Chapter 4: Risky Business

Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.

Thomas Jefferson


"Come on, Isabella," Alice begged. "It's a once in a lifetime thing!"

"Sure it is, Alice," I laughed. "There will never be another concert in my whole lifetime. Relax."

"Bella," Alice whined. She stopped short when I glared at her.

"I really don't have the money right now. And I don't want to fight Charlie about it either," I sighed. "He laid down some ground rules. I have a curfew – ten on a school night."

"Sneak out. Like he'd ever know," Emmett said with his arm slung around Rosalie's shoulders.

"Seriously, Emmett?" I asked incredulously.

"What?"

"I can't just walk out the door, and even if I could get out without him noticing, my truck would ruin any chance I had."

"So go out your window," he supplied. "We could pick you up."

"I live in a two story house." He continued to stare at me, not understanding. "Do you not remember that I sprained my ankle a few weeks ago? I was on the ground then, so could you imagine what would happen if I tried to climb out my window? I'd probably die!"

Everyone laughed. Even Cullen chuckled a bit.

"I'm sure Edward could bring over a ladder," Jasper snickered, nudging an elbow into Edward's ribs.

"Thanks, but no thanks. Besides, even if I could sneak out, I'd never be able to get in, I don't have my fake ID anymore."

"We're gonna have to work on that then." Emmett grinned at me.

"Well then, at least come out with us to the diner now," Alice said.

"I actually have plans already."

"We never get to see you outside of school," she grumbled.

"I do have other friends, Alice," I reminded her.

"Oh yeah… how could I forget," she replied sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, Alice. I had already made plans to hang out with Jake. I promise you can have me all weekend."

"Jake?" Alice questioned, as Cullen stopped walking with the group.

"Uh, yeah," I said, stopping and looking at Cullen who was staring over my shoulder at something.

The others stopped and Jasper clasped a hand on Cullen's shoulder, asking if he was all right. He gave no response, continuing to stare straight ahead with his fists clenched at his sides. I turned back to see what he was looking at. What I found brought a huge smile to my face. There, leaning against a black motorcycle, was Jacob.

"I've gotta go you guys. Have fun tonight. I'll see you tomorrow," I yelled over my shoulder.

I ran down the stairs – holding the railing, of course – and threw myself into his warm arms.

"What're you doing here?" I asked, laughing. "I thought I was supposed to meet you at your house."

"You were," he nodded. "But I though since the sun's out, you'd want to take a ride with me."

"Duh! You know I've been eyeing your bikes for a while now."

"I know. Hence, me here with the bike." He smiled. "What are you waiting for? Get on."

I moved to climb on, but hesitated, remembering something.

"What about my truck?"

"I can drop you off back here when we're done. Don't worry about it."

"Okay," I grinned, throwing my leg over the seat.

Jacob started the bike up, the engine snarling loudly as he revved it. My grin grew even wider with excitement.

"Ready?" He asked, turning his head sideways to briefly look at me. I nodded against his shoulder and tightened my arms around his waist. I felt his body rumble with laughter as the bike began to move. "Hang on."

I did as he told me. We rounded out of the parking lot, creating a lot of noise. I looked back to see everyone staring, excluding my group of friends. Just before they went out of view, I saw Cullen visibly angry, arms waving around. Alice was clearly trying to calm him down as she grabbed his arm. I couldn't make out the others' expressions.

It was weird. Even in the short amount of time I'd been in Forks, I had never once seen him respond like he was – so much anger. I mean, he did have moments where he was short with me and snapped, but he was never this outwardly angry. Though he still didn't seem to like me and I though he was a jerk, we began to act more civilly with each other. We had to due to the close friendship I formed with his twin sister. Today, Edward seemed to be in a fine mood. What had happened in such a short amount of time? Was it something I did or said? I couldn't think of anything. Maybe he just honestly did not like me.

My thoughts shifted to how cold it was outside as we approached the reservation. At least it wasn't raining. Even with the sun out, it was still freezing. I was glad that Jacob provided a little warmth. My eyes grew dry and my face stung from the chilling temperatures, so I buried my face into his back.

"You okay back there?"

"I'm great," I replied in his ear.

"That's good. We're almost to my house."

"I know, Jake. It's not like I haven't been here almost everyday for the past few weeks," I said, rolling my eyes.

He shook his head in response as we came to a stop. Shakily, I climbed off the bike and made my way over to the porch steps. I threw my bag down beside us, happy to relieve myself of the extra weight.

"So what are we gonna do today?"

"Well, you can finally meet my friend, Sam, and his girlfriend, Emily. If you'd like?"

"Today? Really?"

"Yeah, but not until later," Jacob said.

"Sure." I smiled. "What should we do in the meantime?"

"We could hang out at the beach, if you want."

I scrunched up my face. We had been to the beach so much lately; I was growing sick of it.

"Or not," he added. "What about… uh, just hanging out and watching a movie or something?"

"Jake, I could do that at my house. Find something else to do," I demanded playfully.

"Dang, Isabella. Why'd you have to go and ruin my plans of making out with you?"

I smiled, rolling my eyes, "Who said we were going to be making out?"

"I said so." He smirked at me.

"Maybe later… if you're lucky. Why don't we go cliff diving, like you mentioned the other day?"

"Nah. It's too cold out right now. We'd freeze to death."

"Okay. Well, how about we ride your bikes some?" I suggested.

"You don't even know how to work one."

"It can't be that hard, Jake. Come on. You can teach me," I said, nudging his shoulder with my own.

"Fine. I guess we can do that," he replied teasingly.

He followed me out to his garage where we grabbed his second motorcycle and wheeled it out to the one we rode on earlier. He grabbed that one and pushed it alongside me to the road. As we walked, he gave me a quick lesson on the basics – brakes, gas, clutch, etc.

"So you hang out with the Cullens when I'm not around?" Jacob asked, trying to sound indifferent.

"Yeah. Alice is like the closest thing I have to a best friend here."

"What about her brother? You guys friends?" I could hear the strain in his voice.

"Definitely not. We just happen to hang out with the same people. So you know them?"

"Yeah. Haven't you figured it out yet? Everyone knows everyone around here."

I smiled sheepishly as the blood rushed to my face. Of course I already knew that. I was only asking because I got the vibe that he didn't really like them. Well… at least Edward.

We came to a stop when Jacob deemed it would be a good place to practice. I couldn't jumpstart the bike myself so Jacob helped me. He asked me to point out where the break and clutch were and a few other questions to determine if I was listening the first time around. Once I got everything correct, he set me free.

The first few tries were a little shaky, but then I began to get the hang of it. He coached me every now and then as he watched me. This went on for about two hours before Jacob pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. Apparently, someone was calling him because he took one look at the screen before he flipped it open and began talking.

"Hey. Yeah… it's just me and Isabella… right… we'll be there soon," he said, snapping the phone shut and thrusting it back into his pocket.

"Was that Sam?" I asked with anticipation.

"Yeah. We have to go. He's waiting on us. Do you feel comfortable enough to ride that over there?"

"Sure. No problem. Let's go."

We took off, Jacob leading me to our destination. The thrill I felt while riding was amazing. It was so freeing and felt like I was flying… kind of. It was colder, not having Jacob's body to protect me from the sharp, stinging air. I didn't care though. I smiled shakily as I let the bike accelerate to keep up with Jacob.

I didn't see him signal at me to slow down, so I flew past him. He yelled out at me, but I couldn't make out what he said. I slammed on my brakes when I saw the road curve. Big mistake. The handlebars jerked violently from side to side. I tried to correct, but suddenly I was no longer on the bike and was actually flying through the air. I screamed Jacob's name, but it was useless – he couldn't prevent my impending doom.

As I hit the ground, the air left my lungs from impact. My body continued to hurtle forward as if I was still riding the bike. My head slammed into something hard and I was lost in darkness immediately.

My head pounded and I winced internally. I felt nauseated from the dizziness that accompanied the pounding, even with my eyes still shut. A warm trickle down my face caused me to open my eyes. I could hear Jacob yelling, though I was not processing the words he was saying. His mouth seemed to be moving faster than the words I was hearing. It was only adding to the immense dizziness I was currently feeling so I let my eyes fall shut, with the hope that this would offer me some peace.

"No! Isabella, you have to stay awake," Jacob said, causing me to open my eyes again. "Just keep looking at me."

I struggled to keep my eyes open and on him. Jacob looked around, panicked, and yelled out. I felt an added pressure to my head, which caused me to close my eyes from the pain.

"Isabella!"

My eyes slowly opened and there were a few figures standing around me. I could barely hear their voices; there was a loud ringing in my ears.

"What the fuck happened, Jake?" A deep voice asked.

"She slammed on the brakes."

"Why the fuck did she do that?"

"She didn't know. Today was the first day she's ever ridden on one. Don't look at me that way. I was teaching her when you called."

"She needs to stay awake, Jacob," a soft voice stated.

"Isabella. Come on… stay awake. Can you guys take us to the hospital?"

"Yeah."

I felt my body being lifted and became even more nauseated. The rocking feeling only lasted for a minute before we were in the backseat of a little car.

"Emily, can you grab a towel? My shirt is soaked," Jacob's voice said.

The pressure on my head lifted for a second before it was replaced.

"How are you doing, Isabella? Can you talk to me?"

"Jake," I rasped. "I feel like shit."

"I know. Just hold on. We'll be at the hospital soon."

"I'm tired, Jake. I want to sleep."

"You can't. We need you to stay awake. At least until a doctor sees you."

I was falling back into a state of unconsciousness, so Jacob had me continue to answer his bizarre questions. Within fifteen minutes, we arrived at the hospital. I was whisked out of the car and onto a gurney.

Before anyone could ask another series of questions, I became violently ill in the hallway. I was immediately put into a room and morphine was making its way into my system. I was feeling the same was I had when I had woken up – the pounding, the dizziness, and the nauseated feeling were still present – but the medication made me feel goofy and tired. My heart rate and blood pressure were being monitored electronically.

Jacob walked in, sitting beside the gurney and kept apologizing. I ignored him, marveling at the weird sensations. The doctor walked in after about five minutes.

"Isabella, back so soon?"

I grinned goofily up at Dr. Cullen.

"Apparently."

He smiled slightly, before asking, "Can you tell me what happened?"

I scrunched my nose, trying to recall what happened, what had caused me this pain.

"I… I don't know. I can't remember," I replied, looking to Jacob. He would know.

"Um, we were riding some of my motorcycles out on the reservation and she tried to stop quickly. She lost control and fell off. She slammed her head into the trunk of a tree," he relayed quickly and quietly, as Dr. Cullen began to examine me.

"Do you have a headache, dizziness, or nausea?"

"Yeah. All those things."

He pulled a little flashlight out of his pocket, shinning it into each of my eyes.

"Do you have any ringing in the ears?"

"Yes," I replied.

"I need to look at your forehead now. It may be a little painful, but I'll try to be quick."

"Okay," I said, as Jacob grasped my hand in his.

I tried not to wince as he poked and prodded at my forehead. After a minute, he withdrew his hands and pushed his swivel chair away.

"You're going to need a few stitches for that gash," he said. "And I want to keep you here over night for observation. Do you know a number where I can reach your father?"

"Um…"

Jacob saved me by rattling off a number and I smiled at him gratefully. Dr. Cullen's assistant came in, setting up a sterile tray. He pulled the tray closer to the two of us and set to work.

"Hey doc?"

He paused, looking me in the eyes. He didn't say anything so I continued.

"I've always like playing doctor," I winked. Or at least I think I did.

He let out a soft laugh, shaking his head slightly.

"Has anyone ever told you how handsome you are?"

"Yes, actually. My wife tells me everyday," he laughed.

I giggled in response.

"Tell her she's lucky to have you. You're a good guy, Dr. Cullen. Everyone says so," I told him, matter-of-factly.

"Everyone?"

"Yes, especially my dad. Shit. He's going to be so pissed when he finds out I was riding a motorcycle. I'm so fucked," I muttered. "Sorry. That just sort of slipped out," I muttered.

He didn't comment on it, instead saying that he was all done and that my father would be contacted while I was put into another room.

"Thanks, doc." He nodded before leaving the room.

Jacob told me that he would stay with me until Charlie showed up, which I thanked him for. I apologized for ruining his night.

"Isabella, it's okay. I'm just glad that you're okay. Well, you will be."

I nodded. "I know, but still… and Sam. Is he pissed?"

"Eh. He's not pissed at you. He understands that shit happens," Jacob sighed.

"Okay…"

"You should rest. Dr. Cullen said you'd be okay to sleep now."

"Yeah. Okay," I said, settling back into the hospital bed, closing my eyes.

"Goodnight."

I woke up sometime later. Jacob was gone and in his chair, Charlie sat looking distraught.

"Dad. Hi."

His head snapped up immediately, eyes meeting mine.

"Don't you ever do that to me again! You scared me half to death."

"Sorry. I promise I won't."

"What the hell were you thinking, Isabella? A motorcycle?"

"They looked fun. It was fun until I crashed."

"You promised me that you would never ride a motorcycle."

"Dad." I gave him a look. "I was eight when you made me promise that."

"I've seen so many motorcycle accidents, none as lucky as you were today. I thought you would have at least known to wear a helmet," he replied, shaking his head.

I felt guilty for making him worry like he was. I honestly didn't think about how he would react. I didn't think at all.

"I'm tired, Dad," I said, not knowing what else to say.

"Go back to sleep. I'll be here while you sleep."

"Sure. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Isabella," he said, kissing me on the forehead, opposite of my stitches.

Finally, Charlie was beginning to open his eyes to the kind of person I am – the unintentional hurt I brought to each person I came into contact with. Little did he know of what was to come, what more I was capable of…