Author's note- Like Beau, I guess I'll never stop apologizing, in this case for being late. This will be by far the shortest chapter I'll have written, partly because it's a short chapter in the book, and partly because I wasn't going by the book (except for the end).

A man always finds it hard to realize he may have finally lost a woman's love, however badly he may have treated her. – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I decided I would take the rest of the day off. It wasn't exactly betraying Edythe; she'd skipped class plenty of times, and with even less of a motive. But as I walked out into the parking lot, I wondered: was I better off alone? Every time I became close to someone, it never ended well. I was almost tempted to believe that I was cursed. On the other hand, it was easy to make friends here, and I was certainly popular with the ladies. It might end differently here, after all.

I suddenly remembered that I'd come with Edythe. There was no way I'd be asking her for a ride home now, but that was fine; I could easily get a ride with someone else, hopefully Allen. In the meantime, I would have plenty of time to read with no distractions. That was what I needed; to immerse myself in a good book and forget about all of the nonsense that was happening. More importantly, I needed to find a way to stay away from Edythe, not because of her idiot brother, but because it was in our best interest.

As I walked through the parking lot, I recognized McKayla's suburban still parked in its usual spot. Evidently she was still here, which was interesting. I decided to take a closer look.

She was sitting in the driver's seat of her suburban, and as I got nearer I realized she was listening to the Beatles song Don't let me down. How appropriate, I thought. At least in her mind.

I kept my head low and crept around the passenger's side of the car until I was directly below her windshield, which was partly lowered.

"Boo."

She let out a shriek. "Beau! You scared me."

"That's the idea," I said, smiling.

She glanced around. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question. You never showed up for lunch."

She grinned. "The food here's not healthy, remember? Besides, I just felt like skipping class."

Right. "Same here. So you've got any plans for today?"

"No," she admitted, still grinning. "So how about dinner at my place, tonight?"

"Sure. I'll be needing a ride home, though," I admitted sheepishly. "It's so embarrassing coming to school in that truck."

She laughed. "Well, climb aboard, then."

McKayla drove at a leisurely pace, unlike Edythe, who seemed intent on breaking the sound barrier with her Volvo. We stopped at an ice cream parlor named Anabel's Ice Cream about two kilometers from Charlie's house; I hadn't had time to eat desert at the school cafeteria, and McKayla hadn't eaten anything at all, as it turns out. I ordered an ice cream sundae, which McKayla insisted she'd pay for.

"Not a very healthy meal," I remarked, eyeing the banana split she'd ordered.

She shrugged. "It tastes better than anything in the cafeteria. Besides, I've always loved this place. It's never crowded, so I don't have to wait long. And it looks so adorably retro."

I looked around. The walls were beige in color and covered in pictures of people from the late 19th and 20th centuries, including a picture of the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri.

"Why is there a portrait of First Lady Dolly Madison?" I asked.

"She served ice cream at President James Madison's inaugural ball," McKayla explained. "She's closely associated with the early history of ice cream in the US." She raised her eyebrows. "You didn't know that?"

"Should I have?"

Her jaw dropped. "Finally! There's something I know that you didn't!"

I grinned. "Who would have thought?"

I had to admit, the ice cream was delicious. But try as I might, I still couldn't put Edythe out of my mind. Was she angry at me for skipping Biology? Or was she relieved that I was finally following her advice? What would Royal tell her the next time he saw her? I suddenly felt immensely guilty for what I'd done. She would have to deal with the fallout of what happened at the cafeteria, one way or another.

McKayla noticed my somber expression. "Is something wrong?"

Should I tell her? Edythe would know, but that might be for the best.

"You know Jeremy likes you, right?" I said, smirking.

She gave me an astonished look. "Really?"

"Why do you think he was the one who told you about last night? Allen was there too, but he never said anything."

She averted her gaze but didn't say anything. Suddenly I realized what she was hiding.

"Jeremy told you not to tell me that he snitched, didn't he?" By the look on her face, I knew I was right.

"So you're saying," she said slowly, "that he told me about it so we'd split up, giving him a chance with me?"

"Exactly."

She narrowed her eyes. "But that still doesn't explain why you went to dinner with Edythe. You hadn't planned to, or at least I hope you didn't. So what happened?"

I sighed. If I wanted to mend things with McKayla I'd have to tell her at least part of the truth.

"Not long after we got to Port Angeles," I began, "I went off on my own to go run an errand. I was going to meet up with Jeremy and Allen to see the movie, but I got lost." I hesitated.

She looked at me expectantly. "Go on."

"I ran into some punks in an alley. I got into a fight with one of them, but Edythe arrived before things got worse."

Her gaze turned sympathetic. "Did they hurt you?"

"Yeah, a bit. One of the guys punched me in the jaw." I turned my head back and showed her where Ryan had hit me. It was still bruised, though I was able to hide it fairly well. McKayla winced when she saw the injury.

"Like I said, things would've gotten worse if she hadn't shown up." I smiled. "You should've seen them running when they saw the Volvo." It was a lie, but what was I supposed to tell her? That a teenage girl had beaten up six armed people without even a scratch?

"After that, Edythe drove me to the theater. At that point, I wasn't really in the mood to watch the movie, for obvious reasons. Also, I didn't want Jeremy and Allen to get suspicious and start asking me what happened. So Edythe and I went to dinner. She offered to pay, and since I'm broke as hell, I couldn't refuse. After that, she took me home."

"So that's it?" McKayla asked. "Nothing else happened?"

"Nope. I was home before 8:00 p.m. You can even ask my dad if you like."

She stared at the table for a moment, thinking. "I'm sorry if I've come across as jealous or overbearing. But try to understand; Edythe looks spectacular." She broke into a smile. "You know I can't compete with her in that area. So when someone tells me you two went to dinner, my natural response is to panic. I didn't know what would happen after that." Her smile turned into a grin. "I hope I'm not giving you any ideas."

"Not at all," I replied, amused. "Edythe is… interesting. And you're right, she's absolutely stunning. But unlike most males, I'm not typically very interested in how women look. We get along well, but we only see each other as friends. There's never really been any romance. It's funny." I paused briefly and finished my ice cream. "Most guys would interpret that as a sign that I'm gay."

She laughed. "Well I don't suppose you'd be going to the dance with me if you were. Not that there's anything wrong with being gay."

I snickered. "Don't worry. Even if I was, none of the guys are that good-looking except for Royal, and he's just weird."

"Ditto." She laughed again. "I know it's embarrassing, but when they first moved here, I was obsessed with him. I even tried asking him out once, but he just looked at me like I was crazy and walked away."

I shook my head. "I've never liked him. He reminds me of the stuck-up rich kids back in Phoenix I hated so much." The feeling had been mutual. They'd always look down on anyone who didn't have expensive clothing, cell phones, and nice cars. It was the reason I'd initially felt antipathy toward the Cullen family.

"Sounds like you really miss you old home," she teased.

My mouth curled in disgust. "Don't even get me started."

"So how long are you going to stay here?" she asked.

"I don't know," I answered honestly. "At first, I'd only planned to stay here until I finished high school, then hopefully get accepted to some Ivy League university. But I really like it here. The weather's nicer, and people are much friendlier. With a few exceptions," I added with a smile. "All I know is, I'm never going back to that hellhole."

"Well, hopefully you don't have to. But if you do, I'd like to go with you."

Damn. I wasn't expecting that one. "Moving on," I said, trying to sound casual. "What are your plans after graduating?"

She thought about it for a moment. "My dad wants me to go to the University of Washington to get a degree in accounting and help him manage his business. He's trying to expand, but he's having trouble finding people willing to work long hours."

"And what do you want?" I asked, gazing at her intently.

She shrugged. "I haven't made up my mind. If I was smart like you, I'm sure I could do anything, but people like me have to accept whatever comes along."

"That's no way to live. And I'm going to let you in on a little secret." I leaned just a little closer. "Being intelligent doesn't make you happy. In fact, people like us tend to be pretty miserable. But that's just life; you can't have everything. So you really shouldn't envy me. Follow your own path, instead. Set your own goals, and don't let anyone stop you, least of all yourself."

She smiled. "Thanks, Beau. You sure know how to give a pep talk." She pulled a pink phone out of her pocket and checked the time. "We should get going. I don't want my parents to know I skipped class."

I glanced at my watch. Time really did fly when you were having fun.

"There's something I forgot to ask you," McKayla said as we walked to her car.

"What is it?"

"It's about Edythe." She eyed me uncertainly. "You remember how she looked at you that first day? She almost looked as if she wanted to kill you. I was wondering if she'd ever given you an explanation."

"Oh, that. Sorry," I said firmly. "I promised her I wouldn't talk to anyone else about this."

"Come on," McKayla insisted as she unlocked the door. "I told you Jeremy had been the one to babble about you going to dinner with her. Why can't you tell me what happened? It can't be anything you did."

"Technically, no. But it still upsets her to talk about this." I opened the door and sat next to her.

"Please? I won't tell anyone, I promise." Her pleading expression matched her tone.

"That's not the first time I've heard that today." I sighed. She wasn't going to drive until I told her something.

"Edythe told me that there was a student at the school she went to in Alaska, who – molested her." My voice wavered, and I turned away. "He would always come after her, but nobody else noticed or cared. Eventually she stopped going to school. That's one of the reasons why her family moved here."

"That's awful," she said, aghast. "But – what does this have to do with you?"

"That's the interesting part," I said, lowering my voice to a whisper. "According to Edythe, I look exactly like him."

McKayla gasped. "No way."

"You can imagine what must have gone through her mind when she saw me, thinking it was him. She missed the rest of the week after that. It wasn't until she'd accepted that I merely bore an uncanny resemblance to that pervert and that no one would threaten her anymore that she came back. How ironic; we're actually friends now."

McKayla leaned back against the car seat. "It all makes sense now. I never imagined – well, no one could have imagined why she reacted to you the way she did."

I waited patiently for her to absorb the information, but I didn't have all day. "Um, hello? Aren't we supposed to be going somewhere?"

"Oh, right." She'd completely forgotten that we were already in her car. "Sorry." She started the engine, and off we went.

I stood in the front porch of Charlie's house, staring out into the rain, half-expecting Edythe to show up. But that was stupid; she obviously understood that I was only following her advice in keeping my distance. I felt a little guilt, to be honest. Both Edythe and McKayla were paying for my meals now. It felt like I was taking advantage of them. But what was I supposed to do? I never asked either of them to pay.

"When do you get off lying?"

I turned around and saw Edythe standing in the front porch only a few meters away, looking amused, her hair dripping wet but looking perfect as always. How long had she been there?

I groaned. "You'd been eavesdropping on our entire conversation? Is it even remotely possible for me to have just a little bit of privacy?"

She smiled. "Maybe. But you always have the most fascinating conversations. I just can't help myself."

I was suddenly curious. "So did she believe me?" I was almost certain that she had, but I wanted confirmation.

She chuckled. "Every word. You are a very good liar, I must say, and you have a wonderful imagination. You almost had me convinced." She was suddenly serious. "Do you really like her, or are you just using her to stay away from me?"

"What's it to you?" I asked indifferently.

"It matters," she said indignantly. "Don't you see, Beau? No matter how much I try, I just can't stay away from you. I need to know when … if… the day comes when we part ways, you'll have someone who will be there for you." Her expression hardened. "Or are you just playing games with us?"

I scowled. "Oh, I'm the one playing games now? Both of you – no – half the girls in the school were chasing after me, and I tried to ignore them. Yet now I'm somehow responsible? Get a grip."

"All I'm asking is –" Suddenly her jaw was clenched, her brows pulled down into a hard line over her eyes. She glanced at me for one brief second.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Another complication," she said glumly.

Headlights flashed through the rain. I looked up, expecting to see Charlie, but it was a dark sedan I didn't recognize.

"We'll talk later," she said hurriedly. "I have to go."

Before I could respond, she ran off into the rain.

I tried to make out the shapes in the front seat of the other car, but it was too dark.

"Hey, Beau," called a familiar, husky voice from he driver's seat of the sedan.

"Jules?" I asked, squinting through the rain. Just then, Charlie's cruiser swung around the corner, his lights shining on the occupants of the car in front of me.

Julie was already climbing out, her wide grin visible even through the darkness. In the passenger seat was a much older woman, an imposing woman with an unusual face – stern and stoic, with creases that ran through the russet skin like an old leather jacket. And the surprisingly familiar eyes, set deep under the heavy brows, black eyes that seemed at the same time both too young and too ancient to match the face. It was Julie's mother, Bonnie Black. She was staring at me, scrutinizing my face, so I smiled tentatively at her. Then I processed more – her eyes were wide, as if in shock or fear, her nostrils flared – and my smile faded.

Another complication indeed.