The Unwanted Imprint

Chapter 6

That following week, Nichole had track tryouts. Usually, they didn't let anyone join in the middle of the school year, but Emmett explained that he had managed to pull some strings with the track coach. "I promised Coach Jackson that you had a lot of promise, so you better not let me down." He told Nichole teasingly the day before her tryout.

"Great, so no pressure, then." Nichole stated, rolling her eyes, and Emmett laughed as he ruffled her hair. "I know that you'll do great." He told her before walking away, and Nichole smiled softly, she still wasn't quite used to people believing in her, it was a feeling that she was slowly starting to get used to.

The next morning, Nichole went to school with Jasper and Alice. Edward had left early, and since Rosalie didn't want anything to do with Nichole, Emmett didn't think that it would be a good idea for Nichole to ride with them in his Jeep, the last thing that he needed was to explain to Carlisle and Esme how Rosalie had snapped Nichole's neck or drank her dry or something like that.

After breakfast, Nichole walked out to the garage with Alice and Jasper, getting into Alice's car, a Porsche 911 Turbo. Nichole honestly didn't see why all of the Cullen siblings needed cars that ran over a hundred miles an hour, but she didn't complain about it. However, depending on who she was with, she would usually be holding on for dear life in the backseat.

Alice was one of the drivers that did this to Nichole. "I don't know what you're so worried about." She said as they drove along, the car's tires squealing as they made the various twists and turns. Once they got to town, Alice would slow down a bit, but for right now, she was driving as fast as she could while safely maneuvering the car. Which Nichole thought was still way too fast.

"I could help you calm down a little bit." Jasper offered, and Nichole shook her head. "No thanks, I'll be fine...probably." She knew that sooner or later she would get used to how fast they all drove, although it would probably be later rather than sooner.

Once they pulled into the school parking lot, Nichole quickly clambered out of the car.

"I'll be here after your tryout to pick you up." Alice told Nichole. "It ends at four, doesn't it?"

"I think so." Nichole said, nodding her head. Her tryout was at three-thirty, and honestly, how much running would the coach have her doing in a half-hour?

As it turned out, the coach had her doing a lot of running. Coach Daniel Cummings was young, maybe in his early thirties. He was clean-shaven, and he pushed his athletes to their limits. "Just because you're with the Cullens, it doesn't mean that I'm going to be taking it easy on you."

"I'm not expecting you to." Nichole retorted, she already had a strong dislike for the man, and she had a feeling that the dislike she had for him would only get worse as time went on. He had her run around the track a couple of times, making some notes on his clipboard, probably keeping track of her times and such. "Alright Williams, consider me mildly impressed, you're faster than you look. Practices are every day from three to four, and meets are on Saturdays. You're going to have to put a lot of dedication into this, and frankly, I don't know if you're up for that, I've had girls that have given up in the first week."

Ah, so that explained things. He was a sexist. Honestly, Nichole shouldn't have been too surprised by that, there were quite a few people like that in Forks. "I think that you'll find I'm not like most girls, Coach." She said to him. "When I dedicate myself to something, then I give it my all."

"We'll just have to see about that. Get going, I'll see you tomorrow."

Nichole had started to jog off the track when she heard someone walking up to her, and she turned, thinking that maybe it had been the coach with some more smart-ass comments to tell her.

But it wasn't. It was a boy around Nichole's age, he had brown curly hair and bright blue eyes that shone with intelligence. But there was something else in those eyes, something dark, and warning bells rang in Nichole's head, but she plastered a smile on her face.

"Hey, Nichole, right?"

"Um, yeah," Nichole said, taking a few steps back, but he continued to follow her.

"My name's Alex. Listen, don't pay any attention to Coach Cummings, he always finds something wrong with his athletes, so I wouldn't let it get you down too much."

"Thanks for the advice, but I've never let just a few words get me down before, and I have no intention of doing so now."

"I like that, I like a girl that has some fire in her. Listen, there's a bunch of us going to grab some pizza tomorrow, you should come with us."

"Um, sorry, but I don't think that I'll be able to"

"Oh come on, it'll be fun." From the way that Alex was talking, it was like he wasn't giving her too much of a choice in the matter, and he was starting to remind Nichole all too much of her father. Nichole looked around, but Alice hadn't arrived yet, and Coach Cummings had gone back inside the school, leaving just Nichole and Alex out on the track. Alex grabbed her arm, and Nichole winced from the force of it.

"As I said, a bunch of us are going out for pizza tomorrow, and I want you to come." He said, his voice becoming impatient. It had a steely tone to it now, making Nichole think that she wouldn't like the end results if she didn't go along.

"Hey, jackass." Suddenly Emmett was there, and he didn't look too happy with what he was seeing. "Why don't you step away from my sister?"

Alex raised his hands up in defense, backing up from Nichole. "Hey, easy man, we were just having a casual conversation."

"It didn't look all that casual to me. In fact, it looked like you were hurting her."

"I didn't hurt her." Alex looked at Nichole. "Right?"

"R-right." Nichole said quietly. The last thing that she needed was for Emmett to kill someone.

"Come on Nichole, let's get you home." Emmett said, and Nichole nodded her head, quickly scurrying over to her foster brother's side. Emmett wrapped an arm around Nichole, leading her towards the parking lot.

"Where's Alice?" Nichole asked as she got into his Jeep. Rosalie wasn't there, thank goodness.

"Alice had one of her visions a little bit after we got home from school." Emmett explained as he helped Nichole into her seat before getting in himself. "She saw someone, probably that douchebag, hurting you. She was going to come here herself, but I left before she had the chance to. Seriously, are you okay, though? Did he hurt you at all?"

"W-well, he did grab my arm kind of tightly-"

"Let me see."

Nichole let Emmett take her arm, and he scowled darkly. "You're already starting to bruise, he must have grabbed you really tightly. I swear to God that I'm gonna kill that mother-"

"Emmett, I'm fine, it'll heal. I'm just thankful that you arrived when you did. Look, let's just go home, okay? I have a lot of homework that I have to do when I get home anyway, and I'm starving to boot."

"Fine, but if that asshole comes anywhere near you again, then I'm going to snap his neck right where he stands."

"My hero." Nichole said jokingly, and Emmett flashed her a grin. "What good is a big brother if he can't save his baby sister when she's in trouble?" He gave Nichole a little side hug before starting the Jeep and pulling out of the parking lot. He was going to be keeping a close eye on Nichole from now on, which was a good thing because Nichole's trouble with Alex was far from over.