Sunrise

4

"Come on, Kar," Jacob begged. "It's actually warm today!"

Kari looked up at Jacob from her seat in the Rabbit. "You're crazy. I'm not going swimming. Did you know that there are people out there who won't consider swimming until it's at least eighty out?"

Jacob rolled his eyes. "You used to be so fun. What happened?"

Kari smirked. "I grew up and started high school."

"You're just chicken," Jacob taunted. He leaned against the frame of the car. "Too scared the water will be cold."

Kari glared for a second. "Fine. Let's go. But don't complain to me when you're freezing on the way home."

Jacob smiled brightly and chased after her, catching up with his long strides easily. Kari rolled her eyes at his joyous expression and pushed herself faster. She'd always been faster, growing up, and lately Jacob was almost outrunning her. She would stop that from happening in any way she could.

"Hop on!" Quil said with a grin, standing a little further up the road. Kari giggled and hopped onto his back, laughing louder when Quil took off. He wasn't as fast as Jacob, but it was fun to be with her friends and be a teenager for an afternoon. Her mom worked all the time and Sam was usually too busy with the elders or Emily to pay much attention to her. It wasn't a surprise that she practically lived at Jacob's house for the summer.

The day of crashing Bella's prom, Kari had stomped into her house soaked from the rain. Her mother had begun to protest until she saw the look on her daughter's face. Kari hadn't even noticed Sam and Emily sitting on the couch. She was curled into a ball on her bed, full of fury, when Jacob knocked and came in without waiting for an answer.

"I'm sorry," he'd said. "I didn't realize I was being such a horrible friend. I don't even know how this whole crush started."

"You gave her a truck," Kari muttered bitterly.

"Billy gave her a truck. I just fixed it up," Jacob amended. He leaned against the headboard. "But I see what you mean."

They'd spent the night talking things over and reevaluating their friendship before Kari had finally forgiven him and Jacob fell asleep on her floor, the door wide open at her mother's request. It wasn't unusual for Jacob and Kari to stay the night at either house.

"That's cheating!" Jacob shouted.

Kari came back to the present and stuck her tongue out. "You still beat me. This time I just had Quil as an excuse to go slow."

"Hey!" Quil protested. "You try carrying an extra hundred pounds."

"Dude, did you just call her fat?" Embry snickered, trying to hide the smile on his face. "You're in for it now!"

Kari punched both boys' shoulders. "You both suck."

That afternoon was spent in and out of the freezing ocean water, splashing and kicking at one another, before the four friends ended up at Jacob's house to watch movies. Billy sat at the table playing solitaire by himself, merely pretending to keep an eye on the teenagers. It was late and already dark out when the phone rang. Billy spoke to whoever it was for a few minutes before turning toward the group on the couch.

"Kar, honey, it's for you," Billy said from the kitchen.

Kari sighed and launched herself off the couch, ignoring the groans of protest from the boys she squished in order to do so. Since the couch wasn't big enough for four, and since she was the smallest of the group, she had decided on just lying across their laps. Each boy had complained and muttered under their breath until the movie started.