I know, I know. FINALLY! right? I had a severe case of writer's block and just really being lazy, and after a few weeks off, my friend Jennifer aka jenniper pushed me to get this chapter out. A big thanks to her and her critical eye as she read over this whole chapter and gave me ideas and told me how to make things sound better. I promised my hubby that I would thank him too for helping me brainstorm this past week, he's great for letting me bounce crazy ideas off of him and for helping me with the 'mechanic' terms. So needless to say, I really couldn't have did this on my own. I don't plan to take this long updating next time so please stick with me. It's gettin' good!

Chapter 10- Friday the 13th

Song: Hot n Cold by Katy Perry

Even though Embry expressed his want to spend more time with me and I was more than happy to comply, the next three weeks were so completely hectic that I barely had time to sleep. Okay, I had time to sleep, but as soon as my head hit the pillow, it felt like morning came way too soon.

My first day at The Cool Breeze was, in fact, a breeze. Tyler turned out to be a tall African-American guy who was really easy to get along with. He laughed at my bad jokes and even made some of his own. He was so great at teaching me all the basics I would need to know and all the employees were friendly and willing to help me anytime I asked. I ended up working with Liz mostly, taking orders and money which proved to be fun and easy. I even ended up meeting a lot of people from town that knew Charlie. What a surprise, right?

Tyler set my schedule for at least three days a week, but I told him I'd be willing to take on more if he needed me to. He seemed pleased that I offered and told me he would keep that in mind. I later regretted my offer when he called me in to work on the day I had planned to surprise Embry on his job. I ended up just texting him instead, which turned out to be a very awkward conversation to say the least.

Is it possible to get sick of ice cream? – Bella

You're sick of it already? – Embry

No. Just wondering if it's possible. If it is, I may want to consider a new job.

So I'm assuming you're at work now?

Yep. I originally had the day off. I had considered surprising you.

That would have been nice. But it's okay. Maybe another day.

Possibly.

It would have been hard explaining why you showed up here anyway.

True. What would you have said?

No idea.

What ARE we anyways?

What do you mean?

Idk. The lines are starting to get a little blurred.

I guess we're friends who…do stuff.

Ahh, a title every girl wants.

I'm not labeling you, that's just what it seems at the moment.

Well I guess we can't really go further than that anyways.

Meaning?

I leave soon so taking it to bf/gf level would be pointless right?

I guess so.

Awkward? Yes. Did the conversation flow from there? No. That was pretty much the end of that topic because neither of us seemed to have anything else to say on it.

Days not spent at The Cool Breeze were spent in Jacob's garage. Charlie never questioned my absences from the house. He was ecstatic that I had something to occupy my time with instead of soap operas and sitcoms. I knew this stemmed from the guilt he felt by leaving me alone so much, but I had never really minded.

With only a few more repairs to make, Jacob and I almost had that old truck up and running. I couldn't believe how giddy I felt at the prospect of seeing the finished product, knowing that my hands were the ones who made it run. Oh yeah, Jake helped too.

Jake and I made a few business relationships with local dealerships and parts supply stores to get us started and I had to admit that it was fun. He used his knowledge of cars and his quick wit to win over most vendors, but the difficult ones he left to me. On more than one occasion, I had to take the reigns and sweet talk our way into opening an account. Although, it didn't work every time. Turns out, not all businesses are willing to extend credit to two underage teenagers without a legitimate company. Go figure.

Obviously, the "training" I was being put through with the Rabbit and the Chevy was the hardest, but it was definitely the most rewarding. The Rabbit had fewer repairs to go through, so we finished it within two weeks time. The day we finally heard it crank was probably the best of my summer so far.

"Give me a sec, I almost have the belt in place," I struggled to say to Jake as I was leaning over the hood.

"Take your time. Do you want me to help?" he asked from his perch next to me. He was holding open the belt tensioner with a ratchet while I aligned the belt.

"No!" I said quickly. "I've got it."

I heard him chuckle next to my ear. He had been joking recently that he had created a monster by teaching me how to do all these mechanical things. Now that I halfway knew what I was doing, I wanted to do it myself. But this belt was going to break my fingers if I didn't hurry up and get it on there.

Finally, I forced it onto the pulleys and we both released the huge breaths we had been holding. My hands felt almost numb from the pressure that had been put on them and I think Jake's felt the same because he flexed his fingers after he had laid the ratchet down.

"So, what's next, Captain?" I asked as I mock saluted him.

"Start it."

"What?" I thought I had heard him wrong.

"Start it," he said, pronouncing every syllable.

"We're finished with it?"

"We'll never know until you start it." Jacob was trying his best to hold back a smile, but I could tell he was as happy as I was.

"Why didn't you tell me the belt was the last thing to fix?"

"Because it would have made you nervous and then you would have crushed your fingers. Now scoot." He pushed me towards the front seat.

I turned to him. "Jake, this is your car. You should be the one to start it."

"It's okay, Bells. Jump in."

The look in his eyes almost floored me. He sincerely wanted me to take this moment from him because this was the first car I had helped fix, but this was also his baby. The one he had probably been working on for months without me. I stepped out of the way.

"Jake, get your butt in that car and I don't want to hear another word about it."

"But, Bells…"

"Nope. How 'bout this? I'll start the truck when we finish with it."

He looked me in the eyes and hesitated for a minute like he was looking back at me for my sincerity too. I guess he saw it there because a huge smile spread across his face as he jerked the driver's side door open. I ran to the passenger's side and jumped in next to him.

"Ready?" He had his hand on the key in the ignition. The smile that was spread across his face and the gleam in his eye almost made me think I was looking at the young Jake I knew as a kid. His smile made me smile.

"Ready!" I half-screamed back.

"Shut your door."

"What? Why?"

"Just in case. Now shut it, please."

I reluctantly shut my door and I heard him shut his too. He had me scared by this point. Were car parts going to go flying around the garage if this didn't work the way it was suppose to?

After releasing a shaky breath, he turned the key.

VROOM.

I screamed at the top of my lungs. I almost came completely out of the seat as I reached over the console to hug Jake. He even let out a loud yell. I then realized this was why he had us close our doors. Charlie and Billy would be nothing short of shocked to hear me elated over a cranked car. We weren't ready to tell about our partnership yet, so my squeals were just between the two of us.

After we quieted ourselves, Jake turned off the engine and I jumped out of the car still in silent bliss. Never in my life thus far had I felt the rush of adrenaline that was surging through me at that moment. It was as if the car's engine was somehow hot-wired to my nervous system as well. It started and so did I. My senses were on edge and I knew I couldn't wait until tomorrow to start working on the truck again. I had to get my hands on something before I exploded.

I turned my eyes to meet Jake's and I could tell we were thinking the same thing. Nothing's gonna stop us now. We had gotten this far and nothing was going to keep us from the picture he had painted of our own little shop. Yeah, it had seemed ridiculous and improbable at first, but as I picked up a wrench and saw how perfectly it fit in my hand, my vision got clearer and clearer.

Just thinking about that day gave me chills. That night we had actually gotten far on fixing the truck. It should be done within a few days I was guessing.

Finally, I ended up snagging a Friday off from The Cool Breeze and while I had planned to lie around all day, Charlie had other plans for me in mind.

"Bells, here's my credit card. I want you to go up to Port Angeles and buy you some school clothes. Consider it an early birthday gift," he said that morning as he woke me up at the crack of dawn.

I looked up and saw a huge smile on his face. Only he could be happy at 6 a.m.

"Leah has already agreed to take you," he continued. "I saw her last night at the diner and she said she's wanted to do some shopping anyway."

I wanted to be mad that he made plans for me behind my back, but what girl can say no to a credit card and a dad that means well? So after falling back asleep for two hours, I got ready for the day. It didn't take me long, so even after I had finished, I still had an hour before Leah got there.

I made my way outside toward Jake's makeshift garage and slid the door open. After flicking on the light, I grabbed a screwdriver and picked up where I had left off the prior day. The truck was our main concern now since the Rabbit was finished, which Jake now took everywhere he could.

Before I knew it, I heard gravel crunch in the driveway and I knew I was about to be caught. After quickly washing my hands, I ran to meet Leah on the front porch of Charlie's house. I rounded the corner and she gave me a questioning look.

"Where are you coming from?" she asked.

"Just around back." I tried to sound nonchalant, but I didn't know how well it worked.

Leah seemed convinced or uninterested one, but a smile spread on her face either way. "Angela's coming along too. This is going to be fun."

As she said this, I peered over her shoulder and saw Angela walking the short distance from her house to mine. A whole twenty feet. I was actually surprised Angela had today off too, seeing as our schedules rarely merged. She had snagged a job at The Cool Breeze too.

Once I had secured dad's credit card in my purse, we hit the road. The ride usually seems long to me, but with two crazy girls as my companions keeping me totally entertained, we got there in no time.

We spent most of our time in clothing stores occupying the dressing rooms. Probably half of the store clerks thought we were there to just mess around and try on clothes until we whipped out our assorted forms of payment.

Leah and Angela proved to be great shopping buddies to me. They were honest about what they liked and didn't like, plus they found stuff that looked great on me that I wouldn't have looked at twice on my own. It was like having my own professional shoppers. I could get use to this.

We found lunch in the mall at a small Italian restaurant. Leah was texting on her cell phone like a mad woman before I finally had to ask what she was up to.

"I'm just texting some of the guys," she responded.

"Oh really? What are they up to?" Again, I tried acting nonchalant. What I really wanted to know was what Embry was up to. I hadn't spoken to him in a few days, but even then it was only a few texts here and there.

"I invited them to meet us at the theater later. It's been a while since we've all hung out together and we should definitely do something before school starts back," Leah explained.

My head shot up. "We're going to the movies? What are we seeing?"

"I was thinking since today is Friday the 13th, we should go to that old cinema on Main Street. They're showing horror films in every theater tonight and it only costs five bucks to watch as many as you want."

It sounded like our night was set and I was super excited. The thought of being in a dark theater with Embry was extremely enticing. If tonight was all-you-could-watch, we would definitely be out late, so all I had to do was make a routine call to Charlie.

Three hours later

The whole ride across town, Angela had insisted we listen to some oldies to get into the "scary movie spirit." What one had to do with the other, I had no idea. Maybe some cheesy old movie she had once seen fused these two scenarios together. Nevertheless, we cruised down Main Street with the windows down and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" blaring on the radio.

The cinema was one of those brick buildings you see in old Hollywood movies with the huge marquee out front displaying all the movies being played that night. I spotted I Know What You Did Last Summer, Halloween, Freddie, Chucky, and plenty more on the schedule to be shown tonight.

We paid our five dollars at the front window and walked inside to hopefully find the boys. We had to look no further when we suddenly heard a wolf-whistle ring out from behind us, kind of like off those old cartoons.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" the whistler said.

I turned and saw a sharply-dressed Quil standing against the windows beside the front entrance we just came in. We must have walked right by him. I couldn't see how. He was looking quite dashing tonight with his button down shirt and his khaki pants.

"Do any of you ladies need a gentleman escort tonight because my arm could use a companion?" Quil continued as he put on his best British accent and held out his arm for one of us to grab. Angela and Leah made no move towards him, so I looped my arm through his.

"Are you here alone stranger?" I asked him as the four of us walked further into the building.

"Absolutely not. I was the lookout. The others are in the arcade, of course."

The arcade here was outrageous. The old venue that you saw outside seemed to fit some of the games here but whoever stocked this room was definitely a collector. Games ranged from Pac-Man to Deal or No Deal. Shooting games from different decades also littered the floor with boys stuck to them like glue, the selection ranging from rifles to machine guns.

"Who else is here with you?" I asked as I scanned the room for a familiar face.

"Sam, Emily, Jake, and Embry."

My heart jumped at his reply, although I still didn't see anyone he mentioned. He pulled me over to a racing game and as I peeked around the seat, I spotted Emily at the wheel. She was changing gears and skidding around turns like it was nobody's business. The look on her face was complete concentration and I commended her for her sheer guts to compete with the guy next to her who looked like he had street-raced for real.

"Decided to finally show up?" a deep voice said in my ear. Whoever's hot breath was on my neck gave me chills. I turned and was met with two almost black orbs staring straight at me.

"Hey, I'm on time!" I chided him as I lightly punched his shoulder.

"On time for being late."

"Don't try that with me. You know you guys got here early just so you could come and play the games."

"Okay, you caught me. I had to make sure no one even comes close to beating my score on DDR."

"DDR? I didn't peg you for the dancing type."

"I didn't peg you for a lot of things you turned out to be," he said, flashing me that killer grin.

I rolled my eyes and unintentionally landed them on another person I had wanted to talk to tonight.

"I'll see you in a bit Jake. I'm gonna go say hi to Embry."

His smile faltered for the slightest of seconds that I might have imagined it, but then he put all my fears to rest by responding with a "Sure, sure" and turning to the rest of the group.

When I turned back towards Embry, he had ducked into a game that had curtains draped down each side kind of like a photo booth. The name of the game was Big Wheeler so I guess it was another driving game.

As I got closer to the game, I could hear Embry's low voice murmuring to himself and to the game. I couldn't help but smile at his childish antics. They were extremely cute. I walked around to the "passenger's side" since this thing was big enough to fit two people and reached out to pulled back the curtain slowly so I wouldn't startle him.

"Hey stranger, any room for me in there?" I asked.

He looked over with a blank look on his face. "Sure."

That answer actually caused me to stop short because I was so stunned by the sense of cold that he was putting off. I kind of had the feeling he wouldn't care if I just walked off the face of the planet at that moment. He must've had a bad day.

"Are you winning?" I asked as I made myself comfortable.

"You could say that." Wow. Short answers.

"It feels like I haven't seen you in forever," I tried again.

"Does it?"

Okay, I was just going to have to come out and say it. "Is something wrong?"

"Nope."

"Then why are you acting like you'd rather I not be here?"

"I'm not. I'm just concentrating on the game." Yeah, always a good answer.

I looked towards the screen. He was actually doing pretty well. I guess it just bummed me out that if we would have been in this situation a month ago, we would be making out like there was no tomorrow. But right now all I felt was the thick cloud of discomfort building around us, threatening to suffocate me and my stupid 'what are we?' text messages.

After about three more games, I decided it was time to call it quits and find the other people I came with. At least they wouldn't appear to be giving me the cold shoulder.

"I'll see you in the theater?" I asked him.

"What? Oh, yeah sure."

He was being such a terd. That's right, I said it. A terd. I didn't understand how guys did it. One minute they can't get enough of you and the next they're barely aware that you're in the same room. Once puberty hits them, you better call it quits. We'll never be able to decipher the framework of the male brain.

After playing a few rounds of Ms. Pac-Man and watching a few of our friends battle it out on different games, we were all ready to head into the theater. But what we didn't expect was the fuss we would all have when it came to actually picking out the movies we were going to see.

Eventually, we all decided on Theater 4 which was playing the first three Saw movies back to back. I was completely excited. Saw was the only scary flick franchise I followed. I wouldn't classify it as horror, but it was definitely suitable for Friday the 13th entertainment.

Jake, Leah, Quil, and I stood in line at the concession stand waiting to order our junk food when I totally spaced out. I was looking at a movie poster that displayed today's date, August 13th. I couldn't believe we were already two weeks into August. I'd be leaving in a couple of weeks and it felt like I hadn't been here long enough.

I looked at my friends standing around me, laughing and telling jokes, and I felt my heart swell a thousand times. Sort of like the Grinch at the end of his movie. It physically hurt to think that I'd have to leave them soon and I felt traitorous tears burn my eyes. I quickly looked to the floor so my hair covered my face.

"You okay, Bells?"

I looked up and Jacob had a pained expression on his face. I sucked it up and pushed my dilemma to the back of my mind. "Yeah, fine. Why?" With my cheery voice, I almost fooled myself.

His eyes flicked behind me. "No reason."

I turned to look towards where his eyes had landed just seconds ago. What I saw definitely made me a little mad. There was Embry, standing next to a leggy blond who was holding his arm and totally feeling his bicep.

Bitch. And she was one, too.

It was bad enough that I had to endure the fact that Embry suddenly had a change of heart, but for Jake to have figured out the situation and feel bad for me was even worse. I could tell he thought my sudden interest in the floor was due to Embry's new arm candy, so I had to convince him that it didn't bother me one bit. My plan: to enjoy the rest of my night. Who knew how many more chances I'd have to hang out with these people again? I wasn't going to let anyone ruin it for me.

I turned my attention back towards the snack bar and ordered my usual popcorn, Milk Duds, and a giant Coke which earned me a look from the rest of those in line with me.

"What? A girl's not allowed to have junk food?" They all shrugged and ordered their respective goodies.

All nine of us (the ninth being the leggy blond I now knew to be Chelsea) met outside of Theater 4 seeing as we all needed to either get food or go to the bathroom, so this made it easier. Fortunately, this theater was one of the biggest in the building so it wasn't as crowded as I had predicted. I led the way to the middle of the theater to get to my favorite spot. I stopped halfway down the row I chose and took the best seat in the house. Jake, Quil, Leah, and Angela followed me. Embry, Chelsea, Sam, and Emily sat on the row in front of us. I guess they liked to be directly in the middle too.

I sat my purse and my Milk Duds on the empty seat next to me so I could get a head start on my popcorn. Jake, who had taken the seat on my other side, had added M & M's into his popcorn for that "chocolatey-salty" taste, as he called it. I just preferred mine with a lot of butter.

For the next ten minutes, we all competed against each other as we answered movie trivia questions that popped up on the screen randomly. Sam was in the lead.

Does he win every game he competes in? Geez.

I checked my phone and saw that it was two minutes until the movie was about to start. I could hear and feel the excited hum that accompanied the crowd in theaters when everyone was waiting with bated breath for the lights to dim.

I looked at my phone again. One minute to go. I went to stick my phone back into my purse and in my excited and popcorn-induced haze, I dropped it. Those seconds as you watch your phone nosedive to the ground where you know it could possibly break into a million pieces are the worst. I winced as I heard it hit but luckily it stayed in one piece.

I reached down to pick it up and a pair of flip-flops, Rainbows to be exact, appeared next to my face. I'm was hoping they belong to a guy because if not, they have some seriously hairy legs. I leaned back up after retrieving my phone and my eyes fell on a familiar face.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

Dum dum dum...so who do you think it is? Hehe I know who it is! I promise to try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can so you guys don't have to hang so long. Send me a review telling me who you predict this will be, your favorite parts of the Saw movies, and what YOU want to see next chapter. I appreciate everyone who is faithful in reviewing and I love any forms of encouragement, they really help me out. See you next time!