Confrontation -Jacob-

[Arya Jenkins]

What a shame we all became
Such fragile broken things
A memory remains,
Just a tiny spark
I give it all my oxygen,
So let the flames begin

What a day, What a day. For Arya it had been quite an uneventful one, but sometimes that was a good thing. Too much exitement wasn't good for a person, even for a slightly doggy person. It had been a simple day for her, because she only got half of the day. She had slept in until lunch time -which was quite unlike her- and had been running around with the other werewolves ever since. Not really doing anything, just getting used to it more, and getting the rush that came with the speed. It was addictive in it's self.

But Arya wasn't in werewolf form anymore. She was heading home for dinner. It was at the brief interlude between day and night that she was walking through the trees towards her house. She remembered back to when she was much younger and how the forest had scared her. Now, she was the only scary thing in there. This thought sometimes made her angry, but usually amused her. Many people would agree that she wasn't very scarey looking, but they only saw the one side to her, the one side that wasn't the only side anymore.

It was relatively dark when she came out onto the end of the street from the forest. Arya took little notice of this and kept on walking as routine towards her house which was four down from the forest. She wasn't really thinking about the dark and the things that could -and in this case, was- be lurking in the dark. She was actually thinking about what would be for dinner. Food occupied her thoughts a fair bit more now then before her phasing began. It was while she was thinking about roast potatoes and gravy that she realised she wasn't alone.

She wasn't scared about being attacked, more about attacking. She couldn't raise suspicions about the pack, but if someone attacked, would she have a good enough control to only fight in human form? Arya's mind stopped for a second, wondering about the fact her mind had gone straight into defense mode. She didn't know what the figure up ahead that was lurking just out of the street lamp's light and between her house and her was doing, it was probably just out getting fresh air. She didn't really believe that, but it was all she could do to make sense of things. She kept walking, trying not to show the shake in her step too much. If the person wasn't waiting for her at all, she'd feel like a fool for making a big deal about it.

When she was only a block or so away from the figure, it turned it's head towards her and started to walk towards her. There was something that triggered Arya's memory in his stance, his stature as he walked towards her, but she couldn't place it. She decided then was not the time to be thinking about that, and so instead took an instictive defensive position, ready to protect herself physically, and concentrated on doing this, rather then what was actually happening.

[Jacob Black]

He wasn't walking towards her house- he was very nearly stalking towards it. Shoulders thrown back in what appeared from a distance to be arrogance, but was, in fact, simple determination, and back ramrod straight, bringing him to a height of nearly 6'9", Jacob Black appeared, for all who could have been watching, to be a boy (man...boy-man?) with a purpose. Today was a Saturday, of course- the one day Jake had come to expect that Arya wouldn't be with Sam Uley. Even if it were only voiced in the vaults of his mind, the very name made him want to retch and/or punch something. It was unusual for Jake to have such contempt for someone (no matter how bad they were), but the young man who seemed to be everyone in La Push's role model simply rubbed him the wrong way, what with his cult following and all. It was bad enough that Embry had joined Sam- Jacob had barely survived his disgust for that particular event, but now? Now it was Arya, which was about a million times worse. Or more.

The very thought of her being with Sam, and the others- whatever their names were...Paul? Jared? He didn't really care, but anyway, the idea of her hanging around with those boys...those bad influences was a little disturbing- annoying, too. A few weeks ago he said it would have been impossible, but that would be a lie seeing as she'd gone and done it, hadn't she? Goodness only knew what she was doing with that gang. What if they were...taking advantage of her? He didn't even want to think about that, actually, because not only did it mildly nauseate him, but what she did and with whom was her business. Not to mention the fact that being so irrationally over-protective, even in his own thoughts, made him feel like his grandmother. At least he could be thankful for the fact that now when (or, rather, if) he saw her, she didn't go about shirtless like some of the others in the gang had done in the past. If she did that it definitely would have confirmed his suspicions about her. And it would have been weird, almost as peculiar as seeing your siblings' baby pictures (because that was what Arya was to him- almost like a sibling).

He didn't have a problem with her doing...whatever it was she was doing (again, he didn't want to consider it), he just thought that for a girl who had once hated 'The Protectors' as much as he did, she was being a little hypocritical. To make matters even worse, she'd been avoiding him. Avoiding him to hang out with Sam Uley. What kind of a girl was she? Had she fallen off of a cliff and concussed herself? They were meant to be best friends, and they had been forever. It was just like Embry all over again, the more he thought about it. And he'd had enough. He was going to confront her about it, and if yelling at her was the only way to interact with her nowadays, then so be it. He arrived outside her house, much quicker than he'd expected (had the growth spurt made his legs so long that he could move faster too?) and started lounging about beneath the streetlight just outside her front gate. He didn't want to go into her house- didn't feel entitled to it, anymore.

Besides, it would have made the fact that he was going out of his way to see her seem even more stalker-ish than it already was, and if there was one thing that Jacob had discovered he didn't like (apart from Sam Uley), it was feeling stalker-ish. But there she was, coming towards him. He jammed his thumbs into the pockets of his jeans and regarded her coolly for a few moments, before beginning to stroll towards her at a leisurely pace. She could wait for their confrontation- after all, she'd kept him waiting for a long time too. He thought he saw her take up a defensive stance, which he found absolutely hilarious since he was nearly a foot taller than her and certainly more muscular, but he kept his face stern, mouth a grim line. "Hello, Arya," he said to her once he'd gotten close enough. His mouth was tugged up at one corner into a sort of half-smile after this though, all attempts to be impassive failing at the sight of his best friend again.

He composed himself, though, and stated in a cold and very un-Jacob voice laden with irony, "Long time no see. But then again, it's kinda hard when you've been avoiding me." He paused, and added with a curious note to his tone, "How's Embry?" A flat look entered his eyes and he tacked onto the end, "And Sam?" It actually pained him to talk about her new circle of friends, but he forced himself to throw Sam's name about as though it were the most natural conversation topic in the world. It did not escape Jake's notice that his hands were trembling very slightly with tension and some anger, so he shoved them deeper into his pockets to hide this fact from Arya. Knowing her, she'd think he was shaking with emotion, or even worse, that he was on the verge of tears, which he was not.

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[Arya Jenkins]

Arya's heart juttered with relief when she realised who it was walking, no strolling towards her. Relief was visible on her face only for half a second before she realised she wasn't supposed to talk to him. She was supposed to avoid him, and she had a feeling she hadn't been doing so very subtly. It wasn't as if she could ease him into the seperation, with Sam's Orders there was no way of doing that. But now it had come back to bite her, though hadn't she known that it would? He had confronted Embry when he joined them, it was only a matter of time for him to corner her. And cornered she was.

Arya didn't know what to say, what to do. She didn't know if she had the ability to be cold to Jacob, but she couldn't put Jacob in danger -the thought would have been funny if she weren't so torn- while he was still human, even though she had told the others that she had a good enough control to. Of course, she couldn't get past Sam. After all, he had had good enough control and he still hurt Emily. Who was to say she couldn't ruin Jacob? Nonetheless, she wasn't going to abandon her friends. The others had said that she didn't have to, only her closest friends because they would be the ones she'd be around most. She though it was a load of hullaballooba, but she couldn't argue.

But now, none of that mattered. Arya couldn't just walk past him, because he would stop her, and that would make her mad and possibly explode, quite literally. She would have to talk to him, and she would have to try and be cold and distant, when she didn't want to. Jacob was always there for her, they had so much in common. Both only living with their fathers. She had depended on him, and now she was just ditching him. It would hurt, probably her more then him, but she would have to do it. For his sakes.

Jacob's tone, words and simply the look his face was holding whipped Arya harder then ever before. She had a sharp intake of breath, before pulling herself together. His cold tone made it easier for her to be just as cold back. "Is there something you want, Black?" She said, her tone as flat as the look on her face. dismissive, bored even. She hated herself then more than ever now. She still upheld her charade, as much as it pained her. She could do nothing else.
"They're fine," Arya said in the same tone as before, though she closed her eyes as he mentioned Sam's name. Her cold, indifferent, uncaring act wasn't going so well, but with Jacob it was too hard. She just wanted to forget everything and hug him, tell him everything and say how much she had missed him. But of course, she couldn't do any of that. She resolved to say no more then what she was asked. Surely he would get sick of her soon enough.

[Jacob Black]

Something that sounded vaguely like a snarl ripped from the depths of Jacob's throat as he noted the dismissive look on Arya's face, and the fact that she'd called him by the name of 'Black'. His hands began shaking more than ever and it looked a little dodgy considering that they were still in his pockets, so he withdrew them and let them hang limply at his side, clenched into fits. She was being so cold, and so distant. And after all they'd been through, together. What had happened to making sand-castles on First Beach? Sure, they'd been like seven at the time, but that made no difference. His point was that they'd been close, inseparable, even. Now, though, she was making him furious, because he could remember all of that, even if Sam Uley had possibly brain-washed her to forget. His jaw tensed in an effort to control his mounting temper, as he sensed that if he lost it something bad would happen to him. A vein in his neck popped out from the supreme effort, but he managed to keep himself under check, and when he spoke again his voice was flat, and unemotional, and certainly did not belong to Jacob Black.

"I don't know, Jenkins," he retorted, regarding her with disinterested eyes. "You tell me. Is there something I want? Like I said, I'm not sure. A friendship would be nice, but," he paused and grinned, but it looked like more of a grimace than anything else, "Of course, you've got Sam and the boys now, I guess. You probably don't need Quil and me anymore." He was losing it, and she could probably see that from the way that his dark eyes had lost their stoic mask and were now flashing with barely concealed disgust. "I'm glad to know they're fine," he nearly spat, composure fading away rapidly. He was relieved to see her close her eyes at the mention of Sam- at least he was affecting her, too. That was some small comfort. But it was not enough, because before he knew it, he was right up in front of her, one finger pointed accusingly downwards towards her face. "You have no idea what you and your little...little...shennanigans have done to Billy! To me! The other day Billy asked me why you weren't coming around for dinner anymore, and d'you know what I said? I told him to ask Sam Uley, and then of course, of course he said that if you were with Sam there couldn't be a problem and that I shouldn't worry about it."

He paused and breathed, burying his suddenly hot forehead in his palm. "He misses you, though. He doesn't talk about it much because he knows I'm a little...bitter about it all, but he misses you." Looking down at his feet, he scuffed them along the footpath, gritting his teeth. "I miss you too," he ground out, still inspecting his worn out shoes with a vengeance. If looks could kill, his shoes would have been burned, patched together, and then thrown off a cliff with a ten-tonne weight chained to them by now. He flicked his eyes back up to look at her, attempting to make himself look angry again, but failing considering that the only expression on his face was one of sadness. "And I want to hate you, because I hate the rest of- them," he paused, knowing she'd realize who he meant by 'them', "But I can't. So that's why I'm here. To find out what's going on." His voice gained volume again, because it had been soft and near-broken before, "And if you don't tell me what's up, I'm going to-" An odd little spasm ran through him here as his anger finally reached boiling point. Shuddering, he bent over for a second, clutching at his sides, before looking up at her with an aggrieved expression. "I'm going to come into your house and tell your dad you asked me to come over for dinner. So you can't get rid of me. I'm all ears."

[Arya Jenkins]

This time, Arya noticed Jacob's anger that was clearly seen. He was shaking, his fits tight and his jaw tensed. Her face turned a little horrifies. Jacob had grown as much as she had in the last few weeks, and she was sure this much anger might tip him over the edge. Jacob becoming a werewolf gave her mixed feelings. It meant no worrying about keeping secrets from Jacob, but it also meant another one subject to the pain that she was subject to. She didn't know how, but she had to calm him down somehow. Telling him to calm down would, knowing Jacob, make him angrier. Before she had a chance to act, he started talking again.

She deserved it, she knew, but Jacob only ever called Arya Jenkins when they were joking around. She had never heard the word hold so much hate in it. If she hadn't of changed, it might have brought a tear to her eyes to hear Jacob, of all people, say it so. What he was saying was so untrue, but yet so true at the same time. It was at the last line that she snapped her eyes up to meet his.
"How could you think for even a second that I would choose Sam over-" Arya burst out before she stopped herself too late, she had said too much. She gave a frustrated noise, but made herself calm down. Phasing was not what she needed she told herself as she pressed down firmly her shaking fingertips in a fist. "Look Jacob, it is quite obvious that you are angry with me, but I think you just need to calm down," she said in spite of herself, "I'm obviously not a very good friend anyway, so you shouldn't bother about me." She hated saying those words.

Arya didn't react to his spitting the words that he most definately didn't mean. It was easier if she didn't let his words take an effect on her at all. Of course, this was hard to do when the distance between them was drastically altered and she had a finger pointing at her nose. She quickly took a step backwards, in case what he said pushed her to her limits. At his comment about shennanigans and Billy, Arya didn't know what to think. Billy knew about the pack, but he obviously hadn't known about her being in the pack. "I hardly go around defacing property, punching people up. Exactly what shennanigans do you think you're talking about? And you know what else Jacob?" She asked, knowing that what she said next would make him even more angry, but she couldn't stop herself, "Maybe you should listen to Billy for once."

At his next words every last bit of coldness, of hate and of general angriness escaped her until all she was left with was sadness. She gulped and looked away from Jacob. "How is he?" She asked him quietly, knowing she was going to get into trouble for being even a tiny bit to close to him. "I miss him too. And..." Arya paused and gave a painful grimace, knowing she was breaking all the rules "I miss you too Jacob. But, for now thi's isn't going to work. It will sort out though Jake, it has too. Because this is too hard without you."

It was so cruel of her to talk even a small bit about something she couldn't tell him, but she couldn't keep the words in, even as she said them so slowly. It felt much faster to her.
Before she could say more, take back even a little of what she had said, he continued onwards. She stayed silent until he paused. Arya's eyes widened in shock as a spasm ran through him. This was not good she knew. She had to calm him down before he phased. But she couldn't tell him what she was, she wasn't aloud to. "Jacob, I-I... You have to calm down because, because...Ugh" Arya was struggling, panicing, trying to convey to him that he needed to calm down for his own good. She shuddered, tryingto break the binds that were Sam's orders. She couldn't do anything. She couldn't let him in, because it would be worse if he phased in her house. Her whole family knew her secret and they would probably be giving him looks all through dinner.

[Jacob Black]

The horror on Arya's face gave Jacob a savage sort of glee as he regarded her. At least he wasn't the only one horrified by the other now. Whilst he was looking at her, though, he noticed that she'd grown. How it had escaped him before, he did not know, but it was probably because he, too, had been growing. She still came up to roughly the same place on him, but then again, he'd grown almost a foot himself, which should technically have meant that she would look dwarfed next to him. As such, he deduced that she'd grown about as much as he had in the past couple of weeks, which surprised him. He'd used to joke with her that she'd be a freaky midget forever, but now it seemed that it was not so. Something seemed...off, about the way that she'd just suddenly sprouted a foot of height, but he did not feel like mentioning it to her just now. He did not know if his input or opinion would be welcome with his former-current-best-friend.

His upper lip pulled back in a ferocious sneer as he spoke to her, despite the fact that he was trying to be calm, when she spoke for a second. She erupted, more like, and it gave him an odd satisfaction, whilst saddening him at the same time to know that the two of them were on such a tenuous edge in their relationship. "How do you think I could think- for more than a second that you would choose Sam over me? It's because you have, Arya. Be high and mighty and act like a good friend as much as you want, but you're one of 'The Protectors' now. How pretentious! You, a protector! Who are you meant to be protecting? Certainly not your friends." He was being cruel, yes, and he was certainly not being Jacob, not being Jake. He was being the spiteful little boy who was upset because he'd lost someone who meant something to him, and if she had any sense at all or even the slightest amount of recollection she'd know that.

A bitter laugh erupted from his mouth as he threw his head back after she told him to calm down. "Do you hear what you're telling me to do, Jenkins? Calm down. Calm down? You're unbelievable. You're absolutely unbelievable, do you know that? I refuse to calm down, just because it's what you want me to do." He now sounded like a petulant child who had not gotten his way, but he found that he did not care and listened while she spoke next. "I am bothered, that's the problem. If I wasn't bothered I wouldn't be bothered to be here bothering to talk to you. Is that too much for your Sam-crammed mind to comprehend, Arya?" Dammit. He'd slipped and called her by her name instead of 'Jenkins'. Oh well. She'd deal- he sounded contemptuous enough anyway. "I've actually remembered who my friends are, and you know what's worse? I'm actually concerned about the way they feel. You know what?" He paused, knowing that what he was about to say would be a low blow. "You're just like...your mother."

A momentary flicker of regret passed through what was left of Jacob's coherent mind as he saw Arya take a step back from him, and he was unable to figure out whether or not this was because she was scared of his proximity, or because she just didn't want to be near him. Either way, his regret faded away when she began speaking again. Who knew that best friends could be so infuriating? "Of course you don't go punching people up- you're part of a group of role models, remember? God only knows what shennanigans I'm talking about, but they're certainly ones you wouldn't have taken part in before you-" Her broke off and waved his hands around a little bit to gesture what he meant. Fury overwhelmed him, though, when she told him to listen to Billy for once, and his trembling hands instinctively raised as he was overcome with the urge to throttle her. An odd noise came out of his mouth, but he subsided and lowered his angrily clenched fists, before saying coldly, "Listen to yourself. A few weeks ago you were on my side."

Completely taken aback by her quiet questioning regarding Billy, Jacob stared at Arya for a few moments, thinking that truly, all girls must be bipolar, even ones who hung around with guys as much as Arya did. She was being so confusing! He wanted to be anywhere but before her now, all of a sudden, but he forced himself to answer her calmly, though his teeth were clenched together from the effort. "He's not that good. It's hard for him to not be able to do much of anything for himself anymore. He misses having someone around to talk to. Apart from that though, he's still grumpy as ever." Towards the end of this, his Jacob-smile began to creep over his face, but he quickly quashed it and resumed a stern expression. The effort failed, however, because then she said she missed him too and he beamed at her. He opened his mouth to respond with something positive, but, of course, it 'wasn't going to work', although it 'had to work out'. "What's too hard?" He asked, determined to ignore everything else she said.

"I have to calm down, because?" He asked, having calmed down a little bit by this stage already, but curious all te same. He rested his forehead against his palm once again in an effort to cool his raging body temperature, though, just in case. Why was this so stressful? "A bit bloody stupid for you to be telling me to calm down, you idiot," he grumbled, though he did stop shaking after her efforts.

[Arya Jenkins]

Arya gave a bitter laugh and gave a few sarcastic nods before saying right back at him with a grimace-smile "You know what the funniest thing is, Jacob? That you don't even know how wrong you are, you don't even know what you're talking about, and yet you act as if you're an expert! You don't understand," She said, suddenly lowering her voice to an angry whisper "You don't understand how big this is. Yet. But if you keep pinning this on me, confronting me like this, you're going to end up very sorry with yourself when you find out. Because you will find out. And you will be sorry that you ever did any of this. Of course," She gave another bitter laugh, her voice returning to normal volume, "You may regret much more then that. Ever meeting me, ever inviting me to your house, ever caring. I wouldn't blame you." All through her Monologue, she had been shaking, this point escaping her notice until the end, when she bent a little and took some deep breaths. She regretted saying those words, and she knew that she was driving him to the edge. If he phased tonight, she would carry the responsibility forever.

She couldn't answer to anything he said. She had to finish the discussion, she had gone too far. She didn't want to be the one to blame for Jacob's phasing. She let him talk, let him blow of steam, until he mentioned her mother. It was a hard blow, the worst she'd had yet. Her Eyes widened in disbelief, her mouth dropped open for a few seconds, and then she started shaking. Fury was set in her every feature, in her every tremoring feature. She took a few steps back and let a low roar come out of her mouth, one that seemed too brutish to come out of the girls mouth. She was trying so hard to stay calm, to keep from phasing, the pain rush and the spasming lasted until she finally won the battle over her anger. She was still panting when she replied in between gasps for air "Bastard"

She still wasn't up to answering when he finished talking about sides. She waited a minute before saying slowly and exhaustedly "Don't you dareact like I'm the only hypocrite here. Your soul evidence that I'm off doing 'shenanigans'," she said the word a bit mockingly, "is that I've changed physically. It, of course, hasn't occurred to your slow, thick boy-brain that I could be doing some good. No, of course not! I'm just the girl you've known forever who has always been on your 'side' and who's obviously changed!" She said the last few words sarcastically.
"Secondly!" she continued, ruthlessly "You come here and start saying you care about your friends, and you bother with your friends and that you remember who you're friends are. THEN you go on to insult me, yell at me, AND try to give me numerous guilt trips! Don't," she paused for a second to take a breath, before saying less loudly "Don't you look at me and act around me like I'm the wrong doer here. You have no evidence, and no right."

Arya found that she didn't care for anything more that he had to say. Phasing him be damned, she didn't care anymore, she couldn't care anymore. All the anger she had bottled up was expanding so the lid was about to pop. She couldn't go to her house, but perhaps she could go someplace else for dinner. With this thought in mind she swiftly turned around and walked briskly in the opposite direction she had come, ready to run if Jacob pursued her.