I have a quiet evening in front of the television with Charlie, watching some sport and a couple of sitcoms. It is very pleasant and peaceful, so when my eyes started to droop I took myself off to bed. Sleep did not come as easy as I'd hoped for me tonight, due to all the stuff running around in circles in my head and although my window is closed and the curtains pulled over, I know he has been out there all the time.
So much for leaving me alone, he is just disregarding my wishes as usual. I offered up a prayer to anyone who cared to listen to me, thanking them for the fact that he could not read my mind, as some of what I am thinking about would have shocked him and probably send him running once again. Childishly I got a small amount of satisfaction knowing it had rained steadily throughout the evening.
As I made my way downstairs the following morning, I could hear Charlie talking to someone, oh joy, who on earth is here this early in the day, maybe Billy ready for some more fishing, they can't seem to get enough those two. It's barely light outside and way, way too early for visitors. So when I literally staggered into the kitchen, my heart plummets as I see Jake sitting at the kitchen table eating a hearty breakfast.
"That better not be my breakfast your eating there Jake" I snarl.
"Sorry Bells, growing boy here and I knew you wouldn't mind" he replies grinning.
"Well I do, so get it down you and then start cooking, because I happen to be hungry too" I retort and he looks up at me mouth hanging open as if I'd grown a second head.
Charlie made to move towards the cooker but I stop him. "No dad, He ate it he can replace it and by the way, I was only gone three days, did Jake move in or something as he's here at the crack of dawn?" I growl at them both.
They stare at me in confusion, "What, I get up smelling my food cooking, only to find it being eaten by someone else. Someone who doesn't even live here, were you expecting me to be happy about that Hmm?" I demanded from them.
Jake jumps up and starts cooking me a replacement meal, while Charlie hovers unsure what to do. "Why don't you shower dad and when you're ready to go pick up Billy, you can take Jake back to the rez with you," I tell him.
"I thought I'd hang out here today," Jake said.
"Why, Won't you be lonely here all by yourself" I enquire.
"I am going to keep you company, as you're grounded" he replies laughing.
"What makes you think I'm grounded Jacob, do I look five to you?" I demand giving him the by now refined eyebrow lift.
Charlie sprints from the room at this juncture and I squash the smile that is lurking as I look at Jake. "I well... I thought. I assumed" he stutters.
"Yeah, well don't assume anything about my life Jake, that's my business and nobody else's" I inform him cutting off his stuttering mid-stream.
He looked at me strangely as he places my plate in front of me and I thank him sweetly with a smile. I eat in silence and I know he is desperate to demand to know what is going on, but this new in control me has thrown him.
"Say what you have to say, Jake, before Charlie gets out of the shower" I suggest.
"Are they back, is he back Bella. I don't want you going near them or talking to them and I insist you spend your free time on the rez and not here in Forks where they can get at you" he orders and I laugh extremely loudly and shake my head.
"When did you become my jailor Jacob Black?" I ask quietly and he realises his error too late, he is issuing orders like he owns me or has some sort of say in what I do!
"I decide what I do, where I go and with whom I do it and I don't appreciate a child telling me what I can and can't do. I suggest you wait outside for Charlie, Jacob... Now" I roared at him.
I know he is so stubborn and stupidly insensitive to my feelings and he won't listen to me. So I turn to get out of the kitchen before I say anything else I might regret later. But he grabs my arm above my elbow, gripping so tightly I yelp and wrenched it free.
"Jesus, don't ever grab me like that again Jake, or..." I start to say,
"Or what?" he demands,
"Or I'll shoot you like the Dog you are!" I inform him, rubbing the large dark bruises on my arm that have formed.
"That's enough Jake, time to leave before you end up in one of my cells" Charlie growls at him, whilst holding open the front door.
"See you later kiddo," he says kissing me on the top of my head as he passes me, ushering Jake out. Well, this is a crap start to my day and it will be sure to go downhill from now on, oh well.
After they both have gone, I take a leisurely shower, dry and style my hair, look out some jeans that actually fit and a half decent top, put on a little lip gloss and set off for the Cullen house in my beat up truck. I know Edward is shadowing me because stealth is not his strong suit, I wonder if Carlisle is aware that at being either a vampire or a human, his golden boy sucks, pun intended.
By his own admission the night, well early hours of the morning after we got back from Italy when he thought me asleep he mentioned how bad a tracker he was when he had tried to go after Victoria. I wonder if there is a Vampire boot camp anywhere and if not maybe we could start one, I'm sure Jasper could teach us lots of stuff. I was laughing to myself as I reached the front door of the big white house.
Once again Edward rushes to open my door and help me out, does he think that's all being a man entails, good manners. God, he has a lot to learn. As I enter the house Esme rushes forward to ask if I want anything to eat or drink, as she had gone shopping during the night for food for me.
So I think okay, you first today mummy dearest. "Why don't I join you in the kitchen, while you make me a sandwich hmm?" I suggest.
You could almost feel the tension being released in the lounge area as I walk off with Esme. Once I'm seated at the breakfast bar in the spacious kitchen, Esme bustles about building a deluxe sandwich and raises the milk carton towards me as if asking did I want a glass.
"No thanks Esme, but a cup of coffee would be nice," I say kindly.
"Oh that's new you didn't use to drink coffee dear" she exclaims.
"I do a lot of things I didn't use to do Esme, seven months is a long time in the life of a human, we grow and change constantly" I reply smiling at her as she hangs her head and lets out a puff of air as if she had been holding her breath.
"Bella sweetheart, you can never know how much I regret our leaving you, I can only say how sorry I am and how much I wished I had stood up for you and not followed Edward's decision blindly" she sobs.
"Ah yes, I wonder what exactly, your son told you all. That could have convinced you so completely, to up and go without a word or a thought towards me?" I enquire while finishing off my sandwich.
"Did he tell you how cruel and brutal he was in his farewell speech to me? How he traded on my insecurities and low self-esteem to demoralise and humiliate me? Or how he left me in the forest, to blunder about trying to follow after him so much so, that I got lost and was alone, unprotected out there in the rain for eight hours before one of the wolf-pack found me curled up in a ball on the ground, with hypothermia just getting a grip?" I demand.
By the sound of the gasps of horror and the noise of someone being thrown across the room coming from the lounge and the painful look on Esme's face, I got my answer.
"I didn't think so" was all I could say. "So I guess he lied to you as well, I'm starting to see a pattern here" I quip.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, after all, you've known him a lot longer than I, but, Edward seems to have two go to options. Run or retreating inside his own head, didn't anyone of you think that he might possibly be overreacting and doing both at once?" I ask her calmly.
"That he would believe his own skewed view on what was good for me, that it might make him do something stupid? No! Just me once again! Wow, you guys really have stopped thinking for yourselves, it's so unnatural, not to mention a little strange" I comment heatedly as I get up and wander into the main living area.
I could hear Esme sobbing in the kitchen and I know I was being cruel, but they were the ones who abandoned me, not the other way around.
"Whatcha playing Emmett?" I ask casually as I drop down onto the sofa beside him.
"Call of Duty" he replies,
"Black Op's?" I say hopefully.
"Hell Yeah" he shouts, okay then I thought and grab the spare controller of the coffee table.
"Let's do this" I challenge. An hour later having run circles around him he finally accepted defeat.
"How did you do that, even Jazz's can't manage that?" he demands to know.
"Ah, when all your closest friends are teenage boys you learn fast Em," I tell him laughing,
"What? Mike and co that would be an easy win" he scoffs,
"No Em the wolf pack, they play fast and dirty," I say laughing and then realise there was silence in the room apart from me chortling.
"You've been spending time with the pack? Do you realise how dangerous they are? You could have been hurt if they had lost their tempers! What on earth were you thinking to be around them!" roars Edward and the room collectively holds its breath as they realise just what the idiot has said.
"I beg your pardon, did I ask your opinion, in fact, I believe I was talking to Emmett" I retort rising to my feet and glaring at him. "Who I spend time with is my business Edward; it stopped being yours when you abandoned me in the forest. If you wanted me safe then you should never have left, so shut the hell up and think before you open your mouth again you ass" I respond in a low icy voice dripping with disdain. Esme let my cussing slide and I was glad she sees sense.
"I'm so sorry love, that's not how I meant it to sound, I was surprised that's all and worried for you" he tried to placate me and failed miserably.
Emmett growls at him and I swing around saying "Too late Em, the time to defend me was seven months ago when I thought you were my big brother who would defend me from all danger, even if the danger was your brother. But sadly no. This crap I can handle myself thanks". He drops his head and I know he's hurt but then so was I and much more than him.
"Well if you don't like the idea of me being around the wolves, then you're gonna love the fact that you left them to protect me from your mess," I tell them.
"What mess Bella? enquires Jasper.
"Oh, the two vampires who've been after me since you all left! You remember Victoria and Laurent; well Laurent is sadly no longer with us, but Vicky she just keeps coming back over and over and over again!" I let this nugget of information sink in before I finish by saying,
"Well this was fun, but us humans have stuff to do and it's time I was out of here, bye all".
They all sit stunned as I leave the house and get into my truck and then all hell breaks loose. I hear Jasper shouting at them and telling them how stupid they are and demanding to know why they never, ever listen to him, he had apparently warned them at the time of James' attack that Victoria would be trouble.
But as usual Edward and Alice had shot him down and Carlisle believed them once again. As I pull away I see a blonde streak flying through the forest, looks like Jasper's had a belly full of the Cullen's today. Me too JW, me too. I know I was being a bit of a bitch to them, but I need to say my piece and they need to hear it, warts and all. Now back to the real world, I have homework to do and a dreaded Trig test to revise for, Oh joy.