Jacob Black officially has a birthday! Stephenie Meyer confirmed that it's January 14th 1990! Finally. Now we don't have to wonder when it is exactly.

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JPOV

Was I fucking stupid? I told Bella how I felt about her, indirectly that is, and I shouldn't have. The bloodsucker didn't leave to long ago. It angered me to think about it but it was the truth. I didn't want to force her into anything to soon. But if there was one thing that I did know, It was that my life was hell without Bella. I was used to her being with me, and seeing her once a day. But, she said she needed to focus on her studies. I couldn't blame her for that since it was her senior year.

She's a senior, you're a sophomore, remember?

I really wished I was two years older. Even though I didn't look sixteen, I still was.

Did I even have a chance?

For once, I got to school on time. Since I had fifteen minutes before the bell rang, I decided to find Embry. Luckily, Quil was sick with the flu, or so what is mother thought, and I didn't have to worry about running into him in the halls. We all thought it might be something different that Quil had. I felt bad for him. He had the same fate as the rest of us.

I caught up with Embry next to his locker. He was talking to two girls, one that had short straight hair and that other that had wavy hair that came down to her waist. That was also tinted a reddish color. I hardly noticed them when I walked up.

"Dude," I greeted him. "We're gonna be late for class."

He gave me an annoyed look and turned back into Mr. Charmer. "Well, ladies, this is Jake." He glanced up at me. "Jake, this is Samantha"—he pointed to the long haired girl, then the short brown haired girl—"and this is Lynn. She's wanted to meet you, so I said that I would introduce you two."

Yeah, that's great, I wanted to say, have fun with them. "Oh, hey," I responded.

Lynn giggled and turned to her friend. Embry stepped in saying, "I invited them to the beach tonight."

I finally understood what he was saying. "That's great." Clearly, he was trying to set me up. One for him, and one for me.

Too bad I just didn't care.

Embry gave Samantha a kiss on the cheek and he grabbed my arm, dragging me in the classroom. "Dude, don't fuck this up for me," he growled.

"What the hell are you talking about? I am not going to be her date to this thing."

"Oh, that's right, you have Bella. Get real, bro. She's not gonna hook up with you any time soon so how about you enjoy the fact that Lynn has a huge crush on you and wants to hang out with you. Maybe Bella will get jealous, you never know. Seriously, dude, you need some action."

"Shut up," I shot back. "I'm not going to make out with some random girl just because you tell me to."

Embry took a breath. "Then, will you at least pay attention to her? I'll take care of Bella."

I took it into consideration. "Don't let Paul go near her," I sighed, agreeing. "He thinks he's hot shit and I don't want him near Bella. You know how he is."

"Yeah, I do."

"Fine, I'll do it."

"Cool," Embry said, sliding back in his seat. If things went bad, I knew who to blame. "How is our girl anyways?"

"Great," I replied. "No need to worry."

The rest of the day went faster than I would have expected it too. I quickly rushed out of school so I wouldn't have to deal with Embry and his flirting with every girl that he saw. I decided to go back to my garage and work of the Rabbit. It had been awhile since I had done anything for my car. I was beginning to feel guilty for it.

I pulled up the hood when I heard Bella's voice. "I thought I would find you in here."

I immediately smiled at the sweet sound. I walked around my car to see Bella in a gorgeous dark purple top and a pair of dark wash jeans. She had her white coat over it all. "Whoa, you look nice." Nice? A little more like stunning, idiot. Why didn't you say that?

"Do you think it's so dressy for the beach?"

"No, not at all."

"Okay, good. My mom sent it to me and she's been begging me to wear it. I can finally say that I successfully pulled an outfit together. I felt bad for never wearing the coat," she admitted. "I kind of like it now."

I laughed. "Matched your fur color," I reminded her.

"Maybe that's why I like it." Bella came over to wear I was standing, looking at the car. She looked back up at me. "Well, don't stop just because I'm here."

"You sure?"

"Definitely. I want to watch. Maybe you teach me how to fix a car. I'm sure I could use some tips," she smiled. "You never know, maybe I'll be able to take a car apart and then put it back together."

I chuckled. "Okay, I'd love to see that."

"Like I said, you never know."

I started pulling out things from the toolbox. "Speaking of cars, are you ever going to get a new one? I'm sure you must be tired of that stupid truck by now," I assumed.

"No way!" she shouted. "I love my truck."

I rolled my eyes. "That's because it's the only car you've ever driven."

Bella laughed. It was so sweet that it was contagious. "Well, excuse me if I don't exactly have twenty thousand dollars to get a new car. Plus all the insurance. I have college to save for and I do need to buy other important things."

"Like?"

"Like clothes. I'm not going to walk around naked."

"Not yet," I joked, raising my eyebrows at her. Bella's hand flashed out and smacked me on the shoulder. It was a surprising hard hit, coming from Bella. It actually hurt. "Ouch, that'll leave a bruise." When did she get so strong? It was like a brick had been thrown at me.

She rubbed the spot that she hit. "Sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean it to be that hard."

"It's okay, you're not used to your strength yet." Could she get any stronger?

Bella broke into laughter. I couldn't help but smile back. She was laughing so hard that there were tears in her eyes. "You should have seen Charlie the other day," she giggled. "I accidently broke a plate with my hands and he stared at me with a horrified expression. I couldn't think of an excuse!"

"I wish I would have seen that," I admitted.

"He looked like I had just told him that I was pregnant with Mike Newton's baby and was running off to Mexico to get married," she explained, laughing again. "It was hilarious. I think I said something like there was already a crack in the plate…its weird not being able to tell anyone about me."

There was a sullen mood to the atmosphere. "I know how you feel."

"That's why I love talking to you. You understand it. It's just that I walk around with this big secret weighing down on me. I hardly talk to my friends anymore, Jake." She paused for a minute then added, "It's all changing now."

I nodded, not knowing what I should say to comfort her.

Bella started to sob. "I can't talk to anyone! This is so difficult, Jacob." She felt against my chest, her hands hiding her face. "All I have is you…I'm not saying that's bad but I want to be able to open up to other people. Why does everything have to get ruined? I'm starting to think that's it's me. Maybe I'm a screw up that can't handle her own life." Bella shot up like a bullet and headed over to the wall. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to do this."

I got up, too, heading over to her. I instinctively wrapped my arms around her. "It's good to let it out," I told her. "Don't be sorry."

"Thank you for helping me," she whispered.

I wanted to kiss her so bad right now. I wanted to make all the pain and hurt go away. I could do that, if she let me. But, it was still too soon for that. So I decided to stick with the hug.

"Jake!" Bella gasped. "Trying—to—breathe!"

I let go of her. "Sorry.

"It's okay. At least we know that you are still way stronger than me."

The rest of the time we were silent. Hours passed by. Bella quietly watched me work, which was making me a little nervous. I felt her big brown gazing eyes on me. I liked it, something I could get used to.

I started to feel bad about what I had promised Embry. It wasn't a very good thought out plan. How was he going to look after her when he off with Samantha? All in all, I thought it was a little weird with them to. It was her name that got me. Embry's thoughts for Samantha could very easily be mistaken for Sam. I hoped he would continue to call her by her full name.

Still, I had a problem. I told him that I would hang out with Lynn when Bella was here. I was sure that I could hang out with both without giving to much attention to either. No hurt feelings. Enter another problem. Lynn was going to want alone time, I knew that for a fact. She has had a crush on me for a year is what I had been informed of by Embry earlier today. Great, this was perfect, just perfect. I was freaking screwed.

Maybe I should tell her so she isn't surprised.

"Bella," I stared, not taking my eyes off the engine.

"Yeah?"

I froze. Shit, I didn't know what to say. "There's this girl from school coming to the bonfire, Lynn. She sort of has a crush on me," I informed her, feeling stupid. "It was Embry's idea. He asked me to hang with her." As I waited for her response, I didn't turn around to look at her.

"Oh," she said gently. "I'm sure I'll like her."

She said it just like that. Like there was nothing wrong with the fact that I was being forced to hang out with this girl. Technically, I could have said no, but Embry was one of my best friends. We were always there when we needed each other.

Did Bella think I wanted to spend time with this girl?

I thought maybe I should clear it up, but then, I stopped when I was about to speak. Maybe it would be interesting to see how Bella took me being with another girl. Even though no one could ever live up to Bella's status in my head, it might be nice to act like a teenage boy for a little while rather than a werewolf.

His was when I took a glance over at Bella. She was sitting up against the wall, playing with the trim of her shirt. She looked so hot, and so amazing. Why was she doing this to me?

"Shouldn't we be leaving soon?" Bella asked. "It's already dark out."

"Yeah, we probably should." I got up and held out my hand for her to help herself up. She took it, and surprisingly, didn't let go. "Let's get this over with."

"Oh, no, it'll be fun!"

We walked down to the beach to see that most everyone was still there. They were all familiar faces to me, but for Bella, I doubted she knew past six other people. Embry was there with Samantha and with Lynn by her side. When she saw me see smiled. When she saw Bella, that was a different story. She straightened out her posture and nudged her friend. Bella noticed.

"Is that her?"

"Yeah," I told her reluctantly.

"Thought she would be prettier." Bella immediately covered her mouth after the words came out; amazed she had actually said it. "I didn't mean to say that out loud. I don't even know where that came from."

I didn't say anything back, mostly because we were now in front of the fire. Lynn got up and latched herself onto my arm. "I missed you! What took you so long?"

I felt Bella let go of her grip. I turned to see her sit down. "Sorry we took so long; Jake was showing me a few things."

Neither girl looked at each other. "Come on! I want you to come with me!" Lynn shouted, tugging me by the shirt in the direction she wanted me to go. I quickly glanced at Bella. She was staring at the fire and now about to greet Kim, Jared's imprint.

Shit, you didn't tell her about the whole imprinting thing yet, I thought. There was time for that later.

"Hi," I heard Kim say in her small voice. Bella looked up and smiled. "I'm Kim. I'm Jared's girlfriend."

"Oh! Hello," Bella responded.

Before I could even say anything, Lynn grabbed my arm and yanked me in a different direction. I didn't know what the problem was with saying there. We were now walking down the beach.

"So," she began. "Who's that girl?"

If you had given me a minute I would have introduce you. "That's Bella," I responded. "We've known each other since we were little. She moved here from Arizona not that long ago."

"Oh. Well Embry said that you hang out with her a lot. How old is she?"

What was with all these questions? Did she expect me to think about Bella and not want to go be with her? "She's been eighteen since September."

Lynn looked shocked. "Oh." She waited a minute until she said what was next on her mind. "Well I'm having my sweet sixteen in two weeks and I was wondering if you wanted to come. Most everyone in the school is invited but I thought I would invite you personally."

I looked over at Lynn and realize that she felt threatened by Bella. This girl has had the hugest crush on me for two years, and now she saw that was jealous. I smiled in delight. For the first time tonight I thought that this could work to my advantage. I liked Lynn as a friend but nothing more. Of course she was pretty with a clear face and her short hair but I wasn't into her like that. But, that was something Bella didn't know.

Would she get jealous?

"Well, maybe I can. Give me your number and I'll call you." Lynn whipped out a pen and took the palm of my hand, writing the number down.

She smiled excitedly. "Let's go back! I want to go see what Samantha and Embry are up to."

Agreeably, I walked back. A plan was already forming in my head. I would be with Lynn tonight at the bonfire. What was wrong with that anyways? I was a boy and I wanted to spend sometime time with a girl who actually had a crush on me.

When we got back to the fire I saw that everything was okay. There was no sight of Paul. Bella was talking with Kim and looked like she was having a good time. Lynn brought me over to the fire and we sat down adjacent to Bella and Kim. Jared came over and sat next to her, commenting, "Hey, I want to be in the middle of these to cuties!" Kim giggled, moving over so he could sit in between.

Bella glanced up at me, her eyes narrowing. Oh, she definitely saw what was going on.

I would have been happy but at the same time, I saw Paul making his way over. This would be a long night.

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