Another change: no Emily or imprinting.
Chapter 2
As much as Bella loved her friends and her Dad, she loved spending summers with her mom. Granted, as she got older, she had spent less time with her, for summers in Washington were preferable to winters in Arizona or Florida, where Renee spent most of her time. So after starting high school, she spent December with her, and Renee came up to Washington for June.
The summer after her sophomore year, Renee noted right away that something was bothering her. She admitted that she was dreading next year, for her best friends, Rachel and Rebecca Black, would be gone. Rachel would be away at college, and Rebecca's husband-to-be wanted her to move to Hawaii.
"Don't you have any other friends on the res?"
Well, Jake - the twins' brother - was ok, as were Quil and Embry, but Leah ...
"What's wrong with Leah?"
She was a year older than the Blacks, and she had been dating this guy for like, four years, but she never liked Bella. "Calls me paleface."
"Oh, Bella, she's just teasing you."
"Paleface" might be teasing, but "white bitches stealing our men"?
"OK, that sounds pretty bad... but remember, it's her attitude, not yours. Maybe her dad had an affair with a white girl. You never know why people act the way they do. And yes, it's racism, but Leah gets judged whenever she goes anywhere else, and that's racism too. It's human nature to want to separate into packs, but people need to actually use their brains instead of instincts. Do you just not get along with anyone at Forks High?"
It wasn't that, exactly, but she'd been so close to Becky and Rach for so long, it wasn't exactly fun to think she had to start from the beginning with people she knew-but-didn't-know.
"That's one problem I've always had with Forks, no one ever comes here..."
Actually, there were a few new kids. Mike Newton moved in fifth grade, and then Emmett Cullen and Rosalie Hale came a few years ago, but they were seniors this year.
"Tell me about these seniors?"
Carlisle and Esme Cullen moved here just before Bella started high school. Rosalie was her niece, she thought, and Emmett was a foster kid, but apparently they were dating.
"Well that's... strange."
Oh yes, it was strange. Lots of Game of Thrones jokes - "or should we say Rosalie Lannister?" Especially since Rosalie was a gorgeous blonde who didn't look sixteen in the least.
"So they just... hang out with each other?"
No friends, indeed.
"Well, Bella, I know it's tricky, but why don't you start asking people for help with homework, and then chat a little, and maybe watch movies or TV together?"
So that was what she did, during her junior year, and by the next time she saw Rachel, they both had plenty to tell each other. Of course, when two people are talking to each other, each of people the other has never met, it's a little cross-purposes, but it didn't really matter. Unfortunately for Bella, Rachel only spent two weeks in August at home, as she had taken courses over the summer term as well.
It really wasn't as horrible as Bella had thought it would be. Angela, Jessica and Lauren were all fairly friendly with her, as were Ben, Tyler, Mike, Conner and Eric. She and her dad went to the Blacks for Sunday dinner once a month, and she sometimes even hung out with Jake and Embry (Quil having discovered girls who put out, and put Bella in the category of girls who didn't). She took her SATs and got letters of recommendation from her English teacher. She applied to every in-state school, and a few out-of-state that she thought she could afford, and even a few faux-Ivy schools that her counselor mentioned had good aid packages.
And she had a truck that was breaking down. Her dad bought it for her when she got her license, from Uncle Billy, but really, from Jake. He looked it over every couple of months, and that morning she noted that it was making "that noise" again, so left a message that she would need Jake to check it out soon. At lunch, she'd checked her messages, and Jake had responded "come by 2nite."
So after letting her dad know, she drove to the Black's. Jake seemed to get taller every time she saw him, and he happily picked her up and swung her in a circle. Quil and Embry simply shook her hand. What with summer road trips, visiting Renee and Rachel, she hadn't seen much of "her boys" since May, and she was struck with a certain thought:
"Damn, these guys are HOT."
She felt a stab of guilt; they were only sophomores, after all. Granted, Bella wasn't quite eighteen, but she remembered freshman year, a senior girl was dating a junior guy - the junior guy was actually only a few months younger, just born after the cut-off, like Bella - and the gossip was quite nasty, leading to a breakup before Thanksgiving. Not that she really wanted to date Embry or Quil, and Jake was like her brother, but they were still kind of ... beautiful.
While they inspected her truck, Bella searched for a snack. Rachel had made sure to buy fruit when she was home, but there appeared to be only a couple of blackberries left. At least no one had eaten all the yogurt. Billy was reading a novel on the couch, splayed, but invited Bella, sitting up to make room for her.
"Have you heard from Rachel?" she asked.
"Not really. I think you hear from her more than I do. She doesn't really like to be reminded of here so much."
It was true; Rachel had insisted that if she came back to La Push again, it would only be to see Bella. "I know. Um, how about Becky? I don't hear much from her."
He smiled. "Becky is still madly in love with David - and Maui - and couldn't be happier. I think they're talking about having kids soon."
"Really? I can't really picture her as a mom." Bella had been to their wedding, and could still hardly even realize she was married. She was only nineteen, after all, and Bella had had it hammered into her head not to get married till after getting a college degree. Renee would never have gotten married if she'd finished college, she ranted, and Bella was quite aware that if her parents had been smarter, she herself would probably not exist. Her parents made her feel loved, so it didn't upset her to realize it.
Quil ran inside. "Hey Bella, I think Jake's got it working."
Bella smiled at Billy before going outside to test the truck. Embry was waving bye as she started the truck. "Thanks ever so much, Jake, you're a total lifesaver."
"Hey, no problem. You wanna stay for dinner? I was gonna fry up some burgers."
"Sure thing."
"Well, I guess I better get home too," said Quil, patting Jake on the shoulder.
Jake was frowning as Bella followed him inside. She helped cutting up the vegetables and toasting the buns, and asked him if anything was wrong.
"Well... did you notice how Embry cut his hair?"
She had noticed, but Quil had always kept his short. "Is that a big deal?"
"I don't know. Um, do you know Sam Uley?"
"Not really. I mean, he's Leah's boyfriend, but she hates me."
He barked a single laugh. "He kinda started this gang. Everyone in it buzzed their hair real short - him and Paul and Jared. I mean, I don't think it's a real 'gang', Dad acts like it's more of a tribal initiation thing? But all the guys used to be totally cool, and now they only hang out with each other. Embry doesn't have a dad, you know, and -" He broke off, flipping two patties.
"So you think he's trying to join?"
"Well, it sounds like they told him no, but shit, you should see the way Sam looks at me and Quil. It's fuckin' creepy," he complained.
"How long has this been going on?"
"Well Sam, he cut his hair like a year ago, but Paul and Jared started hanging out with him this summer. June, I guess, yeah."
Bella only knew Sam through Leah, but she remembered he had longer hair than she did. Apparently her brother Seth told Jake about the fights they started having after his haircut. "He'd sneak out without telling her anything, but the tribal council verified that he was with them. Leah totally went after every female, married or single, to threaten them," he snickered. "She's a firecracker."
"But he was telling the truth, he wasn't cheating?"
He snickered again. "Unless it was with Paul and Jared, I don't think he was, no." But the laughter didn't seem to touch his eyes. "Even if it isn't, I don't exactly think I want to be part of whatever the hell it is."
"Is Billy concerned at all?" she asked in a low voice as they set the table.
"No, he just smirks and says to be patient, as if I want to join the damn gang," he muttered.
She squeezed his hand. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to."
"I hope so," he whispered, then walked over to call his dad to dinner.
