Edward's POV
Gym was the only class that Bella had without Alice and me and it was the last class for today. We were now in the parking lot waiting for Bella to emerge from the girl's locker room. I had been following Bella in gym and as usual she was having trouble, but I was surprised to see that she didn't trip once. However, she failed to catch any of the balls that came her way so nothing much had changed in Bella's coordination.
But still she remained emotionless with a poker face during the whole period. I knew that she blushed frequently during gym because of her mishaps but that didn't happen anymore. No one seemed to pay much attention to her again. This worried me. I have to get hold of those school records soon. I sent a message to Carlisle to get all of Bella's medical records. Alice was waiting eagerly for Bella to appear to try to get her to go shopping after school. She was already sorting through the type of collections that would best suit Bella's new thinner frame.
Bella didn't have transport to go back home and she hadn't asked anyone else for a lift. I felt myself smile, this was my chance to offer her a ride home. It will just look like a friendly gesture and Alice would be with me. Surly she would have no reason to refuse. I could may be offer to take Alice and Bella shopping. Alice gave me a 1000mega watt smile.
"Have you changed your mind about modeling the underwear Edward?"
"No way Alice! Not on your life." Images of that offensive collection went through my mind. Most of them didn't even cover your bottom; just a few straps holding things together. I cringed. They were scandalous. Would Bella like to see me so intimately? What was I thinking! Of course she won't. I'm being a scoundrel to have such ungentlemanly thoughts.
"What about the t-shirts? I know you liked them."
"Bella might like them on you. They would look good on you."
Oh great! Alice's vivid pictures of me in the t-shirts with Bella admiring me made me feel hot all over. But will she even look at me? I remembered the way her eyes used to roam over me when she thought I wasn't looking. I would give anything to have her look at me like that again. I would endure any type of misery just to spend a few measly extra hours with Bella. I won't get to be by her side in the nights now so my time with her will be limited to our school times.
I was actually considering modeling the t-shirts for my Bella when my day dream was interrupted by the roar of a motor cycle. I turned to see Jacob Black the wolf drive in to the parking lot. What is he doing here? No one seemed to take much notice of him as if he was a regular figure here. I found it impossible to ignore him; the dog had grown at least another foot during our absence. I guess it was the werewolf gene contributing to the growth sprout. He turned his head and glared at me.
"What are those blood suckers doing back in school? I hope he is not going to hurt Bella again."
Alice looked confused as well. She couldn't see her shopping trip with Bella anymore. Just then I heard a shout.
"Hey Jake!"
Bella came running towards the dog and she was smiling. God! She looked beautiful when she smiled. This was the first time she smiled since I had seen her again. Wait….she was smiling at the dog, not at me! He was also returning her smile. When she reached him he hugged her to him.
"How have you been Bells?"
"Oh great!... I've got an assignment I like. I have to write my own interpretation of the characters in pride and prejudice. We can discuss all about it when we get home. What do you have for homework today?"
She was talking to him like she normally would have done those days with me. She spoke more words with the dog for that brief amount of time than she had spoken the entire time at school. She then grabbed the helmet in his hand and put it on and jumped into the back of the motor cycle. She didn't fumble once. If was as if she did this on a regular basis. I was shocked. She was going to ride on a motor cycle with a werewolf… a teenage werewolf known for their volatile nature. I couldn't let her risk her life like this. I started walking towards them in a hurry. Alice grabbed my hand.
"Stop Edward, it looks like she has been doing this for a long time now and from what I can see he has not hurt her. If you try to stop her now she will be angry with you. We can't interfere in her life anymore Edward we gave up that right when we left. If we try to change her life now she will never accept us again." She looked worried.
I dropped my head and took a deep breath as I heard them driving away out of the parking lot at break-neck speed. At least she wore a helmet and the wolves did have good coordination.
"I don't like it anymore than you do Edward. He just ruined my shopping trip. Come to think of it, he could be the reason why I don't see Bella that clearly anymore, like I didn't see him rescue her after the cliff diving incident. So this means that whenever her future is intermingled with the wolf's I don't see her anymore. It looks like he's a regular figure in her life now. Like I told you he was there with her the last time I came." She sighed.
"Yes. I remember. So this means you can't see any decisions she makes now?" I asked more worried than before.
"Yes. Oh! great! Now I won't be able to plan anything in advance." She looked completely dejected.
"I know." I sighed. If Alice was blind I wouldn't know how safe Bella was going to be. What if something happened to her? How will I ever protect her now?
"And then again, Bella seems very reluctant to make any decisions about anything. The only thing I see clearly is Bella attending one of the best universities in the country. I don't even know which one since she had not made a decision about it yet, as if that explains anything." She was talking non stop.
What? Bella gets into a premium college? Oh, I guess we will both be going there then. I will have to talk to Carlisle about negotiating with the board of which ever university she decides to attend. I guess they could do with a new library or something. I seriously doubted Bella getting any where with her grades the way she's behaving.
"Alice I think I should keep an eye on Bella, she's with a dog and I don't want anything to happen to her. I know she doesn't want me to interfere in her life but isn't it ok to just wait at a safe distance to make sure she is ok?"
"Yes Edward, that would be good. I don't like the idea of that dog all alone with Bella anymore than you do. He has been around a lot lately. Charlie told me that he was instrumental in Bella's recovery. He said that Bella seemed almost normal when she was with the dog. In fact he is hoping that she would get together with him. They had both been childhood friends during the summers she visited Charlie. As you know Charlie and Billy Black are good friends too, so he thinks that if Jacob marries Bella that would be the best thing that could happen to her. I didn't want to tell you about this earlier, but I guess you should know exactly what you are dealing with here Edward. You have to tread very carefully. We can't afford a war with the werewolves now and we can't make Bella resent us even more by antogonising him. After all he was there for her when we weren't."
She looked sad when she said that. I felt the hole in my heart just opening wider if that was even possible. Oh! god I had competition. Not a simple human boy but a werewolf, our worst enemy. Couldn't Bella choose someone less dangerous and if I had to admit less good looking? No. She had to go and latch on to the next available dangerous mythical creature around. I knew I was being unreasonable but I couldn't help it. She was really and truly a danger magnet! And I was jealous as hell.
I looked at Alice to let her know that I would be going to Bella's place now when I noticed the heartbroken look on her face. I just realized that she was taking this hard. Her best friend has found a replacement for her, and she was hurting deeply. Bella was the only best friend Alice had other than family since the start of her vampire life and she didn't have any memories from her human life. I felt so guilty again for putting her through all this. I had really been a selfish bastard. I put a hand around the tiny pixie and pulled her to me to comfort her.
"Come on Alice, she agreed to go shopping with you. When has Bella ever willingly agreed to go shopping with you? As I recall she will be going with you and Angela tomorrow after school right?"
Her face lit up with a smile at this and her head was full of the latest fashions in France again. I smiled at her. Trust Alice to forget all her worries just at the mention of the magical word 'shopping'.
"Alice I have got to go. Ok? See you later." I kissed her forehead and discreetly stepped into the woods behind our school and started running when I was away from the humans.
Running always made me feel free. I felt some of the tension lift from my body. I will be close to my Bella soon. At least I could listen to her heartbeat. It would always calm me. I was very agitated and lost. I didn't know how to handle the situation. I couldn't break up the dog and Bella if that is what Bella wanted I would watch from the sidelines. I felt myself breaking into sobs again as I ran. My vampire reflexes got me safely to the large tree on Bella's backyard and I broke down in my agony. A foul smell penetrated my thoughts and I jerked my head up to find Jacob staring at me through the kitchen window. I could hear the shower running upstairs. I guess Bella must be taking a wash. Jacob walked out the kitchen door into the back yard.
"I would like to talk with you leech." I slowly climbed down from the tree.
"What do you want to say?" I stood a safe distance away.
"What are you doing back all of a sudden? And where was Bella the past three days? Charlie was looking for her every where."
"He shows up now when he didn't even bother to check up on her during the months he went missing. If he only knew how close we came to loosing Bella."
With that his memories flew to the meadow and the image in his mind made me freeze in surprise and pain.
"Oh the leech can read my mind, the legends were right. Well let me show him the whole scene."
What I saw next in his mind make me shake with anger and fear. Laurent was with Bella in the meadow making an advance at her and Bella was begging for her life. That was when the wolves decided to attack. They took Laurent down. I was glad about that but the words he spoke before had my head spinning. So Victoria was going to hurt Bella to get back at me.
"The redhead has made several appearances in Forks after that. But we have been keeping an eye on Bella and she has not been able to get her hands on her. Bella told me that the redhead was after her to kill her because you killed her mate or something."
I stammered and started thanking Jacob for saving my Bella. I couldn't imagine my stupidity.
"Jacob, I never thought she would come to look for Bella in Forks. I had been tracking Victoria in South America all the while she had actually been in Forks and would have already taken her revenge if it wasn't for you. Thank you for keeping Bella alive when I failed to do so."
She would have had her revenge on me by taking my Bella if it hadn't been for a bunch of teenage werewolves. I shuddered at the thought.
"We will continue to protect her. But you have to let me come to Forks which falls under your land under the treaty in order to do that."
"I don't have anything against you visiting her but now that we are back we will try to protect Bella as well. When did you last see Victoria in Forks?"
"She came the day Bella went cliff diving. That was why I was not accompanying her as I would have."
"You mean to say she was close by the day Bella nearly drowned?"
"Yes. And that is the reason why it took so long for me to save her." He looked defensive now.
"I can't even begin to express my gratitude to you for saving Bella's life so many times."
"You can thank me by staying the hell out of her life." He looked angry.
"You know I can't do that Jacob. I love her. I never stopped loving her. I will do anything to win her back."
"I love her too and I am also going to do everything I can to keep her with me." A stubborn look came over his face.
"Her safety comes first though so I'm willing to make a compromise with you, let us put our differences aside and work together to catch Victoria. Please let us know if she comes to Forks again. We will do the same. I presume Bella has your number."
"Oh you can call me at ….." and he mentally gave out the number to his home.
I nodded at him and started climbing up the tree.
"Hey leech, I don't like you spying on me and Bella. I would appreciate it if you left now and came back after I leave. You can keep an eye on her after that. I will be leaving at around 9pm." He glared at me.
Guess he can ask me to leave just as Bella did. I was glad he didn't know that Bella had already asked me to leave. But I was happy that I will be able to come back again tonight to protect Bella even if it meant I was going to spend the night in a tree close to her house. I was not going to leave my Bella unprotected even for a minute. I will get a look at Bella's school records and medical records while I am away and go for a short hunt. I had not hunted for over one and a half months now. I felt very weak. This is the longest I had gone without hunting in my life.