Nessie and Jacob-Through Morning Fog

chapter 9

“Let’s do this.” We had reached the track and could see everyone not taking this seriously. I matched Cole’s pace and strung him along by passing him a few times, but kept dropping back until the very end when I blew him out of the water. I made sure I pretended to be panting. Some students had appeared out of breath after doing only a quarter of a mile, so I imagined I should look spent. 

“Not. Fair.” Cole had his hands on his knees and was taking deep ragged breaths. Hazel was going to love hearing about this.

**

We met Hazel outside the front of the school where the pick-up line wrapped around the parking lot. She was surrounded by a fair share of guys, and seemed to be enjoying every moment. The moment she saw us though she left them, and I quickly told her about the bet.

“Seriously? This is going to be awesome!” Hazel was grinning ear to ear. I could tell she was already figuring out in her head which dress she was going to make him wear. I hoped it had lots of sparkles.

“Whatever, Renee cheated.”

“How did I cheat?”

“You didn’t tell me you could run. You played me.” I laughed. I was playing them all on a lot more than just my running abilities.

“You never asked.”

“I didn’t ask because you look so weak.” Like reflex I shot out my arm and slapped the side of his bicep. I always smacked Jacob when he made fun of me, but this time I forgot to hold back on my strength until the very last millisecond.

“Ouch! What are you a closet body builder?” He only got to glare at me for a couple seconds before I was hugging him proclaiming my intense apologies.  Luckily I hadn’t hit him with full strength, but it was enough to probably leave a bruise.

“I’m so sorry Cole. I didn’t mean to hit you so hard.”

Hazel just laughed and shook her head at us, “Renee you are special. Oh did your parents ever say you could come home with us?”

I remembered the conversation I had had with them right after P.E. had ended. My dad was worried that we knew nothing about them, where they were from, why they had moved here. He had spent so many years paranoid; it was hard to convince him that there were normal people in the world that we could interact with. I finally had managed to convince him, by giving him the address so that he could scope their home before I left with them. Apparently they didn’t smell like vampire or wolf so I was safe to go.

“Yes, they said they would pick me up around 6 if that is okay?”  We piled into their SUV and I was introduced to Mrs. Kendrick. She looked exactly like her kids with thick brown hair and the same medium sized build, but had dark brown eyes. She greeted me with a warm smile and quickly chatted away with Hazel about their first day. I could see where Hazel got her bubbly personality.

Their home was on the out skirts of town like our home was, and there was a quarter of a mile of winding driveway surrounded thickly with trees. When we finally pulled out of the tree line I felt my jaw drop. Their home was beautiful. It sat three stories tall with a rounded tower at the northeast corner overlooking the entire property in its beautiful canary yellow paint. A creek could just barely be seen running along the back end of the property where a couple of rocking chairs were placed beneath little lanterns that hung from low hanging branches.

“You’re home is beautiful.” The twins just grinned.

“It’s our grandma’s home. And you haven’t even seen the inside, but don’t worry she will be sure to take all the credit for its beauty.”

They weren’t kidding. Everything within the house seemed to coordinate together and still managed to seem warm and inviting, but I was more enticed by the outdoors.

Hazel quickly ran to her room and came back down with a silver knee length dress that had sparkles along the bust in one hand and a camera in her other. She was grinning ear to ear as she passed the dress to Cole.

**

“Stunning! Now twirl!” Cole looked ridiculous in Hazel’s dress. The black hair on his defined but pale quads contrasted sharply especially with the tan of his calves  and his broad shoulders and biceps threatened to tear the fabric of the dress. Hazel and Mrs. Kendrick could barely contain their tears.

“Oh my goodness, my sides are splitting ass wide open!” Hazel was clutching her sides as Cole decided to shake his butt and imitate a girl strutting her stuff.

“You kids are going to give Nana a heart attack if she sees Cole in a dress. Go change and play outside before dinner so she can finish her nap.”

Hazel and I were still laughing over the pictures when Cole finally joined us on the rocking chairs out back.

“So what do you do for fun Renee, besides running?” He shot me a glare.

“Fishing, hunting, hiking. Mostly being outdoors.”

“I thought you said your parents were wild life activists?” Hazel questioned.

“For animals that need protecting. Some become over populated and crowd other animals causing their populations to dwindle. They are against harming any species as a whole, so hunting over populated species is okay. What do you all like to do?” Hazel’s eyes grew wide and I could tell she was a shopper.

“Idea! We need to plan a trip to Port Angels as soon as we get our driver’s license to go shopping! When do you get yours?”

“September 10th. What about you Cole?” Hazel squealed in excitement, and I laughed at her joy.

“Wait. That means you get your license in three weeks! Do you have a car already? I bet your parents are going to surprise you with one for your birthday.”

“Yes I will be driving, and I look forward to driving you everywhere.” She just giggled and Cole rolled his eyes.

“As to your early question, I like being outdoors too. We have an obstacle course back behind that tree line on the left. Next time you come over we should run it for a repeat of our bet since it is already too late.”

“Are you sure you can handle wearing another dress? I don’t know if your manhood is that secure.”

“Bring it Renee.”

“Alright let’s run it now then hot shot.” Cole smirked.

“Let’s.”

I could see why Cole thought he could beat me at the obstacle course. It was highly complex with a maze of ropes, tunnels, vertical walls, and a mirror maze. It was like a half physical and half mental challenge and he definitely had the upper hand since he was familiar with the course.

Hazel counted us down and we were off. I tried to copy him at first but I lost him in the darkness. My super speed and strength were not much help, and I could feel my cheeks flush in frustration. I wasn’t even through the rope maze and it sounded like Hazel was already whispering to Cole at the finish.

“Cole, you can’t do that around humans. What if she caught you?”

“How would she catch me Hazel? That is the point of being invisible. You can’t be caught.”

“Cole you are going to get us in trouble. Plus you cheated.”

“I am pretty sure she cheated too. Don’t you feel it around her?” I heard Hazel sigh.

“Yea, I do. Why hasn’t she said anything? Do you think she doesn’t know? It feels strong though.”

“I don’t know Hazel. Let’s go find her.”

My gut was clenched tightly. What did they mean? They obviously had special abilities, but my dad had said they weren’t vampires. He was going to be upset when he heard, and I really did like them. I could feel a little guilty, but I knew I couldn’t tell my parents. Maybe not even Jacob. My heart hurt a little thinking about that, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it as they finally reached my tangled body in the ropes.

“Um. A little help guys?”