CH. 2 Venom Cupcakes
Last night I slept without nightmares, no ghostly visions of Edward and thankfully, no Victoria to wake me in screams.
I woke up to the hint of sunshine, or at least the flicker of sunlight that you only appreciate in Forks with its constant rain filled clouds. I couldn't help but notice the fact that just yesterday I admitted to Jake, my sun that I did in fact love him, and today the sun is out and I feel lighter. Maybe things really are going to be ok, I thought.
I made my way downstairs to fix breakfast; I was sitting at the table with my bowl of cheerios when Charlie walked in, in his uniform. "Cha... er Dad, I thought you had the day off today?"
"Supposed to but there's been another animal attack near Port Angeles so a few of us are heading up to investigate." He told me.
My stomach dropped and I wondered if I would be able to keep my cereal down, here I had been thinking what a good day it was going to be. "Bells stay out of the woods ok, and tell Jake and his friends not to go in there either. I'll probably be late, don't wait up." Charlie said as he walked out the door.
I went upstairs to finish getting ready for the day, I needed to go grocery shopping, or we were going to starve. I groaned at the idea of shopping, even if it is only for food I still hate it.
I was walking down the stairs when I heard a knock on the door, "Just a minute." I shouted as I tried to get there in one piece. I stumbled down the last step and as I put my hands out to keep my face from eating the floor, I felt warm hands grab my waist.
"Sorry Bells, I heard you umm stumbling so I thought I would help you out" Jake said trying to hold in a laugh. "Uhgg whatever" I said fighting my own laughter. Jake is always saving me, I thought.
"What are you doing here?"
"Well I umm wanted to know if you would go to the bonfire with me tonight." He asked while rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, something he does when he's nervous.
"Sure, Sure." I told him.
"Hey Jake, Charlie went to Port Angeles today, he said there had been another animal attack." It was quiet for a moment; Jake seemed to be trying to figure out what to say next.
"Yea, we had a pack meeting before I came over. Sam's going to up the patrols. We haven't caught her scent here in a couple weeks, but with all the attacks we know she didn't just give up. Someone will always be by your house, and at school. You don't have to worry; we won't let her get you." Jake said, willing me to believe him.
"I'm so sorry Jake, this is my entire fault." I said through my tears.
"Bells it's not your fault, you have to stop blaming yourself." Jake tried to console me.
"Try telling that to Paul, Jared, and Leah." I mumbled, but of course, he heard me stupid werewolf hearing.
"Bells don't worry about them. Paul and Jared are assholes and Leah, well Leah is a bitter bitch." Easier said than done, I thought.
"What do you want to do before the bonfire?" Jake asked. "I need to get groceries, you want to come?"
"Will you feed me when we get back?" Jake asked using his puppy dog eyes. "Of course, can't have you starving to death. "I said laughing. I swear that boy would eat all day long if you let him. Shopping for food with Jake is a nightmare; I kept having to take things out of the cart that he was throwing in. It was what I imagined shopping with a toddler would be like.
"JAKE, if you put anything else in this cart, I'm not feeding you." I scolded.
"Yes mom." He said while looking down, trying to act like he was sorry. The smirk on his face told me he wasn't sorry one bit.
After I made Jake something to eat, and put a plate away for Charlie, I started cleaning up the mess. "I think I'm going to make cupcakes to take tonight, will that be ok?" I asked."
"I don't think anyone's going to turn away food Bella, especially something with frosting." Jake joked. I guess that was kind of dumb, I thought. Those guys would eat cardboard if you put frosting on it.
As we pulled up to the beach, I was nervous. I didn't know how anyone would react to me and Jake being 'together', well Quil would be fine and Emily already knows pretty much, but the others I didn't think would be too happy about it.
"Bella quit worrying they'll be happy for us." Jake said, seeming to sense my unease. I have been to bonfires before but never as Jakes girlfriend I decided to let it go and try to enjoy myself. I walked to the food table finding Emily busy putting all the different food dishes on it.
"Hey Em, I brought cupcakes, hope that's alright."
"Thanks Bella that was really nice. I guess your talk with Jake went well." She said raising her eyebrow at me.
"Yea, it did. Thanks again for talking with me. Were together now, were going to take things slow and just be us." I told her.
Emily smiled warmly at me and gave me a hug." I think that's great, I'm happy for you." I walked over to Jake and Quil; Jake pulled me between his legs so that my back was resting up against his chest, and intertwined our hands. His warmth always made me feel better.
Leah was just glaring at me, but that was nothing new. "Just ignore her." Jake whispered and kissed me sweetly on my temple.
"WHAT? Oh you're even more stupid than I thought." She sneered at me and stomped off. Seth looked over at me apologetically. "Sorry about my sister, she's just a bitch." He said, giving me a small smile.
It seemed Leah's outburst didn't bring too much attention, but I did notice Sam giving me a disapproving look.
"Foods Ready." Emily shouted.
It looked like a stampede you would see while watching Animal Planet. All the wolves rushing to the table, nearly knocking over anything or anyone in their path. It was nuts, but it did make me laugh and forget Leah's rant. I was in line behind Quil when I heard, "Hey Emily where's your famous blueberry muffins?" Paul asked.
"I didn't make them tonight, but Bella brought cupcakes." She answered.
"I'm not eating anything that the leach bitch made." Paul snarled.
Paul and Jared, who also opted not to eat my cupcakes, turned around to walk away but stopped when they saw me. They both just stared me down and then walked off.
"Don't listen to him." Quil said giving me a sad smile; Jake just tightened his grip on my waist. We got our food, sat down, and started eating, when Jared said, "Hey you know what's worse than venom cupcakes?"
"No, tell me." Paul said laughing. "Pale faces who think it's ok to bring venom cupcakes." Jared said, looking straight at me.
"Enough!" Sam barked out.
I couldn't hear Jake's growls but I could feel the rumbling in his chest. "Here." I said handing my plate of food to Jake and got up.
"Where are you going?" Jake asked. "I'm going to walk by the beach for a bit... alone." I told him. As I was walking to the beach, I could hear the yelling and growling behind me.
"She doesn't belong here, the sooner you realize that, the better off we'll all be." One of the guys said, though I'm not sure which one.
I was walking along the beach, carefully avoiding the water when I saw someone sitting in the sand a few feet in the distance. The closer I got I recognized who it was.
"Hey Bella." Embry said.
"Hey Em, how's it going?" I asked.
"It's going." It was easy to see, he was still upset at the loss of his friends. Neither Jake nor Quil had resumed their friendship after they phased. I asked why once, Jake told me it was easier this way, since Embry wouldn't phase. It would be too hard to lie all the time. I guess part of me understood, but I felt bad for Em, he was always so nice.
I was brought out of my inner thoughts when I saw Em waving his hand in front of me to get my attention. "Hey you alright? You look a million miles away."
"Yea, I'm fine. Just a lot on my mind I guess." "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked.
"Jakes friends don't like me very much. I take that back, most of them hate me." I said holding back tears.
"Why, do you think that?" Embry sincerely asked.
"Oh you know I'm a pale face. I dated their enemy." I said trying miserably to sound like it was no big deal.
"Bella, first of all those are stupid legends no one pays attention to anymore and second they should be more concerned with Paul humping anything with legs, then they are with your lack of tan." Embry said.
"Thank you Em." I said smiling. He really was sweet. I wonder what he would think if he knew the stupid legends were true, and Paul actually could hump anything with legs.
"Well I better get back to Jake, before he comes down here thanks Em, I really appreciate it."
"No problem Bella, see you around."
Jake was waiting for me halfway from the beach and the bonfire. "Bella just ignore them, you know their assholes, and they will come around." He said with pleading eyes."
"I don't think they will Jake, but it's alright I've had worse."
He took my hand and we walked back to the fire. "Jake I'm going to go home; I'll talk to you later." I said looking up at him.
"Ok, Bella let me walk you to your truck."
He helped me inside and shut the door of the cab. Leaning in through the window, I love you Bella, I will talk to you later." He said kissing me lightly on the lips.
"Love you too Jake."
I was proud of myself for not letting them see my tears. Driving home alone was another story and I let the tears I had been fighting back all night, fall down.