Chapter 9

The next few days were hell for me and Quil. I gave up following Embry around and trying to figure out what the hell was up with him. We accepted that he was gone for good, that he didn't care about us, and he wasn't coming back. Still didn't make it much easier.

We hardly saw Jake anymore, except during lunch at school. Even then, he looked really exhausted. I felt really bad for him, somehow I had a feeling it was to do with Bella. He pestered me during lunch, asking for advice on how to do this, and how he should approach Bella for that. It was torture, hearing him talk about her that way, but he didn't notice.

"Mom, I'm headed to Billy's!" I called, as I grabbed the plate of bakes. I'd tried out extra chocolate brownies today, and I was on my way to take them to my best taste-tester, Billy. It used to be Embry, but he wasn't exactly around anymore.

"Hey Billy!" I called, walking into Jacob's house. I looked around the living room. "Wait… you're not Billy," I said, spotting Bella and Jacob hanging around the living room. Jake was spread out on the sofa and Bella was beside him.

"Hey Cherry." Jake said, sitting up. "What are you doing here?"

"Double chocolate brownies." I said, holding the brownies up. "Umm, I wanted Billy to taste them."

"Oh, he's in the kitchen." Jake told me.

"Right." I said. "Well, um, what are you guys up to, then?"

"We were just headed to a movie." Bella said smugly. "With a few of my friends."

"Yeah, you should come too." Jake said, while Bella glared at me.

"That sounds good!" I said, about to accept. But I stopped myself quickly. I did wanna get even with Bella, but it wasn't worth sitting through a whole movie watching Bella and Jacob cuddle beside me. "But I can't. Um, mom wants me home tonight."

"Oh, that's too bad." Bella said. "Maybe next time?"

"Definitely next time." I agreed. I went into the kitchen, to go find Billy.

"Cherry! Are those brownies I smell?" Billy asked. He was in the kitchen, and wheeled himself over to me.

"Yup!" I said with a grin. I set the brownies on the table, and Billy took one. "What do you think?"

"Amazing." Billy said his mouth full. "I don't know how you do it!"

"It's easy, you should try it sometime!" I said. "But, um, just so you know, I refuse to be the first one to taste them."

"Now that, that was a very rude jab at my cooking skills." Billy retorted.

I spent an hour or two at Billy's that night, he was practically like my dad, and I loved him. He sucked at cooking though, so I ended up being that one that made dinner.

I was on my way home, walking in the dark, with only the light of a streetlamp, when I noticed Jacob coming down the street.

"Hey Jake!" I called. "You're back soon, how was the movie?"

I only had to take one proper look at him to realize that something was wrong. "Jacob, are you okay? You-you're shaking, really badly."

"Just stay away from me." He muttered

"What? Jacob, don't-"

"Just STAY AWAY!" he yelled, running away from me.

I sped home as fast as possible, a little scared. The next day, Jacob didn't turn up at school.

A weird sense of déjà vu was starting to set in.

"Not possible, Cherry." Quil was saying "Jacob has not gone off like Embry, okay? I talked to Billy; he told me Jacob got the flu."

"But you didn't see him last night, Quil!" I insisted. "He acted the same way Embry did, all right? I don't know what's going on, but it's sure as hell not the flu!"

"Yes, it is!" Quil yelled, looking angry. "Why won't you accept that? Jacob's not gonna do to us what Embry did! "

"But, Quil-"

"You're just being paranoid!" Quil yelled, and walked away from me, shaking. I followed him, refusing to lose the one friend I had that was actually acting normal.

"No way, Quil, you are not walking away from me." I snapped, grabbing his arm and making him turn around. "I need you now, cause quite frankly, Embry's gone, Jake's ditched us for Bella, and I don't have anyone else but you."

Quil's expression softened.

"You're right." He mumbled. "I'm sorry. We need to stick together through this one."

"Thank you." I said. "Now, I say we get to school right now. If Jake doesn't turn up, like I think he won't we go over to his house, and figure out what the hell is going on."

Quil nodded, keeping his eyes to the floor.

"Quil?' I asked slowly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He said. His voice sounded distant.

"Promise me you'll never do it." I whispered.

"What?' Quil asked, looking confused. "Do what?"

"What Embry did, and what Jake is about to do. Promise you'll never join them, no matter what they say or do." I said. I wasn't going to lose all my friends.

"I promise." Quil said. He gave me a quick hug, and we got into his car to get to school.