Puppy Love

Chapter Four

The next day, Charlie sent me out boyfriend-hunting. I thought it an awful idea, but he didn't want me dependent on Valentine's chocolates for sustenance forever.

So I drove around in my old Ford truck. I think it was first made in 1973, which is all very well and good, but I prefer newer vehicles. Especially the Aptera…that one is a kicker. Of course, I'd never be able to afford it, unless I became a doctor or lawyer…someone whose profession attracts people simply for the amount of moolah they can garner. But such petty things are not on my agenda.

I parked my truck somewhere between Forks High and Evault's Grocery. My best bet was to hope one of the high school seniors would notice me, since they'd only be a few months younger than I am. Of course, school wasn't in session, since it was already December twentieth. But I thought I'd start from there and move on.

The idea of boyfriend-hunting did, in fact, seem puerile and bathetic to me. Well, maybe not quite approaching bathos…more like, maudlin. Perhaps "silly and frivolous" would be a more accurate description of how I felt that day.

Be that as it may, I walked into Evault's Grocery. Who knew? I might see a boy shopping for his family...though if I ran into Mike Newman, I would wish I could sprout wings and fly.

I did not see Mike. But when I reached the cereal aisle, I bumped into a cart.

"Watch where you're going!" the person behind the cart shouted. I looked up and saw Angela. (I had been watching the ground, hoping a boyfriend would pop up from there."

"Oh, Bella," Angela said in coyingly sweet tones. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. But what are you doing here? You don't even have a basket in your hands."

"I just came to get a couple of boxes of Ritz crackers," I lied, quickly.

She was eyeing me, curiously. "I don't think that's your real reason for being here," she said.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, for one thing, the snack aisle with the crackers in it is that way," she said, pointing in the direction I just came. "And for another, your pupils are huge."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I learned about it in Anatomy and Physiology at the U," Angela said. "If your pupils are large, you're in love."

"If I'm in love, I don't know who it is," I said. Angela shrugged, and I my eyes went downward, where I noticed that in her cart was a cauldron like those featured in the Harry Potter movies. "It's a little late for Halloween, you know."

"Oh, this isn't for Halloween," Angela said, smiling sweetly.

"Let me guess. You're planning to audition for a new TV show starring a witch."

"I don't have to audition," Angela said. And with that cryptic note, she scooted her cart away from me.

I wondered what that meant. I don't need to audition. Did she already have the part? And where would they film it? Certainly not here in Forks. Nothing ever happens in Forks that is worth noting.

Pondering thus, I walked into the frozen foods section, and there, standing twenty feet away, was a really handsome boy. He looked like a teenage Johnny Depp. He turned around, walked toward me, and smiled.

"Excuse me, I'm Perry Foxtrot," he said. "Senior at Forks High."

"Bella Swan. Graduated last June."

"You look like a swan."

My heart melted. I wanted Perry to put his arm around me, but I wasn't going to ask him to.

"Hey, I got tickets to see Rugrats on Ice, in Seattle on Saturday. Want to come?"

"Sure. I'll have to ask Charlie. My father. But I'm sure he'll say yes."

"Great." We exchanged phone numbers and said goodbye.

I considered that to be a triumph, and so I left the store and hopped into my truck. Just as I was leaving the parking lot, however, Mike Newman pulled up in a new vehicle. It was a white Sedan, but I could see him in the driver's seat. And after I started heading for home, I realized that Mike was following me.

There had to be a way to lose him. I kept on going, hoping that he would turn around or something. But he didn't.

Finally, I parked my truck on the edge of the forest, jumped out and ran through the trees. I could hear Mike stopping and getting out of his own vehicle. He would chase me on foot!

I ran in a serpentine manner, trying to get Mike off my tail. At one point, I thought I had lost him. But a few minutes later, I heard him give a savage cry. He grabbed my wrists and dragged me to the ground, He was pulling my pants down…I was going to be raped!

Then a howl come from somewhere near us. Mike screamed. Something was pulling him off me, but I couldn't yet see what. After a moment, however, I caught a glimpse of fur. It was a wolf.

"It's biting me!" Mike shouted. He struggled to stand up, and finally did so, blood pouring from his leg to the ground. "Bella, come on. Let's go."

The wolf snarled at him and made a snap at his legs. He took off running, back toward his vehicle.

I feared that the wolf would turn on me next, make me its next supper. But it came up and licked me on the cheek, just like a domestic dog. "I wonder if I know you," I said to it.

You saved me from a great deal of pain, rang a voice in my head that wasn't my own.

Was it really the wolf, or was I imagining things? Yet, hadn't I heard something like this when I had pulled the pine needle out of this wolf's paw? Maybe it could communicate…

"Are you a boy or a girl?"

Girl. Even more than you know.

The last part confused me. "So, you're a she?"

And you can understand me.

"Shouldn't I be able to?"

Most humans can't. But then, you're certainly not the average human.

"Thanks, I think," I said. I patted the wolf on the head. "What's your name?"

Leah. And I know yours is Bella.

My jaw dropped. "How?"

It is not time for you to know that yet, sweetheart. Oh gosh, I've got to run.

The wolf gave me one last look, then turned tail. I watched her go, my heart longing for something, but I didn't know what.

When I reached my truck an hour later, I was surprised Mike hadn't rammed into the back of it on purpose, for not coming back with him. But maybe he figured Charlie would jump to conclusions and assume I had been killed by Mike, when actually the wolf consumed my body. But the wolf hasn't consumed my body, as Mike probably believed. He'd be shocked to see me a few days hence.

When I arrived home, I took some leftover chicken spaghetti out of the fridge and heated it up. I was still eating it when Charlie came home.

"Bella! You're eating normal food again! Good. So I guess you met a boy?"

"Yes. His name is Perry Foxtrot, and he invited me to see Rugrats on Ice in Seattle this weekend." I wasn't going to mention Mike Newman's chase.

"That's great. Well, I'm so glad you don't have to worry about eating chocolates anymore."

But Charlie was wrong. The next morning, I was unable to swallow my breakfast of pancakes and sausage. Even worse, I had run out of chocolates. Charlie had to call the Cullens to have some more delivered.

Five hours later, when I was starving like mad, there was a knock on the door. I opened it without looking in the people first. On the doorstep were Angela Strottinger and Edward Cullen.