The Unwanted Imprint

Chapter 11

Alice was all too glad to take Nichole shopping for a swimsuit. "There's going to be boys there, so we're going to have to make sure that we get you in something that will make them look twice at you, make their jaws drop."

"Um, Alice, not something too flashy, okay? I don't want to have to stop Emmett from killing a boy because they were ogling me."

"Emmett isn't going to be able to do a thing, you'll be on the other side of the border. Besides, I doubt that Mike or Eric would actually have the courage to try and get together with you."

Nichole was starting to question if this had been a good idea. Alice was known to go a little overboard, especially if it involved clothes. But there wasn't a lot that Alice was entertained by anymore, so Nichole decided to just let her have her fun. Besides, if the bathing suit was that horrible, then Nichole knew that she could get Edward to somebody to come back with her and help her pick something else out.

As it turned out, the bathing suit that Alice wound up picking out for Nichole wasn't that terrible. It was a two-piece floral print bikini, with a matching coverup.

"You'll look absolutely gorgeous in it," Alice assured Nichole as they left the shop. They were going to get some food for Nichole before heading back towards home. "Although I wouldn't suggest wearing it in front of Emmett. If he saw you wearing something like this, he probably wouldn't let you leave the house."

When beach day arrived, Bella pulled up to the Cullen house right at ten-thirty, honking her horn to let Nichole know that she had arrived. Nichole had a t-shirt and shorts on over her swimsuit, not really wanting to deal with certain overprotective members of the family seeing her in it.

"See you guys later!" Nichole called out as she exited the house.

"Who's the big bear?" Bella asked as she drove down the long driveway, and Nichole glanced back to see Emmet standing on the porch, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched them drive away.

Nichole groaned, rubbing her forehead. "I swear to God he's going to be the death of me one of these days." She grumbled, causing Bella to laugh. "That's Emmett, one of my brothers, and probably the most protective out of the bunch. I wish that I could say that he was all bark and no bite, but he definitely has bite, as well as bark."

"He looks like he could punch a hole through a brick wall if he really wanted to."

"Emmett's definitely had his moments."

"It's good that you have someone who's so protective over you though, you never know what kinds of crazies are out there. With a brother like Emmett, they'll think twice before trying to mess with you."

"Someone has already tried to," Nichole told her about Alex. "My siblings were protective over me before, but now they're like, ten times as protective."

"You can't really blame them. Jessica has told me about Alex, and he sounds like a real creep. He's also super infatuated with you, I guess that he won't stop staring at you or something."

"Oh God, that's just what I need." Nichole rolled her eyes. "This is what I get for trying to be productive and join the track team. Oh well, I'm sure that he'll move on from me eventually."

When they got to the beach, Nichole saw some of the boys from the reservation. They stared at her, but didn't say a word. There wasn't anything that they could do, even though La Push was on their borders, since Nichole wasn't a vampire, there weren't really any rules being broken.

One of the boys went up to Bella and gave her a hug, and Bella introduced him to Nichole. "Jacob, this is Nichole. Nichole, this is Jacob Black, his dad is a friend of my dad."

"Nice to meet you," Jacob said, and Nichole smiled at him. "You too."

"You live with the Cullens, don't you?"

"Yeah, they took me in last year."

Nichole and Jacob talked for a few more minutes until Bella said that there were some things that she wanted to talk to Jacob about, and Nichole watched as the two walked down the beach.

"I've never seen Jacob that smitten with someone before." A boy a couple of years younger than Nichole walked up to her, introducing himself as Seth Clearwater.

"He does seem to like being around Bella, doesn't he?" Nichole said, and Seth laughed, shaking his head a little bit. "It isn't Bella that he's interested in, or did you not see the goo goo eyes that he had the entire time that he was talking to you?"

Nichole blushed darkly. "I think that you were reading the whole situation wrong, Seth, there's no way that Jacob likes me."

"Do you like him?" Seth asked her bluntly, which only made Nichole blush even more. "N-no."

"Has anyone told you that you're a terrible liar?"

"Seth." Paul Lahote walked up to the two of them, and he sent a glare Nichole's way. "Go back to the others."

"But Paul-"

"Trust me, her family is not one that you want to hang around with."

Seth sent Nichole a sympathetic glance before walking away. Paul, however, stuck around, and he glared at Nichole. "You better stay the hell away from both Seth and Jacob, do you understand me?"

Nichole cowered a little bit under his gaze. "I-I'm sorry-"

"You may not be a leech yet, but it's only a matter of time before they turn you. You're getting away with being here for right now, but once you're turned, the second you step foot anywhere near our borders, I'll make sure that I snap your neck myself."

Paul then walked away, leaving Nichole speechless. What the hell was that all about? Did the wolves really hate the Cullens that much? It wasn't like her family killed people, they killed deer and the occasional bear, they definitely didn't drink the blood of innocent people.

"What was that all about?" Angela walked up to Nichole, staring at Paul's retreating back.

"It was nothing," Nichole muttered. "Just a misunderstanding, that's all."

"It looked like a lot more than a misunderstanding to me."

Nichole sighed softly. Her family was going to simply love what Paul had told her, weren't they?