Back to the Start
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The Witches
Charlie's job didn't get a lot of action compared to cops in bigger towns, but he did get called in on traffic accidents. With the long, wet stretches of freeway twisting and turning through the forest, blind corner after blind corner, there was no shortage of that kind of action. But even with all the huge log haulers barreling around the turns, mostly people walked away. The exceptions to that rule were often on motorcycles, and Charlie had seen one too many victims, almost always kids, smeared on the highway. He'd made Bella promise before she was ten that she would never accept a ride on a motorcycle. Even at that age, she didn't think twice before promising.
Which led Charlie to look at the sullen boy sitting in front of him now at the station. The kid was a friend of Jacob's, which possibly meant that Bella knew him as well. He shuddered to think what would have happened to his little girl if she hung around with this guy instead of Jacob.
"You know you were lucky to walk away with only a few cuts and bruises." Charlie lectured.
"It wasn't my fault." Embry Call answered defensively, his eyes darkening. "The truck was on my side of the road."
"Maybe he was…but I know you were speeding, kid. Even if I can't prove it." Charlie retorted. "And you can cut the attitude right now. I've called your mother."
Embry groaned, putting his head in his hands. "You shouldn't have done that."
"I had little choice." Charlie remarked, putting his hands on his hips. He looked at the boy's bent head. He didn't know Embry that well, but he knew his mother, Tiffany.
Tiffany had moved down to La Push from the Makah reservation while she was pregnant with Embry. She was of Makah descent, with no known connection to anyone in La Push, and people wondered why she would relocate. However, as time passed, she became an established member of the community and people stopped speculating about her past. She found a job at the checkout of the small souvenir shop on First Beach on the reservation and provided for both herself and Embry. She was a quiet soul, who kept herself to herself. She would be devastated to learn that her only child had almost nearly killed himself riding his dirt bike on the main highway like a fool.
"Why did you do it, kid?" Charlie asked, his voice softening. There was something clearly bothering Embry. He kept shaking his head, muttering to himself. His skin was shiny, slick with sweat, almost as if he was burning with a fever.
"It was just something to do." Embry muttered. "My mom is going to ground me for life."
"Yeah, well, it's the least of what you deserve." Charlie thought Embry's excuse was pitiful, making his anger rise again. He had no sympathy for the boy if his mother treated him harshly. With no father at home, it was up to Tiffany to discipline him.
Embry pulled his head out of his hands and looked up at Charlie with a pleading expression. "Will I get a record?" He asked.
"The accident wasn't technically your fault." Charlie explained. "That doesn't mean you're off the hook, though. I'm going to impound that dirt bike…"
"You can't!" Embry stood up abruptly, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. He towered over Charlie, his six-foot two frame quivering with repressed anger. "It took me ages to save up for that bike! Its mine! You can't take it!"
"Sit down!" Charlie thundered.
Embry was so startled by the police chief's loud voice that he immediately complied, bowing his head, and muttering a reluctant apology.
Not for the first time Charlie wondered what was with these Quileute boys. Were they feeding them experimental growth hormones? Only the other day he had been thinking about how tall Jacob had gotten. Then he had run across another known troublemaker on the reservation, Paul Lahote, even from a distance he could see that the boy had recently had a major growth spurt. He could now add Embry Call to the list.
"EMBRY!" Tiffany's loud wail startled Charlie out of his introspection. He sighed heavily, glancing down at the top of Embry's bent head. He wasn't really in the mood to deal with hysterical mothers right now, especially after his recent run in with that smug bastard, Carlisle. He had been called to this accident not long after leaving the Cullens place.
The calling card Carlisle had given him featuring their attorney's contact details weighed heavily in his pocket. The family had money, which probably meant that this Jenks guy was a seasoned professional who knew his way around the law, and would probably find a way to weasel his way into getting Edward Cullen out of trouble.
"Dammit." Charlie muttered under his breath. He felt like he was letting Bella down at every turn, even though he was doing everything in his power to protect her. He sighed again as Tiffany Call came barreling around the corner, forcing himself to focus, putting on a professional front as he walked forward to meet her.
Bella remembered the first day she'd come to Forks High School – and how desperately she'd wished that she could turn grey, fade into the wet concrete of the sidewalk like an oversized chameleon. It seemed she was getting that wish answered, a year late.
It was like she wasn't there. She had been so distracted of late, spending all her time with Jacob, and so preoccupied with avoiding Edward Cullen and his strange family, that she had inadvertently neglected her other friends.
Bella listened all morning, concentrating on the babble of voices all around her. She tried to catch up on what was going on, but the conversations were so disjointed that she gave up.
Jessica didn't look up when she sat down next to her in Calculus. "Hey, Jess." She greeted her reluctantly, deciding to try and be polite, even though she didn't count Jessica as one of her friends anymore. "How was your weekend?"
Jessica looked at her with suspicious eyes. "Oh, super." She said sarcastically, turning back to her book.
Bella scowled at her, wondering why she had bothered to make the effort. She wouldn't do so again.
Her fourth hour class got out late, and the lunch table was full by the time she arrived. Mike was there, Jessica and Angela, Connor, Tyler, Eric and Lauren. Katie Marshall, the redheaded girl she had persuaded to swap seats with her in biology, was sitting with Eric, and another boy, Austin Marks, was next to her. Bella wondered how long they'd been sitting there, realizing that she had been even more preoccupied than she thought.
As was her usual habit, she glanced across at the Cullens table. To her relief, it was empty, and she relaxed. No one looked up when she sat down next to Mike, even though the chair squealed stridently across the linoleum as she dragged it back. She sat and tried to catch up with the conversation.
Mike and Connor were talking sports, so she gave up on that one straight away.
"Where's Ben today?" Lauren asked Angela.
Bella looked over at Angela, feeling confused as to why Lauren would be asking her about Ben. Were they dating? How had she missed that? Wow, she really had been more distracted than she thought.
"Ben's got stomach flu." Angela explained in her calm voice. "Hopefully it's just some twenty-four hour thing. He was really sick last night."
"What did you two do this weekend?" Jessica asked, not sounding as if she cared about the answer. Bella bet she was using the question as an opener so she could bore the pants off everyone with her own stories.
"We were going to a picnic Saturday, actually, but changed our minds." Angela said. There was an edge to her voice that caught Bella's interest.
Jess, not so much. "That's too bad." She said, about to launch into her own story, until Bella cut in, determined to thwart her.
"What happened?"
There was a moment of silence. Every pair of eyes turned to stare at Bella in shock. Katie had her mouth open like she had just witnessed an explosion. Nobody moved.
"What?" Bella exclaimed, irritated by their over-the-top reactions. She hadn't been that out of it lately…had she?
Angela smiled sweetly, quickly smoothing things over. "Well, Ben and I drove up north, almost to the hot springs- there's a good spot about a mile up the trail. But when we were halfway there…we saw something."
"Saw something?" Bella echoed. "What?"
"I don't know." Angela pondered. "We think it was a bear. It was black, anyway, but it seemed …. too big."
Bella's blood ran cold as it dawned on her that the wolves had been spotted again- this time it was Sam.
Jessica snorted derisively, annoyed that the attention had been drawn away from her. "Oh, not you, too!" Her eyes turned mocking. "Tyler tried to sell me this one last week."
Bella's eyes opened wider with anxiety. So, Tyler had glimpsed them too? This was very worrying.
"You're not going to see any bears that close to the resort." Lauren sneered, siding with Jessica.
Oh, how Bella hated them both! She watched Angela's face fall.
"Really." She protested in a low voice, looking down at the table. "We did see it."
Lauren snickered. Bella wanted to punch her in the face.
"You weren't there." She threw in impatiently. "So, you can't comment."
Angela smiled at Bella gratefully, while Lauren stiffened, her eyes shooting daggers in Bella's direction.
Jessica muttered something under her breath, turning to Lauren and whispering in her ear. The two girls laughed conspiratorially, while glancing in Bella's direction.
"Pathetic." Bella thought to herself.
"So, what did you do this weekend, Bella?" Mike asked, making her jump.
Everyone but Lauren and Jessica looked back, waiting for her response.
"Oh, well, I spent most of my time in La Push with Jacob."
Mike grimaced slightly. "Oh, so you're still hanging around with the sophomore?"
Lauren snickered. "Cradle snatcher." She muttered under her breath, just loud enough for Bella to hear.
Bella felt her hands curl into fists on her lap. Normally she didn't rise to juvenile taunts like this, but Lauren and Jessica were getting on her last nerve. "I can see how you spent the weekend, Lauren." She jeered.
"What are you talking about?" Lauren demanded suspiciously.
Bella studied Lauren critically. She had cut off all her blonde, corn-silk hair- now she had a pixie cut so short that the back was shaved almost bald. "Well, either you got gum stuck in your hair so you had to shave it off, or those younger kids you're always bullying finally caught up with you and scalped you. I think it's the latter myself." She said airily.
Several snickers followed this statement. Angry tears sprouted in Lauren's eyes as she shot Bella another hostile glare and flounced out of the cafeteria. Jessica soon followed.
Bella felt a modicum of guilt. She was annoyed with herself that she had stooped so low. What she had said was cruel. "I think I went too far." She admitted to the others still sitting at the table.
"Don't worry about it, Bella." Mike said dismissively. "She's had it coming for weeks. You didn't say anything that wasn't true. She is a bully."
Bella shrugged, still feeling guilty. She longed for Jacob. She could use his unique brand of comfort right now. She wondered briefly how his meeting with the elder had gone. Billy had been very insistent that Jacob go and talk to Quil's grandfather. There had been an air of secrecy about the whole thing. Jacob had been reluctant, but had finally agreed. She must also warn him that he and Sam had been spotted again. If this happened again, Bella worried that action might be taken if anymore sightings were reported to the rangers.
With so much worry on her mind, Bella hardly listened to Mike as he prattled on until lunch was over. Gradually, the others started up their own conversations again, though they still glanced at Bella a lot. Angela joined in the conversation with Mike and Bella, and when Bella got up to dump her tray, she followed.
"Thanks." She said in a low voice when they were away from the table.
"For what?" Bella was totally distracted again.
"Speaking up, sticking up for me."
"Oh, that, no problem." Bella had already forgotten. Her mind was filled with anxiety about Jacob.
Angela looked at her in concern. "Are you okay, Bella?" She asked tentatively. "You look kind of anxious."
And that was why Bella liked Angela so much. She was so kind and compassionate, but not pushy.
"Not completely." Bella admitted. "But I'll be alright."
Angela put a gentle hand on her arm. "If you ever need to talk, I'm here."
"Thank you." Bella said sincerely. "You're a good friend. I'm sorry I've been so busy lately. I've missed you."
"I've missed you too." Angela replied.
Lauren and Jessica strolled by just then, and Bella heard Lauren whisper something spiteful to Jessica.
Angela rolled her eyes at them, and smiled at Bella in encouragement. "Its better not to retaliate. Attention is what they live for."
Bella sighed. "You're right." She agreed. "They're not worth the bother."
Angela linked her arm through Bella's. "Its good we have each other then."
"It is." Bella agreed, feeling her mood lift as she walked out of the cafeteria with Angela, and left the two witches behind.
A/N-thanks for reading! A filler but very necessary chapter.