Chapter 11: Conversations

"What happened!" Charlie exclaimed as Bella walked in with her underarm wrapped up with thick bandages. He had leant back in his armchair to look at her as she entered the house later than he expected and jumped up with surprise noticing her arm. He had come home earlier than expected, not realising his cell phone battery had died along the way.

"Bella?" He said when she didn't reply, her eyes seemed to be off somewhere else so he rushed over to her to grab her by the hands, gently leading her to the couch in the living room. His fingers accidentally touching the scar on her wrist, he frowned when he felt how much colder the skin was and glanced down at the, bite-like, scar.

"What happened?" He asked when she finally met his eyes. Her eyes were still slightly glazed over but she smiled awkwardly and looked down, breaking eye contact as she sighed deeply.

"I went hiking with Jacob and I fell." She mumbled.

He sighed and frowned looking at the bandage on her arm, turning her arm. "How did you hurt yourself there, Bells?"

She didn't meet his eyes when she answered, making him frown, thinking back of Renee when she used to lie to him with her hand running through her hair and her gaze fixed on her feet or the ground. "I tripped and a branch caught my arm."

Bella on her turn didn't know why she was lying but she also know she couldn't exactly tell her father that his best friend's son turned into a giant wolf-like creature in front of her and, accidentally or not, nicked her arm with a clean, straight line.

"You tripped?" Charlie said with disbelief in his voice.

"Yeah," she said with a fake laugh, "I've always been clumsy, haven't I."

Charlie frowned and tilted his head, "You used to be clumsy but haven't been for months, Bella."

Bella huffed nervously, "I'm fine dad."

"I'll be right back." He murmured as he patted her knee, moving to the kitchen and fishing out a tea bag from one of the cupboards. He had never owned tea before, but Bella seemed to prefer having black tea. The silence filling the house felt stifling to both of them. Charlie had lowered the volume of the movie he had been watching but the bright lights from the screen flashed over her face, making her look tired and haggard. Something which Charlie noticed when he walked back in, it was getting dark outside but the curtains hadn't been shut yet so the stark bright light on Bella's face had shocked him. Her cheekbones seemed more pronounced then before, but he caught himself thinking he'd never really paid much attention in the first place.

She looked different to him. Her eyes darker even though they were still quite absent and glossy, her posture stiff and straight, her fists clenched and resting on top of her knees. Her face pale and her hair looked darker, but he didn't know whether it was the light of the screen in contrast with the darkness from the room and the outside.

"Here." He mumbled as he handed her the steaming mug, the way she preferred it. "Tell me what happened." He said after she had a few tentative sips.

"I told you, I tripped and a branch caught my arm."

"Bella," he started with a sigh, rubbing his face, "this is the third time you've been injured whilst hanging out with Jacob."

"I don't know what you're-"

"First here in the kitchen, second when you went to the campfire and now a third time after you went hiking with him."

Bella laughed breathlessly, "Are you trying to say your best friend's son is hurting me?"

"I don't know what I'm trying to say Bells, but this is starting to look suspicious and I will ask Billy about this."

"Dad," she started whilst meeting his eyes, "I'm fine, I promise."

He didn't say anything for a good two minutes, just looking at her until he closed his eyes and nodded at her. "If anything happens, ever, tell me."

"I will." She said whilst looking at the ground again.

"Are you sure you're okay though?" Angela asked about three weeks after the incident, the scar looked thick, angry and bright red against her pale skin but at least it was healed and the line was quite clean. "That looks like it must've been quite a bad fall."

"It was." She said awkwardly, cupping the coffee cup in front of her between hands.

"Have you spoken to him at all?"

"Who?"

"Jacob of course! He must've been shocked too."

She tried to smile carelessly but obviously failed, she cleared her throat and moved her sleeve over the scar again. The fabric slightly itchy against it. "Yeah he was."

"Did he drive you to the hospital?"

She answered without thinking, because she had been thinking about Jacob's reaction to her bleeding arm. She hadn't really been able to understand his feelings since he had been a giant wolf-like creature but even that massive wolf had frozen momentarily before darting away. Had he been shocked? Did he feel guilty? Was he okay or was he still roaming the forest in his wolf form? She had a lot of unanswered questions but whenever she attempted to call him, the call wouldn't go through. She had started calling Billy's landline just after her stitches had been taken out, just a week ago now. But even he wouldn't pick up the phone. So he knows too.

"No."

"What?" Angela exclaimed loudly, making several people in the café in Port Angeles turn to stare at us. Angela flushed bright red and hunched her shoulders with embarrassment. Bella smiled at her.

"What do you mean he didn't drive you to the hospital? There must've been so much blood!"

"There was."

"Why didn't he?"

She didn't really know what to answer so she just shrugged at her friend. "There was a lot going on."

"But still, you were bleeding! You used to faint remember."

Now it was Bella's turn to blush bright red, "I know. I haven't in a while though."

Angela frowned, "You bleed that often?"

Bella tried to laugh dismissively, but failed. "I've had a few, very small and minor, accidents these past few months."

Angela looked concerned as Bella took a sip of her coffee. She quickly swallowed the warm liquid before adding, "I'm fine, though."

"Have you spoken to Jacob since it happened."

"Yeah." Bella lied, not wanting to look suspicious she took a bite of a cookie, "He's been quite busy these last few weeks. So we've talked on the phone."

"He hasn't come to see you?"

"No, he hasn't."

"He hasn't come to see you, even after he left you to fend for yourself whilst bleeding from your arm?"

"No."

Angela didn't answer but her eyes were big and her face looked irritated and angry.

"Call me if anything sketchy happens again with him. Okay?"

Bella nodded and wished she could actually promise her.

The last August days in Forks were almost humid, but nothing compared to Phoenix. It did feel a lot more wet though, the trees were still green with moist moss but walking among the trees in this weather almost made her feel like she was inhaling the smelly moss instead of walking next to it. Even in La Push where she always felt just slightly warmer and imagined brown and orange colours whenever she closed her eyes, the air felt thick with moisture the salty smell of the beach in the air. She longed to run to the beach, take off her shoes and cool down with her feet in the cold water.

She had had enough of waiting, it was clear to her now that Jacob's phone was probably switched off just to ignore her. She hadn't expected him to ignore her, she'd done a lot of thinking about Jacob and his friends and had come to the conclusion that they knew about vampires because they were different too. She had expected a call or a visit almost immediately after leaving the hospital, she had been expecting Jacob to come over to beg her not to tell anyone but she hadn't heard anything and neither did Charlie. She had almost expected Sam or Paul to show up at some point since their energy had always felt just that bit more intense and dark to her.

"A lot of the boys are sick, apparently." Charlie had said with a sour face after hanging up the phone. He had had a forty-second conversation with Billy on the phone and hadn't heard from him ever since. Bella couldn't help but feel guilty for Charlie not seeing or hearing from his friend, but she quickly moved the blame to Jacob and his friends. What if she had told Charlie? Or Angela? What if she had told people? Or called the police on them? What if she had told anyone in the hospital? The shock she felt grew larger each passing day of silence. So after over three weeks she decided she had enough, jumped into her car and drove down to La Push.

"Well, well." A cynical voice said as she attempted to purposely strut towards Jacob's house. She froze in her tracks, turning towards Paul's smug frame leaning against the side of a nearby tree. "Has the leech friend made her way into the lion's den."

Bella snorted, "You mean the wolves' den."

Paul froze momentarily but crossed his arms in an attempt to look nonchalant. "I don't what you're-"

"Oh for fuck's sake Paul!" She exclaimed loudly as a shiver of anger went through her body. "Are you really doing this? After what I've seen? After this?" She said as she shoved up the sleeve of her long-sleeved shirt.

Paul uncrossed his arms and took a step towards her when he noticed the aggravated looking scar on her arm. Bella instantly took a step back, lowering her sleeve and looking down at her feet whilst doing so.

"What are you doing here, Swan?" He said rather quietly.

"I want answers."

Paul just scoffed in reply.

"I'm sorry, I think you should be grateful I didn't tell anyone about what really happened. Charlie's already getting suspicious."

Paul laughed loudly this time, "What were you going to tell them? That you were attacked by a werewolf?"

"So that's what you are." Bella said with a smirk as Paul paled slightly. "Oh relax," she added with a teasing voice as she walked closer towards Jacob's front door. "I won't tell."

"Don't bother." Paul said sourly. "He isn't inside."

"Then where is he?"

He motioned his head towards the dark forest behind him. "I can take you to the rest of us, if you're up to it."

"I don't know."

"What, are you scared of some big bad wolves?" Paul leered with a smile.

"Do you blame me?" Bella said earnestly, looking straight into his eyes.

"Come along then, leech girl." He said as he turned her back towards her, walking into the forest.