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FIVE; LESSONS FOR JACOB

THERE WAS A PAUSE before Imogen nodded.

"That's my name, Jake. Did you already forget? I assume you have since you've been ignoring Bella and I completely."

Was Imogen always this gorgeous? Had Jake really been that blind to her beauty this whole time? But as his eyes scanned over her features, he was seeing something that he never realized before.

Imogen felt shy under his gaze, squirming slightly. Billy wheeled into sight, but was also confused by Jacob's odd behavior. It took a few moments before Billy's expression completely changed.

"Imogen," Jacob repeated. Her eyes were darting from Billy to Jacob, wondering what the hell was going on and why they were being so suspicious.

"Alright, I came over to confront you, but it looks like this family is a little confused. I'll come back later-"

She slowly began to turn away, but Jacob snapped back to life. "No!" He yelled, grabbing Imogen's wrist. A rush of sparks shot up his arm, and he knew that she could feel it too. "Imogen, I want to-"

"Let the girl leave, Jake," Billy instructed. Jacob shot him a glare. "Hopefully, you'll come back soon, Imogen?"

She hummed, but it didn't sound very convincing. "Maybe."

As soon as Jacob heard the front door close, he angrily turned to face his father. "Why the hell did you let her go? I just imprinted on her."

"Yeah, and you looked like you were about to reveal everything to her right then and there," Billy said, wheeling himself to the kitchen. Jacob furiously stomped after him.

"And what's the problem with that? We're allowed to reveal tribe secrets to imprints and family if we choose," Jacob recited from memory, recalling Sam's list of rules when he phased.

"Don't be selfish, Jake," Billy scolded. "Do you even know if that's what Imogen wants? Not every imprint is willing to drop their whole life for their shapeshifter. You might be wrecking havoc in her life. Plus, how much do you even know about her? She might think you're some deranged psychopath and she'll go and tell all of her friends."

"She wouldn't do that," Jacob hissed, practically seething with rage. He was about to phase right then and there in the middle of his living room, so he tried to find a way to calm himself down. "You don't know her like I do."

"You're right," Billy agreed, taking out his lunch from the refrigerator. "I don't know her, and neither does Sam. Talk to your alpha first, Jake, before making any decisions."

"There's nothing to debate over," the irate teenager growled. "Imogen is my imprint, and I know that wholeheartedly now. I spent all of my time with her fawning over Bella, and I have to correct my mistakes as soon as possible."

"You're acting on the imprint. You'll learn that it does that to you, but you still have to keep a sane mind. Now, if Imogen asked you to kill an innocent human, you would do it without hesitation because of your sudden devotion to her. You need to talk to Sam so that he can tell you the rules of having an imprint, and what it will do to you."

Jacob rolled his eyes. Billy didn't know what he was talking about.

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Jacob felt like he was on fire. He had never been so consumed with this prominent desire to see Imogen, but the imprint was definitely eating him whole.

He voiced all of these feelings to Sam the next day, and the alpha snickered fondly. Jacob was angered by his carelessness.

"Relax, Jake. I'm just reminded of how I felt when I first imprinted on Emily."

"You've got to help me, Sam. Give me a crash course on imprints today so that I can go see Imogen. Please," he begged.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You said she's not from the reservation, right? She lives in Forks?"

Jacob nodded vigorously. "Yeah. She said she used to live in La Push before moving to Forks."

Sam paused. Jacob observed him as his expression twisted into something familiar. "Imogen? Imogen Tang?"

Jacob immediately smiled at the mention of her. "Yeah, that's her. You know her?"

Sam rose from his chair, looking as if Jacob had opened up a memory he didn't want to remember. He paced around Emily's small kitchen, silently debating on whether to tell Jacob the truth. Jacob could clearly sense the growing tension and furrowed his eyebrows.

"What is it, Sam?"

Sam scratched the back of his neck. He wished Emily was here to distract Jacob with food. "I, uh, used to be friends with a lot of assholes in middle school. Unfortunately, the asshole gene runs in the family, and their younger brothers liked to bully people for fun. There was this one particular girl that was harassed so badly that she moved towns completely. I never met her, but I knew her name — Imogen Tang."

Sam was completely expecting Jacob's reaction. He was filled with outrage, standing up and flipping Emily's table over. Sam sighed, knowing he would have to apologize for the scratches on the floor later.

"You give me their names, Sam. You give me their names and I swear to God I'll kill them."

"Alright, this will be lesson one," Sam spoke calmly. "No matter how much your imprint is hurt by someone, whether it'd be physically or emotionally, you cannot avenge her by inflicting harm upon a human. A vampire, yes. Humans? No."

"But they degraded her," Jacob hissed, fingers pulling at his hair. "What would you do if it was Emily?"

Just the thought made Sam slightly angry, but he controlled it in order to prove a point to Jacob. "I would comfort her if she got upset about it, but I wouldn't track the people down and kill them like I know you're planning to do right now."

Sam adjusted the table back to its original position and sat down. "Lesson two — your imprint has to understand that she is required to keep the secret. I'd actually like to get to know her first, Jake, before you tell her. We've never had an imprint that's been an outsider before."

"You can trust her. I've been friends with her for a while, Sam. Embry's met her before!"

"It doesn't matter who has or hasn't met her, Jake. What matters is that I haven't," Sam said strictly.

"And how am I supposed to get her here? She hates me, you know. She's extremely upset with me for missing our weekend lunch date and ignoring all of Bella's calls."

"Not my problem," Sam shrugged. "But you need to know this, Jake. She's going to become the center of your world, and your perspective on life might be changed because of it. The imprint will sometimes cloud the right decision and it'll lead you towards the wrong one. Keep a clear head, Jake. Let Imogen become your anchor, but don't let her control every aspect of your life."

Jacob sighed, collapsing on one of the chairs. "She already has."

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"Hello, my sweetest Imogen."

"Hey, asshole. Any girls kick your ass today? I would love to be the first one, if they don't mind," Imogen grinned sarcastically at Conner. He smirked, throwing an arm around her. She was quick to squirm away.

"You're going to miss me in college, Im. There are plenty of sleazy guys in the world, and I'm one of the more tamer ones."

"Wow," she rolled her eyes. "I'm so honored to have known you then."

She shut her locker and Mike approached the two, looking slightly pissed off. "Imogen, that Jacob freak is outside in the parking lot. He's waiting for you."

She almost tripped over her own two feet. "What?"

"Yeah," Mike grumbled. Conner's eyes narrowed, not liking the sound of another guy fawning over Imogen's attention. "He looks like he's slightly impatient, so you might want to get going."

"Did Bella see him?"

"No, thank God," Mike mumbled before disappearing down the hallway.

Conner frowned. "Do you need me to go out with you and confront him? You know I can totally beat anyone up for you, Im."

She chuckled dryly. "Trust me, Conner, Jacob Black could beat your ass to a bloody pulp if he wanted to."

Conner huffed at Imogen's lack of belief in him, but left her to go anyways. He was soon annoying Angela and Ben in no time.

Imogen felt her heart racing as she approached the front doors to the school. She didn't know why Jacob was here, but if Bella spotted him, he would surely receive a few words of anger.

She found that Jacob had not attracted Bella's attention just yet, rather gathering the attention of everyone on the campus. Every girl was fawning over him, his short sleeve shirt complimenting his growing biceps. Every guy was gawking at him, wondering if he was even old enough to get the tattoo on his arm or becoming jealous by the amount of attention he was receiving.

Despite all of this, Jacob's eyes were only focused on Imogen as she walked down the steps.

His famous grin was reserved just for her. She quickly walked over to him, a little nervous. "Jake, what are you doing here? Don't you have to go ignore Bella's calls at home?"

"Hello to you too, Im," he said, smile still in tact. He revealed a bouquet of sunflowers from behind him, handing them over to her.

In the distance, Imogen could hear the faint cooing of a group of girls.

"Um, what are these for? Valentine's Day has passed, remember?" She reminded him, taking it from his hands bashfully. Jacob's grin widened at how cute she was.

"I'm bringing them to you because I wanted to apologize. I shouldn't have missed our weekend lunch date or dodge all of Bella's calls."

She raised an eyebrow. "So this bouquet is for Bella and I, then? Because you have to apologize to her way more than you have to for me." She lowered her voice an octave, observing the small audience that had grown in the school's parking lot. "You know how much she was hurting after the Cullen family left, but you deserted her like the rest of them."

Jacob frowned, offended. "Imogen, I'm nothing like those nasty Cullens. I promise I'll apologize to Bella later, okay? Now, do you want to join me on a quick ride to my friend's place?"

While his frown vanished, hers deepened. "Jake, I don't think you understand how frustrated I am with you. You were Bella's crutch after everything that happened. How could you completely abandon her? Especially when I know how much you like her."

Jacob shook his head. "I don't have feelings for her anymore."

Imogen wanted to slam her head on a desk because she was so confused. "What the hell are you talking about? You literally just told me a week ago that all you wanted was to be with her. What's changed?"

"I realized that the only girl I'd ever need in my life was you."

She paused. The chatter of students around her was beginning to drown out, and the only thing she could hear was the loud thumping of her heart.

"What did you say?"

He chuckled nervously. "Do you want to go somewhere else and talk? I didn't think that Forks kids would be so goddamn nosy."

"Im, are you okay?" Angela's timid voice approached. She was hand-in-hand with Ben, glancing between Jacob and Imogen with a curious stare.

Imogen sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine, Ang. I was just telling Jacob that I'm not interested in whatever he has to offer until he apologizes to Bella."

"Imogen-"

She ignored him, looping her arm through Angela's and handing him back the bouquet of sunflowers.

"Are you guys going out to eat? I'm really hungry."

She left him in the parking lot as he stared down at the flowers in his hands, wondering what to do next.

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"Are you Imogen Tang?"

Imogen looked up, smiling at the new customers. She examined their tanned skin, which was odd, considering the restaurant didn't usually get people from La Push walking in.

"Hi, welcome to Mr. Wok. What can I get for you?"

The boys looked at her name tag and then exchanged a glance with one another. Imogen tapped her fingers against her pad of paper, waiting for them to tell her their order.

The boy on the left grinned. "We'll take an order of orange chicken and fish tofu, please."

The boy on the right nodded, eyes mischievous. "Yeah, that sounds delicious."

She ignored their curious gazes, taking the menu from them and shooting them another smile. "Thank you. It'll be out in a few."

Although their table was far from the front counter, Imogen could still hear them whispering to one another. They were the only customers in the restaurant, after all, so it wasn't hard.

She gave the orders to the chef in the kitchen, and she couldn't help but eavesdrop on the two boys' conversation.

"This is insane, Paul. Jake will flip if he knows we're here."

Imogen froze at the mention of Jacob. She had been ignoring him since she knew that he had failed to talk to Bella yet. Imogen would stick by Bella's side continuously, understanding exactly what emotional turmoil she had been experiencing in the past few months.

"Would you relax a little, Jared? Sam said she was an outsider, and that none of us have ever seen her before, besides Embry. I just wanted a little sneak peek. Trust me, she did not disappoint."

The two boys snickered lowly. "If Jake hears you talking like that, you know he'll kill you, right?"

Imogen jumped in surprise when the bell was rung, indicating that food was ready to be served. She snapped herself out of her daze and grabbed the orange chicken and fish tofu from the chef, along with a bowl of white rice.

She was quite curious when she approached the two boys, wondering if they really did have a connection with Jacob.

The boy named Paul suddenly rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, and Imogen caught the Quileute tattoo on his arm. They definitely knew who Jacob was.

"Thanks, gorgeous," Paul grinned when Imogen set the food down in front of him. Jared chuckled under his breath. "I really appreciate it."

Although she would usually respond with a snarky comment, she really needed those tips because hey, college wasn't cheap. "You're welcome."

"No, seriously," Jared said, staring at her. "We're incredibly grateful. Aren't we, Paul?"

The boy nodded at the question, already stuffing his face with food. "You bet."

"You know, we actually got a recommendation to this place from a friend. Do you know Jacob Black?"

Paul almost choked on his food because he was laughing so hard. Imogen shifted uncomfortably in her place.

"Uh, yeah. I know him."

"Cute, isn't he?" Paul asked, smirking as he swallowed his food.

"Um-"

"He's taken an interest in you," Paul continued. Jared shook his head, laughing. Jacob was going to kill the both of them for this. "Talks about you all the time, you know."

The door to the restaurant flung wide open, and the boy who they had been speaking about walked in.

Once Jacob caught sight of his two friends and his imprint, he strode over to them and grabbed Jared's ear. Jared hissed, and Paul simply snickered at the sight of his pack mate.

"Hey, Jake. Nice of you to join us."

"Sam told me you were here, idiots." Jacob was positively furious. He was basically on the brink of phasing. "We're leaving now."

"Why so glum, Jake?" Paul questioned when Jake grabbed the fabric of his shirt and hauled him out of his chair. "We were just getting to know Imogen here."

"You two are such nuisances, I swear."

Imogen was intrigued by the interaction, but she stopped Jacob before they could leave. She grabbed his shoulder and the touch was enough to set his whole body into flames.

"They still need to pay for their check."

"Yeah," Jared looked smug, shoving Jake off of him. He grabbed his wallet from his back pocket, and gave Imogen a twenty dollar bill. "Here you go, lovely."

Jacob sneered, wanting to break Jared's neck. Imogen stared down at the money, not amused.

"Your check is 25 dollars, actually."

"What? I'm pretty sure it was only 19."

"Yes, but you owe me six dollars for emotional suffering," she countered. At first, they thought she was joking, but her stern expression told them that she was not.

Jacob handed her another ten dollar bill. "Keep the change," he whispered softly.

She gave him another look before turning on her heel and disappearing into the kitchen. Jacob stared after her, feeling his heart tug.

"Wow, I really like her. You picked a good one, Jake."

The shapeshifter turned his attention back onto his two friends and pushed them out of the restaurant. He faintly heard Imogen's voice in the back, telling them to not come back again.

Once the three were deep into the woods and out of sight, Jacob phased and gave Paul and Jared enough scratches for them to remember not to return back to Imogen's work again.

Christ, she was never going to forgive him.

i love that imogen is giving jake the silent treatment but all he can think about is how cute she is!!