21

She had woken that morning realising that for all that she was almost an adult; the people around her were treating her as if she were a young child. Charlie still hadn't said anything about her mother, Alice hadn't told her whatever it was that she had been going to tell her the week before, and she had a feeling that Edward had just moved into her life as a permanent fixture without her say so. So it wasn't in the best of moods that she got in her truck and set off for school.

The second she stepped onto the asphalt Edward started, he picked on her truck. That truck was a present from Charlie. Like the wagon she had kept since she was 5 and the watch on her wrist. It wasn't that it worked, or didn't, it was that someone she cared for had cared enough for her that they had given her them.

Then Edward had the cheek to grab her bag off her shoulder without so much as a by-your-leave and he insisted on touching her even when she made it plain that it wasn't welcome. Then to top it all off she found out that somehow they had managed to re-arrange the class schedules so that Edward was with her in every single class. She tried not to get too upset, truthfully the pain in her chest the day before had frightened her, she sort of remembered Edward saying it was his fault, though she didn't see how it possibly could be.

She was brought out of her reverie by Edward knocking her elbow.

"Miss Swan?" typical, the second she wasn't attentive the teacher decided to notice what was going on in the class.

"Yes sir?" she looked down blushing and noticed a note in front of her.

'Day dreaming? He asked if you had seen the other versions of Pride and Prejudice.'

Bella sighed as she remembered sitting with Mrs. Middleton every Saturday afternoon watching an hour of the series, and later watching it again after her death with her daughter.

"Oh mmm sorry sir, yes, I've seen the 1995 version and the 1980 BBC version too, and the 2005 film." She told him, the teacher did not look pleased.

"I thought you had as you referenced them in your essay as well as the film I showed you."

Another note appeared, 'he isn't pleased because he was going to show them next.'

Bella grimaced at the thought of sitting through 13 hours more of the same thing over and over. You could get too much of a good thing.

'Now he doesn't know what to do because he doesn't have a lesson planned.'

Bella shrugged that wasn't her fault. She doodled on her notebook, spirals and circles over and over.

The teacher told them to study a sheet of paper that he passed around, comparing prices in 1812 with prices in the US in 2009, 'to give you a better idea of the gulf between the Bennets and the Darcys.' Bella recognised the figures, the lazy teacher had just printed out a webpage from a Jane Austen fan site.

Another note appeared.

'Want to go somewhere after school?' she noticed that like the others, his handwriting was perfect.

'No thanks, I have to go home and cook dinner.' The teacher was staring blankly at the class, mainly ignoring them so she felt safe writing back to him, she studied her reply, it looked like a spider had crawled over the page… one more example of the difference between them. The note disappeared from in front of her and as quickly was back.

'After dinner?'

'Homework.'

'Tomorrow?'

'Same as today.'

Why was he bothering her? He had been parted from his family for over 50 years; didn't they deserve some of his attention? It wasn't that she didn't wish to spend time with him; it was more that she felt she was the butt of a joke. There was no way someone like him would be interested in someone like her. The way he had smiled as he put his hand on her shoulder irritated her no end, sort of smug and superior.

She missed Alice. But she had a feeling that all this was according to Alice's plans, this was what she had intended from the start! Tears formed in her eyes as she realised that all this was a joke to her friend. She had done everything she could to help the Cullen's and now they just made fun of her.

She wasn't a friend, she was more a pet, and like watching a cat chase a piece of string or a light shone on a wall, they were getting their kicks out of teasing her, trying to make her believe that someone as perfect as Edward would ever feel anything for someone like her was cruel.

She got to her feet and stumbled out of the classroom without even asking permission. She hadn't even got to the bathroom close by before Edward followed her out.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked softly his hands gripped her shoulders gently and turned her to face him.

"Leave me alone!" she sobbed.

"Bella, what happened?" she struggled and twisted until he had no choice but to let her go or hurt her. She dashed into the bathroom and locked herself in a cubical.

She knew it was only a matter of time before Alice or Rose arrived. She realised she had no tissues, and came out of the cubical to grab a paper towel. It was then that she noticed that the bathroom had another door, one to the outside of the building. She slipped quietly through it and ran to her truck, she was under no illusion that the vampires would not know what she was doing, so as soon as she started the engine she headed to the beach.

Edward had no idea what the hell had happened. One minute they had been in English Lit and the next Bella had run out of the classroom in tears. He followed her but could not stop her going into the bathroom. His enhanced hearing detected her opening another door, and he cursed as he realised that the teacher had followed them out of the classroom to see what was wrong. He couldn't reach Bella at human speed before she got into her truck and sped off.

The teacher threatened him with detention if he did not return to the classroom. He swore under his breath as he turned and headed inside.

Rose glared at him from her seat behind his; Emmett was upset too, neither of them knew why Bella had run out, though they had seen everything. He projected to Alice, {What the hell happened?}

{I can't see Bella!} She sounded panicked. {She's headed for the reservation.}

{I'm more worried about her driving while crying. That truck of hers has a terrible safety record.}

{You don't understand, I can't see ANY future for her!} Cold dread settled into his bones. What did Alice mean she couldn't see a future for Bella, he was about to run out of the school when Alice explained. {It's the werewolves; I can't see anything at all when they are close. I can't see past them.}

{Is she in danger?} he asked.

{No… I don't think so, at least no more than usual I would say, what did you say to her to make her run off like that?} he replayed their interactions from first meeting that morning. Alice didn't seem to understand what had caused her friend to burst into tears and leave like that.

"Please all wait here QUIETLY while I go to the office." The teacher told the class, his mind told Edward that he was going to report Bella for leaving without permission. What could they do? Expel her? She had already graduated high school in Phoenix; they couldn't hold her diploma over her head. He was tempted to follow Bella, but knew he couldn't. By the time he got to the boundary she would be well over it.

All he could hope for was that she would soon return. He would skip out as soon as he could and wait for her where the road came out of the Wolves territory. He sent a text to Carlisle telling him the problem and hoping he could find an excuse. If he didn't Edward was going to skip anyway and that could cause trouble for the family. They had worked hard to integrate into the local society, he would hate to jeopardise that, especially on his first day at school, but if it was that or watch Bella get hurt then who cared about integration? The Cullens could always move again if necessary, or Jasper could show that he had graduated early in Chicago and they would be as powerless to keep him in school as they were with Bella.

Mr. Mason returned with a scowl on his face and a slip of paper that he slapped on Edwards desk. It was a permission slip for him to leave, a note on the back said his uncle needed him, and he was to make his way to the hospital to meet him.

"Not a very promising first day at school Mr. Cullen." The teacher scowled then realised he could go back to his original lesson plan if Bella wasn't there; he grabbed the DVD and pulled the set from the corner of the room.

Edward grabbed his bag and Bella's and left as quickly as he could without arousing suspicion.

He had run into school that morning so he could be early, so he ran to the hospital to pick up Carlisle's car. It would look strange in the cold weather if he was seen standing at the roadside for any length of time without a heavy coat. Sometimes blending in was just too much trouble.

Carlisle met him in the car park with his keys; Edward quickly told him what he had told Alice, from their meeting that morning to her running out. Carlisle was as puzzled as everyone else.

Edward drove as close to the border as he felt he could safely get away with and settled in to wait.

Esme was surveying the small cottage in the northern part of their property. It was a lovely little place that hadn't been occupied for over 120 years. In fact when the Cullens bought the land in 1938 there was no mention of the building, it was so overgrown even back then that the agent hadn't thought it worth mentioning. She looked at the solid construction of the foot thick stone walls with approval. The exterior wood had all rotted away, leaving the inside open to the windblown elements, from flag stone floor to the unusual slate covered roof. The exposed joists seemed quite sound, but she would have to test them before laying floorboards and making a bedroom under the eaves.

The ground floor had plenty of space for a decent sized living room, with a working fireplace. A small kitchen, (just for show if Bella turned but if she stayed human she would need it) and a spacious bathroom. There was just enough room upstairs for a large bedroom with small en suite and a large closet. Though Bella didn't want a lot of clothes buying Alice already had purchased enough for the couple to fill the closet in the main house and overflow.

In a normal household the space could have been turned into a nursery, but Esme sadly knew that could never be, unless… her thoughts drifted. There were so many more options nowadays than there were back when she was alive. If Bella stayed human she could decide to try artificial insemination. How Edward would react to that, his mate pregnant with another man's baby, was anyone's guess. Esme didn't like to even think about it if she was honest. Vampires weren't known for sharing when it came to their mates, even a wrong look could cause a vicious jealous reaction (the number of times Emmett had threatened pupils at their schools for looking at Rose was rather disturbing, and Rose had almost as many black marks over girls drooling at Emmett), never mind a pregnancy even if they didn't know the father. She shook her head to clear it of speculation and got back to work.

The window frames were totally rotten, the door the same. She made measurements and notes in her mind and planned to visit the local True Value stores to lay in enough supplies to totally renovate. She could do with knowing whether Bella would be human or not before settling some things. They would need heat in the cottage if she was human, none if she wasn't, space for food storage in the kitchen, or not… things like that. She planned on asking Alice and Rose to help design the bedroom, she would plan the kitchen, and hopefully the boys could do the living room and bathroom. If they all pulled together then they could get it done in less than a week. She didn't expect Bella to move in quite so soon, but you never knew. Especially with them now being mated, vampires weren't known for their patience, teenage ones especially, and Edward had been waiting so very long for someone to love.

Her phone went off, Carlisle's ringtone.

"Hello darling," she purred, hoping he was ringing to warn her he was on his way home early.

"Sorry, love." Carlisle said, "I called to ask if you had any idea what was wrong with Bella?" He recounted everything Edward had told him and added that Alice had sent him a text believing that it was something Edward had done or said that caused it, as it came right out of the blue. Esme sighed. She had a good idea what was wrong with the girl.

Alice could not empathise with Bella; she didn't remember being human and so could not remember how it felt. Rose could not empathise because she believed she had had a perfect human life. She had been pretty and rich when the majority of folk were poor, and she lived in a protected and idealised world right up to the night she died. Esme, however, hadn't. She remembered very well the terrible feelings that assaulted her when her husband made her feel like dirt. She remembered the anger and sadness she felt when he would suddenly turn nice, and she knew he was doing it just to get her hopes up so he could dash them again. And she remembered the longing she felt when she remembered the doctor who had lived close by when she was a teen, how she knew she was not good enough for him, and that was why he left and gave her no option but to marry Charles Evenson.

Her life had been hard, cruel and unjust once she had married. Just because something was right one day didn't mean it would be the next, and his family didn't help. His sister had seemingly made friends with her, and as soon as she confided in her, she had run and told Charles and Esme had received a beating bad enough to need hospital treatment, but she hadn't got it.

Carlisle had saved her in more ways than one, but he had attributed her initial mood swings and reticence down to her being newborn. It had taken almost a full month of the mating bond growing stronger before she decided to trust in him and allow herself to love him. That wouldn't have seemed a long time to a human, but to a newborn and newly mated vampire it was an eternity! Carlisle had put it down to them not being fully mated until she woke, but she knew that she had mated back when she was 16. She had felt pain for weeks after he left, which settled into a constant throbbing ache and her inability to love the man her parents had chosen to be her husband was what caused his abuse in the first place.

It was obvious to her that Bella's self esteem issues and inability to trust were why she had run. Unlike Esme, she hadn't just suffered 4 years of that sort of treatment, she had never known anything else, it was little wonder that she was overwhelmed by the attention of, not only Edward, but the Cullen family on the whole.

"There isn't much we can do Carlisle, she has to work through this on her own. Tell Edward that he needs to give her space, eventually she will trust him but at the moment my guess is she thinks he is teasing her by giving her all that attention."

"I thought it may be something like that." Carlisle said with a sigh. "I have studied psychology since your change, I recognised the symptoms now. But Edward isn't the most patient person I know." Esme laughed, he was right.

"He's a teenager; I don't think patience is any of their strong points."

"True. Edward is sat on the reservation boundary."

Esme shook her head sadly. He could end up pushing the child away if he didn't give her space. She hoped the mating bond would counteract his bullishness, but as Bella had already fled from him, she wouldn't count on it. "I'll call him and talk to him." She promised.

"Thank you my love." She wished she could hold him, he sounded worried. "I'll see you this evening, usual time."

"I love you."

"Love you too." She heard the dial tone and looked at the phone sadly for a few seconds. Then she called her eldest son.

"Bella!" She groaned as she heard her voice being called. Turning she saw Jacob approach again. "Hey, do you ditch every week?" he asked laughing.

"I'm thinking of packing it in, school sucks." She stated, wondering if he was going to bring up the Cullen's again.

"Come to school on the reservation, we have loads of fun," Jacob told her, she laughed, she had heard over the years about the res school, the teachers weren't strict and concentrated more on practical skills than academic. As someone who would rather read a book than do anything else she doubted very much she would enjoy that school any more than the one she was at. However it did give her an idea. If the Cullen's refused to leave her alone she could always threaten to change to a school that she knew they could not even visit, never mind attend.

"So, what are you doing with yourself today?" she asked, trying to get him to concentrate on himself rather than on her.

"I was just going down to the scrap yard to take a look for parts for the car I'm building, want to come with?" he asked. She considered it for a second, but her and a scrap yard full of broken machinery just waiting to fall over and hurt or trip her? No she would pass.

"I'm going for a walk down the beach." She told him.

"Want company?" he smiled at her and she felt herself blush. What was it with men? However it wasn't Jacob's fault that she had had problems with the boys at school, so she swallowed her ire.

"Not today thanks, I need to think."

"Sure, sure," he said, not offended in the least. "If you change your mind the scrap yard is down this road half a mile, the turn inland, you can't miss it, I'll be there all morning."

"Thanks, Jacob." She said, meaning it wholeheartedly. As she slowly walked along the beach she contemplated how wrong her life was. She must have done something really bad in a previous life. She remembered something she had heard on a Sci-fi programme that she had been forced to watch while visiting Mrs. Vaughn once, the man said: "I used to think that it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe."

She wondered if it was the universe's fault that bad things happened to her more than anyone else. Maybe everyone would just be better off if she wasn't there to be their whipping boy?

The water was at the high tide mark already but seemed to still be rising, occasionally the waves would reach higher than normal, soon the bottom of her jeans and shoes were wet through, she really should get back and change into something warm and dry, but she could not be bothered.

She could see sort of a causeway stretching out to an island off the coast, she decided to walk along it, but was disappointed to find that, after carefully picking her way around the huge piles of driftwood on the banking, it did not reach the whole way to the island and she turned to make her way back. The causeway was partially under water. The driftwood that had been laid on top was floating off, making the journey even more dangerous than the trip out. Typical, she was going to get more than her socks wet! By the time she had reached land again (surprised that she made it without having an accident) she was bitterly cold. Her jeans were wet from mid thigh down and she couldn't feel below her knees anything more than a painfully dull ache. She was struggling to walk back to the truck when Jacob appeared again.

"Hey, still here? Bella? What happened?" he asked rushing to her. She explained about trying to get to the island and getting almost trapped.

"You are so unlucky; there are very few tides a year that cover that barrier. I was just going into school when I saw you," he shouted to a boy nearby to tell the teacher that he was taking her back to his place to get dried off. "You can call Charlie from there." She shivered violently; he swung her up into his arms without a word and at a jog set off carrying her to his house. What was it with people? Wanting to carry her? She was perfectly capable of travelling on her own two feet.

Where she could not do anything about Edward Cullen, she could about Jacob Black.

"Put me down!" she struggled.

"Bella, you are frozen; I'm trying to get you some place you can get dry and warm."

"I can walk!" she insisted, struggling weakly.

"Yes you can, but I can run without tripping over my own feet." He pointed out.

"If you don't put me down right now I'm going to scream, and when I do get down I'm going to make you wish you had never touched me." He laughed but did as he was told.

As soon as her weight settled on her feet she knew she had made a mistake. Only her pride stopped her asking Jacob to lift her up again, he stuck at her side, not trying to push her to move faster and only touching her when she stumbled. They weren't even off the beach before she realised she could go no further, her legs didn't ache now, they hurt! She was shivering so much she thought she was in danger of loosening her teeth. Without a word Jacob swung her up into his arms again and carried her once more.

They approached a small house set against the forest, it was little more than the size of a decent sized garage. A ramp to the front door let her know that this was the Black's house. He carefully opened the door and awkwardly stumbled in to the house. The first thing she noticed was that it was tiny, the door opened straight into the living room, which was just big enough for a two person sofa a small table and a TV. A small dark passage led to a tiny kitchen, a bathroom and two bedrooms. She was carried to the furthest room. The bedroom made hers in Phoenix look generous. It contained a single bed and mesh hammocks strung above it held Jacob's clothes as there wasn't enough room for any drawers or anything. How the family had lived here when the two girls were home and the mother still alive she didn't know.

Jacob didn't look ashamed of his room as she would have… as she did when she showed Alice her room earlier in the week. "Here we are," he actually looked pleased as he glanced around the tiny space. She realised the difference between Jacob and her was that he was happy. He didn't mind that he hadn't got much, because he was willing to do without. He didn't dream of leaving home and going to college, he would be happy fixing cars and looking after his father. It wasn't really a lack of ambition; it was more a contentment with life. She had never realised how ungrateful she had been to Charlie for everything he had done to make her comfortable, she had just seen what was missing, not what was there!

Of course, Jacob knew things like cell phones and home computers existed, but it seemed that he felt no need to own them. He had even sold the truck that he had put so much time into fixing just so he could have the money to help the family live and maybe get a few parts for his next project.

"Thanks for helping me, Jacob." She told him, ashamed of her earlier temper. Her teeth were chattering so much her jaw ached, and even the very warm coat that Alice had bought wasn't enough to stop the heat from her body leeching out through her wet legs and feet.

"Sure sure," he said with a smile. He reached into one of the hammocks and got down a pair of sweatpants. "I'm afraid the shower only has hot water when we have a fire, and when I'm at school and dad is at the centre we don't have one during the day. I can boil a pan so you can have some hot water; you probably need to soak your feet to defrost them." He laughed.

Bella had a fleeting thought of offering to pay for the electricity it would cost to heat the water, then felt even more guilty. She was sure it would upset and offend him if she did, the same way that she was upset when the Cullen's offered to pay for things for her. How different it looked from the other side. She was so used to being defensive she never thought how the family felt watching her struggle when they had the means to alleviate most of the problems she had.

She flinched as Jacob touched her forehead. "You're running a temperature," he told her.

"No, I'm not, you feel hot to me." He grinned at her and she spluttered to correct his impression of her meaning, he held up his hand in surrender.

"I have an abnormally high temperature, it runs in the family." He told her, "but I can tell you are almost running a fever. Get changed I'll be right back."

He disappeared for a few minutes while she struggled to get her jeans off. Wet jeans were terrible to strip and she fell onto the bed more than once trying to peel them off her legs in the enclosed space of the bedroom. She eventually pulled on the sweatpants and almost laughed. They were a good six inches too long and almost that too large around the waist. She sat on the bed and held her suddenly throbbing head in her hands; her whole body was shaking with the cold now.

"Knock knock, you decent?" Jacob asked through the door.

"Yes, come in." She said, he looked at her in his clothes and laughed, she smiled with him, but her head hurt too much for her to risk laughing. He put a steaming hot cup on the window sill above the bed and slipped what looked like a hot water bottle under the blankets. He held up a thermometer and used an alcohol wipe to clean it before handing it over; she slipped it under her tongue and waited a minute. She groaned when she read the numbers. 102. Jacob was right. Her head was pounding now; he slipped out of the room again and came back with some Tylenol and a glass of tap water. She washed the tablets down and grimaced at the taste.

"Get laid down, I'm going to head back to school, I'll ring Charlie before I go and let him know you're staying here for a couple of hours."

"I… I think I should go home." She said, stuttering slightly as her teeth chattered, but as she got to her feet a wave of nausea swept over her.

"Hey, you aren't going to hurl are you?" he asked anxiously. She held her breath and sat back down.

"No, I'm ok." She told him.

"Look, stay here and get some rest, when school finishes I'll run you home." She nodded slightly as even the smallest movement now caused her pain, and laid down. He propped her up with the pillows and handed her the mug of milky coffee. She didn't like coffee, but needed the heat. He held the cup until she stopped shaking so violently that she was in danger of spilling it. After she had drunk it all he tucked her in and left the room.

The day before she had woken in her bed with a relative stranger beside her, today she was sleeping in a relative stranger's bed, and not even the same stranger!

Jacob's bedroom may be small but his bed was one of the most comfortable she had ever known; only the bed in Edwards room surpassed it for softness. She laid her throbbing head on the pillow, cuddled herself around the hot water bottle, and fell to sleep.