Chapter Two
It had been a week since I had come to Forks. School was was boring, but most of the kids here already knew me, so there wasn't much of the 'New Girl' chatter. Which I was thankful for. I had even gotten a job with Bella at the Newtons Olympic Outfitters, mostly it was to keep an eye on my hyper-depressed cousin. But the money was good too
Bella's nightmares hadn't lessened in the week I had been home. It was slightly discouraging, but not unexpected. Uncle Charlie had told me that he had stopped going into her room when she screamed, and after the first couple of times... I did too. Bella wasn't being mauled by a bear or attacked by some monster, she was heartbroken.
Ever since that night at the movies, Bella didn't really engage with any of her friends at school. She talked mindlessly with them, sure, but it was usually always initiated by Mike Newton or one of the others. If Bella did bring up a topic at the lunch table, it was almost worded so that the others could control the conversation. I'll admit she had even tricked me into one of these conversations earlier today.
It was a slow afternoon at the Newtons store. Mike was at one of the walls, looking over their hiking boots. I was reorganizing one of the various displays that one of our last customers' children had knocked over.
"Bella, why don't you and Savanna head home?" Mike suggested, his eyes focusing just past my cousin. There were two men on the other side of the store, they had been here for almost an hour arguing the pros and cons of the lightweight packs we had in stock. They were all basically the same, I didn't understand why there needed to be an argument.
"I don't mind staying" Bella shrugged, though I could tell that she wanted nothing more than to not be around the human population.
"Same" I put in. "Besides, it could pick up" I knew that wasn't true.
"I'm telling you" I heard one of the men exclaim. "I've seen grizzlies pretty close up in Yellowstone, but they had nothing on this brute." It was obvious that this man had literally just gotten out of the woods, his dark hair was greasy and matted and his shirt had fresh sweat stains. Gross.
"Not a chance" His companion scoffed. I was blatantly eavesdropping now, but I didn't care. "Black bears don't get that big. The Grizzlies you saw were probably cubs."
"Seriously, you two, once these guys give up I'm closing the place down" Mike murmured just loud enough for my cousin and me to hear.
"If you want us to go..." Bella shrugged, looking at me. I just nodded and stood from the floor, officially giving up on this stupid boot display while Bella gathered up our stuff.
"On all fours, it was taller than you" the first man insisted. "Big as a house and pitch black. I'm going to report it to the ranger here. People ought to be warned- this wasn't up on the mountain mind you- this was only a few miles from the trailhead."
"Let me guess" guy number two scoffed. "You were on your way in? Hadn't eaten real food or slept off the ground in a week, right?"
"Hey, uh, Mike, right?" guy number one questioned. With that Bella and I said our farewells and went out into the rain.
The drops thundered on the thick roof of Bella's truck, but the noise was easily drowned out by the rumbling roar of the truck engine. As we waited for the truck to warm up a bit, Bella told me that she wasn't in the mood to sit at home. I was just surprised that she said anything at all, to be honest.
We drove aimlessly after that. The cab of the truck was filled with warmth and silence. I couldn't help but stare out the wet window was Bella's truck rumbled through the sleepy streets of Forks. All around us was this bright beautiful green and I couldn't help but smile as the trees whizzed by. I've always loved it here.
I was snapped back to reality when the truck finally stopped and Bella all but jumped out into the rain. Looking around I realized that we were parked on Russell Avenue, blocking some families driveway. Just as I went to join my cousin outside, I saw her attention jerk to the house across the street.
Two motorcycles with a large FOR SALE, AS IS sign.
Before I could get out and say anything, Bella was all but marching up to the front door. There was no stopping her now, so instead, I got out of the truck and waiting by the bed. I was soaked in seconds.
Not even five minutes later, Bella and a boy a few years younger than us started walking towards the bikes.
"Savanna, can you give us a hand?" Bella asked as they walked the two motorcycles over to the truck. I just nodded numbly before pulling down the tailgate and trading spots with the younger teen.
"What are you going to do with these?" the boy asked, "They haven't worked in years."
"Yea we can see that," I told him with a grin. At the same time, Bella said: "I kind of guessed that."
"Maybe I'll take then to Dowlings" she suggested with a shrug, causing the boy to give a small snort in laughter.
"Dowling would charge more to fix them than they'd be worth running."
He wasn't wrong about that. I have distinct memories of when mom and I still lived here full time. She would often complain about John Dowling and his bullshit prices. But then I remembered the son of one of my mothers' good friends on the Quileute reservation. The same boy who had fixed up the rusted monster that Bella drove around town.
"You know what? That's okay" Bella shook her head. It seems my cousin had the same idea as me.
"Yea we know someone who builds cars" I grinned. I let myself get excited about this. Not only for Bella but because I loved bikes. I've only ever ridden dirt bikes growing up. Dad had even taken me on the back of his old 1940 Indian Chief "Crazy Horse" bobber. That was one of my favorite memories.
"Oh, that's a relief" the boy smiled, relief flashing in his eyes. He seemed like a good kid. He even waved to us as we pulled away. I had beaten my cousin to the driver's seat and I sped away.
Honestly, I would have thought that Bella would be a little irritated that I was driving. I think she used certain activities, like driving, to keep her mind focused so that she wouldn't break down. But as I glanced at her I was met with a life in my favorite cousins' eyes that I hadn't seen in a long time.
Expertly I navigated the streets, tapping the beat to an unfamiliar song on the steering wheel. Something I tended to while I drove. Bella seemed to understand almost instantly that I knew where I was going, meaning we wouldn't have to go home and call Uncle Charlie for directions. Therefore we wouldn't be seen.
Granted we still had to sneak passed Billy Black. AKA Charlie's best friend, and the man who would totally rat us out.
The Blacks home was just the same as it had been a few summers ago. Looking almost like a homey barn, with its dull red siding. Just beyond that, I knew, was Jakes garage, I had only been there once, but I doubt the Quileute boy got rid of it soo soon.
I wasn't too surprised that Jacob Black met us halfway to the house. I'm sure he could hear the truck coming a mile away.
"Bella!" he exclaimed once my cousin and I left the warmth of the truck. Since he was distracted by Bella, I gave Jacob a once over. For the first time that I've ever seen, his thick black hair was out of its usual ponytail. Jacob was taller too, I could guarantee that I would have to crane my neck to look at him.
"Hey Jacob!" Bella greeted. The weird thing... it wasn't forced. She grinned at the tall boy and I could practically see the chemistry between the two. "You grew again!" she said in amazement.
"Six-five" Jacob said proudly. His voice deeper than I remembered, then again the last time I had seen him we were both prepubescent.
"Is it going to stop?" I asked jokingly. "You freaking huge dude."
"You remember my cousin Savanna, right?" Bella asked and Jacob nodded, sending a friendly grin my way.
"Come inside!" he told us. "You two are getting all wet." Quietly, Bella and I followed behind the large Quileute as he took a rubber band from his pocket and tied back his damp hair. Jacob was so tall that he had to duck just so he wouldn't hit his head on the door frame.
"Well, what do you know!" Billy Black grinned when he saw Bella and I enter the small living room. "It's good to see you Bella" he had added, shaking my cousins hand warmly. "Savanna! Why I haven't seen you since the last time you and your mom came to visit us."
"Yea, it's been a while, huh" I smiled sheepishly. "But I feel like we might be coming around more often" I added, sneaking a glance at my cousin and his son.
"Not that I'm complaining, but what brings you girls out here?" Billy asked, worry flickering briefly across his face. "Everything okay with Charlie?"
"Yea, absolutely" Bella nodded in reassurance. "I just wanted to see Jacob, I haven't seen him in forever." I didn't think it was possible for a smile to be as wide as the one on Jacobs' face, his dark eyes beaming with happiness.
"Can you stay for dinner?" Billy asked he sounded just as eager as his son looked.
"No" Bella shook her head. "I've got to feed Charlie, you know."
"I'll call him now" Billy suggested. "he's always invited.
"It's not like you won't see us ever again" I jumped in. I had literally no faith in my cousins' ability to lie. "We'll be around here so much that you'll be begging us to go home" I grinned.
"Okay, maybe next time" Billy chuckled in response.
"So, what do you guys want to do?" Jacob asked us.
"Whatever" Bella tried playing it cool. But at least she didn't seem uncomfortable, so I'll put that in the 'win' category."What were you doing when we interrupted?" she asked. Jacob hesitated.
"I was just heading out to work on my car, but we can do something else..." but Bella and I didn't even give him a chance to finish.
"No, that's perfect!" we interrupted. "I'd love to see your car."
"Okay. It's out back, in the garage" Jacob said, though I could tell that he wasn't that convinced. Not that I blame him, Bella didn't seem like the time to be into cars. Neither did I, for that matter.
My dad was though.
Just as I remembered, Jacobs garage was concealed by thick trees and shrubbery. Hiding it perfectly from the house. Really the building was just two sheds that Jake and his friends had bolted together. And inside, there was an old, rusty Volkswagen raised up in cinderblocks.
"What kind of Volkswagen is that?" Bella asked. Well, at least she recognized the emblem on the grille.
"It's an old Rabbit," Jacob answered. "1986, a classic."
"How's it going?" I asked. "I mean it looks like it's just about done."
"Almost is," Jacob said cheerfully before he turned back to my cousin and his voice dropped a few octaves. "My dad made good on his promise last spring."
"Ah" was all Bella answered with.
"Hey, Jake?" I spoke up, wanting to divert the conversation as quickly as possible. Bella was doing great today, we didn't need any setbacks. "What do you know about motorcycles?"
"Some" he shrugged. "My friend Embry has a dirt bike. We work on it together sometimes. Why?"
"Well..." Bella started, pursing her lips before looking at me. Unsure if we could really trust Jake to keep his mouth shut. I just shrugged. "I recently acquired a couple of bikes, and they're not int he greatest condition. I was wondering if you could get them running?"
"Cool," Jacob beamed at the challenge. "I'll give it a try."
"The things is" I continued for Bella. "Uncle Charlie kinda... hates motorcycles. If he knew about this, that vein in his forehead would probably bust. So you kinda... can't tell your dad."
"Sure, sure" Jacob smiled. "I understand."
"I'll pay you" Bella added in as if she needed to convince Jacob further. But the teen just rolled his eyes.
"No," he told my cousin. "I want to help, you can't pay me."
"Well..." Bella bit her lip "how about a trade then?" she suggested. "Savanna and I really only need the one bike and lessons too..."
"I don't" I interrupted. "I used to have a dirt bike when I was a kid and my dad used to take me out on his old Indian." Bella just shook her head, and I swear I saw a ghost of a smile.
"So how about this?" Bella proposed. "I'll give you the other bike, and then you can teach me how to ride it."
"Sweeetttt!"
"What a sec... are you legal yet?" Bella asked. "When's your birthday?"
"You missed it" Jacob teased with narrow eyes. "I'm sixteen."
"Not that your age ever stopped you before" Bella muttered, causing me to giggle. "Sorry about your birthday."
"Don't worry about it, I missed yours." Jacob shrugged. "What are you, forty?" I couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter, while Bella stiffened just a little bit beside me.
"Close" she sniffed.
"I forgot that the two of you were both older than me" I spoke, but it I was all but ignored.
"We'll have a joint party to make up for it." Did this boy ever stop grinning?
"Sounds like a date."
Jacobs' eyes sparkled at the word 'date'. Discreetly I elbowed my cousin, I knew that she didn't want Jacob to get the wrong idea. I knew that she wasn't near ready for anything like that quite yet.
"Maybe..." I added, looking quickly at Bella before continuing. "Maybe when the bikes are finished, they could be like... like presents to yourselves?" I suggested.
"That sounds good to me" Jacob shrugged. "When will you bring them down?" he asked, causing Bella to bite her lip once more. This time in embarrassment.
"They're in my truck now" she admitted.
"We literally picked them up and came here."
"Will Billy see if we bring them around?" Bella asked.
"We'll be sneaky" Jacob chuckled, sending a wink her way.
Casually the three of us walked out of the garage and strolled toward the truck. Which thankfully I had the forethought to park closer to the garage, the bed hidden by a large tree. Without speaking, I went over to the truck's cab, acting like I was looking for something. When in reality I was keeping a lookout while Jacob unloaded the bikes with ease. Those things seemed a lot heavier when Bella and I had loaded them into the back.
Once I saw that Jake had the bikes hidden in the trees, I grabbed my bag and walked over to them. Making sure we weren't being watched as I went.
"This one here will actually be worth something when I'm done, it's an old Harley Sprint," Jacob said as he appraised the bike.
"That one's yours then," Bella said with no hesitation.
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely," the two of us said in unison.
"These are going to take some cash though" Jacob frowned at the blackened metal of the Harley. "We'll have to save up for parts first."
"We nothing" Bella disagreed.
"She's right. If you're doing the labor, Bella and I can pay for the parts" I added.
"I don't know..." Jacob muttered, clearly not okay with the idea.
"We've both got some money saved. College fund, you know."
I didn't have a college fund, I had an 'I don't feel like walking everywhere' fund. But if all went according to plan, I was going to take the red motorcycle off of Bellas' hands. Once they were done, and my cousin was satisfied in her thrill-seeking, I was hoping I could talk my mom into letting me keep the two-wheeled vehicle.
I'm sure she would say yes. Mom didn't have the same hatred for motorcycles as her ex-brother-in-law.
Thankfully, we didn't need to do anything crazy to conceal the bikes in Jakes garage. Billy never came out here, due to his wheelchair not being able to maneuver the uneven ground. So after Jacob finished bringing the bikes inside the safety of his workplace, he opened up the doors to his Rabbit so that Bella and I didn't have to sit on the ground while he tinkered.
While Jacob started pulling my and Bella's future bike to pieces I watched intently. Only adding into the conversation when asked.
"Jake? Are you out here?!" I heard a shouting voice call out, causing my back to straighten at the sound. Quickly I relaxed though, the voice was obviously not Billy's.
"Yeah!" Jacob shouted back. A moment later, two tall Quileute boys rounded the corner into the garage. One was thin and maybe an inch or two taller than Jake with shoulder-length black hair while the other was short and burly. Unlike most Quileute boys, the short boy had his hair buzzed off. I vaguely recognized them as Quil Ateara and Embry Call. "Quil, Embry, this is my friend Bella" Jake introduced.
"Charlie's kid, right?" Quil asked, holding his hand out towards my cousin.
"That's right" Bella confirmed. "And this is my cousin, Savanna."
"Hey" I waved, "Long time to see," I told them. We weren't really friends or anything, but just like with Jake, I had hung out with the boys every now and again whenever my mom would bring me to the reservation.
"So what are you guys doing?" Quil asked after he and Embry introduced themselves to Bella.
"Bella, Sav and I are gonna fix up these bikes" Jake explained, motioning to his newest project. That seemed to be the magic word as both boys scurried to check out the red machine. I tried to pay attention as both boys drilled Jacob with questions that I barely understood. Must have been in the Y chromosome that I clearly lacked. Hearing a sigh, I looked over at Bella sliding out of the passenger side of the Rabbit. Checking the time on my for-emergencies-only prepaid cell phone, I saw that it was getting close to dinner time. We needed to go before Charlie showed up here and saw what we were doing.
"We're boring you guys, aren't we?" Jake looked at us with apologetic eyes.
"No" Bella shook her head. I smiled when I saw that she wasn't lying, Bella really was enjoying herself here. "We just have to get back, I have to cook dinner for Charlie." I couldn't help the flinch that came when Bella called her father by his given name.
"Oh...well, I'll finish taking these apart tonight and figure out what more we'll need to get started rebuilding them. When do you wanna work on them again?" Jake asked, his dark eyes dancing between my cousin and me.
"Can we come back tomorrow?" Bella asked instantly, causing Quil to nudge Embry's arm and they exchanged twin grins. I couldn't help but roll my eyes, boys.
"That would be great!" Jacob smiled in delight.
"If you make a list, we can start shopping for parts," I told him.
"I'm still not sure I should let you two pay for everything"Jacobs' face fell a bit, still uneasy about the two of us buying the sure-to-be-expensive parts.
"No way, man," I told him with a shake of my head. "Bells and I are bankrolling this party. You just have to supply the labor and expertise."
"That doesn't seem right" Jake shook his head.
"Jake, if we took these to a mechanic, how much would he charge us?" Bella pointed out, causing Jacob to smile.
"Okay, you're getting a deal" he chuckled.
"Not to mention riding lessons" Bella added. Quil grinned widely and whispered something to Embry. Knowing those boys, it was something grotesquely juvenile.
After that, Bella and I left. We had heard Jacob threaten his friends, the words causing my cousin to laugh. Like actually laugh! I was in shock, this was a sound I hadn't heard once since I had been home.
Though we were silent for the entire ride home, I was just about ready to burst with pride for my cousin. I mean sure, it was just one afternoon. But it was one afternoon that was filled with nothing but laughter and smiles. No forced conversation that Bella ignored, just my cousin truly conversing with both me and her friend. Today is what I called progress.
I just hoped it would last.
We had beat Charlie home. And while I went to my room to change out of my damp clothes and into my fuzzy pajama pants and a tank top, Bella set to work on dinner. Tying my dark brown curls up into a messy bun, I went to the kitchen and started on the mashed potatoes.
Just as I finished mashing the spuds, I heard the front door open.
"Hey dad" "Hiya Uncle Charlie." Bella and I said at the same time. I could see the shock that flickered across my uncles face when he saw the grin on his daughters. With raised eyebrows, he glanced at me and I nodded discreetly as I scooped the mashed potatoes I had made into the serving dish.
"Hey, girls, how was your day?" he asked, his voice uncertain.
"Good. We went down and saw Jacob" I told him.
"That's good" Uncle Charlie nodded. "Did you girls have fun?"
"Yea, we did" Bella was still grinning.
"Well, that's good," he said. He was still a bit cautious, hoping that he wouldn't say the wrong thing and make his daughter close up again. "What did you three do?"
"Hung out in his garage and watched him work. Did you know he's rebuilding a Volkswagen?" Bella asked, looking at her face, I could tell that she was being cautious too. Also for good reason, we didn't want to give away what we were really doing in that garage.
"Yea I think Billy mentioned that" Charlie nodded as he bit into his chicken. Dinner was an almost silent affair after that. Though Charlie still studied Bellas face as he ate.
After dinner, Bella and I did our homework in the living room, with the hockey game going in the background. It was only when Charlie noted the late hour that the three of us retired to our rooms for the night. Bella taking the stairs slowly and I could tell that the fear of dreaming was inching its way back into her. Sighing, I went to my own room. All I could do was hope that I could soothe my cousin if she had yet another nightmare.