TURNING PAGE !
— "HE FINALLY TOLD YOU?" Jacob held a smile on his face as he looked over at the girl who was lying comfortably on his bed. "What'd you say?" Brooke only shoved her head into the pillow beside her, letting out a loud groan.
"I accepted it. This 'imprint' thing is basically my life now, right? The fates chose me?" Brooke had heard the stories as a child.
She remembered the times she spent in the Black Residence. Billy telling them the legends as they grew older, something that had become so common for them.
Rachel and Rebecca would sit side by side on the sofa while Jacob and Brooke would lie on the ground, each of them listening intently to Billy speak, as Sarah made dinner in the kitchen.
"Essentially, yes." Jacob responded.
"I always thought those were just stories, when Uncle B would tell us the stories every time i slept over. Remember?" Her head lulled to the side, looking over at the boy who sat on the ground.
"How could I not? You would always hog the blanket, scared the cold one would come for your toes." He snorted loudly, the image of a tiny Broole curled into his side in fear, her feet covered by the blanket because she was afraid of letting them out.
"And I had reason! Look at us now! I'm—I'm and imprint! A—And you turn into a giant dog!" She scooted over as Jacob stood to join her on the bed.
"I've missed this." She sighed comfortably, as Jacob settled into the space beside her. "You think this whole redhead situation could get bad?" Her voice was soft.
"It could. But we'll keep you safe, Penny. You and Bella." He assured her, not even wanting to imagine the thought of the girl he viewed as family getting hurt.
"Night Jake." She turned the opposite way, her eyes closing as she tried to drift away into her dreams.
"G'night, Penny."
—
It was on very few occasions that Billy let Brooke skip school, but seeing as she was only going to be at Jacob's house, he didn't really mind.
Brooke had gone out to grab some pizza per Jake's request. Unknown to her, in the time she had gone, Bella had shown up.
The younger twin pulled up to the small home, her eyebrows furrowing when she noticed her sister's familiar red truck parked there.
"Uncle B? Where's Jake?" Brooke walked into the home, setting the pizza box down in the kitchen. Billy wheeled in from the living room. "Your sister stopped by. My guess is he's with her."
"I'll go look. Enjoy the pizza, Uncle B."
Brooke patted his shoulder before she passed by. Walking around the back of the house, seeing two figures sitting under a tree. "Hey! Pizza delivery just arrived. Pay up, cujo." Brooke joked as she approached the pair.
"Hi Bella." She greeted her sister simply, still not totally over their argument.
"What are you guys talking about?" She sat on the other side of Jacob. "The pack, was about to tell her about Sam."
"By all means, please continue."
"Sam had it so much harder than the rest of us. Because he was the first, and he was all alone, he didn't have anyone to explain it to him—to tell him what was happening."
"No one to recognize the signs before it happened. The first time it happened—the first time he phased—he thought that he had gone insane. It took him two weeks to calm down enough to change back."
Brooke hadn't really heard about Sam's shift. The older man choosing not to speak of it, but also mostly because no one in the pack did either.
"This was before you had moved go Forks, so you weren't around when it happened. Sam's mother and Leah Clearwater had the forest rangers searching for him, the police. People thought he had an accident, or that something had happened to him..."
"Leah?" Bella asked in surprise.
"Yeah, Leah and Sam were high school sweethearts. Started dating when she was a freshman, she was frantic when he disappeared."
"But he and Emily—" Bella's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, her mind not wrapping around when Sam and Leah had separated.
"I'll get to that—key part of the story." He inhaled.
"Sam came back. Wouldn't talk to anyone about where he had been. Rumors went around that he had been up to no good, mostly. The Sam happened to run into Quil's grandfather when Old Quil had came to visit Mrs. Uley. Sam shook his hand—Old Quil just about had a stroke."
Jacob let out laugh, causing Brooke to smile. The first time he had actually laughed or even shown an emotion other than sadness.
"Why?" Bella asked, Jacob placing his hand on her cheek so his warmth would radiate onto her skin. "Oh, right."
"Sam's hand felt like he'd left it sitting on top of a hot stovetop."
"So, Mr. Ateara went to the other elders, Dad and Harry. Once, Old Quil told them, they met with Sam and explained everything." Brooke had leaned her head on Jacob's shoulder.
Brooke had zoned out, tuning out their conversation seeing as they had strayed off topic, until he said something that broke her out of her thoughts.
"Have you ever heard of imprinting?"
She looked up to see the expression on Bella's face. Confusion spread all around. "Imprinting? What does that mean?"
"Sam loved Leah. But seeing Emily, love didn't matter anymore. She did. It's something we can't control...we don't exactly know why...we find our mates that way."
Brooke's heart thumped loudly, she knew that Jacob had a direct line to Sam, Jared, and Paul's thoughts. Feeling what they felt, seeing what they saw, when they imprinted.
When Paul imprinted on her.
"Like, love at first sight?" Bella asked. "A little bit more powerful than that. More absolute."
"It's not easy to explain, it doesn't matter anyways."
"Did it happen to you?" Bella finally asked, her eyes flickering over to her twin sister who seemed more interested in gazing at the ground below them. "The love at first sight thing?"
"No. Sam, Jared, and Paul are the only ones." He answered. Brooke's breath hitched when he said Paul's name.
"How'd that work out for Jared?" Bella asked. "No drama there—" Brooke cut him off before he could continue. "Kim, my best friend is his imprint."
"She'd had a huge crush on him."
Bella looked at Brooke, remembering how close she had been getting to Paul. "And...what about Paul?" She asked finally.
"He—" Jacob looked over at Brooke, the girl nodding slightly as if signaling that it was okay for him to say it. "Paul imprinted on Brooke." Bella's head snapped up, meeting her twin's gaze.
"What?"
"Surprise!" Brooke said in a rather awkward tone.
—
thoughts ???