Disclaimer: I take no credit for any of Stephanie Meyer's characters, only for my own.

Jacob

Charlie stood there awkwardly, his eyes staring at the ground rather than at me. Jacob seemed mildly surprised to see him, but otherwise betrayed no emotions. And the man in the wheelchair just kept his eyes on me. I looked between the three of them and nervously ran a hand through my hair, not really knowing what to do or say.

I hated awkward silences. And for some reason, being around Charlie always meant an awkward silence. Why was that? Worse still, Charlie was shifting his eyes at me, as if he were waiting for me to be the one to break it.

What the hell? No way! Why should I have to be the one to break the silence?

Oh God, I hope I don't. I hate it when that happens.

"Hello Chief Swan," Jacob said, breaking the silence at last.

Charlie nodded to him. "Hey there, Jake. I see you, um, met Bella."

The man in the wheelchair blinked and looked at him surprisedly. "Bella? Your daughter?"

I winced at the word "daughter" and glared at Charlie, silently daring him to try and refer to me as that title. I was not his daughter, not anymore. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I ever really was his daughter in his eyes. But it didn't matter now; I was Carlisle and Esme's daughter. Charlie grimaced, not only at his question, but at the look on my face. He hesitated for a moment before sighing and shaking his head.

"She's, er, not my daughter anymore, Billy," he admitted, a look of sorrow and shame on his face. Jacob's eyes widened as he appraised me, the man in the wheelchair, Billy, doing the same.

Wait. Billy. This was Jacob's father, Billy Black. I remembered him now.

"What does he mean?" Jacob asked, puzzled.

I sighed. "I was just recently adopted by a new family; one that I know loves me and will take care of me."

"Is that true, Charlie?" Billy asked.

Charlie nodded somberly. "Yes, it is."

"Why?" Jacob inquired.

"It's a long story," Charlie stated, clearly not wanting to talk about it. I scoffed quietly, but made no comment. Charlie glanced at me for a moment before turning to Billy. "Listen Billy, it's been nice seeing you again, but I think I'd best be going. I got a call last night about another disappearance, so I need to go look into that. You take care of yourself, now."

Billy frowned, but nodded. "You as well, my friend."

"So long, Jacob and you too, Bella. Give the doctor my regards," Charlie murmured before walking off. He only looked back once, his eyes looking into mine, reflecting the pain he was feeling as he got into his cruiser and revved the engine up. I watched after him for a few seconds until his car disappeared altogether. It was then that I noticed both Jacob and Billy studying me, confusion and curiosity in their eyes.

"What?" I asked, disliking their looks.

"So what happened between you and Charlie?" Jacob inquired.

"Jacob," Billy chided.

"I'm surprised he didn't mention it," I muttered.

"He mentioned you from time to time, though never much," Billy stated. "He felt bad because he'd let your mother take you and the guilt was eating away at him. He wasn't the same until after the accident, then he got a lot better. He missed you, you know."

I rolled my eyes. "He should have thought of that before he neglected me when I was still his daughter. It's far too late for that. I'm only giving him a second chance because it's my new father's wishes. Otherwise, I wouldn't have even bothered to go see him that day."

"I see."

Jacob still seemed aghast. "How come you didn't mention this before?"

"I didn't think it mattered all that much," I replied.

"Well, no, not a whole lot, but still, Bella. I mean, we used to be so tight back when we were kids, even if we didn't see each other a whole lot. I just figured that you would, you know, trust me enough to tell me this sort of thing," he mumbled, shrugging his shoulders. "But I get it. It's been a long time and we've both changed, so it makes sense that you wouldn't trust me anymore. I do hope that we can restart our friendship, at least."

I thought about that for a moment. Alice and the others didn't seem too fond of anyone here, especially with all the insults and teasing and the warnings. I didn't understand any of it, truth be told, but I didn't see a reason to let it get to me just yet. If their reasons were good enough, then I would change my mind. But this was Jacob. He may be a bit annoying, but what he said is true, we did use to be good friends when we were younger.

"Of course we can," I answered. "I don't see a reason why we couldn't."

Jacob smiled at that. "Great! So, you wanna come inside?"

I glanced at Billy, who nodded his head. "You're welcome to come in, Bella. I'm curious to hear how things have gone for you lately."

"Alright, sounds good. I can't be gone too long, since I don't want to keep my friends waiting forever and all. They can only be entertained by a souvenir shop for so long."

"You'd be surprised," Jacob chuckled, walking inside. "Come on in."

I followed after him into his house, which looked vaguely familiar to me. The walls were a light shade of green, with various photos hanging, as well as a few trophies. Positioned on the far right wall was a shotgun that was likely Billy's from years ago. There was a large screen TV and a two piece couch in the center, the kitchen off to the left. I recognized the area that Jacob and I used to play in off to the side. It brought back some memories, though not all were good ones.

"Do you remember this place?" Jacob asked.

"Somewhat," I admitted. "Not all that well, though."

Jacob was about to respond when Billy rolled into the room and cut him off.

"So Bella, is your adoptive father a doctor?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, he is. He's a really amazing person, both charming and incredibly kind. I don't even consider him my "adoptive" father, but more like my actual father. The same with my mother, she's amazing and sweet and a hell of a lot better than that bitch that I used to think of as my mother. They both love me and I love them, and I'm much closer with them than I ever was with Charlie and especially Renee."

"I see," Billy said, furrowing his brow. "Would you mind telling me their names? Maybe I know them."

Jacob gave his father a puzzled expression. I, on the other hand, froze on the spot. That look in his eyes told me that he knew something. I could see it. Shit. What did he know? And furthermore, what do I do? If I don't tell him, then he might get suspicious. But what happens if I do tell him and something bad happens? Damn it. Maybe I shouldn't have come here.

"Um…"

Jacob, thank God, came in for the save. "You don't have to if you don't want to, Bella." He gave his father a scolding glare. "It's not really any of our business, dad. C'mon now, this is Bella's first time here in years, we should at least treat her with some respect."

Billy scowled momentarily, but nodded, giving me an apologetic look. "My apologies, Bella. I should not be trying to intrude into your personal life. But regardless, it is good to see you again after all these years and I'm glad you and Jacob are having a chance to catch up. You should speak to Raina at some point too, though knowing that girl; I doubt she'll be free anytime soon."

"Why, what's she been up to?" I asked curiously.

Jacob and Billy looked at each other before Jacob answered. "Not much. She's been seeing her boyfriend mostly. I'm sure she wouldn't mind saying hello to you later today."

"Oh. Well, I don't want to bother her or anything," I murmured. "Speaking of which, you're sure this isn't a problem, Mr. Black?" Why I was being formal, I didn't know. I guess it was just because I wanted to emulate Carlisle and Esme in some way, so formality seemed like the best first step to that approach, no?

Billy actually chuckled. "Heavens no, Bella. And please, call me Billy."

"Mr. Black," Jacob snickered. "Sounds like something out of a movie."

I rolled my eyes, mildly amused by his childishness. "What have you been up to lately, Billy?"

Billy smiled. "Well, you may not recall, but I'm a member of the Quileute Council, actually. I work alongside several others to keep track of all things relating to our tribe and our land, including the money we make at our souvenir store, making sure our kids don't cause too much of a problem and schooling, for instance. It's a fulltime job, but it has a great deal of benefits, might I say. We hold meetings every weekend to inform our tribe of what's going on while having a traditional Quileute bonfire."

"Sounds cool," I said.

"Eh, it kinda is," Jacob stated, smirking at his father's sigh. "What? C'mon, pops, even you gotta admit that it's boring at times. Except the food. The food is always good."

"That, my son, is because of the fact that you, like every other youth here, could eat a truckload of food before you were satisfied. And that, Bella, is no joke," Billy said, a hint of mirth in his weathered eyes.

Jacob shrugged humorously. "S'true, no doubt about that. Hey Bella, you wanna see my room?"

"Um, sure," I replied.

Jacob beamed and motioned for me to follow him down their hallway, which I did, hands stuffed into my pockets. Jacob walked to the third door on the left side and opened it, beckoning me inside. No sooner had I walked in was I struck by that awful smell again, only this time it was even stronger. I had to resist the urge to gag as I covered my nose and held my breath in, trying to do so without Jacob noticing. And if he did, he made no sign of it.

After a minute the stench dissipated and I was allowed to breathe clean oxygen once more, though I noticed that his room had an odd smell to it. It wasn't necessarily bad, nothing like what I'd smelled moments ago, which was completely gone now.

Jacob's room was decent sized. Nothing spectacular, not like Alice's room. He had a single window and a large bed beneath it, the covers thrown about everywhere. The walls had various posters, some of celebrities, some of more spiritual looking things, the most prominent among them a large wolf. There was a desk, two medium sized dressers and a small closet too. All in all, it wasn't shabby, but it wasn't the kind of room that I'd like. Way too small for my tastes.

"So, what do you think?" Jacob asked, spreading his arms out and waving his hands around.

"No offense, Jacob, but it stinks in here," I replied, crinkling my nose.

Jacob stared at me blankly before guffawing. "Yeah, sorry about that!" he laughed. "Ha! Ah, Bella, I'm glad to see you haven't changed too much. But hey, I can't help it if it's a mess."

"Oh, I dunno, you could clean it, you know," I suggested sarcastically.

Jacob rolled his eyes. "I do!" I narrowed my eyes and raised an eyebrow at him, pointing out a pile of what looked like dirty clothes on the floor. Jacob looked down at the floor embarrassedly. "Okay, so I clean it every month and a half or so. Sometimes more, it depends on how long it takes me to remember. But I do clean it, I swear. I just haven't gotten around to cleaning it recently is all."

"Uh huh, sure you do," I teased.

"Shut up!" Jacob huffed. "I doubt yours is any better."

"Ha! I'll have you know my room is awesome, thank you very much," I gloated. It was awesome mostly because I shared it with Alice, but he didn't need to know that.

"Yeah, whatever you say, Bells," he said, shaking his head.

I growled lightly. "Don't call me 'Bells', Jacob. I only let people I'm close to call me that."

He frowned, slightly hurt, but shook it off and nodded. "My bad. I'll stick with Bella for now."

"Thank you. It's nothing personal, Jacob. It's just…a me thing, you know?"

"I understand, don't worry about it," he replied, smiling. He sure was full of smiles today. Jacob plopped down on his bed and gestured towards the chair near his desk. "Here, go on and sit down, make yourself comfortable."

I did as he suggested and pulled the chair out, sitting on it backwards to face him.

"You must work out a lot," I mused. No, I wasn't gawking at his body. Honestly, I didn't see the appeal to it. That was just me, though, since I was into girls.

Jacob, however, misinterpreted my comment and flexed his muscles, grinning rather proudly.

"Not as much as you may think. I'm just naturally this hot," he crooned. Ugh. Conceited much?

I propped my chin up with the palm of my left hand while resting my elbow on the back of the chair as I appraised him.

"Do you look at yourself in the mirror a lot on a daily basis?" I asked. "Because you seem like you're the kind of person who would."

Jacob rolled his eyes again. "Oh, please. I don't need to look in a mirror to know how good I look, okay. Besides, staring at yourself in the mirror is a chick thing, I thought. At least, it usually is, since most of the girls I know do it all the damn time. It's annoying, really."

I smiled at him and quirked an eyebrow. "How old are you again?"

"Sixteen," he replied, beaming proudly at me.

"Wow. Sixteen and you're already a conceited ass. Good to know," I laughed.

Jacob stretched backwards and leaned against his wall. "Hey, hey, hey, I'm not that conceited. I don't spend half the day staring at my reflection in the mirror or some crap like that."

I laughed again, immediately thinking of Rosalie. Just the mentioning of the word 'mirror' made her turn. She really did love mirrors and she was definitely the kind of person who would spend a great deal of time in front of one, even if she didn't need to. Then again, if I was as hot as her, I'd probably do the same thing.

Jacob let out a loud sigh, interrupting my thoughts. "So tell me, Bella, what have you been up to lately? What brought you here to Forks? Did Charlie get you and you just decided to leave him or did something else happen?"

I cocked my head to the side and frowned at him. "Didn't you just get on your dad's case for trying to get into my private life?" I asked.

Jacob, realizing his error, grimaced and scratched the top of his head embarrassedly.

"Whoops. Sorry about that, I, uh, wasn't thinking."

I pursed my lips and thought on it. Should I tell him? We were friends before. I mean, I won't tell him all the details since it isn't his business, but I guess telling him a little bit wouldn't hurt anybody, right?

"I suppose I could tell you a bit," I replied.

He seemed to like that because he immediately resituated himself on his bed, crossing his legs as he appraised me. His dark brown eyes reflected a sort of childlike curiosity that made me giggle, because it reminded me of the expression I often wore myself whenever talking to anyone in my family about their pasts or about vampires in general. There was something else in his eyes that I couldn't quite pick up, but I shrugged it off before beginning.

"Well, you know that Charlie and...Renee…divorced years ago, right?" I asked.

Jacob nodded. "Yeah, my dad told me that she took you with her when she left."

I cringed when the memories came flooding back of that day and every day following it. They weren't the best things to remember, that was for certain. Jacob noticed my change in expression and shot me a sympathetic look.

"You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to," he said.

I sighed. "No, I think that getting it out is a good thing." As long as I don't bawl like a baby again, especially not in front of someone like Jacob. He nodded his head and resumed being silent, waiting for me to tell him.

"Alright, I guess the main thing to understand is that Renee never really liked me. She never wanted a child and got stuck with me by accident, and while I did everything I could to please her, she always insulted me and told me I'd never be worth anything in my life. I put up with her verbal abuse, though, because I was desperate in trying to please her. It never worked. Then she found Phil and "fell" for him for his money and looks. They were together for about two years until Renee decided to leave. In the end, she left me and put me into foster services," I explained.

"I ended up being adopted and living a drab life with a foster family that wasn't as interested in me as they thought they would be. Eventually I'd had enough, so I ran away. A few months later, I wound up here and one thing led to another and I was adopted. It's all super crazy, really, how much has happened in such a short amount of time. A lot's changed, most of it for the better. I'm better off now than I was before, so I'm thankful for that."

Jacob narrowed his eyes as he absorbed what I'd said. Something seemed to bother him, though.

"You sound like you really like this new family."

I nodded. "I do. I love them and they love me. They're better than what I think I deserve, honestly, but every time I say that, they always tell me that I'm wrong. But they really are fantastic, every last one of them."

He furrowed his brow. "I see."

"By the way, what happened to your mother?" I asked.

Jacob winced. "She…she died a few years back. During the accident that caused my dad to be paralyzed. It was…a hard day for all of us."

"Oh Jacob, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

He shook his head. "No, no. It's cool. You didn't know and now you do. But yeah, we all took it really hard, especially Raina. She took it the worst out of the three of us. She was always closer to my mother then I ever was, truthfully. It affected me the same, though." His face darkened as he spoke, the malice behind his words practically flowing through the air.

"Do you mind my asking what happened?"

Jacob's eyes narrowed as he appraised me, his eyes boring into mine. A twisted smile graced his face as he shook his head, looking out the window seconds later.

"You probably wouldn't want to hear it, Bella. Just know that it wasn't pretty," he replied.

There was definitely something behind his words, something foreboding, almost. I was curious, but I wasn't about to push it any further. Underneath his dark tone and the anger, I could tell that bringing it up was painful for him. So I dropped it and decided to go with a new approach.

"So, uh, what do you do here?" I inquired.

Jacob looked back at me, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Like, for fun. What do you do for fun?"

He blinked several times, his face softening instantly. "Oh! Well, I go cliff diving with the others a lot-"

"Whoa, hold on. Cliff diving? What the hell is that?"

"It's a recreational sport that me and a few of the guys and girls do to pass the time. We jump off of this really high cliff into the water. Sometimes we just jump for the hell of it, other times we make games out of it, like seeing who can do the craziest stunt or who can jump the farthest or do the most spins. Hell, we once had a competition to see who could make the biggest splash in one jump." He smiled fondly as he recalled the experience. "It's loads of fun."

I blinked, astonished. "So jumping off a cliff and nearly dying is fun?"

Jacob laughed. "Aw, come on, Bella. It's not like that. We don't jump where there's a bunch of rocks or anything. We're not that stupid." He paused for a moment, his smile growing. "Well, okay, maybe Paul is. I know Quil and Embry are, too. But the rest of us aren't. Besides, we've been doing this for years now. We're all pros at it."

"Who're Paul, Quil and Embry?" I asked.

He smacked his forehead. "Crap, I completely forgot to introduce you to the others. I'll have to do that sometime later, if you'd like. Anyways, Embry Call and Quil Ateara are my bros. We've all been friends since we were in school together. Those two are always cracking their lame-ass jokes at each other and the rest of us. Quil has curly hair and Embry has sort of flat hair. His is darker, too. They're both wrestling around most of the time, so you can't miss them. Paul Young is…well, he's the guy you want to stay away from. He's got a pretty short fuse."

"What about that tall guy hanging around your sister? Who was he?"

"That's Sam Uley. He's the oldest out of our group. He's a cool guy. Kind of intimidating at first, but he's actually one of the mellowest people you'll meet here. Oh, did you see the guy and the girl who looked like they couldn't keep their hands off each other?"

I thought back to being outside earlier and remembered exactly that, a boy and a girl who were hugging each other as they loomed near the others in the group.

"Yeah, I do. They were just hugging, though."

Jacob smirked. "You should be glad it was just that. That's Jared Miller and Kim Tsose. They're, like, a huge lovey-dovey couple, so I wouldn't be near them when they're together, which is pretty much always. I mean, they're both cool, but they're always intimate with each other and it gets annoying after a while."

"I think I know two people like that," I snickered, thinking of Rosalie and Emmett. Hell, Alice and I were like that, only it was more hugging and cuddling then anything. Not that I was complaining, of course.

"There are a few more of us that you probably haven't seen, so I'll give you the basic rundown of who's who if you'd like."

"Do you guys all hang out in some large group?" I asked.

He had an odd look in his eyes as he answered. "Something like that." I frowned in confusion. Jacob ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "We're, uh, close, you could say. Living here on the reservation, you get used to knowing everybody. It's like an extended family, I guess. A really big, annoying, hyper-active, dyslexic extended family, if you catch my drift."

I still didn't quite get it. I mean, I got that he knew all of these people, but there was something off about his voice that I didn't like. I could tell he was keeping something from me, which I could understand since I was doing the same. The way he was doing it, though…

"So anyways, there's Brandon and Colton Weaver. Their dad, Jeremy, is on the council like my dad," Jacob explained. "Brandon is taller with really curly brown hair and he's really quiet. He's just as mellow as Sam is, but he's a bit odd, if you know what I mean."

I frowned, unable to decipher the meaning behind his words, but decided against questioning it.

He went on. "Colton, on the other hand, is a bit shorter and has spiky hair and a much more; I guess you could say childish face? He's flirty and he thinks he's always chatting with girls. You'd best watch out for him. You'll know him just by the smile he's always got on his face."

I smirked. "Sort of like you?"

He frowned. "What? Hell no! I'm way better than he is!" As if to prove his point, he tightened his arms, flexing his muscles at me. Ew. Seriously.

I turned away and held my hands out in front of my face dramatically. "Agh! Stop it Jacob, you're blinding me!" Jacob guffawed merrily as he put his arms back down. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms in front of me. "Honestly, Jacob, you should realize that I'm not into that kind of thing. I'd have thought the whole girlfriend thing was enough proof for that."

Jacob's brow contorted as he scowled at the mentioning of the word 'girlfriend' again. He looked like he didn't understand when I'd made it perfectly clear that I was gay. Or did I have to spell it out for him to get it? Was he that dumb?

Before I could ask him, though, he continued from where he'd left off.

"There are a few more girls hanging around here, actually. If you see a girl with medium length black hair with blonde streaks in it, that's Crystal Stone. She's a nice girl. Pretty lazy, actually, and she's not the smartest person in the world, but at the same time, she's real intelligent. It's hard to explain without you knowing her, I guess. One girl I think you'd get along with is Serena Bryant. She's always friendly to people and practically always in a good mood, too. She's the girl with the cropped hair and the tribal tattoos on her left arm."

"Last but not least, there's the Clearwaters. Their mother, Sue, is also on the council, taking over for her husband, Harry, who passed away recently. There's Seth, who's the youngest at fifteen. He's a goofy kid, but everyone likes him. It's hard not to, you know. And then there's Leah…"

I blinked. "Leah?"

Jacob's ground his teeth together. "Yes. Leah Clearwater. You should stay away from her, she's nothing but trouble. Besides, you probably wouldn't like her anyways."

"What do you mean?"

"She's not someone you need to be around, Bella, trust me," Jacob growled lowly.

I snorted. "She didn't seem that bad when I met her."

Jacob narrowed his eyes at me. "You've met?"

"Yeah, I met her while I was shopping in Port Angeles. We didn't talk for very long, but she was friendly to me and told me to look her up while I was here-"

"Wait, you met her in Port Angeles?" Jacob asked. I nodded. "I knew it. I knew she'd left. Stupid. Sam and Raina aren't going to like that..."

"What do you mean?"

Jacob rubbed his temples. "Er, it's nothing. We have rules is all and Leah is always breaking them."

"Oh. Well, I was actually going to ask you about that when you finished talking. I kinda wanted to see her, maybe get to be friends with her," I admitted.

Jacob scowled rather menacingly at me. "I wouldn't if I were you," he warned, shaking his head.

I ground my teeth together. "Jacob, that's not something for you to decide, okay? Look, if you won't tell me anything, then I'll go and find her myself. Besides, I'd rather form my own opinion on someone than go off of what one person says about them. I don't know why you dislike her so much, but I'm sure it's nothing big."

He surprised me by slamming his fist into the wall. I jumped back, startled at the action and by the damage done. Jacob's entire body was shaking madly as he gritted his teeth, both hands balled into tight fists. I could see the veins bulging not only in his hands but on his neck, too. He glared scathingly at me as he stood up, suddenly making me feel incredibly small in front of him.

Something inside of me was telling me to prepare myself, for what, I did not know.

"You don't know shit," Jacob spat angrily. "You don't know a damn thing about her or what she tried to do. So don't act like you do, damn it." His tone was full of a fury I'd never seen in him before, and my first reaction was to spring from out of the chair and move to the doorway. I kept my eyes glued to him as I slid out of his room and moved towards the front door.

Billy, who had been watching TV, noticed me and became concerned when he saw my face.

"Bella? What's wrong?" he asked.

I didn't answer him, I glanced over my shoulder back at Jacob's room, uncertain what to do. Part of me wanted to run back to the others, the other part actually wanted me to stay and defend myself from him. I didn't understand and my inability to decide was what kept me glued in place, even when Jacob's form appeared in his doorway.

"B-Bella, wait!" Jacob called. He rushed over to me before coming to an abrupt stop several feet away from me, a look of shame and sorrow on his face. "Bella, I'm…I'm sorry about that, I really am. I didn't mean to snap at you like that, I swear. I…I just, um, I haven't been feeling well lately and it's made me real cranky. I'm sorry, though, that's no reason to yell at you."

Even though he sounded sincere, my instincts were telling me to be wary of him. I didn't move or acknowledge what he'd said to me; instead I watched his every move. I hadn't realized that my body was crouched down in a defensive position until both he and Billy looked at me oddly, at which point I noticed it myself. That didn't change anything, though, because I wasn't sure what Jacob was going to do next.

Jacob quickly noticed that I was watching him with cautious eyes. He stopped moving altogether and just stared at me placidly, his eyes pleading with me to understand his words and pleading for forgiveness. Billy sat in silence, uncertainty on his face as his eyes darted between the two of us before resting on Jacob.

"Jake, maybe you should let Bella get some air," Billy suggested, breaking the tense silence that had set in.

Jacob grimaced, but nodded in affirmative, stepping away from me. "Sorry, Bella."

I hesitated momentarily, then relaxed my stance and slowly made my way out the door. My head was spinning as the door shut behind me, but everything just seemed to fade away when a cool breeze blew past me, caressing my skin and easing me. It reminded me of Alice's cool hands brushing against my cheeks, which always seemed to relax me.

Alice.

Oh how I missed her so. Like, insanely so. It was almost painful to be away from her, though I was able to suppress the feelings for the most part.

I sighed morosely and walked off of Jacob's porch, letting the breeze blow my worries and thoughts away. I needed to clear my head and try and understand what the hell had just happened inside. I mean, clearly I'd accidentally crossed a line with what I'd said, since mentioning Leah seemed to do nothing but agitate Jacob. But then he got extremely angry and punched his wall.

Wait.

He fucking punched a hole into his wall. I remembered the size of that hole, too. And yet he didn't even look fazed by what he'd done. It didn't even register with him, it looked like. This also reminded me of something I'd noticed but didn't pay attention to. His room. There were multiple small holes on his walls everywhere. There was even some broken off pieces on his desk and his dressers, like he'd ripped off chunks of them as though they were paper.

The more I thought on it, the more I started to realize why Alice had told me to be careful on the reservation. There was definitely a lot more going on then what the people here were letting on and I was starting to get tired of being in the dark. I didn't think I could approach Jacob about it, though, especially not after that little display in his room.

However, it had sparked my curiosity. What had Leah done to piss Jacob off so badly?

"Bella?" Jacob's voice interrupted my line of thought. I turned to see him looming near his porch, hands in his pockets. He was staring at the ground, a frown on his face.

"What is it?" I asked snappily. Okay, I'll admit that my voice was a bit harsher then I'd intended it to be, especially since he winced at it, so I decided to soften it up a bit. "I mean, uh, what…what do you want?"

"I just wanted to apologize again," he murmured, looking into my eyes. I could see the sincerity in them, even if I was still a bit wary.

I pursed my lips and sighed. "It's fine. I'm sorry I got you upset, I didn't mean to."

He waved it off with his hand. "Don't worry about it. There's just some tension going on is all and it's really affecting me. Again, I'm real sorry for blowing up at you. I promise I won't do it again, okay? You don't deserve that kind of thing, especially since I'm trying to rekindle our friendship. So, uh, we cool?" He gave me a goofy grin, his eyes hopeful.

I laughed. "Yeah, we're cool. Besides, I've got a bit of a temper myself."

"Now that is a scary image," he teased.

I smiled at him. He had no idea.

Jacob suddenly froze, his eyes flickering to something past me. His hands balled into fists again as he glared at something behind me. I frowned and turned around to see the object of his glare, even though a part of me already knew what, or rather who, it was.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is," greeted a familiar voice as I turned fully, coming face to face with the owner of that voice, wearing shorts, a half shirt and a large smirk on her face.

Leah.

A/N: *insert dramatic music* Yeah, Leah's here! Yay for sexy wolf girl! But like I said, don't expect a whole lot for now. Drama must build first.

I actually enjoyed this chapter. Which is strange, since I actually hate Jacob. Ah well.

Oh. Random note. For all of the canon characters in this story, I am basing their appearances off of their movie incarnations. I don't care what other people's opinions of the movies or the actor choices are, I think most of the actors (especially Ashley Greene) nailed their characters appearance wise. For Victoria, think Rachelle Lefevre, since she played an awesome Victoria (nothing against Bryce, mind you, I think she did well as Victoria). So yeah, the only main difference would be the heights for some characters, like Alice (Ashley Green is 5'5, Alice is 5'2).

I am, however, in need of suggestions for the wolf OCs at a later point in time. I may have one for Raina, but that's it (and even that is an uncertainty). Any suggestions are appreciated. I prefer people with short hair and somewhat tan skin (young, too). If any of you have any ideas, please feel free to let me know. Thank you.