Chapter Eight: Way Too Nice

The next month, though it was sappy to admit, was probably the best month of my life. Bella was still moping around and causing Charlie to go out of his mind with worry, but I didn't let it affect my mood. I understood that Bella was still missing Edward, but it had been over three months now and I wasn't going to let her depression ruin my life anymore.

Charlie must have developed similar feelings to mine because one morning while we were eating breakfast, he slammed his fist down on the table. It was such a surprised that both Bella and I looked up from our cereal.

"That's it, I'm sending you home!"

"I am home," Bella mumbled.

If it was even possible I think my face became even more surprised. In the past three months, I could probably count on my fingers how many times she had spoken.

"No. I'm sending you to Jacksonville to live with your mother."

"What? You can't send us to Jacksonville." Her voice was still quiet, but it had more strength than before.

"It'll just be you, Alex will be staying here."

Bella looked at me and I bowed my head, not being able to meet my sister's eyes. Charlie had mentioned a few weeks ago talking with Renée about Bella moving back with her. He hadn't asked if I wanted to stay, probably already knowing the answer seeing as I was dating Jake. I had forgot about it when nothing happened right away, but it seemed like the plans had finally come together.

"Why just me? Did I do something?" Bella asked, her face falling.

"That's exactly the reason, you haven't done anything the past few months."

Looking up, I bit my lip before adding, "You go to work and school, but you more or less go through the motions. You've barely spoken. It's like someone's died."

"You've got to move on, that bastard's not coming back."

For a moment I thought Bella was actually going to show some emotion, get mad, blush, cry, anything. But in the end she just nodded her head.

Charlie sighed. "It's just not normal, this behavior. Frankly, it's scaring the hell outta your sister and me, ever your mother is worried." His face relaxed a bit in what I assume was his encouraging face. "We don't want you to leave, but it might be for the best. Go to Jacksonville and make some new friends."

"I like my old friends," Bella muttered.

"Really? Because you never sit with us at lunch anymore," I pointed out, unable to stop myself.

Bella turned to me before shaking her head. "I'm going to fix that. I'll make plans with Jessica to go shopping or something."

"Bella, you hate shopping. Don't force yourself to do something just to make me happy, that's not what I want."

Bella got up from her chair. Picking up her still full bowl of cereal, she washed it quickly in the sink before turning back to Charlie. "First I'm not doing anything and then you're telling me you don't want me to do something? That's not fair. I'll make plans with Jess for tomorrow."

Grabbing her backpack, which she had sat next to her chair when she came down, she said goodbye before heading out the door. Charlie and I looked at each other for a moment, unsure of how to process what had just happened. From our seats at the table we could hear the loud sound of her starting the truck.

"I better go before she leaves me here," I muttered, getting up as well to bring my empty bowl to the sink to join Bella's.

"Please look out for her today," Charlie asked, his brown eyes filled with worry. "I think we might finally be getting her back

I offered him a half smile as I shouldered my backpack. "Always do."

Walking outside, I placed my backpack by my feet as I hopped into the passenger seat. "So, shopping?" I questioned, buckling my seatbelt as she pulled out of the driveway.

She turned to look at me, the hint of a glare on her face. "It was the first thing I could come up with." She let out a sigh as she turned her attention back to the road.

We didn't say anything else on our way to school. When she pulled into a parking spot, I half expected her to return to zombie mode and get out of the truck to go study whatever class at a picnic table while she waited for school to start. But she surprised me by remaining behind the wheel.

"So, what are you're plans for asking Jess to hang out?" I asked, hoping to start up a conversation. It had been forever since I'd actually had a conversation with her and I kinda missed it.

Bella groaned slightly and leaned forward to rest her head on the steering wheel. "I have no idea. She probably hates me."

"Well, I wouldn't say hate. I would say extremely unhappy with."

There was a small pause before Bella turned her head to look at me. "Do you think you could ask her for me?" Another pause. "Do you think you could come too?"

"Umm, I have plans for tomorrow," I said slowly. "I'm going over to Jacob's."

Because we went to different schools we tried to spend most of the weekend together. Sometimes Leslie would come over and join us when we were at my house and other times Embry and Quil would stop by for an hour or two when we were at his. Neither of us really minded when the others friends were there, as long as we were together.

"Can't you just go Saturday? Please Alex, I haven't talked to Jess in forever. She's more likely to say yes if you ask. Please, I can't face Charlie tonight if I don't have plans."

I looked at her, feeling conflicted. I understood that Bella hadn't exactly been paying attention to me the past couple of months and didn't know that Jacob and I were now dating, but it kind of hurt that she wanted me to give up time with him to help her out. In the end, I agreed to both ask Jess for her and to tag along only for the fact that she hadn't had any real interaction with other people in a long time. She hadn't been the best with people before she went all zombie, I don't think I could live with myself if I forced her to interact with people after not doing so for a couple months.

When lunch came around, I caught Jess in the food line and asked her if she wanted to see a movie with Bella and me. She looked at me like I was crazy for a moment, asking me if I was talking about my sister; as if I had another one. Once I confirmed that, yes, I was talking about my sister Bella; she seemed a bit hesitant before agreeing. Honestly, I think she only agreed because she was interested in trying to understand why Bella had shut the world out for so long. She was as big a gossip as her mom was.

After school I gave Jacob a call like I usually did. He seemed a little disappointed at first when I told him I needed to cancel on him for tomorrow. He perked up a bit when I told him it was because I was going to be helping Bella reintegrate with people.


The movie we ended up seeing was Dead End. It was some zombie movie that Jake and I had seen a few weeks earlier. Jessica seemed a little hesitant, hinting that she would rather see the new romantic comedy that just came out, but Bella insisted. I found it funny that she wanted to see a zombie movie when just last week she was acting like a zombie herself.

Even though I had already seen it and knew what to expect, I jumped a couple of times, but that was it. Jacob had been watching horror movies with me to help me get past my fear of them. I thought it was working, as I hadn't jumped at all the first time I'd seen it but I guess that was just because Jacob was with me. His large presence made me feel safe.

"I don't understand why you would have much rather sat through all those zombies eating people and zero cute boys kissing anybody," Jess complained as we walked out of the theater.

We walked in a horizontal line, Jessica buy the road, Bella in the middle, and me closest to the buildings. I walked close to Bella while I looked down at my phone, smiling slightly as I texted Jacob. I half tuned Jessica's babbling out until I heard her say my name.

"I mean, I was really surprised when Alex came up to me and said that you wanted to hang out."

"Jess," I muttered, giving her a look.

Jessica raised her shoulders at me. "What? I'm just saying. When she first went into her depression I was worried, but after a while it just got to be annoying. She's not the only one with issues."

As much as I hated to agree with her, she kind of had a point. But Bella was my sister so I had to take her side. "Jess. If you're just going to complain about Mike again, can you just not. He's an idiot and he'll wise up to what he's missing sooner or later."

I added the last part to keep Jessica from blowing up at me as she was starting to get an angry look on her face. She was really easy to be around, honestly. Sure she was a little annoying, but if you got her talking about the right thing, she would go off in a tangent and you could be free to let your mind wonder.

I smiled at Bella as Jessica did just that, going off on how Mike was an idiot and would miss her blah, blah, blah. The corners of her lips twitched before her expression went blank. We had just reached the corner of the street and she was looking down to the right. Following her gaze I saw she was looking at a group of bikers. I gave her a questioning look which only grew what she suddenly jumped back, acting like she had just seen a ghost.

"Bella?" I asked, worry slipping into my voice.

Jessica stopped her rant to look at both Bella and me. When Bella didn't move, she stood in front of her and said, "Dude, come on."

"I, uh, think I know those guys." Bella said slowly.

Jessica and I glanced sideways at one another before looking down towards the bikers. They saw us looking and shouted what I sure was supposed to be a compliment but really just made me feel uncomfortable.

"Well they seem great. Can we go?" Jessica asked, taking a step towards the curb.

I took a step as well though my eyes never left my sister. She looked at me before taking a step as well… in the direction of the biker dudes.

"Just give me a second," she muttered before heading down the road.

Jessica and I watched her go, unsure of what else to do. When she was halfway there, she turned around and looked like she was going come back to us. Then, even from the distance, I could see her set her face before marching the rest of the way towards the group of men.

"What is wrong with your sister?" Jessica asked when we saw Bella get on the back of some dude's bike.

"I…I don't know."

We spent the next five minutes standing there, waiting. Jessica passed the time by cursing Bella, saying she was crazy and that she was probably going to die or something like that. I leaned against the building with my hands over my ears. I had tried telling her to stop a couple of times but she didn't listen to me. I was already freaked out enough; I did not need her making it worse.

Suddenly, Jessica stopped midsentence causing me to look up at her. Bella was walking back towards us. I let out a deep breath as the worried knot around my heart unwound itself.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Jessica asked as soon as Bella was close enough.

"Bella, are you trying to give me a heart attack or something?" I asked, checking her over to make sure she was all right.

"Sorry," she muttered as we started walking back towards Jessica's car.

"Sorry?" Jessica said, looking at her like she was crazy. "No. You are insane. Or suicidal. You can't just go off with random men, catching a ride on the back of their motorcycles. I thought Alex was about to pass out!"

Before that moment I don't think I have ever been more thankful for Jess. I wanted nothing more than to yell at Bella right now for what she had just put me through. It had been a nightmare. But with Jessica here, I didn't have too. She could do all the freaking out and if anything Bella could be mad at her instead of me. Not that Bella has ever really been mad at me.

"I'm sorry," Bella said again, turning to me. "But it was such a rush."

I didn't get a chance to say anything because Jessica blew up again.

"What are you, some kind of adrenaline junky now? Go hang gliding or bungee jumping. Don't get on the back of some possible psycho killer's motorcycle! Are you crazy?"

With an annoyed groan, Jessica unlocked her car and got in, Bella and I following. I got in the passenger seat while she got in the back. When we got home, neither of us mentioned the motorcycle incident to Charlie. We both just said that we had a fun time going to the movies together before heading up to our rooms for some well deserved sleep. Well, until Bella had her usual nightly nightmare.


Authors Note:: So Bella's back, yay? I have mixed feelings about this chapter. Part of me likes it and then another part of me finds it boring. That could just be that I really want to get to the wolves already. But sadly it is still going to be a while before they come into play. Next chapter should be fun. Alex is not going to be happy. Thanks to the five people that reviewed last chapter, Kodt24,White Hunter,lostfeather1, Io's Torment, Lulu85, and KYKEMD. I know, I don't really like that I had to change the posting schedule either. Hopefully it will go back to normal soon. Jake is a sweetheart. I like Charlie and the others so I want Alex to have a good relationship with them all. All the interactions are fun to write. And yes she is a cougar, haha! We'll just have to wait and see which side Alex takes. :) Thanks everyone else for favoriting, following, or just reading this story. You're all awesome!