Chapter Three
"Alright, Bella! Do you want a piggyback ride to the beach? Or do you want the boring, old-fashioned I carry you in my arms ride to the beach?" Jake asks me. I look up at him from my book. Right now, I am laying down on the couch in my parents living room while everyone else is getting the food ready to be transported to the beach. My mom had handed me my favorite book, Wuthering Heights, after Jake had laid me down on the couch. So, basically it's been a productive afternoon for everyone else, and I've been laying on the couch.
"No piggyback rides, Jacob Black! She barely has any strength to sit up, therefore she can't hold onto you. Now, pick her up, and let's go," Leah, my sister, says after she walks through the front door.
"Hey, Leelee," I say, straining to sit up.
"Hey, Bella. Stop hurting yourself, I'm coming to give you a hug. And then I will carefully watch Jacob carry you down to the beach. I'm warning you, Jake, you drop her and your dead," Leah threatens. Jake puts his hands up in surrender and walks into the kitchen, muttering things under his breath.
"Where are you going? You need to carry her!" Leah says, following Jacob.
"Well, either I carry her and you kill me, or I don't and you kill me. Which one is it? 'Cause I prefer neither," Jake says, walking back over to me.
"I didn't say that. I said if you drop her, then I would kill you. There's a difference. Now, if you don't hurry up, I will kill you. I don't want that Katie bitch to steal Quil. And yes, Jacob, I will be seeing Quil, so shut your mouth. Deal with it. He sounds like a great guy! And I don't care if he hasn't had a girlfriend yet! As if that's true! Now, hurry up!" Leah exclaims loudly, and then walks out the door. Well, that was interesting.
"What do you think she did in Europe to make her like this?" Jacob asks, shifting my into his arms.
"I have no idea," I say, wrapping my arms around his neck.
"And she said she's getting together with Quil. I don't know how or why she would choose him of all people," Jake says. I give him a questioning look. "Quil is the complete opposite from Sam."
"Well, she doesn't need to date another Sam. This is good for her. She needs change. Maybe with Quil, she will be happy. And she could probably leave this town," I say. Jake snorts, apparently not believing me.
For whatever reason, he always seems disappointed and annoyed whenever I mention leaving La Push. I mean like, who doesn't? It's a small reservation with an equally as small town just fifteen minutes away. It's an hour and half, give or take, to the nearest mall. Everybody knows everybody and everything about every person. That's why I go to a college outside of La Push. Well, it's more like outside of Washington and down a few states. And I guess I can't go back to UCLA for awhile because of my cancer. Well isn't cancer a wonderful thing? Anyways, back to the matter that I was ranting about. La Push is a small place. It's not a bad thing that people might want to leave.
"So, how are you? How is the chemo treating you?" Jake asks, glancing down at me.
"Well, let's see. I feel nauseous, weak, cold, tired. Basically everything the doctor said it might cause," I say, yawning a little.
"I can tell you right now that Leah has set up a little lounging area for you to sit and rest on. You'll be comfortable. And you don't have every side effect, Bella. You still have your hair," Jake says, the corner of his lips twitching.
"It's only the first round of chemotherapy. It's going to take awhile for my hair to fall out," I mutter, scowling.
"Don't be so negative. How about this, Seth and I will take pictures of you when you still have hair. You will never know when we will, so it could be a surprise or it could not be. And then we will still take pictures as you are losing your hair. And then still take them as you are bald. Then we can put it all in a scrapbook and call it The Life of Isabella Marie Swan's Hair," Jake says. I smile at that. Jake always finds a way to make me smile.
"Jake! Over here! You can put her over here! It's near the fire and where everyone else will be, so she won't feel so left out. Now come on, set her down and then let's go get her some food," Leah yells over.
I glance over at Leah, annoyed.
"You do realize that the 'she' you guys are talking about is right here?" I say, pointing to myself.
"Shut up, Bella. Let us take care of you for once," Leah says. I stick my tongue out at her.
"Bella," my dad says sternly.
"What?" I ask innocently.
"You know what," he says, giving me one of his small smiles. I huff, and cross my arms.
"Ouch!" I yelp when Seth jumps into my pile of blankets and pillows. His head lands hard on my lap, and it hurts.
"Seth!" Leah says, hitting him with a pillow. Seth cowers away from her, grabbing his own pillow and using it as a shield. They start a little pillow fight over my head, and I try to move out of the way when I feel strong hands grab me. Squealing, I turn around to see who had grabbed me. I am met with chocolate brown eyes…
"Hey, I thought you needed some rescuing from these two dogs over here," Paul says, tossing his head to my two pillow-fighting siblings.
"Well, thank you, Paul. Though I was kind of hoping that you would be a very handsome guy who was not a hothead," I say, smirking at him.
"Someone like me?" A voice says behind me. Glancing over my shoulder, I see a very tall and muscular guy. He has dark brown curly hair and narrow, caramel eyes. His skin is that native color, though slightly darker, probably from exposure to the sun. He's wearing a short-sleeved button down green T-shirt with black shorts; his feet are bare. My eyes are drawn to a darker patch of skin that are seen just below the sleeve of his shirt. I nod my head at it. "I guess you already have the signature tattoo that all of the guys seem to have, Quil," I say.
"Oh, yeah. The boys grabbed me and strapped me down to a wooden table and had their way with me all within the first five minutes I stepped onto La Push," Quil joked. I wasn't sure if it was Quil, but that comment just confirmed it.
"Yes, well, those tattoos are something special apparently. However, some people in La Push believe that it is a sign of a gang. But there are girls who just love them, so you might have some screaming fan girls to run from in the near future," I reply. Quil smiles wide at that comment.
"I don't mind that. I'm just wondering if you will be a part of that fan club," Quil smirks.
"Do I seem to be drooling over you at this moment?" I question.
"No, but what does that have anything to do with it?" Quil replys, furrowing his busy dark eyebrows.
"It gives you an answer," I say, smiling up at him. It takes Quil a moment to understood, and when he does, he frowns.
"Bummer. You seem like a cool gal," Quil says sadly.
"Don't you dare go to try to get in Bella's pants dude. I will personally murder you and get our bros to help me hide the body. Some of them might help kill you," Jake says, coming up and slapping Quil on the back.
"Hey man, what you doing? Would you really go against your own family? That hurts man," Quil says, taking a step back and pretending to cry. I giggle at that.
"Well, Bella is family too. Especially right now," Jake says, taking a step toward me and placing an arm around my shoulders.
"Especially right now? What, is she pregnant or something?" Quil jokes, laughing. Niether Jake nor I say anything, and I can feel the prick of tears in my eyes. I curse myself. Now is not the time to be crying. I can see the change in Quil instantly; gone is the joking, laughing, carefree boy in front of me. Now, Quil looks serious, more grown up.
"I'm sorry for saying that. I can tell it's a lot more, um, it's more than that. You guys don't have to tell me now. But how about we get Bella some food and I get to know her on a friendly bases?" Quil says, trying to lighten the mood.
"Oh, yeah. I put your food on the little wooden table where you were sitting, Bella," Jake says, leaning down and swishing me up into his arms. I hit him across his chest.
"JACOB! You know that I don't like it when you do that," I say, unable to keep the laugh out of my voice. Jake just laughs as her carries me back over to my area and sets me down. He sits down right next to me and Quil sits across from me amongst the dark purple pillows. I glance over to my right to see that Seth and Leah are still having a pillow battle against each other, completely oblivious to what is going on around them.
"So, tell me, why on earth are you here?" Jake says, stuffing a hot dog in his mouth. I stare at him shocked that he can fit the whole thing in his mouth.
"Well, I heard that there was a job offering in the police department. I just got laid off in LA cause they closed the office that I was working at. My dad told me that Charlie was looking for a new officer, so I decided to move Embry and I up here," Quil explains. That confuses me.
"Wait, was it only your decision to move here or did Embry have a choice in this matter?" I ask, not really knowing why I am so bothered with this.
"I told Embry that I was moving and asked if he wanted to come. He said yes, and now here we are. Carly wasn't very happy though. She threw a rock or two at our place and a couple of windows broke. I've always known she was bat-shit crazy and I've been telling Embry to end it with her for months. He just wouldn't listen. Especially when she told him she was pregnant and he had her move in with us. That drove me insane. When Embry told her that we were moving, he asked her to come with us. She freaked out ad said that she would never move to La Push, Washington. And then Embry brought up the baby and she just lost it. Said it wasn't even his, that it was John's. That caused Embry to freak out, but it got his head on straight. So, then we packed up all of our stuff, sold the apartment, and we came here. End of story," Quil tells us, completely calm. Jake and I have both of our mouths open.
"Wait, who is John?" I ask.
"Well, he was Embry's best friend. They were college roommates and they got really close. But I guess they were not as close as Embry thought."
"Speaking of Embry, where is he? I haven't seen him around here yet," Jake mumbles, looking around us.
"He's somewhere. You know Embry, always wondering around," Quil says, finishing the food on his plate. I'm not even halfway done, but I can't eat anymore. I feel sick, so I push my plate away from me. Of course, Jake notices.
"Bella you have to eat," Jake says, pulling the plate back.
"No, I feel sick," I say, pushing it away.
"The doctor said you have to eat, Bella. Even if you feel sick, you have to eat. You have to keep your strength up. Come on, eat," Jake says, holding a green grape between his thumb and forefinger. I shake my head.
"Doctor? Jake, man, what is going on with her?" Quil asks, looking really concerned.
"Eat," Jake commands, ignoring him.
"I don't wa-" I say, but then Jake puts the grape in my mouth. I glare at him, and he gives me a stern look.
Quil is looking back and forth between Jake and I, clearly confused. I feel bad for him, but I really don't want to say anything. I've had enough pity for one day, and I don't want to ruin tonight. Everyone is having so much fun, and I don't want to end that.
"Will one of you please tell me what's going on?" Quil asks, his voice wavering. I shake my head at Jake, but he does the same as everyone else. Tells Quil the secret that is my right to tell.
"Bella was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer this week," Jake says. Quil's eyes widen as he looks at me.