Monster

‘This isn’t what I expected’ Shiori thought when her eyes darted from her pregnant mother to her father who look a little less than pleased about the persuasion that Jacob has put on them. Jake smiled brightly as he promised, “She will be in good hands and I promise no boys will hit on her; not while I’m around” her father, Isshin was more than reluctant to let her go especially since a boy dropped her off and asked if she could go to the bonfire with him and his friends. Isshin was more than shocked to hear that she was invited and she wanted to go by the look on her face.

Shiori never wanted to go to events like this when she first moved here and now she does? It made sense to him that his little girl might have a crush on this teenage boy. What’s not to love about him, his sweet and trusting smile, his personality was way too bright but then he rather Shiori hang out with him than anyone else. It was sickening how he just persuaded them to let her go to the bonfire. Honestly, Isshin or Yuki have been to a bonfire and it was a weird custom when Jacob went on to explain what it was.

“Bring her home by ten. No later” Isshin said with a stern voice as he looked at Jacob in the eye, the boy was a little bit taller than him so it gave him the advantage of looking a little more threatening than he actually was. “Papa” Shiori whined softly seeing that way her father was trying to size up Jacob; she never saw her father act this way but then again she never brought a boy home so her parents are just guessing through why she brought a boy home tonight.

“Before you go” Yuki said looking at her daughter, “Did you finish your homework?” that was her main priority is she was going to go to this bonfire. If she didn’t; then she wasn’t allow to go since she was irresponsible not to think of doing the most important thing first before she left. Satisfied when Shiori handed her homework over to her mother; she smiled as she bowed in farewell as far as she could with her eight month belly.

What won Yuki over with Jacob was when he asked about the baby that was growing in her stomach and Yuki being the stern mother she was just had to beam and rant about their future boy. As much as they love Shiori; they always wanted a boy and now that they have him they couldn’t wait for him to arrive. Waddling to the kitchen to check the homework that Shiori gave to her; Isshin made sure that Jacob didn’t touch his daughter in any way while they walked to the car that Jacob fixed up.

With a wave goodbye, they peeled off the expensive real estate and zoomed off to the beach where the bonfire was. “I’m so sorry about that. They are always that uptight” Shiori just felt like she needed to apologize for her parents’ behavior. She knew in the Asian culture it was considered normal but here in America they consider that to be uptight assholes that need to take that stick out of their asses.

Jacob smiled at her apology, “Don’t apologize. We don’t get to pick our parents and didn’t you say that’s how you are raised? From China right?” he didn’t want to get it wrong if he did then he knew that he would apologize immediately and seeing that she nodded he was grinning glad that he got that part down. “Your parents always that crazy about you getting good grades and doing homework before you go out?” Jacob was interested why her parents were so involved into her activities because when he talks to her; she always says ‘my parents think it’s wise to do this or that’ like she doesn’t have a mind of her own.

“Yeah, but that’s how it is. Kids don’t deserve to do anything fun unless they finish their homework and do a couple of extra homework to study for test and such. My mother always corrects my homework since she was a professor when we were back at home”

“How about now? I mean after she gets off paternity leave”

Shiori glanced at Jacob, “She use to work at this little school in Seattle but she quit since she’s going to be a full time mom to raise the little one.”

Jacob raised his brow, “Really? She has no desire to go back to work?” the native thought a woman like Yuki would be itching to go back to work since she looks so independent and wants to focus more on her career than her children but then again she was very involved in Shiori’s life and by the looks that she was giving her belly, the little boy will have all the attention when he arrives.

“No, her first job is being a mother and she takes off all the time she needs while my father works. She did it with me and she’s doing the same with my brother since she doesn’t want any nanny raising him and corrupting him with bad habits” Shiori just had to roll her eyes at the stupid remark that her mother made but since they were prideful and wanted the best for their kids; the only way to do that is to be learned by her parents. Shiori was lucky that she was able to go to a public school instead of a private school out of town.

“Understandable. What does your dad do? If you don’t mind answering” the darker boy was curious as to what the father did since they had such an extravagant house and was a bit thrown off by it since Jacob didn’t see the brand new car that she driven in the first day of school. When he did see the car she drives in; he flipped the gasket thinking that her parents are the coolest ever before even meeting them and thought they just threw their money at their little girl since she was an only child. That wasn’t it at all. She was rewarded when she did well in school and one little mess up like a B in a report car can take those rewards away which is crazy in Jacob’s opinion.

“My father is a neurosurgeon. That’s why he’s rarely home” there were times where Shiori will be home alone sometimes when her mother takes on an extra job when she first moved here. Spending those nights alone made her wish she had a sibling to play with instead of some babysitter that wasn’t allowed to teach her anything; the only job was to feed and make sure that she went to bed at a proper time. There were no conversation involved at all and she couldn’t play games with the American since it will contaminate her mind with foolishness. Now it was just her and her mother since she is now only a month away of delivering and Isshin is trying his hardest to clear some space for the expectant arrival of the new born.

Sharing those thoughts with Jacob, he nodded knowing that even though Isshin looked like he could kick his ass since he was more in shape than he expected. He knew that being there to see the arrival of your baby was one of the most important things in the world. Finally parking the car, he smiled “Let’s go jam some fun into your brain” Shiori laughed when she felt Jacob’s fist ruffle her hair, shaking her head to let her hair fall back in place she got out of the car.

Running her hand through her hair she scanned around to see what type of environment she would be in. Walking side by side with Jacob she felt somewhat comforted, feeling the sand hit the back of her legs. Her eyes widened at the huge fire were in the center of the circle as most of the boys that were in her school circled around it. Her face went a bit pale seeing that Paul was there looking more serious than ever. For some reason there was something wrong with him seeing the way he shifted in discomfort not talking to anyone around him.

“Ori! Over here!” Embry waved his hand with a huge smile on his face. Her face grew warm hearing the nickname that the boys gave her when they heard her name. They said it was a mouthful to say her name all the time so by cutting off some letters they came up with Ori, which was plain and simple and more personal so it lets Shiori know that they like her. It was different than any other nicknames that she gained but she liked it nonetheless.

“Embry, hey” she greeted sitting next to him as Jacob sat on the other side. Embry grinned, “Heard that Black over here had to come to your rescue and had to convince your parents to let you come” nudging her gently on the ribs. Shiori didn’t understand why he was nudging her on the ribs but the embarrassed look that overcame Jacob’s face gave her a little indication that there was more going on than she knew.

“Yes, he did. I’m glad he did” Shiori squeezed his hand in thanks not seeing the looks Quil and Embry were giving Jacob which he rolled his eyes for before he looked down at the tiny girl and smiled back. “No problem, squirt” that was another thing they just had to playfully tease her about; was her height. She knew that she was naturally short since she only stood at 5’2” but it wasn’t that bad in her opinion except for the fact that she can’t reach in high places but she loved her height no matter what people said to her.

“Who’s this lovely lady?” a man in a wheelchair came into view in front of the teens with a grin on his face seeing that Jacob was getting comfortable with this girl. “Shiori this is my dad Billy. Dad this is my friend Shiori” he stressed on the friend part since he knew that his dad would think that this teenage girl was his girlfriend or something. As much as he loved his dad, he always hears his father rant about him having some type of girlfriend since he was a 15 year old boy and still single.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Black” Shiori greeted politely by sticking out her hand for him to grab instead of bowing like in her culture. She was glad that she was sitting down and didn’t instinctively bowed to him in greeting since it would be a little bit embarrassing if she did around these types of people she didn’t know. Billy smiled gently, “Just call me Billy. No need for formalities makes me feel old”

Jacob scoffed, “You are old”

Shiori looked at Jacob in shock as she whispered to him how impolite that was to say such a thing to his father. Jacob was taken a back and just answered slowly that he was just messing around; he just remembered that in China they gave huge respect to elders and didn’t joke around with anyone in that way. Jacob apologized as he looked into Shiori’s eyes before he saw the look his father was giving him.

“I’ll leave you love birds alone. Why don’t you get her something to drink, Jake” hinting that he should be more of a gentleman around this beautiful girl. Jake forgot to ask her about that which was unusual for him since he was such a natural sweetheart and always made sure that everyone around him was comfortable and had everything they need.

“Oh, yeah” he turned to Shiori “You want a drink?”

“Sure. A Sprite please?”

Jacob went to go get the beverage that she asked for as she felt someone staring at her. A shiver crawled up her spine when she looked up to see Paul looking at her in some weird way. Then out of nowhere he shook his head and walked away mumbling that he wasn’t feeling well to someone. Shiori grew worried; it didn’t matter that he treated her like crap and just making sure that he was alright will make her at ease. Following him as he quickly went to his car, she yelled, “Wait!”

His shoulders tensed hearing the voice that he wanted to avoid; cursing silently he glared at her, “What?” he hissed not wanting to deal with this girl at the moment. Out of all the moments that she chooses to come talk to him was the time that he didn’t have time to do so. Shiori was shy and timid twiddling her thumbs as she bit her lip wondering if this was still a good idea. Paul didn’t waste any time and asked again, “What. Do. You. Want?”

“I, uh, was wondering if you were okay?” she asked cautiously

“I’m fine”

“If you need to ride I could-”

“I’m FINE. Just leave me the hell alone!” getting into his car and slamming the car as he drove off angrily making her flinch.

“Ori?” she spun around to see Jacob glaring at the speeding car before he turned a worried gaze upon her asking if she was alright and if he hurt her in any way. Shaking her head, “No he didn’t. I was just making sure that he was alright” Jacob couldn’t believe what he was hearing; from what Ronnie has told them Paul has been a jerk to her and he had witness it a couple of times. He saw that this girl was way too concerned to even think about a bullying like that. What can he say, this girl was one of a kind and even though she went home in tears sometimes she still have a big heart to push her thoughts aside to make sure someone was alright.

“Come on. Let’s go back to the party” taking her shoulder gently and turn away from the parked cars to the beach where they were about to gather around hearing about the stories that Shiori wanted to hear about since she came over here.