We worked our way east, sticking to the trees when we were in the view of the windows, affecting a causal stroll. Jacob unloaded the bikes swiftly from the bed of the truck, wheeling them individually to my hiding spot in the shrubbery. It looked too easy for him, the bikes were much heavier than he made them look.

"These aren't half bad," Jacob appraised as we pushed the bikes through the cover of the trees. "This one here is worth something. It's an old Harley Sprint."

"That's yours then."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"There are going to cost a lot of cash to fix," He said, frowning at the blackened metal. "We'll have to save for parts."

"I'll pay for the parts."

"I don't know…" He muttered.

"I've got money saved and I may be getting more hours from Newton's in the next week or so, so the money won't be a problem."

Jacob just nodded in response.

The motorcycles didn't need to be hidden any further than simply placing them in Jake's shed. Billy's wheelchair couldn't maneuver the uneven ground separating the house and the shed. I contemplated my luck, only a teenage boy would agree to this. I had a solid reason behind it and I meant every word. He began to show me what was what and began pulling the red one apart, telling me what the parts were and their function, conversation flowed easily as we pulled the bike apart. He updated me on his sophomore year and the relationship between Quil and Alessia and his friend Embry, he updated me on his remaining junior year of school. And then we were getting to horrible part about Quil and Alessia's relationship, Quil has a thing for senior girls and he made it known he wanted pursue them which ended up breaking Alessia's heart this morning.

And it was around the time I had to start heading home to cook dinner.

"I told him to let her go if he didn't want her anymore. So, when you asked I thought you were here to yell at me."

I shook my head; I wiped my hands on the rag he designated as the clean rag to clean your hands with. The name of it didn't make sense but I wasn't going to push that. "She didn't tell me what happened. And if I have to be honest, we're not close and we never have been, so it makes sense why she didn't… She said he was a dick."

He hums, thoughtfully, "He deserves it… I'll finish taking these apart tonight and figure out what we need to rebuild them. When do you want to work on them again?"

"Could I come back tomorrow?"

"Sure, sure."

"If you can finish our list, we can go shop for parts too," I suggested.

"I'm not sure I should let you pay for everything."

"Don't worry. I got it." I zipped my parka, and started toward the mouth of the garage, preparing for the rain. "I thought we had a deal already?" I sent him a mock accusing glare.

Jacob smiled, embarrassed and he chuckled breathily three times, looking down at the wrench in his hand. He bent his leg and rested his elbow on his knee, "Well, you're right. I'll see you tomorrow." He waved his wrench in a dismissive wave, and he sent a bright smile my way that brightened his face.

"See you tomorrow." I gave him a smile—I didn't know why, but I had a strong feeling in my gut that Jacob was going to be my best friend someday—and waved at him before I disappeared around the corner of the shed.

I felt weightless and I focused and kept the smile on my face, it felt so good to smile. The weightless feeling was a peaceful wave, and I wanted it to last. I was looking forward to fixing these bikes and helping out, it felt good to be doing something… new. Learning something new that I never gave much thought before, it felt like… I just witnessed the process of growth within me that I was diving headfirst into. I wasn't being as reckless as I was planning to be, I was learning a skill and I was committing myself to learning the laws, to learn how to be a responsible driver of a dangerous vehicle. I would know how to fix it; I would know the vehicle.

I was diving into a new path in life with subconscious hope for myself. This weightless feeling was giving me hope that my pain wouldn't last forever. Just in a matter of hours after the production of my episode. There was… hope for me in these small towns that lurked with mythical creatures in the thick forestry.

I beat Charlie home. I thought more about how I have been over the past year, and I vowed to be better, get better. Figure who I wanted to be. I allowed myself to forget my views and morals when he entered my life because maybe I had been subconsciously afraid of him. I should have listened to Billy from the beginning, look where it had gotten me so far.

I couldn't be that girl anymore. I had to do this for myself, I had to figure who I was and who I wanted to be for myself. I had always been insecure because of my brown eyes and brown hair, and it was stupid and weak to continue to tell myself that I had never been good enough for him. That it made sense why he wanted me, and loved me for a short time, because I was strong, I was responsible, I was quiet and I wasn't overbearing. Maybe I was selfish to not be lavished in gifts but I had given my whole heart to him built out of a broken foundation.

Dad was right, I hadn't been dealing. He had this conversation with me months ago and I had started hanging with my friends from school more, I graduated high school and I kept my job and decided to continue to save for college and figure out what I wanted to major in. Jacob was giving me the perfect opportunity for a start.

I was taking out the fried chicken out of the pan when he walked.

I flashed him a smile, "Hey, Dad, how was work?"

Shock flickered across his face before he recovered from my strangeness, "Hi, honey." He said in an uncertain tone. "Work was… work. The same always. Bear sightings. Disappearances. How was Jake?"

I started moving the food to the table. "He's good. Tall."

"Well, that's good." He was still cautious. "What did you two do?"

"He's teaching me how to work on cars. I'm helping him do a quick repair on his Volkswagen."

Shock flickered across his face again, "Really? You don't even like cars."

I shrugged, "Well, maybe I didn't like them because Jake wasn't there to help with explanations about them."

Maybe I shouldn't have said that. I don't like the way that sounded. His interrogating stopped and went to Alessia when she wouldn't come down for dinner. I brought her up a plate.

"Hey, I just wanted to bring you some food and I relayed your message to Jake. He agrees."

She looked from my face to the plate swiftly repeatedly before she put her hands on her hips and looked down to the flooring. I lowered my arms after a few seconds of silence and no movement, she sigh and looked at me again, she took the plate, "Thank you."

"You're welcome… You might have to tell Dad… something. Just so he's not… worried so much." I said, shifting on my feet unable to feel stupid for even saying the latter.

She didn't say anything. She looked at me for a moment and then nodded. "I'll bring my plate down later."

"Okay." I said with an awkward nod and retreated back to the kitchen.

After dinner, I dithered around, cleaning the kitchen spotless twice. I watched the hockey game Charlie was watching until he called it a night.

As I climbed the stairs, I felt the last afternoon's abnormal sense of well-being drain my system. I laid down and stared at the ceiling until my eyes closed and… the next thing I knew, it was the morning light that woke me.

I laid there in silence for a few minutes. The silence was interrupted by the phone ringing in the kitchen. It was Mr. Newton, one of the sophomores quit, and he was offering me more shifts at the store—he was also going to be leaving for some time to help out with in-laws recovering from a major surgery in a different state—Mondays, Wednesdays, and Sundays; Thursdays and Fridays were free. These hours will change when he returns. The hours were the same as they have been since school. Tuesdays 4pm to 9pm, Saturdays 10 am to 4pm. If I didn't accept this, it would be irresponsible and Charlie would be upset if I didn't, two days weren't enough to build responsibility and good work ethic. I called Jacob and let him know that I couldn't come see him today and let him know of my changed schedule due to work.

He was happy to hear the news about work even if it put a major hold on our projects, he finished the list and updated me that his dad was coming up for the day with Sue Clearwater as we were speaking. I looked out the window to Charlie washing his cruiser in the near dry weather before getting ready for work and walked to my truck.

"Hey, kid," Dad greets, eyeing me when I walked up to him with my keys in hand.

"Hey. I got a call from Mr. Newton; I got new hours because of leave to help out family."

"Oh!" He assessed me, "That's good. See you later."

"See you later." I said and then walked away to my truck.

"Hey Bells," Charlie called when I opened the door to my beloved ancient truck, "I'm proud of you."

I felt the blush of embarrassment from his comment flitted across my face, "Uh, t-thank you." I retreated to the truck when he gave me an awkward nod.

Work dragged on. I wondered how Alessia was and what Jacob was doing. I came home to Billy and Sue Clearwater gone and Charlie and Alessia munching on pizza in the living room. I stood there in the doorway for a moment trying to decipher what they were watching; they were watching a movie. I blinked a couple of times when commercial interrupted the program. I joined them on the sofa and ate pizza while watching the movie.