Chapter 3

Bella woke up with the sun beating on her through the window. She squinted as she opened her eyes a little and stretched her legs and arms. Suddenly she realised she wasn't alone in her bed.

Flashbacks of the night before ran dizzily through her head. The party, Jessica and her friends…Jessica's friends…Tyler…Tyler in her room. She froze in position, too afraid to turn around to be faced with Tyler. She searched around the room, hoping for an escape route from the huge arm that was holding her prisoner in her own bed. Her eyes stopped on a white t-shirt lying on her bedroom floor. She strained her eyes to see it better and noticed that there were flecks of blood spattered on it. Bella's mind raced through last night's events again. Sitting by the window…Tyler kissing her…then, Jacob came in. Bella let her eyes loll to the side without moving and inch. She could feel her full body relax when she laid eyes on Jacob's russet skin and dark hair. He looked peaceful sleeping, lightly snoring. Bella couldn't believe she had been so lucky to find a friend like Jacob. If it wasn't for Jacob…Who knows what could have happened last night.

She could feel the heat radiating from Jacobs huge frame lying beside her. She wanted to lie beside him all day, because she felt safe wrapped in his arms. But she knew that Charlie would be home soon and she had to clean away any evidence of last nights' party.

Bella slid out of Jacobs' arms stealthily so he wouldn't wake up. As she replaced the duvet over where she lay, Jacob stirred a little, rolling over onto his side and mumbling something unintelligible. Bella smiled as she tip-toed out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen.

As she cleaned, and tidied away all the glasses and bottles she thought over and over in her mind what Jacob had done for her. He had risked himself for her. Tyler was big, and older than Jacob was. Yet, Jacob had showed no fear in standing up to him. In fact, Bella had never seen that look on Jacobs' face before. She had seen Jacob get mad through the years. Like when he found out his old girlfriend Leah had kissed Paul when they were dating. Jacob and Paul fought it out, but a few hours later they were friends again, like nothing had happened. Jacob had dumped Leah, and Paul knew not to pursue her, for a while at least. But apart from that, nothing had changed.

Although, this wasn't the same kind of anger she had seen on Jacobs' face the night before. It was if he had no expression at all, but all his rage and anger was emanating from his eyes, boring holes into Tyler as he punched him over and over. The blood poured from Tyler's nose. Bella remembered shouting at Jacob to stop, but it was as if he hadn't even heard her, even though she had been no more than three feet from him.

As Bella rattled this through her mind over and over, she had begun to bring down the frames from Charlie's room. She placed them in their rightful place over the fireplace and on the window ledge. The sun was shining outside – a change from the overcast, rainy days that usually hung over Forks.

"Ahem." Jacob cleared his throat from behind her which made Bella jump before she spun around to face him. "You forgot this." He said, holding up a signed baseball sitting in its own little cradle.

"Oh, God! That's the first this is the first thing Charlie would notice was missing!" Bella took the signed ball from Jacob and placed it, proudly, on the cabinet near the door. Charlie had tactically placed it there so that anyone coming into the house would notice it.

"Thanks." Bella said, looking up at Jacob.

"It was nothing. I peeked into Charlie's room to see if you needed a hand and spotted it on the dresser. You should've woke me up, I would have helped you tidy up." Jacob said, as he rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"I wasn't talking about that. I meant…last night." Bella felt a little embarrassed, but she didn't know why, entirely. She felt the need to apologise before Jacob even had the chance to speak, "I shouldn't have drank so much. I knew it was a bad idea to bring alcohol…but I just wanted everyone to have a good time, and I just took it too far…I made it easy for him to take advantage…I'm such an idiot sometimes!" Her apology came out rushed and it sounded like her words had all merged into one. She kicked herself internally for being such an idiot.

"Bella, Bella! Calm down. First of all, you don't have to apologise. What happened last night was not your fault. You can't blame yourself for what that asshole done. He did take advantage of you, but that's not your fault either! You were just trying to have a good time. And if you hadn't brought alcohol to the party, people would have thought you were a loser." By the end of Jacobs' speech a smile had cracked over his face. Bella playfully punched him on the arm and then stood on her tip-toes to wrap her arms around his neck.

"Thank you, though, Jacob. I don't know what I would do without you." She squeezed a little tighter before letting go and grinning at him. Jacob smiled a tight-lipped smile back at her as his response.

"So, if it's not too much to ask…could I get another favour, Jacob?"

"Hmmm…Go on then…" Jacob answered, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms dramatically.

"Could you please hide all those bottles of booze in your car before Charlie sees them and has a fit? You can throw them away when you're on your way back to the rez."

"Sure…But only if you make me breakfast."

"It's a deal!"

A few hours later Bella and Jacob were sprawled on the couch, flipping mindlessly through the endless TV channels, when Charlie came in. The three of them talked for a while about Charlie's fishing trip before Jacob decided to go home to see his dad.

Bella walked with Jacob to the door, "You're in the clear. Charlie doesn't suspect a thing." Jacob said in a hushed voice as he stepped outside.

"Thanks again, Jacob. For everything." Bella said, grateful. "I'll see you soon?"

"You bet. I'll call you tomorrow! See ya!" Jacob called over his shoulder as he made his way to his Rabbit.

Bella stood in the doorway until Jacob was out of site. She watched the birds outside flying around the tree tops of the woods in front of her. She watched silently as they swooped down and landed on the low branches. Suddenly, without warning it seemed, a cloud of birds rose from the trees and fled into the air. How odd she thought. She assumed that something that she couldn't see must have scared them, and she began to take a backward step inside. Before the door was fully closed she noticed a silver Volvo drive past. The windows were tainted so dark it was impossible to see who was inside. Surely those tints were dark enough to be illegal. She watched the car drive past. She had never seen it before, which was strange. In such a small town, not many people used cars a lot. And certainly not brand new ones at that. When the car was out of site, Bella found herself on the returning birds for a few moments more, before closing the door and heading upstairs.

She was still tired from the night before, so she lay on her bed and closed her eyes. It wasn't like her to take afternoon naps…Charlie might get suspicious. But she didn't care. She let her tiredness consume her and she felt herself fall into sleep.

Bella dreamed she was in the woods. She could tell she was deep into the woods, as she couldn't see any sign of her house, or a road or a lamp… nothing. The only light that she could see was coming from high above her head, shining down through the thick branches. The moon was full tonight, and it looked bigger than normal. Bella walked slowly through the night, trying not to trip over the thick underbrush, hoping she was walking in the right direction. She looked ahead to see a pair of yellow eyes watching her from a branch not that far in the distance. At first she was stunned and stood still, before realising that it was only an owl. Soon after seeing the owl, Bella started to notice other night animals wandering around. She noticed a red fox sniffing around in the dirt, a badger pawing at the bottom of a tree, and when she strained her eyes she could even make out the little hedgehogs that moved slowly on the woodland floor. She thought it odd that none of the animals seemed aware of her presence, so she took a moment to watch them…she'd never get a chance like this again. After a few moments, all of the night animals turned to face her. If it were possible, she would say there was a look of shock or fear on their faces, but she had no idea what she had done to startle them. The owl flew away, the badger and the fox made a quick escape in the opposite direction, and the little hedgehogs curled up so that they were each little balls of spines. It was then that Bella became aware that the animals were not afraid of her. There was someone else out here in the woods with her. She began to run, trying to get away from her unknown pursuer. Soon she became out of breath but she stumbled on, rasping for air. She didn't know who was behind her, but she had an idea…Tyler. She had to get away from him, but she knew that he would outrun her eventually. Just as Bella decided to stop running and hide, she ran straight into Jacob. He was only wearing a pair of old denim shorts. His abs were solid as she was about to throw her arms around him in thanks that she wasn't alone. But before she got the chance to, Jacob bounded forward, almost animal like himself, into the darkness. Bella shouted at him to come back, but he never did.

Bella bolted upright in her bed, she could feel sweat gathering on her forehead and on her palms. As she regained her breath she shook the nightmare from her mind and swung her legs from the bed. Remembering she had homework to do for Monday, she figured there was no time like the present, as she pulled her books out from her backpack and started reading Romeo and Juliet where they had left off in class.

Sunday had went by pretty uneventfully. Jacob had called to tell Bella that he had to take his dad to Seattle so he wouldn't be able to see her. Angela had texted to see if Bella was okay. But there had been no word from Jessica.

Bella found herself doing non-existent housework to fill her day. She cleaned and dusted the places that she had only done the day before. She made Charlie – who was watching TV most of the day – his lunch, dinner and supper before the day finally ground to an end.

When Bella slipped into bed again on Sunday evening, she was afraid of having another nightmare. But soon the fear drifted away, and Bella slipped into a dreamless sleep.

A/N: Okay so not that much happened in this chapter, but I feel it was a necessary one! Okay so Edward will be coming into it soon (Though he sorta already is...as if we dont know who drives a silver Volvo! But Bella doesnt...). Also this chapter wasnt that long, but I thought it was better to cut it off here rather than try to rush in some unneeded BS!

So...next chapter should be up soon, and things will begin to heat up... Literally.

Please review! Thanks - Alison