Chapter Five

The tension is here
Tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be
I dare you to move

Dare you to move – Switchfoot

-0-

The following weekend after my acceptance onto the volleyball team and my nightmare flew by quickly. The truth was so much had happened in such a short space of time, it was hard to believe sometimes it had only been a week. Bella and Edward had become some sort of couple, seemingly out of the blue and the in-tenseness of the relationship was off putting. In fact it was downright scary, they'd skipped the usual stages of dating and jumped straight into spending all their time together and I'd even heard Bella use the word 'love'.

I didn't like it. I didn't like any of it. Ever since that night, that dream I'd been restless, plagued with this uneasy feeling I couldn't shake. I hated the hold Edward seemed to have over Bella, how she seemed so infatuated with him but she wouldn't listen to any of my concerns. In fact when I'd broached the topic of Edward with her and suggested that maybe she should consider taking a step back, I'd been shut down and we hadn't spoken since.

"Bella, can we talk?"

"Can we make it quick, Edwards coming to pick me up for a drive?" Bella said, her voice taking on that breathless tone it did when she spoke of him. Frowning at her back I shook my head, feeling a flare of annoyance rise up inside me.

"Bella I tried to talk to you this morning and you told me to come back after school and now…what, now you're too busy again?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest, fighting down the childish urge to stomp my foot when she didn't turn to look at me.

"I know but Edward…"

"Can you not just cancel with him tonight so we can talk? I can't remember the last time we actually just sat down together and spent time just talking." I said, Bella looked at me and frowned, shaking her head and looking exasperated. I knew she couldn't deny it, for the last two weeks we'd been distant with her so focused on anything Edward related. Last week she was obsessed with finding out who he was and now she was spending every free second she had being with him, or being locked in her room.

"We'll talk when I get back Grace, I have to go…" she said, going to move past me.

"What the hell is this hold he has over you?" I asked, unable to bite my tongue. I was frustrated and all I wanted was Bella back, I didn't like who she was becoming.

"Don't…don't Grace just leave it! I need to go to him now." She said brushing past me a little more roughly than I was used to. Closing my eyes I inhaled sharply, jumping when the door slammed shut, before I turned and headed back to my own room.

We hadn't spoken like she'd promised, in fact since Wednesday night we'd said barely two words to each other and I knew Dad was picking up on the tension. To his credit though he didn't push the subject, he was good enough to let us go through whatever this was on our own, without interfering. The house was much quieter with Bella being with Edward most evenings and me either studying or practicing volleyball.

I was at the stage now where I felt like I was slowly losing the closeness Bella and I used to share. There'd been a time we told each other everything, we weren't just sisters, or twins we had been friends. Now I looked at Bella and I hardly recognized her. Part of me wondered if maybe I was overreacting about this whole thing, that maybe I was just jealous that Bella now had this guy to be interested in. The other part, the much larger part of me knew that couldn't have been further from the truth though. I wasn't jealous of Edward; if I was anything I was scared. Maybe it was an irrational fear but it was still there and it wasn't something I could so easily shake off. I had a good sense of people and something about Edward that had triggered all of my warning bells.

I was taking a step back though. Bella didn't want my input on her, well, whatever the hell they were and I wasn't going to stand around waiting for her to acknowledge me again. Instead I was focusing on my own life and everything I now had going on. I had volleyball, a tonne of extra-credit work for school, I'd applied to work part time at the diner, I had my amazing friends in school and I was spending my evenings reconnecting with Dad. Finally there was Jacob, with whom I was having a blast. Hanging out with him and the guys kind of took my mind off the pain that was my sister right now.

Whilst Bella was off at a baseball game, Jacob and I had headed to the beach. Whilst there we'd met up with Quil and Embry whom I didn't know very well yet but still got along with great. In fact it was hard not to feel immediately at ease and comfortable around them all. Though I will point out there was one downside to hanging out with them and it was their insane desire to indulge in cliff-diving. I'll be the first to admit it looked fun and everything but as of right now I was putting my foot down and refusing to jump.

"Okay I changed my mind…this is crazy, you guys are crazy and I'm going back down there to wait for you all to either come to your senses or drown." I exclaimed taking a step back away from the cliff edge. We weren't that high up, in fact we were a lot lower than I had expected but it was still high enough for me to chicken out, in a way I'd never done before. Stood behind me Jacob and his friends laughed, earning a glare from me.

"Oh come on Swan this is nothing." Embry chuckled, nudging Quil before the pair of them squared up to the cliff edge. My eyes darted from them, to the water below, to the darkening clouds and then to Jacob, shooting him a look to try and get him to say something.

"Relax Grace; this isn't the first time we've done this. I told you its perfectly safe." Jacob said, coming to stand beside me. I narrowed my eyes up at him briefly before scoffing, crossing my arms over my chest and turning back to face the boys. I opened my mouth to say something else when they began to go over the edge, Embry making a big show of dramatically falling. Feeling my heart leap into my chest I gasped and hurried forward to look at them go over.

A hand grabbed hold of mine before I could topple myself over the edge and I clung tightly to it. My eyes watched the two boys falling before they crashed into the water below. Holding my breath I waited and it wasn't long before they both burst free of the surface, laughing and high fiving each other. Letting out a breath I turned back to Jacob and playfully punched his arm, when I realized he was laughing and watching me.

"Quit laughing you jerk." I scowled, narrowing my eyes playfully at him. Jacob scoffed and shoved my shoulder before stepping up to the cliff edge. Watching him my eyes widened and grabbed his hand again. "Jake…"

"Come on Grace…" Jacob said, sighing as he looked at me. He smiled reassuringly, "Me and the guys do it all the time, I promise it's safe…you'll love it…" he told me and I chewed down on my lip, eyeing the cliff edge skeptically. "Come on…I thought you were some kind of adrenaline junkie…" he teased and I rolled my eyes laughing lightly as he held out his hand to me again. "Come on…trust me…you'll love it."

There it was. The 'trust me' thing and I knew that I could. I knew Jacob wouldn't be pulling me into anything really dangerous. I was a good swimmer, the guys had just done it and they were okay, so maybe I was making a mountain over nothing. Blowing out a breath and shaking my head I reached for Jacob's hand, our fingers linking together naturally as I moved to stand beside him.

"Okay, let's do this before I chicken out again." I said and Jacob laughed, tugging me just that little bit closer to the edge.

"Ready?" he asked, waiting for a nod before he squeezed my hand. "Okay, well one…two…three…" and with that we were flying.

My feet left solid ground and suddenly I was jumping away from safety and into the air. I felt my heart leap into my chest as my body began to fall through the air. In the distance I could hear whoops and hollers but above all that was the wind rushing past my ears. The noise was incredible and as we drew closer to the water it only intensified. I had the good sense to breathe in deeply and hold my breath as we hit the water and sunk below the surface.

The first thing that hit me was how cold it was. The pressure pushing in on me from all sides didn't bother me, but how cold it was only spurred me on into kicking back to the top. Mine and Jacob's hands were still linked tightly as we both kicked upwards and as we burst through the surface and sucked in a deep breath we both laughed loudly. My heart was racing in my chest, the adrenaline rush felt incredible, even from jumping so low down.

"Go Swan!"

"Whoo!" I cheered back to Embry, laughing lightly as I continued to try and stay above the water line. Jacob laughed, saying something to Quil about how he was owed 10 dollars. Barely suppressing a chill I began to follow the guys back to the beach, pausing only to take note of the changing weather. Hearing another incredible crack of thunder I shook myself to attention and carried on swimming back to the beach with my heart still racing inside my chest.

Pushing on when I could finally touch the ground with my feet, I straightened up and ran the rest of the way out of the water. Jacob was already holding out a towel for me to run into and after wrapping it around me I allowed him to envelope me in his arms, him bring his own towel around me slightly too. Shivering I let my head rest against his shoulder and smiled, slightly proud of myself as my eyes took in the cliff we'd just jumped from.

"Hand it over." Jacob said and curious, I looked up to see Quil grabbing his jacket that we'd left on the beach and pulling out 10 dollars, handing it over to Jacob. Frowning I looked between them before rolling my eyes in amusement and lightly hitting Jacob against the chest as we parted. Jacob had the nerve to look affronted at my attack, "Hey, I bet in support, Quil's the one who said you'd never do it." He said, chuckling when my only response was to stick out my tongue.

"You did good Swan, maybe next time you can jump from higher." Embry said, bringing my focus onto him at the suggestion. Looking from him, to the cliff and then back again I laughed and shook my head.

"Listen I love taking risks as much as the next person but ain't no way I'm jumping from the top. I like being alive." I told him firmly, making all of them laugh. As the chatter broke out between the boys, I let the towel from around my shoulders fall away and began trying to towel dry my hair, suppressing a shiver.

"Great, look who's here."

The way in which Quil spoke sparked my interest and I straightened up to see all three of them looking past me at something, the relaxed atmosphere gone. Frowning I turned around to see who or what they were looking at and saw two incredibly built guys only a short distance away from us. Both guys were stood over 6 feet, with perfectly crafted bodies. If the atmosphere wasn't so tense, I may even take a moment to appreciate what I was seeing but instead I refocused my attention on the guys.

"Weirdo's." Embry muttered, all but glaring at the strangers before shaking his head and turning around. Quil took a step back, looking uneasy but tapping Jacob on the shoulder anyway.

"Come on man, suddenly not feelin' the beach." He said, turning to follow Embry. Confusion flooded my entire expression and I opened my mouth to voice it but instead my attention was drawn back onto Jacob, who hadn't moved yet. Taking in his expression I felt worry and was suddenly very wary of the strangers, so much so I took a step next to Jacob, his eyes fixed on the strangers. His whole posture was tensed, his hands curled into tight fists as I reached out to him.

My much smaller hand wrapped around his, my other wrapping around his arm. "Jacob, come on lets go." I said gently, my fingers managing to un-clench his hand. I felt the relief flood through me when his fingers threaded with mine and he finally looked back down at me. Offering a small smile, I didn't resist as he finally turned his back on the strangers and threw his arm over my shoulder, drawing me into his side. I went willingly; glad when we finally began following the other two but I still couldn't help the bubble of curiosity I felt. "What was that all about? Who were they?" I asked as we caught up to the guys, all of us heading towards the cars.

"Sam Uley and Jared Cameron, first class assholes." Embry muttered and I looked at him in mild shock at hearing such language. I barely suppressed a shiver causing Jacob to tighten his hold on me and I was thankful for that. We were both struggling in the wet clothes but having him close helped some.

"They're strange…actually used to be okay but I dunno…" Jacob trailed off and shrugged his shoulders as we walked. He was troubled, I could tell just by the expression on his face so I didn't push, not when the guys had the same look on their faces. As thunder cracked overhead again I found myself curled tighter into Jacob's side unable to ignore that coil of dread in my stomach, the one that had been building for the last week getting worse and I couldn't figure out if it was because of what had just happened or something else. All I knew was something was coming.

-0-

"Go away Edward!"

Stopping what I was doing I glanced towards my bedroom door in time to hear the front door slam shut. I dropped the towel I'd been using to towel dry my hair after my shower and hurried towards the door, opening it just in time to see Bella rushing up the stairs.

"I just gotta get out of here, now!" she exclaimed, rushing up the stairs and straight into the bathroom, grabbing her bag and shoving a few things into it. Stepping out into the hall I watched Dad follow her, looking how I felt, confused at how Bella was acting.

"What happened? Did he break up with you?" Dad asked her and I felt my confusion grow. Bella was frantic, not slowing down or stopping long enough to talk to Dad. Bella pushed past him,

"No, I broke up with him." She told him, trying to get into her room. I stepped forward, finally finding my voice at this piece of news.

"You broke up with him?" I asked, watching her surprise at my sudden appearance. Instead of answering me though she rushed into her room and slammed the door closed behind her. I felt my mouth open and close as I stared at the door for a few moments, before turning to Dad, the pair of us completely bewildered by what was happening. "What did she mean she's got to get out of here?" I asked after a few moments passed by, suddenly remembering what I'd heard her saying.

"I mean I don't want this, I don't want to be here, and I need to get away." Bella said as she came rushing out of her room, shoving a pair of jeans into the already overstuffed bag. When she ran down the stairs I wasted no time running after her, Dad right behind me. "I need to go home."

"This is home Bella. Mom's not even in Phoenix you know that!" I said, rushing after her as she went into the kitchen. Unable to fully recognize my sister in this moment, this wasn't Bella, she didn't act like this, ever, and it was so out of character.

"I'll call her from the road; tell her what I'm doing. She'll come home" Bella said, and I shook my head turning around to Dad, who looked completely lost. He did though step forward and try and get in front of Bella, forcing her to stop and look at him.

"At least wait until morning, if you still want to go I'll drive you to the airport myself." He said, but Bella shook her head again.

"I want to drive. Clear my head and if I get tired I'll pull into a motel." She assured him and I scoffed, looking at the twin I barely seemed to know at the moment.

"Bella just stop, you're being ridiculous, okay. We promised we'd do this together, you and me. We're getting the chance to reconnect with Dad. We'll start doing more stuff together, as a family it'll be fun…"

"Like what?" she spat back at me, "Watching baseball on the flat screen? Dinner at the diner every other night? Or I know maybe we could do one of the other million things this town has to offer…" she said sarcastically and I retracted my hand away from her. Bella shook her head and pushed past me, going for the front door with Dad hot on her tail.

"Bella come on, please. I just got you girls back. Stay for another week, by then your Mother will be home" he told her and I watched as Bella paused at the front door. I observed her carefully, the way she'd spoken to me; practically spat on the idea of being a family had hurt me. Once again she was acting like a complete idiot over Edward. How could she justify running away from her family just because she ended things with her boy-friend. I tuned back into the conversation just in time to hear what she said before rushing out the front door and towards her truck.

"Yeah and you know if I don't get out of here now I'm going to be stuck here just like Mom was."

Her words had acted like a slap in the face for my Dad who I watched recoil back from the vicious tongue of my sister. He was hurt and rightly so, that had been a horribly low blow. I was in shock that it had been Bella of all people to say something so cruel, so hurtful. That wasn't who she was; she wasn't the kind of person to lash out like that regardless of what she was going through. Even though we had been distant lately I still knew that to be true about her.

"Dad?" I spoke softly, but he just shook his head closing the door with a quiet click. He turned to face me and opened his mouth as if to say something but immediately closed it. He looked incredibly hurt and I wanted nothing more than to give him a hug but as it turned out, Dad needed to just process what had happened on his own. He walked over to me and pressed a kiss to my forehead, his hand lightly brushing against my head before he turned and took to the stairs. I watched him go until I heard his bedroom door close and it was only when I was alone that I was able to shake myself out of the shock I felt.

Turning around I pulled my mobile phone out of my pajama pocket and quickly dialed Bella's number. Heading into the kitchen, I peered out the window as the phone rang out, cutting off midway through and going straight to voice mail. Sighing I shook my head, "Bella I don't know what's happening but what you just did was incredibly mean. Dad has done nothing but try since we got here and what, you've had a falling out with Edward so the rest of us have to suffer the fall out of that? Leaving was incredibly stupid. I don't care what happened between you both but just either come back home or call us just to let us know you're safe. Love you."

I hung up the phone and leaned against the window frame, combing my fingers through my damp hair whilst still staring outside. My chest felt heavy, my stomach twisted in knots with something I could only describe as dread. When my phone began to ring however I was pulled out of focusing on where that feeling was coming from. Not even looking to see who was calling I pressed the answer button and put the phone up to my ear, "Bella?"

"No Jake, you okay?" his warm voice was immediately full of concern, seemingly picking up on my mood after just that one word.

"Not really. Bella's taken off back to Phoenix." I explained, feeling a warmth flood through me from hearing his voice.

"Seriously? What happened?"

"Edward. I don't know really she didn't really go into what happened, she just came storming in about ten minutes ago, packed her bags and walked out." I told him, wanting nothing more than a Jacob hug. For some reason his hugs were like magic, they made you feel warm and safe, like everything was going to be okay.

"Jeez, did Charlie not go after her?" he asked and again I sighed, glancing towards the stairs before back out the window.

"Think he wanted to. He tried to get her stay but um, Bella said some pretty hurtful things. He's upstairs right now, I think what she said…" I trailed off and frowned, pressing myself closer to the glass catching sight of something red in the distance.

"What?...Grace?...You still there?" I narrowed my eyes as I looked towards the tree line, not sure what I'd seen but sure I'd seen something or someone. Pushing away from the window I headed towards the front door and opened it. "Grace?"

"Yeah hang on I think there's someone watching the house." I told him, stepping outside onto the porch. "I'm just outside now."

"No don't, get back inside and go get Charlie." Jacob said making me pause. He was right, though looking at the treeline now I couldn't see anyone, making me in turn question whether I had seen anything. Taking a step back up the stairs, I kept looking, "Grace if you don't get your butt back in that house, I'll drive down there myself…"

"I'm going; I'm going, jeez…" I laughed slightly and made my way onto the porch and threw the front door, making sure to lock it behind me. "I'm back in the house." I assured Jacob, flicking the kitchen light off and heading up the stairs. "You know you're kinda bossy." I told him.

"Guess you're rubbing off on me a little…" he joked and I laughed, the action feeling good despite everything that was going on. Upon stepping into my room I frowned at the open window, sure that it had been closed before. "What you guys goin' to do about Bella?" Jacob asked.

"Not sure. She said she'd call but I think Dad will more than likely get in touch with Mom; let her know what's happened." I answered, walking over to the window and suppressing a shiver from the chill. Closing it, I slipped the lock on and closed the curtains once more. "Not really anything we can do. I just…I don't know…she's never acted like that before." I paused and shook my head as I dropped onto the edge of my bed. "I don't really want to talk about it anymore. I'm pretty upset with her…"

"The guys were saying we should all try and do something again next weekend if you're up for it." Jacob said, changing the topic straight away and for that I was thankful. I couldn't think on Bella anymore, as I couldn't understand why she had been the way she had. It served as another reason why I'd disapproved of Edward and I knew I should be happy she had at least ended it but something told me that it was far from over yet and there was more to the story than Bella had let on.

-0-

Been a hell of a long time between updates I know and I don't really have an excuse other than lack of inspiration for this story. I've found it again however thanks to a small, hopefully different aspect I'll be adding around the beginning of New Moon.

Also can I ask you guys how you feel about me messing around with the time frames here? Like the length of time Edward and co are gone for. When they come back etc? If you could let me know in the comments I'd really appreciate it.

The story received quite a few Guest reviews, and I'd just like to say a big thank you to those who took the time out to comment. Every review makes me smile and I really appreciate your guys kind words. Hopefully next time you can leave your names so I can thank you individually.

Lytebrytehybrid88 – No. This story isn't solely centered on Bella's decisions and how they affect her family. Do they play a part, of course but this is Grace and Jacob's story and they're going to face a lot of obstacles on their journey. Bella does play a part in the hurt, yes because I wanted to explore realistically how these somewhat selfish decisions would affect her family.

Layla347 – Here is more. Sorry it's been a while, but I was hit in the face with some inspiration over the last few weeks so hopefully you guys get as excited as I am.

NatLou87 – I agree. SM did let the wolves down. I think they had the most interesting stories and she obviously didn't see the potential here. I'd take the wolves stories over the vampires any day of the week, plus, they're a hell of a lot more fun and complex.

Sarah – Here's your update. Hope you enjoyed.