,” she nodded her head, “well then I guess you know that we’re destined to be together because you’re my imprint.”

“Me,” she said in disbelief.

Jacob nodded his head, “Yeah, I’ve been wanting to tell you since I looked into your eyes but I didn’t want to be cre. . .”

For the first time in her life Elle took the active role, she grabbed Jacobs’s shirt and lowered his face until his lips touched hers. The kiss didn’t last long but it felt as if fireworks had exploded within them leaving them both breathless.

“I love you,” whispered Jacob softly as he rested his forehead against hers.

Weeks passed and everyday was like something out of a fairy tale for Elle and Jacob. At first it was really weird for Elle because she could no longer be a wallflower since she was the center of almost everyone’s conversations.

One Saturday morning Elle found herself incapable of sleeping in so she pulled on some clothes and decided to go out for a walk on the beach. Everything was normal, that is until Elle reached the beach and she saw Jacob and Bella standing there talking.

Her heart clenched violently when she saw Jacob pressing his lips against Bella’s. The air suddenly left her lungs, Elle tried to breathe but found that it to be an impossible task.

Elle mustered up all her strength to turn and run, she wasn’t about to make a scene in public and have people say, “Elle was overdramatic she made a huge scene in front of everyone.”

No one would say that about Elle, she was a private person and refused to air her dirty laundry in public. So she walked home, her heart aching as she held back the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes.

Elle’s eyes narrowed when she saw Jacob sitting on her porch, a goofy grin spread across his face and a bouquet of wild flowers in his hands.

Jacob stretched the flowers out; Elle grabbed them and threw on the ground stepping on them to make sure that they were completely ruined before attempting to get into her house.

He grabbed her arm roughly and said, “What’s wrong Elle.”

“Don’t touch me,” she said in a soft menacing voice.

His grip on her arm loosened significantly but he didn’t let her go. With his free he attempted to cup her face, but she turned her face quickly so he wouldn’t touch her.

Jacob felt as if his heart was failing, he dropped his hold on her arm and attempted to cup her face but she shoved him off and through clenched teeth whispered, “You disgust me.”

“Tell me what I did wrong and I’ll fix it,” pleaded Jacob his heart unable to bear her cold behavior towards him.

“Don’t pretend like you don’t know what you did down by the beach with Bella! Don’t act like that didn’t HAPPEN,” bellowed Elle angrily, no longer worrying about keeping her voice down.

“I-I-I,” stuttered Jacob unable to string together a sentence.

“You’re unbelievable Jacob! Just yesterday you were telling me that you loved me more than anything in the world, that I’m your imprint and then you go off and you kiss BELLA?! What the fuck is wrong with you Jacob! You don’t do that when you love someone!”

“I know it was an awful thing to do but I’m sorry Elle,” he told her his voice welling with emotion.

Elle had never seen Jacob so vulnerable, she closed her eyes not wanting him to see the tears and asked, “Did you come over here to tell me that you had kissed her or were you gonna pretend like it never happened?”

“Gabrie. . .”

“Answer the fucking question,” demanded Elle, the fire burning in her eyes.

“I wasn’t gonna tell you alright?! I was gonna sweep it under the rug and pretend it never happened because I didn’t want to make you feel bad.”

“Oh I hate you Jacob Black and I never want to see you again for the rest of my life,” Elle bellowed angrily her hand grabbing at her hair.

“You don’t mean that, we’re DESTINED to be together,” shouted Jacob hoarsely.

“Destined?! We’re not destined to be together Jacob! You’re whole notion of imprinting is fucked because no one can truly be forced into loving someone!”

“I wasn’t forced into loving YOU!”

“YES YOU WERE,” she took in a deep breath before continuing, “Love isn’t destiny or fate! Love is a choice; it’s choosing to give someone your heart and you gave your heart to Bella Swan long before you ever imprinted on me!”

“That doesn’t matter though! She doesn’t LOVE ME!”

“So since she doesn’t love you, you figured that I would be the best alternative?! I want to be with someone because they can’t imagine going on in their lives without me not because they feel that they had to settle for me!”

“But I do LOVE YOU!”

“You say that you love me! You scream it at the top of your lungs but you don’t know what it means to truly love someone! You’re not mature enough to know what love is.”

“What and you are? You’re the same as age as I am,” countered Jacob.

“Age has nothing to do with maturity! I know what love is! Love is standing by someone when things get really bad and even though you want to runaway and save yourself you stand by them because you want ease their suffering, even if it’s only by a little bit; that’s love!”

“This is love,” shouted Jacob before pressing his lips roughly to Gabriella’s trying to put in as much passion, remorse, and love as he could muster into the kiss.

Elle pushed him off, she spat on the ground and wiped her lips, she then told him, “That’s not love! That’s a fleeting moment of passion; love is a loyalty sworn; an unwavering promise to stand by someone regardless of the obstacles that lie ahead.”

“Then stand by me! YOU SAID YOU LOVED ME SO STAND BY ME,” he begged her as hot tears slid down his face.

Elle shook her head and said, “I’m not going to stand by you Jacob; I refuse to be at your side after you spit on what we had.”

Jacob dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around her waist, crying into her stomach. He looked up at her, his chocolate brown eyes red from the tears that had fallen, with a hoarse voice he groveled at her feet and begged, “Don’t do this to us, don’t be so cruel.”

“We could have had something good, but you threw it all away with that kiss,” whispered Elle freeing herself from his grasp and walking into her house.

Elle placed her back next to the door, she cried as she felt Jacob banging on the door screaming at the top of his lungs for her forgiveness, begging her to let him in, to put this in the past but she couldn’t do that.

Months passed and not a day went by in which Jacob didn’t approach Elle. For the first week he took her a bouquet of wildflowers everyday but she always threw them on the ground and stomped on them.

Then he started getting her candy, after that it was small trinkets that he had made her but no gift softened her. Elle was resolved to loathe Jacob for all of eternity and when she sets her mind to something she goes at it 110%, even if all she wants to do is give up.

“ELLE,” shouted a female voice.

She rolled out of her bed and opened her window, surprised to see Leah standing right there.

“What do you want,” she asked groggily as she attempted to rub the sleep from her eyes.

“It’s Jacob, he needs you right now,” Leah watched as Elle attempted to close the window and shouted, “DON’T YOU DARE CLOSE THAT WINDOW!”

“What does he need me for?! Why don’t you go get Bella! He’d be way happier if she was there.”

“When are you gonna realize that he doesn’t LOVE HER?! He loves you Elle, just you and if you don’t go talk to him soon he’s gonna kill himself.”

“WHAT?!”

“He’s threatening to kill himself and we need you to talk him out of it. You’re the only one he’ll listen to.”

Elle grabbed a jacket from her chair and threw it on; she climbed out of her window slowly, this being the first time that she has ever snuck out in her life.

She watched as Leah grabbed her and ran towards the Black home. All eyes were on Elle when she walked into the house, she ignored their questions and ran up to Jacob’s bedroom.

“Jacob let me in,” pleaded Elle but there was no response.

Growing tired of waiting Elle mustered all of her strength and kicked down the door, Jacob’s eyes snapped towards her a revolver in his hands. His breathing became ragged when his eyes met hers.

“Don’t do it Jacob,” whispered Elle softly not wanting to make any sudden movements out of fear of triggering him to act irrationally.

His tired bloodshot eyes closed slightly as he hoarsely said, “It’s not like you care.”

“I do! I love you Jacob!”

“No you DON’T! You said that you wished that you’d never met me before, since I can’t make that request come true I figure I’ll do the second best thing,” he told her as he raised the revolver to his head.

Elle rushed over to him, wrestling the gun out of his hands and threw it across the room. Jacob buried his head in her stomach, violent sobs wracking through his body.

She cupped his face in his hands and kissed his lips lovingly before moving her lips to his ears and softly singing, “And storms will surely come, but true love is a choice you must make and you're the one that I have set my heart to choose. As long as I live, I swear I'll see this through.”