CHAPTER FOUR
Charlie pressed his lips together tightly to prevent himself from laughing at Bella as she eyed the box of worms warily. He and Bella had made plans to go fishing that weekend, and he was surprised that she actually meant it. When she was little, Bella didn't like fishing, and would instead stay with Jacob and the other kids on the reservation whenever he, Billy, and Harry went out on the lake. It felt strange having her here, no longer a small child but now a young woman. Strange in a good way; he felt like maybe it wasn't too late to create good memories with her.
"Come on, Bells," Charlie laughed.
Bella shook her head vehemently. "I'm not touching that. It's so slimy! Why can't you put it on?"
"How are you going to learn how to do it if I do it for you?"
"I won't need to know how to do it because I'll always have you to do it for me," Bella grumbled, and Charlie grinned.
Bella held out shaking hands, Charlie's voice guiding her.
"Don't hold your fingers so close to the hook, there you go. Now, grab a worm from the box." Bella shot him a dark look, but did as he said, spine shivering as the worm wriggled in her grasp. She looked like she wanted to throw the worm and the entire box into the river and go back to the pier. "Now, use the hook to put a hole in one end of the worm."
It took her a few tries, as she kept dropping the worm when it would coil around her fingers, but eventually she got it.
"Ugh," Bella groused.
"Practice makes perfect," Charlie said cheerfully, helping Bella straighten her fishing line and cast it out, and then doing his own.
The sun beamed down on them, and Charlie was glad that Bella made them put on several layers of sunscreen, as well as wear hats to protect their faces from the sun.
Out there on the water with Bella, watching the way she seemed to relax on the water, her body gently rocking back and forth with the current, Charlie wondered how often Bella got to just relax when she was with Renee. They hadn't had a chance to talk more about Renee's parenting skills or lack thereof, and Charlie desperately wanted to confront it. While normally he'd avoid all talks of Renee so he could ignore the feeling of sadness in his gut at how abruptly she left him, it wasn't about him now, at least not directly. It was about Bella being denied a childhood and having to be an adult since the day she was old enough to walk.
"Hey," Charlie said, glancing over at her. Bella looked up from where she'd been watching the lake ripple. "Will you tell me more? About -"
"About life with Renee?" Bella guessed, stomach twisting. Despite all her talk of wanting to be more open with her father, she was stil hesitant to delve deeper into her time with Renee down in Arizona. Her parents hadn't parted on the best of terms, and Bella worried that if Charlie found out just how chaotic Bella's childhood had been due to Renee's inability to be an adult, he'd fly to Florida to give her mother a piece of his mind. But at the same time, she couldn't keep burying everything down.
Charlie nodded, and he looked as scared as she felt.
"I don't know where to start," Bella chuckled. "I guess from the beginning, when I was tall enough to see over the stove. She may have been my mother biologically but a lot of the time it felt like I was the mom and she was the child. I had to take care of her, you know. I had to make sure the bills got paid, apply to jobs for her whenever she decided to quit her current one on a whim, which was ridiculously often. I had to cook, clean, do everything. Mom was just...I guess she wanted to be carefree, to never have to worry about anything, but I don't think she realized that she couldn't do that with a child."
Charlie tensed, but said nothing. He would never let Bella know, well, maybe not never but at least not right now, that he'd been reading parenting books lately. He wanted to improve his relationship with his daughter, wanted her to feel comfortable and safe with him. Something he could clearly recall reading was that, when the child is opening up about a sensitive topic, it's best not to give unsolicited advice, or else they'd clam up. And so, Charlie wanted quietly for Bella to gather her thoughts before she spoke again.
"She didn't hit me. I didn't know if you were wondering, but just in case you were, I wanted you to know that she never hit me. But just because she didn't hit me doesn't mean she didn't hurt me in other ways. She was never there for me, physically, or emotionally. It was always about her problems. About how awful her job was because they wouldn't let her take another three week vacation so soon after her last one. About her boyfriend who she'd break up with in a week or two anyways. There was always a spotlight on her life, and for a long time I never questioned it.
"I started to resent her around the seventh grade," Bella admits, surprised at how great it felt to get that off her chest. Instantly her body feels ten pounds lighter. "I felt guilty for resenting her, you know? She drove me insane but I felt bad for feeling that way because I thought that I needed to be grateful to her. I remember being so angry, all the time, although I hid it well. I couldn't go to birthday parties, sleepovers, not even to a friend's house for a couple of hours after school. She'd whine about how I was abandoning her, about how much she needed me. I kept turning invitations down and eventually...people stopped inviting me."
Bella remembers with a startlingly amount of clarity on that one specific day in the seventh grade, where Hayley was inviting people to her bowling party which would turn into a sleepover after. Bella remembers wriggling in her seat, excited to receive an invitation, because she was so sure that she'd be able to go this time. Her mother had just gotten a new boyfriend, which meant that she was on a high, and that, for a couple of weeks, she'd have her new man to take care of her instead of her daughter. Imagine her surprise when Hayley's eyes skipped right over Bella, and the blonde girl had walked right past her seat, handing an invitation to the girl behind Bella.
She'd been devastated.
So distraught, Bella had snuck out of the school during lunch and had walked home, the sun beaming down on her head the entire way. When the school had called to report her absence, her mother hadn't even noticed.
"I'm sorry, Bells." Charlie murmured, reaching over to squeeze her hand. He paused before gaining the confidence to ask his question, "Did...did Renee have a lot of boyfriends when you were growing up?"
At Bella's arched eyebrow, Charlie made sure to clarify, "I'm not jealous, I swear. I'm just concerned at the type of environment that would create for a child. I know that I wasn't there as often as I would have liked to be, and so I would hope that with Renee you would have had some stable, positive male figure in your life."
Bella laughed, "Oh, if only."
Charlie tensed.
"Mom's boyfriends were always super creepy. They'd leer at me or always try to sit next to me on the couch. I made sure to stay in my room with the door locked as much as I could." Bella chuckled. "I kept a pair of scissors under my pillow, too, just in case."
Charlie wondered how quickly he could get to the airport to catch the next flight to Florida to kick down Renee's front door. He wasn't a violent man by nature, but hearing that his daughter had felt unsafe in her own home, hearing that she might have been sexually abused for years while Renee was too airheaded to notice? Made his blood boil.
"Luckily, none of them ever tried to touch me," Bella shrugged. "I learned to deal with it. I remember being so relieved when she met Phil. He was actually a decent guy, not just there for a quick lay. He actually cared about mom, and he took care of her. Honestly, mom's desire to travel and Phil's job requiring him to travel worked out so well for me, because it gave me an excuse to come here. They're still in their honeymoon phase so they really didn't want me around.
"Anyways, that's why it was so hard for me to adjust when I got here. I'd gotten so used to having to run an entire household by myself that it never occurred to me that you wouldn't need me to baby you. It took some getting used to, but it's a very nice change. Honestly, I hate paying bills. I don't know how you do it. Every month? That's wild."
Charlie laughed, forcing his fingers to relax from their clenched position around his fishing rod. "As long as you're under my roof, I'll be the one babying you. Get ready to for me to catch up on 17 years worth of embarassment that I missed out on."
"Oh, God," Bella grinned. "Nothing too humiliating, please? I already get enough from everyone about my zombie state after Edward left." She said it so casually that Charlie was stunned, but before he could address it, she's moving on. "Speaking of dating lives, how come you never remarried?"
Charlie flushed. "Let's focus on the river."
"No, no, no," Bella said. "Don't try to get out of this. We can talk and watch the river. It's this great new thing called multitasking."
"My love life is none of your business."
"Except it is," Bella nudged him with her shoulder. "Come on, Dad. Throw me a bone. We're getting to know each other better, right?"
Charlie sighed. Scrubbed a hand down his face.
"I know a lot of people don't think so, but I got over your mom. Does it still hurt a little that she left the way she did? Of course. I mean, she left in the middle of the night while I was sleep. All she left me was a crappy note with a bullshit apology. She said she felt trapped in this small town, and that she didn't understand why I didn't want to move yet."
"Why didn't you want to move?"
"You were just a baby at the time so you wouldn't remember, but my parents were very sick. My dad had severe arthritis, and my mom was in the early stages of Alzheimer's. It was bad, Bells. Dad couldn't move very well, and mom was getting worse every week. They needed me there to take care of them. Renee wanted me to put them in a nursing home, and I think that's the only time I ever yelled at her. I heard what happens in nursing homes, how the people there get abused and neglected. I didn't want that to happen to my parents, I wanted to be there for as long as I could before they passed, and she didn't understand that.
"I don't want you to think that the entire thing was her fault," Charlie emphasized. "She had depression, and it only got worse after she gave birth. And don't make that face, it wasn't your fault, either. Postpartum depression hit her hard, and she wanted to leave Forks. She wanted to go somewhere sunnier. I understood why she wanted to go, but I couldn't make the choice that she wanted me to. She was convinced that I didn't love her as much as I said I did, and that accusation hurt. My parents were dying, Bells."
"Hey," Bella murmured. "I'm not angry at you for choosing to stay in Forks with grandma and grandpa. You don't have to explain yourself to me."
Charlie stared hard at the water. "I cried when she left, you know? I couldn't believe it. And she had taken you! I woke up, and you were both gone. I didn't hear from her for weeks, I thought you two were dead in a ditch somewhere. I was so angry with her. Leaving me was her right, I wasn't going to hold her hostage, but she could have been considerate enough to call me at least one during those weeks to let me know that you were okay. When she finally did call, I didn't even know how to deal with it. She moved to Arizona, back with her parents, and she said that I'd be allowed to visit. I couldn't even fight for custody because all my money was in the house that I had bought us, and into caring for my parents.
"A few months after she left, my parents died. Since then I just focused my time on visiting you, seeing Billy, Harry, and Quil, and moving up in my career. I never made time for dating because I was afraid."
"Afraid of what?" Bella asks. "You're a good guy, not too bad looking -" Charlie glared, and she smiled up at him, " - and you're sweet. I don't think you need to be afraid of rejection."
"I'm afraid that I was boring," Charlie admitted. "Renee had been obsessed with spontaneity and was always on the go, and I'm a stationary kind of guy. Living in a small town makes a guy build routines that I rarely deviate from. Going to parties, going to the clubs, that lifestyle just wasn't for me. Not to mention that I'm a man with a nearly adult daughter."
"Hey," Bella said firmly. "You gotta get back out there! I'm not saying you have to do anything extreme like start clubbing or anything, but at least go out on some introductory dates! You think you don't have people lining up to spend one on one time with you, and, buddy, you are wrong. Do you know how many women have waxed poetic about you to my face? I'm scarred, Dad. Scarred for life. They'd be all over you like white on rice if given half the chance."
"Oh, God," Charlie flushed bright red. "Let's not talk about this anymore."
"I know you have to like someone," Bella said. "Look, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. All I'm saying is, if there's someone who you've had your eye on, who you want to get to know a little better, give it a shot. Okay?"
Bella waited until her father turned to look at her, a small smile blossoming on his face.
"Okay," he agreed.
Bella's fishing rod was nearly snatched out of her hand, her fingers clamping down on it to keep it from flying off into the water.
"I think I got one!"
Bella spent the rest of Saturday thinking about Jacob's situation with Sam. The entire thing was just confusing, and Bella wasn't sure if it was because she was an outsider to the community itself, if there was missing information, or both. She couldn't, for the life of her, figure out how Sam had so much sway in the La Push community to the point where Jacob's own father was brushing aside his concerns. It seemed like Sam held quite a bit of power on the reservation, which was strange, because Bella figured that, if the community was going to start holding anyone's word as law, it would be Jacob. She may not know a lot about the history of La Push, but she knew that Jacob was a direct descendant of Ephriam Black, who was the leader of the tribe way back when.
She was worried about her friend. He'd grown increasingly distressed in just the twenty four hours since she'd last seen him. He'd sent her a string of text messages ranting about being followed by Sam and his crew, about them staring holes into his back. And it wasn't just Jacob who Sam was harassing. Jacob reported that Sam was watching Quil, too. The only consolation, however slight, was that Sam didn't give two fucks about Embry.
Bella didn't want to go running to her Dad with the information yet. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but it was the fact that Jacob's own father wasn't taking the matter seriously. She didn't want to to screw up her dad and Billy's relationship yet again, at least not without figuring out why Billy wasn't concerned about Sam. Bella knew it wasn't her place to question Billy's parenting skills, and yet...
It was hard to even put a label on what Sam and his friends were. She didn't want to call it a cult. She just didn't understand how Sam and his friends would disappear for weeks, even months, and then come back looking like every Dwayne Johnson on steroids. Bella wanted concrete proof that Sam was up to something, and when she had that proof, she'd go to her dad, since clearly Billy wasn't going to do anything.
Which was why, when Bella and Charlie came back from fishing early afternoon, she took a shower and then immediately baked a huge tray of brownies.
"You heading out?" Charlie looked up from rinsing out his cup as Bella slipped on her shoes and jacket.
"Yeah, I'm gonna give these brownies to Sam and his friends as a thank you for finding me in the woods, and then I might swing by Jake's for a bit. Is that okay?"
Asking for permission to go somewhere was such a wild concept. With her mother, Bella didn't really have to ask to go anywhere; if she needed to go to the bank to pay the bills or to the grocery store, she just went. Now, it was a different story. Her dad allowed her a tremendous amount of freedom, but he still had rules that he was more strict about ever since the Edward situation. She was actually grateful for the structure.
"Make sure you bring your homework with you. You and Jake can study together."
Bella holds up her backpack to show that she was thinking the exact same thing. She was glad that her relationship with her father had improved to the point where he felt comfortable making sure she got her school work done. It was a nice feeling to know that an adult in her life was watching over her instead of the other way around.
"Have fun," Charlie says. "Don't stay out too late. And tell Billy I said hi."
"Will do," Bella calls over her shoulder, tray of brownies carefully balanced in her arms as she shoulders her way out the door to her truck.
The drive to La Push gives her time to think about what she's going to say to Sam. She didn't know him well enough to demand why he was harassing Jacob, not that she'd ever have the guts to do something like that anyways. Besides, she doubts Sam would listen to her if she told him to leave Jacob alone. She didn't have to know him personally to know that Sam seemed like the type of guy who expected things to go his way, and wouldn't be happy with Bella for challenging that. Hell, she'd already learned that from hearing about what happened with Leah and Emily.
Bella drummed her fingers against the steering wheel, the open window allowing the breeze to whip her hair around her cheeks.
She'd gotten the directions to Sam's house from Billy's over dinner the other night, and found it easily. It was tucked behind a wall of trees, the little dirty road veering sharply to the right. Bella was sure that her truck easily alerted Sam to her presence. She parks and hops out, leaving her school things in the car and grabbing the brownies.
Her foot hasn't even settled on the top stair before the door swings open, a tall, buff, angry man standing in the threshold.
"The hell are you doing here, paleface?" the man snarls, and Bella is so stunned that she can do nothing but gape at him, her knuckles white around the tray.
"Paul," came a sharp reprimand from further inside the house, the voice so deep and authoritative that even Bella felt slightly scolded. 'Paul' huffs angrily and steps to the side, allowing a man to step into her line of sight. Bella realizes that this is Sam. The room behind him is what Bella assumes is the dining room and kitchen, with a third man sitting at the round table, stuffing his face with muffins. He was shirtless, barefoot, and in a pair of raggedy cut denim shorts.
Actually, they all were. Her eyes flicked down to the hard planes of Sam's chest before flicking back up to hit face. Sam's arched eyebrow lets her know that she wasn't subtle at all. He waved her inside, and she pushed that train of thought away. Bella didn't have time to ponder their matching outfits, or why they all had the exact same tattoo on the exact same arm in the exact same place. Being in Sam's house, surrounded by their matching outfits and tattoos, she was beginning to think that Jacob was right about this being a cult.
Bella realizes she's been standing awkwardly in the middle of Sam's dining room slash kitchen for at least three minutes, and she hurriedly clears her throat, ignoring the way Paul stands behind Sam, clearly annoyed by her existence.
"I, uh, just wanted to say thanks for taking the time out of your day to come look for me in the woods that night I went missing. I really appreciate you helping out my dad, so I made enough brownies for you and your friends."
Bella holds out the tray towards Sam, intending to let him grab it and then make a quick exit, craving the safety of her truck. However, the universe has other plans. The second she holds the tray out, Paul's previous bout of rage comes to an abrupt halt, and she's just barely able to get the words out before he's shoving Sam aside and snatching the tray of brownies out of her hand.
"Sorry about them," Sam grumbles as Paul hustles over to the table where he and the other man eagerly dig in, sending them both an unimpressed look. "And no problem."
Sam eyes her more closely now, and asks, "What happened in the woods, anyways?"
The tone of his voice makes Bella feel like his question was more of an interrogative demand. She bristles a bit at it, but it unwilling to call him out on it; there was no doubt in her mind that Paul would jump at the chance to rip her throat out. And, normally, she wouldn't feel too inclined to share the information of her breakup with a man she barely knew. Also, Jake didn't like him, and she was all for friend solidarity. However, Sam had gone out of his way to look for her, and she at least owes him a minor explanation.
"The Cullens," Bella says, the mention of the name making Paul and Jared tense. "I don't if you know them?"
"We know of them," the mystery man growls.
"Right," Bella said slowly. "Anyways, I was dating Dr. Cullen's son, Edward. He said he wanted to go for a walk, so we did, and when we got into the woods, he broke up with me and left me there. I tried to find my way back but I got lost."
"What did he say?" Sam questioned.
"Say?" Bella frowned.
"Why did they leave?"
After a few days to step back from the situation and look at it from outside her own relationship with Edward, a lot of the reasons that he gave were, admittedly, reasonable; for example, Carlisle would never be able to pass for anything older than thirty, and even that was a miracle.
"Dr. Cullen got a better job offer somewhere else, and Edward wasn't one for long distance relationships."
"Did they say anything about coming back?"
Bella shrugged. "Edward said they weren't, but he also left me in the middle of the woods when it was starting to get dark outside, so I wouldn't much too much value into his words."
The look on Sam's face made Bella feel like he wanted to interrogate her further, but his gaze snapped from her to the door, and he straightened, face immediately softening.
Bella turns as the door opens, and in steps a woman with long black hair and a collection of deep, jagged scars on her face. Bella immediately rips her eyes away from the woman's face and focuses on the wall next to her, wishing she could evaporate.
"Emily," Sam says, and it's like Bella isn't even standing in the middle of his house anymore. He moves right past her to sweep the woman into his arms and kisses her soundly, peppering her face with affection. Jared and Paul send out a muffled greeting through a mouthful of junk food.
"I think I should go," Bella mumbles, trying to ease around Emily and Sam, who were very much blocking the front door.
"Nonsense," Emily beams, and Bella once again refuses to focus too long on her face. Sam seems to relax even further at the action. "I insist that you stay for lunch."
"I wouldn't want to impose," Bella insisted.
"Don't worry about it," Emily says, already easing herself out of Sam's arms and moving to the kitchen, getting food out of the fridge. "Don't let Paul make you feel unwelcome."
Paul protests, sending a betrayed glare in Emily's direction that he quickly erase from his face as a rumbling noise comes from within Sam's chest. Bella wonders what she did to be cornered like this.
She can't be rude and leave, she'd never hear the end of it.
Which is how she ends up squished between Jared and Sam at the tiny little dining room table that was barely big enough to contain three men built like tanks, and certainly couldn't contain said men and two additional people. Sam made sure Paul was on the opposite side of the table, and Bella was extremely grateful. She didn't think she'd be able to maintain her composure if she had to actively soak in the hatred that was radiating off him in waves.
Emily is sitting next to Sam, having just put the last of the food on the table, food which she absolutely refused to let Bella help make as she was the guest. There were plates piled high with hamburgers and hot dogs, and a huge pitcher of lemonade.
Bella wondered if she'd be lucky enough to get a piece of a hot dog bun; she'd seen the way Paul and Jared (he'd actually been polite enough to introduce himself and hadn't tried to burn a hole in her forehead like Paul) had torn apart the muffins and brownies, and if that was how they always were around food, she was content to stay far away lest she lose an arm.
Proving her point, Paul's hand darts out to yank the plate of burgers to himself. Sam's hand comes down quick and hard on Paul's the sharp crack sending a shiver down Bella's spine. Paul yanks his hand back and glowers, but doesn't try to grab the food again.
"You know the rules," Sam's voice rumbles. "Ladies eat first. Don't act cute just because Bella is here."
It's only by the grace of God that Bella manages to contain the chuckle-snort that tries its damndest to get out.
Bella lets Emily go first, and then she grabs two hot dogs for herself, pouring herself a glass of lemonade as well. The second she sets the pitcher down, the men dig in. Bella's first hot dog is halfway to her mouth as she pauses to watch in horror as Paul, Jared, and Sam pile their plates high with food. She didn't know it was possible for one person to consume seven burgers.
"Sorry about them," Sam said, and Bella jumped in surprise. He nodded over to where Paul and Jared were eating, already grabbing more food for their plates. "They act like they've never had food before."
"We do not," argued Jared through a mouth full of food.
"Don't speak with your mouth full!" Emily scolded, and Jared flushed.
Bella's eye flicked towards the front door, wondering if she'd be able to make it outside without tripping. Not likely, seeing as how Jared and Paul's huge bodies were blocking the narrow walkway.
"The paleface looks like she wants to make a run for it," Paul sneered. "What's the matter? Afraid of the natives? Thinking about running us over with your truck?"
"Fuck off," Bella snapped. "The only one here who I want to hit with my truck is you."
There's a moment of silence, and Bella blushes.
Jared starts laughing, cackling at the startled look on Paul's face. Emily hides a smile behind her own burger.
"She told you," Jared snickered.
"You do look uncomfortable, Bella," Emily notes.
Bella tries to word her response very carefully, "I appreciate you inviting me to stay for lunch, but...I don't really know you all that well, and my first interaction wasn't too stellar."
"We try not to take Paul outside, I'm sure you understand," Jared grins, twisting his body to avoid Paul's fist. "He's a bit uncivilized, it can't be helped. We're trying to correct the behavior, believe me, we are."
"Fuck off." Paul barked, snatching a hot dog from Jared's hands. "Just because I'm not waiting on the girl hand and foot doesn't mean I'm an asshole."
"It kind of does if you refuse to even use her name," Emily said sweetly.
There was a clear power dynamic that Bella could see. Sam was the alpha of the group, the head honcho, the one in charge. His word was law, and whenever there was a decision that needed to be made, all eyes fell on him. Emily had power, of that Bella was certain, but she also knew that if Emily wasn't Sam's girlfriend, Paul and Jared wouldn't listen to a word she said. It was difficult to determine whether Jared was above Paul or the other way around.
The entire group of men were intense, though, and Bella could understand why their presence made Jacob uncomfortable. Sam seemed nice enough - if you ignored the fact that he cheated on his previous fiance with her cousin and was now engaged to said cousin - but there was something off about him. Something about Sam made goosebumps rise on her skin, made her stomach turn. The last time she had a gut reaction like this was when she first met the Cullens. Maybe...
Bella pushed that thought away immediately. There was no way Sam was a vampire. The fact that she even entertained the thought, even if just for a second, was ridiculous.
Jared's voice shook her out of her musings.
"So, Swan, you doing anything later?"
Paul made a gagging noise, and Bella briefly entertained the idea of beaming her last hot dog at his head.
"Stop harassing her, Jared," Sam grumbled, pouring himself another glass of lemonade. "She doesn't even know you."
"She could get to know me," Jared waggled his eyebrows in Bella direction.
"Actually," Bella said, scooting her chair back a bit. "I'm studying with Jacob tonight. I should head over. Can I help you clean up before I go, Emily?"
"That'd be wonderful, thank you, Bella," Emily smiled, and Bella carefully angled her eyes away from her face.
The next twenty minutes were the most intense twenty minutes of her life. She couldn't speed through the clean up because then she'd look like she was in a hurry to get out of her. And she was, but she didn't want to make it obvious. She also had to answer any questions Emily or Jared threw at her. Sam and Paul had stepped out, disappearing to go do whatever it is two grown men did in the middle of the night in nothing but cut off denim shorts. Bella wished she had the balls to follow them.
Once the clean up was done, Jared walked Bella to her truck.
"Are you and Jacob close?" Jared asked suddenly.
"He's my best friend," Bella said honestly. "Actually, I have something I need to ask you, it's about Jacob." Jared arched his eyebrow and she continued, "Sam...Sam isn't going to hurt Jacob, right?"
Jared's face darkened, and Bella knew she had made a mistake.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
Bella held her hands up in a placating gesture. "Listen, I'm not going to pretend to know what goes on in La Push. But Jacob is my friend, and I don't like seeing him uncomfortable or scared. So just...can you promise me Sam isn't going to hurt Jacob?"
Jared stared at her for a long while, and his face softened a bit.
"I promise. And I won't mention this conversation to Sam, either."
"Thank you." Bella's smile was genuine this time, and she got into her truck.
Jared watched her drive away, his form slowly disappearing from her mirror.
"It felt like I stepped into The Twilight Zone," Bella complained to Jacob later that evening, the two of them sprawled out on his porch. It was a cool night, and Bella preferred to be out in the open space rather than under Billy's watchful eye. "You were right about something being up with Sam. I just don't know what, though."
"I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees it," Jacob says, thumbing through his history textbook, rough draft of his essay finished on the chair next to him. "I still can't believe you made Jared promise Sam wouldn't hurt me."
"At least he seemed to take me seriously, which is more than I can say about some people."
Jacob's eyes flick towards the house and then back to hers.
"I just wish I knew what they wanted. If they wanted me to join their cult, wouldn't they have asked by now?"
"Maybe they want to feed you to Paul," Bella giggled. "God, he was so intense! I don't even know the guy but he's somehow already my mortal enemy."
Jacob laughs. "At least he didn't attack you. I heard from Embry that Paul didn't even get to finish high school because he had an aggression problem."
"Are you telling me I spent an entire afternoon with a man prone to breaking jaws?!"
"Hey, you're the one that wanted to go over there and give them brownies."
Bella rolled her eyes, uncrossing her legs and stretching them out in front of her, groaning when her knees crackled a bit.
"It wouldn't have been so bad if Emily hadn't insisted that I stay for lunch. I couldn't leave without looking like a total asshole, and the last thing I need is to make more enemies. Half the female population at my school already hate me. I see what you mean about the staring, though. Every time I made eye contact with Sam or the others it felt like I was seconds away from turning into stone."
"What did you even talk about? It's not like you guys have anything in common."
"Lunch was just smalltalk. Emily wanted to get to know me better and I guessed Sam humored her and played along. Before lunch, though, Sam wanted to know about the Cullens."
"The Cullens? Why did he want to know about them? It's not like he knew them personally. Actually, I doubt anyone on the rez ever met the guy."
"He was super interested in why they left," Bella frowned. "He wanted to know if they were coming back. And, you know, if anyone else had asked me about the Cullens and if they ever planned on returning to Forks, I'd understand, because Dr. Cullen was a great doctor and he did a lot of good work for the area. People were sad to see him go. But the way Sam was asking me made me feel like he'd be happier if the Cullens stayed gone."
Jacob shrugged. "A lot of people on the rez are wary of anyone from Forks in general. We don't have a lot of good history, as I'm sure you know."
Bella understood. The people on the reservation were well within their rights to be wary of white people, especially wealthy white people like the Cullens were. The history of La Push wasn't a pretty one, what with the tribes losing much of their land to colonizers and being shoved off somewhere else.
"I understand that, but there was something else there, I swear there was. Do you think there'd be any reason for Sam and the others to believe in the old legends?"
Jacob scoffed.
"Paul wouldn't listen to the old legends if you paid him. I don't know much about Jared. And I doubt Sam believes in them. It's only my dad and the other Elders who believe in that crap. To everyone else, they're just scary stories."
Bella wished there was someone else that knew about vampires. She would never tell Jacob, she knew that he didn't deserve to get involved in that, and she would never risk his life like that, but she wished she could talk supernatural theories with someone other than herself. She didn't think she was being paranoid about Sam thinking the Cullens were actually vampires. He knew something, or he was involved in something, and it was killing her to not know.
"You're probably right," Bella mumbled, vowing to look into it later. Jacob was already going through a lot, he didn't need her bullshit adding onto his.
"Am I going to see you again this week?"
"Most likely not," Bella replied. "Maybe Charlie and I will come over for dinner. I have a lot of work to do this week. I'm pulling extra hours at Mike's store, and then I'm having a sleepover with Jessica and Angela."
"Sleepover, huh?" Jacob leered.
"Ew," Bella laughed, throwing an eraser at his head. "Don't be gross, Jake."
"You should mention me to your friends, be my wing woman."
"I thought you were into Leah?"
Jacob flushed, swiftly turning away, long hair creating a curtain between them. He's suddenly very interested in his homework, shuffling the papers together and organizing them. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You want some girl advice? As a girl, I think I'm qualified for the job."
Jacob whips around so fast it makes Bella's own head spin. "You'd do that for me?"
"Of course," Bella grinned. "Okay, so, first thing? Be her friend before you're anything else. All good relationships are based on a friendship foundation. Being her friends lets you get to know her better and vice versa, and it's in that stage where you see if there's actually a spark there. If there isn't, then you still have a friend for life. Let her make the first move. I'm not saying don't let her know you like her, but girls like to know that guys aren't waiting in the wings to pressure them into a relationship. Let her know you'll still be around even if she doesn't want to date you."
"That...that actually makes a lot of sense."
"You should try to hang out with her this week. Invite Seth, too, because it lets her know that you care for her and her loved ones. Besides, Seth idolizes you and would love to see you more."
"You're the best, Bells," Jacob said, hugging her tight.
"And don't you forget it."