Hello, hello, hello! Welcome everyone to my newest story.

In honor of the Twilight Renaissance and the release of Midnight Sun, I've decided to return to my roots here on FF. One of my very first ever stories was written for the Twilight fandom; it was called Daybreak, and you can still find it on my profile if you're interested. Be warned, it's a little old.

It's been eight years since my last foray into this fandom, but I think it's finally time. I hope you all enjoy, and if any of you are coming back to my writing after following Daybreak all those years ago, a very special 'Welcome back!' to you!

My Friend Jacob

Campy Horror AU: High school grad Bella Swan has a good life. She has great friends, a doting father, and she was going to her dream college in the fall. But when a string of disappearances threatens her vacation, Bella, along with her werewolf best friend and her vampire ex-boyfriend's family, must figure out who's behind it all… before anyone else turns up dead. Bella x Jacob

Chapter One: Sleepaway Camp

"Jacob?" I whispered into the darkness. For a long time, all that answered was silence- the kind of silence that closed in on your ear drums like cotton. Not very promising. I tried again.

"Jacob?"

This time, the cot beside mine shifted under a considerable weight and I could hear the crisp sound of sheets being ruffled and pulled. Now I was getting somewhere.

"Hrmph?" Jake's voice was obviously laden with sleep and I was doubtful he was actually coherent, but I figured this was the best I was going to get for now.

"We remembered the duct tape, right?" I asked, looking around the living room cautiously. Jake mumbled a non-committal reply and rolled over again, his breathing evening out within seconds. I sighed and shifted up on my elbow to try again. "Jake!"

"Mm... yeah?" He groaned, his consciousness struggling not to get lost again in the haze of receding sleep. He lifted his arms above his head in an impressive stretch and let them fall to his sides again in one smooth movement.

"And you're sure the honey wasn't too much?" I ran through the list in my head, counting and recounting our steps. Jake nodded his head drowsily, clutching a pillow to his chest and burying his nose in it rather than answering my question. Annoyance bubbled in my throat. Looking beside me, I caught sight of my own pillow and raised it high above my head, flinging it at Jacob's slackened face. "Jacob Ephraim Black!"

"What?" He snapped, finally sitting up in bed and rubbing the sleep pointedly from his eyes. I crossed my arms and shot a glare at him. He returned it with one of his own, obviously not happy about the interruption of his beauty sleep.

"I'm trying to make sure we didn't forget anything!" I stage-whispered. "You remember what happened last time?" I fixed him with a pointed stare as I relived the last time Jacob slept over and we pulled a practical joke on Charlie.

"It was an honest mistake; anybody could've done it!" Jake defended, flopping back onto his pillow. He folded his arms behind his head, uttering an oath under his breath. The previous prank we'd come up with took a downward spiral when Jacob placed the wrong thing in the right place, resulting in a very angry me and a decidedly dry Charlie in fits of laughter at a dishevelled looking Bella.

"Yeah well we can't mess up with this one; we're losing by two points because of that mishap!" I insisted, running through a mental check list of the things we'd done only an hour ago.

Our summer fun had come from a running battle between Charlie, Billy, Jacob and I to see who could successfully pull the most pranks by the end of August and so far, Billy and Charlie were winning. The most frustrating part was that their points were coming from little insufficient things like whoopee cushions and buckets of water in doorways. Tonight, however, Jacob and I had stayed up until 4 in the morning- two hours before Charlie 'set off for work'. We swiftly and sneakily set up a multitude of joking gems that would put us back in the lead by at least three.

If they all worked.

"Sure, sure," Jake shrugged, yawning loudly. "Don't worry Bells, we've got this cat back in the bag and even added a few extra ties to keep it there."

I rolled my eyes at his nonchalance, but in my heart, I knew he was right. As a start, while Billy slept soundly in my room, we'd removed the wheels on his wheelchair, slathered honey on the floor and the wheelchair seat, covered him in post-it notes that said "WE WIN" in block letters, and placed his hand in warm water. That last one was a bit crude for my tastes, but Jake was absolutely devoted to the idea.

"Alright, whatever you say Jake." I sighed, falling back onto the bed. Moving on to Charlie, we'd played the classic 'shaving cream and feather' prank, along with strategically suspending a frightening clown mask just above his face, setting his alarm clock for 6am even though he had the day off, hiding said alarm clock from view, duct-taping newspaper across the door-frame and filling the space between the door and the paper with foam peanuts. To top it all off, we also sealed the door closed with a layer of saran wrap over the newspaper.

"Man, in about an hour Charlie won't know what hit him!" Jake chuckled, clearly awake and envisioning Charlie's face as he tries to bust through the newspaper wall only to discover saran wrap on the other side. I couldn't stop my smile either- we had definitely out-done ourselves on this one.

"Do you think we went too far with the clown mask?" I mused, twirling my hair around my index finger in thought. The clown mask had been Jake's idea, and the alarm clock had been mine.

"Bella, it's not possible to go too far this late in the game." Jacob insisted, glancing over at me with a look that said 'are you insane?' "We're gonna be gone for a week and then classes start up. We've got to get ahead before we go!"

I almost laughed at his persistence. If anything, I knew that Jacob and Billy were beyond competitive with each other, and being best friends with Jacob had passed on that aggressive competition to me and Charlie.

"Angela will kill us if we're late tomorrow," I reminded him, "so you'd better hope we don't get grounded in the morning."

"Charlie's a good sport," Jake sniffed. "Besides, I've pulled the honey thing on Dad before. He gave me the idea in the first place."

"If you say so."

Angela Weber is one of my friends that I hang out with during school hours. Jacob and his crew went to school on the Rez, making it difficult for us to spend much time together during the day. Last week, Angela sent me a text while I was in La Push asking if I wanted to go to her beach house with the rest of the group and, naturally, I could invite Jake and the Pack to tag along too.

With everyone going off to college in the fall, we all jumped at the opportunity.

Jake was already falling asleep again, maddeningly unconcerned. I shook my head and curled onto my side, settling in for the short hour we had left until morning.

I'd changed so much in the few years since I'd moved back to Forks. Despite a few hiccups in the road, I was happier. Freer, even. Jake and I were both going to the same college, and I finally felt like I knew who I was, who I would be. I had friends, I had a social life, I even had a little bit of confidence, and I could attribute almost all of that to my strong friendship with the lumbering oaf sleeping next to me.

I closed my eyes and let my mind relax, eventually falling asleep to the sound of Jacob's even breathing, and the soft heat I could feel radiating from his body even from the other bed.

I guess that's what you get when you have a werewolf as a best friend.

.

"Jacob! Bell-!"

I shot upright in my bed to a startled scream, followed by a number of loud thumps. Jacob rolled over at the same time I did, looking wildly around the empty living room.

"Charlie? What's- oh Lord!"

Billy's voice carried down the stairs followed by another thud from Charlie's room. I looked at Jake just as we both realised what was happening. He shoved my shoulder and we quickly jumped out of bed, rushing to the bottom of the stairs to catch the show.

As we reached the railing, a grumpy Charlie opened his bedroom door to a cascade of foam peanuts. Jake and I giggled quietly at first, trying not to give ourselves away, but when Charlie tried to burst though the newspaper barrier and was met with a duct tape secured saran wrap door we couldn't hold back anymore. Jake collapsed in hysterical laughter and I nearly followed with the force of my guffaws.

Billy emerged from his room a mere two seconds later, his wheelchair newly reassembled and honey still coating the wheels. We could see him slipping across the floor, but Jake bounded up the staircase and blocked him before he could even come close to falling. He shot us an approving grin as we waited for Charlie to gather himself. Once he had, he tore down the saran wrap (with some difficulty) and emerged with an unreadable expression on his sleep-deprived face.

Jake and I had sobered by this time, but the look on Charlie's face tipped us over the edge again. I met Jake at the top of the stairs with some paper towels for Billy, but that was as far as I got. The sheer defeat in Charlie's eyes had us sputtering in laughter for the second time. Even Billy began to chuckle.

"Alright, I'll admit it. You two did good," Billy grinned, wiping some honey from his face. The remnants of our sticky notes still clung to Billy's back, but it seems the warm water prank didn't work as well as Jake hoped. His pants were definitely bone dry.

"Good?" Charlie spat, rubbing the back of his head. His mustache was in disarray, with shaving cream smeared over his cheeks and nose. "They nearly gave me a heart attack this morning!"

"Oh, lighten up old man," Billy gave him a swift punch in the arm. "You'll wrinkle… more."

Charlie grumbled something that I don't think Jake or I were meant to hear, but he didn't argue. Instead, he dragged himself begrudgingly to the bathroom and it wasn't long before we all heard the shower going.

"You know it's a good prank when Chuck starts sulking like the geezer he is," Billy rumbled a laugh, shaking his head. "Come on you two, help me down these stairs and let's start on some breakfast."

We did just that, helping Billy clean off the rest of the honey and post-it notes as a sign of good will. By the time Charlie was finished cleaning himself up and getting rid of the remnants of our pranking masterpiece, we had an array of food on the kitchen counter.

"If you think I'm going to let this go because you made me bacon," Charlie announced, hopping down the last stair. I could already tell he was in a better mood. "You'd be right."

We hadn't just made bacon- we went all out. Eggs, toast, sliced fruit, hash browns, juice, the whole nine yards. The volume was mostly for Jake, who could eat his weight in carbs and protein, but the gesture didn't go unappreciated by Charlie all the same.

"When are you two leaving?" Billy asked around a mouthful of toast. "Before noon?"

"In about two hours," I nodded, checking the clock. It was just after 8:30 now; between the commotion, cleaning, and cooking, we really didn't have that much time left to get ready. I quickly swallowed the rest of my juice. "Speaking of which, I'm going to grab a shower and start packing."

I was up and away from the table before Jake could jump in and claim the bathroom before me. I wasn't entirely sure what he did in there, but if I had to wait for Jake to get ready before I did, we would never leave on time.

As it happened, we were still late. Jake packed his things the night before, even going so far as to pre-emptively stick some things in the truck, and I had a very clear list in my head of what I needed to bring, so I'm really not sure how we ended up barrelling into the kitchen at 10:43 with bags in hand when we were planning to be on the road by no later than 10:30.

"Wait!" Charlie barked, cutting us off at the front door. He placed his arm firmly across the frame, blocking our exit. "Go over the plan with me one more time."

I almost rolled my eyes, but I refrained. Charlie was a cop, after all. This was protocol.

"We're taking my truck," I recited, shifting my backpack into a better position on my shoulder. "Angela's parents have given their verbal permission for all of us to use their beach house for the week. We're responsible for food and drink, and keeping the place clean."

"Where are you going?"

"Greenville County."

"Who's going to be there?"

"My friends from school and the Pack."

"Will you have cell service the entire time?"

"Yes, Dad." Now I did roll my eyes. He knew all of this already, but after a certain fiasco last year that put me in the hospital, Charlie was constantly trying to catch me in a lie. I endured his questioning for the most part, but my patience only lasted so long.

"Any way we can prank you while you're there?" Billy cut in, grinning secretively. He knew that no amount of probing would make Charlie feel better, so he usually came to my rescue with a jab or a change of topic.

"Not a chance," I shot right back, relieved. "And now we're in the lead."

"Team BJ for the win!" Jake hollered suddenly, ducking under Charlie's outstretched arm and sprinting for the truck.

"Stop calling us that!" I groaned, jogging to keep up. Charlie didn't bother to stop me this time, shaking his head as I paused to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll text you when we get there."

"Good luck pulling in the victory from 3 towns away!" Jake was in full celebratory swing, hanging out the driver's side window and slamming on the horn. I sighed. "Let's go, Bells! We've got a beach to crash!"

"Bye Dad, Billy!" I laughed, chasing Jake into the driveway.

My truck wasn't much to look at, but it got me from point A to point B just fine. Underneath the thick layer of flaking rust, it was an almost cartoonish red. The engine sputtered whenever the RPMs rose above 3000, it ate through gas like a monster truck, and the brakes squeaked in the rain, but it was mine and I was proud of it.

Besides, Jake only had his motorcycle and that wasn't going to get us anywhere.

"I wish you'd let me fix this thing," Jake complained, slapping the dash with his palm. I yanked the passenger door open, ignoring the screeching protest of the hinges, and threw my bag into the space behind the seat. "Give it to me for 3 weeks and I'll have it looking like you just drove it off the lot."

"Not a chance," I snorted, hauling myself into the vehicle. Charlie made me put a kick-step on both sides, knowing how balance challenged I could be. "The last time I gave it to you, you replaced the radio with that thing."

I gestured vaguely to the sound system Jake installed, replacing the crackling cassette player that used to be there.

"That radio was ancient," Jake argued, putting the truck in gear and pulling us out onto the main road. "You couldn't even play CDs, and we're well into the era of Bluetooth. It was sad."

"I like cassettes," I pouted, "they're retro."

"I think you mean 'redundant'."

I stuck my tongue out at him, pulling my knees up to my chest and resting my shins on the dash. It was about 2 hours to Angela's beach house, so I was prepared to get comfy.

Forks, Washington was experiencing one of its rare sunny days. I used to hate the sun- living in Phoenix with Renee for years and still coming out of it looking like a sickly ghost had turned me from it. Forks was usually damp, dark, and chilly, which is exactly what I liked about it. That is, until I met Edward.

I visibly cringed, drawing a raised eyebrow from Jake. Edward had been dubbed my 'sophomore screw up' by the La Push boys. We had an intense, albeit brief, romance that ended when he dumped me and his family left the country. It was all a bit melodramatic, but hey, that's high school.

Edward and the rest of the Cullen family had a bizarre tendency to disappear during sunny days. They said it was because they were avid campers, but a few of us knew the truth. That was yet another benefit of having a werewolf for a best friend.

"Need me to open the windows yet?" Jake asked suddenly, hauling a pair of sunglasses from one of the many pockets in his cargo shorts. I shook my head, donning my own pair of sunglasses from my glove box. Jake's elevated body temperature was a godsend in the winter, but it made uncomfortably hot summers even more so.

I always knew there was something special about Jake, even before he turned. We'd known each other for years, but we fell out of touch when I moved to Phoenix. To my great relief, and (strangely) Charlie's, we hit it off again immediately when I moved back and have been nigh inseparable since. Unfortunately for Jake, and me, I also hit it off with our local vampire bachelor.

What are the chances of that?

So commenced the most dramatic school year of my life, followed by the most dramatic break up of my life, and ending with the most dramatic rejection of my life. My best friend was a werewolf, my ex was a vampire, and all Charlie could focus on were my upcoming exams. It was a bit of a headache.

After all of that, I welcomed the sun. It meant that I wouldn't be seeing Edward, and that always made for a good day. His family returned in the fall of last year, and he'd begged me to take him back. Unfortunately for him, I was perfectly happy on my own.

Needless to say, I needed this vacation.

"Are we picking up anyone on the way?" I asked Jake, cracking the window anyway. The truck wasn't quite at the boiling point yet, but I felt like getting ahead of things. Jake caught me, rolling his eyes but not saying anything about it.

He knew how hot he was.

"Embry is bringing the boys and Leah in Sam's van." Jake explained, slinging his arm out of his newly opened window. "Emily let him borrow it. I'd hate to be there when Sam finds out."

"They're not coming?"

"Nah," Jake laughed, "A beach house isn't exactly Sam's thing. They're just going to spend the week getting ready for the baby."

"They're probably thrilled," I teased, eying Jake over my sunglasses, "they get a full week free of you idiots."

"Careful, you're an honorary idiot too, don't forget."

I held up my middle finger, only to be met with boisterous laughter.

"Try to catch some sleep, Bells." Jake reached for the space-age stereo, changing the source to CD. After a pause, a slow CCR melody drifted from the speakers. "We're in for a long night if both of us are running on only 45 minutes of shut-eye."

As much as I wanted to argue, I knew he was right. The lull of long car rides always made me sleepy, and even if we'd gotten a normal night's sleep, I wouldn't be awake for long.

The music filled the cab of my truck, drowning out everything but the constant hum of tires on asphalt as I closed my eyes, letting my head fall back onto the seat and settling in for an hour-long nap.

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