Chapter 8 – Falling

Edward and I quickly became inseparable. Every break and lunch hour at school we'd spend together, and our once a week afterschool time turned into every day. Emmett was happy because he never had to pick up Edward anymore, but I had to wonder about how serious his annoyance with my presence actually was.

"Don't you have a home of your own?" – Emmett would tease me. "My parents should file for legal guardianship of you, that way at least they'd get a kickback from the state." - He always kept his tone light, but my insecurities usually got the better of me.

But Edward's and my newfound closeness not only got a rise out of his foster brother, but also out of the kids at school…

"Bella, please tell me it's not true," Jessica said to me one day.

"What's not true?" I asked, honestly clueless about what she was going to say.

"That you're dating Edward Masen," she said with horror laced in her words.

My stomach sank. "N-No, we're not d-dating…We're just f-friends," I stuttered. As friendly as Edward and I were, the truth was I never even thought about the fact that people would get that idea about us. We were always together, but we never crossed that line or even talked about it, and I was grateful we hadn't. I was in no place to have a new romantic relationship of any kind, especially considering how my last one ended up.

Even after months apart, and a complete change in my lifestyle, I still undesirably thought about Jacob. I hadn't seen him in a long time, which was odd since we went to the same small school, and quite honestly, I was worried about him. We had agreed to keep our distance, but it seemed he was taking our avoidance to the extreme. It wasn't that I regretted anything, but Jake and I had been together for the majority of our lives, and at times I missed the way we were. Everything was so much easier back then, and I just hoped he was okay.

As the weeks continued to pass, Edward and I only grew closer, and I'd often get lost in the person I was becoming with him. I thought about Jake less and less, and when I did think of him, I quickly tried to think of anything else. Our separation was necessary, and the more I told myself that, the easier it was to accept.

But with Edward's and my strengthening connection, there was a strange tension that crept between us that I didn't understand. I had no idea where the tension came from or what it meant, but every time we were near each other I could feel it. It was tightening in my chest, and a tingling in my gut; it was almost tangible, like I could reach out and grab it. It absolutely scared the shit out of me, so I tried my best to ignore it.

"So…what are your plans?" I asked Edward as we hung out in his room. We had been lying on his bed just listening to music, but that newly familiar tension was pulsating between us in waves, and I couldn't take it anymore. It seemed the sensation was the strongest in our silence, so talking was always a good way to alleviate it.

"Plans for what?" he asked, amused by my vague question. I was fairly certain he could feel the vibrations between us as well, and I had an overwhelming urge to ask him what it meant, but I bit my lip and kept it to myself.

"For the future," I clarified. "Graduation is coming…what are you going to do after?"

"I don't know, I haven't thought about it," he said. "What about you?"

"I don't know, maybe The Art Institute of San Francisco," I joked.

"Sure," he laughed.

"Hey, let's go to the beach!" I suggested excitedly. "We never went, and we're running out of time for the project. Besides, it would be fun."

"We have everything we need for the project," he snapped.

"Hey, why'd you get grumpy all of a sudden?" I asked him.

"I told you, I don't want to go to La Push."

"Okay, well La Push isn't the only place that has beaches. Come on, go pack us some snacks and let's go," I told him, refusing to let his abrupt sour mood get us down. It had been weeks since he threw me one of his vast mood swings, and I wasn't going to let him start again.

"Fine," he grumbled.

After packing a picnic lunch, I took Edward to Rialto Beach, which he wasn't too thrilled about.

"What?" I asked, already knowing what he was going to say.

"This is way too close to La Push," he complained.

"Come on. It's not First or Second Beach, or even Third Beach, and look, there's no one here," I told him.

"Whatever," he mumbled before unbuckling his seatbelt and grabbing our food. "But if everything goes to hell, you'll have no one but yourself to blame."

I giggled. "Okay."

Edward was crabby for all of about two minutes, but when we hiked down the trail to the beach and we saw that it really was vacant, he immediately relaxed.

"Wow, look at all that driftwood," he said astonished as we gazed over all the massive fallen trees spread across the sand.

"They're cool, huh?" I agreed. I had usually gone to Second Beach as a kid, but Rialto Beach definitely had its charms.

"They're beautiful," Edward said as he moved closer so he could see them better. "Look at this one, I bet it's ancient." He ran his hands slowly along the length of a log, and marveled over the way it curved. I had never seen anyone more enthralled with any unanimated object before; it was odd and almost fascinating at the same time.

It took a bit, but eventually I managed to pull Edward away from the monstrous drift wood, and we set up our picnic near the water.

"You know, I never understood the whole idea of beaches being romantic," he mused as we picked apart the sandwiches Esme had made for us. "I mean, it's cold, and dirty, and usually crowded. How the hell would anyone find it appealing?"

"Oh come on, don't be such a cynic," I teased him. "The waves are crashing…"

"It's noisy, I can hardly hear you talk," he argued.

"The gulls are singing…" I continued.

"More like squawking. It's irritating as all hell."

"It's nature at its best," I told him.

"It's something," he said mockingly.

I giggled, and then unconsciously threw my sliced tomato at him, which stuck to the side of his face. "Oh my god…I'm so sorry," I said in a mix of horror and humor. "I honestly don't know why I did that."

He sat there stunned for a moment, and then slowly reached up and pealed the tomato from his cheek. "Well, I sincerely hope you love the ocean as much as you say you do, because you're about to go for a swim," he said in a playfully menace tone.

"What? No!" I screamed as I jumped up and made a run for it. I knew I wasn't the fastest of individuals, but I thought I had enough of a head start to at least make it into the trees for some protection; oh, how wrong I was. He caught me in about two seconds, and immediately hoisted me over his shoulder to begin carrying me towards the water.

"No…put me…down," I forced out while choking on my laughter.

"Nope. Every action has an equal or greater reaction," he told me with a snicker.

I screamed and flailed around as he approached the waves, but the moment he was about to throw me in I clung to him in an iron tight death grip.

"Whoa!" he shouted as we both fell into the water.

We screamed out from the shock of the cold, and then he stood and pulled me up with him. "Why did you do that?" he asked as he yanked on his wet shirt, which clung to his body showing just how well toned he actually was. He certainly wasn't as big as Jake, but to be honest, I often secretly thought Jake was too big.

"If I was going in, so were you," I laughed while ringing out my hair.

"I wasn't going to really throw you in," he told me. "Jeeze, what kind of prick do you think I am? But then you started flailing around and I lost my balance, so now we're both wet."

"Oh…sorry. But hey, since we're already wet," I said with wiggling brows.

"What?" he asked clueless.

"Come on, follow me."

"I don't think I'm going to like this," Edward mumbled as he reluctantly followed.

We reached the top of the cliff fairly quickly, but when we got there, and realization hit him, Edward was more than a little against it. – "Oh no," he said with a shaky laugh. "Not going to happen."

"We're already wet," I argued.

"That doesn't mean I want to break my neck while jumping off a fucking cliff."

"Don't be such a baby. I've jumped hundreds of times."

I pretty much figured Edward wasn't going to jump when I brought him up there; no one unfamiliar with cliff diving usually did. Perhaps that was the reason I took him there in the first place, perhaps our closeness was too much and I was looking for a way to distance us. I wasn't sure the reason, and I refused to take the time to really analyze it; we were there, and for me there was no turning back.

He looked into the distance, and then glanced over his shoulder at the forest behind us. "Wait a minute…are we in La Push now?"

I shrugged. "I have no idea where the cutoff is. Why does it matter anyway? We're about to jump into the great big Pacific, and the ocean doesn't belong to any city. Let's go…" I told him, and before he could protest anymore, I leaped away from him off the cliff.

The truth was, I had only ever jumped with Jake, and I never jumped from that particular spot, or that high up, but I knew other kids did so I was confident it was safe enough. However, when I hit the water I was immediately pulled down by a strong undercurrent, and I struggled to fight my way to the surface. The harder I tried to swim, the stronger the waves would keep me under.

Everything started to get hazy as my lack of oxygen made it hard to focus, but suddenly I wasn't alone. I turned my head and saw Edward trying to swim towards me, but he was just as trapped as I was. We must have realized it was impossible because we both stopped struggling, and after staring at each other for an undefinable about of time, I was surprised to see a look of peace overcome his features.

And then suddenly, the next thing I knew, I was being pulled out of the water.

It was disorienting and I briefly thought I was dead, but as I laid on the sand and looked up at the sky, I realized I was alive because everything hurt. When I was finally able to move, I sat up and looked into a familiar face. "Jacob?" I asked, though the sound that came out of my lips was more of a gurgle.

"What the hell are you doing?" he yelled at me. "Are you fucking crazy?"

Still confused, I looked around. "Jacob? What are you doing here?"

"Me and the guys just came to play some beach soccer, when I saw you jumping off the cliff. What the fuck Bella?"

"People jump from there all the time," I argued absently.

"Not when the waves are this strong, and never alone. You would have gotten yourself killed if we weren't here."

"I wasn't alone, I…. Oh my god!" I said when I realized Edward was nowhere in sight. I forced myself to stand up and immediately started towards the water.

"Bella, what are you doing?" Jake said, grabbing a hold of my arm to restrain me.

I couldn't breathe. It was worse than being trapped under the water, and I was absolutely petrified. I couldn't even find my voice to tell Jake to let me go; I could do nothing but just stand there, staring helplessly at the waves.

I had no idea how much time passed, and I could only vaguely hear Jake talking somewhere outside my own personal hell, but then, like beacon of light, a figure came climbing over the rocks from the other side of the cliff.

It was Edward…

***A/N: Getting to the nitty-gritty of the story, so hold on tight…