Chapter Eight

Confusion was never a good thing with me. Or. Let me rephrase that. Confusion was never a good thing with anyone. Period.

Confusion gets people all... confused. And who likes to be confused? Certainly not me. I mean – the entire deal with not knowing what to think, not really getting what other people are thinking, and not really understanding what the next move is. Yup, that's not very nice. And – unfortunately – that happened to me a lot.

Simple things confused me. It could be my mother or my father. Maybe a specific paragraph in a specific book. Perhaps a teacher during a class who said something I didn't quite get. On these occasions, I could be musing over my simple confusion all day long, not really ending with a solution of any sorts. So I was pretty easy to confuse under normal circumstances, but after everything that had happened since I returned to Forks... well, those circumstances weren't normal anymore, and my confusion was far from small.

Alice Cullen confused the hell out of me.

After our conversation last night, I had not been able to sleep. Or maybe it's really wrong to call it conversation, because we did not converse very much. Basically, it was me asking Alice questions, Alice not really, but sort-of-anyway, answering those questions. Me trying to make sense of what Alice and I were (were we friends? Good friends, best friends? Or were we something more? Lovers, or... on the way to being lovers?), and Alice not helping me making sense or what we were, simply because she kept on being the cutest, most beautiful woman ever, and I had troubles getting my confusion right.

Hello? Was it that hard to figure out? Apparently so. Or at least for me it was! I mean. Normal people would probably had gotten a bit further with the progress after an entire sleepless night with nothing but thoughts. But no, not me. Because, see, this wasn't just any ordinary confusion about feelings and romance, and what to do about it. No, no, there was an added twist in the works, something about the girl of my dreams not being well, just a girl.

She did admit it to me. Alice did say that they were something, and she also said that I'd figure it out, but that she couldn't tell me. How's that supposed to make my confusion smaller? It certainly didn't, it made it even worse. How am I supposed to figure out what they are, when there's no hints and she won't tell me a single thing? I'm still positive that this has something to do with Jacob, which is just even more confusing.

"You look tired."

I snorted at my father's comment and reached for a bowl of cereal. Tired was an understatement. I was completely drenched for energy. All night, I'd been trying to go to sleep, but the events of the day had done cartwheels inside my brain no matter what I tried. I knew I'd be tired all day, but I desperately hoped that I'd be able to stay awake during classes. And I had to talk to Alice – no matter what she said. We had to talk about this, about what almost happened between us; she might not be able to tell me what they were, but we could still discuss us, right? Right?

"I'll probably be home early tonight, Bells." Charlie told me as he slipped into his police jacket. "We decided last night to stop searching for the big wolves."

My head snapped to the side, because even though I was tired, the words 'big wolves' did something to my attention. "Why'd you decide that?" I demanded to know.

Charlie cocked an eyebrow; maybe it was strange for him to experience me having so much interest in his work. After all, I'd never been interested when I was younger. "We hit a brick wall. There hasn't been more attacks the last couple of days, and it's likely that they've moved on through the woods towards the Canadian border, that they were just passing through."

I chewed on that for a while as I finished my breakfast and got ready for school. Should I be concerned that they hadn't caught these wolves, or should I just be happy that they seemed to have moved on from Forks? The latter was probably the best, since I could care less what happens other places, but I just... this nagging feeling told me that I had not seen or heard the last from these wolves. It couldn't be as easy as that!

But on the bright sight, the subject of the wolves gave me plenty to muse about all the way to school, so it was only when I laid eyes on Edward's car, that I remembered once more what had occurred between me and Alice last night. I knew I shouldn't be nervous, talking to her about this, but I couldn't help myself. All logical parts of me told me that Alice wouldn't find it weird and wouldn't think less of me, but still, it nagged me, it really did.

So imagine how relieved I was when it turned out, that Alice wasn't at school today. Despite the fact that I really did want to see her (apparently it is possible for a person to be addicted to another person), I was oddly thrilled that I'd have one more day to figure things out. Possibly, maybe. If not...

"Hello Bella."

I smiled at Edward as I took a seat next to him for this day's Biology class. It actually cheered me up a bit to know that I'd be spending the next two hours in his company, and that he wouldn't say anything to me if didn't want to talk. That was what I liked so much about him; he was quiet, not such a talker, like... Alice.

Not that I didn't like that about her, because I absolutely loved it. "Hi Edward." I offered him a small smile and opened my book to the last page we'd studied – we were still on cells as we'd been for the last couple of weeks. Which bored me, since I'd already studied that a lot in Phoenix and was pretty good at it. Between Edward and myself, well, we'd identify those phases quicker than our classmates could even look them up in the book.

I didn't really know how much Alice had talked to him about us, and suddenly I felt really shy beneath his kind eyes. Had she told him what almost happened between us last night? Had she said that I knew that they were something more? I could feel him looking at me, and the realisation that he might know these things, made me feel really awkward right there next to him. The odds that he knew were pretty big – Alice had never tried to hide that she was closer to Edward than any of her other siblings. She said they used to go together to places, that they had a lot of things in common, and that they had each other when everyone else was paired up in their family.

Edward chuckled. "You seem tired today."

"I didn't get much sleep last night." I hoarsely replied, turning my head to his.

His smile got even kinder. "I know exactly how you feel."

There seemed to be some sort of secret joke in that sentence, but I didn't want to ask him about it. Instead, I just turned my head to the table. Would it be too clingy if I asked him about Alice? Would I seem too desperate? But... but if he did know what had almost happened between us, then it wouldn't seem so weird. And I'd almost convinced myself that she had told him at this point. "Where's Alice... today?"

"She had some things she needed to figure out." Edward replied and I swore, right there, I heard something in his voice that told me that he definitely did know about the incident last night – about everything.

I swallowed loudly. "Oh."

Our teacher entered the classroom and started talking to us about the next pages we'd had to read for today and what we were going to do with it. It was all about cells in microscopes. How fun. I really stopped paying attention after he named the assignment, because I knew how to do it; instead I couldn't help but glance at Edward. What he'd said about Alice needing to figure things out really scared me. Not in the horror film kind of way, but in the sort of way where I was likely to fear that she did not feel those things for me that I felt for her. That was more scarier than any horror film could ever be.

We got our microscope and started working in silence. We took turns identifying the phases and the only words exchanged between us were when one of us claimed 'prophase' or 'anaphase' or one of the other three phases.

I took in a deep breather and turned my head to his. "Did she say what-?"

He cut me off. "It wasn't about last night, at least not about you."

That relieved me a bit.

Edward placed his arms on the table and locked his eyes with mine. "She likes you, Bella, a lot. She likes you the way that you like her." he smiled at me once more. "Things are sort of complicated, though, you know that."

"I don't get it." I murmured, shaking my head. "She admitted to me, that- that-" I couldn't finish the sentence.

"That we're not normal?" Edward rescued me, a daring glint in his eye.

I nodded.

He looked into the microscope, "Metaphase." he said, and I messily wrote it on the paper. "We're not exactly... normal, Bella. But I think you can handle it. I think you're good with abnormal."

I wasn't really sure what the appropriate answer to such a statement would be, so I just shrugged my shoulders. I'd lived with Renée much of my life and that had been pretty abnormal.

He said, "Alice says you'll know at some point, and when she says it, we pretty much all know it's a fact."

I stared at him, I couldn't help it. What was it about them? What made them different from everyone else, when not taking their beauty, charm and knowledge into account? They were all beautiful. What's the fucking odds of that happening in such a huge family? A family of adopted children nonetheless? I had to get to the bottom of this, soon. Maybe it'd all be easier with Alice and I if I knew.

"But Bella," he said, leaning in closer, his mouth meeting my ear with a hushed whisper, "you don't know what you're getting yourself into with Alice, with us. I'm not supposed to say this, Esme will disapprove, but... maybe you should consider not being with her, not knowing. I like you, so I'm only saying this to help you."

I leaned back again with a weird feeling tingling in my entire body. Here I'd though that he was a good guy, that he was a supportive brother who did everything for his sister. That him and I could even be close friends. But when he told me things like that... not so much. "How's not being with Alice going to help me?"

He leaned back too. "Like I said, you don't know what we are yet. Maybe it'll change your mind."

"Doubt it." I replied, before checking the next slide. "Telophase."

Edward scribbled the answer on our paper, before his eyes met mine again. "I like you Bella, I think you're good for Alice, you're not some idiot, but- Alice isn't going to advice you to stay away from us, so I feel it's my duty to do so."

The more he talked, the more I realised that he wasn't saying this because he wasn't rooting for us to become a couple, no he was actually warning me to stay away from them. I had a hard time picturing them doing me any harm, but when he said those things, the things that Jacob had said as well, just seemed even more likely...

Were the Cullens... dangerous?

I swallowed loudly and offered Edward a shaky smile. I found it hard to believe that they could be dangerous, I trusted Alice enough to say that she wouldn't hurt me, but... maybe there was something about them that could hurt someone.

The image of Alice scaring off the three muggers, that Friday that seemed so long ago, once more entered my mind, and I realised that yes, they could be scary, they could hurt someone. Even my tiny Alice who was so delicate and perfect. She could hurt someone, Edward could hurt someone, even lovable Mrs. Cullen could hurt someone... I was sure of that now. But I was also sure that they wouldn't hurt me.

Edward flashed his perfect set of white teeth. "Did I scare you?"

I shook my head and turned to the front of the class, where the teacher was getting ready to go through all the slides. Did I mention that I was easy to confuse? Well, mission accomplished once more. I had to talk to Alice... soon.

x

I kept sending Jacob texts that day. I knew it seemed kind of desperate and perhaps also odd to my friends (I was never much of a texter), but I needed to know. Jacob had from day one told me that the Cullens were dangerous, but that one of them would say so himself, well – now I really needed to know for sure what it was about them, what it was that made them so different.

And like all the other times I'd thought about this, I was sure Jacob would be the answer. So not only did I text him, I tried calling him (there was no response whatsoever). I borrowed Angela's laptop during lunch and sent a bunch of emails all sounding very much like 'Jacob, we need to talk. NOW!'. I was hoping that my obvious desperation would convince him to answer me at some point – no matter who I had 'feelings for'. But it seemed like Jacob was holding out on me; no matter how close friends we used to be. He didn't crave and called me back.

It probably shouldn't have affected me as much as it did, but despite the fact that I really wanted something from him, I also didn't wish to lose him. We might have disagreements (we'd had those plenty of times before), but Jacob was Jacob and losing him was like... losing a family member, the cute younger brother that always made you smile. I couldn't bare it; he was such a huge part of me, and I knew he didn't think we had anything left to discuss since I started liking Alice, but I also knew that we did have something to discuss. We could work past this, I was sure of it!

But my mood was rather horrible for the rest of that day. Apparently Mike hadn't told any of our friends about me and Alice going to the dance together, because Jessica asked me once more who I was going with, and I felt relieved to be sucked into her bubbly teenage world for a good thirty minutes during break. She told me all about how she was going with Mike, talked about dresses and hair and shoes, and I just listened, nodding when I found it appropriate. Dances and everything coming along with them had never been my thing.

"You should come with us," Angela finally said, ignoring Lauren's disapproving face from across the table, "to Port Angeles. We want to go dress shopping soon before everything's gone. You can find one too. You will need one, right?"

Lauren made a face, "Well if she's not got a date, she's not coming to the dance. At least I wouldn't go stag." she paused and offered me a look that said 'Ha, I knew it! No guys really like you. I'm better than you!', before she continued, "What will she need a dress for?"

"Someone will ask her, Lauren. There's plenty of boys who haven't got a date yet." Jessica smiled, and once more, I didn't get her; who did she support? Did she like me, did she not? She was a very confusing, very bubbly girl.

Angela pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Edward Cullen hasn't got a date." she informed them, before she turned to me, and suddenly, I was forced to participate in this conversation, "You're pretty good friends with him, aren't you?"

I didn't have time to answer though, because Jessica – as always – had an observation to share with the rest of us. "Edward Cullen's not free. He always goes with Alice. Remember?" she tapped a finger three times to her temple for good measure.

This time, I felt the need to clarify a few things. I mean, I couldn't very well let them sit there and assume things right in front of me, that'd just look stupid afterwards when the dance finally happened, and there I was, very much uhm... dancing. "Actually, Edward's free for this dance." I managed to squeeze out of myself.

Three pairs of eyes landed on me then; Angela's kind, gentle ones (they were always kind and gentle), Jessica's wide ones, excited for new gossip, and Lauren's disbelievingly boring ones. Well, if she didn't want to know, I definitely wasn't forcing her to sit and listen to it!

"How do you mean?" Jessica peeped.

I placed my cell on the table, after having once more checked for a reply from Jacob. "I mean, that Edward's not going with anybody this time. I do think he's coming though. And I can't go dress shopping with you, I've already got plans for dress shopping."

Now Jessica looked absolutely mortified to have been excluded from so much gossip for a while, but Angela was just curious. "Are you going with Alice Cullen?" she whispered, with a glance towards the table, where the other four Cullens sat; it was evident that the missing Cullen did not cause much notice at Forks High – the Cullens didn't do so on a daily basis. At times, it seemed, I was the only one who was completely enthralled with them.

I nodded my head. "Yeah, she said she'd take me dress shopping with Rosalie and Mrs. Cullen."

Lauren glanced towards the mighty blonde at the other table and looked at me then. "Have you talked to – to Rosalie?" she whispered, because apparently, the way I'd just slung out the name was very intimidating and sort of awesome to her. People – obviously – didn't just 'talk' to Rosalie. Which Jessica seemed to agree on, because her eyes were wide as she was sipping her juice box.

I very much wanted to play it cool and say that I had, but that would be a big lie, and at some point they'd all figure out how much the blonde Cullen hated me, and I'd look stupid. So I just said something else. "I'm actually going to the dance with Alice." There. Done. I said it, it was out in the open. They'd know at some point anyway.

Jessica's newly sipped juice splurged droplets out of her mouth and onto the table in a very nice cascade. "You're going with who?" she screeched.

"Alice." I lightly said. "We thought it'd be nice to go together. After all, we're close friends. She's tired of going with her brother, and I'm not really interested in any of the guys here." I felt the need to explain. Even though it was another lie, because behind all of those very good and very sensible explanations lay the very truth. The truth where I just wanted to go with Alice as real dates, because I had feelings for her.

"Wow!" Jessica breathed out heavily.

Lauren blinked. "So you're not-?"

"I'm not what?" I fired right back at her, faking innocence. Even though I knew exactly what 'what' was.

"You're not... dating?"

I felt Angela's eyes on me as I leaned in closer to answer Lauren's question in a whisper to match her voice. "We're not dating."

Lauren leaned back again, clearly relieved. And while Angela's eyes still studied me closely, Jessica started a new speech about how she'd be 'totally cool' with it if did date Alice; how the society should treat gay people better, and not discriminate them as much as it does. And while I completely agreed with her in every aspect of her speech, I wasn't really in the mood for said speech, so instead of listening completely, I reached for my cell phone once more, to text Jacob again.

Don't ignore me, Jake.

Send. Huh. If that didn't do the trick, what would? Crap! I was starting to get pretty pathetic with these texts. Actually, I passed pathetic a long time ago and was well on my way to totally desperate. How could he ignore me like that? Didn't fifteen years of friendship mean anything to him?

I really needed to think more clearly, and I couldn't do that with Jessica going on and on about gay rights across from me at the table, so I excused myself to Angela, holding up my phone, and crossed the cafeteria to get outside. I didn't mind that my jacket wasn't there, it was only drizzling outside, and I'd have the overhang to protect me. I opened the glass door and stepped outside, happy to be shutting the rattle of the other students inside behind me.

I knew that I wanted to talk to Jacob for one main reason, with other small, less important, ones following right behind it. But when I felt like this; this unease in the pit of my stomach, there was only one person I really wanted to talk to. One person who'd cheer me up – but it was also the person who was causing some of the confusion I felt. If I could just talk to Alice – we had to talk, didn't we? - everything would seem better somehow. I mean. Of course it wouldn't fix whatever it was I didn't know, but I hated that we'd left last night unsettled between us, loaded with so many questions and maybes. We needed to solve that – didn't we?

Telling myself that it was important we get to talk, I checked my watch. There were ten minutes until the last class of the day – Gym. It was just enough time to call Alice and demand we talk soon. If I got her to listen, maybe we could meet up later, or I could call her when I got home, just something. If I did anything, maybe I wouldn't be as confused as I'd been all day.

I scrolled through my phone quickly to find her name, and before I lost my nerve, I hit the green button and pressed the phone tightly to my right cheek. I glanced inside; Angela was watching me again, but Jessica and Lauren were already consumed in other conversations, not really noticing how I'd left the table. My eyes moved to the Cullens then, where I was surprised to find another pair of eyes watching me – Edward's. He was sending me a very supportive smile (did he know what I was doing?).

Alice picked up after the first ring. "Hello Bella." she sounded as cheerful and happy as always and that really relieved me.

"Hi Alice." I smiled to myself, I couldn't help it. Just the mere thought of her at the other end of the line, it did strange things to my body.

"I'm sorry I wasn't at school today." Alice continued to chip away, sounding as though nothing was wrong and I briefly thought to myself, that maybe I'd been too concerned with something that wasn't even there. "I had to talk to my parents. Carlisle has the day off."

I scratched my foot in the ground as I answered her, "Oh. It's okay. I was just... worried, I guess."

Alice giggled with her bell-like voice, and I felt that maybe we could actually discuss what happened as two grown-up people. "You didn't need to be, Bella!"

"Can we talk about last night then?" I breathed into the phone, my heart thumping slightly quicker than normally, just by the brief thought of what had almost occurred. I couldn't help it, my heart swelled up.

Only to be cut in half when Alice was reluctant to answer. Actually. She didn't say a word at all.

I cleared my throat, already feeling defeated. "Alice..."

She breathed out too. "I can't talk about it, Bella, I don't wanna talk about it."

"But Alice!" I objected, and I refused to cry this time; those angry-tears, they always got the best of me. But I wasn't gonna. Not in front of the entire student body, I wouldn't do it. "We have to talk about it. Don't tell me you didn't feel the things that I did, Alice."

Alice was silent again, apparently refusing to humour me, since she did not want to 'talk about it'.

"Look Alice," I firmly said, because we were going to talk about it – Goddamnit! - no matter what she said! I refused to butt off until we discussed this like the two mature people, that I knew we were. If we were mature enough to actually end in a situation that needed discussion, we were fucking mature enough to discuss it too! "there's two options here. Either we talk, or..." I let my voice trail off for good measure, "or I come to your house after school."

"..."

"I know where you live now. I drove you home last night." I cleverly informed her. "Remember?" I added, and I had been in front of her, I would've done the same temple-tapping-thing that Jessica had done earlier. But now I only had my tone of voice to do it, so I tried pulling that off as well as possible. And I wasn't beyond driving out there, it wasn't like I was faking it right now. I was going to drive out there if she didn't talk.

And apparently the thought of me turning up on her doorstep did a few things to her. "We'll talk, Bella!" she quickly said, sounding slightly distressed (which pleased me). "Look, I'll pick you up tomorrow – early – we'll drive to school, we'll be there early, we'll talk. I just don't have time for this today, okay?"

Knowing that this was as good as I was going to get it, I agreed, "Alright. I'll see you tomorrow, Alice."

The other end went dead and I breathed out heavily. As much as I liked Alice (and I liked her a lot), this was really annoying. I suddenly saw what Edward moaned about when he called Alice the annoying sister. She surely wasn't a sister to me, but she could be annoying. I turned to enter the cafeteria again, to gather my things before Gym, but stopped when I found that the entire Cullen table (missing one very essential Cullen) was watching me.

I gave them a satisfied smile (that had better tick Rosalie remotely off), before entering the cafeteria again. I didn't know what it was with me today, but I was feeling bolder than usually. If I could get Alice to talk to me, I could get Jacob to talk to me too. The question was just... how. I mean, my persuasive ways hadn't been, well, persuasive, so far, so I guess I'd have to figure something else out at some point.

As I reached for my book bag back at the table, my eyes landed on Lauren; everybody was getting up to get to class, including her, but I stopped. An idea suddenly hit me. "Hey Lauren..."

She paused and looked a me, a sour expression on her face. "What?"

"Didn't you say something about you meeting some of the Quileute boys a while back?" I quickly questioned her, moving around the table, to stand in front of her. I didn't want the entire cafeteria to hear this particular part of our conversation.

Lauren shifted awkwardly on her feet. "Yeah, I was uhm.. I was hanging with them a while back. Me and my brother were."

I knew it! I remember her mentioning the Quileutes a couple of days (or was it weeks?) ago. This was exactly what I needed, if just she had what I needed. "Who were you hanging out with?" I dared to ask her.

Her eyes shifted over mine briefly. "I went out a couple of times with Quil Ateara. I thought he was very cute, until... well, until he started... changing."

She could have gone out with any of the boys from the reservation, any of them! Even some of those I didn't know, who didn't hang with Jacob, but of all people... For once I would forgive myself for actually liking Lauren. She did have taste if she'd dated Quil. And he was exactly the friend of Jacob's that I was most likely to get a hold of. He liked me, I know he did. I smiled at her. "Do you happen to still have his cell phone number... or home number? Anything?"

She squeezed her eyes together and looked at me with suspicion, and just like that, me liking her was over. It'd lasted for a total of thirty seconds, and I was sure that that was as much as I was ever going to feel happy in her presence. "What? Why do you need it?"

"It's just-" I bid myself off. I had to lie now, and I had to be convincing. Do it for Alice and yourself, Bella, come on! I begun pep-talking myself, and offered Lauren the sweetest smile possible. "It's just, you know, eh, my friend... Jacob Black? Well, I've been trying to call him, but – but his phone's not in, in service, so-I'm-just-thinking it's-broken-or-something..." I trailed off, shrugging my shoulders. "So instead of uhm, of driving all the way out there to see if he's OK, I'd rather just call him through Quil." I finished, pleased with myself. That had been a pretty good lie. I think she's buying it.

Lauren did not look like she believed me completely, but she grabbed the phone out of my hands, and quickly scrolled through her own as well. Typing in some digits, she handed it back to me. "Here you go." she said, and with a swing of her hair, she'd left me alone in the cafeteria.

Realising that I was very late for Gym, I hurried right behind her.

x

Before I drove my car home from school that day, I sent Quil a rather long text (it confused me, but I hoped he could make some sense of it) about Jacob and I, and the fight he'd been witness to himself. Quil had always had an odd pleasure in teasing me, and I was sure it was because he thought I was pretty cool and a good friend for Jacob. I didn't know him too well, but I knew him enough to be pretty confident about him wanting us to be friends still – no matter which other friends I had.

I parked my car in the driveway and saw that my father was already home. I guess he'd been right this morning when he said that the wolves had moved towards the Canadian border. If they were still trying to catch them, he wouldn't be home right now. I placed my book bag on the floor in the hallway and entered the kitchen; I knew that there were fish in the freezer and if I fried them and cooked some rice, my father would be thrilled. He wouldn't even want to eat the salad I would make, but I'd force him to do it anyway.

"Hi Dad!" I called to him; the TV was on in the living room, as he was doing what he liked the best; relaxing and watching sports.

There was only a grunt for an answer, so I started making dinner, eager to get it over with, so I could get upstairs and bother Quil once more, if he hadn't answered me at this point. Maybe I'd even try Jacob again. I found myself to be oddly focused on this task now that I had resolved things with Alice and knew that I was speaking to her tomorrow morning.

Dinner was quickly over, and after we ate, I scurried to my room to do today's homework. Quil had not answered me, so I tried both him and Jacob once more (with no responses). I had a lot of homework tonight, so it took me all evening; I had to do Biology and Maths and even worse, American History, which just made me want to punch something. Thirty pages of reading with questions to answer (just to make sure that we all did – in fact – read the thirty pages).

Around ten o'clock I had to finish for the day, because I also needed to have a quick shower before going to bed. I was too lazy to shower in the morning, and if I were going to spend a long time alone with Alice, I wanted to make sure that I didn't smell weird. Stepping into the steaming shower, I quickly smelled my hair. I'd have to shampoo it. Twice.

If showers helped some people relax, I really envied them! I always found it hard to calm down in the showers; sure it was lovely to just stand there beneath the water and let it cascade around me, but it gave me plenty of time to think about things. Things that I wouldn't have been musing over if I'd been reading or studying. No, showers weren't good for me like that, so I liked to keep them as short as possible.

Water, shampoo, water, soap, water, and... lovely fussy towel. I dried myself off and dressed in my cosy sleepwear; my old, worn t-shirt and a long pair of sweatpants. I didn't bother drying my hair completely, instead I just tied it into a messy bun. It'd be hell trying to comb it tomorrow, but I didn't care; I wanted to sleep! The lack of sleep from last night was really getting to me, and I was surprised I'd even lasted this long.

I dumped my dirty clothes in the laundry basket and went down the hallway and into my room. I turned on my bedside lamp and got ready to tuck myself into my warm bed, but before doing so I just had to check my cell phone to see if I'd gotten a response from either Jacob or Quil. How shocked do you think I was when I found that I had?

From Quil. Look out your window.

Sprinting from my bed, I tore my window open and leaned outside. Right there, on the grass beneath my window tree, sat Quil and... Embry? I'd clearly been hoping for Jacob, but at least I was getting some response, so this was better than nothing. I knew I had to be careful not to alarm Charlie, so I didn't shout at them. "What are you doing here?" I hissed. I was happy to see them, I wanted to talk, but – all that couldn't be done right now. I was supposed to go to sleep!

Quil and Embry stood up when they realised that I was there. "Can we come in?" Quil asked me.

I shook my head. "No! I'm not allowed to have visitors right now. Charlie is still up. We'll have to talk tomorrow."

Embry ignored me. "We're coming up."

"We're just not using the door." Quil added, before he – very athletically, I might add – swung himself into the tree in front of my window, and started making his way towards the branch that ended a good few inches away from the windowsill. He almost looked like a cat as he crawled like that.

"Are you crazy? You can't get in like this!" I gaped at them, but Embry had already followed Quil into the tree, and they were both ignoring me.

Before I knew how it really happened, Quil had swung himself from the branch and into my bedroom, Embry following right after. They landed on top of each other on the floor with a huge thud, and I hissed at them again as they laughed. I had to hear if Charlie was moving... but all I could make out was the sound coming from the TV. We were good.

I took a seat on my bed and gave them both a look that clearly referred to the first thing I said when I saw them: What the hell were they doing here?

Embry leaned himself against the windowsill, and it became clear to me, that he did not really want to be here, that he was only present because Quil had wanted to come and Embry had felt obliged to join him. Quil though, took a seat on my desk chair and scooted across the floor, so he sat right in front of me.

I raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing there?"

It felt like the billionth time I'd said that since I saw them outside my house.

"How about 'thanks for answering my texts'?" Quil mocked me, and suddenly I got this very weird feeling that this visit wasn't all that pleasant.

I shifted uncomfortably on the bed.

Quil breathed in deeply. "Bella, we wanted to come to you to tell you to stop harassing Jake." he paused, and I blinked. "He doesn't wanna talk to you, and your texts are annoying the hell out of him. Now, he doesn't have the heart to tell you this because you guys used to be friends, but after you also texted me today, well... Embry and I just felt the need to do something about it. Just leave him alone."

There were so many things wrong with those sentences, and my eyes almost popped out of my head when he finished. He told me to stop harassingJacob? I'd done no such thing! I'd simply requested (maybe a bit too many times...) that he answer me. What was wrong with that? It's simple human interactiveness that people respect each other enough to answer one another. I wouldn't have 'harassed' him if he'd just answered me. Then my texting would have been limited to one text, before it simply turned into a conversation. I couldn't seem to figure out what the problem was with that.

And then they had the nerve to come here to tell me that? Should I really just take it and just sit here and listen to them? I'd taken so much crap from Jacob himself, and now Quil (who I'd always thought was cool) was sitting here in front of me, telling me to back off... That really pissed me off!

Embry crossed his arms. "You get the picture?" he questioned me, while he didn't even have the curtsey to look me in the eye.

I felt my jaw clench even tighter than it had been as I'd listened to everything Quil had to say. Man, those Quileute boys had a nag for getting me mad! "If Jake was a real friend, he'd answer me. No matter if friends are disagreeing, they should always be there for each other."

"I don't think Jake thinks of himself as your friend anymore." Quil told me. At least he could look at me as we were talking, Embry was just finding my bare walls very interesting at this very moment.

I crossed my ankles and said, "I will get Jacob to talk to me at some point!" I argued back, because now I was going to stand up for myself and not just sit there like some defenceless girl. I had a point to prove! "We've known each other for ages. And despite what he might say to you – he misses me, I know he does."

Quil just shook his head at me. "You're dreaming, Bella. It's not gonna happen."

I pointed my finger, "There's the door... uhm, window."

And with that being said, Quil and Embry jumped right back out the way they came up, muttering to themselves about me while shaking their heads. I snapped the window shut as soon as they were in the tree, closing my drapes with a huff. Even if I was a little proud of myself for standing up to them, I couldn't help it – I was pissed!


I'm so very sorry for the disrespectfully long delay! I had a good time in Greece, but when I got home, I found it very hard to get back into the universe of my story. We also had a death in the family (and I sprained my ankle), so I've had a lot going on. I do apologise if this chapter seems a bit off – I'll try to work the kinks out when writing the next part.

Thank you very much for all the kind reviews I'm receiving from you guys! I really appreciate it :) and I do try to get back at you all personally, so I apologise if I sometimes miss a few of you. I changed my summary - but only a little. Thanks to everyone who got back to me on that.

Disclaimer; I don't own Twilight.