Chapter 9 – Explanations

"He has got a lot of explaining to do." I thought to myself, as I took out the necessary props for the forthcoming English lesson.

Spanish had passed by quickly, and had consisted largely of replaying the interactions of lunch, over and over again, to try and squeeze out any other insight, that I my have initially missed.

Of course, it was also full of over attentive students. They seemed to be getting braver as well. The boys, no longer seemed to be intimidated as much, when it was just me on my own. I supposed, that any of the male members of my family, would be enough to ward of even the bravest of juniors.

I was all on my own in English now however. I could see Karl and his friend in the periphery of my vision. They were both watching me intently, as I opened my copy of Romeo and Juliet, and began to read the text that I already knew so well. I caught the end of their whispered conversation, and I squirmed internally.

"What do you recon then? Should I?" Karl asked the dark haired boy, sat on the desk next to him.

There were three minutes until the bell would sound, and Miss Turner would begin the lesson.

"Up to you man. I thought you saw her with that other Cullen boy at lunch, though?"

"Yeah, I know, but I'll never know until I ask,"

"Your funeral dude, I'll be there though, to watch you crash and burn, hah!"

"Thanks Man, you've always got my back." He mock punched his friend in the arm. "I'm gonna do it..." He resolved, as he stood up and walked calmly down the isle, towards my desk.

I heard his heart beat speed up demonstrably, as he approached and his breathing became some what shallower. I glanced up when he came to stand in front of my desk. His hands were shaking so much so that he had to clench them into fists, and then quickly shoved them in his pockets, hoping that I would not have noticed.

"Hi," He said with a slightly quivering voice.

"Hi," I replied in a courteous manner.

I maintained eye contact with him, and heard his breath catch in the back of his throat. He coughed lightly, in an effort to clear it, and regain some composure.

"I'm Karl. You're Bella, right?"

"Right,"

"Umm…" He stammered to find his words.

"Well, I was just wondering, that since you are new in town, that maybe, you might like to have a friend to show you around?" The words came out in a rush, and I saw the relief on his face when he had go to the end of his sentence. He took a breath, and waited for my reply.

"That's very kind of you Karl," I said curtly.

"But I'm actually already pretty familiar with the area,"

I could have gone on to explain that I had had the last few nights to explore every angle of this place, and that I probably knew it better than he did. But somehow, I didn't think that that was the best direction to take this conversation. I could see, all too well, where this was going, and there was no way that he was going to walk away with the result that he was after. I almost felt sorry for him.

"Oh, Ok. Well, maybe you might like to go out somewhere, sometime…together?"

I hesitated, momentarily, before I gave a response.

"I don't really think that would be a very good idea. I don't think Edward would like that too much."

"Edward?" He said, with a mixture of disappointment and annoyance.

"Yes, Edward Cullen. Do you know him?"

"No, I don't." The resentment in his voice was clear.

"Is he your boyfriend then?"

"We are together, yes."

I didn't like the term boyfriend. Instinctively, I reached up to the thin gold chain that I wore around my neck, and wrapped my fist around the wedding band that hung on it. He paid no attention to my action. Instead, he simply paused for a moment to gather his reaction to my words.

"Oh… well…that's too bad, it would have been good."

"Thank you, for the offer though Karl."

He turned on his heals to retreat back to his desk, where his friend was now stifling back his raucous laughter. He hesitated where he stood for a second, and then turned back to face me.

"If it ever doesn't work out, with you and Edward... well, you know where I am. I would be happy lend a shoulder for you to cry on."

I nearly joined his friend with his laughter. I hadn't cried for almost seven years now, and I never would again. As for the idea of me and Edward not 'working out', well, now I definitely felt sorry for him. There was no me without Edward.

Miss Turner entered the room, just as Karl got back to his seat. Immediately, she broke into a recap of yesterday's lesson. I sat back and stared at Elizabeth Masons ring, which I was now wearing on my right hand, for appearance sake. I let my mind drift, as I sauntered back though the murkier human memories, to the time when Edward had put this ring on the correct finger for the first time. I stayed with these moments until the lesson was all but over.

Bringing my attention back into the classroom, I sat and listened to the scribbling of pens on paper, gentle breathing and the chorus of beating hearts. Occasional mumblings from neighbouring friends broke into the medley of sounds, but they were soon ended when a stern looking Miss Turner would eye them disapprovingly. I glanced around the room taking in each of the students at each of the desks. All but one of them had a partner sat next to them. I recognised the solo student in an instant.

Tessa sat in the same seat as she had done yesterday, the chair next to her empty. She sat, slumped over her desk, with her head resting in her left hand. Her eyes were intent on the note book that she was frantically scribbling in. There was no break in her focus, despite the slowly increasing murmurings of the class. All around her, heads were pealing themselves up from their work, as one by one they completed their task. I tore off the three sheets of paper that I had finished earlier in the lesson, and inscribed my name on each of the sheets.

"Right then," Miss Turner suddenly stood up from behind her desk.

"Pens down, and papers folded." She strolled around from behind her desk, and began her way down the closest isle, collecting the folded papers being pushed along the rows to her. As she reached Tessa's desk, she paused.

"Pens down, Miss Mason," She instructed.

"You have had your time."

Tessa looked up, and slowly pushed her paper towards the edge of the desk.

"Sorry, Miss Turner," She said, in a weak apologetic tone.

Her voice had an oddly rhythmic cadence to it, which I found strange for a human. I examined her features in more depth, as she handed the papers over to the waiting hand. She had a soft face, with subtle features. There was nothing particularly sticking about her, which I thought made her uniquely beautiful. Her light brown hair was accented by understated highlights, running throughout, and it fell loosely, in waves, to her shoulders.

As I watched, Miss Turner moved on past Tessa table, and Tessa's gaze followed her as she moved. I knew it was about to happen, but I was griped by a wondering curiosity of my own. What was it about this girl that made her look at me in this way? Miss Turner crossed between the two of us and as soon as she moved beyond it, Tessa was now watching me. The same childlike smile spread across her face. I knew that my appearance would be impassive to her, but I held this resolve. She carefully pealed away her hand from off the desk and held it in an upright position, where she emulated a waving motion. I watched as she mouthed the word "Hi," to me. I felt the corners of my mouth twitch up into a minute smile.

This small fragile human that sat not three desks away, was in no way like any that I had ever encountered before in my relatively brief life as a vampire, but this fact still scared me. In a brief flurry of panic, I broke our gaze and handed my folded paper to the outstretched hand of Miss Turner, who was smiling approvingly at the three sheets of my somewhat more refined scribbling. I could feel Tessa's eyes still on me, but I did not meet them again. I packed away my stuff back into my bag, and swung it up onto my shoulder as the bell rang. I was out of the door, without a backwards look, before the bell had finished reverberating around the hall.

Edward was waiting for me as I turned the corner. He smiled contented at me, but his eyes flickered to the door I had just come from. Safe in his arms, I turned to watch the remaining students filing out of the class room and I caught sight of Tessa again. Her eyes scanned the now almost full hall. I looked up at Edward, and was puzzled. He was looking over at Tessa, who was now looking back at him. A pang of jealousy swept through me. Edward looked down at me in that moment.

"Are you ready to go home?" He asked, as he stared at me with smouldering eyes.

My apprehension lessened and I looked at him questioningly.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" He countered, with an innocent look on his perfect face.

"You were staring at Tessa,"

"Who?"

"The girl I told you about this morning." A mixture of exasperation and doubt was overcoming me now. Did I just imagine it? Was I going crazy?

"Oh, was that who she was?" I rolled my eyes at him as he continued.

"I was just looking at the rest of your class. Trying to obtain a view of the general thoughts and theories they are forming of us. So far, so good it would seem."

I eyed him suspiciously, but he reached down and kissed me gently on my forehead.

"Come on, let's get home. I was under the impression that you wanted to speak to a certain absentee from this morning?"

"Jacob!" I said with remembered anxiety.

I caught a glimpse of the back of his head as we approached the car, moving swiftly away in the direction of the surrounding trees. Everyone else was congregated around our two cars. I went to follow after him but a strong hand held me back. I looked back at Edward, with a frustrated scowl on my face. He simply smiled back at me with endless patience emanating from his being.

"Later Bella," He assured me, in a soothing voice. I reluctantly nodded and slid in to my seat through the car door that he was now holding open for me.

Renesmee's recap of the day was played back to me, for the duration of the journey home, as it had been the day before. The morning had gone by much the same as yesterday. It was only at the end of Spanish, that there was any real differential between the days.

The bell had sounded and Edward had taken her hand to lead her out of the class before the rest of the class had even stood up from their seats. But then he had halted, not five paces into the hall.

"Renesmee, you go off ahead. I will catch you up in the cafeteria,"

"Where are you going?" She had queried.

"I need to go see Alice about something. I won't be long."

And then I watched as she had as he spun on his heels, and darted off in the opposite direction to the cafeteria.

Confusion had been in the back of her mind, as she continued on her own, following the mass of students now herding themselves in the direction of food. She caught sight of our table and the confusion intensified, as she took in the three people sat around it. Images of Jasper, Alice, Edward and Jacob flashed through her mind.

Her conversation with me had distracted her to a small degree but the under lying confusion was still strong. Jacobs face was etched deep into her thoughts. I watched as she shared the memories of Edward and Alice's arrival. Jasper had joined the party shortly after Alice had insisted that I accompanied her to get some food.

She didn't linger on the memories of the human food, instead glancing over that and the brief conversation about going hunting tonight, to get to the moment that Edward and I went off, under the pretence of retrieving my cell. There was relief in the tenor of her reminiscence, as she walked back to the table with Alice after disposing of the remains of her lunch, when she saw the addition to the table. He sat in my seat, with a beaming grin. I detected a hint of something else in his expression that I couldn't quite out my finger on. Renesmee didn't seem to pick up on this through her excitement to see Jacob.

"Hey Ness," He said in his low husky voice.

His words were saturated with such deep devotion, that Renesmee's thoughts were completely swayed from the feelings of confusion and angst that had previously been enveloping her. To My disappointment, Renesmee had asked no questions as to where he had been. I supposed that, as she had had no lessons with him prior to lunch, she would not have fully comprehended the length of his absence. I noted Emmett, in the background of the memory, glance at Jacob suspiciously. But again Renesmee didn't seem to pick up on this, having her attention firmly fixated on Jacob.

Gym had been a similar format to yesterday, with countless boys competing with each other to win Renesmee's attention. This rattled Jacobs calm exterior, and she watched as he was caught up in the competition. I tuted to myself, unimpressed, as his juvenile exhibition of his athletic abilities became such, that he was by far standing out against the novice skills of the rest of the class. Clearly, our little chat yesterday had fallen on deaf ears.

Once again, the images of her last lesson were played to us as we reached the end of the large driveway. As Renesmee pulled her hand away from my cheek and went to open the car door, I turned to her.

"Renesmee, why don't you go upstairs and start on your homework. Then you can change, and we can go out hunting."

"Oh, ok. Will you tell Jake where I have gone? Maybe he can come with us on the hunt?"

"I will ask him, when I see him." I replied earnestly.

Jacob was more than welcome to come with us… but only after he had answered my questions.

I got out of the car whilst Renesmee skipped off into the house. When she was safely inside, I listened intently to the sounds of the forest. Before I found what I was searching for, Edwards voice broke into my concentration.

"He is not far, come." The tone of his voice was more urgent than I would have expected from him.

He was round by my side in less than a hundredth of a second, and then we were flying through the trees hand in hand. Edward was leading me at first, but then, as we ran further into the darkening surroundings, I picked up Jacobs scent and I could match my pace to his.

Not far now.

I heard his heartbeat, slightly faster than usual, getting louder and louder. Then the trees opened up slightly into a miniature clearing. Jacob sat on the edge of a fallen tree, his face serious. I opened my mouth to speak but Edward got there first.

"What's going on Jacob? Why didn't you tell us about this before?"

The alarming ferocity of his questioning took me by surprise, but Jacob just looked expectant.

"What do you mean?" Edward began to question things that Jacob had obviously just been thinking.

"Wait..." I interrupted, before I missed out on any more of this explanation, for which I had been waiting the whole day for.

"One of you, please tell me what I just missed." I instructed.

Edward turned his head to me, his eyes still fixed on Jacob.

"Jacob has been to La Push today."

"What! Why? What's happened? Is everyone ok?" My torrent of questions, made Edward finally look at me.

"Nothing has happened, and everyone is ok."

"Then why…"

"There has been another young boy in the tribe to phase."

"But…" I trailed off and looked at Jacob, who was now wearing a look of deep concentration.

"What does it mean? I don't understand. There hasn't been a new tribe member to phase in over six years."

I looked from Jacob to Edward for the answer but neither spoke for what felt like a long moment.

"Sam thinks something is coming," Jacob finally answered.

"So I went to La Push, to get a better incite."

"What do you mean, 'something is coming'?"

"That's why I went Bells, I didn't know…"

"And now? Do you know, now?" My voice was now raised, and the frantic nature of my thoughts had made it skip to a higher octave.

Jacob was quite for another moment whilst he traced the contours of his had absentmindedly. He drew a deep breath before he responded.

"Sam thinks that it feels like it did before… well, before when all those bloodsuckers came for you Bella, after graduation, when you were human," He looked at me for my understanding and then continued.

"But I don't think it's like that… There is something, but I'm still not sure… Maybe it's just your bloodsucker friends wedding."

"Kate and Garrett's?" I wondered.

"Yeah, I don't think it feels the same as it did when they were coming for you. It feels more like something that we should be wary of. Not so much a threat to you, but a threat to us."

"There's no threat to you from their wedding, Jake." I encouraged, but Edward cut short my protests.

"It's more the large gathering of our kind that I think the wolves will be feeling the threat of, Bella. There are few like us and the Denali family about, so the guest list will predominantly be made up of those whom will not hold the same respect for human life as we do."

Realisation hit me. Of course the packs would be picking up on such a large impending gathering, even if it was that far away. The packs were so big now, and so in tune with each other, that the ranges they now patrolled were also that much greater.

"Why didn't you tell anyone where you were going, Jake?" This question seemed insignificant now, but I asked it all the same. Maybe I was hoping that it would calm down the nervous edge that was growing in my subconscious.

"I had every intention of going to school when I left you this morning. I phased when I got to the trees, and then I heard Sam. I had to go Bells, there wasn't time to let you know, I didn't know what was going on."

"You didn't answer your cell…"

"It's difficult to answer a cell when you have no opposable thumbs." His tone was lighter now and he rolled his eyes at my apparent stupidity. I scowled.

"I didn't phase back, until I got back to the forest by school."

We were all quiet for a brief moment as we each processed the conversation. I guessed that Edward would be sifting through Jacobs thoughts for any further insight into his absence, and the news of another addition to the pack.

I was the first to break the silence.

"So, how did you leave it?"

"There wasn't much that I could do. I'm going to be on patrol though, each night, so I may be missing the odd bit of school. Well, until the wedding is over, and things calm down. We need to be on guard,"

I nodded in agreement and looked over at Edward. His face was still serious, but not as fraught as before. He returned my stare and his expression softened.

"Thank you, Jacob. If there is anything that we can do to help, you need only ask." Edwards sincerity was abundant, and Jacob nodded appreciatively.

"I think we should all head back now. I am sure it wont take Renesmee long to finish her work, and then she will be wondering where we all are," He paused to look at us both.

"I think it would be prudent to refrain from worrying her unduly."

"I'm with you on that one, Edward," Jacob agreed.

I looked over at him with concerned eyes. There was little that Jacob could keep from Renesmee. She only had to ask, and he would obey.

"I can do it Bells. She doesn't know anything is up, so she won't ask. It will be fine."

"Let's get back then, so she has nothing to suspect."

Edward and I began to run back in the direction of the house. After a split second, I heard the sound of four paws pounding the earth, racing after us.