The World Is Yours - Jacob Black

1.1 - Cutting Class

Have you ever felt utterly out of place, not only amongst your world but almost amongst your own family? Clearwater knew that feeling all too well. Perhaps that was just something that came with the territory when you were adopted. She loved her family more than anything else in the world, and yet she had always felt like an outsider in her own home. Tessa was part of the tribe and she would always be, but at the same time there was a large part of her that knew that she would never truly be in. It hadn't been something she noticed growing up – as she had always had a large friendship group. She had been close to her siblings, Jacob Black and his father plus the others. The first time that she had noticed it, truly noticed – was after Jared had left them. When Sam had started to be become distant, and turned away from her elder sister Leah – they had noticed, but they hadn't exactly minded. Tessa because she had felt her sister's pain, though it was mainly because Sam was older than the rest of them.

But when Jared disappeared from school for a month, Tessa finally started to truly notice it. She had called and called Jared, trying to get him to at very least call her back because she was worried about him. Nothing she did seemed to work though. Jacob had tried to help her, knowing that she was taking this badly but there was nothing that he could do. When Jared had finally returned to school almost a month after his disappearance – he couldn't have been more different. Tessa had tried to confront him, but Sam had told her to stay away from the three of them. To stay out of things that don't concern her. Jacob had been forced to pull her away from them, worried what they might be able to do to her if they put their mind to it. Or if they got too angry at her, as they were all much stronger than she was. Not to mention that she was practically as fragile as a porcelain doll, although she would never admit that herself. It was that day that he had promised her that he would never leave her like Jared had, and he had every intention to keep his promise. Part of her, however, didn't believe him. She couldn't. Her track record couldn't allow her to believe it. She could tell that her parents were keeping things from her, Jared clearly had been keeping things from her – it could only be time before Jacob and the others started keeping things from her. It didn't help that Sam's cult, as she had taken to calling them, kept eyeing up Embry. And on the odd occasion Jacob and Quil.

"I'm going to go say something,"

"Tess!" Jacob pulled her back down, and because she barely weighed a thing he was quickly able to prevent her from getting back up. So she relented, sitting back down on the top of the picnic table messing with her apple as she continued to stare over at Sam and his cult. Her stares were always met by their own.

"I'm not just going to sit by and watch as they stare the three of you down, like... like you're just a piece of meat!" Jacob couldn't stop himself from laughing a little at her fierceness before rolling his eyes at her stubbornness. The others followed him though Tessa couldn't help but sigh. After all the boys couldn't begin to imagine what she thought she could do against the likes of Sam, Paul and Jared. "I don't know what they did to Jared, but-"

"But nothing,"

"Jake-"

"Tessie, just leave it." Embry couldn't help but butt in this time around, even though he knew very well that she was unlikely to listen to any of them. She might listen to Jacob but that was about it. And even then, it was not likely she'd do that for long.

"Yeah, you know us better than that. We're not exactly just going to let Sam peer pressure us."

"Jared said the same thing..." Tessa admitted quietly under her breath, and Jacob was the only one who heard her. He knew that she was worried about them leaving her. It had always been her greatest fear. In fact she had nightmares about the people she loved leaving her, just like her parents had. He signalled for the others to leave them alone and they did so, knowing that whilst they were all worried for her – Jacob was the most likely to actually be able to get through to her.