Chapter 6:

I stared at the classroom door and wished that Mike was the worst thing I would have to deal with today. Unfortunately, I only had the options of either skipping or facing the Adonis Vampire again.

I really wanted to skip, but there were several reasons I couldn't do that, a) Charlie would freak if I didn't have a good reason, b) I wouldn't be able to skip forever, and c) unless the entire Cullen coven moved today I would just have to face him tomorrow.

Unfortunately, it would take a few days to switch classes, so that left me going to class, sitting beside him and pretending that we were both normal high school students.

I can do that.

If I were being truthful with myself, I would have admitted that I was intimidated by him. Sure, he hated me and I wasn't supposed to be near him, but there was something about him that drew me. It wasn't his beauty, it was something else, something intangible that I could neither understand nor identify. It was as much of an enigma as he was.

I rolled my eyes, It's a sure sign that I need to sleep when I started thinking like a poet.

Carefully arranging my face into a bored expression, and securing my shield, I opened the biology room door and calmly walked inside. I kept my eyes down, secretly watching him in my peripheral vision.

He was following my every move, openly staring at me. I also noticed that he'd moved his chair as far away from mine as it could be and still remain near the desk. Maybe I'd been right when I guessed that it was my scent that disturbed him?

I reached our table quickly, and pulled my chair away from his, before sitting down. Shield or not, it wasn't a good idea to antagonize vampires.

I focused on keeping my movements normal as I placed my backpack on the table, pulling out my Biology homework. Unlike most teachers, Mr. Banner required you to turn in your homework after the class ended. Placing it to the side, I retrieved my work book before dumping my backpack on the floor.

Acting as if I hadn't noticed Edward's existence, I put my book on the table and opened it to today's lesson. The plan was to pretend to read it so I had a reason to ignore him, but that went out the window when saw a pale hand waving beside my head.

Reluctantly, I glanced at his face-and boy what a face it was. Being deaf was a pain, I would love to hear his voice, just to see if it was a beautiful as the rest of him.

"Hello."

I was thinking so hard about his voice, wondering what he would sound like, that I didn't notice when he stopped speaking.

The second I realized I was staring at him like some mentally challenged plant, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Hello," I muttered, trying to seem bored. Perhaps if I acted like a brat he would leave me alone.

Deaf people tend to stare at someone's mouth more than their actual face, so there wasn't anything odd about that. However, there was something odd about him.

I watched him as he smiled, still watching me with wary eyes. I noticed that he still didn't look like he hated me. Unlike last week, when I know he hated me. Can vampires have multiple personality disorder?

"You must be Bella Swan. I'm Edward Cullen."

Phil had practiced, and studied, so he would know how to talk like someone born this century. There was nothing in the way he spoke that suggested at an accent. This vampire however, talked like an Elizabethan; his lips formed each word perfectly, there was no slang and he didn't rush his words.

Realizing I hadn't answered him -yet again- I blurted out the first words I thought of, "How do you know my name?"

I watched his eyebrows draw together slightly, and thought that maybe I'd missed part of the conversation. At least until he spoke. "Oh. I think everyone knows your name. The entire town has been waiting for you."

I sighed and looked back at the table. Though, I'd expected that very same thing, having it confirmed wasn't pleasant. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: These people needed to find something interesting to do with their spare time. Plot the takeover of Microsoft. Embezzle something. Get tattoo's. Drugs. Create pine cone wreaths. Anything!

I looked back at him as a thought occurred to me. "No, how do you know I prefer to be called Bella? Everyone I've met here calls me Isabella at first?"

The second the words were out of my mouth I regretted speaking them. His expression immediately shut down and he shrugged before turning to stare at Mr. Banner.

I guess Phil was right about the 'always assume you're being watched' thing. This vampire had been spying on me. Or at least listening to my conversations here at school; I could think of no other reason why he would know I preferred Bella.

I also realized that a normal human wouldn't have known to ask that question. Not that I'd known to ask, I was just trying to cover for the fact that I'd been staring at him.

I glanced at him for a second before I realized he was ignoring me again. Mentally sighing, I turned to watch the chalk board.

Mr. Banner started the class with an enthusiasm I hadn't seen from him before. He flitted from table to table, handing out microscopes and little boxes filled with slides. Chatting the entire time about what he intended to teach us.

The slides were out of order. The assignment was to study each one under the microscope and arrange them in the correct order by determining which stage of Mitosis they were in, without using our text books.

I rolled my eyes, I should have known. I'd hoped the lesson would be -if not hard-then at least interesting. That way I'd have something to focus on.

Well, something other than the vampire that seems like he's suffering from some sort of personality disorder.

I'd already done this project, two years ago, nothing interesting there.

Mr. Banner ordered us to wait until he was through making his rounds before starting, so I sat there beside the Adonis Vampire and pretended to watch Mr. Banner. In reality, I was checking my shield, the same shield that I'd pretty much forgotten about. It hadn't weakened or wavered in any way. It was still a good idea to monitor it, so it wouldn't reflexively throw someone out a window or something equally dangerous.

I didn't take my eyes off the chalkboard until Mr. Banner moved to the front of the classroom and stood behind his desk. I took that to mean we could start our Lab assignment, so I turned to grab the box of slides, pausing when I noticed the Adonis was moving.

I watched his eyes cautiously as he grabbed the microscope and slides, pushing them toward me. Smiling slightly he said, "Ladies first, Partner."

His eyes lit up as he smiled, and every single thought in my head vanished. I blinked and looked down for a second before raising my eyes up to his baffled face. Desperately searching for what I was doing before I... forgot everything.

I was still staring at him a few seconds later when he spoke, "Or I could start, if you wish?"

Oh, Yeah. Lab, mitosis, slides, that's what I was doing. I turned back to the table murmuring, "That's okay. I'll do it."

Confident of what I was doing, I quickly slid the microscope in front of me and snapped the first slide in place. I did this so I didn't have to look at him; it was easier to think that way.

I studied the slide for a second, before raising my head and staring at his mouth. "Metaphase," I stated confidently. I was very careful not to look directly at his face, or his eyes at all.

I was reaching for the box of slides, when I felt his hand, heavy atop mine where I gripped the microscope. I reacted instinctively, snatching my hand away. Not because of the near freezing temperature of his skin-I'd never found that distasteful like humans were supposed to. No, I snatched my hand away because of the spark that seemed to travel from his hand into mine, like a little current of electricity. But stronger somehow, warmer. Even now, after I'd severed contact from him, my hand tingled.

I glanced at his face, trying to control the blush I could feel spreading up my neck and into my face. I succeeded, but only barely.

Thank goodness, if my suspicion is right and this vampire has a problem with my scent, blushing would only make it worse.

He didn't look any better than I felt, his jaw was clenched and he spoke through his teeth as he said, "Do you mind if I look?"

I shook my head and watched as he slid the microscope across the table and lowered his head. I also saw that he flexed his hand repeatedly, as if it were asleep. Perhaps he'd felt the current as well?

He looked at it for barely half-a-second, which was to be expected; vampires had a much higher developed mind than humans. Mathematical equations that would take an established genius, days to complete, a vampire could do in microseconds. Obviously, he was exceptionally intelligent.

I watched his lips, expecting a confirmation of what I'd said. He didn't disappoint, "Metaphase."

I nodded, "Like I said."

He smiled slightly, watching me from the corner of his eye. I don't think I was supposed to notice that, but my world was a visual one: I noticed more than most people did.

He turned to face me, not even paying attention to his hands as he exchanged the first slide for the second. "It's too bad about the snow, isn't it?"

Not a fan of icy roads that added danger to my already complicated life, I just shrugged in response to his question.

He cocked his head to the side, "You don't like the cold?"

I smiled slightly. "I don't mind the cold; it's the ice and snow that I don't like. Creates hazardous conditions for a klutz."

He copied my small smile and asked, "If you don't like them, why did you move to a town where the temperature only gets into the sixties during the summer?"

I sighed, "Oh, that. I didn't have much of a choice. My mom got remarried."

He glanced quickly at the slide, and then slid me the microscope again, before turning to write the answer on the work sheet.

I declined to check and see if he was right - since he was - and held my hand out for the third slide.

Keeping his face turned towards me, he handed me the slide seeming to take special care not to touch me again. "Do you not like the guy or something?" He asked, looking sympathetic.

I glanced at the slide, and pushed it back before I answered, "Prophase. No, Phil's great. I just decided it was time to reacquaint myself with Charlie. Mom and Phil are newlyweds who want to travel the world doing exotic things, and I don't. Besides, it sucks to constantly be the third wheel."

"I can imagine," He said, quickly checking my answer, writing it down and switching the slide.

Unlike every time before, he didn't look at the slide himself, nor did he slide it towards me. "What did you mean by 'travel the world' and 'do exotic things'?"

I mentally groaned doing everything in my power to make sure none of my apprehension showed in my movements, tone or posture. I knew it was a bad idea to lie to a vampire, especially when I wasn't a good liar to begin with. "They have a list, they want to go backpacking through the Himalayas and see the Seven Wonders of the World, stuff like that. As for the 'do exotic things' part, I just assumed they'd be eating bugs or doing something equally weird along the way."

There, I'd done everything I knew to do in order lie convincingly. No unusual movements, no looking away from his face, and I'd even managed to keep my heart rate normal. I couldn't explain how that was done, I just did it. Phil had somehow managed to teach me that little trick without ever telling me how it was supposed to be done.

I wasn't even sure he knew he was teaching me. Phil loved Renee and wanted to be a good stepfather to her daughter, so he was overprotective and nosy. He hovered more than she did. He wasn't happy to let me live my life and make my own decisions. He constantly questioned me about how I was doing in school, was there any boys I liked, did I need anything?

I glanced at the Adonis Vampire when he waved at me once again.

Okay, I have got to stop thinking of him like that.

When "Edward" waved his hand in front of my face.

I leaned back and stared at him for half a second, "Oh, sorry." I said, unable to stop my blush. "I was thinking."

He nodded and pushed the slide, towards me again. I peeked at it and gave him my answer. He wrote it down without checking to see if I was right.

I noticed that he was sitting straighter than he had been a few minutes ago and tuned into my telekinesis so I could monitor his movements. He was holding his breath again.

I briefly pondered that before I realized the cause. I was right, it was my scent; he'd stopped breathing when I blushed!

The blood that rushed to the face when someone blushed caused their scent to become stronger because the blood was so close to the surface of the skin. Thank you, Phil, for the crash course in vampires, I thought. It definitely comes in handy.

Carefully monitoring Adonis... Edward, I pulled my translator closer to make sure I hadn't missed anything Mr. Banner had said.

I'd missed quite a lot. But none of it was important so I replaced it with my Biology book and pretended to read it. Edward stared at the front of the class, and subtly shifted his chair further away from me. I didn't see how he managed that, he was practically sitting in the aisle as it was.

We sat there pretending to ignore each other until Mr. Banner came to see why we weren't working. I felt him approach, easily identifying him with my telekinetic mind. But to maintain appearances, I waited until he was standing in front of our table before glancing up and staring at his face. He didn't speak at first, simply grabbed the work sheet and read over our answers.

Finally, he looked at Edward disapprovingly, "Mr. Cullen? Don't you think Isabella should get a chance with the microscope?"

I looked from him to Edward, so I could see his response. "Bella," He corrected reflexively. "Actually, she identified three of the five."

Mr. Banner turned to me, with his hands on his hips, "Have you ever done this lab before?"

I smiled, sheepishly. "Not with Onion Root."

"Whitefish Blastula," He asked.

I nodded.

His eyebrows drew together, "Were you in an advanced placement program in Phoenix?"

Again I nodded. I didn't want to speak to him, didn't even like the thought of it. Funny; I'd been fine talking to Edward, no qualms at all.

Mr. Banner pulled his shoulders back, "In which subjects?"

"A. All of them," I stuttered, gritting my teeth and fighting to hold back the blush that rose from my embarrassment at stuttering. I didn't want to be seen as week, by anyone.

He nodded slowly, seeming flustered, "Uh. Then it's good you two are lab partners then, I guess." With that he turned and walked away.

I stared after him for a few seconds before dropping my gaze to rest on my Lab book again.

Edward and I stared into different directions until I felt my classmates start to move enthusiastically. That was all they had time for, before Edward fled the room at a speed few humans could summon on a race track, much less a class room. Fortunately, no one seemed to notice.

I waited until everyone had cleared out of the class room, as was my routine, before I left. I had to force my feet to carry me in the direction of the gym. I wanted more than anything to go home, but I couldn't. I'd committed myself to living here and until something happened to change that, Gym was a requirement and I couldn't skip it for the next two years without killing my grade. I had to at least try to pass it.

As it turns out "Try" was the best I could do. I was so out of sorts that I was even worse in Gym than normal. We were playing Basket Ball, and no matter how hard I focused I still fell, several times. Sometimes I took other people with me.

Halfway through Coach Clapp came by and ordered me to sit it out the rest of the day. It wasn't the first time he'd done that, and every time I liked him a little bit more. If he kept it up I'd be buying him Christmas presents.

When Gym ended, I discovered that it had stopped raining and started pouring. I was entirely soaked by the time I reached my car.

I didn't want to get inside and ruin the leather, but the only other choice was to stand out in the rain, and get sick, so I opted to protect my health over the car. I drove slowly, careful not to drive into any water that might be deep enough to stall my engine.

Half the parking lot had cleared out in the time it took to drive across the lot and park in front of the office. I was a little impressed; these kids knew what they were doing. In phoenix the kids would still be trying to get out of the building.

I disregarded the 'No Parking' sign. I was only going to be in there a minute, and the idiot that posted that sign probably hadn't considered the lengths I was willing to go to in order to avoid rain. Besides, Charlie was the 'Chief of Police' what were the odds I'd actually get a ticket?

I pulled my jacket tighter around me and climbed out as quickly as I could, running for the door. As I entered, I simultaneously shook the water out of my hair and scanned the room. Thankfully I was alone, except for Mrs. Cope; it wouldn't do for another student to hear me.

I pasted on a weak, upset look and walked to the desk, moving slowly to enhance the charade. "Um, Excuse me."

Mrs. Cope looked up, startled. "Oh, hello Miss Swan, what can I do for you?"

I bit my lip, suddenly unsure if I was capable of pulling off this deception. "I was wondering if it would be possible to switch from fifth hour biology to another time. Any other time would do."

"Is there a problem," She asked, practically salivating.

One more reason to dislike her. I'd never had much patience with gossips.

"Nothing serious, I would just prefer to switch classes. " I considered using my 'disability' as an excuse. She wanted to be helpful, I'd manipulate her into actually helping me this time. I considered it, but I knew I wouldn't go through with it. I had too much pride to play into her insulting misconceptions.

"Well, let me see," she murmured, flipping through a folder. "I'm sorry, there aren't any open spots available."

I sighed, "Could I use that hour as a free period then?"

Her eyebrows drew together; I couldn't tell if she was confused or upset. "If you do that you won't have enough credits to graduate."

"That's okay. I'll make it up next semester." I was aware of the fact that I sounded desperate. That seemed fitting to me, I was desperate.

"I'm sorry honey, it's just not possible."

Gritting my teeth, I said, "That fine, I understand. Thanks anyway"

I didn't bother waiting for a response; I just turned around and left, hurrying out the door and into my car.

Well, plan 'A' just got shot down.

Too bad I didn't have a plan B. Well, at least I wouldn't have to decide on what I was going to do. All I could do, was continue to doing what I've been doing and hope he could control himself.

It took awhile because of the rain but eventually I made it home. When I grabbed my things and stepped out of the car-quickly slamming the door to keep the interior as dry as possible-I discovered that the water was easily a few inches above my ankle.

Great, I didn't know Forks was prone to floods as well as blizzards, snowstorms and freezing weather, I thought walking to the porch, counting the steps until I reached the eave that would offer shelter from the rain. I knew better than to run, odds were I'd trip and fall, and either die of a severe concussion or knock myself unconscious and drown in the few inches of water that was presently making my life a living nightmare.

I opened the door and threw my backpack on the couch as I passed the living room; a little quality time with Charlie was probably a good idea. I would work on my homework while he watched the game after supper.

Hoping to divert the coming pneumonia, I hurried upstairs, gathered my clothes and took a hot shower. It was agonizingly slow, but I took the time to blow-dry my hair. I'd always hated it and not just because it seemed to take hours but because, no matter how hard I tried or what products I used, it always frizzed up.

I ran my fingers through my hair one last time, checking to make sure it was dry. I could tell it wasn't pretty by the way it felt brittle and tangled between by fingers. Expecting the worse, I turned to face my reflection in the mirror.

"Fantastic" I groaned, when I saw the disaster my hair had become. I forced my attention away from the fact that it still felt weird, even after all these years, to watch my mouth move and not hear the words I spoke. Instead I focused on trying to think of way to arrange my hair so that I wouldn't look like I escaped a mental institution in the middle of Electro-shock therapy.

It took ten minutes of combing a thick, greasy leave-in-conditioner into the tangled mess, before it looked fairly normal. Throwing the hair-dryer in the trash, I gathered my stuff, double checking to make sure I hadn't left anything behind.

I'd put my bathroom bag in my bedroom closet, and was cleaning the mess I'd made in the bathroom when I felt hard vibrations flow through the floor I was kneeling on.

I didn't bother using my shield, a vampire wouldn't have made vibrations. They moved to fast and too stealthy for that, it had to be Charlie.

I got up and walked to the stairs, calling, "Hey, Dad."

"Hey, Bells," He said, smiling happily.

I briefly wondered at his new mood but shrugged it off. If he's happy, why question it?

"What do you want to eat?"

Charlie smiled, "Nothing, I'm going to Billy's. He's cooking fish."

I groaned loud enough for him to hear. I'd learned that routine years ago; Charlie and Billy would bet on sports games, whoever lost had to cook for the winner. And it was always fish, nothing else would do.

The gloating was the worst, the second the winner mentioned it, the loser somehow felt as if he had to defend his manhood by recounting ever single catch he had ever made. It was as nauseating as gym. I'd developed a strategy to deal with it pretty quickly, though; I ran. Usually to the barn with Jake, we could always find something to entertain ourselves with. Even if we didn't do anything but bicker the entire time, it was fun. Especially when compared to the glory wars our respective fathers would engage in.

"Great," I muttered.

I saw him laugh, and tried not to frown. I so wished I could hear him.

I sighed and pushed that to the back of my mind, like I always did; nothing was going to give me my hearing back.

I smiled, "I guess Jake, and I, are going to be mediators tonight."

He laughed again, "Oh, yes. We're leaving in a few minutes if you're ready."

I nodded, thinking that someone being completely unconcerned with driving in pouring rain would only happen in Forks. It was the weirdest place on the planet, after all.

The trip to Billy's didn't take long, even though I heartily wished it would have taken longer. Charlie took the curves at-what seemed to me-to be a dangerous speed, seemingly unconcerned with the rain that reduced visibility to zero. Despite the fact that I possessed a shield that would save me even if we did wreck, I was terrified.

I briefly entertained the idea that maybe I was overreacting because I was a city girl and didn't have much experience driving in the rain?

Two seconds later, I dismissed that thought in favor of the conclusion that Charlie was a maniac; he honestly seemed to love driving at break-neck speeds through the rain.

Ever since the accident that deafened me, I was terrified of having another one. I loved to drive, and didn't fear cars, I did however, tend to freak out when traveling at high speeds, in dangerous conditions. This definitely qualified.

Considering he hadn't ever drove like this before I sent up a silent prayer, pleading that I wouldn't have to ever ride with him, while it was raining, again.

When we made it to the reservation, Charlie climbed out of the car and made a mad dash for Billy's front porch. I didn't move.

I tried, and couldn't. My fingernails had somehow managed to puncture the leather upholstery and wouldn't come out. I tugged and twisted my hand for a few seconds, until I realized that the reason my fingers wouldn't separate themselves from the leather was because I was still trying to squeeze the life out of Charlie's seat.

I took a deep breath, forced my body to relax and gently released the seat. I didn't realize my fingers were numb until I let go, and the blood flow was restored. I flexed my hands a few times until the tingling sparks went away.

Heaving a sigh, I climbed out of the car. How I was going to avoid riding home with him?

Once my feet were on solid ground I really started to relax. Smiling slightly I stepped away from the car and reached my hand out to shut the door.

Suddenly, a large pair of hands gripped my shoulders from behind, with near painful strength.

I spun around as my heart stuttering, and my shield simultaneously exploding towards my irritant. I trapped it just before it connected with his chest, a blow that would have stopped his heart and threw him a few hundred feet.

"Jake," I yelled. "You scared the crap out of me!" Not to mention you could get hurt by doing shit like that. And I mean 'hurt' in a totally bad, not good, horribly awful kid of way.

Unconcerned with the threat he wasn't aware of, he laughed and practically slammed the cruiser door. "Wimp," he snickered. "How did you like Charlie's driving?"

Instantly forgetting I was mad at him, I started ranting, "Oh, my God! How could I not know he's a lunatic? That's insane. I've never seen anyone drive like that, not even in the city and the posted speed limit in Phoenix is 80 miles per hour."

Jake threw his head back and laughed, "You're such a baby."

I rolled my eyes at him, "Yeah, I'd like to see you ride with him."

He stopped laughing and mock shuddered, "Not in this lifetime."

"Come on, I just got a new game console; you can help me figure out how to hook it up," he said, turning and walking away.

I stared at his back, he's kidding... right? "You aren't serious? I blew up the last one."

He just waived his hand and kept walking. I watched until he disappeared through the door.

Crap! I hate electrical burns, I thought as I followed him.

As it turns out, I didn't fry his game, I was actually more knowledgeable about it than he was. We managed to set it up without any sparks or explosions. And, while Billy cooked and Charlie stood back and told him what he was doing wrong, Jake and I played with his new game unit.

I won three out of six games and was working on the tie breaker when Jake said the food was ready. At the promise of food, we abandoned the game and moved into the kitchen.

Dinner was waiting for us when we arrived. But Charlie was holding his hands a few feet apart and talking animatedly to Billy, I knew those signs; fishing stories. I shuddered and glanced sideways to see Jake looking at me with a horrified expression and gesturing wildly toward the door.

I nodded, smothering a smile. Jake didn't bother hiding his as he turned his attention to the commotion surrounding the kitchen table. I simply stood back and watched as he did his best to sneak up behind them.

Jake was a bigger klutz than I was, but as I watched him I noticed that he moved differently. Fluid, sure movements unhampered by his freakishly large feet.

I studied him closely, positive that this was a new development. He'd tripped three times at the airport alone. My eyes ran from his head to his feet, cataloging differences along the way. He'd grown several inches. Fifteen to twenty pounds heavier, and it wasn't fat; I clearly saw prominent muscles. Muscles that weren't there a week ago, muscles that wouldn't have developed that rapidly without some serious pharmaceutical assistance, no workout program on the planet was that effective.

Jake isn't stupid or vain enough to mess with steroids. Is he?

I thought about what I've always know about Jake, his decency, his loyalty, his compassion, his determination, his integrity, his strength of mind, his intelligence, his mischievous sense of humor, his wit, character, every good quality he possessed and the bad ones too.

The answer was immediate and unshakeable; no, Jake wasn't using drugs.

So what then? What would cause such outstanding changes and what would cause them so fast? I tried to think of any other explanation as he stealthily grabbed our plates and glided towards the door, with our fathers none the wiser.

I smiled, despite my worries, as we snuck out of the house. I trailed after him, as he led the way to the garage, still carrying the plates.

The garage seemed more like a manly grunting ground rather than a mechanical structure.

One half was dominated by a barely recognizable car, missing all four wheels, and supported by cement blocks under each corner. It was surrounded by grease spills and blacked parts that didn't distinguish themselves as anything unique. I expected all that.

The other half was where it got weird; it looked like a gym/dining room/lounge. A massive punching bad suspended in mid air by a rusted metal chain that was almost bigger them my arm. A football and various other sports equipment threw carelessly in the corner. An old wooden crate, surrounded by three white lawn chairs, seemed to serve as a table. There was even a mini-fridge tucked behind the crate.

I shook my head, macho, grunt worthy, guy stuff. I shouldn't have even bothered trying to understand it. Although, my spirits were lifted when Jake revealed I was partially correct in my assessment of his guy-space. He walked to the table, placed our plates across from each other, and looted the fridge for sodas.

We ate in companionable silence. Lost in my own thoughts, I didn't pay much attention to what Jake was doing, at least until he smacked my forehead.

I jerked, "What was that for, Butthead?"

He smiled at the name, "You were ignoring me."

I rolled my eyes, "I wasn't ignoring you. I just didn't know you were speaking. I'm deaf, remember moron?"

I watched his eyes narrow and his eyebrows rise in mock irritation, "For your information, I waved to get your attention, but you didn't notice. So I was left to my own devices and it's your own fault you got smacked." He leaned back and crossed his arms, wearing a haughty expression, like he was sure I was incapable of arguing with that convoluted logic.

I simply stared at him, waiting for him to dawn on the fact that he sounded like an imbecile.

Sadly, he didn't. "What were you thinking so hard about anyway?" What can I say? Jake has never been praised for his attention span.

How to answer that question? Jake isn't one for subtleties... so directly. "Jake, are you okay? Health wise, I mean?"

He blinked, evidently not expecting that, "I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"I... um... You've changed in the past week, Jake, changed a lot."

He cocked his head to the side inquisitively, "Changed, how?"

"Well,"

Okay, this was not going the way I pictured; mostly because I hadn't sounded like a nutcase in my head.

"You've grown a lot, you've gained weight, and you look older. It's like you've aged a year since last week, Jake. Are you sure you're okay." I knew I sounded like I'd lost a few marbles, but my Spidey senses were tingling and experience had taught me to pay attention to them. Figuring out what set them off, was rarely easy.

"I'm fine Bella, just a growth spurt. Dad says it runs in the family." He leaned over the table to kiss my forehead lightly. "Don't worry so much, you'll wind up looking like Einstein before you're out of college."

I laughed, remembering when we were ten and Jake dressed-up as Einstein for Halloween because he couldn't find anything scarier looking. Billy had tried to convince him that going as a ghost or an ax murderer would be better, but Jake hadn't thought so. We'd had a lot of fun that year.

"Yeah, wouldn't want to give you more nightmares." I laughed, dodging the punch he threw at my arm.

We stayed in the garage, laughing and goofing off, until Charlie came to get me. It'd taken longer than I'd thought, but they had finally out competed themselves.

It took a little begging and fake pouting before Charlie agreed that I could drive home. As I climbed into the car I saw Jake standing to the side laughing delightedly over my desperate attempt at saving my sanity. Blowing a raspberry in his direction, I carefully backed out, waving at Billy as I went.

Charlie started nodding off before we made it home. I had to nudge him a few times before he was conscious enough to get out of the car and walk inside. Even then, he stumbled and weaved as he did it.

I followed him up the stairs and down the hall to his room careful to support him when he weaved too far. I left him at his bedroom door and ran downstairs to make sure we'd remembered to lock the door. Po-dunk, little, town or not, I wasn't sleeping if the door wasn't bolted.

After sliding the deadbolt into place I went back to Charlie's room to say goodnight and found him asleep, face down on his bed, still wearing his jacket and shoes. I couldn't get the jacket off, but the shoes I could handle.

I removed his shoes as discreetly as possible before I pulled his door closed, and went in search of my own bed. I thought of Jake the entire time.

I didn't know what was going on with him, but it sure wasn't a growth spurt. A small part of my mind, the part that never made any normal, human sense and was never wrong, insisted that, whatever it was, it wasn't anything human.

But Jake isn't a vampire, I insisted mentally, and what else is there?