Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
A/N: Just in case it wasn't made clear, months have passed. It is now March. At the end of chapter 5 there was a time skip of sorts. Like how Stephenie just passed the months by in New Moon? I didn't think it was clear with how I wrote chapter six. Enjoy this chapter: I had a fun time writing it. You can find me on twitter for story news and just random inputs about my life. (MariWright is my username.)
Massacre
Chapter Seven
The day went by quickly with very little conflict. Bella was relatively silent - speaking as little as possible and refraining herself from raising her hand in class. Angela had picked up on her behavior and did what she could to help. Though she couldn't force Bella to talk, she always touched Bella's arm when she was thinking dangerous thoughts and brought her back to the present. For this, Bella was grateful.
When she got home, Bella had gone through the motions: cook dinner, do her homework, shower, and go to bed. There were significant changes to the routine, though, like the chatter between Charlie and herself. Charlie seemed to have noticed her mood as well, but did not push it.
That night she'd had terrible dreams about how the movie could go. What if Jake made a move? What was she to do then? She shuddered continuously (even after the dreams) at Jacob's imagined hurt expression.
The next school day went the same way, except there was far more conflict. Jessica and Lauren, thinking they had caused the change, gloated and spat insults the whole day, to the point where they physically pushed Bella from her seat with Angela onto the floor. Bella had, embarrassingly, fought back, both with words and a sharp slap to Lauren's cheek after a particularly nasty comment about her family. The rest of the day had been a flurry of phone calls, talks with the principal, and finally an early dismissal.
Charlie had only admonished Bella for fighting back - Jessica and Lauren would have been more severely punished if she hadn't. He was angry that she'd lied about how school was going, and also that it had come to this. The principal had let her off with helping in the cafeteria for a week, since this had been Bella's first (and hopefully, only) offense. Lauren and Jessica would spend the week in detention.
When Bella got home (at 1:00) she'd gone right up to bed, hoping to sleep off the nightmare of a day. Instead she'd been greeted with more nightmares of the impending movie. It would be in only five short hours.
She'd eaten a light meal, then she'd taken another shower. She wasn't sure how to dress. She wanted the outfit to read that it wasn't a date. She pulled on some jeans and a purple sweater and hope Jacob didn't interpret it differently.
Seemingly minutes later there was a knock at her door and she swallowed back her fear and walked towards the door.
Jacob gave her a huge grin when she opened the door. "Hey,"
Bella tried to give him a timid smile in return, but her mouth didn't want to follow directions. She was pretty sure it was a frown. Maybe that was best; maybe it would discourage Jacob.
He reached for her arm and pulled her into a tight hug. "Ready?"
Bella, shocked from the contact and scared for what it might entail, merely nodded and motioned towards Jacobs...car...thing.
As if reading her mind, he spoke, "Nice, huh? It's a Rabbit, I practically built it myself."
He puffed out his chest with his statement, obviously proud of himself. Bella wondered if he was trying to impress her or just being his normal self. She couldn't tell anymore.
"So..." She started, speaking for the first time the whole night, "What are we seeing?"
"I don't know, whatever you want."
"So if I chose some girly, mushy, romantic flick you'd sit through it?" Bella teased.
"Um, for twenty minutes, maybe. Then I'd lie and say I was going to the bathroom and go see something else instead."
Bella laughed. Things felt so normal with Jacob. It seemed like she'd worried for nothing. She'd missed her friend. They'd been so close before she'd...ditched basically everyone. She pushed down the guilt she felt and focused on the present.
"I think there's some gorefest out. Like Rising Zombie 3 or something." Bella said, pulling at the zipper of her coat. She wouldn't be able to sit through two hours of watching two actors walk through the motions of a relationship. They'd run into a snag or two, but in the end they'd be happy. It made her jealous to think of all the uncomplicated happy endings some people got, even if they were only characters in a movie.
The Rabbit started, it's engine rumbling loudly. Louder than her truck.
"Oh!" Bella suddenly remembered. "Jake, I did tell you about my truck?"
"Yup. I took a look at it when I got here." Jacob nodded towards her truck. It was parked just a few feet away. "It's dead, Bells."
Bella put her head in her hands dramatically. "No!" She stretched out the word. "But it was so young!"
"It was actually really old," Jacob said. Bella glared at him.
"It had character!" She hissed. "And it lasted damn long for a truck it's age!"
Jacob laughed at her over-dramatics. "Ah, Bells, you're so unlike those other girls."
Bella gulped, glancing away from Jacob's too-intense stare. "Um, thanks."
Jacob shrugged and put the Rabbit in reverse before peeling out of the driveway. "So, what kind of candy are you gonna get?"
"I refuse to pay the outrageous theatre-prices for candy. I just buy a soda."
"So damn stubborn," Jacob laughed.
"Oh, you don't know the half of it." Bella giggled. "I once stayed outside on my porch in Phoenix the whole night because my mom and I had a fight. I got eaten alive by bugs, and it was muggy as hell, but I stuck it out." Bella finished proudly.
"Nice. I once stayed in the ocean down at La Push beach for nine hours just to prove to Billy I could."
"Ah, stubbornness at it's best." Bella cheered.
"Or worst," Jacob added. "So, about the gorefest. I heard it has the addition of vampires." He snorted. "Ooh, so scary."
Bella had gone silent, the smile had dropped off of her face, and her back had turned rigid as soon as the word was out of Jacob's mouth. *Vampires.* Her vampires. The vampire family she was supposed to be a part of before they decided she wasn't good enough. Tears brimmed at her eyes and she held them back as best she could.
"What, Bells, got a fear of vamps?" Jacob questioned, noticing her change in mood.
"Something like that," Bella managed to choke out without her voice cracking.
"We won't see that one then. They changed the vampires anyway. They're not even ugly or scary. Quil saw it and said that the girl-vamps were smokin'."
Bella had stopped listening for her own safety. She stared ahead at the road. There wasn't much traffic today. But there wasn't really much traffic in Forks anyway. Most people just walked to their jobs to save gas money.
"Bells? Bella? Hello?" Jacob repeated.
"Sorry," Bella said, her voice monotone. "I zoned out for a bit. Why don't we see something else? I heard a new comedy was out...Adam Sandler is in it."
"I hate Adam Sandler." Jacob growled. "Everyone thinks he's so funny but he's not."
Bella just stared at him. "What's wrong with you? Adam Sandler is hilarious."
"Well I don't think so." Jacob squinted at the road. "What about that other horror movie, the sequel to that other one?"
"Are you talking about 'The Orphan'?" Bella asked. "That's not a sequel to anything."
"No the other one...um...'The Haunting of Connecticut'. Isn't that a sequel to 'The Haunting'?"
"Ooh, no it's not. It's supposedly based off of a real haunting."
"Oh. Then what about that other one, the one that got those great reviews?"
"'Drag Me to Hell'?" Bella shrugged. "Angela and Ben saw it, they said it was really scary."
Jacob didn't bother asking who Angela and Ben were. "Wanna see that? If it gets too scary you can hide in my jacket." Jacob teased.
"Please. If it gets too scary for *you,*" Bella started, looking around the car. Finding exactly what she wanted, she plucked Jacob's old blanket from the back seat and held it up, "You can hold your blankie."
"It's a blanket for when I slept in the Rabbit!" Jacob said defensively.
"You slept in your car?" Bella questioned.
"Well, yeah. When it was finished. Haven't you ever heard of people sleeping in their new cars?"
"Never in my life." Bella said. "Well, until now."
"Eh, I'm not surprised. It kills your back."
Bella laughed. "Alright, so we're seeing 'Drag Me to Hell,' right?"
"Yup!" Jacob said. "How about a bet? Whoever leaves the theatre-"
"Or has to cuddle with their blankie," Bella added, smirking.
Jacob ignored her jab and continued, "Whoever leaves the theatre in fear has to...buy the other person three boxes of candy."
"What if we both leave?"
"Then no one gets any candy." Jacob grinned.
Bella nodded, "Alright, Jake, you got yourself a bet."
"Sweet." Jacob stopped the car in front of the small Forks theatre. "We're here."
"Oh, God," Bella laughed, stepping out of the car, "I haven't been here in ages!"
"Really? I come here all the time. They have the best popcorn."
Bella followed him inside and swept her eyes over the old-theatre-style decorations. It smelled like butter, sugar, paper, and a slight undertone of dust.
She remember coming her all the time during the summers with Charlie. Back then they'd held all day movies or TV show screenings. Sundays were always 'The Three Stooges' and her and Charlie used to buy tons of candy and laugh for hours at the silly antics on the screen.
Bella squashed down the nostalgia she felt with the memory and instead paid attention to giving the clerk the money for her ticket.
"Hey, I could've got that," Jacob whined.
Bella had secretly paid to make it seem less like a date, but she couldn't tell Jake that. So she just fed him the I-can-pay-for-myself speech so they could just go find some seats.
When she walked into the screening room, Bella found it horribly empty. It seemed like they were the only ones there.
"Oh, sweet!" Jacob yelled happily. "We can get the best seats, dead middle!"
"Yeah." Bella sounded unenthusiastic to her own ears and she felt bad. She had been counting on the distractions of people on their cell phones, babies crying, little kids blurting things out, and parents quieting them with a 'shh!' Then again, she doubted there would be many children and babies at a horror film. But still. Where were the teenagers talking and laughing loudly? Where were the disgusting couples making out in the back?...On second thought, Bella was glad she wouldn't have to see any happy couples. She'd just focus solely on the movie and everything would be fine.
--
An hour into the movie, Bella realized how wrong she had been.
Even with the distraction of screams and people meeting their gory ends, she was painfully aware of Jacob's blatant staring. More than once he'd breach the line between 'platonic' and 'more than friends.' It was as if he was testing his limits.
Just as a women got pulled into darkness on the screen, Jacob lifted his arm and placed it around Bella. She immediately removed it. That must have brought him back to reality, right?
Wrong. He tried again and again. Eventually she was just getting angry. Was this boy blind? Could he not tell she didn't want his affections?
"Jake," Bella finally spoke up, "Stop it."
"But I thought...Since you came with me tonight..."
"Jake. I know you might have a crush on me," Bella blushed at the words, hating that she had to do this. "But I really don't feel the same way."
"Is it because of your ex?"
"No. Well, yes. But, Jake. You're like brother. And you deserve better than someone who's already broken. You deserve a pretty girl who lives on the reservation who'll know cars and give you her undivided attention." Bella took a deep breath. "I can't, Jake, I can't. And I'm sorry that I have to hurt you."
"Nah," Jake scratched the back of his head, looking more awkward than she'd ever seen him. "I shouldn't have pushed my luck. Can we stay friends?"
"It would be selfish of me," Bella started, looking down at the frayed edges of her seat, "to keep you around and know you were hurting."
"I can't lose you as a friend, too, Bells." Jake's voice quivered and Bella's resolve wavered.
"Fine." Bella relented. "But if I sense it's getting out of hand..."
"I know, I know," Jacob waved her words off as if they were just an annoying mosquito. "Sorry I ruined this."
"It's alright...At least we set things completely straight."
"That's for sure." Jacob rubbed his eyes tiredly, looking so much unlike the immature, spontaneous, optimistic boy he usually was. "I think maybe...I should take you home."
"Yeah, maybe..." Bella shrugged. "At least you won't have to buy me candy when you eventually run out of the movie like a little girl." She tried to bring the good mood back. Maybe they could salvage their friendship.
"Ha," Jacob snorted. "Please." Jacob looked towards the screen, "Why don't we at least finish our bet?"
"You're on."
--
About an hour later, Bella walked into her house, her wallet lighter. She'd run out of the theatre during a particularly bloody scene. Even her stubbornness couldn't quell the faintness she had felt.
After the movie had finished, Jacob had walked out with the biggest grin she'd ever seen. She'd gotten the satisfaction of seeing the grin fall when she'd bought three boxes of Jacob's least favorite candy.
She blew her breath out in a sigh, noticing that the light from the TV wasn't radiating from the living room. It was silent besides the light sound of the curtains brushing the windows. There was a pale, square piece of paper on the counter. She walked closer to it, examining it. Just the note Charlie had left before. When she squinted she could she faint outlines of letters on the back, so she flipped it over. Charlie had reused the paper for another note, one detailing that he would be pulling a late night at the station and to enjoy her night with Jake.
Bella crumpled up the note and threw it into the clear blue recycle bin she'd convinced Charlie to get a week ago. She trudged up the stairs to the bathroom, took a quick shower, and feel into bed. When her head hit the mattress and not her pillow, she sat back up. Flipping on her bedside lamp, she looked around. Had she kicked the pillow off the bed during her nap?
Looking at the floor around her bed, she didn't find her pillow. She rifled through her closet and even went as far as to check the bathroom and then the living room. Still no pillow.
Maybe Charlie had thrown it out? Had she put it in the wash to rid it of any unwanted scents? She didn't remember doing any of that. She grabbed another another pillow and placed it under her head. It was uncomfortable, her being used to the other pillow, but she would make due.
