Chapter 4:
They call everyone to get around the fire when it gets dark. A little girl named Abigail pulls me and urges me to sit beside her. I do, and I see her best friend, Lizzie, pulling Embry with her. She orders Embry to sit beside me and she gets in his lap and Abigail gets in my lap as well. I smile to Embry trying to avoid contact with Jake.
Quil comes over with Claire, "Mind if Claire bear and me join you guys?" I shake my head and he sits beside me.
Billy tells stories and I don't look away from him except to look at Embry, Quil, or the three girls. Abigail pulls on my arm to get my attention. I look down to her and meet her rare, blue eyes. "Braid my hair," she whispers to me. I nod and she smiles and turns back to Billy. I run my fingers through her long, black hair and begin to braid it. When I finish I take the hair tie from around my wrist and I twist it at the end of the braid.
When Abigail knows I'm done she leans into me, her back against my chest. The stories last longer than usual. I had already heard them all. Abigail moves in my arms, her head turns to the side a bit and the side of her head leans against my chest. I look over and see Lizzie listening excitedly and Embry isn't really paying attention, he seems to be somewhere else right now.
The stories finally end and Embry looks over to me and mouths Thank god. I giggle a little. Billy can get caught up in a story, and sometimes I got really into them as well, but not tonight. Embry smiles to me, "Looks like we've got a sleeper." I look to him, confused, but then I watch his eyes drop to a still Abigail. Lizzie had jumped out of Embry's arms when the story ended and went to her parents. Abigail still sat in my arms.
I smile and I gently turn her toward me so I can carry her. I ask Embry to help me stand, he does and then he starts a deep conversation with Quil, who had taken Claire back before the last story started. I step away, carrying Abigail and I spot her mother talking to other women on the other side of the fire. I walk over to her and I hand Abigail to her. Her mother smiles to me and mouths a thank you. I smile and nod. Sam catches my eye when I see that he has someone cornered. I quietly walk over there and stay out of sight.
"You kissed her!" Sam's voice is filled with anger and almost makes me want to quiver. "And now Bella's here? What are you thinking?"
"She kind of invited me over to Charlie's spur of the moment. She said she wanted to spend more time with me since she doesn't think she'll ever see me after… you know…she changes. I couldn't turn her down." Jake says.
"Yes you could have." Sam spits.
"She practically begged me Sam. And I figure, I don't have that much time with her left. If she really wants to see me, why should I fight so hard to try to resist her?" Jake says.
"If you had no intention of moving on, why did you kiss Leah?" Sam asks.
I step out and Sam's sympathetic eyes look to me. "I was wondering the same thing actually." I say and Jake looks to me. Sam releases his grip on Jake and Jake rushes toward me. Jake tries to touch me but I pull away. "Don't touch me," I softly say and he tries again, "Don't touch me Jacob!" Everyone around us goes quiet and I feel eyes on me. My eyes begin to burn like I'm about to cry. Billy gets everyone to not pay attention to us. "I don't want to play your games anymore Jacob. I don't want you to tell me how much I mean to you when really it's all a lie." I say he reaches for me again; his eyes hold pain and regret. Just in time, Bella reaches us. She stands beside Jake watching to see what he's going to do. Her eyes don't look at him innocently, they don't look at him like she's engaged. I try not to tremble when every wolf instinct inside of me is yelling at me to. "The only person you've ever cared about is her," I say and point to Bella disgustingly. "And that's the way she wants it. She wants you to be her loyal puppy, her backup plan. That's all you'll ever be Jake, a backup plan. So I hope you two are happy together." I glare at them.
"You don't know what you are talking about," Bella says. I tremble. I watch as Jake pushes her back a little, he never misses anything, except when he misses absolutely everything. Bella suddenly gains courage and moves forward. "I love Jake. You are just upset that no one has ever loved you enough. Jake's not the backup plan, you are."
"Bella…" Jake warns.
"Sam left you to be with Emily. Now, Jake's not choosing you. You are the backup plan Leah. That's all you will ever be." Bella says and her words echo in my head over and over again. I tremble faster and faster. Warm arms wrap around me and I notice that Sam is holding me.
"Jake!" He raises his voice.
But Bella continues. "You have no right to judge me Leah. You've made the whole pack suffer through your pain. You are worse than me, so don't judge me or talk about how much I torture Jake." I tremble more and more as her words surround me and they continue to spin in my head. My eyes burn and my vision blurs.
"Bella stop!" Jake's voice is raised. "I'm going to take you home." He says and I watch his shape lead her away. I catch her smirk on her face as she walks away. Sam rubs my back gently and holds me tighter.
I hear someone run up to us. "Sorry, Billy held us back. What happened? What's wrong with Leah? Why is she trembling?" Embry's voice sounds so worried. I want to tell him that I'm fine, but I can't find my words. Sam gently passes me into Embry's arms.
"Bella went off on her. She said some horrible things. Embry, can you take her home? I'm going to talk to Jake when he gets back." Sam says.
I guess Embry said he would because he leads me towards my house. When we get far from everyone and are almost home my knees collapse on the street and I almost fall but Embry catches me in his arms. I pull him close to me and I begin to cry the tears I've been holding in. I didn't want to believe Bella, but I knew everything she said was true. Her words spin around me and I cry and I tremble and Embry holds me close as I cry into his chest, dampening his shirt with my tears.