SKIN DEEP
nine | beach day

Imogen was sat at the table of bumbling band of baboons very uncomfortably. She wanted to go up and sit with the Cullens, but there was no way she could get away from the group without a million questions arising. She was also waiting for Bella, hoping that she would save her from being in the midst of the very bubbly group of teenagers.

"Hey, La Push baby. You in?" Eric questioned Bella as she reached the table. Imogen glanced up when she heard La Push, although they had probably already said it a million times, but she wasn't really paying attention.

Imogen looked at Eric in confusion. Why would anyone want to go to La Push unless they loved hiking in the woods? Bella did the same also, only knowing La Push as the place where Imogen lived. "What about La Push?" Imogen questioned, finally chipping in the conversation.

"La Push Beach down the Quileute Rez. We're all going tomorrow," Mike stated.

Angela smiled towards Bella and Imogen, who both didn't seem like the type to surf, which is what Jessica had in mind. Well, Imogen couldn't surf, but she didn't want to anyway. "There's whale watching, too. You should come."

"La Push, baby. It's La Push," Eric stated all creepily.

Bella smiled slightly, "Okay, I'll go if you stop saying that." Then she walked off, just like that, no questions asked.

While the others continued to laugh about going to La Push beach, Imogen mumbled out, "I can't believe I live in La Push yet I don't know about this beach. Can't believe that Jacob hasn't mentioned it to me."

All eyes directed towards her. Mike was the one to voice what everyone was thinking, "Jacob?"

Jessica smirked, slightly happy inside that Mike would have no chance with Imogen now, and would be forced to take her because she's the only one left. She didn't mind being second best to Mike, because she knew that once he went out with her, he would realize that she should've been his first choice. "Who's he, your boyfriend?"

Imogen smirked, blushing slightly, and shook her head. "No. He's in love with Bella, who is either completely oblivious to it, or just awkward in general, which she is."

Jessica continued on, pestering Imogen, "So, if he wasn't in love with Bella, you'd be with him?"

"She shook her head, glancing over the top of Angela's head and running her eyes over Jasper Hale. "No. He's not my type."

Eric was the one to join in the taunting now. And Imogen was scared that he may try and play matchmaker. "What is? A brooding, scary-looking, Cullen."

Imogen didn't even think when she spoke next, which ended in her abruptly halting her sentence half way through, "Actually, it's H-."

The group may have continued questioning her, but they found something more interesting to whisper about: Bella was talking to Edward, or more like Edward was talking to Bella.

***

Imogen sat besides Bella, freezing cold and wearing one of the many many humongous coats that the group had stored in the back of the van for trips like these. She wished she had said no to coming, but at the same time, she got a little look at how the group lived. 

She was listening to the waves, which she could tell would be good for surfing. "Bella! Imogen!" she heard, her head snapping up to see Jacob and two others trailing behind him.

Imogen smiled, happy to see a familiar face of a person whose company was rare, but she liked very much so. "Hey, Jacob!" She jumped up and gave him a side hug, feeling very affectionate all of a sudden, to notice that he was very warm, so she stayed there a little longer, before pulling away to have the cold air hit her face again.

Everyone stared at Imogen, shocked at such a display of affection from her, before realizing what she had called him. Jessica smirked, "Oohhh, Jacob."

Bella looked at Jessica with a confused expression, "You know him?"

Jessica nodded in Imogen's direction, where she was stood besides Jacob and in front of the other very tall boys, and said, "Imogen mentioned him."

"You did?" Jacob asked with a smile on his face.

Imogen just shrugged, "Yeah. About you not telling me that there was a beach here in La Push. Shame on you."

He chuckled at her before turning to Bella, taking the place where Imogen had curled up before. He exchanged a few words with her before Jessica chuckled out, as if it was a joke and not embarrassing for Bella, "You guys should keep Bella company. Um, her date bailed." She then added, "I'm surprised that you didn't invite Jasper, Imogen."

Imogen squinted her eyes at Jessica, before Eric decided to dis Edward, the date whom bailed on Bella, and Imogen also saw it as dissing Jasper too, "Yeah, cause the Cullens are freaks."

One of the unnamed friends of Jacob turned around to face Eric and smirked, "You got that right."

Bella looked at them as well as Imogen, who wasn't very happy with the current topic. "You guys know them?"

The unnamed friend who spoke before, spoke again while he gave Bella a blank stare, "The Cullens don't come here."

***

Imogen, Bella and Jacob decided to take a walk down the beach, which was hard for Imogen considering she had to carry her backpack. But, she would power through. She had been doing it for as long as she could remember.

Bella brought up what both Imogen and Bella had been curious about, knowing that Jacob couldn't lie to them. He just didn't seem like the lying type, but he also liked Bella, so lying to her wouldn't put him in a good spot. "What did your friends mean about...you know, 'The Cullens don't come here'?"

Jacob looked down at his feet, "You caught that, huh? I'm not really supposed to say anything about it."

Imogen watched the two of them, as she walked on Jacob's other side, opposite to Bella. "Hey, I can keep a secret."

Imogen smirked and chimed in, "I know I can."

Jacob glanced at both girls on either side and muttered, "Um, really it's just like an old scary story..."

Bella was adamant, and Imogen was also curious herself. She didn't want to get further invested with the Cullens if they were bad people, "Well, I want to know, and so does Imogen."

Jacob took a deep breath, "Okay, did you know that Quileutes are supposedly descendants from wolves?" 

Both Imogen and Bella looked at each other both confused and surprised by Jacob's statement, and both said, "What?"

Bella continued though, already invested in the story that Jacob was about to tell, that was if Bella and Imogen kept their mouths closed and listened, "Like wolves...real wolves?"

Jacob acted as though it was hard to believe, which it should've been. But, Imogen loved wolves and stories behind them, "Yeah...that's a legend of our tribe."

But, Bella seemed to not be interested in Jacob's ancestors. She wanted to know about Edward, "Okay...so, what's the story about the Cullens?" Imogen just stared at Bella, slightly shocked with her getting straight to the point.

Jacob shrugged and continued his story, which did include both his ancestors - if it was even the truth -  as well as the Cullens. "Well, they're supposedly descendants from this, like, enemy clan. My great-grandfather, the chief, found them hunting on our land. But they claimed to be something different, so we made a treaty with them. If they promised to say off Quileute lands, then we wouldn't expose what they really were to...the pale faces."

"I thought they just moved here..." Bella stated, trailing off unsure of herself.

Jacob shrugged his shoulders, "Or just moved back."

"What are they really?"

"It's just a story, Bella." Bella nodded, but Imogen could tell she wasn't letting it go. And Imogen wasn't either.

***

After walking off of the beach, Imogen was in a huff from exhaustion, while Bella seemed to be in a huff about not getting all the information. As Bella sat down in the truck, eating some more sweets, obviously thinking about what Jacob had told the girls, Imogen pulled Jacob to the side.

She glanced over her shoulder to make sure Bella wasn't looking before rushing out in a hushed voice, "Cold ones?"

Jacob shook his head and let out a little chuckle in disbelief, "It's just a story."

Imogen shook her head, her eyes gleaming with determination. She knew that Bella needed to cool off and think through the information that they had, but Imogen had thought it through enough to come to a conclusion, though she didn't voice her true conclusion.

"I saw one."

Jacob watched her in confusion, "What?"

Imogen was gripping onto the arm of Jacob's coat, "A black werewolf. At first, I thought it was a wolf, but now that I think about it, it was too big to be a wolf..." 

Imogen stared at Jacob, who just stared back in shock but also relief at her being safe, "It's just a story, Imogen. You're lucky the wolf didn't attack you."

Imogen gave Jacob a look of disbelief, until she realized that he really believed that what he had spoke of was a story. But, with Jacob telling both she and Bella the story, it fit with all the other things that Imogen has witnessed but never put together until now.

***

The whole drive home, both Bella and Imogen had sat in silence. Bella was contemplating Jacob's story, but only the side of the cold ones, taking little regard of the Quileute Tribe. However, everything was falling into place in Imogen's mind. 

Why she and her family moved to La Push in the first place: for Carlisle Cullen, the vampire foster parent of vampire children. Thoughts of the big wolf she had seen in the woods on her second day, a wolf that she now registered must have been a werewolf, one whom she believed may be Sam Uley. It did fit as she saw a 'werewolf' only to have been taken home by Sam Uley (while she was unconscious of course), but it did fit.

And she knew that her parents knew, that they had to know. And that made her furious.

As Isabella pulled up the truck in front of Imogen's house, she gave Bella a nod of thanks and excited the vehicle. It was obvious that they both weren't in the mood for conversation, especially with all the new information.

Imogen entered the house in a not so silent matter and went into the dining room, where her parents had informed her earlier that day that they would be eating in. She could also smell the food, which let her know that that was where they were, along with quiet murmurs.

She walked in and slumped down in the chair opposite her father, at the other end of the table. Her mother was seated besides her father and Imogen didn't fancy the thought of sitting closer to them, instead of on the other end of the long table. Before she had slumped down, she had thrown her oxygen tank that was in her backpack carelessly on the floor, but not so carelessly that the tubes would come flying out of her nostrils. 

Her parents gave her a quick glance, noticing that something was off, so they didn't say anything. All they did was pick up their knives and forks - they had obviously been waiting for Imogen to start eating, and luckily the food hadn't been set out more than a couple of minutes, and so was still hot. 

Imogen didn't pick up her knife and fork. She just sat there with her hands folded in her lap, playing with her fingers as she thought about what she would say to her parents. All the while, her parents started firing questions at her about her time at the beach, which was met with silence. But, they continued to try and get her to reply with tedious questions like: "Was Jacob there? He likes the beach," or, "Did you invite the Cullens, though I believe they're not beach people?"

But, Imogen continued to ignore them, until she decided to just come out with it. "I know why we came here," Imogen stated as silence had descended once her parents had finished interrogating her, despite her not reacting to them at all. Both of them were startled by the break in silence, "We came here because you are selfish and don't care what I want."

Evelyn sighed and placed her knife and fork down, "We've already been through this."

Imogen snarled, "I'm not finished! We came here because you don't want to lose your precious daughter." She stood up from her chair suddenly, causing a groan to ring out throughout the silent dining room from the chair legs scraping along the wooden floor. For extra effect, Imogen slammed her hands on the table, "We came here because you want Carlisle Cullen to turn me into a bloodsucker, just so you can keep a hold of me with your grimy fingers."

Eveyln sighed and placed her head in her hands, and so Thomas was the one to speak. "We came here to give you another chance at a normal life, even if that did mean you becoming a cold one."

Imogen was so furious, "Maybe if you hadn't been in my ear every second of every day of my life crying about how you are losing me and crying about how you need to fix me before I die, I may actually want to live. But, considering all you've done all my life is try to fix me, instead of loving me the way a mother and father should - unconditionally no matter my health - and actually spent personal time with me instead of the only personal time we spend together is when you drag me to see another doctor, then maybe, just maybe, I would try my best to become a cold one for you to live out your days happily with me. But, you've made my life a living hell, made me a bitter person who despises her parents because all I've seen you do all my life is try to fix something incurable. I get the dragging me to see many many doctors, but that's all your life mission has been. You haven't even tried to make me happy, you've just been on this one mission and I'm sick and tired of it."

With that, Imogen stormed off, after picking up her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder.