Chapter 7

Date with Jacob Black

Bella went through the day at school avoiding Edward, Alice, and Jasper. Instead, she tried as she could, to pay attention in class and stay focused on her school work. At lunch, instead of going to the cafeteria, she went to the library to study. She just couldn't wrap her head around the fact that Edward was in fact her boyfriend, the boyfriend who left her, the one who had hurt her so deeply. She did not understand this Bella, the one that was so obsessed. She did know one thing, she was going to go out with Jacob Black tonight and find out more details. She had to figure this out and get her memories back.

Bella was successful at avoiding Edward until the last bell rang announcing the end of the school day. She slowly walked outside in hopes of his Volvo to be gone. Of course, it was not. There he was, standing beside it, waiting. She stood there looking at him and wanted another way home immediately. Alice and Jasper waved hello and she ignored them. She didn't want to talk to any of the Cullens right now.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a black motorcycle flying into the school parking lot and skidded to a halt in front of her. She beamed when she saw that it was Jacob. "Hi."

Jacob smiled and then turned to Edward who was watching calmly and smiled as big as he could. Jacob then turned back to Bella and said, "You want a ride home?"

"You read my mind!" Bella said as she hopped on the back of the bike. They left and Bella watched out of the corner of her eye, Edward getting in his car. She wondered if he would follow them.

"You want to come over to my house, I know that we were going to go out later tonight, but we could go there now. No one would bother you there." Jacob said.

Bella thought about it and said, "Sure. That sounds good." She wondered if the shiny Volvo was following them, but when she turned, there was no one in sight.

They arrived at Jacob's house and Jacob pulled his bike up to the side of the house. Bella got off the bike and Jacob proceeded. He turned and smiled towards Bella, "You looked like you needed rescuing back there."

"Yeah, I found out some things today." Bella said.

"That's what I figured. I had a visitor earlier today." Jacob said as they walked towards the house.

"Did Edward come see you?" Bella asked in shock.

"Yeah, he did." Jacob said not sure of how much he wanted to tell Bella.

"What happened?" Bella asked.

"He just talked to me. Wanted to know why I asked you out?" Jacob said.

"Oh, I bet. Yeah, he told me that he was my boyfriend." Bella said.

"You don't sound happy about that." Jacob said with a teasing grin.

"I'm happy, I guess. I just don't understand why he would have left me?" Bella said.

"Oh, that. I'm sorry that I told you that." Jacob said.

"Why, it's the truth. You seem to be the only one around here to tell me the truth." Bella insisted.

"I wouldn't say that." Jacob said.

"You want to go for a walk along the beach?" Jacob asked.

"Sure." Bella said.

They headed towards the beach and Jacob grabbed a blanket in case Bella got cold. They walked along the beach and talked about a variety of things. Bella made sure to stay off the topic of Edward. She wanted to think some more about that and didn't really feel like talking about Edward with Jacob. She was trying to stay focused and not think about Edward, but it was almost impossible.

Jacob leaned against a log as Bella sat on a nearby stump. They watched the waves crashing into the shoreline and Bella sighed. "It's nice out here."

"Yes, it is." Jacob said.

"Aren't you cold?" Bella asked Jacob as she had already been wrapped in the blanket that Jacob provided.

Jacob wearing a think t-shirt looked down and said, "I don't really get that cold."

"Why's that?" Bella asked thinking that it was so odd.

"I guess I'm just warm-blooded. I don't know. I just don't get cold." Jacob answered.

"So, I guess we better get back to the house, it's getting dark." Bella said.

"If you want to go back, we could just sit out here for a while. I can build a fire." Jacob said.

"That's okay, let's get back." Bella said wrapping the blanket around her tighter. She was freezing.

"Alright." Jacob said in defeat and reached for her hand to guide her back.

Bella held onto Jacob's hand and knew that she didn't really have a romantic connection to Jacob. It just wasn't the same as she felt when Edward's hand would graze hers. Part of her just couldn't wait to see Edward again. Perhaps, this part of her was waking inside of her. She was excited about her dream to come tonight as she knew that it would most likely bring a dream of Edward.

Jacob noticed the silence and turned towards Bella to see her deep in thought. "You are supposed to be here with me on a date?"

Bella smiled and said, "I know. Sorry, I'm just thinking."

"About him." Jacob said rolling his eyes and turning back towards the path to his house.

Bella didn't know how to respond to that, she pulled her hand away and felt bad. How does she tell this boy, who is such a good friend, that she just wants to be friends? How does she get back home? She mentally told herself, 'you have got to start driving yourself around.'

"Well, I'm so glad that your thoughts are of him." Jacob said angrily.

"What's wrong?" Bella asked.

"Did you ever think that perhaps I had feelings for you and you had feelings for me? What if the old 'Bella' liked me? Don't you like me?" Jacob asked.

"What are you talking about?" Bella said confused of all of this anger.

"You are thinking of Cullen when you should be enjoying yourself and thinking of us." Jacob said.

They reached the house and Bella wanted to go home. "Jacob, can you take me home, please?"

"No." Jacob said walking inside.

Bella fought back a tear and headed towards the house. "Jacob, I would like to go home."

"I'll bring you home after dinner. It's already on the table." Jacob said as he sat at the table.

"Hi there Isabella!" Billy said as he wheeled over to Bella.

"Hi, thank you for having me over for dinner." Bella said.

"Is there anything that I can do?" Bella asked.

"No, it's all ready; just have a seat there next to Jacob." Billy said and then winked over to Jacob who was still in his mood.

Bella sat down and smiled towards Billy and then at Jacob. Jacob didn't look over at her. She wondered why he was so mad. She was getting frustrated with boys. Dinner was sort of quiet. Not much talking between the three of them. They finished and Jacob got all of the dishes and started washing them. Bella reached for the remaining dished on the table and brought them over to the sink and said, "So, are you going to talk to me?"

"I don't really want to talk." Jacob said.

"What did I do?" Bella asked.

"Don't be so naïve; you know exactly what you did." Jacob said.

"I'll call Charlie for a ride home, don't worry about driving me." Bella said getting mad at Jacob. She reached in her pocket and pulled out her cell and started to dial Charlie's cell. She walked towards the other end of the kitchen and got his voicemail. She turned towards the door and said, "Hi Dad, can you come pick me up, I'm at Jacob's."

She turned back to Jacob and closed her phone and put it in her pocket. "I'm going to be outside waiting for Charlie. See you."

Jacob shrugged his shoulders and didn't bother saying anything else.

Bella stepped out on the front porch and noticed how the sky was getting darker, but it wasn't quite night time yet. She started pacing back and forth and twenty minutes went by. No Charlie. She gave up and sat on the bottom step and waited, surly Charlie would arrive soon.

She heard a creak of a door and turned around to see Jacob coming outside.

"You're still here" Jacob said walking down the front steps and sitting beside her.

"Yes, Charlie's not here yet." Bella said.

"I'll bring you home." Jacob said quietly.

"Don't worry; I don't want to put you out." Bella said as she stood up and started walking away.

Jacob stood up and reached for her arm and turned her around, "I'm sorry for acting rude."

"You should be." Bella said.

"I just, uh, well, it'll be better if I show you." Jacob said as he leaned down and kissed Bella.

She was surprised by the kiss and pulled away instantly. As she did this, she looked at Jacob and said, "Don't do that."

"I like you, I could make you happy." Jacob told Bella.

"That's nice of you to say, but I don't feel that now's the right time. I'm still trying to get my old self back." Bella said with a small smile.

"Well, your old self was madly in love with a freak." Jacob said in a huff.

"Who are you calling a freak, Edward Cullen?" Bella said getting loud.

"Yeah, that's right. Edward Cullen is a freak. You'll figure it out one day." Jacob said getting louder.

"You are being so mean!" Bella yelled over her shoulder as she turned and was face to face with a large, black, wolf that was staring her down growling. Bella screamed and tried to swat the wolf away. The big wolf growled and knocked Bella on the ground. As this all happened so fast, Jacob quickly pulled Bella back and stood up to the wolf, who he knew was Sam. He yelled, "GO AWAY!"

With hesitation, the large black wolf slowly walked away.

Jacob turned to Bella and said, "Are you okay?"

Bella groaned and slowly pulled herself up, "I think that I'll be fine."

"Sorry about the wolf, there are wolves around this area and they tend to come to the house sometimes." Jacob said helping Bella up and then noticing the gash on her arm.

"Let's go inside, you're bleeding." Jacob said.

Jacob pulled Bella inside and Billy and Jacob exchanged a knowing look. Bella washed her cut and almost got sick watching the blood pour away from the cut into the sink. It looked pretty deep. She asked Jacob for a bandage. After finding some gauze, she wrapped her arm tight.

"I can't believe that the wolf listened to you." Bella said.

"They tend to listen to me." Jacob said sighing under his breath. He was definitely going to have a chat with Sam later.

"I better go home now. Charlie is just not calling me back, can you give me a ride home now?" Bella asked.

"Sure." Jacob said.

"Kids, it's getting really late and I don't know if any more wolves are out there tonight. You two just need to stay put tonight. Bella, I'll drive you home myself in the morning. I just got off the phone with Charlie and he's fine. We have a guest room that you can stay in. It'll be fine." Billy said wheeling around the corner.

"I'm sure that it'll be fine, dad. I can drive her home in your truck if need be." Jacob said.

Bella said, "I'm going to call Charlie really quick, okay." Bella went to the living room to call Charlie as Jacob and Billy stayed in the kitchen.

"I'll drive her home." Jacob said.

"You can't, not right now. Sam is pissed and he's out there just waiting for you. He won't care if Bella is with you or not. But, neither one of you will be going out there. Sam will get over this in the morning and besides, after Bella goes to sleep, you can go out there and settle this with the pack. You and the rest of the pack can settle this with Sam." Billy said in a hushed tone. Jacob took a breath and sighed.

"Fine." Jacob said.

Bella came back into the kitchen and said, "Charlie said that he was going to be working on a case late into the night, so he didn't mind me staying here. He actually felt better that I wasn't home alone for the night. I'm kind of tired, can I just go lie down now?"

"Sure, I'll show you where you'll sleep." Jacob said.

Jacob showed Bella the empty room. Jacob went to move some things that were on the bed to the closet. "There are some fresh towels over there and some old clothes" Jacob said pointing to the dresser.

"I'm sorry about tonight, Bella". Jacob said.

"It's fine. I'm sorry too." Bella said.

Jacob shut the door and Bella went to the bed and sat down with her legs folded underneath her. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. She suddenly felt the urge to want to wash her hair as it was tangled from being outside at the beach in the wind. She reached for her purse and pulled out a small brush and began in pulling it through the tangles. She looked down at her phone and saw that she had a text message. She flipped open her phone and opened the text:

Hope you are okay.

I didn't mean to upset you today.

I hope to see you soon.

Edward

She thought about replying but what would she say, 'oh, hi Edward, I'm spending the night with Jacob Black.' She knew that wouldn't be good. If one little date sent Edward to visit Jacob, she could just imagine what this would do.

She did want to reply though, so she said:

I'm fine.

Tired and going to bed.

See you tomorrow.

Bella

She signed Bella because she was getting used to that name. It just felt right now to use it. She pressed send.

Edward's phone buzzed with a text notification and he reached for his phone and looked at it. He smiled as he saw that it was text message from Bella. As he read it, he smiled at the 'see you tomorrow'. He would show up to pick her up for school tomorrow morning.

The Morning…

Bella was up earlier than expected. She was ready to go home. She paced around the kitchen waiting for Billy or Jacob. Jacob slowly walked into the kitchen.

"Hi there." Jacob said.

"Hi Jacob, can you drive me back home now?" Bella asked.

"Yeah, after I drink something with caffeine. I was up really late last night." Jacob said.

After Jacob drank a coke from the fridge, he turned looking at Bella. He was disappointed at how edger she looked to be going home. He grabbed his keys and headed out the door and Bella followed closely behind keeping her eyes out for the big black wolf.

"If you are looking for the wolf, he's gone." Jacob said. Little did Bella know that there was a big pack meeting last night and Jacob explained how things are right now.

"Oh, good." Bella said.

They walked over to the bike and Jacob got it started and Bella hopped on. She said, "Thanks for driving me back home."

"Sure." Jacob said.

They drove without conversation to the Swan's residence. As they pulled up, Charlie's cruiser was not there. Instead, a shiny silver Volvo. Jacob said, "Uh, Bella, I think that I'll drop you off here."

Bella looked around Jacob and saw the Volvo. She sighed and said, "Yeah, this is going to be fun. I'll see you later. Thanks for everything."

She got off the bike and headed towards the front door as Jacob drove as fast as he could in the opposite direction. He couldn't help but smile to himself. He knew that Edward would not do anything to him in front of Bella.

Bella reached the steps and saw that Edward stayed inside of the car. She turned around and he was slowly walking towards her. She took a deep breath and prepared herself.

"Hi Edward." Bella greeted him.

"Bella, can you tell me something?" Edward asked.

"Sure." Bella said as she walked inside waving Edward in to follow.

Edward stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "Why were you on Jacob Black's bike at 6:45 AM?"

"Because he was driving me home." Bella said.

"What do you mean, driving you home?" Edward asked trying to remain calm.

"I had to stay over at his house last night, see, there was this wolf, I fell, it was late. Look, it's a long story." Bella said.

Edward turned his face away from Bella and he was furious. He turned back around and looked at Bella's arm and saw the bandage. He reached for it and said, ""How's your arm?" Edward asked. "You should have my dad look at this."

Bella was shocked that was all Edward said. "My arm is fine. Thank you."

Edward then asked the one thing that Bella was hoping that he wouldn't. "So, did you enjoy your date?"

"Not really." Bella said.

"Why is that?" Edward asked curious.

"I don't like him in that way." Bella said feeling embarrassed. She didn't really feel like talking to Edward about this.

"How do you know?" Edward asked.

"Well, I could just tell when he kis… never mind, it's not important." Bella said as she quickly blushing.

Edward was furious now, "He did what?"

"Nothing, it was no big deal." Bella insisted.

"Did he kiss you?" Edward said fuming.

To Be Continued…