What Hurts the Most

Ryan came to pick me up that Monday to take me to school in the car his parents bought him for his 16th birthday. Jacob hadn't visited me since Friday night. I had to admit, I was feeling guilty about what he said. But I was mad. What are you supposed to say to a werewolf that practically says he loves you? I hopped in Ry's car and he smiled at me weakly.

"Hey," I greeted quietly. "Did you bring our French project?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, I did." He said quietly. He hadn't started the car yet.

"Would you start the car already?" He didn't even reach for the ignition. I stared at him worriedly.

"Nat, I wanted to ask you something," He mumbled, fumbling around with his keys. Why was he so nervous?

"Can this wait till after school?" I asked, a little scared about what his question was going to be.
"Were gonna be late." He relaxed a little bit and nodded. He turned the car on and headed down the road towards our school. Ryan was his normal self by the time we got to school. It took us forever to find a parking space.

"There's one!" I shouted, pointing at an empty space. Ryan began turning into the spot when we were cut off by a big guy on a motorcycle. He skidded into a halt in OUR spot. Ry honked his horn. The big guy got off his bike. I couldn't tell who he was, because of his helmet. He crossed his arms and leaned on his bike as if mocking us.

"Jackass," I muttered. "Come on, let's find another spot." There was something about that guy that was really familiar. I turned around to get a better look at him, and he was staring right back at me. I flared my nostrils and turned towards the road. It took us five minutes to find another empty spot. It was towards the back of the parking lot, so we had to run to the building to make sure we weren't late.

"Last one through the door is a rotten egg!" I shouted childishly.

"Come on Nat!" Ryan complained. "That is so elementary school!" He said, and yet I could see he was still going to try and win anyways. I managed to beat him. I was always faster than him. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Haha! I won!" I said in a sing-song voice. He glared at me and tried to push me into a locker.

"You're so immature," he murmured.

"And you're a sore loser!" I retorted. "Shoot, the bells gonna ring in like, 3 minutes. Let's get to class. See you at lunch!" I said with a wave. I was in all excel classes and Ry was only in excel English. I flew up the steps with my orange back pack waving at my side. I made it into calculus with thirty seconds to spare. I sprang into my seat with my teacher, Mr. Young, glaring at me. I smiled at him as if I had always been in there. The bell rang and I pulled out my notebook and calculator. My calculator was amazing; it was one of those awesome, $100 graphing calcs, so I could always cheat on tests.

"Right class," Mr. Young began, pulling the cap off of a blue expo marker. "Todays lesson is about-" He was cut off by someone knocking at the door. He blew out his nose and walked annoyedly to the door. He pushed it open and glared angrily at the interrupter. I couldn't tell who it was; Mr. Young was blocking his face. The exchanged a few words and Mr. Young nodded, grabbing a piece of paper. He came back into the room and smiled to the class, with the guy following him. "Students, we have a new student," He said happily. I looked at the new guy, which was pretty easy to do since he was a full foot taller than Mr. Young, and almost choked on my gum. The class stared wide-eyed at him. There, standing behind my calculus teacher was none other than Jacob Black. I moaned and fell back in my chair. He wasn't going to give up, was he? Jake grinned in response. "Mr. Black, take a seat by," he scanned the room, looking for an empty seat. There was one by me and one by the kid in front of me. I closed my eyes and crossed my fingers. 'Please not me,' I said in my mind. 'Not me, not me!' "By Ms. Hunter please," I pounded my foot on the ground in protest. The class sniggered. Everyone seemed to be intimidated by Jake. I don't blame them; he's huge. With his, sexy muscles and his long black shiny hair…No Nat, No! Jake smiled triumphantly at me and took the empty chair next to me. I tried to pretend he wasn't there and scooted to the end of the desk. Jake put his feet up so his biker boots were right in front of my face. I growled.

"Good boy!" Jake said with a clap. "Want a dog biscuit?"

"Wanna be neutered?" I snapped. Mr. Young looked back at us.

"Ms. Hunter, please stop talking to the new student," he said, looking at me disappointedly.

"But he was talking-"

"No buts," he said, holding his finger up. I sighed and continued taking notes. I knew why the teacher wasn't scolding Jake. He was afraid of him.

"Don't talk to me Jake," I said as the bell rang. I got up and grabbed my books and began leaving for the door.

"Hold up!" Jake said. He was next to me in one stride. Curse him and his long legs! "I want to talk to you."

"No Jake," I said, not looking at him. "I don't want to talk to you."

"Wait, why are you mad at me?" He asked, putting his arm around me. The other kids in the hallway stared at us. Either because of Jake's size, or us as a couple. I pulled his arm off of me. "I should be the one that's mad."

"Jake, stop it!" I yelled, glaring at him. "I'm mad at you because you lied to me!"

"I wasn't allowed to tell you that I was werewolf," he whispered so that no one else could hear him. "That's why I made sure you saw me when I transformed." I tried to walk faster, but Jake kept up with me easily.

"Don't you have another class to get to?" I asked, annoyed.

"Yep." He said.

"Now?"

"Yep." He repeated.

"What's your next class?" I asked.

"Health." He said, looking at his schedule. I stopped. That was my next class.

"Do you have the same exact schedule as me?" I asked, horrified. He smiled and nodded.

"Yep!" He answered, over enunciating. I slapped him and he didn't even seem to notice. "Did you seriously just hit me? I didn't even feel it!" He laughed. I tried to push him away, but he wouldn't budge.

"ARGH!" I yelled, and charged away from him. I could hear his booming laughter following right behind me. When I reached health, I took a seat next to Holly and I watched as her eyes grew wide when Jake walked in the room. I saw he was eyeing the empty seat next to me. I searched around the room for someone, and saw Angela Jacobs sitting alone two tables away. I put on a fake smile. "Angela!" I shouted. Her head shot up in alarm. She wasn't the most outgoing girl in our class. She was more like one of those Chihuahuas that always shake. "Angela, come sit by me!" I told her. She swallowed and stood up. She took the seat next to me and gave me a small smile. Don't get me wrong! I did feel guilty about inviting her over for the wrong reasons, but I did NOT want Jacob to sit by me again. Holly gazed at me weirdly.

"What are you doing?" She mouthed. I smiled and shrugged.

"Never too late to make new friends!" I said with a laugh. Then she nudged me and whispered in my ear.

"Whos the big Indian?" she asked.

"I dont know," I lied. "But I heard hes a big jerk." Holly shrugged and pulled out her notebook. I looked down at my notes and saw there was a shadow covering my area. I slowly looked up to see Jake. He was grinning down at me. Then he turned to look at Angela who was shaking in her chair.

"Excuse me," He said, leaning towards her. "But I think thats my seat." Angela shot out of that chair so fast I didn't even see her. Jake laughed and took her seat.

"Bully!" I muttered, elbowing him in the side. "Baby," He shot back, still laughing. Holly looked at me expectantly. "Later," I whispered. It was like that for the rest of the day. Jake followed me around to all of my classes. Even at my locker. It felt like I had my own personal stalker. It was a relief for school to finally end. Until I got home, that is. I walked in through the open door and threw my bag down. I walked up the stairs to me room and stopped. Jake was lying down on my bed. As if I hadn't had enough of him.

"Jake?" I asked bewildered, and he smiled.

"'bout time you got home," was all he said. "I've been waiting for forever!"

"Jake, what're you doing here?" I asked, exhausted.

"Why do you think I'm here?" He asked.

"To annoy the hell out of me?"

"No," he said, rolling his eyes. "To talk. We've got to do it some time Nat."

"I don't want to talk. Especially to YOU." I said. There was a knock at my door. I looked at Jake worriedly and he jumped into my closet. I closed the door and opened my other one. It was Ryan.

"Hey Nat," He said nervously.

"Hi!" I said, too cheerfully. "What's up?"

"I was, well I was just thinking if I could, I mean if you would," He seemed really nervous. "Nathalie Hunter. Will you go to the Winter Formal with me?" The question took me off guard.

"What? Really?" I asked in surprised. "I might need a day or two to think about it. But it's a definite maybe. He seemed much more at ease. He smiled.

"Ok. Sure!" He shouted. "I guess I'll see you later then."

"Right!" I said. "Ryan? You know you could've called me."

"I know." He said with a sigh. "But, like I said, I liked to talk to you, especially face to face." I blushed. Ryan was never like this. He must really like me. As he turned around I closed my door, playing the whole scene back in my head. It wasn't until Jake came out of the closet that I remembered he was there. He leaned against the doorway and folded his arms. Jake looked at me expectantly.

"What?" I asked.

"Just friends, huh?" He said solemnly. I rolled my eyes.

"Well, we are. If we do go together, it'll be just as friends." I explained. "And why do you care?"

"Maybe because I wanted to go with you," He said bluntly. It took me a moment to register what he just said.

"Wait, what?" I said, cocking my head. You heard me, He said with a smile. Jake walked over to me and messed up my hair.

"Fat chance!" I shouted. "Not after what you did to me!"

"Oh come on!" Jake complained. "I already apologized to you. And you have no reason to be mad at me."

"Don't be so sure about that!" I snapped." Get out. And stop coming into my room uninvited. I can call the police you know."

"I'd like to see them try and catch me," He said thoughtfully. "You of all people should know that I'm a fast runner."

"Just go away," I said, collapsing onto my bed. I didn't notice how tired I was.

"But it's cold out there!" He complained.

"It didn't bother you before!" I pointed out.

"The cold never bothers me," he informed casually. "I only said that to try and convince you. It didn't work."

"I'm gonna get dressed now!" I announced, hoping he would take the hint and leave. Of course he didn't.

"Can I watch?" He said seductively. I glared at him and he laughed.

"Glad to see you're enjoying yourself." I said sarcastically.

"But seriously, you need to leave." I turned around. "If my parents catch you, I'll be grounded for, forever!" When I turned around again, he was gone. Only to see the wind blowing at my curtains.