Obsession
By Mama4Dukes
Chapter 07:
On Monday morning, the students were all aflutter when two new students joined the junior class. During the meeting on Thursday with the vampires, it was decided that the best person to keep Bella Swan safe would be her wolf. To that end, with Julia’s agreement, Paul enrolled at Forks High School.
However, in Billy’s opinion, two wolves were better than one, so Jared Cameron joined the junior class. Billy ensured Paul’s schedule mirrored Bella’s, except for two classes, where he placed Jared. Seeing Paul’s transcript, Billy was surprised the boy was a straight ‘A’ student. The lowest grade he’d ever gotten was an A- during one-quarter of Biology, but his grades averaged out to an A for the entire semester.
Jared, on the other hand, needed to get his grades up. He had an A in Math, but mostly C’s with a D in English. He’d light a flame under the boy’s ass to get him to focus more. Jared, especially, had gotten a kick out of the opportunity to attend a regular public school. The only school he had ever attended was the tribal school, so this was a new experience for him. Billy had to personally speak to the Camerons to allow this to happen. After Billy promised to keep an eye on the boy’s academics, they agreed with alacrity. Seeing his grades, he knew why.
Paul had never been an object of interest, but walking through the halls of Forks High School, he could see the curiosity of all the students as they all gawked at him. He wondered if the members of the Backstreet Boys or One Direction felt like he did right now. It didn’t help that as he walked through the hallway, he was mentally singing ‘Everybody’ by the Backstreet Boys. Then, he wondered if he was the only person who compared his life experiences to boy band songs.
“I can’t believe you have a prom date, Bella. I’m the only dateless one at our table now,” Katie whined while they made their way to lunch. “I’m going to be like a third wheel, or actually an eleventh wheel.”
“You could always ask Jared,” Paul suggested. “He doesn’t have a date.”
“I can’t ask him. I’ve never met him,” Katie giggled.
Jared had been hanging back, dawdling along in awe of the vast school. “Hey, Jared, come here,” called Paul.
“What is it?” Jared asked, approaching the group.
“Meet Katie. She’s going to be your prom date,” Paul said, inclining his head toward her.
Bella slapped her forehead. “Oh my God, Paul! Have you no tact? You can’t go declaring that Katie is going to be Jared’s prom date.”
Paul shrugged. “Why not?”
Jared sighed and held out his hand in introduction. “I’m Jared Cameron,” he greeted, meeting her eyes. He shuddered as Quileute magic wove a knot around the pair. “You’re hot,” he whispered.
“I am? Oh, wow,” Katie breathed, mesmerized. “No one has ever said that about me. My dad and grandparents say I’m pretty, but I’ve never gotten hot. You’re the first!” She still hadn’t let go of Jared’s hand, and there was no sign he was releasing hers soon.
Sam once told everyone touching his imprint felt like a thrumming of electricity churning through his veins-like sparks, but pleasant ones. Of course, Paul still hadn’t touched Bella yet. They’d met at the strangest place.
“Uh, let’s leave Katie and Jared alone.” Paul clasped Bella’s hand in his. There was a sharp burst of shock as their hands connected.
“Ow! Use some Downey when you do laundry,” Bella suggested. “Talk about static cling. You should moisturize your hands, too. They’re dry.” But she didn’t let go of his hand, and Paul felt that steady physical connection, as if their hands had suddenly developed heartbeats-and he liked it. He wasn’t ever letting go of his imprint’s hand.
“Are you kidding me?” Billy burst when Paul and Bella informed him about Jared imprinting on Katie. “And this happened when?”
“When I introduced them to each other a few minutes ago,” Paul informed him. “I saw it happening right before my eyes. I hope I didn’t look that dazed and confused when I first imprinted.”
“Jared was doing that eye juju thing to Katie, only he was more obvious about it than Paul was,” Bella added.
“What is an eye juju thing?” Billy needed Bella to define it because he had no idea what the girl was nattering on about.
“Well, when we first met, Paul stared at me for an extra long time, looking as if I was the most perfectly seared filet mignon in the world, topped with butter and just a hint of garlic, the center a nice warm red-tender, juicy, and so mouthwatering. I couldn’t stop looking at him, either. I was transfixed momentarily, but then Katie interrupted us, and the whole Edward Cullen debacle happened. By the way, the filets on Wednesday were overcooked. You should have Daddy teach you proper timing. He’s better at grilling.”
“So, I looked dazed and confused?” Paul asked.
“No, just hungry for steak.”
“Get to lunch. Now! I’ll see you at tryouts, Bella.” Billy motioned to the door. What the hell was it with the Swans and their steak obsession? And what kind of girl compares the moment of imprinting with a filet mignon?
After the door closed, he wondered how he would deal with this new debacle involving Jared. He decided to call Charlie, who always had good advice to give.
There were no Cullens in school today because it was sunny out, and the excellent weather would continue for the next few days. Bella warmed up with the other girls, preparing for tryouts. A van carrying kids from the tribal school arrived earlier. There was a long-standing agreement with the tribal school, allowing the kids to participate in Forks High School sports if they wanted to. Paul had been on the baseball team since freshman year. That’s how he knew some of the other students.
Bella noticed her father sitting on the stands with Lieutenant Marshall. Katie was also on the softball team. She was hoping to make it onto the varsity team this year.
Principal Black and Coach Clapp jointly coached the team. They ran the girls through drills. Immediately, it became apparent that Bella’s skill level surpassed the others-even Coach Clapp’s. Billy wasn’t surprised by this. Charlie had been a baseball phenom and had attended university on a baseball scholarship. It was there that he had met Renee. She had been at the same university on a softball scholarship.
As the hour passed, Billy was surprised to see Charlie watching Bella from the stands instead of coming onto the field. They moved on to batting practice. Coach Clapp, who had pitched while she was at Forks High, threw the balls. It took two pitches with Bella at bat for Charlie to come onto the diamond.
“What the hell are you doing, Bells? Choke up on that bat.”
Bella rolled her eyes, refocused, and knocked the ball out of the field. It landed directly onto the windshield of Charlie’s cruiser, shattering it. “Sorry, Dad.” Billy thought she didn’t seem sorry at all. In fact, she had a smirk on her face.
Billy chuckled. “You did advise her to choke up on the bat, Charlie.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Maybe you should grab your glove from the trunk of the cruiser and help us coach these girls. I know you want to. We welcome parental assistance. Ken helps all the time.” Of course, Billy didn’t mention that Katie desperately needed help. She was nowhere near Bella’s level, but the girl enjoyed playing.
It took less than ten seconds for Charlie to take off running to his cruiser for his glove.
Bella glanced up at Billy with a mock scowl. “I don’t know why you told him he could assist. He’s going to be a nightmare!”
On Saturday, Billy invited Ken Marshall and his daughter, Katie, to his house for dinner. He also invited Jared and his parents. Of course, because Jane Cameron had no tact, her first question was, “Where is Mrs. Marshall?”
Ken explained that he had been a single father since his daughter’s birth. Ken had met Katie’s mother while he was a rookie patrolman in Spokane. He had dated the woman for a few months, but they quickly realized they had nothing in common. Several months later, he received a call from the local hospital. The mother of his child wanted to give her up for adoption, and the agency needed Ken to sign away his custodial rights. He refused to do so, stating he hadn’t been informed about the pregnancy as they had broken up months ago, but now that he was aware, he was keeping the child. To make a long story short, Ken was awarded full legal custody of the child, and Katie’s mother walked away permanently, which was what she wanted in the first place. A few months later, Ken returned to his hometown of Forks, where his parents helped care for his daughter while he was at work. To this day, they are a terrific support system.
“So, why are we here?” Ken asked after dinner. Billy rarely had him over for dinner, and it was very odd that the Camerons were here.
Then Billy delved into a far-fetched fantasy about the Quileutes always having magic in their blood, vampires, and wolves, and Katie and Jared being soulmates. He also added that the Cullens were vampires and Jared was a wolf.
“Alright, Billy. Are you trying to take up screenwriting as a hobby or something because, judging by how nutty the world is becoming, you might be able to sell this hogwash?”
Billy sighed. “I’m not joking, Jared is a wolf, and so is Paul. They started attending Forks High School to protect Bella Swan from Edward Cullen.”
“Alright, alright, I’ll go with it for now, but what’s this drivel about my Katie and Jared being soulmates?”
“It’s exactly how I explained it. The spirits thought Katie and Jared were meant for each other and, for lack of better terms, assigned them to each other.”
Ken began howling in laughter. “You’re talking nonsense, Billy. I don’t know how you can be a high school principal if you believe this rot.”
They were interrupted by urgent knocking, and Sam Uley stood on the doorstep with a desperate expression.
“Come inside. What’s going on?” When Sam looked warily around the room, Billy reassured him. “You can speak in front of these people.”
“Jake just phased.”
“Oh… Oh!” Billy gasped.
“And so did Jenny Cameron.”
“Jenny?” All the Camerons gasped.
“But she’s a girl! How?” Jane Cameron asked.
Billy held his hand up in a sign requesting calm.
“Well, I think Katie and I should leave. This seems like a family issue,” Ken said, standing up and readying to depart.
“Sit down!” Billy ordered in an unusually commanding voice. Ken sat immediately. The chief addressed Sam. “Where are they?”
They’re in your backyard. Paul and Embry are keeping them at bay, and uh…” “What else? Spit it out!”
Sam looked embarrassed but admitted with trepidation, “Bella and Leah are playing fetch with them.”
Billy ran his palms over his face. Why were the girls even with them? Maybe Bella had been visiting Leah. That has to be it because Paul had patrol duty this weekend.
He stood up. “Okay, everyone, come with me.” He led everyone out the back door to the forest, walked a few hundred yards to a heavily forested area, and approached Bella and Leah, who were pitching softballs into the woods. An enormous chocolate brown wolf trotted up to them with a softball clamped in its mighty jaws and dropped it at Bella’s feet. She picked the ball up and pitched it into the woods. The brown wolf went darting after it. A silver wolf approached with a smaller wolf with grey-brown fur on his heels. They stopped when they saw Billy.
“Paul, tell everyone to phase back. Is this Jacob or Jenny?” A minute later, Paul returned to his human form.
“Billy, for the record, I believe everything you told me earlier now,” Ken Marshall said.
“This is Jenny,” Paul replied, then his attention turned to his imprint. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself,” Bella replied.
“Stop the flirting. Everyone, let’s return to the house. Bella, what are you doing on the reservation?”
“Daddy had to go to Sequim for some police business, so he dropped me off at Leah’s. He’ll be back later tonight. If not, I’m to spend the night.”
“Right.”
Paul returned to wolf form. Jenny was having trouble returning to human form. He shifted back again and explained. “Jenny doesn’t want to transform because she’ll be naked.”
“Oh, I see.” Billy hadn’t even considered that complication. “Bells, run back into the house and grab something from Rebecca’s closet. Leah, go with her. Buddy system, remember?”
“Yes, Billy,” the girls replied and ran into the house.
“Well, Billy, any other mind-blowing surprises tonight?” Ken asked.
“I’m marrying Julia.”
“That’s like the worst kept secret on the Olympic Peninsula.”
Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction 
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