Chapter 9 – The Neutral News

BPOV

"Back to school. Back to school, to prove to Dad that I'm not a fool. I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight." Jacob was absentmindedly singing.

"Are you singing Billy Madison at me?" I raised my eyebrows in question. Jake peeked his head out from under my hood.

"I guess I was. Back to school jitters?" He shrugged his shoulders and went back to tinkering with my truck.

"Right, like someone is dumb enough to pick a fight with you; you're huge!" Jacob seemed have grown a few more inches over the last two weeks. And he wasn't all gangly and un-coordinated either. His growth spurt just made him ... bigger. Both in height and in the muscle department. Not that I was complaining. I still got drooley whenever we went to the beach, and it was warm enough to swim. I had a hot boyfriend. It was so un-me.

"You know I'm a lover not a fighter honey." He peeked his head around the hood to wink at me.

"So I got some good news and some bad news Bells. Which do you want first?" Jake closed the hood, and wiped his hands on a rag.

"The bad news." I nodded somberly and feigned despair. Sometimes it was so easy to be silly with Jacob.

"The tube between the air filter housing and the intake manifold is cracked." He just looked at me expectantly.

"Sorry, Yoda, I'm not quite up to Jedi level on this car stuff. Want to dumb it down for your favourite student?" I walked over to him and put my hands on his very hard, very muscular chest. Jacob placed his hands over mine, then pulled them to his mouth and laid a kiss on every knuckle.

"Let's just say that tube cracks equal escaped air, which is bad news. Now do you want the good news?" Jacob brushed a stray hair behind my ear and kissed me gently.

"You should have kissed me when you gave me the bad news, you know, to lessen the blow." I smirked up at him.

"Good point, Bells. Here's another to make up for it." He kissed me again, but deeper this time. He lifted me up so I could kiss him more easily. My hands found their way into his silky hair. My legs somehow wrapped themselves around his waist, and I pulled his face closer to mine. He licked my bottom lip, and my mouth opened allowing his tongue entrance. He tasted like apples and cinnamon. I sensed Jacob was hesitating to go further right now so I pulled away panting, needing to catch my breath. Ever since the scrapyard, he seemed determined to show me that he was with me for more than just 'hooking up' as he called it.

"See? You could tell me anything after kissing me like that." I grinned at him as he set me back down on the ground.

"I think I was trying to tell you some good news. Ah yes, I can fix your truck."

"Of course you can fix it. I never questioned that." We walked back to his house hand in hand.

"The neutral news..." Jake started.

"The neutral news?" I interrupted him, laughing at his made up term.

"Well I can't get the part 'til next weekend, and school starts tomorrow and I don't think you should drive it until I fix it..." Jake was rambling. He often did it when he was nervous, or overwhelmed. I thought it was adorable. "...so I think we should swap cars until I fix yours. So you see its kinda bad news, but also good news, so I figured it was neutral news." He was looking at me out the side of his eyes, gauging my reaction to his logic. I ran my hand up his arm along his bicep. This was partly to soothe him and partly because it was a lame excuse to feel up his muscles.

Hello? Hot man arm. No excuse needed.

"You're right, Jake. Neutral news was perfect." I squeezed his arm. Sigh. "But the Rabbit? Are you sure? She's like you're baby." Because Jake only had his learners permit he could only take the Rabbit out with Billy. He'd yet to drive her solo, I can't believe he was going to let me take her for a week. I mean, he had just finished her last week.

"Silly Bella. You're my number one girl. Of course you can drive her." Then he whispered conspiratorially towards me. "Just don't tell her I said that."

"You're too sweet, Jake. What did I do to deserve you?" I craned my neck up to look at his face.

"You were you, honey. That's all I ever wanted. You." He bent down to kiss my head, and a smile crept onto my face from his words.

No one had ever wanted me before. No one had ever noticed me before. I was ridiculously lucky that the first person to show interest in me and pursue me was this handsome guy who was funny, sweet and took care of me. I was usually the one taking care of everyone else. Everything about our relationship was backwards to my life in Arizona, and I loved it. I loved that he brought me out of my shell, I loved that he made an effort to take care of me and I was beginning to suspect I might love a certain young Quileute demi god. A girl can only take so much of being the quiet, responsible caregiver before she starts to feel seventy. Something about Jacob's sunny disposition made me feel younger and more carefree than I had in a long time.

"So how are you feeling about meeting up with all your new classmates? You still stressed about it?" Jake looked concerned.

"Nah, it shouldn't be too bad." I shrugged my shoulders. "Meeting the group on the beach that first week helped." We had periodically seen some of the kids from Forks High at the beach over the last few weeks, but never in the same number as that first weekend. We generally kept it to short 'hellos', but I think I knew a lot of their names now. "Plus, hanging with Quil and Embry has broadened my horizons. I doubt I'll meet anyone at school who makes me blush as much as those two do." I started laughing, and Jake joined in. As we reached the front door of his house, we saw Quil coming along the path next to Jake's house.

"Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Hey Quil, what's up?" Jake reached his fist out to bump it with Quil's. Quil bumped back, and made a weird exploding motion with his hand.

"Not much, Black, not much. And how is Lady Swan this fair day?" He made a grand sweeping motion into a low bow. I rolled my eyes, Quil was such a goof sometimes.

"She's fine." I replied. He tried to reach for my hand to kiss it, but Jake swatted his hand away.

"Where's your life partner? I didn't think you and Embry could survive extended periods of time without each other?" I quickly linked my fingers through Jakes. Quil noticed and then winked at me. He must be a force to be reckoned with at school. I wondered if there was anyone who Quil felt was off limits to his shameless flirting. I chuckled under my breath, shaking my head.

"Embry's sick or something equally lame. I went over and he said he wasn't feeling well, so he's gonna try to rest up before school tomorrow. He's such a keener. I mean, really? Who rests up for school?" He was making wild motions with his arms, as if trying to portray his disappointment through mime. Being quite the keener myself, I could understand where Embry was coming from. Evidently Quil felt that Embry was committing something akin to high treason for ditching him to sleep.

"I'm sure he'll feel better soon, and you can continue your quest for world domination, or whatever it is you two do when I'm not around." Jake slapped Quil on the back.

"I'm 'The Brain' in that scenario right?" Quil looked all smug.

"I'm pretty sure you're 'Pinky', but believe whatever you want." Jake elbowed Quil in the ribs, and Quil took that as a sign for them to start wrestling. I took it as my queue to leave.

"Aw, Bella, don't go." Jake was holding Quil in a headlock, and stood up straighter to look at me. He dropped Quil's head. "Look, no more fighting, you don't have to leave." Quil took Jake's words as an opportunity to try to gain the upper hand. But Jake just held Quil off with one arm fully extended, and his hand squishing Quil's face.

"Ygh Blwa, dun gu." Quil was trying to say something, but it was incomprehendable while his mouth was being smushed with Jake's giant hand.

"I probably should be heading out anyways. Gotta be a keener and get everything ready for school tomorrow." I winked at Quil, and reached up to give Jake a goodbye kiss. "Keys please!"

"Dude, you gave her the Rabbit? .Fuck?" Quil's jaw was on the ground, and seemingly for the first time, speechless.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm loaning Bella the Rabbit until I fix her truck." Jake shuffled closer to me and pulled the keys out of his pocket. That seemed to appease Quil.

"That's better. I thought you got pussy whipped, hard. The Rabbit, man! The Rabbit!" Quil was shaking his head.

"Um, I'm standing right here."

"Yeah, yeah, leave now please. I gotta teach your boy toy here what it means to be a man." Quil jerked his thumb in Jake's direction, while Jake scoffed at him and rolled his eyes. Then Jake leaned down to whisper in my ear.

"Don't worry, honey, I won't forget. No more advice from Quil." He gently kissed my cheek and opened the driver side door to the Rabbit. I hopped in and stuck my hand out the window to wave goodbye as I pulled away from his house. From the rear-view mirror, I could still see Quil's emphatic arm motions.

I pulled up to my house to see the cruiser in the driveway. That was surprising; I thought Charlie had a shift today. I let myself in to find Charlie seated in the living room watching football.

"Playing hookey?" I called out as I took my shoes off. Charlie jumped.

"Gah, Bells! You scared the bejesus outta me. I didn't hear you pull up." What Charlie meant was 'I didn't hear your beast of a truck rumbling up the road from a half mile out.' I laughed.

"I wasn't exactly quiet when I opened the door and called out to you." I met Charlie's confused gaze and decided to cut him a break. "Jake didn't like how something sounded in the truck, so he took a look at it, and then decided he didn't like how it looked. So he loaned me the Rabbit until he gets the part he needs to fix my truck." I shrugged my shoulders as if it was no big deal, but secretly I was amazed that Jake would loan me his most valuable possession. I had to agree with Quil a little bit. It was what he had spent the better part of a year working on. I raised my eyebrow at Charlie, wondering why he was home. "You still haven't answered my question?"

"Oh, Mark and I traded shifts. I ordered pizza." He motioned towards the kitchen and then he went back to the flatscreen to watch the rest of the football game. I ran up to my room to get my things ready for school the next day. When I walked in I noticed that the window was open, which was bizarre because I had closed it when I left for La Push. I guessed Charlie must have opened it when he got home to let a breeze in. The house, much like my truck, did not have air conditioning.

I opened up my laptop and sent Renee a quick e-mail, reminding her I started school tomorrow, and letting her know some small things I wanted for my birthday. I learned a long time ago it was much less embarrassing on my part if I gave my mother a list of items I wanted for presents, rather than leaving her to her own devices. After my sixteenth birthday when Renee got me a very different kind of Rabbit than Jacob's, I vowed never to leave her without a list again. I flushed red at the mere memory of the Rabbit Vibrator, and shook my head.

I laid out the clothes I was planning on wearing tomorrow, and pre packed my notebooks into my knapsack.

Keener.

I printed off my schedule, and laid it on top of my things, then shut down the laptop to head downstairs and join Charlie. I figured we should get in some father/daughter bonding time before I went back to school since our schedules wouldn't always mesh after school started. I grabbed a slice and joined Charlie in front of the television, and tried not to think about all the people I would have to meet tomorrow. When it was finally time for bed, I changed into a holey t-shirt and shorts and set my alarm. I had a nagging feeling, and did one last check to make sure I had everything I needed.

Clothes, books, bag...where was the schedule I printed off?

I searched all over my room, but couldn't find it anywhere, so I booted up my laptop and printed off another copy, this time carefully placing it inside my bag. I finally fell asleep, but couldn't shake the feeling that it was really weird that my schedule had vanished.

EPOV

There was something acutely wrong with me. Ever since I had sat outside Bella's house under the pretence of acclimatizing to her scent, I was slowly falling into a spiral of hedonistic morals. At first I passed it off as being diligent, and keeping my family's secret, but Alice wasn't fooled anymore. Thankfully she'd kept my secret from the rest of the family, but they would figure it out soon, if they hadn't already.

At the time I believed the 'break and enter' into her room was in her best interest. She wasn't even home, and I didn't take anything.

Other than a greater interest in her.

Then I followed her to the dump. Admittedly this behaviour is not becoming of a gentleman, but I managed to (barely) convince myself it was research into why I couldn't read her mind. Having narrowly escaped from her 'boyfriend' seeing me as I watched them, one would think I would have backed off. Evidently the opposite was true. I had taken to breaking into her room every time she left the house. I crept to her window every night and watched her sleep. So I could add voyeur to my ever growing list of creepy things I was now capable of.

I even got sloppy. I always expected the sound of her thunderous truck to announce her arrival to me, since I could never hear her thoughts. I was so intent on analysing every detail of her room, I didn't notice when she walked through the door of the house the day before school started, and called out to Charlie. There I was, standing in her room, while she was in the house. I knew in that instant I had gone well beyond the personal boundaries I had set up for myself, and had no idea how to get back. I flew out the window and climbed high into the tree, obscured by leaves and branches. That is unless someone was to stand under the tree and look up. That person would see an undead teenager lurking about at an inappropriate hour.

I'm sure they would find it completely normal.

What's wrong with me?

So I watched. I watched her so I could learn more about her. She was meticulous. She was careful. She was well prepared. Overall she gave the impression of a thoughtful, intelligent, responsible young lady.

So why was she with the boy?

And then I saw it. I saw the timetable she had printed out and carefully laid on her belongings. In all my conversations with Alice, I had never asked how many classes I had with Bella. I knew I had English with her, because of Alice's disturbing vision, but I was curious what other classes I would share with her. After she went downstairs, I glided back over to her window and snatched the piece of paper. With my perfect recall, I could have easily memorized her timetable, but I recklessly kept the paper which was lightly scented by her touch. I didn't even acknowledge to myself that she would notice it was missing. I was a man obsessed, and had big plans for the start of school.

Chapter End Notes:

Well, well! Edward's admitting to some pretty sketchy stuff!

Supernatural did a Twilight spoofy episode where Dean says something like "He's watching her sleep. How is that not rapey?" I nearly peed from laughing. Because outside of Twilight, it really is a creepy thing to do. I have no idea how SM made it sound romantic. I wanted Edward to acknowledge it's a pretty weird thing to do, intentions aside.

So - what did you think? You wish you had a hunk of man arm to molest at every chance you got? Wish someone would take care of you? Wish someone would watch you sleep? Let me know! I love hearing from you guys!