DISCLAIMER: Stephenie Meyer, along with Little, Brown and Company, owns all the rights to the Twilight Saga. I own nothing and profit nothing from this story.
The next morning I still felt like crap. I had no clue what it would take to get Paul to accept me. He said that I had to prove myself. I had to prove that I belonged by Sam's side. Well, how the hell was I supposed to do that? He couldn't have given me a clue of some sort to worked with? Jared, Kim and Sam all tried to reassure me that he was simply an ass and to not listen to a word he said. Paul himself even told me to not take it personally though. And I thought he was telling me the truth then, but then again they did know him better. Jared and Sam even shared a mind with him, so I would for the time being ignore his comments like the two of them suggested.
I pushed away my thoughts and got ready for the day. I was spending the day with my beloved wolf and some of my favorite kids. I hadn't told anyone, including Sam, what I had planned for the boys. I worried if the boys would like my activity. I thought they would, but we'd see.
Before heading down to La Push, I stopped by the hardware store in Forks. I picked up the remaining materials that I would need for our activity. The boy at the register, probably only a freshman in high school, looked at me oddly after seeing my checkout items.
"Whatcha doing with this stuff?" I looked down at the objects and smiled.
"Just a fun little project for some middle school aged boys," I said simply.
It would be my little secret for a bit more. I grabbed the bags and headed back out to my truck. I drove to La Push with a smile on my face. Adults on the reservations may not have approved of me, but the kids seemed to. And that was all I needed at the moment.
I told Sam the night before that I would meet him at the Center at eleven o'clock. Pulling up, I didn't see his truck, but he could have just walked over. After our fun at the Center, we planned to eat at the café around the corner, and we wouldn't need two cars for that.
I took hold of all the bags of supplies. While I walked toward the building, Sam emerged from the door. He strode over to me and took the bags out of my hands.
"Hey, baby, you're late," he said before dropping down and placing a kiss on my lips.
"Five minutes, Sam. Five minutes does not count as being late for a girl."
"All right, you tell the boys that then. They've been bugging since the moment I walked through the door. They're really excited."
"Then let's head inside."
Sam peered into one of the bags. "Are you going to share with me what you have CDs, washers, and hook-eyes for?"
"Nope, it's for the boys and me. You can find out when we're done."
"Are you building something, Bella? Because I don't think you're too good at using tools, baby."
"Your confidence in my abilities astound me," I say sarcastically. "I can do this, Sam."
"Okay, sweetheart, you go and do your thing then."
"I will thank you very much."
We headed inside and immediately the boys swarmed all around me.
"Bella, you're here!"
"Bella, what took you so long?"
"What do you have planned?"
Sam chuckled at them before stepping in, "Whoa, guys, give my girl room to breathe."
"Sorry, Sam, we're just excited," Phoenix explained.
"All right, well, why don't you boys carry these bags for Bella where ever it is that she wants you take them?"
"Not a problem, Sam," Kane said.
The boys took all the bags from Sam and followed me to the far corner of the large room. I sat down on the floor and the boys followed suit.
"What are we doing today, Bella?" Walker asked me.
"Let's lay out all the materials and see if you guys can figure it out."
So the boys all took the items out of all the bags and laid them all around us on the floor. None of them seemed to be able to piece the items together in their heads.
"You've got to give us a few clues, Bella," Phoenix said.
"Well, the CDs will act as wheels."
"So it's all for some kind of car?" Kane guessed.
"Yes, some kind of car."
"Okay, so I get the car part, but I don't see where a mousetrap comes into play."
"It does, trust me, Phoenix. The traps make the car more than just a plain old push-it-yourself car."
"How?" Kane asked doubtfully.
"For inertia," Walker said proudly.
"Right, the traps will set the cars in motion."
"Of course the dork would know," Kane complained.
"I'm not a dork just because I actually pay attention in classes."
"Whatever. How do we make these things?"
After shotting Kane a look that I didn't approve of his comment, I answered, "We need to split into pairs. Each pair will make their own car."
"Can I be on your team, Bella?" Phoenix asked.
"Suck up," Kane muttered.
Phoenix looked smugly over at Kane. "You're just sorry I asked first."
I silently counted the boys and found seven of them in front of me that day. That meant there would have to be a team of three or I would need to pair up with one boy.
"To be fair, Phoenix did ask, so I'll team with him. The rest of you need to pair off into twos and then we can get started."
After the boys teamed up, with surprisingly no issues, I started to hand out all the supplies. Each team received what they would need for one car. After distributing parts, I sat back down next to Phoenix.
"First, everyone needs to carefully super glue the mouse trap onto the wooden base. The direction of the coil should be opposite the direction of the mouse trap car's intended movement direction. So you need to place it here like this," I said showing them to glue the trap at the back edge of the wooden base. I handed the two pieces to Phoenix and he promptly glued the trap into the correct position.
After only a few short minutes, the four teams all looked up at me ready to move on.
"Okay, next we have to attach the four eye hooks on the mouse trap's base. The base wood isn't real wood, but some kind of synthetic stuff that should be easy enough to push the hooks into using your hands. Insert two eye hooks on the short side of both ends of the mouse trap. And remember to be careful and to make sure that the holes of the hooks are aligned with each other on each end."
I waited a few minutes while the boys finished the step. I did one side while Phoenix inserted the hooks into the other.
"Next we work with the axles. The length of the axles must be longer than the mouse trap to avoid friction when we put the wheels on. Also, make sure that the axles are parallel to each other. This goes back to how you inserted the eye hooks. You can use lots of things for the axles, but I just chose the cylinder metal rods. They're light but sturdy, and work well for this."
It took only a second for each team to slide the rod through the eye hooks.
"All right, next put the rubber washers on the axels. You'll need to position them near the eye hooks. This will keep the rod in its correct position. You don't want the axle moving all around and this will prevent that from occurring. Keep in mind that you will need to leave a small amount of space between the rubber washers and the hooks to allow movement of the axle."
I watched as Phoenix did so properly. I stood up to walk around the other teams just to ensure that everyone was on track.
"Kane, dear, that's a little bit too much wiggle room. Move the washers a little closer to the hooks."
"Thanks, Bella."
"Not a problem. Is anyone having any difficulties or questions?" No one answered, so I assumed we could move on.
"Okay, next we glue the wheels, or in our case the CDs, onto the axles."
The thickness of the rods allowed them to just barely slide through the wholes of the CDs. A little super glue to hold the tight fit in place and we were good to go.
"Now I want one person on the team to tie the string on the jaw of the mouse trap. You must make sure that it's very secure and tightly tied."
"Loop the other end of the string to the rear axle of the car. Again you have to tie the string very tightly in order for the car to work properly."
I helped Phoenix tie it a little tighter on the axle, but other than that his car looked good to go. Walking around the other groups, each team looked to be on target. When I came upon Walker's group, he beamed up at me.
"Are my knots tight enough, Bella?" I examined the car, particularly where the string was tied.
"These look excellent, Walker. Where did you learn knots?"
"My Uncle Mark taught me."
"He's a good teacher."
"Yeah, he is, but I don't get to see him much. He works in Seattle."
"Yeah, what does he do there?"
"He works some big business. Uncle Mark studied really hard in school and got a scholarship. I'm trying to do the same thing, that's why I study and pay attention in school."
"That sounds like a very good plan."
"Thanks, Bella. I just don't see myself living here for the rest of my life. There are so many more exciting places, don't you think?"
"La Push and Forks holds more excitement than you would ever guess, Walker."
"You mean you want to stay here?" He asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, I do."
"Because of Sam?"
"Yes, because of Sam." No sense lying. If not for Sam, I would almost certainly leave. Sure, I would come back to visit Charlie, but staying here permanently was never in my plans.
"You must really love him to choose to stay here. You're real smart, you could really go places in life."
"Well, thanks, but I like it in La Push a lot. I've lived else where and I wouldn't trade here for anywhere else. I consider this home now, why would I want to be anywhere else?"
"You can make a home somewhere else."
"Home isn't always a physical place, Walker. Sometimes it's a person or a group of people. My heart and home are here, so I'll always belong in Washington." Walker bit his lip in concentration.
"I get what you're saying. Maybe once I'm older I'll look at it the same way. But for right now, I want see the world."
"You do what makes you happy," I said patting him on the head. I made my way back to the front of the group.
"Okay, everyone, all that's left is to test these babies out." A cheer came from the boys.
For the next half an hour the boys played with their cars. The boys on each team took turns setting the traps off and setting the cars into motion.
"Looks like you did well," a deep voice said behind me. If it was any other voice I would have jumped startled. Not his voice though, his voice was one I always welcomed.
"Thanks," I said turning to see him. "How did the bracelet making go?"
"Good. The girls are just finishing up now."
"And how did Lily do?"
He sighed and shook his head a little. "Lily did well. Though, she sure did ask a lot of questions."
I smiled a little at him. "I think I have some competition in her."
"Nah, baby, you never have to worry about competition. You're the only one I want."
"Sam!" a voice shouted across the room. Phoenix stood waving Sam over to him and the rest of the boys.
"Looks like you're being called."
"Yeah, well, you know I am a pretty popular guy around here."
"You keep telling yourself that, big guy."
We both walked toward the boys together. All seven of them created a semi-circle around us.
"You want to see what I made with Bella. She is so amazing. You're a lucky guy, Sam." I couldn't hold the blush off.
"I know I am. What I want to know is how my lady learned to make these?"
"Science class in Phoenix."
"What?" Phoenix asked confused.
"Before Forks, I lived in Phoenix, Arizona. That's where I learned how to make a mousetrap car."
"I bet that's a cool place to have such a cool name."
"More like loserville," Kane muttered.
"Hey, lay off, Kane."
Before Kane could rebuttal, Sam spoke up. "You know what would be great? For someone to show me these contraptions you speak of. Then I want to test one of these bad boys out myself."
The boys all proudly showed off their mousetrap cars to Sam. The girls after awhile made their way over to us as well. The group decided that a race was needed. With all the cars lined up and Sam standing a few yards away, I initiated the countdown.
"Ready…Set….Go!" The traps snapped and the cars went flying.
"The winners are Tony and Brock," Sam announced.
That pleased me. Those two were always so quiet and well behaved. If Phoenix or Kane would have won, it could have turned into World War III.
The girls showed off their bracelets and a few even got the boys to let them test out the cars. All in all it turned out to be a fabulous day. Sam and I said our goodbyes and promises to return as soon as we could.
Sam drove us just around the corner and down a few blocks to a small café. After we parked, Sam held my hand and kept us both seated in the truck. I looked at him questioningly, but he continued to look out the windshield. After a few moments of silence he spoke.
"You know, Walker was right."
"About what?"
"You being too smart to be stuck here."
"You heard that? I thought you were a wolf, not superman," I tried to joke.
"I'm serious, Bella. I hate that you're stuck here."
"I'm not stuck here, Sam. Do you see anything physically holding me here? No, neither do I. I want to be here. I choose to be here. Nowhere in the world could ever hold a candle against La Push. No place else in the world do they have you. You're my home, Sam. Charlie's my home. That means that La Push and Forks are my homes."
He didn't look at me when he spoke, "There's not much here for you."
"You, you, you, Sam," I sighed frustrated before continueing, "You're all I need. How many times must we go through this? I want you, I need you, and I love you. What else do you want me to say?"
"Knowing you love me means more to me than anything else."
"I'm glad, because I do. I love you, Sam Uley."
"I love you too, Isabella Swan."
"That's nice to know, because I don't plan on going anywhere, anytime soon."
"All right, sorry I brought it up. I just want the best for you."
"You're the best for me."
"You're the best for me too. You know that, right?" I wished that I did. Sometimes I thought so and others I didn't. I guess it really depended on who I had been around in that time.
"Yeah, I know," I fibbed. He didn't need to worry about my worries. He had enough on his plate.
"Good, then I say we go inside and get some grub, because I'm starved."
"You, Sam Uley, are always starved."
"Hey, leatherwork burns a lot of calories, let me tell you."
I snorted, "I'm sure. Let's go then."