Conquering America

Billy woke Jacob early the next day to welcome the newest members of the La Push community. Jacob usually would have expressed some sort of discontent, however his intrigue over powered his desire for sleep. It being seven o’clock on a Saturday morning somehow justified not changing out of his grey tee or old black sweatpants, but he did change his socks and slipped into an old pair of shoes. Calvin and Carl’s house is only twenty feet away, but Jacob walked behind Billy anyway. Billy knocked, but he opened the door and let himself in anyway.

Stale smoke dominated the smell of the house, but two lavender scented candles did their best to replace the aged smell. Carl walked to the door and greeted Billy and Jacob. They followed him into his small kitchen where Natasha, already fully dressed and ready for the day, was eating a bowl of cereal. Jacob awkwardly smiled at her, and she reciprocated the gesture. Billy cleared his throat and looked up at Carl. “Where are Netanya and Calvin?”

Carl grabbed a napkin for Natasha while replying, “Netanya is still sleeping. I don’t know where Calvin is. He went out last night and hasn’t come home yet.”

Billy didn’t seem phased by the stale smoke smell, but it bothered Jacob enough to make him cough. Natasha looked up at him, “It smells, huh?”

Jacob immediately felt embarrassed, “It just smells like smoke.”

The awkward silence allowed the sound of lazy footsteps to be heard. Netanya walked into the kitchen with a cigarette tucked between her head and right ear, a bottle of hair product in her left hand and two different brushes in her right hand. She acknowledged Billy and Jacob with a smile before walking up to Natasha and sighing, “You have so much hair.”

Natasha grinned, “You have so little.”

“I like it this short.”

Natasha finished up the last of her cereal and sat up straight, “Will you put it in a braid?”

“I was thinking a little more than a braid.”

“Like what?”

Netanya grinned, “I was going to comb all your hair to the center,” she gently tugged Natasha’s hair into a sloppy fohawk, “and braid it up here.”

Natasha skeptically groaned at the idea.

“Oh come on, if you don’t like it I’ll take it out and give you a regular braid.”

Natasha let out a sigh of hesitant approval.

Netanya put down the brushes and product, left the room, and then came back with bobby pins and hair ties. Jacob watched with strange curiosity as Netanya dampened Natasha’s hair with a towel, brushed out her long, straight hair, and started to bring it up and centered. Natasha relaxed against the back of her chair and slowly closed her eyes; gestures of her obvious relaxed state and comfort. The girls ignored everyone else while Billy talked with Carl. Jacob relaxed against the wall behind him, but was startled into standing straight when Calvin walked in and slammed the door behind him.

“Hey Billy, what are you doin’ over here?”

Billy turned his head to the left, “Jacob and I just came by to welcome your daughters.”

Calvin scoffed, “They won’t be here long.”

Carl sighed and started, “Leave it alone—”

“It’s the goddamn truth. They don’t want to be here.”

Netanya suddenly chimed in, “And whose fault is that?”

Calvin glared at her, “When are the papers going through?”

Jacob whispered to his father, “What are they talking about—?”

“Emancipation.” Netanya answered, “Natasha and I should be out of here within two months.”

Calvin grabbed his pack of cigarettes out of the back pocket of his pants and immediately started to smoke. “You’ll be eighteen in five months. It’s that hard to just stick around and see if things get better?”

Netanya laughed outright and pulled Natasha’s chair back. Natasha quickly hurried out of the room with Netanya close behind her. Netanya turned at the beginning of the hallway, “You disgust me.”



“That sounds really awkward.” Said Seth after Jacob recounted the morning events.

“It was.”

“Why doe she hate her Dad so much?”

Jacob shrugged.

“You’d think she’d at least try to like it here, since her mom is dead and all.”

Jacob got up and slowly started to walk toward the shoal of the beach, “It’s hard to lose your mom, Seth.”

Seth immediately felt the need to apologize, but kept quiet in order to more quickly end the tension. “Are they going to school up here?”

“My dad said that they’re going to go to school in Forks; Netanya registered them down there before Calvin could make any phone calls.”

Seth walked ankles deep into the cold water, “They really don’t want to be here, huh?”

“Seems that way.”

Seth and Jacob stared out at the coast and adjusted to the coldness of the ocean water at their feet. The sun was partially out; its beams showered the trees on the cliffs, highlighting them almost angelically. The scene was quite beautiful, but the scent of smoke interrupted the natural magic. Netanya put out her cigarette between her left thumb and index finger and then tucked it back behind her ear. She changed her hair since the morning; her grown out pixie was cut into a long, somewhat floppy fohawk. Her thick black hair was pointed up and forward in a gradual arc to the front of her face, but still hovering six inches above her forehead. The sides, where hair was short but existent earlier, were shaved down and into a tiger stripe-like pattern.

Seth buried his hands into the front pocket of his jeans while Jacob quietly said, “Uhm, hi.”

Netanya grinned, “Good to see you, too.”

Jacob laughed nervously.

“I hear you’re a mechanic, can you do me a favor?”

“Uh sure, what does your car need?”

Netanya slid her hands into the back pockets of her brown jeans. “Can you install a breathalyzer?”

“Whatdoyouneeditfor?”

Netanya sighed, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll pay you to put it in.”

Jacob was still taken aback, but replied nonetheless. “Sure, when do you need it?”

“I already bought the parts, can you put it in today?”

“Right now?”

“No,” she slid her hands out of her pockets, “I need to go to town right now. How about two o’clock?”

“Sure, just park it near the shed.”

“Ok, thanks.” Netanya walked away. Seth and Jacob did their best to not stare at her, but their curiosity got the best of them. Her slightly too large grey sweater had a picture of an Indian chief, no doubt to upset her father even more. Seth chuckled when he thought she wasn’t wearing pants, but then noticed that her skin was darker than her pants. Seth turned to Jacob and asked,

“Why do you think she’s so bothered?”

Jacob shrugged, “I don’t know. Natasha seems nice enough though.”

“It’s too bad that they aren’t going to school up here with us.”

Jacob was about to agree, but then grinned knowingly at Seth.

“What?”

“You have a crush on Natasha.”

“No I don’t!

“They why do you keep wanting to talk about them?”

“They’re new here! It’s something to talk about!”

Jacob laughed and started to walk toward his shoes, “You have a crush on her.”

“I do not!”

“Good, they’ll be gone soon anyway.”

“Wh—what?”

Jacob grinned over his shoulder while picking up his shoes, “Netanya is getting emancipated. They’re going to move out as soon as possible.”

Seth started to follow Jake, occasionally stumbling from his nervousness. “Where are they going to move to?

“I don’t know. I just know that they want out.”

“Well…”

“What? You want to get to know her? They’re leaving soon.”

“Hey!” Seth snapped, “You still try to tag along with Bella!”

Jacob stopped walking and swiftly turned to face Seth, “Bella’s different!”

“How?”

“You don’t even know Natasha, I love Bella.”

Seth rolled his eyes, “She’s getting married soon—”

“I know!” Jacob bellowed, “You think I could forget that?”

“I’m just saying that it’s time to get over her.”

“With whom?” Jacob suppressed a snarl, “Leah?”

Seth sighed and rolled his eyes while relaxing his body. “Maybe you should get to know Netanya. You two wouldn’t have a future or anything, but it’d be a good enough distraction to get you over Bella.”

Jacob sighed and started to walk home again. Seth tried to talk to him a few times, but Jacob eventually ran back up to his house in an attempt to ignore Seth’s reasoning.