Pairing: Jacob/Bella
Rating: M
Chapter Summary: Bella goes to college, but she and Jacob struggle with their long distance relationship.
Disclaimer: Characters, world etc. does not belong to me- I am merely playing in the sandbox. The opinions expressed in this story do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Quileute Nation. Meyer wrote about a fictional tribe and put their name to it, so in writing this story I have had to do the same.
Thank Yous: I have had several beta readers throughout this story. People who helped me on this chapter were- Confettirainfall and thejmeyer.
Warnings: I should probably mention this chapter has a fairly lengthy segment concerning the use of date rape drugs.
Chapter Ten: Fall Out
By the time Bella left Forks to attend Washington University, she was beginning to wonder if Jacob had ruined her. After three months of a blissful summer together interrupted only by part-time jobs, they had both cried into each other's shoulders as they parted at the threshold of her dorm room.
"Come on, Jake," Charlie said, patting him on the shoulder. "Let Bells settle in. We can stop off for dinner on the drive back."
Jacob nodded and pressed a kiss to Bella's lips. Her father looked away as he always did whenever Jacob was particularly affectionate towards her in his company.
"Call me, honey," he said. "I'm going to miss you so much."
"I will, baby," Bella replied, her hands cupping his face, her forehead pressed against his. They let go, and Jacob left the room.
Charlie had his hands in his pockets and looked a little sheepish. "Good luck, Bells," he said with a nod. He then gently squeezed her arm.
"Thanks, Dad," she replied.
He smiled. "If you need anything, you know where I am."
With a quick goodbye, they were gone. Bella was left alone in the dorm room, waiting to see who her roommate was. To take her mind off things, she began to pack away her belongings with a practised efficiency and put up her photos. The one of her and Jacob at his junior prom took pride of place on her desk; other shots of the two of them, along with Quil and Embry, a photo of her with Angela, she pinned to her notice board.
By the time she was deciding where her totem pole should go— a gift from Jacob, sculpted by his own hand to show her truck, books, scrolls and an eagle wearing a graduation cap— her roommate arrived, arguing parents in tow.
"Have you got the clothes, Tom?"
"I thought you had them," a gruff male voice replied.
"No, I don't have them. Anyway, you're the one who insisted she should pick this over her fiancé, so you should know exactly where her damn clothes box is."
"Oh, shut up, Mary."
"Guys, I've got the clothes box. Crisis averted, and I'm the one who decided to come here, Mom. Not Dad, and not Vic." The door opened as these words were spoken, and Bella saw the girl who was voicing them. Tall and curvy with coppery skin, a long dark brown braid hanging down her back and thick bangs framing her face, her very expressive face.
Right now, that expressive face was showing fear and mild disgust.
"Oh, hi. You must be my roommate, huh?" she said, her voice a little cold and guarded, her brown eyes glancing towards Bella's totem pole every so often.
Placing the totem pole on her desk, Bella held out her hand. "Yeah, hi. I'm Bella."
"Abbie," the girl replied, loosely gripping Bella's fingers in a handshake she recognised Harry Clearwater had once given her. Bella returned it the same way.
There was little in the way of conversation after that; Bella continued to put away her stuff and set up her second-hand computer while Abbie insisted to her parents that she would be fine as they folded cardboard boxes and put them in the hallway. The father kept glancing across at Bella's totem pole, his expression incredulous.
"That's nice," he eventually commented when they were due to leave. "Quileute, right?"
"Yeah, that's right," Bella replied, noticing Abbie glare at her father warningly.
He nodded and smiled. "I recognise the style. Get it at one of the fairs?"
"No, my boyfriend made it for me," she replied simply. "It represents my journey here and the things I want to achieve. It's supposed to be good luck."
"Your boyfriend?" Abbie sounded startled.
Bella herself was surprised Abbie had broken her icy silence. "Yeah. We've been seeing each other for almost a year now."
"We'll leave you to it then, Abbie," her father said, pulling her into a hug, followed by her mother kissing her cheeks.
Once her parents had left, Abbie walked over to Bella's side of the room.
"You got any photos?" she asked. Bella pointed to the one on her desk, then to the ones pinned up on her notice board. Abbie surveyed them with interest.
"He's hot," she concluded. "Looks young, though."
"Yeah, he is young," Bella explained. "He's just started his senior year."
Abbie smirked at this. "Okay, that doesn't make you a cougar at all."
"Oh, that's like one of his favourite nicknames for me," Bella said, and the two started laughing.
"He'll be coming here next year, hopefully. Got a scholarship and everything," Bella added proudly.
"So, he's Quileute, right? That means you must be from somewhere around there."
"Forks," Bella answered. "I mean, I live there, and I was born there. My parents got divorced; I grew up in Arizona. What about you?"
"Oh, not that far away from you, really. I'm from Port Gamble." A short pause. "S'Klallam."
"Right." Bella felt herself colour up. "I'm sorry, I don't really know that much about the different tribes."
"How did you two hook up, then?" Abbie asked. "Did you meet him at a powwow? That's where a few of my guy friends from the tribe hooked up with white…" She stared at the floor momentarily. "You know. Non-Indians. Some meet them at school, but La Push has its own rez school, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, it does," Bella affirmed before rubbing her forehead a little. "It's kind of a long story," she began before realising it probably wouldn't hurt to share a little bit of her past with a girl she was going to spend at least a year sharing a room with. "I can make it brief. I moved in with my dad during eleventh grade; he's friends with Jake's dad. Charlie— Dad— bought a truck off them, Tyler— a guy at my school— wrecked it when he skidded on some black ice. Nobody would fix it." She laughed a little. "Then Dad suggested Jake would be able to fix it. Some skinny fifteen year old was going to do what no garage around would?" She sat down on her bed as Abbie leant against Bella's desk.
"Did he?"
"Yeah. He can pretty much fix anything," Bella replied. "We became friends, then, slowly… here we are."
Abbie looked somewhat thoughtful. She frowned for a moment, then looked at Bella, and seemed to instantly relax.
"That's cool," she said. "If I'm honest, I kind of freaked when I saw the totem pole. Figured you were one of those girls who've seen 'Last of the Mohicans' and think they're a cultural expert. I went to a mixed school and met quite a few. They were stuck somewhere between cruel and patronising." She shrugged. "Still, I'm here, and they're pregnant. You get out of life what you put in, huh?"
Abbie's slow spreading smile was infectious.
"Anyway," Bella explained. "I don't really have much involvement with the tribe, you know? I'm friends with some of Jake's friends, and that's about it." She managed to chuckle. "Let's just say I'm a bit of a sore point with some of the people on the reservation."
Abbie seemed surprised at this. "Really? They living in the Sixties or something? My uncle remarried a white woman last year; nobody cared."
"Jake's dad is the Quileute chief—" Bella's explanation was cut off by Abbie's low pitched whistle.
"Oh fuck," she said before smirking. "Good luck with that relationship. You're going to need it."
Bella shook her head. "We're through the worst of it," she insisted.
"If you say so."
"We're really serious," Bella insisted, stretching out her left arm to display the promise bracelet there. "People tried to break us up, and it didn't happen. We're just… I think we're meant to be."
A month later, Bella and Jacob broke up.
It all happened one Thursday after lectures when Abbie made a simple suggestion.
"Hey, want to go to a frat party?" she asked.
Bella frowned. "Aren't they full of older guys? And booze?"
"Sure, but that doesn't mean we're going to some drug fuelled orgy." She paused. "Well, okay, it will be a drug fuelled orgy, but we don't have to participate. It'll be fun," Abbie insisted. "I know Steve; he invited us. He's a good guy."
Bella hesitated but in a way that Abbie grinned appreciatively at. "See, now I know you're going to say yes."
"Oh, alright. Fine. I trust you," Bella replied as they reached their room.
Jacob phoned while Bella was busy getting ready.
"Hey, Jake."
"Hey, honey." His voice was warm, happy. "How's things?"
"Erm, Jake? Could we do this another time? I'm about to go out, actually,"
"Oh." He sounded hurt. "I thought we agreed on Thursdays to phone?"
"Yeah, and normally that's fine, but something's come up. A big party thing; there will be a ton of people I don't know and I'll be trying not to spend it hiding in the kitchen…"
There was silence.
"Jake? You still there?"
"Of course I am."
"Then talk to me."
"I thought you were busy," he said sullenly.
"Oh, don't be such a child, Jake."
"I am not a child, Bella." His voice was acidic. "If you think what you and I got up to over the summer is something a child would do, you've got some weird ideas."
Bella said nothing, feeling her blood start to boil. She knew exactly what he was referring to, the summer of Jake and Bells being in each other's pockets, in each other. Everywhere, every way, every snatched opportunity. Her kitchen table when Charlie was on patrols, bent over his Rabbit in his makeshift garage, on the beach hidden by the tides.
She heard Jacob sigh heavily down the phone. "I guess I knew this was going to happen."
"What was?" Bella asked while trying to find her shoes.
"They were right; we wouldn't be able to last when you left."
"What? Says who?" Bella snapped.
"Does it matter? You'd rather go to some dumb party than talk to me!"
"Jake! This is one time only! I'm sorry." She paused. What was she apologising for? She had every right to go out and have fun while at college, it was pretty much the definition of college life.
"Wait, I'm not sorry. I can go out and have fun if I want. You're my boyfriend, not my dad. I'll speak to you tomorrow—"
"Don't bother," Jacob spat back. "Have fun at your party; try not to catch anything!"
The phone clicked dead before Bella could retort. She glared at her phone.
"Trouble in paradise?" Abbie quipped.
Bella slammed her phone down. "What a bastard!" she seethed.
"What happened?"
"It…" Bella sighed. "It doesn't matter. We're going to have fun tonight, right?"
"Damn straight we are," Abbie affirmed as Bella's cell phone began to ring. She glanced at the caller. It was Jacob.
"Are you going to answer that?" Abbie asked as Bella slid the phone into her purse while saying nothing.
Abbie shrugged. "Guess not."
The party was loud, with disco lights in the house and a bubble machine out in the garden, people jostling and dancing everywhere Bella looked.
In short, she wasn't sure this was her thing.
"I'm not sure this is such a good idea," Bella said to Abbie, who squeezed her hand.
"It'll be fine. Hey, Steve!" she called and a handsome, broad shouldered guy with bright blue eyes and a disarming smile looked over at them. He made his way through the crowd to greet them.
"Hey, Abbie," he said, pressing a kiss to each of her cheeks. "Glad you could make it. Who's your friend?"
"Steve, this is Bella. Bella, this is Steve."
"Hi," Bella said awkwardly.
Steve looked at her and smiled. "Hey, Bella. You a freshman like Abbie?"
"Yeah," she replied, just as Abbie spotted someone in the distance.
"I just have to go and kick that guy's ass," she said with a wink.
Steve smiled. "Don't worry, I'll keep Bella here company," he said shyly before looking at her. "That's okay, isn't it, Bella?"
"Sure, sure," she replied airily.
"Can I get you a drink?" he asked. "We've got some pretty lethal punch."
Bella shook her head. "No, I don't—"
Steve raised his palms in surrender. "Of course. No pressure, but if you change your mind—"
Suddenly, Bella heard her phone ring. Fiddling in her purse, she pulled the cell phone out and saw Jacob was trying to phone. Again.
"Go on," she said, stuffing the unanswered cell phone back in her purse. "I'll have that punch."
Steve looked at her, shrugged, and poured her a paper cup full of strong smelling blue liquid. She sniffed at it, took a sip and felt it burn down her throat.
"Bit strong, huh?"
"Yeah, you could say that," Bella wheezed, much to Steve's amusement. He handed her another paper cup.
"Here, have some water," he said. "It'll help."
"Thanks," Bella replied, guzzling down half the cup straight away before tentatively trying the punch again.
"So, what are you majoring in, Bella?" Steve asked.
"English," she replied. "I thought about Education because I think I want to teach, but I can do a certification course after my major, and I really liked English in my AP classes." She blushed. "Sorry, I'm talking way too much."
"I think you're talking just enough," Steve said with a smile as he gently brushed his hand against her shoulder.
"What about you?" Bella asked, enjoying the attention. "Are you a freshman, too?"
"I'm in my second year," he explained. "I'm majoring in Economics, but I'm doing a few electives from the business course."
The hours flew by as they chatted away about everything and nothing, and Abbie gave her a sly wink and kept out of their way, even as she followed Steve out into the garden, laughing as he popped the bubbles that floated towards them from one of several bubble machines set up across the lawn.
"You never told me the name of your boyfriend, Bella," Steve said as he tried and failed to catch one of the bubbles floating towards them from their vantage point by the garden wall, watching the other revellers dancing to some music Bella didn't recognise.
"Who said I had a boyfriend?" Bella teased, her head feeling oddly fuzzy.
Steve shrugged, slipping his arm around her. "I deduced it," he said, tapping his nose with his finger.
"Deduced how?"
"Well, a girl as pretty as you must have a boyfriend, right?"
She blushed furiously, and he grinned at her. "That isn't always the case," she argued.
"Are you the exception to the rule, then?"
"Maybe. Maybe not." Bella lurched forward suddenly, losing her balance.
Steve caught her, his expression full of concern. "You okay, Bella?" he asked before smiling. "Did you have a bit too much of the punch?"
"I only had one," Bella insisted, feeling confused. Her head was fuzzy, she felt barely able to stand. That stuff must have been strong.
Her phone started to ring again. She sighed in irritation.
"Go away!" she shouted at her purse.
Steve laughed. "I don't think that will work. Have you tried switching it off?"
Suddenly, Bella heard Abbie call her name. Looking up, she saw her rush towards her.
"There you are, Bella, is everything…?" She trailed off and stared at Bella. "I think we'd better go," she said. "You've got cross country try outs tomorrow, remember?"
"I don't do cross country—"
"Sure you do," Abbie insisted, trying to grab Bella, who shook her off.
"I'm fine, Abbie. Steve is looking after me!"
She turned her attention to Steve's smiling face, barely registering Abbie taking the ringing phone out of her purse and answering it.
"Hello?... Sorry, she's kind of busy right— You're where...? I'll come and find you!"
She clicked the phone off and handed it back to Bella before running off.
"Well, that was weird," Steve said with a smile, tucking Bella's hair behind her ear.
Bella shrugged. "Yeah, I—" She nearly fell over. Steve held her up.
"Maybe Abbie's right," he pointed out gently. "You need some rest."
"I'm okay—"
"Look, my place is only up the road. I could take you there if you like?"
The garden started to sway in front of her, the bubbles floating downwards. She didn't argue when Steve tucked his arm under hers and walked her away from the party.
"It's not too far," Steve insisted as Bella struggled to walk.
"Can we just stop here?" she asked woozily.
"Come on, Bella. You can do it," Steve urged as they stepped across the grass.
Somewhere in the distance, Bella could hear footsteps, rushing footsteps, and voices.
"She's over there!" Abbie's voice was recognisable.
"Bella!" A familiar voice called. "Bella! Wait!"
"Jake?" she mumbled, confused. What was he doing here?
She felt his arms fit around her. "Bells, honey, are you okay?"
"She's fine," Steve said, and Bella felt him tug her back. "She's just had a bit too much to drink. I'm taking her back to her room."
"Where is her room, Steve?" Abbie's voice was cold.
"I… The same one as yours," he replied.
"Which is?"
His silence filled Bella's ears, and she suddenly felt cold.
"He doesn't even know she's in Hagget," Jacob muttered to himself, which Bella thought was odd. She was in Mercer Hall.
"Yeah, I was taking her to Hagget!"
Steve screamed as Bella heard an awful crunch.
"She's not in Hagget, asshat," Jacob spat, rubbing his forehead as Steve clutched his nose.
"Fucking hell, Abbie— call your psycho brother off!" he yelled.
"Oh yeah, because we all have to be related," Abbie scoffed.
Bella felt Jacob grab her, she relaxed into his arms as he stared in her eyes, lifting a finger and moving it around.
"Come on, Bells," he murmured. "Follow my finger, huh?"
Bella just wanted to sleep.
"What the hell has she taken?" Jacob demanded suddenly.
"What? I told you, she's drunk," Steve protested.
"I've seen drunk," Jacob hissed. "That is not drunk. What has she had?"
"Just fuck off, dude!"
Suddenly, Bella felt Jacob pass her to Abbie. Through her hazy vision she could roughly make out the figure of Jacob pinning Steve to the floor as he screamed in pain before pulling something out of his pocket and holding it to Steve's forehead while yanking him up by his hair.
"If you don't tell me," he roared, "I'm going to fucking scalp you! Yeah," he snarled as Steve thrashed underneath him, trying to pull away. "I'll be fucking Brad Pitt in 'Legends of the Fall', and you'll be those poor fuckers with no fucking scalps!" he insisted as Steve started to whimper.
"Alright, alright! It was just a roofie, man! She'll be fine!"
Jacob stood up; Steve rolled over onto his back.
"You won't be when I tell the cops you threatened me with a knife!" he snarled.
Jacob merely laughed. "I don't know what made you think I'd be able to scalp you with my dad's debit card," he pointed out. "Somehow, I doubt the cops will be able to get their heads around that one, either."
"Come on, Bella," Abbie soothed. "Let's get you home."
Steve screamed as Jacob kicked him hard in the crotch. Bella saw him land another kick to his side before Abbie yelled at him.
"Jacob! Leave him! He's not worth it."
He ceased his attack but leant into Steve's bloody face, a vicious snarl painted across his features. "You come anywhere near her again, man, I'll kill you and make it look like an accident!"
Then Bella blacked out.
"You sure she doesn't need to see a doctor?" Jacob's voice was full of concern.
"She'll be okay. She won't remember much, but she'll be okay." Abbie sounded curiously jaded. "This is all my fault. He seemed like a nice guy."
"It's not your fault." Jacob sounded genuine. "There's only one person whose fault this is. Bastard."
"Hey, cool it, Jacob. You got your pound of flesh, don't make it worse."
"You're on his side?"
"I'm on yours. An assault charge isn't exactly going to help your college applications, right?"
Bella felt fingers tenderly stroke her hair.
"You don't seem like the violent type right now," Abbie commented, and Jacob laughed.
"The only time I ever get into fights is over girls," he pointed out. "Over Bells," he added with a sigh.
"Jake?" she mumbled, pulling herself up into a seated position. She noticed daylight was streaming into the room, and she was in her bed. Jacob was sat by her side, and he squeezed her hand.
"You okay, Bella?" he asked, and Bella noticed he looked ashen and exhausted. "What happened?"
"Bad things," he said, glancing at Abbie. "Could you give us a moment, please?"
"Sure," Abbie replied softly. "I'll pick us up some breakfast, Bella."
The door clicked carefully shut.
"Jake—"
"Bella, what the hell were you thinking?" he demanded hotly.
"Excuse me?"
"Last night, with the drinking and the letting some Neanderthal dude drag you back to his cave?"
Bella glared at him. "I didn't let him do anything," she spat, feeling stupid and angry with herself. She didn't need Jacob to rub it in as well.
"It's a good thing I was there."
"What were you doing there?" Bella demanded.
"I tried calling you all night—"
"Yeah, I noticed you keeping tabs on me."
"I was trying to apologise," he said through gritted teeth. "I left you tons of messages, saying sorry for acting like a jerk, asking you to call. One of them was a huge monologue about fancy dancing, how when I was fourteen I watched the women dancing at a powwow and Dad told me they danced every other step for their men, and how I asked why not every step, and he told me that it's not right to give all of yourself away, and how I got that now because I was being a douche trying to stop you from doing your thing… I drove up here, Bells. I wanted to make things right." He shook his head, smiled coldly. "And you didn't care."
"Of course I cared—"
"No, you didn't. You went out and got drunk and flirted with some douche bag. Worse than drunk, you could have been..." He stopped talking and stood up. "I can't deal with this, Bella," he said suddenly.
"Wait, what?"
"I can't deal with this, if this is what you want to do."
"Jake, it was one night—"
"Yeah, and how many more are going to follow?"
Bella felt anger flare up in her. "It was a mistake, okay? I'm just trying to do the college thing!"
"Yeah? Fine. Do it." He grabbed his jacket and slung it on.
"Jake, where are you going?"
"Home. Well, to the station first. I need to make a statement about last night—"
"Jake, you look exhausted," Bella said.
"I'll be fine," he replied tersely, striding towards the door, resting his hand on the handle.
"You going to say anything?" he asked, not facing her. Bella felt the fight build up in her. He couldn't expect her to drop everything at his beck and call, relationships just didn't work like that. She had to be who she wanted to be.
Jacob laughed coldly, quietly. "Fine. I guess this is it, then."
He opened the door but turned around.
"You're welcome, by the way," he spat, before slamming the door shut. Bella stared at the door, the empty room, until Abbie walked in with some toast and orange juice.
Then she burst into tears.
"Bella? You want to come to the movies? There's a bunch of us going."
Bella didn't even bother to reply or move from her position lying flat on her back across her bed, staring up at the ceiling.
She felt the bed move as Abbie sat down on the edge. "Bella, this is crazy. You've been like this for months!"
"Three weeks, actually."
"Whatever, it's time to let go."
Bella felt tears well up in her eyes; she blinked and they spread across her eyelashes, dripping down the sides of her face.
It had been three weeks since she and Jacob had split up. They hadn't exactly used those words, but 'I guess this is it, then' was clear enough to her. She hadn't heard from him, not even a text message. Nothing.
Of course, she hadn't exactly tried to contact him, but that would be giving in, right?
Abbie had told her, in no uncertain terms, she was being an idiot.
"Bella, that guy drove four hours just so he could say sorry. He stayed up all night watching over you when you were out cold, he was terrified for you. You want to know what I think?"
"No."
Abbie ignored her. "I think the two of you are miserable as sin that you're not together, but you're both too pig headed to do anything about it. One of you has got to break the silence; it might as well be you."
"This coming from the girl who dumped her fiancé to go to college—"
"Hey!" Abbie's voice flared with anger. "I didn't dump him to come to college; the two things aren't mutually exclusive. I dumped him, because he was a useless drunk!"
"Sorry," Bella mumbled.
"So you can say it," Abbie mused. "Say it to him."
"I have nothing to apologise for."
"So? Just fucking say it! I'll bet you ten bucks he'll be sorry too."
Right now, Abbie wasn't arguing with her. She merely dropped a parcel in Bella's lap.
"This arrived for you," she said. "And this is the last time I'm picking up any of your post. You want something, you're going to have to leave this room. You only go out to lectures."
Bella sat up and examined the parcel. The address was written in Jacob's handwriting. She opened it up frantically, only to see a padlocked scrapbook with the words 'Forget Me Not' stencilled on the front, a key, and a note.
Bella,
I'm returning this so you know I'm not going to try and exact some kind of dumb revenge. That seems to be the kind of thing you expect from this kid, after all.
Jacob
Bella started to cry again. Abbie put an arm around her.
"Oh, Bella. It'll get easier, you know that." She picked up the scrapbook. "What is this, anyway?"
By the time Bella managed to yell, "No! Don't open it!" Abbie had already unlocked the padlock and flicked to the first page of the scrapbook.
"Wow," she whispered, her eyes wide. "Who knew, Bella Swan? Who knew?"
Bella knew what she was staring at, the reams and reams of photographs of Bella Swan in various locations around Forks and La Push.
Bella Swan in various states of undress. On Jacob's bed, a picture of innocence in his oversized white shirt, save for the tousled hair, too much makeup and the fact the shirt had slipped clean off her shoulder exposing her left breast. Draped across his Rabbit in silky new lingerie she had bought specifically for the occasion— and to remind him what he'd be getting his hands on soon. Straddling his bike, in nothing but heels and panties, carefully covering her breasts with her long hair and one hand. Against her truck in unzipped jeans displaying a hint of her underwear and a plaid shirt that showed she wore nothing underneath it. On the beach in a bikini, covered in sand and sea spray, on the rocks in nothing at all, hiding her modesty behind carefully placed hands… The photos were hit and miss, but some of them wouldn't have been out of place in a glossy magazine. Jacob had discovered yet another talent.
The last month before Bella was due to start at the University of Washington, she'd had a brainwave. It had occurred when she was sitting in Jacob's room, not having sex with him, which hadn't happened all that often this summer.
"What are you doing, baby?" she asked, her arms slipping around him as he started arranging photographs.
"I'm finding all my photos of you," he said. "I want to see you when you're not around."
"Are you really going to forget me that quickly without visual stimulation?" she teased.
"Of course not," he replied, kissing her chastely. She frowned, wrinkling her forehead and nose as she did so.
"What's up?" he asked. She pointed at the ceiling, which earned her a short tickle under the chin.
"I was just thinking about how I could make sure you're always reminded of me."
The next day, Bella returned to Jacob's house with a box tied up with a ribbon.
"It's not my birthday yet, Bells."
"I know, it's just a present present," she said, smiling as she dropped her kit bag on the floor.
"Okay." He carefully opened the box and placed the items he found inside on the kitchen table. First there was a digital camera.
"Bells…" He looked a little uncomfortable.
"Dad got me a second-hand computer for college. The camera was bundled in with it, and I already have one. Anyway, that's not exactly the present."
Next Jacob set out a scrapbook with the words 'Forget Me Not' stencilled on it. The book was locked with a padlock, and he soon found the key inside. He opened the book and stared at it, confused.
"It's empty," he said. Bella smiled and picked up her kit bag.
"Yeah, we're going to fill it with photos," she said, throwing the bag at him. He caught it and unzipped it, his eyes widened.
"That's what the camera's for, see?" she continued as Jacob rifled through the bag, blushing. "You're going to be my photographer, and I'm going to be your muse."
"When you say we're going to fill this scrapbook with photos, you don't mean the sort we can show our folks, right?" Jacob mused, pulling out a silky bodice.
"See, this just isn't a side of you I never see—"
"I should think not!" Bella retorted.
Abbie merely grinned. "You know, you look really sexy in these shots."
"I felt really sexy, too," she confessed, blushing. Sexy was never a word she would have used to describe herself, no matter how often Jacob did. Until she had clapped eyes on these as they printed them off and stuck them into the scrapbook.
Abbie looked at her carefully.
"I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but do you think perhaps you should try and talk to him?"
"It's over, we've been through this."
Abbie sighed heavily. "Look, you obviously still love him. And, you know, he's got to care about you. Why else would he have gone to all this trouble to return these to you?"
"Because he wants to forget all about me and let me know that?"
"Or," Abbie suggested, "He wants you to know he respects you, and he's looking for a flimsy excuse to open up communication? Trust me, most angry boyfriends who feel hard done by would have this stuff up on Facebook…"
They looked at each other for a moment. Without another word, Abbie fired up Bella's computer. After an agonising ten minutes, she closed down the search engine.
"Nope, nothing there," she insisted.
"Of course there isn't," Bella replied confidently.
Abbie shrugged. "I guess I don't have as much faith in guys as you do. Which is weird, given what happened with Steve—"
"I don't want to talk about that," Bella snapped. The police had taken the whole thing far more seriously than Bella had expected, Steve had actually been arrested and charged with attempted sexual assault. The confession Jacob had forced from Steve, along with his, Abbie and Bella's statements appeared to have held some weight. Not that he was on trial yet. His parents had sprung his bail, and he was still free to wander the campus. Bella did her utmost to avoid being in the same square mile as him.
Abbie frowned at Jacob's note.
"Bella," she said warily.
"What?" she asked, wiping her eyes.
Abbie smiled a little. "You're not the only one shedding tears over this," she said. "Unless you managed to drip wet splodges onto this note that dried within minutes."
Bella agonised over whether she should just swallow her pride and phone Jacob. In the end, she didn't have to.
A few days later, she stepped into the café near her residence halls, and saw a group of high school students being shown around the area. One of them was unmistakeably Jacob. Feeling foolish, she ducked out of the café, praying he hadn't seen her.
"What's up, Belly?" Frankie asked, squeezing her arm as he caught up with her. Frankie was a freshman and in her English class. He was also gay and unabashedly camp, in the sort of manner Bella had thought only happened in movies.
"Why have they got high school students in there?" she asked.
Frankie peered through the glass on the door. "It's the open day," he said. "Probably for the business school. I showed round the chickadees who had applied to study English yesterday— there was a roster. Why do you care?"
Bella leant against the wall. "My ex is in there," she said.
Frankie peered closer. "Which one's your ex?"
"Umm, there is only one Native American guy there, right?" Bella said sarcastically. It had been common knowledge amongst her college friends— or rather, anyone who met Abbie— that Bella had been dating a chief's son. Abbie treated it like her own version of 'The Jerry Springer Show'.
"Damn, he is fine," Frankie breathed. "Why did you let him slip through your fingers?"
"I don't know," Bella replied honestly.
Frankie glanced at her with not one iota of sympathy. "You don't know," he said darkly. "If I'd dumped a guy that hot, I'd have a damn good reason, sweetie."
"We had a fight, then…" She hadn't told Frankie about the horrible incident at the frat party yet, nor did she have any desire to change that.
"Then what?"
"Then some things happened, and he decided he couldn't deal, and I didn't try to stop him."
Frankie shook his head. "Sorry, girl," he mused, peering through the window again. "If you want him back, you'd better get on it," he said suddenly.
"Why?"
"Because Little Miss Fake-Blonde-Extensions is trying to get his attention."
"What?" Bella rushed to the door and peeked through the glass, spying some blonde girl with too much spray tan touching his arm and smiling at him. She felt fury deep in her veins as she saw Jacob smile back, her heart lurched uncomfortably when he nudged a loose fist against hers in a sickeningly cute congratulatory gesture.
Then he looked up and locked eyes with Bella. She ducked down hurriedly. "Shit, I think he saw me!"
Frankie started to laugh hysterically.
Bella jabbed him in the ribs. "It's not funny," she hissed.
"Oh, it is," he argued. "Be a woman; just go and talk to him!"
"I can't!"
Suddenly, Bella had a brainwave. She was not about to let Jacob Black get the better of her.
"Frankie," she said. "I need your help."
"In what?"
"Do you know what the timetable for the business school open day is?"
Frankie frowned. "I think they stay overnight," he mused. "They have interviews in the afternoon, then they're shown the safe, parent-friendly side of student night life."
"Could you find out for certain, seeing as you've done the volunteering?"
"I'm sure I could… but why?"
"Well, if he's going to flirt with some cheap white trash when we've broke up for all of five minutes, two can play at that game. Can you pretend to be my date tonight?"
Frankie stared at her in disbelief. "Sweetie, nobody is going to believe I would go within six foot of pussy."
"He's from a small village," Bella reasoned.
"Has going out with a younger guy stunted you emotionally? This is a stupid plan!"
"I just want us to sit together at a table in the same café they're in," she insisted.
Frankie shook his head. "Fine, I'll do it," he said. "But only because I like drama."