11

Twilight

Chapter Six - Scary Stories

Jacob Black's Point Of View

We had been on First Beach for about a half hour when they arrived. They came down the stairs toward us. If I had to guess, I'd say they were here to have a party. They brought a lot of food, so they were either here for a party or some kind of eating challenge. That seemed unlikely, so I decided I'd better stick with the party idea. I hoped we would be allowed to join. I love parties. Not as much as I love fixing up cars in my small home made garage… but parties definitely come second to that.

I was sitting on the stones near the fire, not really paying much attention to anything going on around me, this party was very tedious, well until I heard this one new guy – called Eric, I think - say a name that brought me back to reality.

"This is Bella Swan." He said. I was looking at her before I even realised what I was doing. I thought I recognised her. Recognised her waist length mahogany hair that contrasted well with her pale ivory skin. Then it hit me. This was the girl that Billy – my dad – mentioned. She just moved back here with her dad, Charlie while her mom and Phil travelled. This was the girl that Billy and Charlie would put my twin sisters and me with when we were young and when they went on their weekly fishing trips. That was when she met my gaze with a puzzled expression. She obviously doesn't remember me yet.

A blond boy – damn, I have got to start listening when people tell me their names – walked over to offer Bella and her friend a sandwich each and a selection of sodas. I was hoping this wasn't her boyfriend. It would be just my luck for her to have a boyfriend this soon in a town this small. But thankfully Bella didn't look interested in him… she actually looked like she wished he would leave her alone. Although it was fairly obvious he liked her, the way he did everything for her and followed her around like a little lost puppy said it all.

Sam stepped up to introduce the eight of us. He said his own name and then said the seven of ours with a small wave to indicate who he meant. Bella looked like she was having trouble grasping everyone's names – good so I'm not the only one who has trouble with that. I knew she heard mine though, because she looked up at me again (must have been the name that triggered the mental leap for her, like it did me), but then quickly looked away with a faint pink colour added to her cheeks.

A short while later, I couldn't help but notice that Bella and another one of her friends were sitting in silence. I also couldn't stop myself from making a mental list of reasons why they might be sitting in silence. I could only come up with three reasons. Reason One: Maybe it wasn't a very strong friendship. Reason Two: Maybe they're both just shy. Reason Three: Maybe they like time alone with their thoughts. It wasn't until afterwards that I realised how idiotic it was to be coming up with a list like that.

After all the food was gone – yes, all of it - people started to leave in twos and threes, some to skip rocks, some to visit the tide pools – for the second time - some left to go to the shops and some left to go on a small hiking trip. Bella didn't go anywhere.

After a while it was getting pretty obvious that I was staring at Bella. Apart from six others, we were pretty much the only people left, so I tried to get into a conversation with Jared and Sam. Only I couldn't. I tried again and again, all to no avail. I couldn't get Bella out of my head.

What's wrong with me? I thought to myself. I tried my hardest to join the conversation once more, but again it was no use, what they were talking about didn't interest me even in the slightest. I mean, who has a conversation about wolves and the greater good when you're at a beach party? It just doesn't make any sense. No wonder Sam and Jared are always seen either alone or with Paul. They just aren't that interesting. Or maybe it would have been interesting if I could only concentrate on them.

After a while it was beginning to get pretty boring trying to act interested in a conversation that would clearly put a hyperactive kid on Christmas Eve to sleep. So I looked subtly – or what I thought was subtle - over to Bella. Her friend was leaving to go on a hiking trip and so I stole the opportunity to go and talk to her. So I quickly excused myself from Jared and Sam and went to go sit with her. As I was walking over I noticed that, this time, she looked at me with interest. It was as if she had never seen anyone from outside of Forks, Washington before.

She looked deep in concentration, but I couldn't help myself, so I interrupted her silent judgment of me and asked her one of the questions that I thought would make me seem less of a fool.

"You're Isabella Swan aren't you?"

"Bella" She corrected with a sigh. She didn't seem to like the name Isabella. I would try to keep that in mind from now on. If there was a name that was going to stick in my mind for her, it was going to be Bella.

"I'm Jacob Black." I said, holding out my hand in a clear invitation for a handshake. Well I wasn't going to creep her out by giving her a big massive bear hug. She obviously didn't remember me, and I wasn't going to mess up my chances of taking her out on a date by creeping her out on the 'first' day of meeting her. "You bought my dad's truck." I said, thinking this would help speed along the process of her memories.

"Oh," she managed to say, turning pink again, clearly embarrassed by her slow memory. But in truth we hadn't seen each other in a long time – not even when she bought the truck from my dad - and I wouldn't blame her for not remembering me. "You're Billy's son. I probably should remember you."
I really didn't want her to feel bad for not remembering me, not many people had trouble with forgetting me, so I said in a kind voice, "No, I'm the youngest of my family – you would remember my older sisters." Hopefully because otherwise you'll think you're a total idiot, I finished in my head.

"Rachel and Rebecca" She said as if it had just occurred to her in that moment. But thank God she remembered. "Are they here?" she wondered, scanning the edge of the beach with her chocolate coloured eyes. But of course they weren't here. My sisters were twins, they got along all right, but I always had the feeling that they wanted to be out the house and away from Billy and me.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "Rachel got a scholarship to Washington State, and Rebecca married a Samoan surfer – she lives in Hawaii now." Rachel didn't have much of an excuse not to visit, but that didn't stop her trying (her latest excuse was that she was in the middle of a course she just couldn't get out of). Rebecca, on the other hand had a typically good excuse; tickets from Hawaii cost a lot. She wouldn't be able to afford one.
"Married. Wow." She said looking stunned by the sudden information. I didn't understand why she was so surprised, but then again, Rebecca was only two years older than Bella.

"So how do you like the truck?" I asked

"I love it. It runs great."

"Yeah, but it's really slow," I laughed. "I was so relieved when Charlie bought it. My dad wouldn't let me work on building another car when we had a perfectly good vehicle right there."

"It's not that slow." She objected.

"Have you tried to get it over sixty?" I asked. I knew it wouldn't go faster than that. It had trouble getting to fifty.

"No," She answered honestly.

"Good. Don't," I teased with a grin on my face. Last I could recall, when I tried getting it to sixty, it just gave up and I couldn't get it started again for at least another month. Of course my dad gave me a lecture on how it was an antique and that it wasn't built to do that kind of driving. Of course, all cars should be able to get to sixty easily. Guess that shows you an estimate of just how old the rust bucket is.

"It does great in a collision though." She stated with defence rising in her tone, though I knew she was only joking. She had a grin on her face.

"I don't think a tank could take out that monster." I agreed, with another laugh escaping my lips.

"So you build cars?" she asked with nothing but interest underlining her words.

"When I have free time, and parts. You don't happen to know where I could get my hands on a master cylinder for a 1986 Volkswagen Rabbit?" I added the ending as a joke, knowing that she wouldn't know what one of those looked like or what they did for that matter.

"Sorry," she answered laughing. "I haven't seen any lately, but I'll keep my eyes open for you." I smiled widely at her tease.

Suddenly our conversation wasn't between just the two of us anymore.

"You know Bella, Jacob?" Lauren asked me from across the fire.

I turned to her and answered her question.

"We've sort of known each other since I was born." I said laughing again, turning to flash a smile at Bella.

"How nice" She said as I turned back to her. You could tell she didn't mean it as her eyes narrowed in suspicion, but I tried to not pay much attention to her. She was like a bug on a windshield to me, small but annoying.

"Bella," She said, redirecting her suspicions to Bella, "I was just saying to Tyler that it was too bad none of the Cullen's could come out today. Didn't anyone think to invite them?" She didn't look too interested; you could see it on her face that she didn't care that no one had bothered to ask them along. Bella didn't look too convinced by her fake interest either. I don't think anyone was. I think that's what my dad meant by over Oscar acting.

"You mean Dr. Carlisle Cullen's family?" Sam asked in his deep, monotonous voice before Bella could respond to Lauren's question. Everyone could see the irritation growing on her face and becoming the dominant emotion, throwing off any faux curiosity that was there before.

"Yes, do you know them?" She asked condescendingly, turning only halfway to look at him.

Sam ignored her scathing tone well and answered, "They don't come here." in a tone so serious that no one asked a single question more on the subject. I knew the truth though. They were not supposed to come on to the reservation. They were prohibited. It was always because of Sam's tone though, that all the questions were asked in private to one of the La Push kids. There was always at least one who asked.

Tyler anticipated that Lauren would be the one to ask a following question, and so he interrupted her and asked Lauren her opinion on a CD that was now being played through the small portable CD player someone thought it would be wise to bring. She was distracted. Good. No one messes with Sam – he was a tall guy who has major temper issues, not to mention his friend Jared was also very tall and also has his own history of tantrum throwing.

Bella looked like a million and one questions were flying through her head at the same time on this subject, so I thought I'd better distract her before her head exploded. That would leave a huge mess to clean up. If it was her that was going to ask the questions, I'd rather she asked them away from Sam.

"So is Forks driving you insane yet?" I asked, and it worked, she was distracted.

"Oh, I'd say that's an understatement." She said while grimacing. Forks was a crazy town. I've only been there a couple of times, but every time I'd been there it drove me mad. I was unbelievably glad that I didn't live there. So I smiled at her, letting my understanding show. Her next question took me off guard, though.

"Do you want to walk down the beach with me?" she asked looking at me through her eyelashes and I couldn't help but jump up. My feet acted before the question even registered in my brain. Don't get me wrong I was glad they did. I really did want to walk with her.

We walked north across the multihued stones toward the driftwood seawall, the clouds finally draping across the sky toward us, causing the sky to darken and the temperature to drop. She must have felt the cold more than me as she put her hands deep into the pockets of her jacket.

"So you're, what, sixteen?" She asked fluttering her eyelashes at me just like the girls did on T.V. Wow did I really look sixteen? Cool.

"Just turned fifteen." I said, flattered by the accidental compliment.

"Really?" She asked stunned. "I would have thought you were older."

"I'm tall for my age" I explained, and it was true. I was a good couple of inches taller than both my best friends – Quil and Embry.

"Do you come up to Forks much?" she wondered, almost wishing the answer would be a yes, or maybe it just sounded that way to me because I wanted the answer to be a yes too, but I had to tell her the truth.

"Not too much," I admitted with a frown. "But when I get my car finished, I can come up as much as I want" – Oops – "When I get my license." I quickly amended.

"Who was the other boy Lauren was talking to? He seemed a little old to be hanging out with us."

"That's Sam – He's nineteen." Great, she likes older boys. Just my luck.

"What was he saying about the doctor's family?" She asked innocently. Oh man I knew she would want to know about all this superstitious crap.

Better to just play along to be safe, though. I argued with myself. I honestly didn't want to offend her by not answering her questions plainly because I did not specifically enjoy the topic.

"The Cullens? Oh, they're not supposed to come on the reservation." I said, looking out to James' Island, trying not to give away my hatred of the subject. And just because I thought I'd make myself feel worse, I reminded myself that my dad did not really enjoy me telling anyone about that either. Great.

"Why not?" She asked, curious again. Always so curious, one of these days you could just tell that her curiosity was going to get her in trouble.

Crap, I turned back to her biting my lip. I really couldn't say anything now. I was cornered. I couldn't, I wouldn't…

"Oops, I'm not supposed to say anything about that." I admitted a little sheepishly.

"Oh, I won't tell anyone, I'm just curious." She said with a smile I couldn't resist. Okay, so I could and I would. I suppose telling Bella wouldn't hurt anyone. Except me, but I could live with that… I think.

There was no way I would be able to deny her anything, not even this, so I smiled back with one of my eyebrows raised. "Do you like scary stories?" I asked ominously.

"I love them." She enthused.

With that, I walked over to a nearby driftwood tree and sat on one of the twisted roots, while Bella sat lower down than me on the body of the tree. I stared at the rocks, trying to make the scariest smile I had pronounce itself. I was going to try and make this a good horror story. I had to let her see that I was a natural at telling scary stories and that none of them frightened me. Basically, I was going to try and show her I was brave. Not a hard thing to do at this time of day. The creeping darkness accented my dark, horror mood a little. It was better than nothing.

"Do you know any of our old stories, about where we came from – the Quileutes, I mean?" If I was could get any fearsome reaction – no matter how minor - out of her she needed to know some of the histories before we got to the scary, if not, I'd doubt she'd know what I was going on about and think me some superstitious moron, not that she wouldn't after I told her this story, but there was really no way I could deny telling her this. But at least I could try to not seem like an idiot…

"Not really." She admitted.

"Well there are a lot of legends, some of them claiming to date back to the Flood – supposedly, the ancient Quileutes tied their canoes to the tops of the tallest trees to survive like Noah and the ark." I smiled showing her how little I thought of all this superstitious nonsense. "Another legend claims we descended from wolves – and that the wolves are our brothers still. It's against the tribal law to kill them.

"Then there are stories about the cold ones." I said, dropping my voice a little lower to emphasise the words.

"The cold ones?" She repeated, intrigued.

"Yes. There are stories of the cold ones as old as the wolf legends, and some much more recent. According to legend, my own great-grandfather knew some of them. He was the one who made the treaty to keep them off our land." I explained. Again this was just stupid folklore, I didn't believe a word of it, and so I couldn't help rolling my eyes.

"Your great-grandfather?" She encouraged.

She honestly believes this?! I asked myself.

Just play along! The voice in my head argued. Hearing voices was always a bad sign. Although, I already knew I was mental, so no big surprise there.

"He was the tribal elder, like my father. You see the cold ones are the natural enemy of the wolf – well not the wolf, really, but the wolves that turn into men, like our ancestors. You would call them werewolves."

"Werewolves have enemies?" She asked dubiously.

"Only one."

She stared at me intrigued. Good. She liked the story. My plan was working.

"So you see," I continued, "the cold ones are traditionally our enemies. But this pack that came to our territory during my great-grandfather's time was different. They didn't hunt the way others of their kind did – they weren't supposed to be dangerous to the tribe. So my great-grandfather made a truce with them. If they would promise to stay off our lands, we wouldn't expose them to the pale-faces." I said and winked at her, as a little jibe to the pale colour of her skin. It was so unusual that a person who used to live in a hot country would be so pale.

"If they weren't dangerous, then why…?" she asked confused.

I knew what she meant by this. She was referring to the treaty. She didn't understand why we had made it if they weren't dangerous. Of course everything has its hidden dangers. Just like the cold ones did.

"There's always a risk for humans to be around the cold ones, even if they're civilised like this clan was. You never know when they might get too hungry to resist." I explained to her impishly.

"What do you mean 'civilised'?"

"They claimed they didn't hunt humans. They supposedly were somehow able to prey on animals instead."

"So how does it fit in with the Cullen's? Are they like the cold ones your great-grandfather met?" She asked trying for non-chalance, but it was clear that she knew they were different and so this made her tone thick with seriousness.

"No." I paused to add dramatic effect. "They are the same ones." She looked back at me with wide eyes and a slightly ajar mouth. Yes. I scared her. I couldn't help but smile; pleased with the reaction I had conjured.

"There are more of them now, a new female and a new male, but the rest are the same. In my great-grandfather's time they already knew of the leader, Carlisle. He'd been here and gone before your people had even arrived." I thought it was funny how I described her, but I didn't want to break through my scary mood, so I bit my lip, trying to bite back a smile.

"And what are they?" She finally asked, not fully recovered. "What are the cold ones?"

I smiled opaquely at her question. The answer I was about to give her would no doubt scare her. Or at least it should. I had no experience telling scary stories because all the people I knew came from La Push and already knew the stories, her expression told me that she was scared, though, and so this gave me some confidence.

"Blood drinkers," I said trying for a distressing voice. "Your people call them vampires."

Bella was staring out at the shore now with an anxious look on her face. I also acknowledged that she had goose bumps up and down her arms. Cool.

But after a while she still hadn't said anything, so I thought I'd better say my acknowledgment out loud just for something to say. "You have goose bumps," I laughed with forced humour.

"You're a good storyteller," She complimented me, her eyes still fixed to the pebbles, defenceless, waiting to be engulfed by the persistent waves.

"Pretty crazy stuff, though, isn't it? No wonder my dad doesn't want us to talk about it to anyone." I asked trying to get her eyes off the shore.

"Don't worry, I won't give you away." She reassured me, but still not looking at me. I think I must have seriously freaked her out. Oops. That was not supposed to happen.

Something occurred to me in that moment and the silence was growing uncomfortable, so I voiced it, "I guess I just violated the treaty," I forced out yet another laugh, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'll take it to the grave." She promised, and then shivered.

"Seriously, though, don't say anything to Charlie." Charlie liked the Cullen's. He wouldn't want us saying this kind of stuff about them behind their backs "He was pretty mad at my dad when he found out that some of us weren't going to the hospital since Dr. Cullen started working there."

"I won't, of course not." She said.

The curiosity overpowered me, "So do you think we're a bunch of superstitious natives or what?" I asked, trying to joke to hide my worry; I wasn't sure how much of it she heard, though.

She must have seen through me because she turned to look at me and smiled. "No. I think you're very good at telling scary stories, though. I still have goose bumps, see?" She held up her arm for me to see, even though I already knew this.

"Cool." I said smiling. Story telling, now yet another rather useless talent of mine, but she seemed to enjoy it so that made it better. It was amazing how, when realising this, it made me feel so much better about myself.

That's when I heard footsteps coming towards us and I looked up at the same time that Bella did. A boy and a girl were now some fifty yards away from us.

"There you are, Bella," The boy said, relieved, waving his arm in the air like a complete lunatic. What was with this kid? Then I remembered the earlier thought… he liked her… a lot.

"Is that your boyfriend?" I heard someone ask. It took me another couple of moments to realise that it was me that had asked. She looked surprised and slightly angry that I'd come to that conclusion.

"No, definitely not," she whispered back at me. She winked at me, turning away from the boy. She must like me. This thought made me grin uncontrollably. If I knew she liked me then it made sense for me to ask her out some time right?

"So when I get my license…" I began.

"You should come see me in Forks. We could hang out sometime." Bella finished. Definitely likes me. I focused all of the energy I had into not getting up and breaking into a touch down dance.

The boy had reached us now and the girl was close behind him but just by a couple of steps.

"Where have you been?" He demanded.

Dancing with the fairies… Where do you think she's been? I thought sourly to myself.

"Jacob was just telling me some local stories. It was very interesting." She replied, complimenting me again on my newfound skill. She turned to smile at me and I grinned back. It was such an automatic response, who could not smile back at this girl?

"Well, we're packing up – it looks like it's going to rain soon." The boy said.

We all looked at the sky simultaneously. Yip, it was going to rain. The weather in Forks and La Push was so easy to predict. Only on the odd occasion did the sun ever break through the thick quilt that was the clouds.

"Okay, I'm coming." She replied, jumping up. The jealousy on the boy's face was now so bad that I just couldn't help but tease him a little.

"It was nice to see you again." I said to Bella, strongly emphasising.

"It really was. Next time Charlie comes down to see Billy, I'll come, too." She promised. Poor boy looked as if he would explode. If he could be a colour, he would be the deepest shade of jade by now, no doubt.

Well at least I knew I would get to see her face again. This made my grin stretch right across my face. "That would be cool."

"And thanks." She said sincerely.

She pulled up her hood – it was starting to drizzle now - and the three of them walked away. I watched until she was out of sight and the rain was getting pretty heavy. I started walking home, all the while thinking about how I was going to see her again. Hopefully we were going to make something of this friendship. I would never stop hoping for that.