New Moon: Book 2

FRIENDS

The motorcycles didn't need to be hidden any further than simplyplacing them in Jacob's shed. Billy's wheelchair couldn't maneuver the uneven groundseparating it from the house.Jacob started pulling the first bike–the red one, which was destined for me–to piecesimmediately. He opened up the passenger door of the Rabbit so I could sit on the seat insteadof the ground. While he worked, Jacob chattered happily, needing only the lightest of nudgesfrom me to keep the conversation rolling. He updated me on the progress of his sophomoreyear of school, running on about his classes and his two best friends."Quil and Embry?" I interrupted. "Those are unusual names."Jacob chuckled. "Quil's is a hand-me-down, and I think Embry got named after a soap operastar. I can't say anything, though. They fight dirty if you start on their names–they'll tag teamyou.""Good friends." I raised one eyebrow."No, they are. Just don't mess with their names."Just then a call echoed in the distance. "Jacob?" someone shouted."Is that Billy?" I asked."No." Jacob ducked his head, and it looked like he was blushing under his brown skin."Speak of the devil," he mumbled, "and the devil shall appear.""Jake? Are you out here?" The shouting voice was closer now."Yeah!" Jacob shouted back, and sighed.We waited through the short silence until two tall, dark-skinned boys strolled around thecorner into the shed.One was slender, and almost as tall as Jacob. His black hair was chin-length and parted downthe middle, one side tucked behind his left ear while the right side swung free. The shorterboy was more burly. His white T-shirt strained over his well-developed chest, and he seemedgleefully conscious of that fact. His hair was so short it was almost a buzz.Both boys stopped short when they saw me. The thin boy glanced swiftly back and forthbetween Jacob and me, while the brawny boy kept his eyes on me, a slow smile spreadingacross his face."Hey, guys," Jacob greeted them halfheartedly."Hey, Jake," the short one said without looking away from me. I had to smile in response, hisgrin was so impish. When I did, he winked at me. "Hi, there.""Quil, Embry–this is my friend, Bella."Quil and Embry, I still didn't know which was which, exchanged a loaded look."Charlie's kid, right?" the brawny boy asked me, holding out his hand."That's right," I confirmed, shaking hands with him. His grasp was firm; it looked like he wasflexing his bicep."I'm Quil Ateara," he announced grandly before releasing my hand."Nice to meet you, Quil.""Hey, Bella. I'm Embry, Embry Call–you probably already figured that out, though." Embrysmiled a shy smile and waved with one hand, which he then shoved in the pocket of hisjeans.I nodded. "Nice to meet you, too.""So what are you guys doing?" Quil asked, still looking at me."Bella and I are going to fix up these bikes," Jacob explained inaccurately. But bikes seemedto be the magic word. Both boys went to examine Jacob's project, drilling him with educatedquestions. Many of the words they used were unfamiliar to me, and I figured I'd have to havea Y chromosome to really understand the excitement.They were still immersed in talk of parts and pieces when I decided that I needed to headback home before Charlie showed up here. With a sigh, I slid out of the Rabbit.Jacob looked up, apologetic. "We're boring you, aren't we?""Naw." And it wasn't a lie. I was enjoying myself–how strange. "I just have to go cookdinner for Charlie.""Oh... well, I'll finish taking these apart tonight and figure out what more we'll need to getstarted rebuilding them. When do you want to work on them again?""Could I come back tomorrow?" Sundays were the bane of my existence. There was neverenough homework to keep me busy.Quil nudged Embry's arm and they exchanged grins.Jacob smiled in delight. "That would be great!""If you make a list, we can go shop for parts," I suggested.Jacob's face fell a little. "I'm still not sure I should let you pay for everything."I shook my head. "No way. I'm bankrolling this party. You just have to supply the labor andexpertise."Embry rolled his eyes at Quil."That doesn't seem right," Jacob shook his head."Jake, if I took these to a mechanic, how much would he charge me?" I pointed out.He smiled. "Okay, you're getting a deal.""Not to mention the riding lessons," I added.Quil grinned widely at Embry and whispered something I didn't catch. Jacob's hand flashedout to smack the back of Quil's head. "That's it, get out," he muttered."No, really, I have to go," I protested, heading for the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Jacob."As soon as I was out of sight, I heard Quil and Embry chorus, "Wooooo!"The sound of a brief scuffle followed, interspersed with an "ouch" and a "hey!""If either of you set so much as one toe on my land tomorrow..." I heard Jacob threaten. Hisvoice was lost as I walked through the trees.I giggled quietly. The sound made my eyes widen in wonder. I was laughing, actuallylaughing, and there wasn't even anyone watching. I felt so weightless that I laughed again,just make the feeling last longer.I beat Charlie home. When he walked in I was just taking the fried chicken out of the panand laying it on a pile of paper towels."Hey, Dad." I flashed him a grin.Shock flitted across his face before he pulled his expression together. "Hey, honey," he said,his voice uncertain. "Did you have fun with Jacob?"I started moving the food to the table. "Yeah, I did.""Well, that's good." He was still cautious. "What did you two do?"Now it was my turn to be cautious. "I hung out in his garage and watched him work. Didyou know he's rebuilding a Volkswagen?""Yeah, I think Billy mentioned that."The interrogation had to stop when Charlie began chewing, but he continued to study myface as he ate.After dinner, I dithered around, cleaning the kitchen twice, and then did my homeworkslowly in the front room while Charlie watched a hockey game. I waited as long as I could,but finally Charlie mentioned the late hour. When I didn't respond, he got up, stretched, andthen left, turning out the light behind him. Reluctantly, I followed.As I climbed the stairs, I felt the last of the afternoon's abnormal sense of well-being drainfrom my system, replaced by a dull fear at the thought of what I was going to have to livethrough now.I wasn't numb anymore. Tonight would, no doubt, be as horrific as last night. I lay down onmy bed and curled into a ball in preparation for the onslaught. I squeezed my eyes shut and...the next thing I next I knew, it was morning.I stared at the pale silver light coming through my window, stunned.For the first time in more than four months, I'd slept without dreaming. Dreaming orscreaming. I couldn't tell which emotion was stronger–the relief or the shock.I lay still in my bed for a few minutes, waiting for it to come back. Because something mustbe coming. If not the pain, then the numbness. I waited, but nothing happened. I felt morerested than I had in a long time.I didn't trust this to last. It was a slippery, precarious edge that I balanced on, and it wouldn'ttake much to knock me back down. Just glancing around my room with these suddenly cleareyes–noticing how strange it looked, too tidy, like I didn't live here at all–was dangerous.I pushed that thought from my mind, and concentrated, as I got dressed, on the fact that Iwas going to see Jacob again today. The thought made me feel almost... hopeful. Maybe itwould be the same as yesterday. Maybe I wouldn't have to remind myself to look interestedand to nod or smile at appropriate intervals, the way I had to with everyone else. Maybe...but I wouldn't trust this to last, either. Wouldn't trust it to be the same–so easy–as yesterday.I wasn't going to set myself up for disappointment like that.At breakfast, Charlie was being careful, too. He tried to hide his scrutiny, keeping his eyes onhis eggs until he thought I wasn't looking."What are you up to today?" he asked, eyeing a loose thread on the edge of his cuff like hewasn't paying much attention to my answer."I'm going to hang out with Jacob again."He nodded without looking up. "Oh," he said."Do you mind?" I pretended to worry. "I could stay..."He glanced up quickly, a hint of panic in his eyes. "No, no! You go ahead. Harry was goingto come up to watch the game with me anyway.""Maybe Harry could give Billy a ride up," I suggested. The fewer witnesses the better."That's a great idea."I wasn't sure if the game was just an excuse for kicking me out, but he looked excitedenough now. He headed to the phone while I donned my rain jacket. I felt self-consciouswith the checkbook shoved in my jacket pocket. It was something I never used.Outside, the rain came down like water slopped from a bucket. I had to drive more slowlythan I wanted to; I could hardly see a car length in front of the truck. But I finally made itthrough the muddy lanes to Jacob's house. Before I'd killed the engine, the front door openedand Jacob came running out with a huge black umbrella.He held it over my door while I opened it."Charlie called–said you were on your way," Jacob explained with a grin.Effortlessly, without a conscious command to the muscles around my lips, my answeringsmile spread across my face. A strange feeling of warmth bubbled up in my throat, despitethe icy rain splattering on my cheeks."Hi, Jacob.""Good call on inviting Billy up." He held up his hand for a high five.I had to reach so high to slap his hand that he laughed.Harry showed up to get Billy just a few minutes later. Jacob took me on a brief tour of histiny room while we waited to be unsupervised."So where to, Mr. Goodwrench?" I asked as soon as the door closed behind Billy.Jacob pulled a folded paper out of his pocket and smoothed it out. "We'll start at the dumpfirst, see if we can get lucky. This could get a little expensive," he warned me. "Those bikesare going to need a lot of help before they'll run again." My face didn't look worried enough,so he continued. "I'm talking about maybe more than a hundred dollars here."I pulled my checkbook out, fanned myself with it, and rolled my eyes at his worries. "We'recovered."It was a very strange kind of day. I enjoyed myself. Even at the dump, in the slopping rainand ankle-deep mud. I wondered at first if it was just the aftershock of losing the numbness,but I didn't think that was enough of an explanation.I was beginning to think it was mostly Jacob. It wasn't just that he was always so happy tosee me, or that he didn't watch me out of the corner of his eye, waiting for me to dosomething that would mark me as crazy or depressed. It was nothing that related to me at all.It was Jacob himself. Jacob was simply a perpetually happy person, and he carried thathappiness with him like an aura, sharing it with whoever was near him. Like an earthboundsun, whenever someone was within his gravitational pull, Jacob warmed them. It wasnatural, a part of who he was. No wonder I was so eager to see him.Even when he commented on the gaping hole in my dashboard, it didn't send me into a paniclike it should have."Did the stereo break?" he wondered."Yeah," I lied.He poked around in the cavity. "Who took it out? There's a lot of damage...""I did," I admitted.He laughed. "Maybe you shouldn't touch the motorcycles too much.""No problem."According to Jacob, we did get lucky at the dump. He was very excited about severalgrease-blackened pieces of twisted metal that he found; I was just impressed that he couldtell what they were supposed to be.From there we went to the Checker Auto Parts down in Hoquiam. In my truck, it was morethan a two hour drive south on the winding freeway, but the time passed easily with Jacob.He chattered about his friends and his school, and I found myself asking questions, not evenpretending, truly curious to hear what he had to say."I'm doing all the talking," he complained after a long story about Quil and the trouble he'dstirred up by asking out a senior's steady girlfriend. "Why don't you take a turn? What's goingon in Forks? It has to be more exciting than La Push.""Wrong," I sighed. "There's really nothing. Your friends are a lot more interesting than mine.I like your friends. Quil's funny."He frowned. "I think Quil likes you, too."I laughed. "He's a little young for me."Jacob's frown deepened. "He's not that much younger than you. It's just a year and a fewmonths."I had a feeling we weren't talking about Quil anymore. I kept my voice light, teasing. "Sure,but, considering the difference in maturity between guys and girls, don't you have to countthat in dog years? What does that make me, about twelve years older?"He laughed, rolling his eyes. "Okay, but if you're going to get picky like that, you have toaverage in size, too. You're so small, I'll have to knock ten years off your total.""Five foot four is perfectly average." I sniffed. "It's not my fault you're a freak."We bantered like that till Hoquiam, still arguing over the correct formula to determine age–Ilost two more years because I didn't know how to change a tire, but gained one back forbeing in charge of the bookkeeping at my house–until we were in Checker, and Jacob had toconcentrate again. We found everything left on his list, and Jacob felt confident that he couldmake a lot of progress with our haul.By the time we got back to La Push, I was twenty-three and he was thirty–he was definitelyweighting skills in his favor.I hadn't forgotten the reason for what I was doing. And, even though I was enjoying myselfmore than I'd thought possible, there was no lessening of my original desire. I still wanted tocheat. It was senseless, and I really didn't care. I was going to be as reckless as I couldpossibly manage in Forks. I would not be the only keeper of an empty contract. Getting tospend time with Jacob was just a much bigger perk than I'd expected.Billy wasn't back yet, so we didn't have to be sneaky about unloading our day's spoils. Assoon as we had everything laid out on the plastic floor next to Jacob's toolbox, he went rightto work, still talking and laughing while his fingers combed expertly through the metal piecesin front of him.Jacob's skill with his hands was fascinating. They looked too big for the delicate tasks theyperformed with ease and precision. While he worked, he seemed almost graceful. Unlikewhen he was on his feet; there, his height and big feet made him nearly as dangerous as Iwas.Quil and Embry did not show up, so maybe his threat yesterday had been taken seriously.The day passed too quickly. It got dark outside the mouth of the garage before I wasexpecting it, and then we heard Billy calling for us.I jumped up to help Jacob put things away, hesitating because I wasn't sure what I shouldtouch."Just leave it," he said. "I'll work on it later tonight.""Don't forget your schoolwork or anything," I said, feeling a little guilty. I didn't want him toget in trouble. That plan was just for me."Bella?"Both our heads snapped up as Charlie's familiar voice wafted through the trees, soundingcloser than the house."Shoot," I muttered. "Coming!" I yelled toward the house."Let's go." Jacob smiled, enjoying the cloak-and-dagger. He snapped the light off, and for amoment I was blind. Jacob grabbed my hand and towed me out of the garage and throughthe trees, his feet finding the familiar path easily. His hand was rough, and very warm.Despite the path, we were both tripping over our feet in the darkness. So we were also bothlaughing when the house came into view. The laughter did not go deep; it was light andsuperficial, but still nice. I was sure he wouldn't notice the faint hint of hysteria. I wasn't usedto laughing, and it felt right and also very wrong at the same time.Charlie was standing under the little back porch, and Billy was sitting in the doorway behindthem."Hey, Dad," we both said at the same time, and that started us laughing again.Charlie stared at me with wide eyes that flashed down to note Jacob's hand around mine."Billy invited us for dinner," Charlie said to us in an absentminded tone."My super secret recipe for spaghetti. Handed down for generations," Billy said gravely.Jacob snorted. "I don't think Ragu's actually been around that long."The house was crowded. Harry Clearwater was there, too, with his family–his wife, Sue,whom I knew vaguely from my childhood summers in Forks, and his two children. Leah wasa senior like me, but a year older. She was beautiful in an exotic way–perfect copper skin,glistening black hair, eyelashes like feather dusters–and preoccupied. She was on Billy'sphone when we got in, and she never let it go. Seth was fourteen; he hung on Jacob's everyword with idolizing eyes.There were too many of us for the kitchen table, so Charlie and Harry brought chairs out tothe yard, and we ate spaghetti off plates on our laps in the dim light from Billy's open door.The men talked about the game, and Harry and Charlie made fishing plans. Sue teased herhusband about his cholesterol and tried, unsuccessfully, to shame him into eating somethinggreen and leafy. Jacob talked mostly to me and Seth, who interrupted eagerly wheneverJacob seemed in danger of forgetting him. Charlie watched me, trying to be inconspicuousabout it, with pleased but cautious eyes.It was loud and sometimes confusing as everyone talked over everyone else, and the laughterfrom one joke interrupted the telling of another. I didn't have to speak often, but I smiled alot, and only because I felt like it.I didn't want to leave.This was Washington, though, and the inevitable rain eventually broke up the party; Billy'sliving room was much too small to provide an option for continuing the get-together. Harryhad driven Charlie down, so we rode together in my truck on the way back home. He askedabout my day, and I told mostly the truth–that I'd gone with Jacob to look at parts and thenwatched him work in his garage."You think you'll visit again anytime soon?" he wondered, trying to be casual about it."Tomorrow after school," I admitted. "I'll take homework, don't worry.""You be sure to do that," he ordered, trying to disguise his satisfaction.I was nervous when we got to the house. I didn't want to go upstairs. The warmth of Jacob'spresence was fading and, in its absence, the anxiety grew stronger. I was sure I wouldn't getaway with two peaceful nights of sleep in a row.To put bedtime off, I checked my e-mail; there was a new message from Renee.She wrote about her day, a new book club that rilled the time slot of the meditation classesshe'd just quit, her week subbing in the second grade, missing her kindergarteners. She wrotethat Phil was enjoying his new coaching job, and that they were planning a secondhoneymoon trip to Disney World.And I noticed that the whole thing read like a journal entry, rather than a letter to someoneelse. Remorse flooded through me, leaving an uncomfortable sting behind. Some daughter Iwas.I wrote back to her quickly, commenting on each part of her letter, volunteering informationof my own–describing the spaghetti party at Billy's and how I felt watching Jacob builduseful things out of small pieces of metal–awed and slightly envious. I made no reference tothe change this letter would be from the ones she'd received in the last several months. Icould barely remember what I'd written to her even as recently as last week, but I was sure itwasn't very responsive. The more I thought about it, the guiltier I felt; I really must haveworried her.I stayed up extra late after that, finishing more homework than strictly necessary. But neithersleep deprivation nor the time spent with Jacob–being almost happy in a shallow kind ofway–could keep the dream away for two nights in a row.I woke shuddering, my scream muffled by the pillow.As the dim morning light filtered through the fog outside my window, I lay still in bed andtried to shake off the dream. There had been a small difference last night, and I concentratedon that.Last night I had not been alone in the woods. Sam Uley–the man who had pulled me fromthe forest floor that night I couldn't bear to think of consciously–was there. It was an odd,unexpected alteration. The man's dark eyes had been surprisingly unfriendly, filled with somesecret he didn't seem inclined to share. I'd stared at him as often as my frantic searching hadallowed; it made me uncomfortable, under all the usual panic, to have him there. Maybe thatwas because, when I didn't look directly at him, his shape seemed to shiver and change in myperipheral vision. Yet he did nothing but stand and watch. Unlike the time when we had metin reality, he did not offer me his help.Charlie stared at me during breakfast, and I tried to ignore him. I supposed I deserved it. Icouldn't expect him not to worry. It would probably be weeks before he stopped watchingfor the return of the zombie, and I would just have to try to not let it bother me. After all, Iwould be watching for the return of the zombie, too. Two days was hardly long enough tocall me cured.School was the opposite. Now that I was paying attention, it was clear that no one waswatching here.I remembered the first day I'd come to Forks High School–how desperately I'd wished that Icould turn gray, fade into the wet concrete of the sidewalk like an oversized chameleon. Itseemed I was getting that wish answered, a year late.It was like I wasn't there. Even my teachers' eyes slid past my seat as if it were empty.I listened all through the morning, hearing once again the voices of the people around me. Itried to catch up on what was going on, but the conversations were so disjointed that I gaveup.Jessica didn't look up when I sat down next to her in Calculus."Hey, Jess," I said with put-on nonchalance. "How was the rest of your weekend?"She looked at me with suspicious eyes. Could she still be angry? Or was she just tooimpatient to deal with a crazy person?"Super," she said, turning back to her book."That's good," I mumbled.The figure of speech cold shoulder seemed to have some literal truth to it. I could feel thewarm air blowing from the floor vents, but I was still too cold. I took the jacket off the backof my chair and put it on again.My fourth hour class got out late, and the lunch table I always sat at was full by the time Iarrived. Mike was there, Jessica and Angela, Conner, Tyler, Eric and Lauren. Katie Marshall,the redheaded junior who lived around the corner from me, was sitting with Eric, and Austin Marks–older brother to the boy with the motorcycles–was next to her. I wondered how longthey'd been sitting here, unable to remember if this was the first day or something that was aregular habit.I was beginning to get annoyed with myself. I might as well have been packed in Styrofoampeanuts through the last semester.No one looked up when I sat down next to Mike, even though the chair squealed stridentlyagainst the linoleum as I dragged it back.I tried to catch up with the conversation.Mike and Conner were talking sports, so I gave up on that one at once."Where's Ben today?" Lauren was asking Angela. I perked up, interested. I wondered if thatmeant Angela and Ben were still together.I barely recognized Lauren. She'd cut off all her blond, corn-silk hair–now she had a pixie cutso short that the back was shaved like a boy. What an odd thing for her to do. I wished Iknew the reason behind it. Did she get gum stuck in it? Did she sell it? Had all the peopleshe was habitually nasty to caught her behind the gym and scalped her? I decided it wasn'tfair for me to judge her now by my former opinion. For all I knew, she'd turned into a niceperson."Ben's got the stomach flu," Angela said in her quiet, calm voice. "Hopefully it's just sometwenty-four hour thing. He was really sick last night."Angela had changed her hair, too. She'd grown out her layers."What did you two do this weekend?" Jessica asked, not sounding as if she cared about theanswer. I'd bet that this was just an opener so she could tell her own stories. I wondered ifshe would talk about Port Angeles with me sitting two seats away? Was I that invisible, thatno one would feel uncomfortable discussing me while I was here?"We were going to have a picnic Saturday, actually, but... we changed our minds," Angelasaid. There was an edge to her voice that caught my interest.Jess, not so much. "That's too bad," she said, about to launch into her story. But I wasn't theonly one who was paying attention."What happened?" Lauren asked curiously."Well," Angela said, seeming more hesitant than usual, though she was always reserved, "wedrove up north, almost to the hot springs–there's a good spot just about a mile up the trail.But, when we were halfway there... we saw something.""Saw something? What?" Lauren's pale eyebrows pulled together. Even Jess seemed to be listening now."I don't know," Angela said. "We think it was a bear. It was black, anyway, but it seemed...too big."Lauren snorted. "Oh, not you, too!" Her eyes turned mocking, and I decided I didn't need togive her the benefit of the doubt. Obviously her personality had not changed as much as herhair. "Tyler tried to sell me that one last week.""You're not going to see any bears that close to the resort," Jessica said, siding with Lauren."Really," Angela protested in a low voice, looking down at the table. "We did see it."Lauren snickered. Mike was still talking to Conner, not paying attention to the girls."No, she's right," I threw in impatiently. "We had a hiker in just Saturday who saw the bear,too, Angela. He said it was huge and black and just outside of town, didn't he, Mike?"There was a moment of silence. Every pair of eyes at the table turned to stare at me in shock.The new girl, Katie, had her mouth hanging open like she'd just witnessed an explosion.Nobody moved."Mike?" I muttered, mortified. "Remember the guy with the bear story?""S-sure," Mike stuttered after a second. I didn't know why he was looking at me so strangely.I talked to him at work, didn't I? Did I? I thought so...Mike recovered. "Yeah, there was a guy who said he saw a huge black bear right at thetrailhead–bigger than a grizzly," he confirmed."Hmph." Lauren turned to Jessica, her shoulders stiff, and changed the subject."Did you hear back from USC?" she asked.Everyone else looked away, too, except for Mike and Angela. Angela smiled at metentatively, and I hurried to return the smile."So, what did you do this weekend, Bella?" Mike asked, curious, but oddly wary.Everyone but Lauren looked back, waiting for my response."Friday night, Jessica and I went to a movie in Port Angeles. And then I spent Saturdayafternoon and most of Sunday down at La Push."The eyes flickered to Jessica and back to me. Jess looked irritated. I wondered if she didn'twant anyone to know she'd gone out with me, or whether she just wanted to be the one totell the story."What movie did you see?" Mike asked, starting to smile."Dead End–the one with the zombies." I grinned in encouragement. Maybe some of thedamage I'd done in these past zombie months was reparable."I heard that was scary. Did you think so?" Mike was eager to continue the conversation."Bella had to leave at the end, she was so freaked," Jessica inserted with a sly smile.I nodded, trying to look embarrassed. "It was pretty scary."Mike didn't stop asking me questions till lunch was over. Gradually, the others were able tostart up their own conversations again, though they still looked at me a lot. Angela talkedmostly to Mike and me, and, when I got up to dump my tray, she followed."Thanks," she said in a low voice when we were away from the table."For what?""Speaking up, sticking up for me.""No problem."She looked at me with concern, but not the offensive, maybe-she's-lost-it kind. "Are youokay?"This is why I'd picked Jessica over Angela–though I'd always liked Angela more–for the girls'night movie. Angela was too perceptive."Not completely," I admitted. "But I'm a little bit better.""I'm glad," she said. "I've missed you."Lauren and Jessica strolled by us then, and I heard Lauren whisper loudly, "Oh, joy Bella'sback."Angela rolled her eyes at them, and smiled at me in encouragement.I sighed It was like I was starting all over again."What's today's date?" I wondered suddenly."It's January nineteenth.""Hmm.""What is it?" Angela asked."It was a year ago yesterday that I had my first day here," I mused."Nothing's changed much," Angela muttered, looking after Lauren and Jessica."I know, I agreed I was just thinking the same thing."