Chapter 4 – Information

The mutt ruined everything. I knew Jacob Black cared about Bella, but how dare he interfere in our conversation. I seethed through the rest of the school day. Alice saw that Bella was at home, crying in bed. Edward, just leave her alone for now. She needs her time to deal with all this. "But Alice……?" Alice showed me her vision of Bella lying in bed, starting to fall asleep. You can see her later. I sighed; I just wanted to see Bella. I needed to see her. After months of living on a tattered picture and my memories of her, to separate myself from her now was beyond painful. I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but I did not think it was going to be this hard. My anger grew at the thought of Jacob Black for making this harder than necessary. Alice kicked me, I saw that, Edward. We just got you back and it would hurt all of us if you tried to fight one of the wolves. The shrill bell rang, "Alice, she knew he was a werewolf. He was trembling, about to change, but Bella calmed him." Alice looked up at me, "Oh boy. So much for her staying out of trouble. We have to talk to Carlisle about this. The pack may be bigger than we thought." I nodded as we sat in our seats for our last class.

I contemplated going to Bella's house before going home. Alice elbowed me in the ribs, Let her rest, Edward. I know you want to see her, but she's upset right now. Don't push her. I closed my eyes in defeat. "Fine, Alice." The teacher droned on and on about logarithms and I tried to pay attention, but I was completely uninterested. Soon, the bell rang and Alice and I were off to the parking lot. We were near my car, when Alice stopped. I looked back to see Angela coming towards us, "Hi. I'm sorry, Alice, but have you seen Bella?" Alice looked up at me, "She went home early." Angela nodded, Don't blame her. "Ok, I was just worried about her. I'll see you tomorrow." Alice and I got in the car and were the first ones out of the parking lot. Alice was on the phone with Carlisle, explaining that he had to come home right away. She sighed, "Edward, this is important. She'll be fine." My hands tightened on the steering wheel. We were a minute away from Bella's house. Alice groaned, "Fine, but you have two minutes." I sighed as we turned down her street.

I moved out of the car before anyone could see me. I went through her bedroom window and found her in bed. I saw the trail of dried tears on her cheeks. Clutched in her hand was a tissue. The quilt was tangled in her legs. I sat on the edge of her bed and kissed her cheek. She sighed and turned on her side. I untangled the quilt and tucked it around her. I turned to leave her, but had a thought. I picked up the floorboard and took out the box I placed there months ago and put it on the desk. Edward, Carlisle is waiting for us. I nodded, looked back at Bella, who was sleeping peacefully and I leapt out of the window. Alice was in the driver's seat and we made our way home. In the house, everyone was in the living room. "Alice, Edward, what is going on?" Alice sat with Jasper, "The wolf pack. It may be larger than we thought." Carlisle looked between me and Alice, "Well, that's interesting." It's about the wolves. I thought something was wrong with Bella. I sighed, "One of them is friends with her. The boy who told her his tribe's legends when he didn't believe in them." Carlisle blinked, "Jacob Black? I wonder if he realizes that he violated the treaty, when it was his own ancestor who initiated it." Emmett stood, "Carlisle, should you meet with their leader about this?"

Carlisle shook his head, "And what would you have me say? They know we're here again. And I am sure that's the reason the boy went to the school." Alice sighed, "That's not the only reason he came today. He came for Bella." Carlisle looked at me, "Is that true?" I nodded, "Yes." Esme looked at me, "And they are friends? Bella and Jacob?" "Yes. Remember, their fathers are best friends. Bella and Jacob have known each other since they were children." Esme nodded, "Oh." Rosalie looked at me, Well, it seems you have some competition. I looked at her and she looked away. Jasper looked from Rosalie to me, "You believe Jacob came to the school to keep Bella away from you?" I nodded, "I think so. He was more upset about seeing me with Bella than anything else. But I could also see she was worried about him. He was about to phase, but she calmed him down." Carlisle stared at me, "She calmed him down? A young werewolf?" Esme and Rosalie's eyes widened at that fact.

Jasper huffed, "Well, that is interesting. But isn't she supposed to be staying out of trouble and now; she's friends with a young werewolf?" I sunk into the closest chair to me, "You read my mind." Emmett looked at me, Oh, hell. She can't do this. Those things are the most reckless and stupid things she could ever encounter. We have to keep her away from them. "I couldn't agree more with you, Em." Carlisle sat with Esme, "What is that?" Emmett sat forward, "We have to keep Bella away from those things. They could hurt her. Or possibly kill her. They are not safe for her to be around." Carlisle nodded, "That may be true, but we cannot stop her. We don't know how long she was around the pack while we were gone. We cannot just come back into her life and tell her who she can and cannot interact with. That is not right." My eyes widened, "Carlisle! Those mongrels are not safe." He sighed, "Edward, you thought we weren't safe for her to be around and we took ourselves out of her life. It is not right of us to just come back and tell her the wolves are too dangerous for her." Alice cocked her head to the side, "Carlisle, the dogs have much less control than we do. You, above all of us, should know how volatile these things are. They could really hurt her."

Carlisle looked at Esme, then to the rest of us, "I understand your concerns. And I share in them, but I will not condone any of us telling Bella that she cannot be around the wolves. It is by her choice and her choice alone whom she spends her time with." My hands covered my face, "If you say so, Carlisle." I went up to my room and sat on my couch. I laid back and looked up at the ceiling, watching the sunlight move. The sun would be down soon and I would be able to go see Bella. I knew I would not want to see Charlie. I am more than sure I was his least favorite person in his daughter's life. Because of me, she ran off to Arizona, then I left her heartbroken shortly after her birthday. I wanted to find out more about what happened to Bella right after I left her in the forest. Ms. Cope said she fainted in the forest. My mind reeled at the thought of Bella unconscious on the ground, alone. What had I really done to her? I understood her shock this morning of seeing me and Alice and after I told her I would stay out of her life. Then she started to cry when I told her that I was lying.

What was Bella doing all these months when we were apart? Clearly, she had gotten to know Jacob Black better. So much better, that she knew what he was. Couldn't she just stick with her human friends? Edward, I'm going to call Angela. I want to know what happened to Bella and I know you want to know too. Alice came into my room, dialing her cell phone. "Hi, Ang." "Hey, Alice. What's up?" Alice winked at me, "I wanted to know what's been going on these past few months?" "Nothing, really. Things much have been really exciting for you, living in Los Angeles." Alice giggled, "Not really. Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper were away at college and Edward wanted to spend all his time alone." "Why?" "Why do you think? He missed Bella. I was really alone a lot of the time. Carlisle was always at work at the hospital and Esme was working on restoring old buildings." Angela sighed, "He really missed Bella that much?" "You have no idea." Alice sat on my couch, hanging her legs over the arm rest, looking like a typical teenage girl, "He would sit in his room after school and all weekend long. He wouldn't play the piano, he wouldn't play baseball with us, on the rare occasions we did play and he wouldn't talk with us. You know we're a close family, but our time in L.A. changed all that." "Wow, I guess it wasn't easy all around. I thought Bella had it bad."

Alice looked at me, "Really? How do you mean?" "Well, right after you left, there was a huge search party out looking for her. One of the guys from the res found her on the forest floor, almost 2 miles from her house, in the middle of the night. Mike, his dad and my dad were some of the volunteers who were looking for her. When my dad got home, it was almost dawn and he left to go find her at 7 the night before. Chief Swan was going off the wall. Dad said she was completely unconscious when the chief got her in the house." Alice's eyes widened, "Really? What else happened that night?" "Well, Dad said half the town was looking for her and some of the chief's friends from the reservation, including her friend, Jacob. When she was found, the guy who found her said she was just lying on the ground, talking to herself. I'm not sure what she was saying exactly, but they thought she was just delirious. Dr. Gerandy from the hospital was one of the volunteers and he checked her. She wasn't hurt physically. I think she was just in shock. Rumor was Edward broke up with her in the woods behind her house." Alice sighed, "After that night, what happened?" "I don't know if I should tell you, Alice." "Please, Ang. She's my best friend and it killed me to leave her, especially without saying good-bye." She sighed, "Ok, she was out of school for the rest of the week. All of us called her to check on her, but she never called anyone back. I went by to see her, but Chief Swann wouldn't let me see her. He said she was still in bed. She came back to school, but she was completely different. She wasn't shy; she just didn't talk to people. For months, she didn't eat with us at lunch, she didn't go out with us and she didn't talk. She wasn't Bella. After months of silence, Bella called Jessica to go to the movies, which wasn't a big success. Jess said Bella was going crazy, talking to guys outside of a bar. She said when Bella was approaching the guys at the bar, she stopped in her tracks and we looking back and forth for a minute. Then, that Monday, Bella was relatively back to normal. She was eating lunch with us and talking again. I asked her if she was ok and she said she wasn't completely all right, but she was a little better. Soon, she started spending all her free time on the reservation with Jacob. He was always at her house and she was always at his. I honestly think he's part of the reason she started to feel better. I think he was starting to care about her too, more than she cared about him."

Alice looked up at me, "Wow. I feel retched. It didn't make matters easier that we had to leave so suddenly." "Alice, don't. These things happen. Like you said, it was painful for both of them. Edward and Bella were hurting from this." Alice nodded, "You have no idea." Alice spoke with Angela about other things, while I stood by the glass wall. I leaned my arm on the glass and rested my head on it, looking down. She was found hours after I left her. When Alice hung up, she wrapped her arms around my waist, "Edward?" I stared out the window, "Alice, she must hate me."