Part VII

The Scene: Edward and Bella are sitting in his Volvo, driving to La Push.

For some reason, I got the feeling that Edward slowed down for once in his life as we drove. It was either that or he took a long route or something. The drive to La Push certainly did not take as long as it took us. To make things worse, my 'hero' decided to press conversation, like I'd forgiven him and his crap already. It was aggravating.

"So, Bella, how has school been?" was the first attempt to get me to talk. I decided to grunt in response, something Charlie did when he didn't want to talk to someone. I could have laughed out loud at the way it sounded, but seeing as I was in the car with Edward, not Jacob, I could not force myself to appear cheerful in any way.

Edward nodded, as if the grunt explained all. I hoped that was all he'd try, but he decided to continue this battle by adding, "No important happenings, juicy breakups, creepy admirers on your part?" I almost said something right then and there, but decided against it. I merely shook my head and continued staring out the window like I'd been doing ever since I got in the car.

I could hear him chuckling. "Pity," he said quietly. "I had hoped that life would get interesting for you, but it's unfortunate that it's that boring." My anger bubbled inside of me. How dare he suggest that my life became dull once he left! It's actually gotten much better, thank you very much. I'm glad you're out, I thought. No words escaped my pursed lips.

I could feel Edward's eyes upon me. "What are you thinking about?" I whirled around and glared icily at his golden eyes, at his perfect face. "Nothing that concerns you," I muttered angrily. He laughed. "So you will talk to me!" I think he was honestly pleased. "Not for long," I shot back, and with awesome reflexes (for me, at least) I jumped from the moving car into the brush beside the road. It really hurt, but the bushes had broken the worst of my fall. Edward screamed my name, but I ignored him and ran through the trees, out of his sight just as he turned the expensive car around and came back to where I had landed.

In about five minutes, I was at Jacob's house. Thankfully, we'd at least passed the La Push border on that dreadful car trip, and even in the dark I knew my way around that area of Jacob's reservation. I was panting and sweating as I reached his front porch, and to my utter dismay, my watch said that it was around 1:30 AM. I should have warned Jake before I showed up at his house this early in the morning. I was pretty sure he was asleep.

Just to make sure, I snuck around to the back of the house and peered into his bedroom window. At first, I could see nothing, but after a few moments of peering into the darkness, I realized that there was nothing to see. Jake wasn't there.

With a groan, I turned around to walk back to my own place, hopefully without another run-in with Edward and before the sun came up. After a few mopey paces away from the house, I saw a light coming from his garage. I tiptoed over and, arranging a few bricks into a step formation, looked into this window, hoping to actually see something.

I was shocked to see the entire pack in there, including Billy and little Seth. Emily sat against the door, which faced the window. She seemed to be dozing. I smiled, but then pressed my ear against the cool glass to hear the conversation. It was intense.

Paul was yelling at Sam. I couldn't tell much of what he said, except a few words: "Why do we…she's just…can we trust…all Jake's fault." And then Jake's agitated reply, which was definitely hard to comprehend except for a few interesting words here and there which I could barely hear.

But it wasn't until Sam broke up their little spat that I really understood who they were talking about: "She's Jake's mate, Paul. It's natural he should be concerned." This was followed by a stream of shouts from Leah (I grimaced as I heard her voice: "He hasn't even imprinted, how do we know?"

I saw Sam's head turn, and then I lost all conversation until Jared spoke. "So, we have to kill the red-headed leech, then?"

My eyes widened. Victoria was here in Forks, again? This was awful! She would probably come and find me, and Jacob and his pack would try to save me, and then someone would get hurt. Besides that, there was no reason for killing me anymore. I no longer wished to speak to Edward…but he wished to speak to me. He still loved me, still cared. There was still reason to do away with me. I cried out in frustration.

Crap, I thought as I realized what I had just done. I looked through the window to see Emily staring at me. If I'd woken her up, then surely everyone else in that room had heard.

She made a motion which clearly meant for me to get away, but with that gesture she attracted the attention of Sam, who looked at her and then at the window. I didn't wait to see if anyone else had noticed me. I jumped from my perch and ran off, praying that I'd reach my house soon.

As I ran, I figured out everything in my head. Edward may have written our names on the bikes, but Billy called Charlie in the first place. They both wanted me as far away from La Push, and probably from Victoria, as possible.

Were they in cahoots? I actually chuckled at the thought, and pushed it aside. Billy hated the Cullens; he'd never help them out. Then I recalled the drive here to La Push with Edward not an hour ago. I remembered the route we'd taken...I realized that he'd driven through La Push, but had not intended to stop there. The area I had gotten off at was very close to the border...he'd driven in a complete circle around La Push and was planning on driving out by distracting me with conversation. The story of their cooperation was very convincing, and maybe a little probable that Billy Black and Edward Cullen could be work together...but still, my mind wasn't buying it. "Never in a million years," I assured myself in a whisper, just as I passed the border between Forks and La Push.

Hopefully this clears up a few things without confusing you all :P.