Author's note: Hey guys! :) Thank you so much to all the people who have been reading and reviewing! Your kind words and encouragement really mean a lot to me. They keep me going and inspire me in unspeakable ways. :) Since the semester is coming to a close this week (yay!), I'm hoping to be updating this story on a more regular basis…and let me tell you, there are some pretty interesting things coming up! ;) Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

Out of Nowhere

Four

"Where did you go last night?" Jessica pushed as Bella sat down at her desk in Calculus the following day. "I turned my head for one second and both of you were gone! Did he try to make a move on you or something?"

Bella pretended not to hear her as she got her books out and sat them neatly on top of her desk. Lining her pencil and paper up just right occupied her thoughts before Jessica's voice interrupted them again.

"Oh my gosh! He did, didn't he?" Her voice grew higher with disbelief as she practically begged Bella to look at her.

"No, he didn't," she corrected severely, turning to face the front of the room again.

"Are you sure? Because you're acting pretty strange," Jessica sniffed, running her fingers through the ends of her hair.

"Yes, I'm sure." Bella tried to sort her feelings out. After all, it wasn't Jessica who had given Jacob the cold shoulder and ignored him. It wasn't Jessica who'd made her feel like a jerk. It wasn't Jessica who had ignored her calls. "I didn't feel good last night, so Jacob took me home. That's it."

"Oh." Jessica looked slightly disappointed. "Well, you missed a pretty good movie. Turns out Samantha and Derek had known each other all along, but they didn't find it out until Samantha's estranged fiancé read the will and Derek realized that he had given the locket to her when they were kids. Isn't that crazy! We've got to go see it again this weekend. Such a tear jerker."

All Bella could do was nod as Jessica rattled off several more details of her night with Brad, including the fact that he was the most amazing kisser. Bella highly doubted that. For the first time in her history with math, she was grateful when Mr. Varner showed up early and promptly began class.

The rest of the day passed with agonizing slowness. Lunch, as she should have expected, was no relief as Jessica entertained the table with her adventures from the night before, making a point to linger on every detail of Brad, much to Mike's annoyance. The rest of her classes dragged on as well, and when she finally felt like she couldn't take one more word of notes, the final bell rang.

Not bothering to stop at her locker, Bella made a bee line for the front entrance where she hoped Charlie would be waiting with a warm car. He was not. Instead she waited just inside the building, passing the time by trying to nudge the wall with her shoe.

"Bella!"

She would know that voice anywhere.

"Hey, Mike," she replied, trying to contain a sigh.

"What are doing?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Waiting for my dad to come and get me," she admitted, resenting the fact that she didn't have a functioning vehicle to avoid situations such as these. "What about you?"

"Oh, just waiting around for soccer to start. You know how slow Coach is," he beamed at her, motioning towards his gold shorts.

"Right," she replied, looking out the window.

"Do you want me to take you home? It wouldn't be anything. What, five minutes tops?"

Bella inwardly groaned, weighing her options, when suddenly an idea dawned on her. "Actually, could you take me to La Push?"

Mike's agreement and level of comfort with the idea was more than obvious as he planned their "escape route" and hummed the Mission Impossible theme on the way to his car. With squealing tires, they peeled out of the parking lot and made it to the highway before the soccer team set out on their run around the field.

"Whew, that was close." Mike winked at Bella as he checked his rearview mirror. "I thought we were goners there for a minute."

"Mmm hmm," Bella tried to sound enthusiastic while thinking about her plan of attack once in La Push.

"So, you and Jacob went with Jess and Brad last night?" Mike asked casually.

She nodded. For a moment, Bella wasn't sure which side of the story he wanted to know more about, hers or Jessica's.

"And this guy Brad…he's in college?"

"Yeah," Bella replied, feeling sorry for her accomplice. A little fib wouldn't hurt anyone. "But you could hardly tell. I mean, he didn't play any sports. And I think he goes to community college."

This seemed to make Mike happy, but his thoughts soon turned to the other members of the group. "And you and Jacob…"

"Are just friends," she clarified, not feeling quite so sorry anymore, adding, so he didn't get any ideas, "Very close friends."

Mike seemed to take the hint and focused on the more on the road and less on the speed, putting them at their destination earlier than expected.

The road leading up to Jacob's house was muddy, but Mike insisted on driving all the way up to the front door and waiting for her. Bella quickly thanked him and ran through the rain toward the house.

Knocking on the door harder each time than she meant to before, Bella received an answer after three long pounds. Billy appeared before her suddenly, throwing open the screen door with a sour look on his face.

"Hi, Billy. Is Jake in?" She asked, looking around him into the house.

"No, Bella. He's still at school," Billy replied shortly, looking past her to Mike's car which had decimated his lawn.

Faintly, Bella heard the back door slam; it shook the house. Obviously leaning her head around Billy to follow the sound, she asked again, "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"But, I –" she began.

He cut her off with a sharp hand. "I'm sorry Bella. Jacob is not here."

Not bothering to reply, she ran from the tiny porch to the side of the house; a clear view of the garage was in sight. She could see the end of her truck sticking out and the sunken in door propped up against the shed. The light was on.

Wounded, she stumbled backward, nearly slipping in the kicked up mud. The rain fell harder than it had before as she caught Billy's eye and trudged back to Mike's car. As she got in, water rolling down the back of her hood, her throat ached. She felt like crying.

Mike glanced over at her, his eyes trailed from her face to the shed on which her eyes were fixed. Putting the car in reverse, he carefully backed up and got back on the main road.

"Some friend," he muttered.

Bella wasn't sure if he had said it to make her feel better or to make himself look better. She didn't care.

The rest of the ride back to Forks was silent, with the exception of Mike's sorry attempts at making conversation. They passed the high school and turned on to her road before she realized it, and the sight of Charlie's cruiser made her feel even worse.

As Mike's car came to a halt, she quickly gathered her things and threw open the car door. "Thanks again for the ride. Sorry I made you miss soccer practice."

Mike smiled, just happy to be forgiven and talked to again. "No biggie. See you tomorrow, Bella."

With a wave, she shut the door and dashed under the cover of her porch, bracing herself to meet Charlie on the other side.