Chapter 9 : Valentine's day and a death

The next weeks were filled with the same events. Morning jog with Mike, dad would drive me to school, school, lunch with Mike, Angie and Ben. After school Mike would drive me to work and I would walk back.

Friday night was girls' night either in Port Angeles for a dance or either at Angie's place either mine for a movie night. Sometimes Jessica would join us but her loyalties were solid on team Lauren so it was mostly us and maybe the twins. Friday night also was a poker night for dad at the reservation. Saturdays were days of relax, homework and having fun and lengthy talks with mom on the phone and Sundays were usually spent at La Push with our extended family.

I had accepted Mike's idea to let people think we're together and that's actually helped us both. Angela thought that it was Mike's way of gaining my attention to lead to a relationship but if that was true then Mike was a master and handling it and not pushing.

One Saturday before Valentine's Day, dad and I went to Seattle in the annual car sale held by the police. According to dad the Seattle police would sell all the cars that had been picked up by the police for various reasons but their owners hadn't paid the fee to take them back. Seattle is about 3 hours away so dad and I decided to call it a day and drive together.

The car yard was big and there were a lot of cars. I have to admit I know next to nothing about cars so I let it all up to dad and decided to choose by colour and size.

Dad liked an Impala '67 in black colour. He said that a car like that was the one grandpa Geoffrey taught him to drive in. I didn't like it and I had my eyes set on a small red mini cooper with a black convertible roof. Small, unique and with a strong build to protect the driver as dad mentioned when I showed it to him. I decided to ignore his comment and bite my tongue. Both cars were a bit old with a low price. We wanted them both and since Charlie is a cop, the Seattle police department sold them to us at a very low price.

After catching a movie, sightseeing and a nice dinner we each drove one car back. Well, actually, I drove the mini cooper or Mini-Red as I named it in my head and dad drove his cruiser. I think someone would drop the impala at the station. Next day we brought them both to Jake and this time both he and dad accepted the payment.

A week after that on the 14th was Valentine's Day and dance. I didn't feel like buying something new and decided on a red prom dress I had bought on the previous shopping spree with silver shoes. Mike, I, Angie and Ben went together as a group. I assume we looked like couples but we knew the truth and that made us all feel ok. I had told Charlie that we're friends going together and thankfully he didn't feel the need to interrogate Mike a lot when he came to pick me up. I never thought I could have fun at a dance.

The dance was in the gym, of course. It was probably the only room in town big enough for a dance. When we got inside, I giggled. There were actual balloon arches

and twisted garlands of pastel crepe paper festooning the walls. Not to mention the fake hearts and arrows hanging from the ceiling. It looked like the setting of a B rated horror movie. I looked at the dance floor; a wide gap had formed in the center of the floor, where a few couples whirled. A lot of single boys and girls were pressed to the sides of the room.

"I don't dance" I blurted out. My friends broke in laughter.

"Took you long enough" Mike mentioned between his laughter.

"You danced last week" Angie added and after glaring at them I broke a smile and we all went to get some punch. Seeing the vile green colour it had - like the leftover water from art class we all opted for water bottles.

Surprisingly we had fun. Danced and laughed, just like my life should and maybe would have been if I hadn't met Edward and his family.

The office was big and in natural colours. There was a big desk on one side. A black leather couch and a few armchairs in the opposite corner. The room was full with people. You could easily tell in the havoc that a man in a dark suit was in charge and that he and a blond shorter woman in a police uniform were arguing.

"He is back, we need to do something"

The woman kept saying and the man in the suit was apparently either ignoring her or simply didn't care.

The man silenced the others that had started to argue and shout again. In the end he managed to calm everyone down and they began to discuss how they would cover it. Since the victim - no one wanted to use their name - had a history of drug usage and alcoholism, they decided to ask the medical examiner to check for anything like that in the victim's blood and to stage either an accident or an overdose.

As the meeting ended the police woman left the room muttering "I need to call him, apparently he has more experience than us"

She pulled a cellphone out of her pocket and dialled a number

"Hello, can I talk to chief Swan please?"