CHAPTER 33
FORGIVENESS

IT was the middle of May. The sun was shining and warm. Scattered showers dotted the streets, but never lasted as long as they usually would. The flowers were sprouting into the open air. This was Forks during it prime: beautiful skies and the occasional stormy weather. Everything was bright, and this kind of nice weather affected Margo in a positive way, except for now.

Margo hadn't spoken to Jacob for almost a week. It was killing her, and it was probably – quite literally – killing him. He called her at least three times a day, at most eating time periods, which was when Margo was the busiest. She wanted to talk to him and apologize, but truthfully, she felt like she had nothing to apologize for. She felt horrible, but was still agitated at Jacob's attitude. Margo understood his case and she was willing to find a way to work around the pain of living far from an imprint, but he wasn't understanding her.

She didn't tell anyone about her current predicament, besides Melinda, who just about begged for the story once she guessed that Margo broke the news to Jacob. Melinda happened to actually agree with Margo. She thought Jacob really blew things out of proportion, and while she knew the circumstances concerning the imprint were important, so was Margo's future. None of them chose to be thrust in this world full of supernatural monsters and future soul mates. It made Margo dread for what Bella was possibly going through in preparation for her new vampire life.

Margo felt the sun's beaming rays invading her on a typical Friday morning. If she wasn't feeling so shitty, she might've enjoyed the weather. She was finding it difficult to. She couldn't even write the rest of her valedictorian speech with this new amount of stress. After waving goodbye to Jenny, Margo got inside her van and checked her phone. One missed call and text. Call me, please, Jacob texted her. Margo sighed before starting her van.

Once she arrived at school, she found herself staring out the window through most classes. Other students were doing the same thing. One of her teachers called it, "Spring Fever." The impending doom that was graduation was setting in, and for most students, that made the excitement grow. For Margo, however, the nice weather was making her feel more awful.

When Margo opened her locker during the next passing period, she jumped out of her skin as she grabbed her history book. Melinda appeared out of nowhere, slamming her back against the locker to Margo's left. She was currently wearing part of her cheer uniform, due to having practice later that day. The dark-haired beauty flashed her eyes towards her best friend and greeted, "Hey, I know you're really stressed right now with everything, but ..." Melinda sighed, turning on her BlackBerry phone and holding up the lit screen to her friend. Margo squinted her eyes. "Your boyfriend texted me. Asked me to tell you to call him. He's clearly getting desperate if he had to ask Embry for my number."

Margo hit her forehead against her locker, awakening the bruise that was once there. She turned back to her best friend, brow creasing as she did so. "I'm sorry," she whined, "just ignore it. I still haven't talked to him."

"Evidently," Melinda sighed. She laid a hand on Margo's shoulder. "I know you like to block out the things that stress you out to then de-stress, but this is really not helping either of you. You gotta talk to him."

"I know, I know," Margo replied quickly. "No need to lecture me."

But maybe what she did need was a good lecturing. Melinda was right, and Margo couldn't stop her words from replaying inside her head throughout the day. She planned on calling Jacob that night. It wasn't just what she had to do, but it was also the right thing to do. Nevertheless, Margo was still anxiety-ridden, causing her to only grab an apple and orange juice at lunchtime.

She approached her empty table with a sigh. Not even Melinda was there yet. Margo put her hand in front of her eyes as the sun almost blinded her. She looked away to the table where most of the Cullens sat, and then it clicked in her that they probably wouldn't be coming today because of the sun. She wondered if they turned to ashes in the sun. Margo never did get all the answers she wanted on them.

Margo was startled out of her thoughts when Bella slammed her lunch tray down on the table. Her chair made a screeching noise as she dragged it across the floor. Bella sat down with a plop and looked around the lunch table, picking up a fork to eat the tofu salad on her tray. "Where is everyone?" She asked with a raised brow.

"Guess we're here too early for the others," Margo muttered while scrunching up her face. "When your blood thirsty friends aren't around, the table seems so empty."

Bella frowned, stuffing her mouth with lettuce and cherry tomatoes.

"Sorry, that was rude," Margo apologized. She shook her head at the statement. "I'm in a funk."

"Well, then I'll turn this conversation around on a happy note," Bella replied, lacing her hands together after she set down her fork. Her smile reached ear-to-ear as she said, "Jake is speaking to me again." Her grin quickly turned low. "But then he completely wrote me off when I mentioned my plans for after graduation. I'm guessing he must've told you this."

Margo bit at the inside of her cheek. "Uh – no, actually. We're not speaking."

Bella lifted a brow.

"We made the same jumbo big mistake here, Bells," Margo said, heaving out a sigh. "We both told Jake our post-grad plans at the same time."

Bella processed her words for a moment, but then nodded in agreement. She continued crunching on the surprisingly-cold lettuce the lunch lady served her today. "You're going out of state for college, right?" She asked, causing Margo to look up from her tray of cold spaghetti and nod. "That's awesome. Chase your dreams. Get out of Forks for once."

"No, no. Definitely not awesome." Margo shook her head. "The whole reason why me and Jacob are fighting is because me being millions of miles away will have a shitty affect on the imprint. Emily Young told me that when a wolf is away from his imprintee its physically painful, and he can't be away from the pack for long amounts of time. Its all fucked, and it wouldn't be this way if I just knew how to fuckin' pick a normal boyfriend and if Jake wasn't a fuckin' wolf –"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Bella chuckled softly and put out her hand. "Calm down there."

Margo let her face fall into her hands. "How can I calm down when my life is quite literally falling apart?" She scoffed, glancing up to Bella again. "And I still have my valedictorian speech to finish!"

"Hey, listen," Bella replied quickly, laying a hand on Margo's arm, "from one monster girlfriend to another – it helps to talk to them. I know from experience. They're pretty angsty when you leave them alone, even when they tell you that's what they want."

Margo rested her chin in her hand. Everyone but her just had to be right today.

•••

As much as her conversation on eclipses with Jenny was thoroughly engrossing, Margo bolted towards her room after dinner. Her phone was already gripped tightly in her hand, and she knew then that she was ready to talk to Jacob. She didn't want to apologize for anything, but she knew it was something that she was probably going to do anyways. All she wanted was to make peace with him. She wanted the fighting to end, and she knew Jacob must feel the same with the amount of times he was trying to reconnect with her.

Feeling for the wolf necklace on her chest, Margo noticed the piece of wood was warm from the heat inside her sweater. Margo paced her room quickly as she tried to come up with a certain greeting, though she knew it wouldn't matter to Jacob. Her feet creaked against the old floorboards and her mind grappled with anxiety. The sun had set, and that had been Margo's only true source for calmness. She was now left in the dark with her own paranoia.

Margo looked through her call history, counting the several times Jacob had called her over the past couple of days. With a long sigh, she dialed his number into her flip phone and placed the device at her ear. The dialing ringtone seemed to go on for hours – days even. Margo chewed on the edge of her thumb, continuing her pace around the bedroom. Eventually, she heard a distant ringing outside her house. Margo furrowed her brow as the consistent ringing racked at her brain. It was coming from outside the window, right near her bed.

She pursed her lips with uncertainty. Margo pulled up the shades to her window, looking down at the grass below her second-floor bedroom. She felt her expression go blank as Jacob's phone finally went to voicemail, but she got the answer she needed.

Down below her bedroom, hiding in the depths on the bushes, was a pair of dark golden canine eyes. The smooth, auburn fur was evident to Margo, even in the night glow outside. Margo felt her breath hitch in her throat as she stared at Jacob's other form.

Without a moment of hesitation, Margo closed her phone and ran down the stairs. She heard her aunt from the living room jump up at the sound of her, exclaiming, "Whoa, tiger! Slow down!" But Margo barely heard her as she tore the front door open and sprinted down the steps to her house.

Almost instantly, Margo halted her steps, as if an invisible force pushed her back. She stared at the wolf with haunting eyes, knowing that the animal that was staring back at her was the boy who owned her heart, as if it was kept in a box. She hadn't been near Jacob as a wolf since ... that rainy day in his backyard. Instinctively, Margo reached up and brushed her fingers across the scar near her mouth.

Jacob took one step forward on his paws. The action alone made Margo swallow hard. The wolf stopped and stared at his imprint with pleading eyes, as if he was apologizing without words. Margo sighed, taking all the bravery she had within her to walk towards the wolf. He never wants to hurt you, she reminded herself.

Margo watched Jacob bow his head to the grass. The wind blew his fur to the left and made his pointed ears twitch. She paused for a moment, but eventually put her hand out and placed it on stop of Jacob's head. She ran her hands through his auburn fur, feeling an immense amount of relief. Her eyes welled up with tears as Jacob moved his head up. He blinked, allowing his dark eyes to shine in moonlight.

That was when she knew that they were okay again.

•••

A/N: This chapter was so fillery!!!!!!! End me!!!!!!!!!!!!