The next day was better and worse.

People were starting to calm down about Bella. I had less questions about her and less people were staring. On the other hand, she was getting the beginnings of a fan club: Mike and Eric glared at each other every time the other talked to her. Jessica was following them like a shadow, hoping to get a bit of Mike's attention: what is it with her and guys who ignore her? I noticed other boys looking at her too. A couple people had tried asking me about her before they realized that I knew her about as well as they did.

I was getting a little bored by it all.

I was also a little hurt.

When lunch came, I had to force myself to go talk to her…

"Isabella." I muttered the word like a threat.

"Bella." She muttered back, staring at her lunch tray.

I hadn't sat with her, but when I saw the Cullens' table I'd walked over and tapped her on the shoulder.

"What the heck happened?" I demanded.

"I don't know." Bella hissed miserably.

We both turned and looked at Edward's empty spot. I shook my head and walked away.

How did she manage to change everything?

...

With Edward the Dick gone, the week would have been uneventful, boring, and forgettable if not for my stupid Chevy. Saturday morning, on my way to the coffee shop where I make minimum wage to earn little techy things that Charlie won't buy me—an ipod, a computer, payments on the cell my mom bought to make up for not seeing me, so on—I heard a clicking. This was nothing new: my cavalier made that sound quite often. This time, however, it was followed by my turn into a parking lot and then a loud pop, a flapping sound, and several words I am not supposed to say.

"UUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH." I finished finally, getting out of my car to stare at my flat front tire. "I don't have time for this!"

I stomped into the coffee shop through the back door and told Annie, my boss, I'd be in in a bit. She nodded distractedly, peering into the oven: we didn't get our rush until lunch anyway. Pulling out my cell, I marched back out into the parking lot and glared at my car as I dialed my dad's work number and kicked my car.

"Gen? What's wrong?" He demanded.

"Calm down, Dad. Yeesh!" I grumbled. He sounded freaked out.

"What is it then?" he asked, immediately distracted by something else. I frowned. His voice seemed off somehow…

"Flat tire. And I can't deal with it, I need to get to work." I kicked my car again.

"Gen, I don't…" Dad sighed, not wanting to be angry but obviously a bit impatient with me. "I'll see what I can do."

"No hurry, Dad." I said. "Work ends at 4."

"Right." He sighed tiredly.

I frown, glancing at the coffee shop. Do people even know it's open? "You ok?"

"Fine." My dad sighed. "I'll tell you later…"

"K."

"Gen…" My dad says, catching me about to hang up.

"Yeah, dad?"

"Go straight home, ok? Find a ride if you have to, but don't walk." He sound concerned.

"Oh. Ok, dad." I kick my car again. "I'll see you later."

"Call me and let me know when you get home, alright?" He insisted.

"Um, yeah. I'll try." I hung up before he could point out this was not an answer. "Stupid car."

Work went as well as ever. I spent most of it either making coffee foam monsters or planning exactly how I could convince Tyler to give me a ride home without him realizing I could've called Bella. I'd gone so far as to start daydreaming about exactly how this would get me either a first date or a first date and was starting on imagining the kiss as my shift ended and I called good bye to Annie and Cal, slamming the door shut behind me as I pulled out my cell and walked over to the car.

"What."

There was a jack under my car, propping it up so that the missing flat tire was not an issue. There was a small bowl sitting beside my front bumper, holding all the screws and whatnot needed to hold the flat's replacement. And, struggling with the tire he'd stowed in the trunk of his car, his sleek black ponytail caught between the rubber and his shoulder, his face screwed up in annoyance and pain was only the pain in my neck worse than Bella.

Jacob freaking Black.

With an angry huff, I shoved the phone into my pocket and stomped over.

"I can do that." I snapped.

"What?" He tried to turn his head and failed, his hair still caught. "Oh, hey, Gen."

"I can do that." I repeated. "Just give me the tire and the bill and you can head out."

"Yeah, but there's no need for you to get all messed up." Jacob said cheerily. "Besides, you look exhausted."

"Well, that's because I came out to find a five year old messing with my car." I grumbled.

"I'm six…" He had to stop as he dropped the tire to the ground. I started giggling. "Teen. Oh, come on, Gen."

"I'm sorry." I laughed. "But… you have to admit…"

"Yeah, yeah…" He grumbled good-naturedly. "Close the trunk, will you?"

I did, mainly because I'd noticed that his pants were soaked to the knees from the puddle next to my car and I didn't want any part of that. I was still in a fairly bad mood and wasn't about to pull any punches.

"I thought you were two years younger." I said, watching him slide the tire into place.

"What?" He flipped his ponytail over his shoulder and glanced up at my tight face.

"You're two years younger than me and I'm seventeen." I informed him.

And yep, sure enough, Jacob Black was now in just as bad a mood as I was. "Age has nothing to do with fixing cars." He pointed out.

"So why'd you lie?" I asked.

"I didn't lie." He scowled. "I rounded."

"Your birthday is in January, Jacob." I said. "I went to your party, remember?"

"No." He said, looking honestly confused.

"Well, a couple months is a long time for a six year old." I conceded kindly.

He glared up at me as he started to fasten my tire into place. "Yeah. Or you spent the whole time outside with Paul."

I frowned. Oh, right. "I'd forgotten about him." I said slowly.

"Well, he still talks about you so…" Jacob stopped, deciding he'd said too much. I glanced down at my hands, embarrassed. "Gen…"

"Just fix my damn car, Jacob." I growled before stomping over to his car to lay across the back seat, staring at the ceiling. I can mope just as well as Bella when I want to. Unfortunately I didn't have much time, as Jacob came over again pretty soon.

"Done." He told me.

"Yeah?" I sat up and stared blearily over at my car. "Ugh, you're soaking." I glanced around. "Jacob, it's pouring: why didn't you take a break?"

"You know the rain's not stopping any time soon." He told me. He went around back and I started to awkwardly pull myself out of his back seat, scooting on my butt for the most part. When he came back, he was wearing a different sweatshirt, this one covered with oil stains.

"Ew, Jacob."

"I'm cold. Come check your tire so I can go get supper." He walked back to slam his trunk shut. I stood as he came back, taking advantage of the inch I have on him to stare down my nose. I sauntered over to stare at the wheel before turning back with a frown.

"This wheel is way too good for my car." I said with a scowl.

"I got it off a junker when I was fixing Embry's van." Jacob shrugged. "You don't have to pay for it and I have three more I can put on next time you make it up to the Res."

I pursed my lips and stared at him, a little kid covered in black gunk and rain, angry with me and still offering me help. Oh, crap: does he have a crush on me? Please no. I shook off the thought and jerked a thumb at the shop. "I can get you a cup of cider or something if you like. To hold you over." Anyone else I'd offer dinner to and I'm pretty sure he knows it.

"Sure." He sighed. "Thanks, Gen."

"Genevieve."

"Thanks, Genevieve." He said meekly.

I walked over to the coffee shop, knowing he was either rolling his eyes or sticking out his tongue at my back. I grabbed two ciders and mentally began calculating how much of my prom dress Jacob had saved me verses how much jewelry I wouldn't be able to buy because of the cider. By the time I got through the line and back to him, we were both in a pretty foul mood and we argued for ten minutes over who should try to drive the Chevy first before I swore at him and went to start my car anyway.

I was fiddling with the windshield wipers and cherishing the heat on my face when Jacob knocked on my side window. I ignored him for a second, glowering at my steering wheel and listening to Kansas blaring away. He knocked again. I closed my eyes and waved for him to just come in.

"Genevieve, your car is clicking." He said as he opened the door.

"I know."

"Genevieve, that's not good."

"I know!" I slammed my head against the steering wheel and groaned. "But money."

"I can fix it for free, Gen." I paused considering. "Or for another cider…" He joked.

"You free tomorrow?" I asked tiredly, my face still resting on the steering wheel.

"Yeah." He paused. "And I can teach you how to fix it, if you want."

I hesitated, measuring the irritation of another day with him verses learning not to need him. Finally I turned my head and blinked at him. "Yeah." I said. "That'd be cool."

"Cool." He said. "Tell Bella and Charlie I said hi."

"k." I agreed. "Bye."

"Bye, Gen."

I slammed my head against the steering wheel again. Worst. Weekend. Ever. Dang. It. A—

"Gen, could you drive a bit so I can make sure the tire's alright?" Jacob interrupted my mental whining.

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry."

I sighed as he slammed the door again and drove home, remembering to call my dad but too distracted to ask him what he'd been so worried about. I took the supper Bella'd made up to my room and fell asleep listening to ELO cheerfully telling me all about the wonder of blue skies.

..

The next day was rainy again of course, still a quiet rain to my disappointment. I was still irritated, stomping around the house with my sketchbook writing down and scribbling everything I wanted to change. If Charlie hadn't limited me to one change per season, I would have knocked the house down by my twelfth birthday. As it was, I was growing very adept at convincing him that my major ideas were really just changing one aspect of a room. Hence the attic becoming 'livable' and the living room becoming 'comfortable'. I was having a harder time convincing him to make the bathroom 'tolerable' but it didn't stop me from heading up to my room to shred several magazines worth of new showers and multi colored toilets.

"Gen." My dad called up. "Door."

I swore as I remembered Jacob, swore again at my pajamas, and swore a third time because I like swearing. Quickly, I grabbed a sweatshirt and a sportsbra, dug around for a t-shirt and threw them on with a pair of ancient leggings and some gross looking shorts. Pulling my hair into a messy bun, I thundered down the stairs, muttered a muffled apology to Bella as I almost killed her on her way up, and skidded to a stop at the bottom with my heart beating in panic in my ears.

I paused a moment and then straightened up to walk calmly to the front door. There was no one there. I pursed my lips in thought and leaned my forehead against the door, trying to see the driveway but only managing to strain my eyes. Dad wouldn't have let him in, would he? Great. All I needed was another hour of small talk with the Black's baby boy. Why couldn't Rachel or Rebecca be the ones who knew about cars? I pulled my head back a little and tapped it against the glass.

Stupid.

Car.

Stupid.

Jacob.

Stupid.

Weekend.

Stupid.

"Gen?"

I startled, smacking my shoulder against the door as I turned violently toward the speaker.

"Hi, Jacob." I said weakly, holding my shoulder and screwing up my face against the pain. "Ready to perform miracles on the chevy of evil?"

He laughed. "Your car's not that bad. Just needs a tune up. Maybe some paint."

I looked him over, considering. "Is that something you'd be able to do?"

"Um…" He bit his lip, thinking things over. "Maybe? I'll check." He looked doubtful.

"Eh. Worth a shot. Now come on: we haven't got all day." I shoved out the door and over to the car, popping up the hood and glaring down at it.

Fixing the car took the rest of the afternoon. As I'd suspected, Jacob kept trying to drag me into small talk and I became a bit tetchy with him, interrupting his polite questions about basketball with pointing at random objects and asking for their names. By the end, Black was giving me monosyllabic instructions and I was obeying with silence. When he shut the hood and asked for my keys, I handed them over and we tiredly listened together as the engine came to life with an absence of clicking.

"Woo." I said, with about the smallest amount of enthusiasm possible. "Now what."

"I'm going to check on the truck." Jacob sighed. "You want in?"

I frowned. "I—"

"It's ok if you don't want to." Jacob interrupted, smiling apologetically. "It's a lot of work."

"Challenge accepted." I said immediately, feeling a burst of anger and stubbornness at his kind words. He nodded wearily and started to move slowly over to Bella's mammoth monster, his feet dragging. "Actually…"

"Yeah?" Jacob asked.

"Bella's truck is fine." I said. "It can wait until one of us feels like heading up there… My dad can probably take it up on his next fishing trip, actually."

"True." Jacob smiled and I saw a hint of relief: he looked a lot younger when he smiled and I felt a little bad for him.

"Seriously, Jacob." I said. "Why don't you head home?"

He sighed and glanced up at the house. "Yeah. That'd probably be best." He muttered.

Oooooh, I thought as I watched him pull up his hood and walk over to his bike.

He likes Isabella.

I snorted and went inside to shower.

Because for the first time I was thinking: Better her then me.

..

The next day was a Monday and a relief: weekends always lasted too long and every day I spent at school brought summer and prom a bit closer. The thought of summer was soon chased from my head, however, when I walked out of Biology to find a world of white.

"Yes!" I yelled, kicking a pile so that it flopped a bit into the air. "Snow!"

"Alleluia!" My buddy and team captain Annalise crowed.

"Finally." A guy behind us grumbled.

I tossed a bit of snow at him, missing completely but starting up a very dramatic snow ball fight. By the time I reached second period English Lit, my entire body was soaked and shivering and I had just enough energy to collapse into my seat and clunk my head on the desk.

"Gen… hey, Gen…"

"Whaaaaat." I mumbled, opening on eye to find Lauren.

"Look who's back." She whispered, her eyes lazily looking to the back of the classroom. I turned but she was already telling me in a smug voice. "Cullen."

"Cullen." I repeated in a hiss, turning and giving him a full-on death stare. He looked calmly back for a second and then raised one eyebrow in scorn before turning to stare at the board. I turned back to Lauren. "Why do you care?"

She shrugged.

The day was a bit boring from then on. I noticed Bella looking pale at lunch but, already knowing the reason, decided to ignore it. The only solution I had to her problem was to beat up Edward Cullen and I had slight doubts about the plausibility of that plan. I did still find the idea amusing and shared it with Tyler, who offered to hold Edward's arms back and then got yelled at by Mr. Jesse for talking. I felt bad about that and slid him a mini Hershey bar under the desk when Mr. Jesse looked away. Tyler smiled at that but we didn't get another chance to talk. In Gym, Bella was protected from misadventure by the everpresent Mike and afterwards, my English and practice went by fairly quickly.

By the time I got home, supper was waiting on the kitchen table. I scooped up the plate and carried it upstairs, barging into Isabella's room and walking over to sit against the wall by the window. She was reading another of her hideous old books and ignored me until I finished the last bite of chicken, set it aside, and clambered onto the end of her bed to stare at her.

"What?" Bella asked, not looking up.

"Come on, sis. Girl talk." She turned pink and I leaned forward, puzzled and intrigued. "Edward was back…"

"Nothing happened." She insisted, her nose drawing closer to her book.

"So he's not angry anymore?" I clarified.

"No. But he was nice today."

"Did he apologize?" I asked.

"No. We just talked. He was nice." She sounded a little defensive and a little confused herself.

"Is he on some kind of medication?" I asked.

She laughed. "Maybe." She set the book down and drew her legs up to hug them against her chest. "His eyes changed color…" She said thoughtfully.

"Anything else?" I asked, telling myself to google that later. Maybe he was half blind or something: it would explain the glaring… Though not the attempt to change classes. "Isabella?"

"Bella." She said, but she wasn't scolding. "He knew I was Bella."

"Everyone knows that by now." I pointed out.

"Yeah, but he was gone all week."

I began picking at the threads on her quilt. "Huh." Pick. Pick. "Told you they were sketchy."

"He's very intuitive." Bella said defensively. "And kind. He saw that I—" She broke off and refused to look at me. "We just talked about Forks." Her voice was high and uncomfortable. "And how I miss Phoenix."

Not that intuitive: I could see it too. "You hate it here." I said, my voice flat.

"I…"

"You'd rather be a hundred miles away then have anything to do with dad and me. That's true, isn't it." I snapped. And I'd wondered why she was so quiet around me. Of all the…

"No…" She tried to lie, but I'm the liar, not her.

"Whatever, Bella." I slid off the bed and gave her one last scowl.

After slamming her door, I went downstairs and ate half a bucket of chocolate ice cream.

It didn't help.

..

..

Author's Note:

So, I am combining movie and book worlds: so Bella's met Jacob I think I've stuck with book so far. Thanks for the reviews! It's nice to hear from people so fast. You've already got me thinking about what I want to happen and what needs to happen. As to who ends up with Gen... I'm writing this with a Jacob/Gen end in mind, but I will say that yeah... Gen is going to be fighting it for a long time. Like a super long time. Poor Jacob. Oh! And as for Edward: Gen's mind is like Charlies: a bit tougher for him to make out-that becomes clearer as she has more interactions with him, but those chapters are a couple weeks away so figured I'd throw that in here. Anyway, hope you enjoy!