It took most of the morning but I finally convinced Aunt Sue to let me go to the cliffs with everyone today. Although she made me promise that I would stay with Seth or Embry at all times, I would drink plenty of water, I would sit down if my head started to hurt, and, above all else, I had to promise that I would not even attempt to cliff dive. She didn't have to worry about that though, I had no interest in hurdling my body off the edge of a cliff.

I was sitting on the couch when a car horn blared outside.

I rose to my feet quickly, "That's Embry and Paul."

Aunt Sue walked out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel, "Are you sure you're up for this?"

I fought the urge to roll my eyes, "Yes. I feel a lot better than I did yesterday."

She looked like she wanted to argue but Embry came barreling through the door, "Hey, Scarlette, how are you feeling?"

"Good as new!" I gave him my cheekiest grin.

Carefully, he brushed a few of his fingers across my bandaged head.

"If you start feeling sick, tell me right away and I'll take you home, okay?" He demanded. I could see the worry in his eyes.

I wanted to roll my eyes again.

"I promise. Let's just go and have fun today."

It took a minute but he finally smiled and slung his arm around my shoulders.

"Don't worry, Sue, I won't bring her back with anymore injuries." He winked at me.

"You better not. Seth will be there as soon as he finishes his shift. Please, be careful." She said.

"I will. I'll see you tonight." I called as I pushed Embry out of the house, "You saved me!" I cried as we trampled down the porch steps.

"Yeah, I'm sure having people wait on your hand and foot the past 24 hours must have been terrible." Embry joked.

"I couldn't leave! You have no idea how hard it is to stay put especially when everyone else is coming and going as much as they please!"

Embry helped me into Paul's truck and I was wedged between him and Paul.

"Well, not everyone ended up with a concussion." Paul greeted me.

"Minor, okay? Minor concussion. Besides that wasn't my fault, I got tackled when I wasn't paying attention!"

Paul pulled out of the drive way and started towards the cliff as the three of us continued to banter.

We pulled up the bottom of the cliffs and I stared up at them suddenly nervous.

"You guys really do this for fun?"

"It's not as dangerous as it looks, besides we've been doing it our whole lives. We know what we're doing." Embry said.

"You should try it," Paul said as he helped me out of the truck, "It's such a rush."

"I'm good," I told him, "I enjoy living too much."

"We wouldn't let anything happen to you. We wouldn't let you jump if we weren't a hundred sure that you would be safe." He responded.

I smiled, it was nice to know they cared so much.

"Are we going to climb all the way up there?" I inadvertently groaned. I didn't want to admit it but my head was still throbbing slightly and I didn't know if I could walk that far without getting dizzy.

Without saying anything, Embry scooped me into his arms.

"What are you doing?" I demanded.

"It's a long walk and I know your head is bothering you, even if you're not going to admit it," Embry said. I knew there was no point in trying to argue but I still struggled against his hold, "Just relax, okay?"

Paul managed to carry all the stuff he had stored in the truck. He was carrying three coolers and some beach towels. It looked heavy but he carried everything with ease.

"What is all that?" I questioned.

We started walking up the cliff. I didn't want to admit it but I was comfortable in Embry's embrace. I finally relaxed and let him carry me.

"Food." Paul said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That's all food?" I gaped, "Did you bring all three of today's meals with you?"

"Please," He scoffed, "Don't insult me. This is just a snack."

I knew they are a lot of food, I had seen Emily and Aunt Sue make it all but it was still hard to fathom sometimes that the boys were never full.

"I don't understand where you put it all." I grumbled.

They laughed when I frowned.

"We're running around a lot," Embry said, "We burn it off very quickly."

The walk to the top of the cliff didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. We talked mindlessly until Paul's face turned dark and he let out a low hiss.

"You have got to be kidding me," Paul growled, "He broughther again?"

That's how I knew we were close.

"Paul…" Embry warned. I noticed Paul start to shake slightly, "Relax. Scarlette is here."

That seemed to do the trick because Paul slowly started to calm himself down.

"What's wrong?" I whispered to Embry.

"We have an unwanted visitor with us today." He said in the nicest way he could.

"Who?" I questioned, "How do you know?"

"I could sm—" Paul started.

"See." Embry cut him off, "We can see them through the trees. Can't you?"

I squinted but I couldn't make out anything past the trees.

"I can't see anything." I said.

"You might want to get your eyes checked then." Embry joked.

I didn't say anything after that. It only took another minute or so for us to finally reach everyone.

Suddenly, the trees were behind us and we were in a big open space. Rocks of different sizes were scattered around us and some of the guys were using them as seats. Sam and Emily, Jared and Kim, Quil, Brady, and Collin were all here. Quil, Brady, and Collin were throwing a football around and I moved closer to Embry, flashes of Friday night crossing my mind.

Then, I saw who Paul and Embry were talking about. The unwanted visitor.

Jacob brought Bella.

As soon as Jacob saw us, he was rushing over to us, a worried expression plastered to his face.

"What happened to her?" He snarled at Embry, "Scarlette, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"She's fine," Embry snapped, stepping back a little, "I carried her to make sure she didn't get dizzy and pass out."

"I'll take her." Jacob said, and before I could argue, he ripped me from Embry's arms.

"Hey!" I cried. The jostled movement caused a sharp pain in my head, "Put me down!"

He didn't seem to want to, but he gently lowered me to the ground, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I snapped, "Stop asking now, will you?"

"Sorry." He grumbled.

The pain expressed on his face made me softened up a bit.

"Just be careful, please, my head still hurts a little." I tried to smile.

"I will. Do you want to sit down for a little while?"

"Sure." I nodded. He took my wrist and led me to a rock Bella was sitting on.

I didn't know why I didn't like the girl, but there was something about her that rubbed me the wrong way.

"Hey, Bella." I mumbled when I sat down next to Jacob. He was sitting in the middle of us.

"Hi, Scarlette, how are you feeling?" She asked politely.

"I'm okay, thank you." I turned my head away from her so she wouldn't say anything else to me.

I jumped, slightly frightened, as I watched Paul run at lightning speed towards the edge of the cliff. At the last possible second, he launched himself into the air and did a flip I had only ever seen gymnasts do. I listened to his cheers until I heard his body smack against the water. I cringed.

"I promise you, he's okay," Embry said as he sat down next to me.

I watched as one-by-one Quil, Brady, Collin, Jared, and Sam threw themselves off the cliffs, each one of them a different type of stunt.

"Aren't you going to jump?" I asked Embry as the guys made their way back to the top of the cliff.

"Well, Seth isn't here yet and I don't want you to sit here by yourself." He said.

"I'll be okay, Embry, I promise I won't move a muscle." I laughed, "Go have fun!"

"I am having fun, I'm with my best friend." He threw his arm back over my shoulder, something I was becoming very used to.

Suddenly, Jacob was on his feet, snarling at Embry. His face was furious, his teeth were bared.

"Stop touching her." He spat at Embry.

Embry was on his feet, then, standing in front of me protectively.

"Jake, relax." I noticed Jacob was shaking.

"She is not yours to touch," Jacob cried, "Put your arm around her again and I'll break it in so many pieces, it'll never be able to heal properly."

They were both snarling at each other, and without thinking, I stood up and forced myself between them. I heard Emily and Kim let out a terrified gasp.

"Sam," Emily called in a normal voice that I didn't know how she expected him to hear her, "Hurry."

"Jacob, please, calm down," I looked up at him, but he was still glaring at Embry. His body was starting to shake so violently, I was almost afraid he was going to have a seizure.

"Scarlette, get out of the way." Embry said. He reached out to move me but Jacob's hand flew past my head, snatching Embry's wrist.

"What did I just say?" He said through his teeth.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the rest of the guys near the tree line. They stopped when they saw me between Embry and Jacob. Only Sam moved.

"Jacob, I need you to back away from Scarlette slowly." Sam demanded.

"No." He growled.

I was starting to panic slightly; Jacob only seemed to be getting angrier.

"Jacob, please." I put my hands on his chest. It was probably a bad idea, he would probably get mad at me later for touching him, but I read somewhere that another person's touch could calm someone down.

And right now, it seemed to be working. I could feel his chest relax a little bit and his eyes finally met mine.

"Please, calm down." I whispered. Gently, he reached up to lay his hand on my cheek. I froze under his touch; partially because I was afraid if I moved he would get angry and because I liked the feel of his touch. His head was scalding but it was comforting.

It took a few minutes but his shaking finally stopped.

"Are you okay?" I questioned.

"I think so." Jacob said, "I don't like Embry touching you." His fierce eyes were back on Embry.

"He's my best friend, Jacob." I said, "Why do you care so much?"

"I just do." He snapped, his angry eyes on me.

"Well, without an actual reason as to why you don't think like, your opinion really doesn't matter." I folded my arms across my chest.

He looked pissed off again and I was positive that he was going to yell at me, but, instead, he turned and walked back over to Bella. He slipped his arm around her shoulder, and an unexpected wave of jealousy washed over me.

"Are you okay?" Embry asked.

I turned to face him and my head started to spin. The adrenaline for the previous moments had worn off. I started to sway.

"Scarlette." Seth was suddenly at my side, steading me. I hadn't seen him get here.

"I'm okay." I said, knowing what he was going to ask next, "I just need to sit for a minute."

I half expected Jacob to rush to my side again, but when I looked over at him, he was laughing with Bella. It stung a little.

Seth helped me sit down and Embry appeared in front of me with a bottle of water. The rest of the guys finally made their way back over to us.

"You hangin' in there, Scar?" Paul asked. He was the first person, apart from Embry to call me Scar.

"I'm surviving." I tried to laugh, but I found myself looking back over at Jacob and Bella. They seemed to be oblivious to what was going on around them.

I was quiet for a few minutes trying to get myself together.

"Alright," Quil called out, grabbing everyone's attention, "Who's up for a little competition?"

"What did you have in mind?" Brady asked.

"Anyone who wants to cliff dive coughs up five bucks and then we jump, doing on own signature move," Quil explained, "Whoever has the best move wins the money."

"Who's going to determine the winner?" Sam questioned.

"Hmm," Quil put his finger on his chin like he was thinking deeply, "Emily and Kim are biased because of Sam and Jared. So, I guess that leaves Scarlette, if you're up for it?"

"Of course," I said, I rose to my feet, Embry and Seth moving with me, "I'd be honored to watch all of you plummet towards your death."

"Great!" He winked at me, "Who's in?"

All the guys agreed to jump except Jacob.

"What about Bella?" He asked.

Quil shrugged, "Sure, she can jump to if she wants?"

"No," Jacob shoot his head, "You didn't ask if she wanted to judge."

Quil's face blanked, "Oh…well…we only needed one person to judge and Scarlette has never seen us cliff dive before."

"Neither has Bella."

"No, but she did throw herself off these cliffs before." Paul didn't hind his dislike for the girl.

"Watch it." Jacob warned.

"Scarlette's family," Jared interjected, "We're just trying to make her feel welcomed."

"So, because Bella's not family, she's not welcomed?"

"That's not what we're saying, Jacob," Sam spoke, "It's just a harmless game, stop making a big deal of it."

"I'll stop making a big deal out of it when the rest of you can treat Bella that a human being." Jacob snapped.

"Cause she's gonna be for so much longer." Paul spoke again.

Bella's face contorted in pain and I knew that comment hurt. I almost felt bad for the way Paul was picking on her. Almost.

Jacob was on his feet and I thought he was going to attack Paul. However, he grabbed Bella's hand and pulled her to her feet.

"We're leaving." He stated.

"Come on, Jake, don't be like that." Collin groaned.

"Bella, why don't you go on ahead, I'll catch up." Jacob instructed. She looked like she wanted to argue but she didn't say anything. I realized I hadn't heard her say anything the entire time she was here. I watched her backside until she disappeared into the trees.

Jacob's voice was menacing, "You all know how I feel about her. I love her, why can't you just accept that?"

"You know why we can't accept her into the tribe, Jacob." Sam said, "She made her decision and we made ours. You have to live with that."

"Well, if you won't accept her, you can't accept me." He sneered and then, he stormed away.

The guys tried calling after him but he never turned around. He didn't even say goodbye.

"You alright?" Seth asked.

"Of course, let's start this competition, shall we?" I tried to shake the sudden sadness I was feeling.

Slowly, one-by-one, the guys started doing tricks off the cliffs. Emily and Kim came and sat next to me to make sure I would be okay.

I watched everyone jump but I wasn't really paying attention. Tears strung my eyes but I wouldn't let them fall.

He loved her. I couldn't stop repeating that in my head.

I was foolish to think that he would ever want to be more than my friend. Hell, he had yet to last one whole day being nice to me.

It was like he had a split personality: there was one Jacob who wanted to be around me and another Jacob who couldn't stand me. Right now, I couldn't figure out which was worse.

"Scarlette!" I was pulled out of my thoughts.

All of the guys were in front of me soaking wet.

"What?" I asked.

"You have to pick a winner." Quil said, impatiently.

"Oh," That was the last thing on my mind, "Umm…Paul, I guess."

Paul started cheering while the rest of the guys groaned, but I wasn't listening. All I kept thinking about was: which Jacob would eventually win out?