Blood Moon

1

Normal-ish

Bella had been home for a few weeks, and dad had her under a strict schedule. For the most part, I ignored her, spending my time with Leah Clearwater, or trying to cheer Jake up from his most recent heartbreak. It bothered me that he was so enarmored with my sister, but he was still my best friend, and I couldn't let him suffer alone. Our father had tried to convince Bella to talk to Jacob, hoping that she would get further separation from Edward, but Edward wasn't too keen on the idea.

Edward had also learned that I knew about him and his family- through reading my mind- and he was not happy. He told me that if I let their secret slip, it would put myself and my family in danger, and that I better keep my mouth shut. Of course, I did what was expected of me, and laughed in his face. He might have been a vampire, but he didn't scare me in the slightest.

Sam and Paul caught wind of Edward's threat, and immediately set a meeting with Carlisle at the treaty line. Carlisle apologized for Edwards actions, and told Paul and Sam that he knew I would never expose either their secret or the secret of the shifters. They came to an agreement that Paul could stay with me so long as he didn't attack Edward unprovoked, and Edward was only allowed to speak to me after he apologized for his threat.

So, whenever I was at home, Paul was with me, and whenever I wasn't at home, I was with him or Jake on the reservation. The only time I saw any of the Cullens was during school hours, but I didn't really pay them any special attention now that I knew what they were. If anything, it explained a lot about their personalities, and why they didn't do much within the school other than show up.

Despite all the drama happening around my sister, life had continued out in the real world. My twin and I, along with the rest of our class, were gearing up for graduation, which would be happening in just a few weeks. My father was elated, proud that he would be able to watch his twins graduate together. I was excited too, knowing that I would finally be free to do as I pleased after graduation. I wasn't planning on college, but that was subject to change depending on what kind of job I could find locally.

Paul, however, was paid by the council for his services of protecting the reservation, and was set virtually for life before he graduated from the reservation's school. He already had his own place, as his father travelled back to Tacoma after realizing the Quileute legends were real. He told me countless times that I didn't need to work, and that he could support us both, but we both knew that I would need to keep myself busy or I'd go crazy.

It should have been a time where Paul and I were excitedly thinking about our futures, but I was stuck sitting beside Mike Newton during our shared lunch period attempting to help him write Jess's stupid valedictorian speech. He was awful about it, claiming that he was some epic writer and that I should be grateful to be sitting beside him.

"Alright then, genius," I snickered, watching Bella and Edward sit across from Mike and I out of the corner of my eye. "Read me what you have."

"Just in time," Mike acknowledged my sister, shooting me a smirk. "Check it out. Alright, let's see... we got, 'my fellow students', right?"

"Good." Jess nodded sarcastically.

"Right?" Mike grinned, tapping the notepad with his pen. "'We are the future. Anything is possible if you just... believe.'"

"Nice." Jess shook her head.

"Blah, blah, blah," Mike continued, tossing Jess the notepad and pen. "And you got yourself a speech."

"No, this'll be my speech when I want everyone to throw diplomas at my head." Jess crumpled up Mike's awful speech and tossed it in his face. "So, thank you."