Summer passes by rather quickly and uneventfully, and too soon it's the last day of freedom before school starts. I spent most my summer working at Embry's moms shop, and the rest of the time was spent divided between Seth and going to a few parties on the Rez. Jacob spent most of his time working on the Rabbit and hanging out with his bumbling band of idiots, rather than getting a job to make some money.
"You can go, sweetie. Enjoy your last day of summer vacation." Tiffany Call comes around the corner, broom in her hand.
"You sure, Tiff? I don't mind staying." I assure her, wiping the sweat from my brow with the sleeve of my thin sweater.
"Hon, you're sweating so much with that sweatshirt on I fear you may end up in the hospital with heatstroke. It's a nice day, change and go down to the beach," Tiffany smiles. "My own son isn't even working today, and I feel bad keeping you here."
"Thanks," I grin at her, and hurriedly put away the stock I was shelving. With one last goodbye, I rush out the door and head straight for First Beach, where I know Seth is with Brady, Collin, and Nikkita.
Once I'm there, I see the beach has quite a few Rez kids hanging out, including Sam and his cult. Scanning my eyes over everyone, I see Seth standing knee deep in the water while Brady and Collin try to take each other down with the waves. Nikkita is sitting on a towel, lost in her own world while drawing.
I sit next to her, startling her out of her world.
"Geez Rayna, you scared me half to death," She gasps out, holding a hand to her chest. "I thought you worked today."
"I did, but Tiffany gave me the rest of the day off. Said if her own sons wasn't working, then there was no reason for me to." I lay back on the towel, resting on my elbows as I watch Brady and Collin act like idiots.
"Nice," Nikkita exclaims, and then leaps to her feet. "Let's go in the water."
"As long as I get to push Seth down, I'm in." I grin at her, and push off the ground. I'm normally not this happy, but I think it being the last day of summer vacation, and being let off of work early has me excited.
Nikkita immediately rushes into the water, leaping onto Brady's back once she's close enough. They had started dating sometime in July, but thankfully weren't the inseparable, lovey dovey all the time type of people. Collin lunges for Brady's legs, and together he and Nikkita take him down.
Seth smiles widely when he sees me, and gives me a hug. Thankfully, it's cold enough in the water that nobody questions why I have on a long sleeve while swimming.
"I thought you had work today?" Seth asks, repeating Nikkita's earlier words.
"Embry played hooky today, so Tiffany decided to let me go early. I'm not complaining." I reply, and pull out of the hug while successfully pushing him down into the water.
Of course, since he's Seth, he then grabs my arm, sending me tumbling down with him. I splash into the water, and come up spluttering. Seth laughs, and I dunk his head under the water. When he comes back up, he tosses me over his shoulder and flings me into the water.
"Fucking hell, Seth," I laugh, wiping the salt water from my eyes. "Why are you like this?"
"'Cause you're my best friend," Seth replies with a wide grin, and I splash water over him.
We go back and forth for awhile, until our lips are blue and we're rubbing our arms while our teeth chatter. Thankfully, Seth had brought an extra blanket, giving me one to wrap up in.
On the towel Nikkita had spread out, Seth and I sit side by side, watching Brady, Collin, and Nikkita as they make their way out of the water as well.
I lay my head on Seth's shoulder, moving closer to him in an attempt to get warmer.
"If you wanna cuddle, Rey, you just have to ask," Seth looks down and winks at me, and I smack his arm.
"You're such a dork," I shake my head with a smile on my face.
We gather up everything that had been brought to the beach, and head back home. If weren't for school tomorrow, we would have stayed longer, but each of us are procrastinators and still have a lot left to do for the first day.
"Meet you tomorrow morning?" Seth asks, giving me his boyish grin.
"Of course, nerd." I stick my tongue out at him. We part ways, him heading into his house and me continuing to mine.
-o-
I normally don't take very long to get ready in the morning, but seeing as it's my first day of tenth grade, I feel like I need to make a good impression. On whom, I'm not sure, but regardless I find myself changing my outfit several times.
I decide I may as well take advantage of the warm weather, and wear a short red dress, with a light black sweater to go with it. I put on the moon necklace Seth gave me for Christmas last year, and leave my hair down in its natural curly state.
Jacob, of course, is hogging the bathroom, so I walk to the kitchen in defeat and make myself breakfast while I wait for his highness to be done getting ready.
I keep it simple, a bowl of Frosted Flakes, making sure to use the last of the milk so Jacob has none. It takes me drinking a separate glass of it, but in my heart, I know it's worth it. The minute I place my dishes in the sink, I hear the bathroom door open, and I race for it before Jacob can go back in.
Quickly as I can, I brush my teeth twice, then apply my makeup. One quick glance in the mirror and then I'm hurrying towards the door, tugging on my black ankle boots and taking my backpack out of the closet.
"What happened to all the milk?" Jacob shouts from the kitchen.
"I drank it," I shout back. "Next time do your hair in your room."
I walk out and shut the door on Jacob's whining, and head to Seth's house. When I get there, I knock on the door, and almost immediately Sue Clearwater whips the door open.
"Rayna!" Sue beams, and brings me in for a hug. "You look so pretty."
"Is Rayna here?" From inside the house, I hear Harry Clearwater, and he suddenly appears at the door, a grin on his lined face.
"Hey, Harry!" I greet him brightly, and give him a big hug. The Clearwaters are like my second family, and in all honesty Harry has been more of a dad than my own.
I hear someone bounding down the steps, and see Seth walking towards us wearing a grey shirt, red flannel, and dark jeans. He breaks into a grin when he sees me, and holds up a finger to indicate he'll be right back.
"I made pancakes!" Sue calls after him as he disappears into the kitchen. "Rayna, have you ate?"
"I fixed myself a nice bowl of cereal." I assure her.
Sue tsks, and I follow her into the kitchen. Seth is wolfing down his pancakes, while Leah is nowhere to be found.
"Hurry up, Seth, I want to get a picture of you two." Sue pats Seth on the shoulder, walking to the fridge to pour a glass of white grape juice. She hands it to me with a grin, since she knows it's a favorite of mine. She says it's not true, but I'm pretty sure the only reason she has it is for me.
Once Seth is done, Sue ushers us outside to stand in front of the house. We take a picture first with Harry, and then with her, and then finally with only Seth and I.
Seth takes me by surprise and kisses my cheek while his mom takes the photo, causing Sue to scold him and demand we take another one. We comply, and Seth wraps his arm even tighter around me.
"Okay, mom, we gotta get going or we'll be late for school," Seth reminds her, and with a final hug from Sue, we're on our way.
Seth holds my hand as we walk to school, babbling on about our schedules and teachers. I can't help but feel like this time, when he holds my hand, it has a different meaning behind it.
We reach school just before the bell rings, and barely make it to our homeroom on time. It's mixed grades for homeroom, which means Embry is in our class, even though he's a grade older, and so is Paul, whose two grades above us.
Of course, there's only two seats left open, one next to Paul and one next to Collin. Collin is closest to us, and Seth quickly slides into the seat next to him, leaving me to walk to the back of the room next to Paul.
Seth salutes me as I walk over to him, and I flip him off once the teacher turns around. Paul glares at Seth with calculating eyes, and ignores me as I sit down.
For the entire twenty minutes of homeroom, I feel Paul staring at me. It wouldn't have been so bad if he would have said something, but he was silent. I could feel heat radiating off him so strongly I moved as far away as possible, afraid that he came to school sick and highly contagious.
When the bell rings, I hurry out of my seat and out the door, a laughing Seth following after me.
"That looked fun," Seth snickers, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.
"Shut it," I gently push him, and we continue off to our classes.
I end up having my second hour with Brady and Seth, third hour with Brady and Nikkita, and my last hour, Tribal Studies, with Seth, Nikkita, Paul, and Quil.
By the time school, is over, I'm glad to be done with the first day, and even happier that it was a Wednesday, meaning there was only two days left of the week. They pass by rather quickly, and before I know it it's Saturday.
Since it's Saturday, that means Seth and I hang out. This time, we hang out in the garage with Jacob, Embry, and Quil, mainly because we know they buy pizza when they hang out and we can easily snag a few slices.
I sit on the floor away from the boys working on the Rabbit, careful to stay out of their way. Seth sits halfway between me and the Rabbit, commenting on the work on occasion and slowly getting drawn into their conversation.
Hanging out in the garage with the three musketeers would have gotten on my nerves in the past, but I found that the more I hung out here the more I learned about cars. Which was great, because before this summer I knew next to nothing about them. Now, if I broke down in the middle of nowhere, I might be able to save myself.
"Rayna, hand me the socket wrench," Jacob holds his hand out to me, bringing me out of my thoughts.
"Right," I mutter, and fumble through his tools until I find what I think is the right tool. "Here you go."
Jacob takes it in his hand without looking, and then gives me a blank stare. "This is a pipe wrench, Rey."
I blink. "Well, I tried."
For some reason, Quil and Embry find our exchange hilarious, and bust out in laughter. Eventually, Jacob joins in, but Seth, ever so faithful, does not.
"Honestly, I don't see how it's so funny," Seth mumbles to me under his breath.
I nod in agreement, and look around until I find a box of bolts collecting dust. I begin tossing them at the boys, grinning in satisfaction as they flinch when it hits them.
"Cut it out, Rayna!" Embry shouts, and then ducks as I chuck a bolt at his head.
"I'll stop if you guys agree to buy Seth and I our own pizza!" I bargain, clutching the box to my chest.
"Don't give in!" Jacob begs, wincing when a bolt hits him in the neck. "Augh!"
After a few more handfuls, they agree to my request. Which is good, since I'm almost out of bolts.
Seth and I high five, and continue watching the boys work on the Rabbit. Embry occasionally tosses a bolt at me, but since I'm mature I simply pick it up and put it in the box.
-o-
The next week of school passes uneventfully, and I start to slip into a familiar routine. Walk to school with Seth, get stared at by Paul during homeroom, go to classes, sit with Brady, Collin, Nikkita, Seth, Quil, Embry, and Jacob during lunch, end up flicking most of my food at my friends while they do the same, finish classes, endure Paul staring at me through Tribal Studies, walk home with Seth, manage to piss off Billy somehow, shower, sleep, repeat. On Friday, however, my routine ends up getting disturbed when we receive a call from Charlie.
The phone rings, and Billy answers it. I am sitting on the living room floor working on English homework, while Jacob watches TV. He eats almonds while he does this, and occasionally flings one at me since he's an annoying piece of work.
"We'll be right up, Charlie, I'll round up some of the tribe to help look." Billy's voice cuts into my thoughts, and I look at him questioningly as he urgently rolls into the living room.
"Bella's gone missing," Billy says flatly. "Call around and get some people to go into Forks and help look for her. She should be somewhere in the woods."
Billy doesn't waste any time, he makes one phone call and then tells us to call the rest from our cell phones. We get in the truck, and Jacob drives, leaving me to text around while Billy calls Harry and Old Quil from Jacob's cell.
By the time we reach Charlie's, it's pitch black out, but there's so many people swarming the Swan residence with flashlights it's lit up fairly nicely. I recognize a few people from that day at First Beach, but that's about it.
Charlie is bent over a map spread across the hood of his squad car, pointing at different areas for people to search. Billy makes his way over to Charlie quick as possible, and Jacob hurries after him. I walk at a normal pace, because it's Forks, and I doubt Bella was too far.
All around us is the sound of people calling out Bella's name, the crackle of police communicating through walkie talkies, and throughout the woods you could see the faint dim of flashlights as the search parties looked for her. I figured it was more important for us to stay by Charlie for emotional support, and Jacob looked like he thought that as well; although I could tell he wanted to be searching for her.
The Clearwaters, sans Leah, showed up, and they headed straight for Charlie; like us, they knew Charlie needed the emotional support of his friends. Seth stayed next to me, and wrapped his hand in mine.
When Old Quil showed, along with Quil, they too came over to us. Charlie was shouting orders at people, and I see the three Elders share a look.
"She'll be okay," Seth murmurs to me, and I give a small snort.
"I'm really not that worried about her," I say quietly, so only Seth can hear.
"The Cullens' house is empty, and Carlisle quit yesterday. There's no sign of them." One of the police officers say, and I watch as again the Elders share a look, this time, it's a grim look.
Two hours pass, and I can tell Charlie is losing his mind. I feel terrible for him, and hope that Bella is found soon, and that the Cullens haven't hurt her.
I stare into the forest, as though I would be able to find her by simply doing that. If only it were that simple, Charlie wouldn't be near having a stroke. If I were good with words, I would say something comforting to Charlie. I wish I knew what to say to make him feel better.
A man walks through the woods, and I see he's carrying what looks to be a lifeless sack in his arms. It takes me a moment, but I realize he has Bella, and he is Sam Uley.
I open my mouth to say something, to tell Charlie, but Sam beats me to it.
"I've got her!" Sam shouts in his booming voice, carrying over the babble of voices that surrounded the house.
The babble ceases, and then picks back up with intensity. I saw people crowding Sam as he tried making his way over to Charlie. As he moves closer, I can hear her talking.
It's the same words over again, "He's gone." and she says it in such a heartbreaking tone that I feel terrible for her.
"No, I don't think she's hurt," Sam tells a kid I recognize as Mike Newton. "She just keeps saying 'He's gone.'"
"Bella, honey, are you alright?" Charlie shoves his way over to Sam, worry etched in his face.
"Charlie?" I hear her speak in a broken, small tone. She sounds nothing like the Bella I knew before.
"I'm right here, baby." Charlie assures her, and then takes her from Sam's arms. He staggers under her weight, and Sam holds out his arms protectively.
"Maybe I should hold onto her," Sam suggests.
"I've got her," Charlie replies breathlessly.
Charlie walked slowly towards his house, and I can tell that he's struggling. But he pushes forward, and Sam holds the door open for them. Jacob and I look to Billy, and then the three of us hurry into the house after them.
Inside, Charlie is lying Bella on the couch in the living room, and I hear Sam ask where the blankets are.
"Blankets are in the cupboard on top of the stairs." Charlie replies gruffly.
Dr. Gerandy, from Forks hospital, stands over Bella. "Are you hurt, Bella?"
Bella is silent for a full minute, as though she's thinking over her answer. "I'm not hurt." She says, and once again I am reminded that she's a terrible liar.
I notice that not only is Sam standing in the Swan's living room, but so is Jared and Paul. Around us are more of the Forks kids, including Mike Newton, the pushy blond who gave me his phone number.
"What happened to you?" Dr. Gerandy asks casually, and Bella freezes. "Did you get lost in the woods?"
"Yes," I just barely hear Bella's answer. "I got lost."
"Do you feel tired?" Dr. Gerandy asks, probing his fingers against Bella's jaw.
Bella nods, and closes her eyes.
Dr. Gerandy moves away then, and assures Charlie that she's okay. They move away from Bella, ending up closer to us.
"Is it true?" Charlie asks. "Did they leave?"
"Dr. Cullen asked us not to say anything," Dr. Gerandy answers. "The offer was very sudden; they had to choose immediately. Carlisle didn't want to make a big production out of leaving."
"A little warning might have been nice." Charlie grumbles, and I can hear the anger laced in his tone.
Dr, Gerandy sounds uncomfortable when he replies. "Yes, well, in this situation, some warning might have been called for."
Charlie walks past him, and heads outside, where he thanks everyone for their help. People start to leave, and Jacob, Billy and I walk outside with Sam and the others following us.
"Thank you." Charlie says sincerely to Sam, grasping his hand. "I truly can't thank you enough."
"It was no problem, Chief Swan. Just glad she's home." Sam replies, shaking his hand.
Charlie then turns to his friends, and thanks them as well. I look for Seth, and start to walk over to him, but someone grabs my arm with a fiery palm.
I turn to see Paul is the one who grabbed me, and look at him expectantly. He looks like he wants to do something, or say something, but instead stares at me intently, which I've had enough of.
"Dude, I'm literally this close to getting a restraining order put on you. Back off." I yank my arm out of his grasp, and walk over to Seth to wait for my dad.
A few more minutes later, Billy wheels over to us and we leave. I'm exhausted from the whole thing, and can't wait to get to bed.
Ever since Bella Swan moved here, there hasn't been many dull moments in this area.
ahhh i'm so happy to have started new moon. You guys really have no idea. Also, all the reviews i've gotten from you guys made me so happy and motivated that i have the next two chapters written already, haha. Thank you so so so much to everyone that supports this story. Next chapter so far is my favorite chapter, so that'll probably be up fairly soon. I hope you guys liked this one, and don't be afraid to leave any suggestions or criticism! I love when you guys give me suggestions, because this story is really for you guys.
Inyushademons14- i'm glad you liked it! i absolutely despise how bella treats everyone in the book, so i have a few different routes i can take with her. i could make her a better character, or keep her the same bella. I'll see where it takes me. As for rey phasing, i think i know what will happen with her. I havent worked out everything with what i have planned, but i've decided if she will or won't. I absolutely love your reviews, they make me so happy. Seriously, thank you so much for reviewing. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!
Mckoolio- thank you! That means a lot, since sometimes i feel as though i don't end up making the characters as three dimensional as they need to be. The suggestion you gave me definitely got me inspired, so thank you so so so much for that! If you have any other suggestions, don't hesitate to let me know. I really hope you keep reading and reviewing, you give me serious inspiration to keep going with this. I hope you like this.
RumtreiberinQueen- thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it, and i hope you also like this chapter!
FlowerChild23- the suspense only gets worse from here, i'm afraid. Thank you for reviewing again!
FreeSpiritSeeker- i can too, so i get what you're feeling. I actually thought of that, but paul definitely wouldn't be into sharing his girl, you know? New moon is definitely going to get things started and i'm so so excited for it all.
Guest- thank you!
-TheFlyingGraysons