Chapter 7: Call me Louis Lane

The throbbing in head had woken me up. But it was the ringing in my ears that reminded me where exactly I was. Jacob was standing over me, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. The words melted together. Then I smelt blood. The hot and irony smell made me choke, and I sat up.

Edward was proper up against a bookcase, Emmett and Jasper tending to his wound.

"Did you call an ambulance? Did you call the police?" I asked Jacob. My mouth was dry.

"Bella? Are you okay?" Jacob asked, frantic. "You know, this is why you don't skip school Ferris Bueller. This is why you don't stalk the creepy dude from high school."

"I know." I took a few deep breaths, trying to make the knot in my throat go away. Please don't start crying. Please don't start crying.

The bookstore's door opened, signaled by the tiny bell that hung the door. It was the other siblings, Alice and Rosalie. They walked in like something from the matrix – cool, calm and ready to take down all the ninja-assassins that would dare to cross their path. Alice walked towards me, and sat down, cross-legged next to me. Rosalie rushed to Edward.

"You're Bella, right?" Alice asked. Her angel-face was strangely comforting.

"Yes." I nodded. "This is Jacob." I motioned towards Jake, who was staring open-mouthed at the five Cullen children/models.

"Hey Jake. How do you feel, Bella? I heard you hit your head a bit."

I blinked a few times, trying to remember exactly what happened. "Yeah. It all happened so fast." I looked at Jake. "Did you call an ambulance? The police?"

Jake looked at Edward, who looked very calm and healthy for someone who had just been shot. "No, Bells. They were adamant that we not do that."

"What?"

"Yeah. They were kind of weird about it." Jake looked freaked out. "I think we should just go and –"

"No, silly." Alice interrupted. "We have to make sure you're okay. My dad will take a look at you. He's back at the house."

"Your dad?" I asked. The voice inside my head was screaming for me to get far away from the Cullens. This is weird. Normal people will call the police and an ambulance. Normal people will be crying and frantic. What the hell are they hiding?" I glanced at Jake, getting up from the floor. "Thanks, but I have to get going. School and stuff. My dad, the chief, will kill me if he found out I skipped school."

The Cullen siblings all looked at each other. Alice got up and touched my shoulder.

"Bella, it's okay. We'll be quick."

Before I could protest she was leading me and Jacob to their car outside the shop. She is freakishly strong, I thought. If the Cullens don't murder me, Charlie definitely will when he finds out what I've been doing.

Edward's dad was the kind of guy you bring home for Christmas. Gorgeous, a gentleman and a doctor. He took a quick look at my head and Jacob, never speaking. The Cullens had all disappeared to the kitchen, where I heard a new voice speak to them. Probably the mother, I thought.

He was rinsing his hands in a small basin when he spoke for the first time.

"Everything seems fine. Just a small bump on the head."

"Thanks," I murmured, glancing at Jake. Is he as freaked out as I am? I wonder.

"Why aren't you in school today? You don't seem like the kind of student to just miss class."

"I was just –"

"Why were you following my son?" Dr. Cullen had turned to face me. He stared right through me. I felt my blood go cold.

"I wasn't –"

"Don't deny it. We have security cameras in our home. We own the bookstore. There is also security cameras." He took a step closer to me. "I am going to ask you one more time, Bella. Why were you following Edward?"

Jacob put his hand on my shoulder, flashing an awkward smile in Dr. Cullen's direction. "Thanks for checking us out. We'll go. We won't say anything."

"No, you don't leave until we've talked." Dr. Cullen motioned towards the desk on the opposite side of the room. "Go sit. I'll get Edward."

I followed Jake to the chairs and sat down. "Shit, Jake. I am so sorry I got you into this mess. What do you think is gonna happen?"

"It's okay Bella." He smiled. "I know you're intentions were not to uncover the shady-ness that is the Cullen family.

Wow, you are a saint, I thought. "I don't know what I am going to tell them."

"I never really asked you why you were following him either…"

"I told you. To get a picture for the paper."

"Don't lie Bella. It almost got you shot. Do you know what your dad will do to me if I get you killed?"

I turned my body towards Jacob. "There is a couple of details I didn't mention this morning."

"What kind of details?"

I looked around the room, wondering if there were any listening devices. Stop it, Bella, I told myself. You are being totally paranoid.

"I saw something yesterday," I said in a whisper. "You heard about Donald?"

Jacob nodded.

"Well, Emmett was beating him up. Edward was threatening him. Something about a package."

Jacob's eyes widened. "You mean they ki-"

Jake was interrupted by Dr. Cullen and Edward, who rushed into the room and sat on the other side of the desk. I looked at Jacob, whose face had turned very pale.

"So, let's get back to the question I asked earlier," Dr. Cullen said.

I cleared my throat and looked at Jacob again. He smiled and gave me a look that said, just go with it. I looked at Edward, who was the picture of health.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "You just got shot."

Edward smiled. "Yes, thanks. But we really need to know what's going on Bella. You can't just come into our home like that. You can't just follow me around."

Dr. Cullen interrupted. "Did your dad send you?"

I laughed, regretting it immediately. And I thought I was paranoid.

"Bella is just shy, sir." Jacob said. He looked at me, still slightly pale, but smiling reassuringly.

"Shy?" Dr. Cullen asked.

"Yes, sir. You see, Bella has a bit of a crush. On Edward."

I felt my whole body catch fire. I was about to protest, but Jake was on a roll.

"So she just wanted to see what he does and how he lives. So that she can…woo him."

"Woo him?" Dr. Cullen asked.

"Yes. She is crazy in love. Typical teenage girl. High school crush. Drawing hearts. You know she pretended to interview him for the paper?" Jacob laughed. "So you see, there's nothing here to worry about. All innocent fun."

"Bella?" Edward was looking at me, amused. "Is this true?"

"Of course, she's not going to say it, Edward," Jacob said. "That's not how this game works."

Dr. Cullen eyed us both, looking between me and Jacob a couple of times. "Well, then. Bella, that's very… interesting. Just don't ever enter our house without permission again."

I nodded. "I am so sorry."

"Edward will walk you out. We called you a cab. You'll find your truck already in your driveway, Bella." Dr. Cullen motioned toward the door and smiled. "Goodbye."

I mumbled a soft goodbye and followed Edward, Jacob trailing behind me. When we reached the front door, Edward turned around. "Bella, I hope you still publish the interview. I don't believe you wasted your time. You had some insightful questions."

I smiled. "I will." I looked at his shoulder. He was wearing a clean shirt now, with no blood stains. "Before I go, can I take a quick picture of you? For the paper?" I could hear Jacob snigger behind me.

"Yes, sure."

I dug through my bag and got out the camera. He gave me a casual smile in front of book case in the family room. Easy peasy, I laughed to myself. "Thanks, Edward. I won't bother you again."

"Bye. Sorry this got so… intense."

Jacob made a sarcastic noise. "Gee, thanks. Bye."

For the rest of the day I was a jittery mess. I dropped Jake at the res and went to school, hoping to catch Jessica in the newspaper's office. I wanted to hand in the story and get Edward Cullen out of life and out of my mind. She was in the office, behind her desk.

"Hey, Jess. How are things?"

"Oh, you know. Fighting with journalist and doing everybody's jobs for them. The usual."

I nodded in agreement. "I just emailed the Edward-interview. I think it's a decent first draft."

"Thanks." She looked up from the computer screen. "I'll take a look at it tonight."

"Oh, I almost forgot." I took out my camera. "I took a photo of him. Can I give you the memory card thingy?"

"Yeah, sure. While you are here."

The moment I saw Jessica plug the memory card into the computer, the alarm went off in my head. Donald's photo, I thought. I looked around the room for something to distract her, but it was too late.

"What is this?" Jessica asked, her eyes glued to the photo. I hadn't even looked at it since I took it.

"What do you mean?"

She looked up, her eyes wide. "Why do you have a picture of a dead man, no make that a 'murdered man' on your camera, Bella?"

I sighed. I might as well tell her. It's eating me up. And I didn't exactly get a chance to tell Jacob the whole story. Jessica is a friend. She'll have advice.

"I didn't kill him, if that's what you're thinking."

"I wasn't."

"It's a long story."

"Well, obviously this picture was taken yesterday. So it can't be that long."

I sat down and spilled the beans. As I came to the gunshot part, tears were flowing freely. "Jessica, I was genuinely scared they were going to hurt us. And I am lying to Charlie." I continued sobbing.

Jessica handed me a box of tissues. "You're not lying Bella. You do know what's happening?"

"What?"

"You're developing journalist-instincts."

I laughed through the tears. "Call me Louis Lane then."

"Okay, Louis. This could be the break we need to win. Imagine Bella! First time entering and we win!" Her eyes was shining and behind them I could see a bad plan forming.

"What are you thinking, Jessica?" I wiped the last tears from my face, hoping I didn't look too blotchy.

"You need to stay close to Cullen. I mean, you were in their house! You saw them remove a bullet from his shoulder instead of going to the ER."

"Well, I didn't see them actually remove the bu – "

"It's a shame you didn't take a photo of the house. Next time."

I gaped at her, not believing she'd actually think that a high school newspaper should investigate dangerous and corrupt activity.

"Bella, you need to interview him again. Get close to him. It sounds like you…sort of …err…charmed him. Maybe befriend Alice. It sounds like she talked more than she had ever done to anyone in this school. You know we can finally prove that the rumors are true."

"Rumors?"

"You know!"

"I don't."

"They are like the mafia. But in Forks."

After a minute of silence, I burst out laughing. "Jessica, that's ridiculous. Maybe Donnie just owed them money. Maybe that's the way business is done down here."

"It's not and you know it. Please Bella. It could mean we win. And then scholarships might follow."

"Scholarships?"

"Yeah, they sometimes choose a few journalists who wrote great stories for scholarships. To really great colleges."

"I'll think about it," I said.

"Okay, I'll keep copies of the photo and you go be Louis Lane." She handed the camera's memory card back to me. "Bring more photos, okay?"

I nodded and gave her a small wave as I left the office. This is ridiculous, Bella. You are way to bad at acting to ever pull this off.

When I arrived home, my father was sitting in the kitchen. He called me when he heard the front door close. "Bella! Come in here for a sec. I'm in the kitchen."

Sounds mad, I thought. Shit, maybe the school called him about me skipping. I walked to the kitchen, trying to look casual.

"Hey, Charlie. What's up?"

"Sit."

I sat down.

"Did you call the ambulance for Donald yesterday?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

"I know you did. We checked the phone records today. So, don't even deny it." He sighed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was scared," I said.

"Did you see anything else?"

For the third time in one day I broke the law and lied to the police.

"No, I just heard him moan and called the ambulance. I was scared that the guys who did it were still around so I just left. I'm sorry. I was scared."

"I wouldn't have been mad, Bells. I want you to know you can tell me anything."

"I know. It feels silly now."

"Okay. Thanks. You're…uh…free to go."

I flashed him an awkward smile. Why did I just lie? Emmett probably did kick Donald and Edward definitely did threaten him. They should pay.

I escaped to my room, while the voice inside my head was telling that things were about to get even messier. But I ignored the voice. I was thinking of Edward. At least I'll get to see him again. Maybe it's not mafia stuff. Maybe they are just a weird family. I mean, it's Forks. Nothing interesting ever happens here.

A/N: Thanks for sticking with the story! It's getting fun