Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Stephanie Meyer does. I only own the parts of this story not taken from her works.

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Ditching

The sound the wrench made as it hit, then passed through, the garage wall echoed through the forest that surrounded the beautiful house by the river. Emmett and Rosalie fought often, a byproduct of their natural tenacity, and they both knew it would pass quickly, but it was rare for them to destroy things in the process. That kind of destruction was typically the product of a different kind of passionate expression.

But Emmett had been frustrated all afternoon and the return of his siblings from their trip to Port Angeles pushed him over the top. He knew better than to express that irritation by trying to talk about it, he never won arguments with Rose, so he let his anger out in another, in his mind, safer way. He threw things.

"Wow, that really makes it better. Carlisle and Esme will love that. You know how much they enjoy new holes in the walls."

His response was a growl, so loud a hiker nearby would have thought they were dangerously near a bear. He couldn't talk to her when she was like this. He was so tired of her stubborn hissy fits. She needed to get over this whole Bella Swan thing and she needed to do it soon, before they missed any more of the fun. Actually, he would settle for her letting up enough to stop insisting that they both ignore her. If she wanted to, that was fine, but why did that mean that he couldn't hang out with them while she was around.

He went to reach for another wrench.

"Oh let it go, Emmett, you're being such a baby about this."

"Let's get one thing straight gorgeous, I am not the stubborn vampire in this marriage. That honor goes all to you, babe. No competition." He hadn't meant to speak. He knew that, as soon as he did, she would start to talk him down. He wanted to be angry for awhile longer.

"If you're that upset about missing the movie, you and I can go tomorrow." This was it, she was trying to reel him in. He contemplated whether he should give up early or make her work for it.

"That wasn't the point, dear."

"Was it the company you were craving? Are you saying you would rather go to some crappy movie with your brothers and their…" she hated using the word, "dates, than hang out with me all afternoon?" The look on her face as she moved towards him said that she was going in for the kill. It was hopeless to resist at this point. Emmet decided to give in.

He let out a loud sigh, "no."

She wrapped her arms around his waist, never letting go of him with her gaze. This was a complete knockout, his wife did not play fair. She leaned up to kiss him, stopping just in front of his lips. "Good, because I would have missed you too much."

As lovely as making out with his wife always was, even after all these years, Emmett was angry with himself for giving in so quickly. After a few minutes he decided to try a softer approach now that he had her so close. He chose his words carefully.

"Alice is right, you know. No matter what happens, Bella is around to stay. We're going to have to acknowledge her eventually."

It was working, she was softening up. Rosalie buried her head in his chest. She inhaled and exhaled very deliberately, letting him know she still did not want to talk about it yet. But she wasn't yelling at him, so that was progress. He let his hand run through her golden blonde hair.

Then she spoke.

"It's not that I hate her, mostly. It's that I hate what she is doing to our family. Things were normal before she got involved."

He couldn't help but chuckle. "Things were boring, you mean. Come on, this has got to be one of the worst High Schools we have ever had to subject ourselves to. At least we have something to distract us all day."

She smiled slightly at that, then looked pensive again. "I honestly hope this isn't happening to her. I know my behavior hasn't really backed this up, but I am worried for her."

He held her closer. "I know, babe. But it doesn't look good and us ignoring it won't keep it from happening. He can't go with her tomorrow and he's really upset about it. You don't have to do it for her, but maybe we should make an effort for Edward's sake. Poor kid is falling apart."

"I know…"

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"Is this it?" Bella was sure that Edward had had said that his brothers and sisters were coming with them. Plural.

"Yes." He seemed aggravated, annoyed. "Rosalie has a… paper to write tonight and Emmett didn't want to come without her."

Then he seemed to regain control over himself. He smiled at her. "But Alice and Jasper are both still coming, though, so you don't have to worry about spending the whole evening with me alone."

She wanted to tell him how much that definitely would not bother her… at all, but couldn't figure out how to say it without sounding terribly desperate.

"Good."

She wanted to kick herself. She had the opportunity to spend an entire evening with Edward Cullen, a boy she had dreams about at night. Edward Cullen, the painfully handsome guy who noticed no one outside his family circle, who suddenly decided he wanted to be her friend, noticed her, had asked her to skip class the rest of the day, had saved her from the horror of blood typing in biology class, and the most coherent sentence she could put together consisted of one word. This was going to be a long night.

"Hi Bella!" His sister Alice was suddenly standing next to her. Popping out of thin air was apparently a Cullen thing. Edward did it to her all the time. She turned to greet her, smiling. Nervous as she was, Alice's enthusiasm was hard to not return.

"Nice to meet you. Alice, right?"

She laughed, it was almost musical sounding. "Yeah. Sorry, I forgot we haven't been introduced. Edward talks about you so much I feel like I know you."

Bella's heart stopped for a second as she inhaled suddenly, then it started racing. She couldn't stop herself from looking at him, but his eyes were not on her. They were shooting a death glare towards his sister. Alice just smiled sweetly, innocently back at him. She broke the look first, returning her gaze to Bella.

"You also haven't met Jasper." She motioned for him to join them. Bella hadn't noticed him standing near the back end of the car, keeping his distance and looking relatively calm as he took the outstretched hand of the pixie-child practically bouncing next to him. He smiled at Bella, almost as if his eyes were trying to apologize for what had just happened.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Bella." She was nervous and her heart was still pounding from the thought of Edward talking about her to his family, but when she shook his hand, a calm spread through her and she felt oddly at ease in this small group. She was able to return his smile.

"Okay let's go!" Alice was already getting in the car.

Bella looked at Edward. They had already visited the office to make her excuses for the rest of the day, but they hadn't talked about what they were going to do with her truck, which reminded her of another problem. Charlie.

"Uh, my truck?" Three words, at least it was an improvement.

He smiled at her again. "We'll drop it off at your house, if that's alright? Alice and Jasper can follow us there and then I was thinking, of course it's up to you, but you should probably leave a note for Chief Swan, so he doesn't get worried if we get back late. I'll give you my cell phone number to give him just in case… if you want."

"Wow." She was impressed. This kid obviously knew how to sneak out.

"What?" He seemed partially amused but also partially concerned.

She smiled, "you're very, um, thorough, aren't you? Do you do this often, steal innocent girls out of class to go see movies?"

His eyes were irresistible when he grinned like that. "Never, actually, but I like to make sure all my bases are covered nonetheless."

"Good." She hadn't even realized they were walking until he opened the door of her truck and offered his hand to help her in.

"Thanks." Even through her gloves, she could feel electricity running through her veins as he helped her into her truck and walked around to the other side to seat himself next to her.

She hesitated slightly as she put the key in the ignition, not wanting to scare him as her truck roared to life. Then again, she thought, everybody who lived within a 10 miles radius of Forks was more than familiar with her beast of a truck so it shouldn't take anyone by surprise. Still, she groaned slightly as she turned the key, alerting everyone within Forks High that Bella Swan had just left the building.

The red beast sounded even louder today that it ever had before, but Bella was sure that was just because she never had cause to feel self-conscious about her ancient truck. She was used to it but it would definitely be a deafening difference from the quiet purr of his Volvo. He laughed at her reaction, almost so low that she thought he hadn't meant for her to hear it. Even if he hadn't, his shaking would have given him away. She could see it out of the corner of her eye.

"Sorry, I know it's kind of loud."

"It's got" he paused, looking for the right word, "character?"

"Be nice." She had to remember not to try and look at him or they would go off the road.

The trip home was filled with occasional meaningless commentary about landmarks they passed on their way through town. When they pulled in the drive, Edward's silver Volvo was already there with Alice and Jasper waiting for them inside. Bella pulled the truck into its usual parking spot and went to go inside the house. She turned around to ask Edward for his number to leave for Charlie but he was already waiting there, hand extended, with a piece of paper that had seven numbers on it.

"Thorough."

"I'll wait for you here." He wasn't looking at her, he was staring oddly at a pile things Charlie had pulled out of the basement for her that was sitting on the porch.

Bella was happy for the few minutes she had to herself when she got inside the house. She needed to get better control of her breathing if she wanted to be able to make conversation tonight. She wanted to learn as much about this strange family as she could while she had the chance. Edward was still stubbornly refusing to explain the nearly miraculous things she had seen him do and even now she was getting the feeling that he was hiding something from her, something important. She hoped she'd get the chance to throw a couple of questions their way tonight and finally get some answers.

She left her note for Charlie with Edward's number, saying that she was going to Port Angeles with her new friend Alice Cullen and two of her brothers. Charlie wasn't ready for her to be running off to the movies with a boy. Bella hoped that she was a little more mature than her father on this point but the butterflies in her stomach were making her wonder if she was.

One way to find out, she thought, as she stepped outside and locked the door.

Edward was still looking at the pile of stuff on her porch, amused. She turned to see what Charlie had found. He knew she was going to the beach and he pulled out a few things he thought would be useful, a board she used in the ocean when she was younger and wet suit that hadn't fit her since she was 12. Of course, none of it actually would be used by her this weekend because nothing could entice her into the bitter March water but she appreciated his effort.

"I'm supposed to go to the beach tomorrow with some kids from school and Charlie thought I would want the stuff I used to take when I was 10," she explained, "and it was summer. He tries." She smiled fondly.

It looked like the thought of Bella surfing sounded just as humorous and improbable to him as it did to her. When they got in the car, he decided to pick up the subject again.

"So you're going to the beach tomorrow?" He asked very casually.

"Yeah, Mike Newton's been planning it for weeks." Bella swore she saw his hands tighten around the steering wheel. "A bunch of us are going. I'm not really stoked at the idea of a beach trip in March in Washington, but I guess there aren't many other options around here."

Inspiration hit. "Are you guys busy this weekend? You could come with us."

"Where are you going?" Edward was still trying to sound casual.

"To First Beach, on the La Push reservation."

The mood changed suddenly and for several long seconds nobody said anything.

Alice spoke first, breaking the tension. "That sounds like fun, Bella, but we already have plans. Edward and Jasper are going hiking with Emmett and our father tomorrow and I'm going shopping with Rose and our Mom in Olympia. A girl's day."

Bella has turned to look at her in the backseat as she spoke. Her heart sank, but she decided she shouldn't be surprised. She had heard that the Cullens often did things together in the outdoors on the weekends. She tried to not let her disappointment show.

"It's cool. Sounds like you guys will have a good time."

"Why do you have to go there?" Edward spoke this time. Bella couldn't put her finger on it, but she thought that he sounded aggravated.

"I don't know. Mike has some friends up there, I guess. He's been planning this whole thing, the rest of us are just along for the ride."

She watched him carefully. For a moment he looked very tense then, suddenly, the entire mood in the car changed. Everything went back to feeling very casual, calm.

Alice started talking about her expectations for the girls weekend and hardly allowed Bella the opportunity to pay attention to anything else. Edward kept his eyes forward on the road. Bella felt that he was still upset by something she had said earlier, but couldn't concentrate on figuring it out while Alice kept her attention.

Jasper sat quietly beside Alice, holding her hand and looking back and forth between the two girls. Mostly, though, his gaze was on Bella. She felt that he was looking for something and a part of her screamed that she should feel uncomfortable that he was looking at her this way. But she didn't. The whole trip she felt completely at ease.

In less time than she would have thought possible, they were in Port Angeles. Bella hadn't been paying attention to the clock, so she didn't know what time they left but she was sure they made it there faster than she ever had made the trip before. She made a mental note to try and pay better attention to the route they took home. It was obviously a shortcut.

Edward parked the car. They had about 45 minutes before the movie started, and he didn't know how to fill the time. Alice kept saying she and Jasper were going to give them some time by themselves and, as much as he wanted to spend time alone with Bella, he wasn't sure if it was the best idea at the moment. But, with Bella there, the only discussion they could have was Alice thinking about her plan and then announcing it as soon as the car stopped.

The beach plan upset him. It was true that he was planning on going out of town this weekend with Carlisle, Emmett and Jasper. They all needed to hunt, especially Edward even though he had done so more recently than the others. The stress of the situation was beginning to take its toll on him. The burn in his throat was getting worse and, now that they were spending time together, he didn't want to risk hurting her.

But Alice, Esme and Rose were not going to Olympia. They were staying behind to follow Bella and keep an eye on her. That was the problem. If Bella was going to La Push, then there was no way his family could follow her there without risking a war. While Alice had been chattering about Olympia, trying to distract Bella, he had been thinking of a way to get around it. He hadn't come up with anything. Carlisle would never support any plan that broke the treaty and none of Edward's plans honored the treaty. He thought about making Alice and Esme invite Bella to actually go shopping in Olympia, but if he was being honest with himself, he didn't want that, either.

He had used the remaining time in the car to reconcile himself to the idea that she would be unsupervised for awhile. It should be okay. The werewolves were long gone, so there should be no more harm to her there than there would be anywhere else. That was another problem, though. This girl seemed to find trouble everywhere.

So without his being able to protest at all, Alice pulled Jasper away towards a shop down the street she said she had been meaning to visit and Edward turned to ask if there was anything Bella wanted to look at in their free time.

She looked at him with curious eyes.

"Is everything okay?"

This was exactly why he didn't want Jasper and Alice to run off. Jasper hadn't only been controlling her mood, trying to keep her from getting too suspicious, he had been controlling Edward's too. As soon as First Beach was mentioned, Jasper realized that Edward's surveillance plans for the weekend were ruined and that it would upset him. Even though he had been trying to calm himself down, he apparently wasn't successful in hiding his concern once Jasper was gone. He would have to put a little more effort into it.

He tried to smile, "of course, why would you ask that?"

"You seemed kind of upset when I was talking about going to the beach. You still look like something is bugging you." Why did he constantly underestimate her perceptiveness? It was as if she saw right through him.

He decided to stick to as much truth as he could, hoping sincerity would throw her suspicion off track.

"It sounds like you are going to have a good time. Maybe I was just upset that I couldn't come with you." As in, couldn't or it would start a war.

"You can." She sounded irresistibly eager. He let that sink in for a moment. She wanted him to go with her. He couldn't deny the sensation it sent through his body. It helped him to get over some of his frustration.

"I really can't." He emphasized each word, but wanted to keep it from getting too serious again. She always got him to say things he didn't intend when it got that serious. "Besides, I don't think Mike Newton would appreciate your inviting me. I don't think he likes me very much."

"What makes you say that?"

Keep it close to the truth, he reminded himself. "I get the feeling he's upset that I have stolen your attention away from him in Biology."

She laughed. "Mike Newton," he loved the way she said his name, almost as if it were as distasteful to her as it was to him, "will have to learn to get over it. And you shouldn't let that stop you from coming, if you want."

Her eyes were wide as she tried to convince him to come. He tried reasoning with himself. Surely this was worth breaking a treaty for, if such a treaty was even still valid. But no, Carlisle would never allow it. He knew that Carlisle was right, even if it made him crazy to think of her spending a whole afternoon away from their protection. And he needed to hunt.

"I really need to go with my brothers this weekend, Bella, but I do wish I could go with you."

Before he realized what he was doing, he reached up and ran his fingers down her cheek. She closed her eyes as his fingers touched her skin and he could hear her pulse quicken. It was hot, made warmer by the blood that was rushing to her cheeks, making her blush. He let his hand drop.

"I'm sorry." He meant those words in so many ways.

"Don't be." She smiled at him.

They decided to spend their time walking around the shops that surrounded the theater looking at and talking about nothing in particular until it was time to meet up with Alice and Jasper for the movie. Edward was having such a pleasant time getting to know Bella outside the confines of school that he had almost forgotten the reason for their trip. That is, until they got inside.

As they were standing in line to give the attendant their tickets, a group of teenagers behind them were trying to fight their way to the front. Edward moved out of the way, deciding it was better to let them pass than try to argue with them. He was moving to nudge Bella out of the way when one of the boys slammed into her back and laughed.

Bella did not laugh. She did not look annoyed. She screamed in pain. He had slammed right into her shoulder.