Unexpected
Disclaimer; all characters and copyright belong to SM.
A/N-thank you for the kind reviews! This chapter was written in collaboration with NIkkiB1973!
Chapter Seven-The Bitch and The Rude Cow
As soon as she knew that the boys were out of earshot, Leah pushed Bella against the wall of her small bedroom and glared at her. She was at least a foot taller than Bella, and with her athletic frame and less then endearing attitude, she came across as quite terrifying.
"I know you know something. So spill." She demanded.
Bella felt her own anger building up inside toward Leah. She was so sick of being intimidated by others. If she could handle a pack of werewolves, she could handle this angry chick.
"What is it you think that I know?" Bella retorted as she used all her strength to shove Leah to one side so she could gain some breathing room.
Leah seemed surprised that Bella was biting back. She frowned, her expression turning surly. "You've obviously been hanging around Sam and Jacob. So you must have seen who else Sam has been around." She tried to sound casual but failed as her breath got stuck in her throat.
There it was-the fear. Bella calmed down as she assessed Leah carefully. It was obvious that the older girl was panicking that Sam had found someone else. "It's all guys. I promise. I've seen no signs of other girls."
Leah relaxed her tense stance at this revelation, but she still looked far from friendly. "So why are you hanging around him then?"
"I'm not. Well not in the way you think." Bella was getting exasperated. She wasn't in the mood for twenty questions from Sam's jealous girlfriend. "It's Jake that I hang out with. Sam is just with him sometimes."
"What are they doing?"
"Ask him." Bella snapped.
"I'm asking you."
"Well I'm not answering."
"If you want to stay here you will." Leah threatened.
"I'm not trading barbs with you. Let me stay. Don't let me stay. I don't care." Bella said irritably. "But if I do stay here, then you can bet on your life that Jake will be around here practically every minute he's not busy. If he's here, then Sam will be here. In fact it will give you an opportunity to spy on him. So letting me stay feels like a win to me."
"Get over yourself." Leah scowled.
"Is that a yes?" Bella asked pointedly.
"It's a yes, bitch." Leah folded her arms and resumed glaring at Bella like she was an insect she would like to squash.
"Well, thank you very much, you rude cow." Bella answered with a cold smile.
"That went well." Jacob said cheerfully as he took the wheel of Bella's truck.
"You think?" Bella rolled her eyes as she concentrated on the road. She had wanted to drive but Jacob had been insistent that she let him have the driving seat, just in case they came across any vengeful vampires on the ride back to Forks.
"Leah agreed didn't she." Jacob reminded her, grinning.
"I wouldn't say agreed. It's not like she's letting me stay out of the goodness of her heart. It's so she can spy on Sam."
"Right." Jacob laughed.
"Why are you so damn cheerful?" Bella asked resentfully as she glanced in his direction.
"Because I like the idea of you living just down the road from me." Jacob nudged his shoulder against hers as he continued to drive. "We'll be neighbours. And with March madness still going on Billy and Harry can manage to keep Charlie on the res when he's not at work."
"You can be so weird, Jake." Bella flashed him a grudging smile.
"I've learned from the master." Jacob winked at her playfully in return.
Charlie was waiting in the driveway when Jacob parked the old Chevy behind the cruiser. He did not look happy.
"Something's bitten the chief on the ass." Jacob whispered to Bella as he switched off the loud rumbling engine.
"Shut up." Bella whispered back as she watched Charlie march over to her side of the truck. She wound her window down and forced a welcoming smile onto her face. "Hey, Dad."
"Don't you hey me, young lady. Where the hell have you been?" Charlie demanded angrily.
"I've been with Jake."
Charlie's narrowed eyes slid to Jacob. "I thought you said he was part of a gang and you two were fighting."
"We weren't fighting, Charlie." Jacob interjected. "We-"
"I was talking to my daughter." Charlie cut in. "The gang?" He prompted Bella.
"I got that wrong." Bella shrugged as if it was no big deal. "Who can understand teenage boys? They're all idiots."
"Hey!" Jacob protested.
Bella shot him an exasperated glance before smoothing her expression again. "I met Sam Uley and his girlfriend today."
"You met Leah?" Charlie raised his eyebrows in disbelief.
"She seems real nice."
"She does?" Charlie felt utterly bewildered. Never in a million years would he ever have thought Harry's feisty daughter and Bella would have anything in common.
"Yes, we got on so well that she's invited me to stay with her for a few days. Isn't that nice of her?" Bella's voice was so saccharine sweet that even Jacob was falling for her innocent act.
"Well I suppose." Charlie was floundering. He scratched the back of his neck. "It will do you good to spend time with another girl instead of falling apart over a boy again."
Jacob grinned as Bella's face turned a dull red.
"I was not falling apart over a boy." She hissed.
"Well you were sure upset that Jake here was ignoring you." Charlie paused as his keen gaze flicked to Jacob again. "You're not still contagious are you?"
"Contagious?" It took Jacob a minute to remember the excuse that Billy had fed to Charlie to explain his recent absence. "It turns out it wasn't mono after all. Just some random virus. I'm all good now."
"Well you better be." Charlie huffed. "I suppose you're coming inside."
"Uh, yeah, I said I'd help Bella pack her things." Jacob answered politely. The police chief was in a foul mood and he didn't want to press his buttons too much and get on his wrong side.
"You're not staying at the Clearwaters tonight?" Charlie asked Bella incredulously. "I have the night off. I thought we could watch the Mariner's game together."
Bella wondered what planet her father lived on sometimes. She knew she had been nagging him recently about spending quality time together-but that quality time didn't mean watching baseball.
"Um...I'll be sorry to miss that." She mumbled. "But I promised Leah, so..."
Charlie managed to look aggrieved for a whole two seconds before his face brightened. "Oh, well, a promise is a promise. I'll ask Harry and Billy over instead."
His foul mood seemed to have disappeared as he turned back toward the house and started whistling a jaunty tune. Bella expected him to break out into a happy dance.
"He could at least have kept up the pretence of being disappointed that I'd ditched his stupid game for at least a couple of minutes." Bella complained.
Jacob laughed at her glum expression. "Think of it as a lucky escape. It will give you longer to bond with Leah."
Bella gave him an ill-tempered glare as she climbed clumsily out of the truck and slammed the heavy iron door on him.
That night, as Bella lay awake on the camp bed that had been set up in Leah's room, she tried to sort through her tangled thoughts. It had been a long, emotionally draining day. She had woken up thinking she had lost Jacob to a cult, only to find out that cult actually comprised of a pack of werewolves- or rather shape shifting humans. She rolled onto her side and thought about Jacob and his brothers, out running in the darkness. She imagined the wolves, invisible in the night, guarding her and everyone else from danger.
"Bella." Leah's brittle voice disturbed her fragile peace.
"What?"
"Where did you meet Sam today?"
Bella sighed heavily and raised her head to look in Leah's direction. She could just make out the other girls shape in the darkness. "At Jacob's."
"So you were with hanging out with Jacob on your own?" Leah pressed.
"No, I came to visit Jake and Sam was there with the other guys. Can I go to sleep now?" Bella said testily as she rested her head on the pillow.
"I know you know more than you're letting on." Leah accused bitterly. "If I find out-"
"Good night, Leah." Bella cut her off sharply.
"This isn't over, bitch." Leah said in warning.
"It is for me. Sweet dreams, you rude cow." Bella pulled the covers over her head as she heard Leah mutter profanities under her breath in retaliation.
Soon she drifted off into a deep sleep, and this time when she dreamed, she wasn't haunted by nightmares about Edward abandoning her in the forest. Instead she found herself holding onto Leah's hand underneath the heavy boughs of the trees as they faced into the shadows and waited anxiously for their werewolves to come home.
A/N-thanks for reading!