Corinna II (twilight saga)

7 ᴥ Realization

There were some things on this planet that I just genuinely didn't know existed. Some of those things were shifting boys and dogs, another thing was recreationally throwing yourself off a cliff, and another was a boy names Jacob Black. I didn't like any of these things. Except maybe the cliff diving, that sounded fun under other circumstances.

"Would you like to explain how the hell you're alive?" I asked as Bella clung to Alice like she was going to disappear into thin air.

"What- What's..." Bella looked more like she had seen a ghost than either of us. I watched her almost grab me - in a hug sort of way, not something violent - but she stopped herself last minute.

I sighed as I pulled her to me, telling myself this was definitely and completely so she wouldn't fall over as she was already wobbling on her own two feet, and not at all because I was relieved she was alive. She pressed her face into her neck and I held the back of her head as Alice tried to collect her thoughts and Bella's future.

"I watched you jump off a cliff! I watched you try to KILL YOURSELF! How could you do that to Charlie? What were you thinking?" Alice bombarded the shaken girl with questions.

"Kill mys...." I watched Bella's confused expression shift to realization and then shame. "Cliff diving, recreationally. You know, for fun?"

I stared at her, then at Alice, and back again. I started to laugh, running my hands over my face. I walked away towards the kitchen as Alice lectured Bella on the different kinds of "fun" and which ones were acceptable and which ones were idiotic, irresponsible, and creates a complete mess that we now have to fix.

"I just don't understand... Everything went black...? I couldn't...see..." Alice's voice was full of confusion and disbelief.

It was as if her talent had failed her...but how? Death was the most likely reason for everything going black - especially after that person's said missing future came after jumping off a cliff. I plopped myself down in one of the old kitchen chairs as I listened to Alice's existential crisis and Bella's breathing slow down from the hyperventilating it was before. As I stared at the landline on the wall, thinking of calling Edward and remembering his phone was smashed to pieces on the living room floor back home, the back door slipped open.

I was up in a moment, blocking whoever it was who had opened it from coming in. I stared at them, completely revolted by the smell coming off of them. They were a few inches shorter than me, but their arms were twice the size of mine. He was a tanned boy, cropped hair, and practically radiating with heat.

"Who the hell are you?" I tried to ask.

Tried because he reached out and grabbed me mid-sentence and again, tried, to shove me out of the way. I put my hands over his and felt the way they were shaking underneath mine. I pulled him off me as Alice and Bella ran into the room, Alice by my side in a moment.

"YOU! You're why I couldn't see anything! I can't get past you and your mutts!" Alice yelled.

I blinked. Mutts? Okay. I watched the boy roll his eyes, recognizing Alice and I guess by default deciding I wasn't a threat.

"Well, I'm Corinna." I extended a hand. "Who are you, stinky 'mutt'?"

"Corinna, this is Jacob.... a werewolf." Bella introduced awkwardly. "Jake, Corinna is..."

"Edward's other girlfriend." Jacob finished for her.

I grimaced at the association. "Can I call you Jake, too, or is that just a Bella thing?"

He rolled his eyes. Hormonal, I guess.

"I was making sure you weren't dead," he grumbled to Bella. "I didn't know which vampire was here."

"So how does the wolf thing work? I've never met one," I asked, completely intrigued by it.

"Which vampire?" Alice asked him, ignoring me.

"The redhead," he scoffed. "You guys really left her-"

"To the wolves?" I joked. "Victoria is here?"

"Who even are you?" Jacob sighed loudly.

"Corinna...Cullen," I smiled thinly.

"I know that!" He threw his hands up.

Alice was pacing back and forth when the phone rang, shrill and loud right in Jacob's ear. He yelled out in frustration as he grabbed the receiver. I thought it might break beneath his grip as he shook with anger. It was muffled, but I could hear the voice through the phone as they asked for Charlie.

"He's not here right now." Jacob said through grit teeth.

"Do you know when he'll be back?"

"I don't know. He's prepping the funeral, I'm sorry." Jacob's face dropped.

Funeral? I hadn't stopped to ask where Charlie was, I just figured he was at work.

The line went dead and he hung up the receiver. Alice appeared in the doorway, and Bella was staring at Jacob.

"Jake who was that?" She asked.

He didn't say anything. I watched Alice's eyes roll back as she zoned out. Something was wrong.

"Jacob who was that?" Bella asked again, her voice shaking as she noticed Alice freeze.

I stood up slowly as I looked at the phone, and back at Alice. I shut my mind off, I didn't want Alice to see what I was planning...if my assumption was correct.

"It was...him," Jacob said quietly.

"Edward?" I asked.

I was taken back as Bella clutched her chest. She looked like his name physically hurt her. I grimaced.

"I...." Alice choked on her words.

"Alice was is it?" I asked as I rushed to her side. "Is it him?"

I was careful to avoid his name this time.

"He's going to the Volturi." She whispered. It wasn't often you saw a vampire genuinely scared.

"He's what? Why?" Bella asked frantically.

"He wants to die." I whispered, leaving out the for her part.

"He's going to ask them for death. They won't do it but..."

Alice trailed off, there was something she was leaving out. She looked to me. She wasn't the only one hiding something.

"Now is not the time to shut me out! Whatever you're planning, I'm coming, too." She grabbed her bag.

Bella was staring back and forth between the two of us, helpless.

"So, what? You're just going to save him? Run off and leave again? Do you have any idea what happened to her when you guys left, and you're just going to do it ag-"

"I'm going," Bella cut Jacob off.

He was staring at her, mouth agape, "No...No, Bella. You can't-"

"They'll keep me safe," she turned to us. "Right?"

Alice and I looked at each other. She was waiting for my answer.

"Would he stop if I asked him?" I whispered.

She didn't answer, a sad look at her face. I didn't need to know what she was thinking. My heart sank. He was dying because he thinks he lost Bella forever.

Bella, not me.

"I'll keep you safe," I promised. "But we have to leave now."

I would have died for him, but he was dying for her. And, as much as it hurt, I didn't want him to die - even if that meant Bella had to be the one to save him.