Ch 12: Peer Pressure

BPOV

As I exited gym class, I didn´t expect to find Edward waiting for me, but it still stung when I opened the door and he wasn´t there. I let out a deep sigh. I supposed it would be a little strange if he continued to escort me to and from class all the time. It was strange enough when we weren´t technically together, but at least then I had had some hope of a relationship with him. It was foolish for me to think that he would behave the same way towards me as he always had.

However, my heart soared when I found him waiting in the parking lot for me. At least I assumed it was me, since the rest of his family had apparently taken off in their own separate vehicle. I didn´t dare consider why he would bother waiting around for me, but then I remembered that we were trying to be friends. I wondered if it was as hard on him to do that as it was for me.

"How was gym?" He said with a smile.

I couldn´t help but smile back, "Well, I didn´t kill anyone, if that´s what you mean."

He cocked his brow in a teasing fashion, "Maim, perhaps?"

I rolled my eyes, "No."

"Perhaps you´re losing your touch."

I was breathless due to his teasing gaze, so I choked out the answer, "Yeah, I guess I am." He chuckled. "Why are you still here?" My heart grew cold, "Are you waiting for someone?"

I didn´t want to think the unthinkable, that he had found someone else in Forks to shower with love and affection. I could handle seeing him day by day without being with him. I didn´t think I could manage watching him kiss and hum a lullaby for another girl. Though I knew he had better judgment than to be with anyone of the mindless groupies in our school, I imagined him with someone just as beautiful as him but with the brain the size of a pea and who would delight in the money he spent on her. No one could ever appreciate him like I could.

When he shook his head, I held back a sigh of relief, "No. I just wanted to ask you something…"

"Shoot."

He hesitated for a moment. Again, it was like he was looking through me rather than at me, like a blind man. After a few seconds, he focused in on my face again and asked, "Would you like to come over to the house again? Everyone would really like to spend more time with you."

My heart jumped for a moment and then dropped. If he had just said the first sentence, I would have assumed he wanted to spend some time alone with me, just me. Now that he was clearly a messenger for the family, that spark of hope was gone.

I blushed and started to shut myself off from him, "I don´t want to intrude on your family."

"Don´t be ridiculous. We all want you there."

"Do… you want me there?"

My question seemed to shock him, he gave me a confused smile, "Of course I do. I thought we were past all this now."

"We are… It´s just… It doesn´t seem common for a girl to be hanging out at the house of her ex-boyfriend."

I heard him take in a harsh breath. Odd… Did he find my observation to be offensive? It certainly wasn´t common. Most teenagers who broke up wanted nothing to do with each other, and they certainly didn´t keep in contact with their families or maintain lasting friendships. But I didn´t want it to be the same for us. No matter what our past was, I wanted to be friends with him for the rest of my life. Hopefully when I grew old, he would still want my companionship.

His eyes were sad as he looked away. "If it bothers you…"

"No!" I said suddenly, "No, it doesn´t. I was just taken by surprise, that´s all. I´d love to spend time with your family… and you too."

He gazed up at me again, "Me?"

I smiled, "Yes, you. Surely you wouldn´t mind having a weak human around for company."

He grinned again, "Not at all."

This was how it was supposed to be, I reminded myself. But for some reason, it came so easily. Just looking at him gave me an extra boost of strength for the day. Perhaps we could do this, be together without really being together. It may be hard for me to handle, but just having him near was enough for me.

And with any luck, no, with hard work, my love for him would become a real friendship and my friendship with Jake would become a real love.

"Then forget my family." Edward said with a spark in his eyes,"Let´s go have some fun first."

But just then, I heard the tell-tale rumble of Jake´s motorcycle turning the corner. "Sorry… I actually already made plans with Jacob tonight."

His face fell, "Oh… That´s okay."

"Would tomorrow be okay?"

"Yeah… Tomorrow sounds great…"

I had never heard him use that kind of voice to me, like a wounded bird. Then again, he was Edward. I´ll bet even the smallest of rejections had never happened before in his life. As selfless as he was, he no doubt expected people to give in to him. God knows I wanted to…

"Bella," Jacob called, pulling up beside me.

The look on his face startled me, mirrored by Edward. It was the same look they had shared only once before at prom last year, a territorial look.

"Get on," he said simply, handing me his helmet, but never taking his eyes off Edward.

I looked between the two, trying to read something I knew I couldn´t. I wondered if Edward was getting Jacob´s thoughts right then, and wondered what they were. I didn´t like the looks between the two. It looked like they were ready to rip into each other´s throats again. I got on the motorcycle quickly just in case they snapped.

Edward´s eyes darted over to me for a second as I mounted the vehicle and put on my helmet, and then turned back to my new boyfriend. Jacob clutched the handle bars in preparation to take off.

"Jacob," Edward said suddenly.

I tensed. I could feel how agitated Jacob was against me. They had already been fighting on my account. ´Please, Edward… Don´t say anything to make him angry.´

"I´m sorry about your arm. I lost control and I should have had more restraint."

Jacob looked shocked at the apology. He shifted around for a moment and said, "It´s nothing." His voice became deeper, "I´m stronger than you think."

Somehow that sounded more like a threat. As if I really needed yet another testosterone-fueled battle for dominance. I didn´t really care who was physically stronger, and they shouldn´t either, but I could see the way they sized each other up. To my utter disappointment, I understood that they loathed each other, and they would probably never see eye-to-eye.

Edward glanced back at me, his eyes softening, "Take care of yourself, Bella."

Jacob was already slowly moving away from him and out of the parking lot. I looked back at him, hoping that I didn´t look as longing as I felt. I could feel the shift in our relationship at that moment. Jacob was physically and emotionally putting more distance between us. For the life of me, I did not want to have to choose between the two. Edward was my life, but Jacob, he was my constant. I knew he would never let me down.

I buried my face into his back as the speed picked up and the wind started blowing in my face. As soon as we were a block away, I felt Jacob relax.

"So, are you ready to have a proper teenage experience?"

Uh oh. I didn´t like the sound of that. "What do you have planned?"

"I don´t have anything plan. It´s Friday night. Apparently there are a few parties going around just outside town."

I groaned. This was just what I needed. Drunken, horny teenagers trashing someone´s house while the parents were away. I had too much of a conscious for such things. Not to mention that if my father, the Chief of Police, were to ever find out about it, I was in for an eternity of isolated confinement. "I don´t know, Jake. That doesn´t really seem like me."

"Aw, come on! You hardly ever get out of the house, and you never do things that normal teenagers do."

We stopped at a red light and I smiled over his shoulder, "So it´s to be peer pressure, is it? Come on, Bella, let´s get wasted. All the cool people are doing it."

He laughed jokingly, "Yeah, you wanna be cool, don´t you?"

I wrinkled my nose, knowing I was far too socially independent to be one of those girls, "Not particularly."

"There´s nothing wrong with going for a little normalcy."

The intense heat of his body against mine was proof that we were nowhere near normal. "I think that went out the window as soon as I started hanging out with werewolves."

´And vampires…´ No, my life was far from normal.

"We´re still human, Bella. We know how to have a good time. Come on. Try to enjoy yourself."

I really didn´t want to say yes, but perhaps this would be good for me. It was about time I started adapting back into the human world. And perhaps I did need to spend some time with my new boyfriend in a more public setting before I felt more comfortable with the current phase of our budding relationship. Maybe a bit of alcohol would loosen me up enough to feel at ease. "Fine. I´ll try it out, but let´s not go overboard, okay?"

"Yes, yes, responsibility and all that."

The light turned green and we were off again. "Shut up, Jake."

It was only three o´clock when school got out, so naturally we had quite a few hours to kill before the debauchery began, so we headed back to La Push for a few hours to kill. Sam and Quil were already there when we arrived, palling around in the garage, probably swamping stuff around just to annoy Jacob later. I could tell immediately as we pulled in that they were antsy for some excitement.

I smiled. Apparently the Quileute teenagers were no different than the ones at my high school. Then again, that probably wasn´t a good thing. What were werewolves like at parties?

They waved us into the driveway and smiled at me. Quil called out, "Hey, vampire girl." Jacob shot them a dirty look. This time I didn´t have to second guess what he was thinking. Quil quickly corrected himself, "What am I saying? You´re one of us now, aren´t ya? Welcome back, werewolf girl."

I blushed a light pink and got off the motorcycle. I was flattered that they considered me one of their own, but it was weird to be regarded as though I was one of them, as though Jacob and I were married or something of a permanent nature. Of course I was happy they let me join in their werewolf games, but I knew I would always be "vampire girl", at least in my heart I would be. I would always be other.

"So," he said, putting his arm around my shoulders, "Are you ready to par-tay?"

"Leave her alone, Quil." Jake laughed as he parked his motorcycle, "It´s hard enough to get her to come to a party in the first place."

Sam came up the other side and wrapped his arm around my shoulders too, "Don´t worry. We´ll make sure Jake here doesn´t get you completely wasted. Unlike him, we´re classy."

Now that was something I couldn´t imagine. Jacob playfully jumped onto their shoulders and tackled them to the ground, "Hey, you let go of my girl! Get your own!"

I cringed a little at his reference to me as "his", but I couldn´t help but laugh at the lot of them. They rolled on the ground like a couple of feisty puppies, pinning each other and exchanging half-Nelsons on the porch. It was all too endearing.

The pack, and the tribe really, were like a big happy family. Maybe it was their secret that bound them together so tightly. They didn't have to worry about hiding who they were when they were in La Push. It reminded me of the Cullens, so tense in public but so relaxed and free at their home. I remembered how Edward looked when I first met him, back when he was fighting himself not to kill me. He had had a truly terrifying look about him. I had never truly been afraid of him, but I had always been fearful of why he would look at me that way. When that careful mask came down, it was hard to remember that he could look vicious. His features were so soft…

I shook my head. Best not to dwell on that. What matters is that this was also a tightly knit family, and for whatever reason, they wanted me.

The afternoon was the closest thing to teenage normalcy I had had in years. It wasn´t usual for me to be in the company of boys, but it was oddly refreshing. Maybe it was because these were Jacob´s friends, and I trusted Jacob with everything I had. I knew they wouldn't judge me for my awkwardness. We spent the next few hours playing video games in Jacob´s living room. Of course most of the time was spent arguing and placing bets, but I was just a quiet observer.

Then the sun set.

Like any parent, Billy would not approve of our plans, so the boys were very hush-hush about dragging their cans of beer into their truck. I made a face at the sight of them. I had never had more than a sip of alcohol in my life and beer was far too bitter for my tastes.

"What?" Jake asked as we loaded in the last.

"Beer… Not really my thing."

Quil laughed, "Don´t worry, I´m sure we´ll be able to find something fruity for you, little lady."

Jake smirked, "Just ignore him, Bella. Quil has the tolerance of a 12-year-old. You should have seen him the last time. Three beers and he was falling down the steps with his pants around his knees."

Quil chucked a beer at his head, only for Jacob to catch it, and got into the driver´s seat. We got in the back.

"Last time? How often do you guys do this?"

"Whenever we feel like it. Maybe a few times a month," Jake said, "Technically we´re not supposed to have alcohol on the reservation, but they never said anything about off the reservation."

I gave a chuckle as we pulled out of the driveway. Apparently we had escaped Billy. I could only hope that no one ratted me out to Charlie.

"What?"

"No… I just… never envisioned you guys to be party goers. I always imagine these places to have frat parties with a bunch of football players and cheerleaders breaking everything in sight. I never imagine normal people there."

Jake looked at me incredulously, "Normal? Moi? I´m offended."

Sam, who was in the front passenger seat, looked back at us, "Well this ain´t exactly a frat party. Anyone can come. Anyway, we´d best take advantage of a chance to socialize with "normal" people. After all, we can´t transform when we are inebriated so it´s a good chance to let loose."

My eyes went wide. "You can´t...? Really? How do you know?"

Sam rubbed the back of his neck, looking a little upset. I was almost afraid to hear the answer, "A while ago a fight broke out at one of the gatherings. Emily nearly got caught in the middle of it. I was so furious I was sure I was going to transform. A part of me didn´t even want to stop it."

I shuddered to think of it. I didn´t want to imagine him transforming into a werewolf in front of who knows how many party goers, only to kill them in his anger. Apparently Sam was thinking the same thing. Jake patted him on the shoulder. "It was a good surprise."

Sam smiled his thanks.

"So why can´t you transform then?"

Jake rolled his eyes, "We don´t know. We haven´t gone in to ask a doctor yet." I sighed in frustration, though I had to admit, he got me there. "We can only assume it has something to do with the way alcohol thins the blood. Maybe it interferes with the transformation taking hold. Anyway, you never know when someone´s going to piss you off, so it´s a huge relief to know that you don´t have to be afraid of your emotions."

"It´s not like you still couldn´t do some damage," I said, suddenly eyeing the muscles on his arms.

He cocked his eyebrow at me curiously, and I regretted it and stumbled, "That is to say that… Um… Werewolves… Oh crap."

A few hollers and woots and whistles from Sam and Quil and I was mortified. Jacob had his arm around my shoulder, clearly enjoying this embarrassing moment and how I cringed. I didn´t think I could be any redder. "Don´t be afraid of the guns, baby," he said, smirking that cocky smirk of his.

I moaned, "I´ll do my best."

I could hear the party long before we arrived. The others could too, "Looks like they´ve already started."

The paranoid girl in me came to the surface, "Won´t they call the cops? I can´t afford to get caught by Charlie."

"Don´t worry, vampire girl, there are no neighbors to complain around here."

"Stop calling her that," Jake mumbled, his voice low and intimidating.

I could feel the air in the vehicle come to a halt. Did the others know that the Cullens were back? Did they understand how Jacob felt about them, especially Edward?

"Sorry…" Quil said suddenly. For a big guy, it was weird to hear his voice as soft as that of a mouse.

The tension did not disperse. Jacob was still against me but it felt like his arm had tightened around my shoulder. I didn´t know why it bothered me so much to have him touch me like this. We had always touched before. We even held hands. Why did this feel so different to me now?

No matter. I was sure now a little alcohol would do me some good in the awkwardness department.

The party was in full swing. It wasn´t exactly like I had pictured from Hollywood movies, but it was definitely crowded and there was plenty of debauchery to go around. As usual, boys were playing video games in the living room and girls were either gossiping nearby or trying to get their attention. There were little groups of red plastic cups on every flat surface as far as I could see. So far it didn´t look like anything was trashed, but the place reeked of alcohol and the carpet was already stained.

"Hey, those Quileute guys are here."

Someone came to greet them, who I presumed was the host. We were led straight into the kitchen to begin fixing some drinks.

"Help yourself to anything," the host said, and addressed me directly, "And what will you be having?"

Jake smiled, "Something not too strong. She´s never done this before."

The host smiled, "Wow! A newbie! Okay then, Tequila Sunrise it is."

I watched him carefully so I could remember how to do it myself, and to see how much alcohol I was consuming. He filled up the glass about a fourth of the way up with tequila, then added the ginger ale, orange juice, and grenadine. When he was finished, it sure looked like a sunrise. "Go on! Try it out and tell me if it´s too strong."

The four of them eyed me carefully as I took my first drink. It was sweet, but I could still taste the sharpness of the alcohol. I swallowed, finding that it burned a little but not too much. Certainly not enough to waste the glass. "It´s good." I answered.

"Excellent," said Quil, "You´re on your way."

We all settled in the living room, Jake and I on the couch, listening to loud music or watching the others play silly games with each other. It was a little unusual for me, not knowing anyone but the people I had come with. I was too shy of a person to be social with strangers. However, the alcohol seemed to have an effect on everyone´s personality. People started introducing themselves and laughing with me like we had been friends for years. Some of the guys seemed to take a keen interest in me. Thanks to the alcohol they didn´t seem to notice my boyfriend´s arm around me. It was like the first day at Forks High all over again. Actually, many of the faces were familiar. I could recognize a few of their stares from my first day.

Beer Pong.

I had no idea what was happening when I was suddenly dragged away from the couch and taken over to the unusually long and thin table with the cups arranged into triangles. I didn´t really understand much of it, but as long as I didn´t have to drink any beer I would be happy. I only agreed to play when they agreed to fill the cups with some of my drink rather than beer.

Jake whispered in my ear, "You know this will get you drunk pretty fast, don't you?"

I didn´t see how. I had seen how much alcohol the others had had. There was such little alcohol in all 10 cups that the liquid content couldn´t be that much more than another 2 cups at most, and I had seen others finishing up their fourth beers.

"I think I can handle it," I said confidently, "I won´t play for very long."

He hesitated for a moment, but let me go. "Let´s just remember to stop when you´ve had enough, okay? Let me know when you start getting dizzy."

"Okay," I said. Fair enough, I wasn´t planning of having more than a few drinks anyway.

…

As I probably should have guessed, I was a horrible shot, but with every losing drink I cared less and less about losing and more and more about losing my inhibitions. Everyone looked so happy. I was hoping I could be as carefree as they were, in spite of the difficult issues going through my head. In a way, it was encouraging to hear the shouts of "Chug, chug, chug!" Even Jacob seemed to be enjoying the attention I was getting.

Sure enough, very quickly I started to feel woozy. It wasn´t an unpleasant feeling, but it wasn´t really pleasant either. It just kinda felt like I was about to start floating. After a while longer, I felt unusually happy. Not that there was anything to particularly be happy about. I just felt like I needed to smile at everyone.

After a lost 3 games, I was ready to call it quits. The crowd that had formed was rather sad to see me go, but I knew that I shouldn´t get carried away my first time. I had definitely reached that point Jacob had warned me about. The room was spinning but it seemed to be dancing a little as well, and it felt really good. That was a little nerve-racking. Thinking I was going to fall, I held on to Jacob all the way back to the couch. The original cup I had was still there. I had forgotten about it as soon as they dragged me away. I was plenty tipsy by now but I didn´t see any harm in having one last drink. There wasn´t much alcohol in it anyway.

It was about 2 in the morning when the party really came to life, but I was already too inebriated to care about the crowds. It seemed I still handed reached my peak yet. I was feeling stranger and stranger even quicker than before. Quil and Sam joked that I was clearly a happy drunk, which was true, I couldn´t stop giggling. A few times I even seemed to black out for a moment. They had to repeat every other sentence to me, which didn´t bother them. In fact they found it hilarious. I however, found it to be very annoying and disorienting not to remember what happened seconds before.

I wasn´t sure I could make it to the bathroom on my own, but I sure wasn´t letting one of the boys come with me. I stumbled by way into the dark hallway and towards the door at the end. The bathroom light was brighter than I expected. It gave me a headache.

All of a sudden the room really started to spin. I reached out and grabbed the towel rack and the towels, slipping and hitting my head hard against the rail. ´Damnit!´

Of course I couldn´t be left alone for more than a few moments without hurting myself. The room was still spinning. I followed the wall with my hands towards the sink and looked into the mirror. There was a bright pink spot right in the middle of my forehead, as though I was about to sprout a horn. Fan-freaking-tastic…

I also noted how strange my face looked. It had to be the alcohol affecting my sight. I looked haggard, like I had just been asleep for the past century. My eyes were a little blood shock and I had some problems making out my features. Strange, why didn´t any of the other girls look this bad? Of course I was always my worst critic.

The room spun again, this time sending a wave of nausea through me. I didn't even have the ability to move to the toilet before I vomited in the sink. Well at least it wasn´t on the floor.

Even better… My first time drinking and I had to go and get sick. I cleaned myself off as best as I could and let go of the sink to head to the toilet, when suddenly my feet came out from under me. My head smacked against the tile floor.

Okay, something was definitely wrong here. I hadn´t had a great deal of alcohol and I have seen plenty of drunk people but I had never seen people being totally unable to walk unless they had really been binge drinking. I had to get Jacob and get out of here.

My fear turned to terror when I realized that I couldn´t call out for Jacob. I opened my mouth but no sound came out.

Having a police chief for a father and all the criminal knowledge that comes with it, only one thing could come to mind when I was really drunk in spite of not much alcohol, falling over myself within minutes, blacking out, room spinning, vomiting, and an inability to speak…

Had I been drugged?

At the moment I was too scared to even consider it. I had to get back to Jacob. I somehow made it to the door but didn´t even know how I got there. I used the door handle to pull myself up to my feet and stumbled out. I started back down the hallway towards the festivities. I could barely see in front of me. Panicked, I began towards them, but suddenly I was being pulled backwards. I was trying to move forward but my body wasn´t paying attention. In fact it felt like I was being pulled back from the neck.

That´s when I got really terrified. If I truly had been drugged, then someone had to be waiting around to take advantage of me. A scream for help seemed to be stuck at the back of my throat. I opened my mouth and tried to yell but I couldn´t no matter how hard I tried. There was only one other option, and it wasn´t likely to work. I tried to turn around to fight whoever was behind me, but just then, a huge crash came from the living room. Whatever was pulling me back was gone and I fell to the floor again. I crumbled in a heap on the floor in the darkness. When I looked up there was no one there. I was safe.

And yet I wasn´t. The room was still spinning in every direction and the nausea was back. I had never felt so ill and scared… and alone. Jacob was just around the corner but no matter what I couldn´t alert him to what was happening.

I heard the faint sounds of gasps in the living room, and suddenly Jacob´s voice shouting "What the fuck are you doing here?"

I couldn´t hear the answer as the crowd suddenly exploded into gasps and cheers. I heard a cry of "Fight fight fight" over the sounds of a struggle, but I couldn´t make out what was happening.

Suddenly there was a shadow over me again. I cowered away, terrified that whoever had drugged me had come back to finish what he had started. I cringed when I felt myself being lifted into a pair of arms.

But all my fear and anxiety melted away as I felt the coldness of his body… I looked up at him and saw my Edward, my everlasting savior. I tried to say his name, but nothing came out. He looked just as panicked as I felt.

"It´s okay, Bella. I´m taking you to Carlisle. I think someone tried to drug you. Do you understand?"

I couldn´t even move my head to response. I could only stare at him. He didn´t wait for an answer and hoisted me into his arms and walked briskly back into the living room. More gasps echoed in my head, so much louder than they should have been.

"Bella!" I heard Quil cry out.

Suddenly, Jacob was in front of me, a look of rage on his face, and I was happy that tonight he would not be able to transform.

"What happened? What´s wrong with her?"

"Isn´t it obvious, Jacob? She was drugged!"

A must have blacked out again for another second. Jacob was trying to take me out of Edward´s arms. ´No!´

I held onto him tightly. I didn´t care why or how he was here. I was too terrified to let go of him.

"Stand down, Jacob! I´m taking her to my father." He began walking again, "And everyone throw out your drinks just in case."

I closed my eyes and let the dizziness fade. I felt the coldness of the nighttime air as we left the house, the softness of the car seats as he put me into his car. I heard the engine turn on and the shaking motion of the car as we backed out of the driveway. The last thing I heard was Jacob calling my name and Edward´s thumb stroking my forehead before I let the world disappear from my mind.

To be continued…

Pfh… High school drinkers. I don´t care how cool it seems now, they don´t hold a candle to college parties Of course, once you´re older and it´s legal it really loses its edge… But hey, at least we get clubs! I love being 22!

Yes, scary chapter! Believe it or not, this does have a purpose to be mentioned pretty soon. I didn´t put it here just to put a little annoying moral of the story for all you readers. Though I will tell you this… It takes one second for you to look away for someone to drop a roofie into your cup. Be careful.

Anyway, yes, Bella got drugged and knight-in-shining-armor Edward once again came to save the day! Please review on this chapter. I really didn´t like to be away from Edward POV but I am exciting to write the next part with him. Your support is always appreciated! xoxoxoxo