Just A Misunderstanding

Nessie sighed and flipped her shiny sliver phone open for what must have been the
hundredth time in less than twenty minutes; the movement was so quick that nobody,
especially not Mr Mason at the front of the classroom, would have noticed. The
current book under discussion was one she had read, understood and analysed at
length with her mother from the tender age of three.
She almost squealed in excitement when her phone flashed through with a message.
Biting her lip she quickly clicked the open button and felt a silly grin spread across
her face when Jacob’s message appeared. It wasn’t that he didn’t text her at least
thirty times a day while she was in school, but this particular note gave her something
to look forward to.
The sun is out so I will be picking you up after school. I miss you.
Glancing at the window she found he was right, the sun gave the damp ground a
sparkle, she could almost smell the deep rain drenched forest she longed to run
through. She turned her gaze back to the front of the classroom, where Mr Mason was
now drawing a crude timeline that was riddled with flaws across the chalk board. A
cursory peek around the room showed she wasn’t the only one not paying attention to
the man up front; in less then a human heartbeat she had replied:
I can’t wait to get out and run with you. I miss you more xoxo.
Pressing send she returned her phone to her designer pencil case and tried not to drum
her manicured nails on the desk as she watched the clock. It had been like this for the
last six months, anxiously going about their ‘normal’ lives instead of spending every
waking moment together. Her father’s idea, she thought grudgingly, to make them see
that there was more to life than each other. She had agreed to a point but had fought
tooth and nail when it was decided she would enrol in Forks High. Nobody had
listened to her arguments that she already knew more than the entire faculty
combined, not even Aunt Alice, who was normally always on her side.
Jacob had protested just as much, arguing that he couldn’t keep an eye on her while
she was in school. Truth be told he felt just as bad as she did when they weren’t
together and he had admitted just the other night that he was jealous of all the looks
she received. She was glad it was him and not her mother who would be picking her
up today, it meant she got to be with him sooner. Frowning she looked away from the
clock and out to the car park, her eyes following the skid marks still decorating the
asphalt, some of her best work in her opinion; one of her stupider stunts in her
parents. That little piece of art had cost her all driving privileges and the humiliation
of being picked up daily by her mom.
She caught the flash of her phone out the corner of her eye, and turned to discreetly
look at the new message under her desk. What she read took her by such surprise that
she burst out laughing just as Mr Mason was explaining the about how the death of
one of the main characters was the catalyst for the mass suicide that had occurred at
the end of the book. Everyone turned to stare at her, some as if she had lost her mind
and others in shocked disapproval; some undesirable behind her sniggered as her neck
and face blushed bright red.
“Is something funny Miss Cullen?” Mr Mason asked, this was the first time he had
spoken down to her, when he had first met the daughter of two of his favourite
students just a month prior he had been over the moon.
“Um … no?” she asked, trying to hide her phone, but the movement of her hand gave
it away.
“Would you like to share with the class?” he asked in mock politeness.
“It-its nothing, really,” she rushed, her voice raising an octave.
“I will be the judge of that. Bring your phone to the front of the class Miss Cullen,” he
ordered, holding out his hand for the expensive piece of technology. Nessie turned a
deeper shade of red and approached the older man before reluctantly handing over the
phone, Jacob was going to die.
The teacher read over the message, his eyebrows lifting so high she was sure they
would just keep sliding over the back of his bald head. He stared at it for a few
moments before clearing his throat.
“Miss Cullen, as punishment for your entirely inappropriate behaviour I’m …”
“Please don’t call my parents,” she cut in, not wanting anything else to be taken from
her.
“I wasn’t going to say that, I am merely asking that you read this out to the rest of the
class,” he finished, giving her a pointed look, indicating the other children, who now
sat forward in anticipation of the know-it-all new kid’s public humiliation. Renesmee
gave the unfeeling man a pleading look, hoping to dazzle him the way her parents
seem to be able to every other human, but he was too busy staring gloatingly around
the class, proud that he had finally found the correct deterrent when it came to cell
phones.
Nessie took a deep breath, shivering slightly when all that did was bring forth the
tantalizing scent of fresh young blood; she used the sting of venom down her throat to
take her mind off what she was about to do. In a single session she would not only
ruin her reputation, but ruin her young life – she wondered how her parents would
react to her ditching formal education altogether, or at least for the next hundred years
when these witnesses weren’t around to see her go through it all again.
Mr Mason cleared his throat pointedly and stared down at her flushed and terrified
expression; it was now or never.
“It says ...” she croaked.
“Yes?” the teacher all but crooned.
“It says, you know how I like it doggy style.” She breathed; dropping her head forward
so her long bronze curls could cover how now mortified face.
The class sat in silence for all of four heartbeats before the same undesirable who
sniggered at her before burst out in a fit of hysterical giggles; this reaction seemed to
be infectious, because within another beat the entire class were laughing as if they had
never heard anything so funny in their lives, even Mr Mason cracked a smile.
Even if the bell hadn’t rung at that moment, she was still preparing to run from the
room, as it were she streaked to her desk (a little too quickly for present company) to
gather her things, and was out the door before anyone could hold her up to make
things even worse. She was standing in the parking lot well before anyone else and
heaved a sigh of relief when a familiar little red car pulled up beside her.
Jacob’s happy grin slid from his face the moment he saw her tears, he leant over and
popped open her door and she was in his arms within seconds. Rather than tell him
what was wrong she reached up to touch his face, while burying her head into his
chest, showing him instead. She felt his massive frame begin to shake and thought he
was going to phase right there in the car. Panic stricken, she looked up but found
instead he was laughing too.
Pursing her lips she intensified the image of the laughing class, but Jake didn’t stop
until students began to trickle into the parking lot around them. Still grinning like an
idiot he pulled her away enough so that he could free an arm and put the car into drive
again. Nessie glared up at him, annoyed and more than a little hurt by his reaction
before leaning over and sinking her sharp teeth into his arm. She gave a satisfied
smirk when he yelped and pulled out of his arms to sulk on her side of the car.
They didn’t speak until they reached Jakes garage, pulling into the empty space
besides the pile of spare parts he had been collecting for a few years now. He pulled
the hand break on before turning to look at her again. Nessie stared stubbornly out the
window at the corrugated wall, giving him the silent treatment.
“Aw don’t be like that, I wasn’t laughing at you …” he began but stopped when she
spun around to slap him across the face, sending images of his laughing face at the
same time.
“Okay, so I was laughing at you, but it wasn’t why you think,” he gasped, as she
pulled her hand back, he rubbed the sting while wincing, she continued to stare at him
in anger, this time quirking her brow in silent question.
“I’m serious, I only sent that message because Alice saw me sending it …” he
pleaded.
“Aunt Alice did this to me?” she whispered, feeling the tears prick her eyes again.
“Yes, but not why you think.” Jacob soothed, bringing her hand to his face and
kissing her palm gently. She turned her hand and sent him another image, this time
conveying her confusion, asking why one of her own would betray her this way.
“Because Ness, it was the only way I could get you to myself again. School was too
soon, I – we didn’t have enough time to adjust being separated and the only way to
get your parents to see that is to convince them that they made a mistake,” he
explained. She was still confused though and sent him another image of the laughing
school children, wanting to know what they and her parents had in common.
“They would never want to hurt you, same as I wouldn’t. It was the only way Alice
and I could think to get you out of there,” he said.
“You mean you, Alice probably just told you which decision you would end up going
with,” she mumbled, knowing Alice’s methods of getting her out of school and back
into Jacob’s arms would have been much more subtle and effective.
“Well yeah,” Jake agreed, rubbing the back of his neck ruefully, “but once you go
home and you show Edward your day he will be so furious he will have no choice but
to keep you at home. I miss not having you with me during the day,”
“I missed you too,” she whispered, bringing both hands to his face and projecting her
utter devotion to him, “but you still could have found a better way to get me out of
school.” She scolded before leaning into him.
“Desperate times call for desperate measu-” but he never got to finish his sentence
because her want lips were covering his own.