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Saturday mornings. For some people it's the hardest time to get up, but I guess I'm just not one of those people. Every Saturday I wake up bright and early at seven and am out the door by eight. With my driving skills I usually reach La Push by nine-thirty.
"Hello Billy!" You'd be surprised how energetic I can be in the morning. I don't knock on the Black's door anymore when I come over. I just walk in, greet Billy in an overly vigorous fashion before I proceed to jump on Jacob. I'm practically family I come down to the reservation so much.
"Howdy Bell." His greeting is less vivacious. On the days I walk in after he's had his cup of coffee his responses are usually livelier.
"I'll just go and get Jake." He laughs and waves his hand up the stairs before turning back to the paper he had been reading before my arrival.
I creep up the stairs, convinced that I'm being sneaky this time. Luckily Jacob sleeps with his door open so I don't have to worry about creaking doors giving me away. I have one foot in his room, two, three then, "Bella have you ever heard the expression let sleeping dogs lie?"
I pout for a few seconds, all my hard work gone to waste. "You know how much it sucks to have supernatural friends?" He snorts into his pillow and says something that's lost because his face is still squashed against his bed. "What was that?"
He turns his face to me, his long hair in tangles as it poofed out around his head. "I said, that you couldn't sneak up on your normal friends. Do you know how frickin' loud you were when you came in?"
"My bad." He huffed again but didn't go back to sleep. He acts like me waking him up every Saturday and Sunday is a bad thing but I know he enjoys my company just as much as I enjoy his. "I'm gonna call Leah and the boys and see if they wanna come to the cliffs with us!" I yell through the bathroom door.
I hear the water turn off before he shouts back, "No, don't invite Leah! She's been exceptionally annoying over the past few months."
I snort remembering the whole story behind Leah and Sam. "She's fine as long as Sam's not there. Come on! You have no idea what it's like not to be wanted by the person you love the most." I said the last part mostly to myself but with his dog-ears it's no surprise that he heard me.
The door creaked open as he walked out, towel-drying his face. "You already know my opinion on that." Yes, his opinion. He thinks that Edward left because he didn't want to put me in any more danger. That's a bunch of bullshit. If Edward had wanted to protect me then he wouldn't have left in the first place. "Fine, Leah can come. But you're the one who has to deal with her! Don't go dumping her on my shoulders when she annoys you to death."
I laugh, "Whatever." We raced down the stairs, and I would have won too if I hadn't tripped on the last four and fallen. If Jake hadn't been there to catch me my weekend would have included a trip to the emergency room.
We beat everyone to the cliffs. The sea below was ruff and unpredictable but that won't stop Jake and his buddies from jumping. Yes, you heard me right. Jumping. The Quileute werewolves have a favorite pastime called cliff diving. Oh and not the regular cliff diving that humans do all the time. Their version involves a freaking hundred-foot drop to the ocean below. It should be called cliff suicide.
Seth and Leah were the first to arrive after us. Seth was by far my favorite out of the bunch we hung out with. He was a little young but the pack didn't discriminate against age. They all hung out together like on big, hairy family. Embry, Paul, Jared and Quil came together, probably coming from breakfast knowing them.
"Collin and Brady say 'Sorry' for not being able to make it." Embry said with and infectious smile, "Apparently they have to clean their rooms." The pack snickered. Even though I was human I still considered myself a member of the pack. I think everyone did, I hung around them so much that I think I just started to blend in.
"So Bella! Are you gonna come to the festival tonight?" Seth said energetically. Embry, Paul, and Quil looked up at me expectantly.
My forehead furrowed in confusion, "Festival?"
Seth's eyebrows shot up, "What? Jake didn't tell you?" He asked surprised.
I blinked a few times as the pack shot dirty glances at a sheepish Jacob, "I forgot."
Jared snorted while Paul laughed, "You're an idiot."
"You wanna take this outside?"
"We are outside dumbass."
"You're asking for a beating Paul!"
"And who's gonna give it to me? You? Don't make me laugh, pup."
Leah let out a frustrated growl, "Would you two shut up?" They both looked away from each other to glare at Leah who just rolled her eyes before looking at me. "There's a Quileute Festival tonight. The entire town's gonna be there. You should come."
Leah and I had always had a sort of mutual understanding of each other. She was in love with Sam, I was in love with Edward, and neither boy wanted anything to do with us. I guess you could say we had some sort of unspoken bond. "Yeah, that sounds like fun! When does it start?"
"Eight!" Seth piped in, happy that I had accepted the invitation.
I frowned, "Eight? That means I won't get back to Forks until the early morning. I doubt Charlie will be too thrilled about that." I said sadly. And I really was sad! The Festival sounded like a lot of fun.
"That's okay, you can crash at my house if you want." The entire pack stared incredulous at Leah as she spoke up. "What? It's not like her dad will let her spend the night at any of your houses. You're guys if you hadn't noticed."
Jake let out a laugh that sounded more like a bark as he clapped Leah on the back, "Who knew you could actually be cool, Clearwater?"
She glared at him, "Don't touch me, Black." Jake laughed awkwardly and removed his hand like he'd been burned.
I smiled at Leah, "Thanks, I'll call Charlie."
The phone call to my dad was short and painless. He actually sounded excited that I was spending the night out. I believe his exact words were, 'Good for you Bella', whatever that means.
"He said yes!" I smiled as Seth 'whooped' in celebration.
"Awesome!" Embry chipped in, "Now let's get a jumpin'!" As all the male werewolves chatted excitedly Leah and I hung back.
We both rolled our eyes as the guys stripped down to their boxers in anticipation for the jump. Leah never participated in cliff diving. I know she's not here for Seth's sake, he seems to get along better with the pack then she does. I like to think that she's here for me, it does make it easier to hang back when there's someone to hang back with. And it's also nice to have someone there that's going through the same thing you are. I couldn't help but smile at the thought.
Nighttime came sooner then I expected, I borrowed some jeans from Leah since mine had gotten a little wet when Jake and them shook themselves off right in my face. I met Mrs. Clearwater for the first time before we headed out to the Festival, she was really nice, someone I could see myself getting along with really well. It hurt though to look into her loving, warm eyes because it reminded me so much of Esme. And when I thought of one Cullen then the rest of them just had to follow, always ending with Edward.
"Come on Bella! Smile! We're at a party!" I laughed as Quil and Embry finished each other's sentences.
The Festival was fun. Some of the elders told old Quileute Legends that were quite fascinating, especially to someone like me who knew that some of the stories held a bit of truth behind them. I had to leave, though, when a particularly old Quileute began telling the story of the 'Cold Ones'.
There was music everywhere, and not regular music, old drums and tribal music to be exact. It reminded me of those old Indian movies I used to watch with my mom when she went through her Wild West stage. I laughed when I saw Jacob, Quil, and Embry all painted up and shirtless dancing around the bonfire. Jacob, hearing my laughter, quickly pulled me over to join their little spirit quest. I danced a few songs with them before having to take a break. Not everyone had resilient werewolf stamina for God's sake.
I went on a walk to cool myself down, who knew dancing could be so strenuous? I sat on the beach, just watching the waves oblivious to anything and everything around me. My serenity was broken, however, by a high-pitched, unwelcome laugh.
"I put so much effort into constructing a flawless plan in order to get you away from your mutts, but here you are, unbearably alone, no vampire lover to come to your aid or any guard dogs to get in my way."
I turned around so fast that I gave myself whiplash. There, standing ten feet away from me was a being that I hadn't seen in what felt like a lifetime. "Victoria." My voice shook as I said the redhead's name.
"Don't speak to me, scum! You are nothing but a lowly human, what right do you have?" I flinched at her bitter words, fear pumping with every beat of my heart. "Because of your worthless existence I lost my mate! And since your mate was the one to kill him I feel your life is an equal exchange."
I looked up at her and in a voice that portrayed more bravery then I felt, I responded. "I thought I was just a 'lowly human'? How could my life be equal to someone's as glorious as your James?" My mocking tone sparked a fury in her and before I could blink I was sent hurtling towards the water's edge.
I put my arms out to break the fall and flinched when I felt my wrist crack under the strain. I didn't cry out, though, didn't even shed a single tear. In a way maybe I wanted to die. Jacob and the pack had helped me so much over these past few months but I was living a lye. Edward was my life…and I died the moment he left. "What? You're not even going to scream for help? At least make this interesting for me! How satisfying would it feel to kill a few of your pets before I killed you? To watch you suffer as I ripped them limb from li—"
"Shut up!" I roared, I was on my feet in seconds raising towards her. Either she was too surprised that I could actually still stand or my level of stupidity impressed her but she let me get close enough to get a good punch in.
I hit her right across the mouth, probably hurting my hand more then her. As she was getting over the shock I ran as fast as I could back towards the Festival. She wouldn't be stupid enough to attack me in front of humans. I got lucky and only had to run a few feet before I came upon a large group of people.
Somehow I had made it, I don't know how but I did. I hunched myself over under the light of the festival, trying in vein to catch my breath.
"Bella? Bella! Where the hell did you go?" A worried Jacob was at my side in seconds.
"Jake, you need to get me out of here—!"
"I know, Bella. We just caught the scent of a rogue vampire—"
I quickly cut him off. "No, Jacob." I held up my hand where an excruciating burning was spreading like fire from a few teeth nicks on my knuckles to up my arm. Soon my entire body would be consumed by the flames. "I've b-been infected. You need to take me to a place far away from humans and keep me there!" I grabbed onto his shirt. "No matter what Jake, no matter how much pain I'm in you must keep me there!"
He looked at me, shocked by my commanding tone. But before he could ask any questions my vision went black.
Victoria got her! Did anyone see that coming? Please review! (PS Victoria didn't mean to change her, but when Bella 'punched' her Victorias mouth was open and well you know the rest!)
