Chapter 10

I was right. Jake didn't turn up.

Sticking to the plan, me and Quil went to Jake's house after school. I made Quil help me bake a bit of fruitcake beforehand, though. I felt that maybe it might help in coaxing Billy or Jake to talk to us. I'd wrapped what was left of the fruitcake in aluminum foil (Quil had a go at it before I could wrap it up).

"Hi Billy!" I said, seeing the man in the wheelchair open the door. I held up the package of fruitcake in front of my face. "Guess what I made!"

Billy looked at me and Quil. He looked a little drowsy, and there was a bruise on his face.

"Not a good time, kids." Billy said. The sight of the fruitcake didn't seem to help at all. I let it fall loosely to my side. "Jake's not feeling too good right now,"

"We heard." Quil said. "We wanted to see him, and maybe give him some of him homework. You know, that he missed at school today?"

"He's not feeling like visitors now." Billy explained. "And he's definitely not up for homework."

"Not even fruitcake?"

"No, sweetheart."

I looked at Quil, and we exchanged a glance.

"Okay, Billy, we're going to be straight." Quil said. "Something weird is going on, and we want to know what. Does this have anything to do with Sam Uley and his gang?"

Billy narrowed his eyes at us.

"I think you two had better leave." He said. "You don't need to involve in this, and you're not going to get anything out of me. You're also not going to see Jake, because he's not here."

And with that, Billy gently closed the door.

"Do you believe me now?" I demanded, turning to Quil. "Something is up with Jake, and it has to do with Sam Uley."

"I think we should talk to him." Quil said.

"Who?"

"Sam Uley."

"Are you crazy?" I asked. "And let him know we're on his case? Quil, Sam Uley isn't going to help us, he's not on our side!"

"Well, what do you want to do then?" Quil asked. "Wait for Jake to turn up? If it's true that he's going the same way as Embry, why would he speak to us? Embry made it clear that he didn't care."

I was about to respond when my phone rang. I saw that the caller ID was an unknown number.

"Who is it?" Quil asked.

I shrugged, and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi! Cherry, is that you?" a girl's voice said.

"Yeah…. Who's' this?"

"It's me, Bella."

My eyes widened. Bella?

"Um, hey Bella. Can I help you?"

"Yeah… I was trying to call Jake a while ago, but he wasn't answering. Billy told me he got mono. Is he okay? Do you know where he is?"

"Oh, Jake's fine." I lied. "I and Quil went to see him a while ago. I don't know why he wouldn't be answering your calls."

"Oh.' Bella said, sounding a little hurt. "Well, he left kind of abruptly last night after the movie… can you ask him to call me back later? I need to talk to him.'

"I'll pass on the message." I said. "Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up, and saw Quil looking at me awkwardly.

"That was Bella?" he asked.

"Yup." I said, slipping the phone into my pocket. "And she's more clueless about Jake than we are."

"Great." Quil muttered.

I woke up feeling drowsy the next morning. Deciding that a nice jog and some fresh air would help me wake up, I pulled on some sweats, a t-shirt and jogged down the beach with my i-pod. It felt good, and I sat on the sand, listening to music, when I saw them. Embry was the first one I recognized, because he was looking straight at me when I noticed him. Then came Sam, Paul, Jared, and finally…. Jacob. Wow. He looked amazing. His transformation was evident like Embry's; long hair cut short, huge muscles. And they were walking around shirtless.

"You!" I burst out loudly before thinking. 4 more pairs of eyes shot to look at me along with Embry's, and I instantly regretted it. Except I'd already gotten their attention, what more could I lose? Pulling my headphones out of my ears, I dropped my i-pod on the sand where I'd been sitting, and stomped over to them.

"And what does Shorty want?" Paul asked, smiling at me, as though he found something amusing about the situation.

I glared at him.

"I am 5 foot 6." I snapped at him. "That is not short. Though I suppose compared to the freakishly tall thing you refer to as your body, even the Eiffel Tower would feel intimidated."

"Ooh, snap! She got you man!" Jared said, in his unrealistically gruff voice.

Paul didn't seem to like this.

"I really don't think you should be starting a fight here, Cheryl." Sam said. He was the only one who sounded even, and controlled. Kind of mature. What a jackass.

"I'm not here to pick a fight." I snapped. I looked at Jacob and Embry. Jake looked confused, while Embry was giving me these guilty puppy-dog eyes. "In fact, I- I'm not sure why I'm here. Sorry."

I started to walk away, regretting going up to them. What had I been thinking? Embry had made it clear he didn't want me and Quil. Why was I following him like a desperate puppy?

Shaking my head, I jogged home without looking back. Although I could swear I heard Embry call my name.