A/N

This chapter was tough going. We're building to something, I reckon.

I know how rude this is of me, but I'm aging Jake up, just a little. He's the same age as Bella. Leah and the rest of the pack are in their early to late twenties. Seth is the youngest, a real prodigy, at 15.

On that note, can we have the original actor cast as Jacob in the Twilight film in the starring role in make-believe land? The rumour that he got fired because he wouldn't cut his hair tugged at my heart. The hair cutting made no sense anyway. They never should've asked the actors to cut their hair. Not that I personally actually picture real people when I read or write, but there you go. Also, I just kinda feel his vibes for this character. On we go!

Chapter 5

Bella breathed in the salty air from her open car window, the jagged coastline stretching alongside the road. Towering rocky sea stacks, topped with scraggly trees, jutted out from the glistening, dark blue water. The sky was grey but calm, the sun's rays stubbornly peeking out here and there from behind clouds.

Her croaky radio crooned out an old country song she didn't know, and Bella felt the peace of the place settle over her. She felt like she was filling her lungs with air for the first time in months.

She pulled into the parking lot of Second Beach, spotting Jacob leaning against his dad's truck next to a couple of upright surfboards, arms folded and grinning at her hugely.

Bella's jaw dropped at the sight of him, and he smirked. He was easily half a foot taller than the last time she'd seen him, and it's not like he was lacking in height before. The bulk of him, though. Ropey muscles flexed beneath his black T-shirt, his chest broad and – why did bean-pole Jake suddenly look like a man? Even in old board shorts and flip-flops. None of the boys at school had that kind of effect after a sudden growth spurt. She frowned, feeling a pang of inexplicable shyness all of a sudden. His long dark hair, wide and arresting features, dimples like craters in smooth skin. He cut such a strong and noble figure against the backdrop of colossal cliffs and crashing waves that it genuinely took Bella's breath away.

Before the engine had finished spluttering to a stop, her car door was wrenched open and warm, enthusiastic hands had unclipped her seatbelt and snatched her from the truck, spinning her around in a very firm and muscular embrace indeed. Bella squealed and laughed in spite of herself.

"Oh, jeez, Bells, what is that?" Jake dropped her on her feet and took a hasty step back, wrinkling his nose. "You reek. Whatever perfume you're wearing is disgusting."

Bella scowled at him, offended. "Hi to you too."

"Hi. You stink."

"Maybe it's all those steroids you've been taking."

"Nope. It's definitely you."

Without further ado, he bent over and tucked his shoulder into her stomach, smoothly tipping her over his back and clasping one arm over the back of her knees. He was so tall, Bella felt her stomach lurch as he straightened, the ground terrifyingly far below her dangling head.

"Jake! Don't you dare!"

He just whistled a jolly tune as he jogged towards the waves, carrying her weight as easily as if she were a basket of muffins. The lone couple on the beach building a sandcastle with a toddler laughed in bemusement as they watched the teen antics.

Bella screamed and pounded at his back when he breached the frigid water, scrambling up to his shoulders as he waded in deeper to waist height.

"No! Please! Jake!"

"Sorry. No stinky surfers allowed. It's tribal law."

"I'm going to kill you."

She clutched desperately at his T-shirt, but he simply fell backwards into an oncoming wave, dunking them both. Salty water rushed up her nose as she was tossed about. She spluttered as a large hand grasped her arm and dragged her to the surface.

She glared at a beaming Jake, knowing exactly how much of a drowned rat she looked like. She spat a mouthful of water into his face, and he laughed and pushed her head below the surface for a second in retaliation. Her feet couldn't reach the ground here, but his could. He scooped her up and cradled her in his arms.

She whacked his chest, panting and shivering miserably.

"Not cool."

He ignored her and sniffed at her theatrically like a dog, snuffling and snorting into her ticklish neck. She batted at him and hissed indignantly.

"Hmm. Better, but still undertones of bleach and…vinegar? Once more should do it."

"No!"

He grasped her waist and tossed her so high she somersaulted backwards in the air.

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Across the bay, from the edge of a cliff on a distant, narrow sea stack, rocky debris crashed to the sea below.

Edward winced and unclenched his fist from where he'd gouged a hole in the ground beside him. He wasn't technically breaking boundary laws, as far out into the sea as he was – he's mostly certain – but he didn't think damaging the protected heritage landscape would help his case, should it come to it.

He was crouched most indignantly behind a brambly bush, soaked through, shadows from the trees behind him shielding him just enough from the sun's weak glare. It was a stretch, even for his enhanced eyes, to see the two figures frolicking in the distance, but see them he could.

The girl, Clearwater's daughter, hadn't deigned to make an appearance, as far as Edward could tell, and it was immensely irritating.

Especially given the way the boy – what's a barely post-pubescent boy doing with muscle mass like that anyway? – manhandled Bella with such wanton disregard for propriety, with the kind of entitlement and familiarity that should only belong to him. Not that Edward could ever toss her about like a sack of potatoes, rough and crass and dangerous. And as if her friend deserved to lay a finger on her in the first place, and yet he was, shoving her around as if she wasn't precious and rare and the most lovely thing he'd ever seen, and –

A thud on his back knocked the air out of him, and his stomach leapt into his throat as he plunged off the cliff, a whistling of air in his ears the only thing he registered before he smacked face-first into the cold water below.

Ha! Loser. The thought sneered at him.

Rosalie.

Edward snarled underwater in annoyance. She was the only one in the family who could clear her mind enough to get a jump on him. She thought it was because her mind had exceptional control. Edward thought it was because her mind was exceptionally empty.

He scrambled up the cliff face in a blur, springing at her as he launched himself over the top with one arm. Though he snarled viciously, he was gentle as he pinned her to the rough ground, barely restraining. He was just annoyed and wanted to make a point. Edward was still the only one of the males in the coven Rosalie could stand to wrestle or fight with, even though it's an innate part of their nature to be physical with each other. Jasper made her feral, Carlisle made her run, and Emmett made her cry – Edward, somehow, she trusted in this way. As it was, Rosalie was not bothered enough to fight back right now; she only laughed at him, which was disappointing as Edward really wanted to fight something.

A sore loser, at that. Get the fuck off.

Edward pulled her to her feet with very little grace and glared at her.

She just smiled at him angelically and delicately wrung the water from her golden hair. Unlike Edward, she had bothered to wear appropriate swimwear and was clad in a wickedly cut black wetsuit. Standing next to her in his sodden clothes – she had a good couple inches on him, too – he knew he looked like an embarrassed, half-drowned boy who had been rescued by a Baywatch life guard. It didn't help the situation one bit.

"Why are you here?"

"It sounded so unbelievably pathetic when Alice told us what you were doing, I had to come see it for myself."

"There's nothing pathetic about keeping Bella safe."

"Yeah, she looks like she's in real danger – in danger of falling into the warm, human arms of that gorgeous hunk of a childhood best friend," Rosalie squinted into the distance where Bella and Jacob were drying off and putting on wetsuits, and she laughed. "Oh, he is beautiful, I didn't actually know – and he looks older than you already. Is he descended from one of the wolves? That must sting."

Edward made to shove her off the cliff, but she dug in her heels and whacked him on the forehead with an open palm. Ouch.

"Cut it out. I'm here to help you. Don't be ungrateful."

She sat on the edge of the cliff and dangled her legs over, patting the spot beside her.

"Come sit down and explain yourself."

Edward sunk down beside her warily. "What's there to explain?"

"The child bride we're stalking would be a good place to start," Rosalie's words were mocking, but her tone was hard.

Edward winced. She was serious about this, and he was damned because it was the thing he admired most about her, and he had no answers. He had been avoiding Rosalie on this subject in particular. He couldn't bear her judgment, even less than he could bear Esme's, who had lectured him viciously about the matter, although not for very long before she melted with joy to see him so happy.

But he also desperately wanted Rosalie's advice, as much as it terrified him, hence his dogged avoidance of her. He knew she saw to the heart of things with both a brutal pragmatism and raw emotional insight that she so rarely got credit for.

Frankly, he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

He watched with dismay as Bella grumpily stomped over to the larger beginner's surfboard that Jacob had lay on the sand and was standing over with his arms crossed, feet planted like a drill sergeant.

She lay on the board, feet just touching the end. She tucked her elbows in tight, lifted her chin and pushed up with her arms, one knee coming forwards as she sprung to her feet in a smooth little jump. Edward raised his eyebrows, impressed; he'd never seen Bella do something graceful before.

Jacob was making her practice before he let them go into the water. Edward's mood went from sullen to the bleakest despair.

A good guy, this Jacob Black. He looked after his friends. Just his fucking luck.

What a nice young man.

Edward groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What do you want me to say, Rosalie?"

"What's the plan, Edward?"

"I love her."

Rosalie scoffed. "That's besides the point."

Her thoughts were wary and nervous, but determined. "I know you all think I don't like her, and it's not true. I just don't enjoy playing the undead Brady Bunch as much the others, necessary or not. You used to be my ally in that before your human pet came around."

"Watch it."

"Let's say the girl came to Forks one year ago – just one. Would her being, say, fifteen have been more of a problem for you? Because I promise you, Edward, the difference isn't as great as the laws of consent seem to think."

"Jesus Christ, Rosalie."

"If you had met her at twelve, would you have stalked her then, too? It was a blink of an eye ago for us. Would you have become her friend? Accustomed her to your presence and company?"

"That's enough."

"She's so malleable as she is, brain matter still forming, hormones coursing through her. Surely you must have considered that, how easily you could guide her to be exactly what you want as she finishes growing up. You wouldn't even need our handy little compulsion trick at her age."

"For god's sake, I know, Rosalie. Okay? It's wrong, and I didn't want –" Edward choked on his words and bowed his head.

Rosalie was wise enough to let him process. For a while, there was only the rhythmic crashing of the waves against the rocks below, but suddenly she gasped.

Edward's head snapped up, and he faintly heard Jacob whoop and cheer from where he was straddling a bobbing surfboard.

Bella was standing on barely wobbling legs, knees bent, back straight, hair flying in the wind behind her as she rode a small wave to the shore. Each moment, confidence steadied her, and she soon crouched deeper and directed the board to turn parallel to the beach so she could ride the wave for longer. She looked over her shoulder at Jacob with a smile so bright and shining, it was like staring into the sun. She flipped him off from the rapidly slowing board before falling off to one side, popping up promptly in the shallow water, laughing with adrenalin and joy.

Rosalie was smiling beside him.

"I didn't know she had it in her," she said, not unkindly.

Edward couldn't find the air in his lungs to respond. He felt dazed and like he wanted nothing so much as to cry.

Rosalie sighed.

"Look, Edward – I don't necessarily think you are doing the wrong thing. I don't think you've secretly had a fetish for schoolgirls all these years. I don't believe it of you – I won't. We love for life like bloody penguins, and she's your mate, allegedly, and it's not like Esme was so much better off when Carlisle left her alone to grow up and live a human life. But you have to do it carefully, whatever it is you're planning. She's not your equal – she's just not. Not in age, not in knowledge, not even in the food chain. If you want her to grow up a bit before she changes into one of us, then actually let her – but Edward, this game you're playing won't last long."

"She does not have to change."

Rosalie stared at him incredulously. "You can't possibly still think that bullshit."

"She doesn't deserve –"

"Get over yourself, Edward. She deserves to live her own life, not for some pigheaded old man in a boy's body to be her puppet master. Plus, you revealed what we are to her. You already made your choice. She dies either way."

"What of children, Rosalie? Does she not deserve them either?"

Rosalie let out a frustrated breath. "You're simplifying something you barely understand. Maybe she will feel that loss one day, but I'll bet that girl already knows all too well that we don't get to have everything. For her sake, since it clearly won't be for your family's sake, get your head out of your ass before you ruin everything we've been working for. We're close, Edward. Jasper's been frothing at the mouth for half a decade in anticipation. Wake up."

Rosalie shook her head at him disdainfully before diving neatly into the ocean below. She didn't emerge.

Edward watched Bella paddle out on her board towards Jacob, who greeted her with a high five and said something unintelligible that made her laugh so hard she lost her balance and toppled into the ocean.

He kept thinking of that smile as she rode that wave, her small body so strangely elegant and strong. It wasn't even that she looked young, which is usually what pierces him so painfully, it was that she looked alive.

And it was that he'd never seen Bella look so free.

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Bella collapsed onto her stomach in the sand, burying her head in her arms with a groan.

"I'm not going to be able to move tomorrow," she grumbled.

Jacob ignored her whinging as he started capably to build a small fire, as per tradition.

"Yeah, well. That's what you get for never working out."

"My bones were literally broken."

"Yeah, about that. You going to explain that at some point? Because my dad turned purple when he found out what happened. I don't get it, Bells."

Bella didn't answer, but rolled onto her side and lifted up on an elbow to watch him blow at some kindling, setting the fragrant wood ablaze. He grinned at her proudly as it took.

"Yes. Man make good fire," Bella said condescendingly.

Jacob nodded and beat his chest with a grunt. He came and sat beside her, reaching over with one long arm to drag his small, beat-up esky towards them. He pulled out a couple of water bottles and handed one to her.

Bella sat up and smiled at him gratefully before gulping down the cool water, her throat raw and dry from the salt of the sea.

They both went through the motions of getting changed and comfortable. Naturally, it took Jacob only seconds, and when he caught Bella eyeing his body curiously as he dried himself off, he clutched the towel to his chest dramatically with an affronted glare.

"Avert your filthy eyes, madam," he sniffed.

Bella blushed, which was annoying. Jacob smirked. He took her wetsuit from her and went to drape it over a branch on the dead tree that they had taken shelter next to.

When he turned around, she was taking off her rash vest, only in her black bikini. He blanched, whipping around to turn away from her so fast he stumbled, and he slapped a hand over his eyes for good measure.

"Jeez, Barbarella. Put them away before you take someone's eye out," Jacob muttered.

Bella threw the wet rash vest at his back, and he squealed girlishly at the splat of slimy cold material.

She finished drying off quickly – it was freezing – tugging on an oversized sweatshirt that came down to her knees and thick socks from her bag. Warm toes were worth getting socks sandy for, and Jacob had cost her the only pair of sweatpants she brought when he tried unceremoniously to drown her.

She lay her towel down so she could sit with her back against the tree and her toes pointed towards the fire. She poked Jacob's leg next to her, and he let his arm drop and grinned down at her.

"It's safe," she said.

"Sure it is," he said wryly, eyeing her legs. He lay down his own towel and sat cross-legged next to her, holding his hands out to the fire.

Bella huffed and ignored him, but truthfully, it made her flustered and she couldn't think of what to say. Had they always…flirted this much? Was that what they were doing? Guilt rose in her throat like bile.

"I'm sad Leah couldn't come," she said quickly. He hadn't really given her a reason, just said that she bailed last minute. It didn't sound like Leah, but she was older than they were, and had actual adult things to do, so Bella hadn't pushed.

Jacob hadn't taken to sharing Bella well when they were kids, but Leah and Bella had connected at a bonfire in that strange and powerful way girls can, even with the age difference, and after a few dramatic fights, he had stopped being such a brat about it. It was Leah who taught them both how to surf. He complained that Leah treated him like his older sisters did, which made Bella act like that, and didn't he suffer enough with them?

But then, it helped that Leah was there for him, Bella knew, when his mom had gotten sick, and his sisters were too heartbroken themselves to deal with the tragedy of a little boy's grief. When he couldn't sleep, he'd call Bella in Pheonix, breath hitching with sobs and terror, getting her into all sorts of trouble with Phil, but she never told him to stop. She would then call Leah, who would crawl into Jacob's window with a sleeping bag and read Harry Potter to him until he fell asleep. Jacob had learned that you can never have too many girls looking out for you, bossy or not – especially when your mom dies.

Jacob's preternaturally happy face darkened. "Yeah. I'm sad too," he said quietly.

Bella waited to see if he would offer any more, but he just stared into the fire with weary eyes. He sighed, shaking his head. He grinned at Bella with clear effort.

"So, you and that rich kid seem pretty serious."

Bella watched him carefully. "Yeah, I guess we are."

"Dad really thinks he's a vampire, you know. Honest to god. And that he tried to eat you or something. Do you know how weird that is?"

"Yep," Bella really didn't want to lie to Jake, so she left it at that.

"It happened fast," he said, his voice straining with forced nonchalance.

Bella swallowed. "I didn't expect to feel something like this," she said truthfully. "I'm still in shock a lot of the time, I think."

Jacob had kept his face carefully blank, as if he was just listening politely, but he broke and exhaled heavily, pressing the heel of his hands into his eyes.

"Yeah, no. I don't think I can hear you talk about him. Sorry," he bit out.

Bella's heart was pounding. She didn't know what to do, and she had no idea Jake felt –

Liar.

"I was so happy you moved here, Bells," Jacob said quietly, looking away from the flames, his dark eyes shining as they met hers. "I was so happy you finally got away – no, don't, it's okay, Bells, it's me."

Bella had flinched and leant away from him in alarm, but he just pushed past her obvious reticence. Jacob didn't know as much as Leah, but he knew enough and more than anyone else – and he also knew to never, ever talk about it.

"It's like, I've been so worried all the time, and Leah wouldn't let me kill him or do anything, and then you get away, and before I even have a chance, you just…" Jacob groaned and chuckled darkly. "Shit, sorry, Bella. I'm so fucking sorry, you have no idea," he whispered, and his voice broke.

Bella felt the world spinning around her, the ocean roaring in her ears. "Jake…"

"Don't. Sorry, Jesus. I really didn't mean to say anything. You just look so fucking pretty, and it's the worst, you know that? You're the absolute worst."

Bella agreed. She was the worst. She was blind and naïve and weak, and definitely the worst.

They watched the fire, the silence between them weighed down with years of feeling that they were usually so careful about ignoring.

Jacob sighed. "Sorry. I know I keep saying that, but I really didn't want to make this weird. Things have been kind of messed up around here lately," he admitted. "Leah and Sam broke up, and I'm pretty sure he screwed her over, but she won't tell me anything. I thought you might be able to get through to her, but she bailed, like she always does these days. The guys on the Res are up to some weird shit, and my dad's been watching me like I'm a bomb about to go off. And then you're –" His voice broke again. "Damnit," he wiped at his eyes, annoyed. "This happens all the time lately. I don't know what's wrong with me."

Bella was overwhelmed. She realised he was trembling, and she felt such an aching love for him in that moment, she couldn't bring herself to say what she knew she should.

"I've really missed you, Jake," she said instead.

She took his hand, and he let her.

"Everything will be all right," she told him. "You always figure it out."

Jacob snorted.

"Yeah," he said sullenly. "I suppose I do."

He wrapped a warm arm around her shoulders, and she told herself that friendship was still love, after all, and there's no reason she shouldn't feel at home with a boy she'd known her entire life. It's not a betrayal to have room in her heart to feel love for an old friend.

They both calmed, and eventually relaxed into the kind of familiar quiet that comes from years of closeness. The peace of each other's company warmed them much more than the flickering yellow flames of the fire, struggling weakly against the wind. The fire softly died out with puffs of grey smoke.

Jacob kicked some sand over the smouldering embers.

"Come on," he said. "You caught the first wave, so I'm buying you lunch."

He stood up, stretching. He reached down a hand and pulled her to her feet.

"How strict is their no pants policy?" Bella pointed out.

Jacob rolled his eyes and dug in his bag, tossing her a spare pair of basketball shorts.

"Ta da," he said.

Bella pulled them on. They were absurdly big. Bella scowled, and Jacob grinned at her.

"You're cute," he told her.

"And taken," she reminded him pointedly. She really needed to stop the flirting. Jacob shrugged and bopped her on the nose.

"Cute," he insisted.

Bella blushed, and then immediately shivered with guilt.

Her heart was a greedy liar.

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A/N

Sorry that it's a little short! I just had to get this damn chapter done, I got so stuck with it. But is it just me, or is Jacob looking like a mighty fine option all of a sudden? Please review, if you have it in you! I'd love to know what you think. Next up, it's time for prom!