Chapter Four

A long while had passed. Charlie, although having made his decision already, didn't want anyone bringing it up again until he was absolutely certain it was the correct course of action. Carlisle and Alice were filling Charlie in on the missed parts, parts that I had completely forgotten to add.

Meanwhile, Jasper and Jacob had rejoined us in the living room. Jacob had asked me if I could go with him when he were to buy some new clothes (having shredded all of them again) , and I said sure, but in a few more minutes. I had to talk a few more things over with him.

"Would you like to call Esme and Sue now?" I asked.

Charlie looked at me. "Gee, I forgot about them… What do I say, exactly? Rene e will have a heart attack."

I shrugged. "What do you feel like saying? Just be upfront."

"This is still a huge shock to me, Bells. Inwardly, I'm gaping. I still can't bring myself to fully believe this." He paused before continuing. "But I'm trying," he said, with a wry grin. "If you say so, it must be true. There's too much evidence here to be ignored. So, wait: I can't tell anyone else about this at all?"

I nodded. "That's right."

"Okay." He sunk back further into his chair. "That might be a bit difficult…"

In a movement almost completely indiscernible to the human eye, I ran over to the kitchen counter and grabbed Charlie's cell. I returned it to his hand and he flinched as my hand nearly knocked his out of the way.

"Sorry Charlie," I sighed.

"I know, I know," he told me.

"Yeah, yeah," Jacob piped up beside me. "Just get it over with already, or we'll be having some unwelcome guests at our doorstep soon enough."

Charlie put the phone down slowly on the table, then told me he decided to stay overnight and tell them tomorrow. Before he did that, however, he called Sue and told her that he was staying at his daughter's house. I wondered why; perhaps it was to reflect on what he had learned today?

My acute hearing suddenly shifted to where Edward was sitting in the kitchen. There was no sound after a short burst of air.

"Edward?" I hissed.

No reply.

"Ugh," I muttered, as stiff as stone. He must have gone out for a while.

"What is it?" Charlie asked, leaning towards me a bit.

"Nothing," I told him, trying to be as reassuring as Edward could be.

He raised his eyebrow but said nothing.

"Hey, vampire girl," Jacob said. "Want to go out now?"

As Charlie looked at him with the strangest look on his face, I replied, "sure, I suppose." Charlie probably took it the wrong way. But really, as if he thought I was cheating on my husband with him right there.

"Dad," I said through gritted teeth. "Not that way."

I bolted out one of the open windows, leaving Jacob with Charlie. I looked back through the bushes and saw Jacob trying to stumble out the door behind me. He looked like a circus animal, the way he was struggling to get outside. Then I heard a thump as he fell three feet out the window. I held my breath, guilty that I didn't race over to catch him.

Then my anxieties were erased when I heard him speak. "I'm alright!" he shouted, while Charlie laughed throatily abruptly afterwards.

"Good," I growled, a little impatient now. "Get a move on, Jake. And let's hope you're not wearing those clothes to the store." I looked down as his two-sizes-too-small tan capris and Emmett's navy t-shirt. It was covered in dirt.

He raised his hands and started over to me. "Trust me, Bella, if I had any other clothes, I would wear them. These reek like you wouldn't believe it."

"I don't smell anything."

"Hell no, of course you don't! Werewolves have much better noses than vampires, so that must be why," he told me.

Right beside me now, I smacked at him lightly and grinned. "Come on. Everything closes at six o'clock sharp, and it's five now."

"Race you?" Jacob taunted, already beginning to remove his shirt. "If we really have to get there soon, you would prefer running to driving."

"Fine." I paused for a split second, and then added, "No countdown though!" Then I was running as fast as I could, exerting next to no effort as I pushed myself northeast, towards the town of Forks.

I heard an annoyed howl rip through the air far behind me, but I ran and ran until I reached a road. I jaywalked at a normal speed across it, and then took off again, leaving Jacob way behind still. I thought he would be able to catch up to me, but maybe I was mistaken. Oh well.

Four minutes later, I stopped at the edge of a pack of trees and looked out onto the main road that allowed entry into Forks. It had begun to rain steadily, so most people were either indoors, fleeing indoors due to inadequate clothing, or outside in their umbrellas. I saw two people walking down the street, side by side, as they held their black and pink umbrellas. Thank goodness it wasn't sunny outside today. Although I used to despise the wet and cloudy weather, I was now thankful for it, for obvious reasons.

I heard light paw steps in the trees behind me, and the thudding of a large heart. I whirled around and saw Jacob's wolf staring at me with the same irritated expression. Jacob's shirt and capris were being held in his mouth. I wondered how we smelled to him; clearly it wasn't good, because his nose was wrinkling and his tongue kept lolling as he detained the clothing.

"Sorry!" I said. "But really," I said, shrugging, "you have to be prepared for anything when you are taking care of a child, right?"

The wolf turned tail and walked away, flicking dirt at my feet as he did.

For a moment I thought Jacob was angry at me, but two minutes later he emerged again with his clothes back on. "She's more special than that," Jacob mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Of course." I began to walk more towards the city, and then finally got out of the trees. "Freedom at last!" I said, and Jacob just sighed.

"I'm getting the head start next time," he said.

"Fine." I added conventionally, "how's Paul?"

He looked at me and replied, "good, good. Still bursting out of his skin a lot, though. You know how little boys are nowadays. And," he continued, "Leah's doing great. At least she's out of Sam's head now, being in our own pack. Now, it's me, Leah, Seth, and Embry. They're good guys to hang out with; let me tell you that-"

"That's enough, Jake," I said, pretending to plug my ears when he didn't shut up the first time I told him to do so. "You sound like Seth."

I heard a low whine behind Jacob. As he turned around, he jumped and I was surprised to see a wolfy Seth padding up behind him. I was so focused on Jacob, I hadn't paid much attention to my surroundings.

"So you decided to follow me after all, Seth," Jacob greeted him. "Can you phase back? Seriously, no one's too kind about wolves roaming these parts nowadays."

Seth shook his huge head, his fur ruffling in the slight breeze. No clothing at the moment, he seemed to be saying.

"Alright, fine," Jacob said playfully. "Be that way."

The wolf snorted as Jacob turned his back on him and walked down the hill, into the street. I followed soon afterwards, trying not to draw too much attention to myself. The rain had receded into a light, unthreatening drizzle, throwing eight-color rainbows into the air. I twirled a finger shyly through my brown hair as I saw through the corner of my eye a man on the street whistling at me. He reminded me of the whistler that was affiliated with J., the man who forged documents for us. So long ago, yet such a short part of my life.

I passed right by him without another look. I could tell he was frowning.

Jacob snickered, and I gave him a sharp blow in the gut. "Come on," I growled when he grunted from the impact.

We were nearly at the store Jacob had asked me to go to. I read the sign; it said "Bargain Fashions", not to my surprise. Who had the money to keep buying new clothes every time they got ripped into pieces?

"How much money did you spend on clothes last year?" I asked Jacob.

He shrugged, obviously trying to make the answer sound unimportant. "Nine hundred and something bucks. No biggie. But now I'm shopping here, so it's less money."

"Wow." I decided to ignore his shrug.

"How about this year, so far?" I asked.

"Thirty from the past four months."

"That's more like it."

The store was exactly like a Salvation Army location, but bigger. It smelled of old yet fresh clothing, and when I read the price tags on the items, they said things like "two dollars" or "five for three dollars".

"So," I said, trying to make conversation while he browsed around, "why did you want me to come here again?"

"Oh, no reason," was his response. "I just wanted some company. I don't know my way around town that well yet." He picked up a large black shirt and placed it around his chest to see how it would fit.

"Good find," I laughed when he put it back down, because it was two sizes too small. The next thing he picked up was a tan shirt that looked like it would fit just fine. He slung it over his shoulder as I continued to watch on.

We spent a good twenty minutes in the store. By the end, Jacob had three shirts in one hand, four pairs of jeans, one pair of capris, and a lot of old, used shoes, all in a reusable shopping bag. Shoes were the only thing I wouldn't dare buy used, but I wasn't one to complain when he needed them that badly. I looked at his feet and noticed his own white sneakers were nearing total collapse.

I carried Jacob's things for him as he phased and ran home. I did the same and soon enough, we were back at the house. Upstairs in the bedroom, we were both sitting, looking through CD collections of Edward's. "Before I leave for the night," Jacob said, "do you have anything to eat? I'm starved."

I looked expectantly at him, waiting for the "not!" part. He hated the stinky food we had in the fridge, but maybe it was different now. "Yeah. We have lots of stuff, help yourself."

"Hallelujah," Jacob said, raising his arms and making a move downstairs, towards the kitchen. Seconds later, I heard footsteps coming back up the stairs. He appeared with a plate of cabbage rolls and Seth's leftover pizza. I rolled my eyes. He was such as pig.

I was even more surprised when Jacob didn't even make a face at the smell before he dug in. He saw my reaction and his head cocked to one side. "Whfut?" he said, a large bite of pizza still in his mouth. "I'm really hungry."

"Oh," I said. Now I had an answer as to why he was stuffing his face like that.

After Jacob had eaten his fill (all six cabbage rolls and two slices of pizza, specifically), he left us with only Carlisle, Edward, Renesmee, and Esme still here. Alice was out with her usual headache. I wondered what that could mean this time.

Perhaps Charlie was deliberating now? I didn't pay much attention to the thought.

After Jacob had left, I took a very old book and began reading it. I was surprised about how many vampire books there were lying around the house, especially since the other aspects of this place were 'normal'. It was titled Increal, the story of a vampire execution. Of course, this was way back then, when Carlisle's society knew that vampires were real. I was not sure whether he would allow me to read this, being so old, but when he passed by minutes later he nodded. Okay, so that was a yes.

Ha. I read the book in less than an hour, and although the page count was only two-hundred and thirty, it was an exciting read. But I was angry with the amount of prejudice in the novel.

All vampires have blood-red eyes and are unable to stay within the range of humans without killing them. Vampires can kill weak-minded people just by looking at them.

I snorted. Wow! Such idiotic claims, and most of them just about killing things!

"Bella?" Jasper asked cautiously from downstairs.

"I'm fine, Jazz." His built in mood-meter was beginning to get on my nerves tonight, as that was now the fourth time he had asked my name.

I put the book down and, stifling a sigh, I sauntered downstairs and looked outside to find it raining heavily. Drat, I was going to take a walk.

Wait. There was something on the cover that I wanted to look at.

Author: Carlisle Cullen.

Huh. Wow, how his perspective must have changed. I headed back downstairs.

There was nothing to do. The time ticked by until the clock showed two in the morning. I had been sitting on the couch for the past five hours. Of course, I had so much to think about, but I was still bored. Edward was right about what he told me long ago; he did have a lot of free time. He found an outlet for that time though, and that made all the difference. I got up from the couch without jostling it one bit, and looked around the house. Everyone except Alice and Edward were there.

"Hey, Alice?" I asked. "What do you do to spend the time around here? My… uh… activities are beginning to bore me to tears."

She looked at me, stifling a laugh. "Bella, there's always something to do. Come with me."

I took her up on the offer.

She let me out to the backyard, stopping once we hit the entrance, and I looked around. "There's nothing here."

"Of course there is, or I wouldn't have brought you out here."

I took a second look at the sky, trees, and ground. "You've lost me."

"Want to see my pet cat?"

"You? A pet?" I laughed. "How are you supposed to touch a cat without killing it from suffocation?"

"Well, I stroke it, I don't really hug it like what you were describing…" she shrugged.

"Where is it, anyways? I don't hear anything."

"Darn, she must be gone."