I had work the next morning and it did not go well. I was so distracted that I ended up getting shoved back to kitchen duty, washing dishes as my boss frantically ran around doing everything else while still managing to point out several times that I'd been staring at the same plate for twenty minutes. By the time I got out of there, an hour after the lunch rush, she was pretty happy to see me go and I was three seconds away from ripping a plate in half from sheer frustration.

Getting off of work made things worse.

It turned out, surprise surprise, that once I didn't have an angry boss to think about, I had Tyler to think about. I ended up sitting in my car alone, staring at the dashboard, muttering to myself and wishing Forks had daisies so I could pull of all their petals and figure him out already. Then Dad called and left two voicemails pointing out that I was still grounded and had better get my butt home: I listened to them listlessly, not bothering to pick up when he called the third time. I was too busy studying my nails and wondering why Tyler Crowley hadn't kissed me.

The worst was yet to come.

As I sat there, mutely wondering if there was anything from last night that I was missing, if something had happened while I'd been in the bathroom or having my lame dance with Eric, if I should just text Tyler and pretend that I'd noticed nothing… as I sat there wondering what I should do, I got a text.

With a sigh, I picked up the phone, telling myself that I was overthinking things. He'd probably just been distracted and suddenly realized how close he'd gotten. He just thought of me as a friend and had gotten carried away with the romantic atmosphere and all the laughter and…

It was a text from Jess.

I stared at it for a minute and felt the numbness begin to take hold, felt confusion sparkling through my mind and blotting out any other thoughts. Almost blindly, I shoved the keys into the ignition and slammed into reverse, making my way home automatically as I began the whole process over, trying desperately to figure out where I'd gone wrong. At the last stop sign before home I couldn't take it anymore and I pulled out my phone to read it again, staring angrily down at the letters until a horn startled me out of my stunned reverie.

"So how did Tyler ask you out? He didn't tell me his plan ;)"

When I pulled into the driveway, I opened the phone again and hit the call button, not sure if I would have the chance to talk after my dad saw I'd finally gotten home.

"Hey, Gen!"

"Jess… " I said awkwardly. "Tyler was going to ask me out?"

Long pause.

"Yeah… He told Mike… what was it, Friday? And I asked him about it last night and he was still planning on it." She sounded incredulous as she finished. "Did he not do it?"

I bit my lip, the world starting to turn blurry. "Nope."

"Wow." Jess said. She sounded almost genuinely sorry.

"Yep." I choked out a laugh. "And he changed his mind about kissing me, too." I admitted.

"Who's that?" I heard; Mike's voice in the background.

"Um, I have to go Gen. I'm out with Mike." Jess paused for a second. "Talk later?"

"Only if you beat Tyler up first." I said, trying to sound flippant and uncaring.

Jess laughed, falling for it. "I'll get Mike to help. Talk to you tomorrow."

"Bye."

Click.

I snatched the keys from the ignition and turned, finding a pair of red-rimmed brown eyes staring back at me from the rearview mirror. They looked away immediately, ashamed at this sign of weakness, but I could still feel the tears building up as I hurried past the cars in the driveway and into the house.

I really should have looked at the other cars.

As I burst into the house, I felt the explosion coming: I was already beginning to hiccough and my chin was trembling as I fought off thoughts of everything bad that had ever happened to me ever and felt instead a growing sense of stress knotting up in my neck. I slammed the door behind me, took one step in the direction of the stairs, decided I could definitely make it to my attic bedroom before I lost control, and…

Jacob Black appeared in the living room door.

He took in my state of being immediately and started to back up, but Isabella was behind him and wasn't quite as observant.

"Hey, Gen, how you feel about fish fry for supper?"

"Not hungry." I snapped, turning again and walking hurriedly toward the stairs.

"Gen…"

"I said I'm not hungry!" I called desperately, starting up the stairs as fast as I could before she could call me back. I heard her saying something quietly to the Blacks but she didn't come after me.

When I got upstairs, I took to the opportunity to trash my room.

Not feeling much better as I surveyed a broken lamp, pillows and clothes scattered across the room and a shoe lodged on top of my dresser, I sat down on the bed, put my head in my hands, and sobbed.

A few minutes later there was a knock at the door.

Jacob peeked in, looking a little annoyed. "Gen?... Oh."

"Oh." I repeated, glaring up at him. "Yes, oh. Go away, Jacob."

"Can't." Jacob sighed. "Dad kicked me up here to check on you and they'll both send me right back up if I go back."

"Then sit on the stairs, Jacob, geez!" I ground my palms into my eyes, but he'd had time to look around and see the state of my room.

"Um… Redecorating?" Jacob guessed.

"Yep. Going for the 'Life is stupid so why clean' look." I snapped, kicking at a bit of lamp that skittered away from me and bounced off a wall.

"Ok…" Jacob walked hesitantly into the room, carefully walking around my scattered possession until he arrived at my computer chair lying on a pile of clothes. Yanking it upright, he dragged it over to my bed and sat it facing away from me, straddling it backwards so he could rest his arms across the back. "Is it that scary story douche again?"

I looked up, surprised. "Who?"

"That guy you were with at the beach." Jacob said calmly. "If you need anyone to beat him up, my offer still stands."

I looked him up and down, wanting to point out that he was tiny compared to Tyler, but realizing at the last second that Jacob didn't deserve me taking out my bad mood on him.

I smiled weakly. "That's ok, Jacob. Really. It's just been a long week."

"Look." Jacob said, settling further into my computer chair. "I'm stuck up here for a least the next ten minutes. So if you want to talk…"

"I don't know." I said. "I just feel…" I shook my head. "No, you don't need to hear this."

"Maybe I could help." He offered. I looked at him skeptically. "What? You have guy problems. I'm a guy."

"Yes, but you don't know my guy." I said.

"I know he's a jerk." Jacob said.

"How?"

"Cuz he hurt you." Jacob said simply. "Only a jerk would want to hurt Genevieve Amelia Swan."

"Amelia?" I said, puzzled.

"Is that not your middle name?" Jacob said, looking a little embarrassed. "Paul said it was."

"Why would he say that?" I asked. "And why Amelia?"

Jacob closed his eyes and propped his chin on his folded arms, swiveling the chair back and forth. "He was making fun of someone for dating someone they barely knew and asked them if they knew the girls' middle name. I think you can figure it out from there."

"They asked if he'd known mine and he lied." I agreed.

"Very smart." Jacob said, yawning a little.

"He got it from me." I admitted.

Jacob looked up at me, considering as he saw my sheepish face. "You do lie a lot, don't you." I looked away. "Well, it's better than attacking people like Paul does."

"I dumped a bowl of punch on a girl last night." I admitted. Jacob snorted. "Though she attacked me first."

"Man, I knew I should have gone to school in Forks. It sounds so much more interesting." Jacob shook his head.

"Drama starts out interesting." I said slowly. "Then it gets exhausting. And then you destroy your room."

"Yeah…" Jacob said, glancing around. "There is that."

"I do feel a little better though." I sighed.

"Ok." Jacob lay his head down on his arms again, frowning moodily. "Want some help cleaning? Probably not going to be allowed downstairs for a bit."

I gave him a quizzical look. "Why?"

"My dad and Bella are probably having a huge argument." Jacob said. "Or, you know, Bella's version of a huge argument." I continued to stare blankly. "Billy doesn't want her with the Cullens." Jacob explained.

"Oh!" I got up and, realizing I had no reason for doing so, decided to amble over to my small window. "Good."

"Good?" Jacob asked. "It's stupid."

"No. There's something wrong about them." I said. "About him. He's a dick, Jacob. A giant bag of dicks."

"Okaaaay." Jacob laughed. "But since when do you and my dad agree?"

"I don't know." I stared out the window, watching the rain get heavier. Listening to the patter made my heart feel a little lighter and I wasn't frowning as badly as I turned to look at Jacob. "But you don't have to help clean."

Jacob shrugged and stood, ready to go. "Alright." He started making his way carefully to the door, again making sure not to step on any of my stuff. His hand was reaching for the doorknob when I realized that I really, really didn't want to be alone.

"But…" I said, catching him off guard. "Um… Would you stay anyway? Keep me company while I start to organize this mess?"

Jacob blinked at me, mouth hanging slightly open for a moment. Then he gave me his huge puppy grin and bounced back over to the chair. As I began to collect the clothes that still had hangers attached, Jacob began to prattle on about the car he was building and about getting his license. Part of me tuned him out, but it was still weirdly nice to have him there, to have his calm voice chasing away all the anger and self-doubt that Lauren and Tyler had brought boiling up inside me. When Billy yelled up for Jacob, maybe ten minutes later, I was almost disappointed and I actually started to follow the kid down.

"Um, Gen?"

"Yeah?" I said, halting behind Jacob as he stopped in the stairway.

"You might want to wash your face." He said quietly. "I know Dad wants to see you, but… you still have a little…"

"Ok." I said, my breath catching a little as I nodded. "Tell him I'll be right there?"

"Sure." Jacob said, starting to reach out but then catching himself, probably remembering my reaction last time.

"Be right there."

I quickly splashed cold water over my face and dried off, making my way back to the stairs as I listened in on Jacob arguing with his dad about staying for dinner or just a little while longer. I knew it was for Bella—poor kid obviously had a huge crush on her—but I still was a little bit disappointed when his dad shook his head.

"Hey, Billy." I said quietly.

He glanced up and smiled at me. "Genny." He said. "You should talk to your sister."

"Dad…" Jacob groaned.

Billy was insistent. "Tell her what you think. For Charlie."

I bit my lip and shrugged, looking away as I realized that I would probably never be willing to tell Isabella what I suspected about that night in Port Angeles… at least not until I figured out how it connected to Billy's dislike of the Cullens. When I looked back, Billy was frowning and Jacob was mouthing an apology to me.

"See you." I muttered.

"Bye, Gen." Billy said. "Take care, Bella."

I glanced over to find her frowning in the kitchen doorway. She didn't reply.

Jacob and I shared an awkward look as he wheeled his father out the door.

I walked over and shut the door behind them before turning and looking at my sister. She lifted her chin slightly, a defiant look on her face. I waited for a second, wondering what Billy had told her, what he'd said about what I'd asked him. Bella said nothing, waiting for me.

Finally, I shrugged and walked back up the stairs.

Because really, what did Isabella's love life have to do with me?

..

I fell asleep soon after that. My dreams were a blur, faces mixing together with scenes from my memory. Nothing I would remember later. They ended with a nightmare: suddenly going from a glimpse of the dance with Tyler to a dream of drowning. I began to twist around, struggling to breathe but unable to tell which way was up or down. My lungs began to burn as the dream continued, panic setting in until with one final yank I broke out of the dream and into the waking world.

Something still wasn't right.

"Leave me alone!" Someone screamed.

I sat up shakily, confused to find the world dark around me. "Isabella?"

"Bella, are you okay? What's going on?"

I leapt out of bed, recognizing fear in my dad's voice as he continued yelling at Bella to open the door. I was soon beside him, looking blearily between him and the locked door.

"Dad?"

"Did she tell you anything?" He asked, rubbing anxiously at what hair he had left. "She was just going out with Edward…"

"Edward?" I said. I turned and began pounding on the door myself. "Is-a-bell-a! did that dick do something to you?"

"No!" Bella sobbed.

"Don't lie, Isa-Oh, that dick! I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him!" I started down the stairs but my dad grabbed my arm.

"Bells, what are you doing?" He asked, hitting the door again but holding me back from doing something stupid. "Did he break up with you?"

I bit of hope fluttered: did I not have to worry about that creep anymore?

"I broke up with him!" Bella shrieked back.

Oh, no. I shared a glance with my dad, but I don't he understood the worry in my look: what kind of stalker would that kid be when she didn't return his feelings? If I was right… if he'd arranged things in Port Angeles… I turned back to the door and pulled a bobby pin from my hair, thinking to pick the lock. It swung open before I could try and Bella brushed past me, nearly knocking me down the stairs as she swung her heavy bag over her shoulder.

"What happened?" Dad said as he followed her, confused and not seeming to care that I'd just about almost died. "I thought you liked him."

They were both downstairs now. I didn't bother following, just sat on my bum in the landing, feeling a weird sense of déjà vu as they argued. There was a sense of dread weighing me down, keeping me from doing anything to keep my sister from running off. The heaviness in my chest was making it hard to breathe. It was simply the final knockout punch in a round when Bella said her 'goodbye'.

"Just let me go, Charlie. It didn't work out, okay? I really, really hate Forks!"

And then the door slammed.

And dad and I were left with the words mom had once said echoing through our heads.

The words mom said when she left us.

The words mom said when I let her leave me.