The Little Things

9. Summer

The summer passed in the blink of an eye. So much happened yet it felt like no time at all. I spent most of my days hanging out in La Push, either with Jacob and the others or with Emily and the pack.

Bella practically lived at the Cullens house for all the time that she spent there. Whenever I tried to approach her it was always the same.

"Hey, Bella, do you want to come hang out with me and my friends at the beach? We're going swimming." I would offer, or something like that.

"Umm, not this time, I am going to Edwards." And I was always shut down. It was Edward this, Edward that, Edward everything.

She and Edward were inseparable and it bothered her to no end that I still couldn't stand him. What completely baffled me how she could be that close to someone that could suck her blood. Another thing that bothered me was that ever since Bella had moved up here she had been borderline obsessed with him and I had had very little meaningful interaction with her. It was a stark contrast from what I had imagined when she first came here. Edward seemingly had quickly become much more important to her than her family, Mom, Dad, and myself.

But despite my disappointment and lack of friendship with Bella, the summer was gloriously peaceful.

Last year dad had dug up part of the yard for me and I had tried growing a little garden. I didn't have the patience for flowers, so I put in a few vegetable seeds. And this year I tried it again. Some things worked last year, and others didn't, so I learned and moved on. This time I planted some carrots, peas, lettuce, potatoes, and a pumpkin plant. I liked to see the things grow, and it was satisfying to eat something that I grew myself. But my garden was small and only took up a small amount of time.

On rainy days I often sat in the garage with Jacob where we were usually joined by one or more of the others and some of the best times were had goofing off or just relaxing. Or, while the guys did guy things on their own, Nina and I spent time doing crafts or drawing, neither of which I was particularly good at, but it was nice to have some girl time ever once in while. I'm sure the boys also thought it was nice to have some time to themselves as well.

Nina was special. And I don't just say that because she is the only other girl in the group. She really was the sweetest, kindest girl I knew. For the past three years she had been my best friend. Well, she and Jacob were at the same level of friends but in different ways. Anyway, after we got over our differences, I found out that Nina was someone to trust with anything. Sometimes she could hold a grudge for a while, but her nature was to forgive.

Me on the other hand, I didn't let go of things easily. But she was my bestie and that wasn't going to change.

Sunny days were spent at the beach, swimming and relaxing and a couple times we went cliff diving. Or rather cliff jumping, as I had no interest in going headfirst into the ocean off a cliff, but feet first was fine.

Some of my favourite times were spent with my friends, just hanging out, not thinking about supernatural stuff. Little did I know that it wouldn't last.

One such day we arrived at Second Beach breathless and laughing. Quil had tripped and fallen into a tide pool and came out dripping wet, muddy and shivering. Unfortunately for him, we found it to funny to help him.

The beach was nearly deserted so we set our stuff down and took off our clothes to go swimming. I had put my black and red one piece swimsuit on earlier in anticipation that we might go swimming. I gazed out across the water and grinned at the sunlight and warm breeze. Apparently I had been standing there too long since Jacob came up to me and grabbed me.

"Jake! Wait!" I shrieked.

"Nope. You're going in!" He laughed, dragging me to the waters edge.

"I was going in! Let me go!"