Chapter 7: Mythology

Getting out of the water was a pain in the ass. I mean, I had some guy that seemed hell-bent on freezing me to death as he kept dragging me back into the water and we were sloshing around like a couple of idiots who really wanted to freeze to death.

"Kari! What are you doing? It's freezing!" yelled Bella.

I managed to get on my knees to look back at her.

"Not my fault!" I yelled back.

Then Embry pulled me back in the water. I was pretty sure Bella was rolling her eyes at me and thinking that I'm a slut for being pulled into water by a boy.

Of course Quil and Jake decided to join in the fun so they tried to dunk me and Embry and each other.

Guys were weird.

They finally let get out of the water and I quickly hurried over to the fire, that was thankfully, still going. I tried to warm up the fire as much as I could, before I grabbed my bag and Tinsley followed me as we went into the woods to change.

Tinsley went with me to make sure no one was creeping on me while I did change and we came back. Bella and I lurked by the fire with Quil, Embry, and Jacob to warm up.

"Do you like scary stories?" asked Jacob. I wasn't sure who he was asking, but considering how every male in the area was reacting to Bella, like they haven't seen a girl before, I wouldn't be surprised if Jacob was talking to Bella.

"I love them," Bella said, trying to flirt with Jacob. Emphasis on trying.

I snorted and Bella kicked some dirt in my direction, but she somehow kicked dirt right in her face.

The guys and I started laughing at that.

We calmed down and Jacob started saying, "Do you know any of our old stories, about where we came from – the Quileutes?"

I almost groaned. When Billy used to take Jacob, Rachel, Rebecca, Embry, sometimes Quil, and I on these camping trips, he would tell us these stories about the Quileutes being descended from wolves.

"Kare-Bear already knows about these stories," said Jacob.

I nodded when Bella looked at me.

I looked at Quil, "Don't worry, when you get scared, I'll let you cower in my shoulder."

Quil gave me what amounted to a 'bitch, please' look.

"No," replied Bella.

"Well, there are lots of legends, some of them claiming to date back to the Flood – supposedly, the ancient Quileutes tied their canoes to the tops of the tallest trees on the mountain to survive like Noah and the ark." He rolled his eyes a little.

"Just because you don't believe it doesn't mean it's not cool," I told him.

"There's another legend that claims we're descended from wolves – and the wolves are our brothers, still. It's against tribal law to kill them," explained Jacob.

"Don't forget the legends about the cold ones," said Embry.

"I think I need a cold one just to get through that one," I said. I wasn't into drinking, sure, maybe one every now and then. It was probably something that had to do with me being the sheriff's daughter.

Quil snorted at that one, "Definitely."

I fist-bumped him on that one. Embry didn't look impressed.

"The cold ones?" asked Bella.

"In other words, vampires," replied Embry a little too flatly.

"There are stories of the cold ones as old as the wolf legends, and there are some that are much more recent," said Jacob.

"Just say vampires," I said to Jacob. "I keep thinking of beer when I hear 'cold one'."

Embry smiled at that.

Jacob chuckled, "Only for you Kare-Bear."

"Vampires?" asked Bella now interested.

"According to legend, our own great-grandfather knew some of them. He was the one who made the treaty that kept them off our land." He rolled his eyes to show that he didn't believe them.

I looked at Embry to see how he was reacting, but he looked bored.

"Your great-grandfather?" prompted Bella.

"He was a tribal elder, like Uncle Billy," said Quil.

"The vampires are naturally enemies to the werewolves," cut in Embry, like he just wanted to get the story over it. I didn't blame him. Jacob was dragging it out for the hell of it. "Apparently we're supposed to be descended from werewolves."

I got bored and stood up.

"Where you're going, Kari?" asked Bella.

"I'm going to see what Wendy and Tinsley are up to," I said. I really didn't want to see Bella lead Jacob on.

"Okay," replied Bella.

I found them talking to Jared and Kim. Kim was giving Jared a few side-eyes, so I'm pretty sure that Kim has a slight crush on him.

"You three bailed on Bella and Jacob?" asked Tinsley. She was looking over my shoulder and I turned around to see that Embry and Quil tagged along.

"I don't want to see that mess of awkward flirting," said Quil. "And I'm sure that Bella doesn't really like Jake like that and it's even more awkward. Jake keeps giving Bella these heart eyes, that Embry—" Quil grunted and I turned to see what happened to him.

"Okay?" I slowly said, giving them a strange look.

Why are my male friends so weird?

"We better get going," said Sam. "A storm is coming."

It would've sounded ominous, but then I looked at the sky to see clouds coming in.

So much for a beach day.

That was Forks for you. One minute it's sunny, and the next, it rains on your parade.

That happened once. Dad took me and Bella to see a parade and then it rained.

"Come on, Swan. Help us pack up," said Mike.

I almost rolled my eyes. It's funny. Bella gets called Bella and I get called Swan. It was most likely to help different us, but they can call me Kari, right?

Whatever.

I went to help Tyler put up the cooler.

"What's up with Bella and What's-His-Name?" asked Tyler jealousy.

I rolled my eyes, "She doesn't even like Jake like that. She's just leading him on for some stupid reason. I wouldn't even call them friends." Tyler seemed to perk up. "Don't bother getting your hopes up. She doesn't like you like that, either."

"That's what you think, Swan," said Tyler.

"No, that's what I know, Crowley," I replied. "She's obsessed with Cullen. Hopefully that'll change soon."

"Hopefully it will," said Tyler with a lot of hope and determination that would've been okay on anyone that wasn't holding on a crush that was borderline obsessive. Scratch that, definitely obsessive. Worse than Bella's obsession with Cullen, which I didn't know was possible.

"Is that a threat or a promise?" I challenged.

As much as I wanted Bella to get over her crush obsession crush on Edward, I really didn't want her to date Mike or Tyler. They were the ones that were deluded the most. Hell, I think I even prefer Dylan to date Bella, since they both had that emo-thing going on, and that was before I dated him.

Scratch that, I don't want Dylan to date Bella; she'll drive him crazy.

Sam and his group took off right as it started sprinkling.