I don't own anything New Moon...:( I want Edward back soooo bad!

These chapters kill me! I hate having no Edward around, but I'm acutally starting to like Jacob a little more with each nice thing that he does. Sure, he's madly in love with Bella, but we're going to let that one slide for now.

Anywhoooo....enough of my random babble...here is the next chapter! And i've got some drama brewing in the next few chapters! AND I FIGURED OUT A WAY TO BRING EDWARD BACK EARLY!! YAYAY!

okay, so review! and review again! read read read!


We're Just Friends!

"If you got 'em, baby, use 'em." Jacob replied to the third time I called him a showoff for picking up the bikes today. How in the world does this boy have biceps that are as wide as my head? He's just a kid, and…well a werewolf by blood, but this is just unnatural!

And extremely distracting, which is slightly good.

Distractions are good things in my book. Edward said that vampires are easily distracted, and since I'm going to be one, I think I'll just inherit that trait right now. Sure Jacob's humongous biceps aren't sparkling, but they'll serve their purpose well.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're just a silly teenage boy trying to impress me with your huge muscles, but I've seen bigger, so they will have no effect on me." I've seen Taylor Lautner's, and this Jacob is not as big as him…yet. We got off the subject of his muscles pretty quickly and he started talking about his friends at the reservation school. Quil and Embry, such funny puppy dogs…or at least, I think they're funny. Well, Quil's funny, I'm thinking Embry's not as funny since he never imprints on anyone. "Quil and Embry? Are those supposed to be Quileute names?"

"Quil's a hand-me-down, and I think Embry got named after a soap opera star. I can't say anything, those. They fight dirty if you start on their names—they'll tag team you."

I scoffed. "I bet you could take them. I bet I could take them."

"Jacob?" Speak of the devil…I think they're coming. Funny enough, Jacob muttered the same thing. Oh duh, of course he did, it's in the book. "Jake? Are you out here?"

"Yeah!" He shouted back. I could definitely have some fun with this. The two boys came around the corner quickly enough. I'm guessing the tall one was Embry since he's going to go wolf any day now. The dude with the short hair would be Quil. "Hey, guys, this is my friend, Bella."

"Sue's niece, right?" The short one asked me and stuck his hand out.

"Step-niece to be specific. And you are?" I put up the friendly front that I always used with Jessica and Mike at school. I'm sort of wondering why I have to start now, rather than when I first got here with Jacob. Maybe Jacob's different…oh shut up, stupid thoughts…

I think the short dude just inhaled very deeply to make his chest look bigger. "I'm Quil Ateara."

I inwardly groaned from his obvious crush on me. What is it with dogs having crushes on me? "Oh, well, Quilateara, I'm, in all technicalities, Isabella Marie Swan," Actually, in all technicalities, I'm Sarah Ann Stiles, but that isn't an issue at the moment. I smirked at Jacob before moving onto the other boy, "and I guess that makes you Embry?"

He was a shy little puppy dog. He blushed almost as much as I would have when he shook my hand. "Yeah, that's me. Embry Call."

Jacob wasn't kidding about making fun of their names. Quil was glaring at me like he was about to wolf-out on me at any second. Not going to lie, he's kind of creeping me out. He stopped glaring, though, when he glanced over at the piles of metal that were used to be in the shape of bikes. "So what are you guys doing?"

"Playing with bits of scrap metal, nothing out of the ordinary." I threw Jacob a glance, hoping he would catch the drift and not tell them about our project. I didn't entirely trust Embry just because he might think about it if he was running around as a wolf and Sam might tell my uncle and Sue. I think I would go wolf hunting if he even tried doing that.

Jacob went ahead and told them anyway. "Don't worry Bella, these guys won't tell anyone about our project," he turned towards Quil and Embry, "Bella and I are going to fix up these bikes." As expected, they practically pounced on the bikes and started talking in the foreign language that only mechanics can speak.

And me, being so tired from having freaking Victoria in my dreams last night, actually dozed off when I sat myself down in the Rabbit. I even had a hazy sort of dream. It was about the most stupid thing I had ever dreamed.

Okay, it wasn't that stupid. It made sense in the situation, but still.

I was dreaming that I was riding my fixed up motorcycle down the road when all of a sudden three huge wolves were running all around me.

It was very boring except when the inevitable person entered into my dream. As I was driving down the road with the wolves, a white blur was streaking its way through the trees. Eventually, the streak stopped moving in the middle of the road. I woke up screaming when both the wolves and my motorcycle barreled into Edward in the middle of the road.

I don't think Quil's going to have much of a crush on me anymore. I know I just made Embry jump three feet in the air just by the sheer pitch of my scream. Jacob, though, hardly batted an eyelash and ran over to the Rabbit to make sure I was okay. "Bella! Are you okay? Did something…bite you? Hurt you?" I shook my head over and over trying to get the image of him being run over by a motorcycle out of my head. "We're boring you so much that you had to scream, aren't we?"

Quil and Embry are definitely going to think I'm crazy now. I can hardly open my mouth without wanting to scream again. I pulled myself together enough to let Jacob pull me out of the car and back towards the bikes. "Yeah, you caught me. Sorry, how long was I out?"

Okay, maybe Quil's into the whole 'crazy' thing because he's still looking pretty infatuated. "Only an hour. You know, Jake, I think she was saying your name in her dream. Didn't she, Embry?"

"Yep, I definitely heard a couple of 'Oh, Jake'-s coming from the Rabbit." Okay, I think I'm going to neuter some dogs right about now. Jacob held me back when I tried to strangle Embry and dragged me outside the garage. Embry and Quil were still laughing their heads off inside.

I stopped struggling once we were outside and started blushing almost as bad as I did when Edward would…well, details aren't important. "I wasn't really doing that, was I? If I was, I am so sorry. I probably need to go…"

Jacob was laughing at my humiliation too! What is it with these evil dogs? "You didn't say anything at all, Bella. You just scared the crap out of Quil and Embry when you screamed, so they were paying you back for scaring them. And if you need to go," he looked pretty sad for the first time today, "I guess I'll just finish taking the bikes apart tonight and figure out what more we'll need to get started rebuilding them. When do you want to work on them again?"

Alice would probably kill me if I didn't say tomorrow, and I actually do want to come back. "Tomorrow?" I could hear Quil and Embry shushing each other so that they could hear Jacob and me talking. "That is, if your wing men don't mind…"

"That would be great!" I should probably warn him now not to think of this as anything other than two friends working together, but I couldn't find it in me to burst his bubble tonight. Maybe tomorrow…

"Okay, well, you figure out what we need to buy and I'll ask my mom if I can max out the credit card she gave me for emergencies."

"Bella! I don't think I should let you pay for everything."

"Nope! I brought the scrap metal for you to fix, I'm going to pay for whatever it takes for them to turn into bikes. You have no idea how much I want those things to run. Besides, I forgot to work into our deal that I'll need riding lessons. Think you can help me with that?"

Quil and Embry snickered some more from behind the door, and I could tell that Jake was starting to get mad at them. No trembling like he was going to burst from his skin, though, thank goodness. "Yeah, I think I can help with that. I still don't think…"

"Shut up with the money stuff. I'm paying so get over it. If I had taken these to a mechanic," like I wanted to, "how much would they have charged me?"

"Good point." I love it when I win. I really do. Too bad the only person I've been able to beat lately has been Jacob. Still, he let it go after that, and I distinctly heard the word 'push-over' used by one of the boys. Even though they were entertaining me immensely, Jacob growled at them. "That's it, get out."

"Alright, alright, I'm out of here. See you tomorrow with Mr. Visa in hand." I barely walked three steps before I heard 'oofs' and groans coming from the garage. I had to stop before I could go. I really want to see Jake throw the guys out because it just has to be funny.

Jacob worked faster than I thought. It was only a couple of minutes before two boys were practically thrown from the garage. "If either of you set so much as one toe on my land tomorrow…" he stopped when he saw me laughing in the driveway. If it had still been light outside, I would definitely have seen him blush. Quil and Embry, too.

"Bye guys!" I waved again before hopping into my truck and driving back home. Ava jumped into the passenger seat about halfway there.

"So, how was hanging with your future son-in-law?" She smirked, definitely testing whether I was in a good enough mood to throw off that comment.

Eww…deep breath…I cannot think about Jacob in terms of my son-in-law yet, or even if I really get my way. I was able to keep a straight face, though. "Fine. I'm going to have to borrow one of Alice's credit cards, tomorrow, though. Think you can find one?"

She looked kind of weary, as would I if I was asked to steal one of Alice's credit cards, but this would be my revenge. "Sure, what for?"

"How do you think I'm going to pay for the parts we're going to need for my bikes? And since Alice forced me into going to Jake's, I'm going to make her pay for them. Brilliant, huh?"

Ava's cell phone started ringing a millisecond after that. She held it up to me, showing that it was Alice calling. "Yeah, up until the part that she's psychic and knows what you're planning to do." She flipped her phone open and started murmuring too low for me to understand. She looked halfway between excited and scared when she hung up.

"So…what did Alice say? Something about how she's going to run to Edward now and tell him I'm dead because I'm going to steal her credit card?"

"No, just umm…telling me where to find one that she left at home." She wouldn't meet my eyes. Something is very wrong here.

"Right, are you sure that's it? You look kind of guilty about something…"

She hung her head in defeat. "It's Angel. He's…nothing. I'm just worried for nothing."

Angel is supposed to be down in Rio or wherever watching Edward. How crap, there has to be something wrong! What if Victoria went down there to torment Edward or something? "Is something wrong with him? Are he and Edward okay?" I whispered, not really able to think about either of them getting hurt.

"They're fine. Everyone is fine. I'm gonna go, I've got to get some homework done…" She jumped out of the truck without another word. Huh, that was weird. Now I really want to know what's going on. I would call Alice to ask her, but I'm pretty sure she would blow up at me for stealing one of her precious credit cards.

Sue was waiting for me in the doorway when I walked up the drive. "Hey Sue, what's up?" I put on an innocent face. She looked like she knew something. Dear God, I hope the Marks family didn't call her and tell her.

"Bella? Where were you today?" Okay, do I lie? Not lie? Alright, now I'm scared. "Wait, don't answer that because I know where you were today. You look happy too…did Jacob cheer you up?" Oh yeah, I forgot Billy was going to call Sue. Okay, I'm not in trouble.

"Oh, yeah! I just thought since I hadn't seen Jake in a while, I would go visit. Did Mr. Black call you?"

She laughed at my worried expression. Why is it that everyone laughs at me? "Yes, he did. He thought that we could come down for dinner tonight, but I told him tomorrow maybe. I wasn't sure if you wanted to be out more than twice in a weekend. Do you think you might be up for it?"

"Yeah, I think I can handle that. I'm going to go up to bed now, though, if that's okay…"

No one likes it when I go to bed because it means the screaming starts then. Maybe not tonight, but I'm not so sure. "Sure, sure! Can I just ask you something first, sweetheart?"

This threw me. "Sure, what is it?"

"Bella, dear, do you think that maybe you and Jacob would…well, you know…?" Please tell me she didn't just ask me if I was interested in dating Jacob. Oh goodness, she just asked me if I am dating Jacob.

"Umm, no, I don't think so. He's just a friend. I'm still—I mean, I couldn't—I—"

"It's okay, dear, I know what you're talking about. You know, I never thought I would be able to love again either after my first husband died. It'll be three years soon. But then I met your uncle, Bella. I let myself be more open, and I've found happiness again. I hope you can do the same."

"Thanks, Sue. I'm going to sleep now." I couldn't bear the thought of ever letting go of Edward. I don't care about what Jacob says in Eclipse, how I could be happy if I ever let go of Edward. Edward is mine and I'm not ever letting him go. Sue and Uncle Charlie are meant for one another, though. I mean, they're always so happy when they're around each other. I might be happier when I'm around Jake, but he doesn't make me deliriously happy like Edward does.

Alright, enough of this contemplating the wise advice of someone who thinks they understand what I'm going through, I'm going shopping in the morning and I need some dream-less sleep.


I ran out of the house before anyone else could try to talk up Jacob to me. Uncle Charlie would have tried last night had I not faked being asleep when he came in my room. Leah would have most likely told me to make Edward jealous by using Jacob, but I didn't talk to her on my way out. I was sure to grab the credit card that someone had so luckily placed on my desk while I was sleeping before I took off towards La Push.

Okay, I did ask if Uncle Charlie was planning on watching some game with Billy today. And when he said no, I was sure to make the comment that he should. I had to keep some things consistent with the book.

By the time my truck made its way to La Push, Billy had already left for my house. I pulled in front of the Black's house without bothering to turn off the car. Jacob jumped in the passenger side when I pushed the door wide open. "So, where to, Mr. Magic Mechanic?"

He pulled out the crumpled list I had expected and grimaced when he looked. "We'll start at the dump first, see if we can get lucky. This could get a little expensive. Those bikes are going to need a lot of help before they'll run again."

I waved Alice's visa in his face happily. "I've got permission to do a lot of damage on this card." Permission? No. Stealing from one of my best friends because she forced me to come? Yes.

"I'm talking about maybe more than a hundred dollars here."

"Jeez Jake, I was thinking like thousands of dollars the way you were going on about it. I promise we're covered." We got to the dump pretty fast. I didn't particularly want to slop around through a bunch of, well, crap, but if this is going to get those darn bikes up and running soon then I'm just going to have to hold my breath.

We just sort of chatted about random things even touching on 'the guy that thought he was my boyfriend'. Mike would come up again later on an unfortunate movie night. I didn't really feel like talking about Mike or myself much anyway. Jacob was just a normal teenager right now, and the normalcy of the stories about his friends and school almost made me miss being back home just dreaming about what it would be like to live in Twilight.

But if I wasn't here, I would have never even met the 'real' Edward. Or the 'real' Jacob. I couldn't even imagine my life now without the 'real' Alice. I would be a little out of luck in the fashion department without her.

After a while, when we walking toward the Auto Parts place he told me to go to, Jacob seemed to think that it was my turn to talk. "I'm doing all the talking. Why don't you take a turn? What's going on in Forks? It has to be more exciting than La Push."

"There has been literally nothing going on in Forks. I've been in zombie-mode for months because it is that boring in Forks. The vast majority of my friends moved away before Christmas and I've been…well, that's not important. The point is that your friends are way more fun than mine. Quil and Embry are freaking hilarious! I was half-expecting them to pop up today."

He frowned, probably remembering how I caught him yesterday with Quil and Embry. I thought it was cute, in a doggie-sort of way. "I think Quil likes you."

"I don't think I'm quite his type. He's probably into more native girls, and younger ones at that. It could almost be defined as pedophile-ish." Ugh, the whole Claire imprinting thing still grosses me out a bit. Okay, more than a bit.

Jacob stopped walking and stared at me mouth agape for a few minutes. "Bella, where did you get that from?"

"I just know about these sorts of things, Jake." I grabbed his arm and tugged him forward again. We were going to be out all night if he stops like this repeatedly.

He started to say something, then looked down and blushed. I waited patiently as I could for him to start up again. "What kind of type do I have?" he barely chocked out. Embarrassed much, Jake?

I pretended to think about it for a minute, scratching my head and looking up towards the clouds. "Well, for you I would go with a younger girl as well. One with bronze colored hair and chocolate brown eyes, and she'll have some sort of really awesome parents that may or may not kill you because of your relationship with her. I'm leaning towards the whole being murdered by her parents, though."

Once again, he stopped dead in his tracks. Whoops, did I say that out loud? Guess I really don't have any sort of filter. "Bella, do you realize that you are insane?" Jacob looked scared for a minute, but I think he figured I was just joking. Which I wasn't, but he won't have to know that for a while anyway.

"Oh definitely. It happens as you get older."

"That's just great. I mean, you're not that much older than me. Does that mean I'll be that crazy in a year or so?"

"Sure, but, considering the difference in the maturity between girls and boys, you are years away from being as crazy as me! I have to be like twenty years older than you because of my lack of tan-ness and my general knowledge of the entire universe around us."

He narrowed his eyes at me, and suddenly my crazy outburst of his future imprint was forgotten. "Okay, but if you're going to get picky like that, you have to average in size, too. You're shorter than me, so you have to knock ten years off your total."

"I am not that much shorter than you! I am five foot eleven thank you very much. I mean, even Edwa—" I was about to say that Edward was only three inches taller than me, and Jacob is only like five or six inches taller than me. I just chocked when I tried to say Edward's name, though.

Jacob sensed my emotional distress and continued on with the argument saying that Seth was almost as tall as I was. He was really good at distracting when those sort of moments arose, which happened a couple of times throughout the rest of the day.

By the time we came back to La Push, I had practically maxed Alice's card out and there was a big assembly going on in Jacob's house. This was probably the dinner thing that Sue had told me about. Since we had found practically everything for the bikes, we decided not to risk the chance of someone seeing it at my house and snuck it to his garage quickly before running towards his house.

We almost smacked straight into Uncle Charlie and Billy when we went through the kitchen. "Hey, Uncle Charlie!" I yelled the same time Jake yelled "Hey, Dad!" I cracked up before I gave Uncle Charlie a hug and moved through the house to find Sue and Leah. They were thrilled to see me looking so happy.

Seth was hanging out with Jacob when I went looking for him again. Waiting for the spaghetti was taking its toll on my very grumbly stomach. He looked a little happier too when he was talking to Jacob. Maybe Jacob has some sort of magical powers when it comes to cheering people up. It's not just me. Of course it isn't just me.

The super secret spaghetti recipe was absolutely amazing. It was the best Ragu I'd ever had. Jacob kept shaking his head whenever Billy would start about how the recipe had been handed down for generations, making me crack up repeatedly throughout dinner. Leah kept looking between me and Jacob with satisfaction gleaming in her eyes. Of course, she thinks that I've taken her advice and started with the whole 'making him hurt' plan by using another man to make Edward jealous.

She couldn't be any further off. While hanging out with Jacob did make me forget about Edward temporarily, the second I was out of Jacob's presence I would feel more and more down by the second. I couldn't hear my heart scream 'Edward' with every beat when I would be around Jake, but, seriously, I would walk out of the room and I could hear 'Edward' thumping in my ears.

So, yes, Leah was way off base. She figured it out that night when I started screaming in my sleep again. Everyone figured it out then. There would be no more speaking about moving on to Jacob in my presence ever.

Besides, I was way too worried about Ava and Angel to think about what my relationship with Jacob was labeled. She hadn't called or randomly jumped in my car all day on Sunday, which is not normal. I usually hear from her at least twice a day just to make sure that I'm not at suicide or jumping off a cliff risk.

And then she wasn't there for school on Monday, and there was definitely no sun out to keep her from coming. What is going on? I was able to keep my emotions in check to talk to everyone at school fine throughout the day, well, sort of. Angela always seems to notice what I'm trying to cover up, but that's just because she's nice like that.

I talked to her most of the day since Ava wasn't around. She noticed that I was acting a little more alive today, and actually commended me on my efforts to try to make myself appear happy. I swear, that girl should be a psychologist! She knows everything about a person just by looking at them!

Anyway, once school was out I figured I should take Ava's homework to her even if she didn't want to do it. I pulled down the now-familiar drive to the Cullen's house, not really wanting to go any closer. Every time I pass the stupid crack that I tripped on, I almost start screaming at it.

It's not a pleasant sight.

Today, I had to force myself to keep walking past the Cullen's house. I haven't told Alice this, even though she probably knows, that I usually sit in Edward's room if I go by there just to try to make that amazing apparition come back. It still hasn't, so I'm just going to have to wait until my bike is ready.

I started down the pathway to Ava and Angel's little woody cottage, hoping she would be in there. I had tried calling her multiple times, but I'd gotten voicemail each time. I was really starting to worry that Victoria might have gotten to her or something.

I knocked on the door, but no one answered. I could hear the low whispering that only vampires can use, so I knew someone was inside. "Ava? Are you in there?"

I pushed the door open, hoping to hell that it wasn't Victoria in there. When I walked through to the back of the house, I finally found her. She was locked in the very strong arms of a spiky-haired vampire. Wait a minute, he's supposed to be watching Edward in Rio!

"Angel?"


And begin drama! haha...lovely little cliffy for you there! I know, I'm evil, but that's just the way that the cookie crumbles sometimes! SOOOOOOO
go review por favor!

oh, and the next update may take me a little while...midterm exams are coming up :P

Preview for the next chapter:

"Just because you're miserable, that doesn't mean you have to make everyone else around you miserable too!" She practically shrieked at me. If she was a werewolf, she probably would have burst out of her skin by now. Angel was barely able to hold her back.

"I don't—" I tried, not really able to come up with a reply since it was kind of true, despite my best efforts to keep that from happening.

"Yes, you do! First with me and Alice, keeping Angel and Jasper away, and now you're just going to hurt Jacob like the bimbo in the book!"

"Hey! That's not my fault! If I didn't go, Alice would have killed me! And besides, you helped her get me there!" I stopped. I can't believe I'm having this fight with her now. Honestly, I am going to warn Jacob not to fall in love with me, and soon! I just have to find the right words to use. Besides, she acting like I did all this on purpose. In my defense, she agreed to the idea of Angel and Jasper watching Edward as punishment for them tricking her and Alice! It's not my fault!