She Will Be Loved

The brunette stirred in her bed as she began to come to, the soft chirping of the birds outside her window acting as her alarm. Her eyes strained to see her cell phone that resided on the nightstand and once she found it, she checked the time to see it was half past ten. Sighing, she stared at the ceiling in silence as she lay there, not quite knowing what to do with herself.

There were a few soft knocks upon the door and her head slowly turned to the side to see Edward poking his head through, gazing at her with a gentle, concerned expression. “Morning,” he softly greeted. “Can I come in?”

Quinn gave a silent nod of the head and watched as he entered her room and walked over to her bedside with perfect grace, sitting next to her legs and staring at her with his usual amber eyes. It was silent for a moment as the both of them realized that this was happening, that they were going to have a talk over the previous day’s engagements.

“No one’s home right now,” Edward began. “It’s just you and me.”

The brunette nodded her head to show she heard him and slowly sat up in bed at a snail’s pace, feeling drained of any and all motivation to chat with her older brother. Again, they sat in stillness, neither one of them sure of how to start off their conversation that was sure to be emotional for her. The booming silence that was growing ever louder in Quinn’s ears made her realize that she should just get it over with.

“I’m sorry,” her voice whispered hoarsely, taking Edward by surprise.

“Why?” He questioned. He really had no idea as to why she was apologizing.

“For not telling you about it – the bullying,” she explained, her voice cracking as tears swelled up in her blue pools.

Seeing her look broken caused Edward’s stomach to churn. He was sure if his heart was still beating, it would have been cringing from the distressed look she wore. His arms outstretched towards her and wrapped around her torso, pulling her into him as he began to rub her back in a comforting manner. His embrace seemed to soothe her, and at the same time, unsettled her, causing her to lose what was left of her stability and softly cry into his shoulder.

“Don’t cry, Quinn, and don’t apologize either. There’s absolutely nothing for you to be sorry over. I should be the one who’s apologizing, I should have realized sooner. I should have done something. I can’t believe I didn’t notice when I took you to school, but no one was thinking about you.” He sighed. “Quinn, I’m sorry for being a horrible older brother to you. I should have protected you from all this.”

“Edward, stop. It’s not your fault that you didn’t know. I’m the one who didn’t say anything about it like an idiot.”

“Quinn, why is that? Why didn't you tell us?” He questioned, releasing her from their hug. “Is it because you didn’t want to feel like you were… imperfect?”

“You know,” she mused.

“I read Jacob's mind to find out what happened.”

“I’m sorry,” she apologized again, “for keeping the way I felt from all of you.”

“Don’t be.” He reassured. “All of us are sorry for making you feel this way and for making you keep it to yourself all this time. We feel awful about it, Quinn. We never meant for you to feel like you didn’t belong. That’s the last thing we ever wanted. We love you so much.”

“I know,” she croaked out. “And that’s why I feel so damn horrible about it. You all only mean well, but I’m… I’m just too stupid and immature.”

“You’re not stupid and you’re not immature, Quinn.” Edward chuckled out. “Though, is that the only reason why you didn’t tell us?”

“No, I just thought that I’d stick it out.” She muttered. “It was just one more school year so I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to just ignore it.” Sighing, she rested her face in the palm of her hands. “What am I going to do now, Edward? I don’t want to go back there.”

“You’re not. After discussing it last night, Esme and Carlisle have decided to home school you.”

Looking up her brother, she was somewhat shocked to hear the news. “Really?”

“Yeah, we all think it’d be best. Besides, we could teach you more than them.” He chuckled in an attempt to lighten the mood and Quinn decided to play along with it, giving a small smile in return, though he made it disappear just as fast with what he said next. “Though, this will mean Jacob’s no longer going to be your tutor. Since you’re leaving the school, you’re leaving the program you were in.”

Her heart cringed at the thought of seeing Jacob less, but she knew it was for the best. “Maybe it’s better this way,” she murmured, trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince Edward – not that he needed much convincing to begin with.

“What makes you say that?” He questioned. “I thought you liked him?”

Surprised to hear her brother showing slight concern for Jacob, she raised an eyebrow before shaking it off. “I do like him, and that’s why I think this is best. I feel like I’m just dragging him into my drama and I hate doing that to him. He’s given so much of his time to me and I just feel like he could be doing something else he loves with it.”

Edward stared at his sister with worry. He knew that the bond of an imprint was strong; it was one of those things that he could just sense from Jacob. Edward had never really liked the boy, but knowing that she was going to stay away from him made him think she could really hurt herself in the process. He wasn’t quite sure what to say.

Rising from the bed, he planted a brotherly kiss atop her head and tousled her hair, earning a small whine from the girl. “I’m going to head back, Bella’s alone at our cabin. I’m not sure when the others will get back, but just phone me if you need anything, okay?”

The brunette nodded her head, earning a small smile from her brother before she waved goodbye. Flopping back on her bed, she was right back to being alone.

Did she really mean what she said about Jacob? Would it be better without him around? She didn’t want to bring him into her troubles anymore, but she knew that it was going to be horrible without him by her side. Stop being selfish, Quinn. You can’t just cause people trouble because you want them around.

Grabbing her phone, she dialed her former tutor, the call being sent straight to voice-mail as she figured he had it off during class.

Jacob, who had been asleep on the couch all day from doing patrol all night, finally began to stir from his slumber. He picked himself up from the cushions and leaned back, staring at the empty house with little interest. I better call Quinn to let her know I’m on my way over, he figured, turning on his phone that had fallen to the floor.

He grinned as he saw he had a missed call from Quinn, though was also worried at the same time. What if something had happened? Dialing his voice-mail, her voice flowed out of the speakers like silk, but the message it carried stabbed away at his heart like nothing else before.

“Jacob, hi, it’s Quinn. I hope you’re doing well, especially after last night. I know that you must be exhausted after everything, I know I am. Um, I just have a few things to tell you. After my folks discussed it, they’ve decided to home school me from now on. That means I’m no longer your tutee and you’re not my tutor anymore.” She sighed out, the disappointment in her voice quite evident. “I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me, it’s been real and fun, but… I think this is it for… us. I don’t want to bring you into my problems because I’m sure you have problems of your own. I just don’t think it’s fair of me. I know this may come as a bit of a shock, but I think it’s for the best that we don’t see each other anymore. I’m sorry for this being very sudden and for doing it over the phone, but… please accept this.”

“No,” Jacob whispered, staring at the phone while his heart was torn from the inside out. He didn’t waste time jumping up from the couch and bolting out the door, seeing Quil and Embry walking towards him.

“Whoa, dude, where’s the fire?” Embry asked.

“Yeah, man, what’s up?”

“Quinn, she’s gone insane. She says it’s better if we don’t see anymore. I’ve got to talk to her.”

The two friends looked at one another and raced after him, grabbing his shoulder and holding him back. “Quil, Embry, what the fuck? Let me go, I’ve got to talk to her!”

“Jake, hear us out, will you?” Embry asked.

“No, I’m wasting time!”

“Jacob, stop being inconsiderate to her,” Quil ordered, causing Jacob’s head to snap in his direction.

“What did you just say?” He growled.

Sighing to gather himself, Quil looked his friend dead in the eyes. “You’re not thinking of this from her perspective. From what we’ve heard while on patrol, she’s just had the secret she’s been keeping for months revealed to her family and to you. She’s crushed right now.”

“That’s why I need to see her! She needs me and she can’t go making decisions like this! I need to be by her, Quil!”

“Let me finish. It’s best if she figures things out with her family first. She needs to get adjusted to this new situation.”

“And I can help make it a smoother transition.” Jacob interjected.

“Jacob!” Quil yelled. “Shut up! It’s obvious she’s torn up about all this, but do you really think that she would just throw you away like that without giving it some thought? She’s doing what she thinks is best and you have to respect that. Give her space. She’ll come back to you. The bond is too strong for someone to just throw it away in one day. Let her come back on her own.”

Jacob stared at his friend for a second before turning towards the tree line, gazing in the direction he knew the Cullen residence was. Would she really come back? If he turned away now, did it mean he was giving her up? Did it mean that he was risking his love for her, throwing it away, ignoring it?

“You’re not forgetting about her, Jake. Your emotions are still there and I’m sure hers are, too.” Quil reassured. “Until she gains some normalcy and control over her life, let her have some time to figure things out on her own.”

Jacob stayed put, it was only until his friends guided him back towards his house that he began to move. “C’mon, Emily’s making all of us dinner tonight.”

Staring back at the trees, he sighed and looked down at the ground as he walked. I’m not giving her up. He reassured. She’ll come back.