It was nice seeing Jake again. As long as Alice or her family weren't mentioned he seemed happy. We had a good catch up and spoke a lot about what we had been doing over the last few weeks. He showed me a car that he was working on, and old VW Rabbit. It seemed to be coming along pretty well, but as far as nice cars go, it wasn't my style. Jake was pleased with it though so that's all that mattered.
Alice had been back and to from Forks to wherever Maria and Jasper were. She never told me where they were; I guessed because she didn't want me driving there myself. She would spend about a week there and always seem very distracted when she came back. I had asked her plenty of times if everything was okay, to which she answered yes. I didn't believe her. All the time that she was in Forks she spent with me. I hadn't seen any of her other family for weeks and my worst nightmares were confirmed when I realised they had all been taken off the register at school. I was upset and angry with Alice, why didn't she tell me this? She must have known that I would of course find out, but maybe there were more important issues than this at the moment. I wondered if Maria and Jasper had gotten into any sort of trouble but Alice would give me no real indication as to which answer was the correct one. The last time I had seen Alice I was pretty angry with her to say the least, so I had stormed off to Jake's.
I didn't mention any of this to Jake, but he could tell that something was up with me. I tried to forget about what was happening with Alice when I was with Jake, but it was always playing at the back of my mind. A couple of Jake's friends had shown up every so often that I was there, and it was nice to see some of Jake's other friends, although they were all guys and convinced I was his girlfriend. It made us laugh a lot, but gave Jake a reason to wrestle with them which he was very good at. I always bet on Jake winning, and I almost always won. Jake was certainly strong for his age, and tall. He reminded me of a human Emmett. Trying to picture Emmett as a human was very hard. He had a very `vampire` look about him, and I imagined he still looked quite threatening even as a human. Jake on the other hand was not so threatening to look at. He had a very young face and a childish grin to go with it. The fact that he had his hair long also made him look younger and I constantly tried to convince him to cut it all off; something which he said he would never do. His friends also had quite long hair, so I guessed that it was something to do with his background.
Charlie was pleased that I was spending more time with Jake. It was something he had tried to get me to do for a long time, but explaining to him about the incompatibility between Jake and Alice was something he could never know, so I just said that we had grown apart in the years and were now getting better.
Alice didn't mind that I was spending time with Jake. She was glad that he was there for me when she wasn't, but I told her that I don't need to be babysat twenty-four seven. Since leaving and coming back she had gotten a lot more protective over me. It was nice at first but I did also want her to back off a little. I still loved her so much, and this wouldn't change anything, but her going away so often was getting slightly annoying. It was only annoying because she wasn't telling me anything. I told her this but she still wouldn't tell me what was going on. She just wanted to spend time with me and not talk about Jasper and Maria whilst she was with me.
She usually came to visit me on sunny days, or when Charlie wasn't in so that it would give us more privacy. A couple of rainy days she came round and drove me into the city, shopping and all sorts whilst she could. Apart from me, the shopping was the thing she missed the most about not having somewhere definite to live. I asked her why she doesn't live in the house they used to live in but she just shrugged her shoulders and told me it was easier to stay where Jasper and Maria were. No reasons were given and she changed the subject quickly, but it didn't change her moods at all. She was still the bubbly, bright happy vampire I had fallen in love with. She seemed to be looking into the future a lot more these days, something which I noticed straight away. She always told me it was me she was looking out for, but I don't think it was me she saw.
After our long shopping trip in the city she went away, but this time she was away for at least two weeks. I let her go. It did, after all, give me more time to spend with my other friends. I really enjoyed their company and was definitely getting closer to them. I had spent a lot of time with Jessica and Angela. There had been new films released in the cinema every week so we went to see one a week. This was great fun and something I would keep doing even when Alice got back.
The time I had spent with Jake, however, was the time I had enjoyed the most. He was great company and I looked forward to seeing him every other day. The opposite was happening with Jake though; he seemed to be losing friends. His Rabbit had been finished for a few days and although it needed some finishing touches on it he took me for a ride. It seemed strange seeing Jake drive, but he was a very good driver. His heart is in bikes though, and I don't think he'll be doing any more work to any more cars. He drove me to a remote part of Forks, near the beach. He turned the engine off and was watching the people at the edge of the cliff. He told me that they were his old friends and Sam. He thought Sam was the main ringleader for something, but like me, he had no idea what that thing was. Jake said that they had been ditching school, ditching him and spending all their time with Sam. This made Jake worried, because Sam gave him a look, a look to say he would be joining his friends, something which Jake didn't want to do, but he was starting to wonder if he even had a choice. I could tell this really bothered him by the way he spoke about him. I could sympathise with Jake here, I knew exactly how it felt to be left in the dark by the people you love and trust.
The two weeks that Alice had been away had dragged like hell. I was so happy to see her again, and didn't realise how much I had missed her until I saw her. Alice suggested that we stayed at her house for the weekend. She said she could tell that Charlie was starting to get suspicious of us and she didn't want that.
Standing in Alice's room reminded me of the Prom night that we had spent together. It was a happy memory that I didn't want to ever forget, and wanted to replay many more times. Something which happened a lot over the weekend I spent with her.