A/N: I own no part of Twilight.

If you haven't read the latest chapter, go do it. Like, now.

New arc: the dawn of Bella x Jacob.

Enjoy.

XIX.

bite chunks out of me
you're a shark and i'm swimming
my heart still thumps as i bleed
and all your friends come sniffing

"So you built this car all by yourself?" Bella asked, toying with a wrench in her hands.

"Every last bit of it," Jacob said. His head was lost in the hood of the Rabbit until he turned to look at her and nod his head. "Pass me that wrench, will you?"

She tossed it at him, and he caught it with ease.

Since their disaster of a date, Jacob and Bella had formed a camaraderie of sorts. He had been by her side at Leah's birthday party, and since then, he hadn't abandoned her. He was a good kid—the kind of kid who would think girls like her were weird—so she was glad she hadn't completely scared him off back in August. She never thought he would stay.

It was March now, and she liked to think they were good friends. She didn't come over often, since she decided to go back to working part-time at the Newtons' store in January, but whenever she did visit Jacob and vice-versa, it wasn't awkward. Instead, it was natural. Since last month, when they'd officially reconnected, he never held anything against her. He never brought up the date. He lived in the now, which she appreciated.

"Well, kinda," Jacob corrected himself. "I bought some of the parts."

"That still counts," Bella assured him.

"Yeah."

They were in his garage, which wasn't attached to his house. It was its own separate building, and it looked like a barn. It was small and red and perfect. They often spent their days here because it felt like home to her. His car was done, but he liked to perfect things since he was so meticulous and good with his hands. They never had much to do, but they liked to do nothing together.

He put the wrench back in the toolbox and sat down on a box in front of her. "I guess we finally ran out of things to do," he said.

She bit her bottom lip. There's no fucking way I'm going back home to my thoughts. "I guess we're just gonna have to find something else to do."

They ended up in her truck, driving back to Forks. Her one day off this week was going to be put to good use. They were going to buy a pizza and watch TV at her house. They were the most creative, exciting duo to ever exist.

"What's your story?" Bella asked Jacob, taking her time and driving at the speed limit so the car ride would take forever.

"My story?" he asked.

"Your life story."

"From the beginning to now?"

"Yeah," she told him. "Go ahead."

"It's not that interesting," he said. "There's not much to it."

"I highly doubt that. C'mon, Jake. Tell me about it."

"Well, uh..." He was confused. Why did she care so much? Why did it even matter? Whatever.

She waited. He sighed. "I was born on the rez just a little over nineteen years ago. I have a couple sisters—twins. One graduated from U-Dub last spring and lives in Seattle. The other is married to a surfer and lives in Hawaii."

"I think I remember them," Bella said.

"Really?"

"Rachel and… sorry, I forgot the other one's name."

"Rebecca."

"Right."

"Yeah, Rebecca lives in Hawaii," he said, his voice blunt. His tone remained blunt as he continued to speak. He just wasn't used to anybody actually asking about him or his life. "Rachel's in Seattle. I stayed here. They ran off as fast as they could when my mom died. She died when I was nine."

Bella nodded, and immediately felt bad for treating Renee, Charlie, and Phil like shit so consistently. Jacob's mother was dead and his father was in a fucking wheelchair, yet he was still positive and not a pain in the ass. Bella was such a jerk-ass to all three of the parental figures in her life.

"I went to the rez school until I got to high school," he told her. "I graduated from Forks High School. Sorry if I'm boring you."

"No, it's fine," she said, focusing on the road.

"Just tell me when to stop."

"Don't even worry about it. Keep going. So you're nineteen. You're a high school graduate. What are you gonna do now?"

"You sound like a teacher," he commented.

"God, sorry."

"I'm going to PenCol in the fall, though."

"PenCol?"

"Peninsula College. The community college in Port Angeles. You going?"

Ever since she hadn't gotten into Dartmouth, college had never been on her mind. She couldn't be at the Newtons' store forever, though. She was better than that. She should probably further her education… or something.

"I wasn't planning on it," she said, "but I should probably apply."

"The rest of us are going," he said, "for the most part."

"Us?" she repeated. "Who's that?"

"The people back at Leah's party."

"Oh. They're nice."

"Leah's complicated," Jacob said. It was code for bitch.

Bella laughed. "I'm glad you said it so I didn't have to."

"So that's pretty much it when it comes to me," he said.

She just shook her head and smiled. "That can't be it. There's gotta be more than that."

"I'm exactly as boring as you think I am," he assured her. "I'm a reservation boy. Nothing too special."

Someone's been shrinking him, she thought. Somebody's been making him feel inadequate.

"Jacob, you don't have to listen to any other word I say," she began, "but just know this: you're not boring. Never shrink yourself down. It's not worth it."

He thought on that for a minute. Then he said, "So tell me about you."

She shook her head and smiled at him. Silly, silly boy. "Give me some time."

Bella picked up a flat rock on First Beach and chucked it forward. It landed in the water with a small plop. Then she picked up a similar rock and threw it in exactly the same way, somehow expecting it to do something different. It didn't.

She turned around and returned to her new friends, if that's where they really were. She was really just an outsider. They were so established that she couldn't wrap her head around it. She had only seen groups of friends this tight in movies, but then again, she wasn't exactly friendship-oriented. The closest things she had ever known had been her coworkers, the small-town kids her age, and they hardly even talked outside of work unless Bella was getting someone to cover for her. And she used to have friends in Phoenix—then she realized they weren't really friends.

Bella and her new "friends" were all sitting down on driftwood logs, talking and eating the food they brought with them out of plastic containers. Leah and Paul (the latter in which Bella hadn't met yet and didn't really want to since he had a punk-ass look to him) were in the middle of some deep conversation, but she was making eye contact and he wasn't. He just stared down at the sandwich he was eating. Bella knew immediately that Leah liked Paul more than he liked her. But why were they so intimate, yet so distant? Bella would never find out. Kim, who Bella couldn't decide if she liked or not, sat on the outside of Leah and Paul, waiting for their conversation to dissipate. Kim and Leah were real friends. And then Emily, who Bella decided she kind of liked due to her tranquil nature, was sitting with Seth, Embry, and Jacob. Bella took a spot next to Jacob and leaned in thoughtfully.

This is it, she thought. Having real friends.

She was really pushing it now.

Not able to follow the conversation and still in awe of where she was and who she was with (and who she wasn't with), she didn't notice when Embry, Jacob's best friend, turned the topic of the conversation to her.

"Bella?" he asked again.

She snapped out of her cloudy mind. "Sorry. Yeah?"

"Where are you from again?"

"Arizona," she said. "Phoenix."

"Damn. Why'd you move up here, then?"

That was the typical reaction she got; she was so big city and so worldly to these kids. But she knew they didn't want to know the real reason why she was here. In hindsight, it was kind of stupid. Selfishly enough, she kind of wanted to be the elusive, dreamy new girl. The fact that there was nobody like her in this group made her feel special. And she got the impression by their hobbies that they were just dumb, small-town kids. They'd accept her because her presence would make their lives so much more interesting.

"I don't know," she lied to Embry. "I got tired."

"You didn't leave a lot behind?"

She shook her head. "No, not really. I don't even have any friends."

Embry gave her an honest look. "Bella, we are your friends."

It was like time didn't exist.

They didn't have anywhere to be, ever. Yeah, some of them had work, but in the meantime, it was all play. It didn't matter where they were. It was too cold to go to the beach every single day, but they all coexisted at any location. An interesting time was guaranteed when they all linked up. Bella had never felt more included. These were her friends.

Just when Bella was starting to get comfortable and feel herself a little, though, Leah kept her humble. Always.

They—minus Quil, Paul, Sam, and Emily—were all at Jacob's house today since his dad wasn't, just watching a movie. Embry had brought over his collection, crafted by the gods. They were watching something obscure, at least to Bella. It was a Tarantino film she wasn't familiar with. She had only seen Pulp Fiction since it was a social norm, especially with these kids. But she had never really been into movies, and as far as she knew, there wasn't a book club going on here. She may just have to start one; she just hoped Leah wasn't as into books as she was.

Bella sat on the end of the couch, next to Jacob. When the credits started rolling, she spoke up.

"We should have a Tarantino marathon," she said.

"Yeah, okay, Sixth Ranger," Leah said under her breath.

Bella held her tongue. She wanted to call Leah out for being continuously petty towards her for no given reason, but she didn't want to risk being ostracized after just finding her place. For the most part, everyone had accepted her, but she could still go back to being lonely. The possibility was very real.

So she didn't say anything.

Just let her talk, she thought. Talk is all she is.

Bella looked up "Sixth Ranger" when she got home that night. It bothered her. Leah had basically said that Bella messed up the group. They had been so established before Bella came along, but she ruined all that just by being there. The term could also mean that Bella was what they needed, and that her presence helped them, but she knew damn well that Leah didn't mean that.

Leah was so fucking petty. Bella didn't understand why.

She tried not to worry about it, though. She'd just stay out of her way. She didn't know why Leah didn't like her—probably because she was new and everyone else liked her, when she thought about it—but she didn't want to find out the truth from Leah herself. Yeah, she was all talk and nothing else, but Bella didn't want to hear any more of it. She had never been good at defending herself, anyway.

She would just have to lay low, even as she knew she was being taken apart, piece by piece.

Just let her talk.

A/N: I'll update Friday. At this rate, this story will be done in February of next year.

Take care,

HS