I knew there was a reason I didn't drink.

My head was pounding when I woke up the next morning, but thankfully that was the only thing that hurt. I vaguely remembered falling asleep on the floor with Emily and Kim, who were missing. Yet I had woken up on the couch. I don't believe either Emily or Kim were strong enough to lift me from the floor and onto the couch. So one of the guys must have done it early this morning. I'd have to thank whoever that was. They saved me from a world of pain.

I stretched and grimaced, pushing myself up from the couch and shuffling in the direction of the kitchen and the smell of coffee.

"Good morning, Bella." Emily said throwing a smile over her shoulder. "Coffee?"

"Please and thank you." I mutter, shielding my eyes from the sun as I take a seat at the table, not really paying attention to who I sat next to. I barely noticed that the conversations mostly stopped when I sat down. I only looked up to smile at Emily and thank her again when she brought me a cup of black coffee. I blew on it and sipped it, not even caring if it scorched my tongue at this point. If it got rid of this raging hangover I would down it right now.

As I set my cup back onto the table, I couldn't help the feeling of interrupting an important conversation. I looked up from my coffee, glancing at the tense faces sitting around the table. Sam sat at the head, closest to Emily, with Jared sitting a few chairs down to his left and Paul even more chairs to his right. Embry sat at the other end of the table. Out of all the ranging expressions, his seemed more annoyed than tense. I cleared my throat.

"So… uh, I woke up on the couch. Just a thanks to whoever did that."

Sam and Paul looked at each other before Sam looked at me and inclined his head. "You're welcome, Bella."

I chewed on my lip. So Sam had been the one to move me. I wasn't sure why I felt disappointed, but I did. Instead of dwelling on that feeling, I turned my attention to Emily, who was steady cooking. There was already so much food laid out on the counter tops. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was about to feed an army.

"Do you need any help, Emily? I'm not an awful cook."

"That'd be fine. Can you get the eggs out of the fridge? I always make those last since they get cold so quickly and don't take long to cook. Get all three cartons. Fry up about four eggs over-medium, and scramble about…" she paused, tapping her chin. "Twenty. That should be enough. No salt or pepper. I let the boys do that on their own. Some of them are still picky eaters."

At that comment, I heard Sam snort and the other guys chuckle quietly to themselves. Even Emily was smiling, like they were all having a good laugh over some inside joke. It was a lonely feeling, not being able to laugh with them about whatever it was that they were laughing about. I wanted to know, too.

I could hear the guys talking again now that I had left the table, except now their voices were hushed and they'd all moved a few chairs closer. Except for Paul. Where Embry had seemed the most annoyed at first, Paul seemed to have taken over that same irritation. His arms were crossed tightly over his chest and his eyes were distant and angry. He looked like he was barely paying any attention to the conversation. His eyes flicked in my direction, and for a split second his irritation switched to shock, like he hadn't been expecting me to be looking at him, too. But then his mask of anger snapped back into place and he was glowering at me.

"Bella? Did you hear me?"

"Huh?" I looked over my shoulder at Emily, my eyes wide with guilt, like I'd been caught doing something I shouldn't have.

"I asked if there was anything in particular you wanted for brunch. I have pancakes and waffles, toast, eggs, grits, bacon and sausage, and homemade biscuits. If there was anything specific I need to know so I can make sure it gets a place on the table."

"Oh, uh… no. I'm good with all that you have."

"Are you sure? I don't mind making more. Really, this is sort of like your vacation so— "

A snort behind me made me turn to see who it could have come from, but Emily caught my attention again.

"I'm fine, really. I don't eat much to begin with."

"Alright, then. If you say so." Emily handed me a plate to put the over-medium eggs on. While I cooked the rest of the eggs, she piled the plate up with basically everything, and then turned to set it in front of Sam. He smiled at her and kissed her, saying something to her that had her smile wavering. I wondered what he could be saying to her, and why everything seemed to be so secretive.

It sort of reminded me of the way Edward used to be so neutral in the responses he gave to my ridiculous questions before I knew what he was. Except instead of giving me any sort of answer to be curious about, all of them were so vague. I looked between Sam and Emily, and then turned my eyes to the others sitting at the table.

When I looked at Paul, I was startled to see that he was still looking at me. And he still wore that angry expression. When he noticed that I had turned to look at him again, he sneered at me and turned to look at Jared, his mouth moving like he was talking, yet I couldn't hear anything.

What… was that about? Had I done something wrong? I tried thinking back, but honestly this was only my second real encounter with Paul. I'd never met him before last night. Emily had told me that the guys knew just as much about me as Jacob did. What had Jacob told them? It wasn't like I had ever done anything horrible, unless Jake was making things up now. I needed to talk to him. I may not have known any of them very well, but that didn't mean I wanted anyone to hate me before I even got to know them. Especially since I was beginning to love it here, on the Rez. It felt like a home away from home.

"Bella, will you help me set the table?"

"Oh, sure." I said, grabbing a few plates of the food Emily had made and slowly walked it over to the table, setting it in the middle.

Not long after the table had been set, the rest of the guys seemed to pile in. I watched Jake walk inside, his eyes scanning the room briefly before finding me, his expression going from happy to ecstatic in record time.

"Bells! Hey, did you sleep well?"

"As well as I can." I accept his hug and he pulls me down into the chair beside him, barely skipping a beat as he begins loading his plate. He points to things and puts a little on my plate as I nod.

"Really Bells? That's hardly a meal." He says, staring at my eggs, lonely pancake, and piece of sausage discontentedly.

"It's a meal for me." I say, rolling my eyes. "It's actually a bit too much. I probably won't finish it."

"Whatever you don't eat, I will." Jake said around a mouthful of food. "Wanna go see what I'm working on after breakfast? We can hang out in my garage for the day."

"Sounds like fun." I said, maybe a little too quickly. At least with Jake I wouldn't feel like I was stopping anyone from talking. The guys had seemed like they weren't happy I was around, like I had interrupted something. I didn't like that feeling. It felt similar to whenever I was with Edward. I never felt like I was interrupting something, but it was that same feeling of discontent. At least here, I could reason through why I was feeling it. I wasn't sure why I felt it with him. He'd never really done anything to make me feel that way. That I knew of, I guess.

"Well, let's go ahead and go." Jake said around another mouthful, pushing away from the table, empty plate in his hand. I gaped at it, wondering where all that food could have possibly gone in such a short amount of time. He only grinned at me and shrugged a shoulder, rinsing his dish and hurrying back over, grabbing my wrist. "See y'all later!"

"Bye, Emily." I managed a wave before Jake pulled me outside. "Ow, ow, Jake! Slow down, I'm a cripple right now, remember?"

"Oops. Sorry, Bells." He stretched his arms above his head with a groan. "Jeez, I feel so much better! It was tense in there."

So I hadn't been the only one to feel it. "Jake, what have you been telling everyone about me?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Emily told me the other day that you always talk about me to the guys, and I was getting some… unpleasant vibes off of a couple of them." And by a couple, I knew I meant Paul, but I wasn't going to single him out. If I did, I was afraid that Jacob might say something to him, and I may not know much but I knew Paul had a foul temper. I didn't want a fight to break out. Especially over me. "I can't imagine you saying anything bad about me, but I had to ask."

"Yeah, I guess I talk about you a lot… but I don't think I said anything to upset anyone. Who's giving you dirty looks?" Jake looked mildly irritated on the outside, but I could see in his eyes it burned deeper than simply mild irritation. He was angry. I could see his fingers twitching, like he was making an effort to keep them relaxed instead of clenching them into fists.

"I won't tell you, only because I know you'll say something. I don't want it to turn into a fight."

"Bella, if someone is making you feel uncomfortable here— "

"No, it's fine, really. I don't care. I just had to ask if you were saying anything that could have been misconstrued. C'mon Jake, let's just forget about it. I shouldn't have doubted you. Maybe I just did something wrong."

"You didn't do anything, Bella. It's probably just Paul being Paul."

"Right—wait! No, you can't do that. It's not fair!"

Jake laughed. "So it was Paul. I was right. Don't worry about him, Bell. If someone breathes the wrong way he's going to have an attitude about it. But if you can, try to avoid him."

"He can't be that bad…" I mutter, staring at the ground as we walked. I didn't really understand why I was trying to defend someone who already seemed to hate me, but I didn't want him to be painted as the bad guy. It wasn't right. I hardly knew him.

"He probably is; after everything I've heard about him."

I frowned, turning to sit on a nearby workbench. Jake leaned against his project car, crossing his ankles and hooking his thumbs in his jeans pockets.

"What all have you heard about him?"

Jake grimaced and scuffed the nose of his shoe against the floor. "Stuff. It's unimportant. What's important is you steer clear of him if at all possible."

"Jake?"

He sighed. "He's… dangerous."

I laughed. I couldn't help it. When I stood Paul next to Edward in my mind, sure… Paul looked scarier. But knowing what I knew, Paul was no match for Edward. And I couldn't take the word "dangerous" seriously anymore. I was in love with a vampire. I kissed danger on the mouth when he let me and enjoyed it. My best friend is a vampire. Her entire family are vampires. They kill to live. Sure they kill animals, but still. They live forever. Whatever Paul has done or still does in order to be seen as dangerous was nothing compared to that. It couldn't possibly measure up.

"What the hell are you laughing at?"

"Nothing. I'm sorry." I bit my lip to hide my smile. Jake looked irritated and unconvinced. After a long moment of silence, he sighed heavily and turned to work on his car.