Bella

I woke up and groggily rolled over. My room was full of dim grey light and smelled slightly of rain. I must have left the window open. I was still wearing my jeans and Caius's shirt, though my bra was flung across the room. I vaguely remembered taking it off in the middle of the night.

Wait...the middle of the night?

I looked over at the clock on my desk. It was 9:00AM. I must have crashed after school. My stomach gave a grumble. I was starving. I straitened my clothes and made my way downstairs.

"Dad?" I called.

No answer.

I made it to the kitchen only to find a note left on the table.

Bella

Harry and I have gone down to do some fishing. I'll probably be gone all day. I'm going down to Billy's later on so we'll meet up at the BBQ

Dad

I put the note back down on the table and started making myself some oatmeal and a cup of earl grey. Stared out of the window, enjoying the quiet morning and sipping my tea.

Wasn't there something that I was supposed to do?

I shook the feeling a and put my dishes in the sink, telling myself that I would do them later, and went up to shower.

The hot water felt good on my back. I loved my strawberry shampoo. It smelled so good. I got out of the shower, toweled off, and grabbed my moisturizer. It was unseasonably warm for the end of February, and I was grateful. The winter cold had been wreaking havoc on my skin and I was sick of it.

I dug through the remnants of my clean clothing.

I wish I had done laundry last night.

I pulled on a pair of thick black leggings, a long sleeve T-shirt, and a green and yellow cable knit sweater. It was close enough to an outfit I thought as I pulled long thick woolen socks up over my knees. Even though it was warming up, I was still going to be outside a lot today. Billy's house was cramped at the best of times and with how many people were coming, it would be a miracle if we could all fit inside.

My truck roared to life and I pulled out of the drive way and into the road. For once it wasn't raining. The ground was still slushy and slippy though, so the normally 20 minute drive took me almost 40. By the time I had gotten to Billy's the BBQ was up and booming. There were at least 20 people there, all crowded around the grill. I parked at the end of the driveway, hoping that no one would come along and block me in.

It was easy to find Jacob. All I had to do was follow the smell of engine oil and melting rubber. I made my way through the slushy dead grass and slip open the door to the ramshackle garage. Jacob and his friends had set up camp in the back of the building.

"Room for one more?" I asked.

They all jumped and Jacob whipped his head around to look at me.

"Jeez Bella, way to sneak up on a guy!" He laughed, "Come on in."

I grabbed one of the folding chairs and dragged it down to where the guys were sitting. There were only two faces I recognized apart from Jacob.

"Bella, you know Quill and Embry already," He said, "This is Paul and Jared," He pointed around the circle as he spoke.

"Hi," I said a little shyly.

"Bella knew each other as kids," Jacob said to the others, "She's just not cool enough to live on a beach like we do."

I smacked him on the arm, resulting in a resulting 'oooooooooooohhh!' from the peanut gallery.

"You're just jealous I got to go live in Arizona," I retorted, "What are you doing in here anyways?"

Jacob reached under the car he had been working on and pulled out a roller tray full of beer.

"No way," I said, "You are going to get in so much shit if someone comes in here. You know the cops are even here," I added jokingly.

"Jacob laughed, "So does that mean that you want one?"

"Yeah, sure I'll have one."

"Just one huh? You bad girl you," He laughed and passed me one.

I took a sip from my beer. It was still slightly cool and was frothy and bitter as it went down; I loved it.

"Where did you even get these?"

"Jared got 'em," Jake started.

"I nicked them from my dad," Jared said,"He's never home, so I bet he won't even notice they're gone. Besides, my mom drinks enough for both of them, so he'll probably just think it was her anyhow."

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Don't worry about it," Jared said, "It happens."

"Did you guys grab any food for in here?" I asked.

"On the tool chest," Quinn replied, pointing behind me.

Here were quite a few burgers, half of a pizza, and liter of Coke. I grabbed one of the burgers and sat back down, taking a big bite out of it.

"So Bella," Quinn started, "I hear there's a dance coming up soon."

"Oh god, not you too," I said.

"What?" he said,"I was just hoping that you'd set me up with one of your friends."

"Oh good," I said relieved, "This guy at school has been just driving me crazy about it. He won't leave me alone. He keeps saying that we're even going to junior prom together."

"Guess the guy just can't take a hint," said Quinn.

"Who could blame him though," I heard Paul mutter to Jared.

"It all started when we got in accident last year and he almost hit me with his car. Ever since then he won't leave me alone. I guess he's just too self-involved to realize that he's not actually all that attractive."

There was a round of laughter.

"Well don't worry too much Bella," Jacob said, "I think I would be willing to bite the bullet and take you to that dance."

"Yeah, you, Jacob, me and your hot friend," Quill piped in.

"And your other hot friend," added Jared.

I looked over at Paul.

"I don't to dances or drama, especially not high school drama." he said

"Sounds perfect," I said, "You three can go together and go beat up Tyler, and I can hang out here with Paul, not dancing"

Jacob, Quill and Jared all began to loudly and comically protest, while Paul seemed to now looking a lot more optimistic about the whole situation.

I finished my beer, and then another one along with two more pieces of pizza. We had been hanging out for a few hours. People had started to head back to their homes, and Charlie popped his head into the garage, to say that he would meet me back at home. We had all been holding out breath until the sound of his car driving away had carried through the garage.

"I think we're in the clear," said Embry, much to everyone's relief.

"I should probably head out pretty soon too actually," I said. I was starting to get cold.

I pulled out my cigarettes and passed the package around the circle. Only Embry took one. I swung open the door to the garage and leaned against the frame. I lit my cigarette and took a long drag before passing the lighter to Embry. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I had 3 messages.

Feb 27th 7:08 PM - Hello dear Isabella. How was school today?

Feb 28th 10:45 AM - Good morning Isabelle. Last night was so dull. I missed speaking to you.

Feb 28th 1:04 PM - Isabelle, I'm sorry if I scared you before. Please let me know that you are safe. I am worried.

I looked at the time. It was after 3:00.

Damn it.

I gave a quick response.

Feb 28 3:07 PM- Hi, I'm okay. I'm at La Push right now with some friends, We'll talk later.

I finished my smoke and turned back towards the rest of the group.

"I should probably head out guys, but thanks for inviting me," I said with a smile.

"Sure sure," said Jacob.

"Hey we were thinking of going cliff diving next weekend," said Embry, "Would you...maybe want to join us?"

"Sure. I don't know If I'll jump, but I'll come with you. Just call me when you have a time and I'll be there."

I went out to the truck and revved the engine to life. I pulled out of the driveway, my truck thundering.