I actually left before Isabella the next morning. I was avoiding her, unsure what to say to her but sure she wouldn't listen. As it was, it was a good thing I left early: first, I had to deal with the fog and then I had to deal with Jessica.

"So? What happened? Did Bella tell you anything? Is she seriously dating Edward FREAKING Cullen? Why didn't you answer my texts?"

"Um…" I replied. I had been getting out of my car, mind going over whether or not to ask Lizzy's advice on the matter when Jessica'd ambushed me. I also had not exactly gotten much sleep the night before. "Oh."

"Oh?" Jess leaned in closer, her voice changing to hushed tones. "Oh?"

"I think I forgot my phone at home." I said confusedly. "And Isabella…" No, probably better not to say she got back late. "We didn't talk. We don't talk. I don't know." I slammed the car door and shrugged at my heavy backpack. "Ask Bella. I don't know. I'm tired."

Jess gave me an amused look but allowed this as an excuse. She chatted with me about some strategies for the Spring Dance and then I left her by the cafeteria, lying in wait for the defenseless Isabella Swan

I… might not be the best sister.

I made my way across campus to my the biology lab and went in to find a seat next to the random girl I'd been partnered up with, saying hi but then only speaking when we disagreed about the answer to a lab question. When class was over my posture immediately became slumped: I'd been so focused on dealing with Isabella, I'd forgotten I had class with Dick as well.

Damn. It. All!

Play it cool? I pinched the bridge of my nose as I walked to English, ignoring the group of junior varsity boys who were now giggling at my look of frustration. It wasn't like he knew that I suspected anything. And I had no proof, so I wasn't going to make a scene-never make a scene unless you know they can't turn the tables on you—and I wasn't going to try to get him alone either. Just the thought gave me a shiver down my spine and the feeling that those dark eyes were watching me, staring into the back of my neck.

"Gen." A smooth voice said, uncertain.

"Eff off." I replied. Then again, maybe I could find some new clues if I talk to him… I turned around but Edward was already in a seat halfway across the room. I let it go and went back to my assignment, proofreading it one more time so that the rough draft talk with Mrs. Grystl would be as short as possible.

On the other hand, when class finally began, I took every opportunity to look over at Dick Cullen to see if I could catch him being creepy. Somehow, every time I tried, he was either taking notes or listening to the teacher. Didn't even catch him daydreaming once. I, however, did not catch a single word of the day's lecture and had to steal notes from Lauren.

It was becoming quite the day.

In Pre-Calc, Tyler managed to mix up my head in further by actually noticing I wasn't quite myself…

"Not excited to being going to the dance with the coolest boy in school?" He'd teased.

"I'm pretty sure you only have that title because you're going with me." I replied, my voice a bit more crabby and less flirty then I meant it. He just winked at me.

"Oh, come on. Tell me what's up so I can beat it to a pulp." He pretended to flex his biceps, the move a bit less meaningful with his muscles hidden under three layers of clothing.

"Beat it to a pulp?" I asked. "You can't even beat the Cougars at basketball."

Tyler dropped his arms and slumped in his desk, pouting slightly. "Ouch, Swan. So we got 10th place. Don't have to be mean about it."

"Sorry, Crowley." I sighed, dropping my voice to a whisper as Mr. Jesse began roll. "There was… there was another attack last night and… I'm just kind of freaked out." Of all the things that had happened, this was the least of my worries: but I knew Tyler and it was the only one he would understand. "You hear anything about it?"

"You're dad's still keeping it under wraps, huh?" Tyler muttered sympathetically. "But I hadn't heard anything yet. It takes at least 24 hours for me to get to all my sources, Gen. You can't rush these things."

"Tyler!"

"Here." Tyler called, lifting his head up to answer the teacher's call.

Mr. Jesse sighed deeply. "Well, that's wonderful: then maybe you can give us your answer to number 2."

Tyler turned bright red at this and refused to speak to me after this brought on a case of giggles I fought the entire rest of class. He did say good bye to me after, so I knew he wasn't too angry. Still, I had to cross my fingers that I wasn't going to run into any more trouble on that count: the Spring Dance was a little too close for comfort if he was going to decide to ditch me.

The rest of the day, and the next day for that matter, was pretty boring. Bella was spending every possible moment with Edward and I was avoiding them. I'd considered butting in for a few seconds, when I first saw them at lunch, but as I walked by I'd discovered that he was in the 'I want to know everything about you stage' and Isabella was telling her life story right back to him. When not with him, I could see this daydreamy look in her eyes that meant she was still completely focused on him and his handsome, chiseled butt of a face.

This was not something I could stomach so I spent lunch with my friends and my night at first holed up in my room and then seeing how loud I could turn the volume on the tv before my ears bled. I no longer had basketball practice to distract me and having to keep in all of Bella's new secrets was making me even more irritable then my distrust of Edward and fight with Dad could excuse.

The next day went about the same… until after school, of course. That day was the day Edward decided to stay at our house after driving Isabella home. They sat in the car until I came out and tapped on the window, asking them if they'd like me to set up a movie for their new drive in theater—I know, not the best joke; I was angry, ok? –Then they sat out on the front porch chatting, somehow managing to be right at the edge of where I could have listened to them through the open front window. Confused and angry at the coincidence, I spent a good ten minutes mouthing to myself what I thought they might be saying before I went and slumped on the couch, turning on the pre-commentary to one of the last NBA games.

I quickly fell into a doze, waking only when a voice came through the cracked window to startle me.

"Billy!"

I turned, waking up abruptly from a daydream about some famous, cute athlete. Billy was here? I loved 'Uncle' Billy. I began to sit up, grinding my palms into my eyes to bully them into waking up. Oh, this was going to be much less awkward then watching the game with my silent dad! Unless…

"I'm going to pretend I didn't see you behind the wheel, Jake." I heard my dad laughing.

NOOOOOOOOOOO.

My evening was ruined.

I looked around quickly, not sure what I wanted to do about the situation. The game wasn't really that important to me… but Jacob would probably spend his time talking to Bella… but seeing a boy chasing Isabella was also irritating… but Billy was here! Ugh.

Either way, I took too long to decide and soon enough they were all traipsing in, laughing and shaking the rain all over the living room carpet. To postpone the inevitable, I fell back on the couch and closed my eyes, hoping they'd think I was asleep.

Sure enough, they missed me for a bit. I got to hear all the normal pleasantries, Billy embarrassing Jacob (which was awesome), some other neutral, carefully boring conversation, and then they broke apart. I heard Jacob and Bella walking into the kitchen, thank goodness, but Billy and Dad came in to join me in the living room.

"Ah, of course." Billy said when he saw me. He didn't sound as happy as the last time he'd seen me… Then again, that'd been a while ago. "Genevieve." I didn't respond. "She's grown up."

"Yep." Charlie replied. He sounded little irked… did he disagree? Or was it just the normal 'dad's only ever see their little girl' thing? Or was it that I wasn't very good at fake sleeping and he didn't want to call me on it. The possibilities were endless.

"Jacob's been a bit sad about that, I think." Billy commented. I heard his chair wheels squeak as he found a place between the couch and the sofa chair. "Seeing the girls get older and move on. He always was such a good friend to Gen."

Oh, no. I thought, panicking at the thought of sitting a session of guilt tripping. How do I stop this?

"Well, maybe if the kid hadn't introduced her to Paul I'd be a little more broken up about it." My dad grumbled.

Apparently, he and Billy were not completely made up from the fight they'd had a couple months ago. Yeesh. I wrinkled my nose.

"Waking up, Gen?" Billy asked.

"Mmmmmm." I groaned, turning away from his voice and pushing my face into the pillow. They both laughed at me.

"Not too grown up, then." Billy laughed.

"Grown up?" I mumbled, managing an only half fake yawn as I sat up and smiled at him. "Hey, Uncle Billy. Long time no see."

"Hello, Gen." He said with a smile. Of all the people in the world, he's the only one who I know would never pick Isabella over Genevieve… He at least likes us equally well: sometimes I even think I'm his favorite. "How is school?"

I shrugged. "Same old. Dance is on Saturday, that should be fun."

"It must be nice to have your sister there." Billy said.

I shrugged again. "Sure." My voice was a little too unenthusiastic and Dad gave me a look. "Um… Yeah, we have gym together. So that's… um… entertaining?"

"Why don't you go say hi to Jacob." My dad intervened. "He and your sister are in the kitchen."

"Fine." I got up with a groan and shuffled over into the hallway, stopping at the doorframe to eavesdrop for a little while before I built up the will to actually talk to two of the least interesting people I knew.

They talked about Jacob's car for a bit, then had an awkward moment of Bella trying to avoid telling him that she'd been with Cullen. This part was a bit interesting: it reminded me that Billy had always had the same natural dislike of the Cullen family. I stored that information away, meaning to find a chance to ask Billy about it before he left: there was no way I was risking a day of 'fun' with little Jacob just to get another chance at solving the mysterious Edward Cullen family secret. It was half way through this exchange that Jacob happened to glance over and catch me napping against the doorway.

"Genevieve!"

"Huh?" I blinked my eyes open and found him smiling at me. "Oh. Jacob."

"Yeah…" He frowned at me a long second, then turned back to continue chatting with Isabella. I accepted this as a victory and walked away, heading back to the living room where I could hear the game beginning.

It was just like old times for a bit. Isabella hung back in the doorway, watching as though she was afraid she might miss something-as if she had any idea what was going on—and Jacob hung back to chat with her. Billy and Dad cheered and I cheered for the opposing team, laughing every time they glared at me. All the while, I was looking for my opportunity and trying to think of a way to get rid of the lot of them so that I could talk to Billy.

Finally, when my dad went to the kitchen for some beers, roping Jacob into coming with to grab some chips, my sister ran upstairs to use the bathroom and Billy and I were given five seconds to talk.

"Billy…" I said slowly, pulling my legs up to kneel on the couch as I checked behind us to make sure my dad wasn't coming back. "You… You and my dad fought about the Cullens, right?"

He gave me a sharp look. Then he nodded slowly.

"Ok…" I said awkwardly, not sure how to proceed. I glanced behind me again and then stared at the floor.

"Is there something you want to tell me, Genny?" Billy asked quietly. I looked up anxiously, trying to see if he was taking me seriously or not.

"I don't know…" I shook my head. "It's really… I shouldn't talk about it."

"What do you want to ask me, Genny?" Billy said again, just as quiet, almost somberly really. There was a hint of worry in his face, concern as he saw me begin hesitating again. "Go ahead, I won't tell your father."

"It's just...!" I trailed off again, now not sure how to put it. "Billy, I just need to know why." His face became pinched. I rushed on, committed but seeing that I was losing him, that he wasn't going to tell me. "Why don't you like the Cullens? I mean, Dad loves them… But—"

"You don't." He said.

"No!" I replied, my voice a little desperate. I leaned forward, close to falling off the couch as I leaned over the armrest. "But why don't I? And now Isabella is dating Edward and he seems to like her but it's just… There's something off about it. Y'know? And I thought, maybe, you could tell me… or we could figure it out?" I was practically begging at the end, desperate for something simple for once, but he was already shaking his head.

"I'm sorry." He said sincerely, his sad eyes suddenly reminding me of Jacob's as they took in my confusion. "But I cannot tell you."

"But why?"

But he turned away.

And then of course Dad came back and Bella came chasing in, glancing around with obvious anxiety as she realized that Billy and I had just been talking. I stood up, irritated, and walked out of the room, hearing the jingle of the next commercial break following me as I wandered through the hallway. Pushing down my anger, I started toward the stairs, changed my mind, turned back to the stairs, and then gave up and stomped into the kitchen again.

Ugh: as if this night could get any worse. I'd forgotten Jacob was still in there.

"Hey, Gen."

"Hey, Jake." I muttered.

"Do you guys have any salsa?" Jacob asked, holding up the bag of chips as though to prove it wasn't a pointless question.

"Probably." I sighed. I wandered over to the fridge and stared into its depths, feeling suddenly exhausted. "Your perfect Bella would know better than me."

"My… Um…" Jacob said, flustered. I turned, hand waving uselessly in the air where I'd begun reaching for the salsa. "She's not…er…" He was turning bright red.

I grinned at him. "Not what, Jacob?" I asked, feigning innocent. "Not perfect?"

"No… I mean, yeah, no one… Gen…" He raised his hands. "Gen, she's really nice."

"Oh nice." I said. "So that's what you like, huh?"

He was now a brilliant red color, his dark skin blending quite nicely with the crimson of his neck and cheeks. "No, Gen. It's…"

"Calm down, Jacob." I laughed, finally turning away from him to find that my fingers had been two centimeters from the salsa the entire time. "You're not the only one."

"Right." He said awkwardly. He looked about to leave but I cut him off, placing the salsa in his hands and heading over to the cabinets for a bowl. "Hey, Genevieve?"

"Mmm?" I asked. "Open the salsa, will you?"

"I just wanted to know if you got my text." He said as he popped the lid and handed me the jar. "Bella gave me the number, but she wasn't sure—"

"Oh!" I said, my chest tightening slightly as I remembered that night. I smiled, uncomfortable and insincere. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, I got it."

Jacob looked at me curiously. "You ok?"

"Peachy!" I snapped, dumping the red gloppy salsa into the bowl with such enthusiasm that I managed to splash a bit across my face and a bit more across the floor and counter.

"Um, Gen…"

"I know!" I shrugged past him and went for the paper towel. As I wiped off my face he offered to clean up the rest but I was irritated and shook my head. "Just take it out there. You're missing the game."

"You care more about that then I do." Jacob said, though he also now looked a little irritated. He bit his lip and then took a hesitant step toward me, his face young and uncertain. "Gen…"

"Just go, Jacob." I groaned. "I can clean up my own messes."

Jacob looked at me, considering. His good nature was fighting against the knowledge that I just didn't want to talk to him. "Hey, if you're free this weekend…"

"Spring dance this weekend." I said, cutting him off. I knelt down and began wiping the salsa from the tile floor.

"Oh. Well, Paul…" He tried again.

"Paul?" I said puzzled. "Jacob."

"Well, you seemed to get along with him last weekend." Jacob said, starting to sound a bit crabby. "And when you don't talk to him, he tries to talk to me."

"Ok, that I will feel sorry for you for." I said. "But I doubt me coming up to see how you fix Bella's truck is going to get him off your back."

"Well…" Jacob said slowly, smiling shyly. "If you brought Bella too…" I turned and raised an eyebrow, smiling despite myself. He was turning red again. "I mean, it is her truck after all."

"Yeah?" I said, walking over to toss the paper towel in the garbage. As I did, Jacob slipped behind me and grabbed another piece for me.

"I mean, it is your turn to come up, after all… And we wouldn't want to exclude the younger Swan sister, especially after she's missed out on visiting the res for so many years…" He eyes met mine, pleading.

"Ok, kid." I laughed, wiping up the last of the salsa. "I'll do what I can. But not this weekend."

"But soon." He said.

"Meh."

He frowned at me for a few seconds, studying me. I looked at him skeptically.

"Jacob."

"You can always invite someone else, you know." He said slowly.

"You need to make up your mind, Jacob." I replied tiredly. "Am I coming up to appease Paul? To bring Bella? To bring a boyfriend?"

"If Paul sees you're unavailable he'll give up and leave me alone." Jacob explained.

"In what universe would Paul do something that reasonable?" I asked.

"Oh, right." Jacob said, frowning as he reconsidered. "Paul."

"Paul." I agreed.

Jacob shrugged. "Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out. And again, even if Bella and the truck aren't available, I'd be happy to teach you anything else you want to know."

"Eh." I said indifferently. "Yeah, we'll see."

Seeing that the conversation was over, Jacob wandered off back to the living room. I took the time to grab a glass of cranberry juice, stalling a little as I put my brain back in order. I could tell what was happening anyway: Dad and Billy were cheering and groaning loudly enough that I could get a pretty good idea of almost everything that happened. Sipping my juice, I moved into the hallway, finding my sister still hovering in the doorway. Rolling my eyes, I pushed past her, 'accidentally' brushing shoulders with her.

It was a long, exciting game and by the end of it I was blinking with tiredness and thinking about taking a sick day in the morning. As everyone started saying goodbyes, Bella was a bit worse, having been bored half to sleep she now was dozily smiling at Billy and Jacob as they moved past to get to the front door.

"Are you and your friends coming back to the beach soon?" Jacob asked Bella as he pushed his father's wheelchair toward the door. He looked like a puppy again, eyes big and begging for her to notice him.

"I'm not sure." Isabella said carefully. I narrowed my eyes at her. All that flirting and now she was pushing him away again?

"That was fun, Charlie." Billy said, turning to my dad as Jacob reached over to give Isabella an enthusiastic hug.

"Come up for the next game." Dad said with a smile.

"Mmm." I said noncommittally. Jacob had noticed my skeptical face and was now trying to fix the situation by offering me a hug as well.

It was basically the most awkward hug to ever happen: we both went up, then we both went down. We next tried to put one arm up, one down but somehow still ended up blocking each other. Finally I offered a hand for a handshake, glad for an excuse to get out of the situation. Jacob didn't take it, he just wrapped his arms around my middle and gave me a quick squeeze, lifting me momentarily off the ground while I struggled against his strong grip and snarled at him through gritted teeth to cut it out.

When he put me down he and Dad were both laughing at me and Jacob gave me an apologetic smile as he disappeared out the door. We called out some more good byes and then they were down the steps.

The door clicked shut and I looked down at my cup of juice. Dad made some comment to Isabella and moved away, still talking, but Bella and I were still in the front room. I looked up at her: a pretty face, a shy smile, innocent eyes… all joining together to form a ridiculous flirt. I'd been assuming her only fault in all this was that she tried to get rid of her loving swains by pawning them off on the rest of us but Jacob had given me a fresh perspective. Intentionally or not, she was leading all these guys on.

"Gen?" Isabella asked, turning to see me frowning at her.

I paused for a second before I thought of what to ask her. "Did you tell Tyler you'd go to prom with him?" I asked slowly.

Bella turned bright red and looked at her feet. "You found out about that, huh?"

I blinked twice, considering my sister and the chagrin on her face.

Then I simply reached up and dumped an entire glass of cranberry juice over her pretty little head.

...

Author's note:

Long chapter and Jacob.

You're welcome.