Moonrise | Paul Lahote

Prologue

"Bella's moving here!?"

"Bella who?" Embry asked.

"Bella Swan," Jenna replied, then turned back to Jacob. "She's moving back here?"

Jacob shrugged, wiping his grease-covered hands on his already stained jeans. "That's what dad said."

It was a late Friday afternoon. The sun had just set outside, casting the town in darkness. A chill wind swept through the forests, and every so often, a wolf would howl. But despite the dark atmosphere outside, the inside of the garage was warm and merry. Snacks lay on every available surface, and empty pizza boxes littered the floor. Music pumped from a stereo in the background.

Jenna, Embry, Quil and Jacob were hanging out together while Jacob fixed up the old red truck. The truck had been sitting there, useless, for the past year, until her father had come home one day and asked Jacob to fix it. When asked why, it was revealed that Bella was coming back to live in Forks.

"But why though?" Jenna frowned. "I thought she hated this place."

"I dunno. Dad doesn't know, either."

"Charlie didn't tell?"

"I'm not sure Charlie even knows."

"Who even is this girl?" Quil called from where he was sitting in the back of the truck, dangling his legs over the side. "Why's she such a big deal?"

"You know Charlie Swan?"

"The chief, down in Forks?"

"Yeah."

"I've heard of him."

"Bella's his daughter. We used to play together as kids."

"Cool. She doesn't live around here?"

"Nah. Last time we talked, she was living in Phoenix."

"Oh," Quil thought for a moment. "Where's that?"

"Arizona, stupid," Jenna rolled her eyes. "No wonder you failed geography."

Quil threw an empty plastic bottle at her head. She dodged it neatly.

"So she's from a city?" Embry spoke up. "What's she like?"

"From what I remember, quiet," Jacob had crawled under the truck to check on the back, and his voice was muffled. "She liked hanging out with Rach more."

"Really shy," Jenna added. "She also hates rain."

Both Quil and Embry snorted at this. "Good luck to her, then."

"Right?" Jenna huffed a laugh.

"So, what does she look like?" Quil asked, dangling over the side of the truck. He had a suspiciously innocent look on his face.

"Pale skin, brown hair." Jenna narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

Quil grinned. "Is she hot?"

"Ugh. Why is that the only thing you guys care about?"

"We're teenage boys! What do you expect?"

"You guys are gross."

"Hey! It's a genuine question!"

"We were, like, eight the last time we saw her."

"That's too bad." Quil glanced at the clock, and his face drained of color. "Oh, shit."

"What's wrong?"

"I told my mom I'd be home by nine-thirty!" He leapt off the truck, scrambling to find his car keys. "She's going to kill me. Ugh, see you guys around."

Jenna gave him a farewell wave. As he rushed out the garage, Embry slid off the table he was leaning on. "I'd better go too. Got a lot to do tomorrow."

"Aw, man," Jenna complained.

Embry quirked a brow. "You want me to stay?"

"I don't want to be left alone with this loser." She kicked Jacob in the back of his leg and received a muffled squawk of outrage.

Embry smirked. "I wouldn't want to be, either."

"I hate both of you," Jacob called out.

"Whatever, loser." Embry turned to go, but stopped. "Hey, wanna go down to the beach tomorrow?"

"If it doesn't rain."

"Cool. I'll tell Quil. See you guys."

"Bye, Embry," Jenna called. With a farewell wave, he left.

"Do you have, like, a crush on Embry?" Jacob asked as he crawled out from under the truck.

"What? Oh my god, ew! He's not my type."

"Hah. I'm gonna tell him you said that."

"Please do." Jenna shuddered. "Why the hell would you think that? Does he– does he like me!?"

"I don't know." Jacob scowled. "If he tries anything, I'll break his face."

"You'll have to get in line."

"Hah." Jacob snorted again. Jenna watched as he made his way around the garage, putting tools away and wiping his stained hands on a rag. When he turned off the stereo and began picking up the trash left behind from their dinner, she slid off the table she'd been perched on and bent to help him.

"So," Jacob started at one point. "You do know dad's going to charge you with being Bella's friend, right?"

"I'd be happy to. I'm actually kind of excited to see what she's like now."

"Yeah."

Jenna looked up at his short answer, surprised to see him frowning. "What's wrong?"

"I dunno." Jacob scratched the back of his head. "I just– Nevermind. It's dumb."

"C'mon, you can tell me," Jenna coaxed.

"Nah. Forget it."

"I promise I won't laugh."

"Fine." He gave in, sighing. "I just have a bad feeling."

"About what?"

"About this year. I just feel like something crazy is going to happen."

Jenna felt her lips twitch. It must have been pretty obvious, because Jacob glared. "You said you weren't going to laugh!"

Jenna sniggered. "When'd you get so paranoid?"

He flushed. "I knew I shouldn't have told you."

Jenna laughed openly at his red face. "Relax, Jake. I'm sure everything's going to be fine."

"You think?"

"I don't think. I know."

She said her last words confidently, placing a comforting hand on Jacob's shoulder. He shrugged it off, but smiled in return. Little did they know, with Bella's arrival, everything was going to change.