Rule Breaker
My stomach dropped as I peered out the window. I half-expected, stupidly, to see Victoria staring back at me.
I exhaled when I saw Jules. I opened the window, poking my head out and glaring at her. Water droplets plopped onto my hair.
"What the hell, Jules? It's midnight."
"Yeah, I know. I don't have long until they start looking for me. Move back."
"I can unlock the front door," I mumbled while stepping to the side, still looking down at her.
Effortlessly, Julie climbed the tree outside. She ping-ponged around the branches before easily climbing through the window. I stared, wondering how she didn't fall to her death or at least main herself on the house's wooden siding.
When did she take up parkour?
We both froze. Charlie's snores didn't falter from the other room.
Julie grinned at me, clearly pleased with herself over the acrobatic stunt. "Hi."
She looked like my Jules. The person I'd spent as much time with as humanly possible for over a month. Despite my aggravation, I launched myself at her. She hugged me back, her lips pressed into my hair. I was still mad at her; I'd cried myself to sleep over this girl. But I couldn't deny how relieved I was to see her looking almost normal.
My Jules was back. I just didn't know for how long.
She still felt feverish; skin burning up. She was covered in water from the rain outside. She should have been freezing; the air drifting from the window was enough to make me shiver. Yet she seemed fine, only wearing a tank top and shorts with sneakers.
I felt the cord of her necklace dig into my cheek. I moved enough to inspect it; the silly Starry Night pendant, on a different cord than before.
"Keeps you close," she said quietly.
She'd been wearing it earlier, too. I felt my anger towards her soften a touch.
I stepped back, holding my hands out towards her face. She smiled slightly and put her head in my hands, letting me inspect her. Her eyes watched me, memorizing my face as I did hers.
Julie definitely had frown lines now, the marks of stress dug into her cheeks. My sunlight had dark clouds now. The short hair was still a bizarre choice; maybe it was part of their initiation ritual. Everyone is the gang had short hair. She looked haggard.
"You seem to be more comfortable with touch now," I pointed out bitterly as I dropped my hands.
"I'm feeling better now," she said simply. She stood upright. Was she taller? Was that even possible? "Less emotional. It's getting easier. I'm sorry that I was mean earlier. They wanted me to get rid of you, and I wasn't sure if they were listening. Did you paint your room? It looks nice. It's pretty."
I felt the tears start again, stupidly. It was the exhaustion. My legs trembled. Jules noticed and sat on my bed, dragging me across her lap. I buried my head in her neck, embarassed.
"What are you doing here, Julie?"
"Well somewhere between deciding Sam would shove it and general plotting, I found a loophole." She sounded proud of herself. Her fingers played with the edge of the top I wore. "He was right though; it was a little easier when I couldn't see you. But only slightly. Nice shirt."
"You can tell me what's going on?"
She hesitated before saying quietly. "No."
"Then why are you here? You made it perfectly clear earlier that you're not allowed to see me, even if you were cryptic while doing so."
"I'm sorry, Bella. I'm so sorry. I just... I just couldn't leave things the way I did this afternoon."
"But you're not going to explain anything," I countered.
She breathed deeply. "Have you ever had a secret? A secret so important that you couldn't mention to anybody, even if you want to more than anything."
I paused. It sounded like she was talking about the Cullens again. There had been times I'd wanted to tell Julie about the Cullens, explain the depths of why their leaving devastated me. How I lost out on forever, a pet left behind in a hurricane.
She studied my face. "And it's so important that you can't even tell me now."
I hesitated before nodding.
"Did you ever think that maybe I'm in the same boat?"
Were the Quileute vampires? Was the cult actually a coven? No. Surely not; they weren't pale enough. The eyes were wrong. It was something else.
"You're talking in riddles and I'm tired, Jules."
"I know. I'm sorry. It's just... You already know. I've already told you everything. Do you remember when you came back, a year ago? And you spent the day at La Push with your friends? And we walked down to the beach, and I told you those old stor--" Her voice locked up.
I paused, trying to jog my memory. My eyebrows dimpled in confusion.
"See, I can't tell you now. But I've already told you. So if you could just remember. Or even if you took a wild guess, I'm not breaking any rules."
"Just tell me, Jules. You obviously know about the Cullens. That's my secret, tell me yours."
"It's not that simple. I physically can't."
I looked at her again, frowning. "Like Embry."
She nodded. Her eyes met mine again. "Can you just... walk through the day at the beach, remember what we talked about? I know the one you paid the most attention to, but try to think of the other ones? I have to go."
I clamped my hands around her neck suddenly. They'd have to steal Julie back now. "Why?"
"I had to sneak out; I'm not supposed to see you right now. They'll know where I am. I can't keep secrets from them. And you need to sleep."
"We could leave," I volunteered. "Just pack a bag and go. You already have a bag here ready. We could just leave, Jules. Or we could buy you out. I got this scholarship, I'll use the money for that."
Julie laughed, a dark sound that scared me a bit. "I wish it were that simple, Bells. I really do. But I'm in this for life. Maybe longer. I can't get away from it."
Her hands were trembling around my waist, but it felt different this time. Not the angry ones. Maybe nerves?
"I have to go." Her voice was different now. Not urgent or franctic, but sad. She released me, stepping away while setting me on the bed.
I followed her, lost puppy I was, as she stood in front of my window. She hesitated. "If you figure it out and you don't want to see me again, I understand. I won't hold it against you, I promise."
"That won't happen--"
"Just in case," she reminded me.
"At least use the front door. Charlie's asleep and I don't want to risk you breaking a leg."
"I'll be fine," she said with a genuine smile.
She hesitated again, looking back at me. Tentatively, she held her arms open. I ducked into them, holding her close. Her grip was tighter than usual, borderline painful. I could imagine her squeezing life back into me.
"Just in case," she murmured. Jules pressed a kiss to my forehead. "Please remember. It would be nice to actually be able to see you."
Then she was out my window, effortlessly scaling the side of the tree before taking off into the woods.
I closed the window and sighed. My clothes were damp from hugging Jules, and so was the spot on my bed where she sat. I laid down anyway, the world slowly going dark as I tried remembering a year ago.
The dreams that followed were repetitive; I'd had similar ones many times before.
I was alone, stumbling through the woods. These trees were different; they were the ones of La Push, I was certain.
I felt a warm hand on my wrist, steadying me. I looked up and saw Julie, my Jules, with her long hair curtaining her face. Her face was wrong; she looked panicked.
"Come on, we have to go," she ushered.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
She paused, guarding me with her body.
"Run," she whispered to me. "You need to run."
Mere yards in front of us was Victoria, smiling. Her hair was beautiful against the vibrant green and brown of the forest.
Julie yelped, dropping to the ground in front of me. She twitched and convulsed.
In an instant, Julie had turned into the giant red-brown wolf from the forest with Laurent. The one that stared at me and whined.
I heard whispers. Disjointed ones from the day at the beach, my own voice talking with Jules.
"There are these stories about the cold ones."
"The cold ones?"
"You see, the cold ones are the natural enemies of the wolf. Well, not a real wolf, but wolves that can turn into men like our ancestors. You would call them werewolves."
"Werewolves have enemies?"
"Only one."
My eyes opened to the light outside, the sun peeking in. I breathed evenly, trying to calm myself. I willed the word to come out as it tried to remain locked in my throat.
"Werewolf."