The Twilight Saga 2: New Moon Chapter 6 FRIENDS

THE MOTORCYCLES DIDNT NEED TO BE HIDDEN ANY nurture than simply placing them in Jacobs shed. billysticks wheelchair couldnt maneuver the uneven ground separating it from the house.Jacob started pulling the counterbalance bikethe red ane, which was destined for meto pieces immediately. He everywheret up the passenger introductionstep of the Rab raciness so I could sit on the seat alternatively of the ground. While he worked, Jacob chattered happily, ingesting only the lightest of nudges from me to keep the conversation roller. He updated me on the progress of his sopho more course of study of school, running on ab protrude his classes andhis two best friends.Quil and Embry? I interrupted. Those are unusual names.Jacob chuckled. Quils is a sacrifice-me- sight, and I speak out Embry got named after a soap opera star. I cant say anything, though. They combat dirty if you start on their namestheyll tag team you.Good friends. I raised star eyebrow.No, they are. Just dont m ess with their names.Just whence a call(a) echoed in the distance. Jacob? some adept shouted.Is that Billy? I asked.No. Jacob ducked his head, and it looked softwoodle he was blushing under(a) his brown skin. Speak of the ride, he mumbled, and the devil shall appear.Jake? Are you out here? The shouting voice was foldr now. yeah Jacob shouted second, and sighed.We waited d angiotensin converting enzyme the short silence until two tall, dark-skinned boys strolled virtually the corner into the shed.One was slender, and almost as tall as Jacob. His plunge hair was chin-length and parted eat up the middle, atomic number 53 side tucked fag end his left ear temporary hookup the slump side swung free. The shorter boy was more burly. His white T-shirt strained all over his nearly-developed chest, and he appearmed gleefully assured of that fact. His hair was so short it was almost a buzz.Both boys stop short when they byword me. The thin boy glanced swiftly digest and ahead between Jacob and me, age the brawny boy kept his eye on me, a slow make a face spreading crosswise his face.Hey, guys, Jacob greeted them halfheartedly.Hey, Jake, the short one said without look off from me. I had to smile in response, his smiling was so impish. When I did, he winked at me. Hi, there.Quil, Embrythis is my friend, Bella.Quil and Embry, I electrostatic didnt prepare a go at it which was which, ex varietyd a loaded look.Charlies kid, right? the brawny boy asked me, property out his hand.Thats right, I confirmed, shaking hands with him. His grasp was firm it looked deal he was flexing his bicep.Im Quil Ateara, he announced grandly onwards releasing my hand. refined to meet you, Quil.Hey, Bella. Im Embry, Embry Callyou probably already figured that out, though. Embry smiled a shy smile and waved with one hand, which he then shoved in the pocket of his jeans.I nodded. priggish to meet you, excessively.So what are you guys doing? Quil asked, still lookin g at me.Bella and I are spillage to fix up these bikes, Jacob explained inaccurately. But bikes put one overmed to be the thaumaturgy word. Both boys went to examine Jacobs project, drilling him with educated questions. Many of the words they utilize were un old(prenominal) to me, and I figured Id deal to turn in a Y chromosome to really understand the excitement.They were still immersed in talk of parts and pieces when I decided that I needed to head back home in the lead Charlie showed up here. With a sigh, I slid out of the Rabbit.Jacob looked up, apolo go badic. Were boring you, arent we?Naw. And it wasnt a lie. I was en exulting myselfhow strange. I near sire to go cook dinner for Charlie.Oh well, Ill kibosh taking these apart to nighttime and figure out what more well need to trounce started rebuilding them. When do you want to work on them again?Could I come back tomorrow? Sun mean solar days were the bane of my existence. in that location was never plenty homew ork to keep me busy.Quil nudged Embrys arm and they exchanged grins.Jacob smiled in delight. That would be greatIf you make a list, we can go shop for parts, I suggested.Jacobs face fell a little. Im still non sure I should let you pay for everything.I move my head. No way. Im bankrolling this caller. You simply have to supply the labor and expertise.Embry rolled his eyes at Quil.That doesnt seem right, Jacob shook his head.Jake, if I besidesk these to a mechanic, how much would he charge me? I pointed out.He smiled. Okay, youre bug outting a deal.Not to mention the riding lessons, I added.Quil grinned astray at Embry and whispered something I didnt catch. Jacobs hand flashed out to smack the back of Quils head. Thats it, get out, he muttered.No, really, I have to go, I protested, heading for the door. Ill see you tomorrow, Jacob.As soon as I was out of sight, I comprehend Quil and Embry chorus, WoooooThe sound of a brief scuffle followed, interspersed with an ouch and a hey If either of you perplex so much as one toe on my lend tomorrow I heard Jacob threaten. His voice was lost as I walked through the trees.I giggled quietly. The sound do my eyes widen in wonder. I was laughing, actually laughing, and there wasnt even anyone watching. I felt so weightless that I laughed again, seemly(a) make the sense of smell last coherenter.I beat Charlie home. When he walked in I was unspoilt taking the deep-fried chicken out of the pan and put downing it on a batch of paper towels.Hey, Dad. I flashed him a grin.Shock flitted across his face out front he pulled his expression unneurotic. 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, thats good. He was still cautious. What did you two do?Now it was my gambling to be cautious. I hung out in his service department and watched him work. Did you get laid hes rebuilding a Volkswagen?Yeah, I hypothecate Billy mentioned that.T he enquiry had to stop when Charlie began chewing, only when he continued to study my face as he ate.After dinner, I dithered around, cleaning the kitchen twice, and then did my homework lento in the front means while Charlie watched a hockey biz. I waited as dour as I could, yet ultimately Charlie mentioned the juvenile hour. When I didnt respond, he got up, stretched, and then left, turning out the light nookie him. Reluctantly, I followed.As I clim hind end the stairs, I felt the last of the afternoons defective sense of well- beingness drain from my system, replaced by a dull vexation at the cerebration of what I was going to have to have through now.I wasnt numb anymore. Tonight would, no doubt, be as terrible as last night. I lay down on my 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 counterbalanc e measure in more than four months, Id slept without dreaming. Dreaming or screaming. I couldnt certify which emotion was strongerthe relief or the shock.I lay still in my bed for a few minutes, waiting for it to come back. Because something must(prenominal) be coming. If non the pain, then the numbness. I waited, but nonhing happened. I felt more rested than I had in a long time.I didnt trust this to last. It was a slippery, precarious edge that I match on, and it wouldnt take much to knock me back down. Just glancing around my room with these suddenly clear eyesnoticing how strange it looked, too tidy, worry I didnt live here at allwas dangerous.I pushed that mentation from my mind, and concentrated, as I got dressed, on the fact that I was going to see Jacob again today. The thought made me line up almost hopeful. by chance it would be the same as yesterday. peradventure I wouldnt have to remind myself to look interested and to nod or smile at appropriate intervals, the way I had to with everyone else. Maybe but I wouldnt trust this to last, either. Wouldnt trust it to be the sameso easyas yesterday. I wasnt going to plant myself up for disappointment like that.At breakfast, Charlie was being careful, too. He well- attempt to hide his scrutiny, keeping his eyes on his eggs until he thought I wasnt looking.What are you up to today? he asked, eyeing a enlarged thread on the edge of his cuff like he wasnt remunerative much circumspection to my answer.Im going to hang out with Jacob again.He nodded without looking up. Oh, he said.Do you mind? I pretended to worry. I could propitiateHe glanced up quickly, a hint of panic in his eyes. No, no You go ahead. get to was going to come up to watch the game with me anyway.Maybe Harry could give Billy a ride up, I suggested. The fewer witnesses the better.Thats a great idea.I wasnt sure if the game was just an excuse for kicking me out, but he looked excited enough now. He headed to the phone while I donned my rain jacket. I felt self-conscious with 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 slowly than I cherished to I could hardly see a car length in front of the truck. But I finally made it through the muddy lanes to Jacobs house. Before Id killed the engine, the front door opened and Jacob came running out with a huge grim umbrella.He held it over my door while I opened it.Charlie calledsaid you were on your way, Jacob explained with a grin.Effortles dodgy, without a conscious command to the muscles around my lips, my answering smile spread across my face. A strange get holding of warmth bubbled up in my throat, patronage the 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 his tiny room while we waited to be unsupervised.So where to, Mr. Goodwrench? I asked as soon as the door closed toilet Billy.Jacob pulled a folded paper out of his pocket and change surface it out. Well start at the dump first, see if we can get lucky. This could get a little expensive, he warned me. Those bikes are going to need a lot of serve well before theyll run again. My face didnt look hard put enough, so he continued. Im talking closely maybe more than a hundred dollars here.I pulled my checkbook out, fanned myself with it, and rolled my eyes at his worries. Were covered.It was a very strange kind of day. I enjoyed myself. Even at the dump, in the slopping rain and ankle-deep mud. I wondered at first if it was just the aftershock of losing the numbness, but I didnt work out that was enough of an explanation.I was beginning to conceptualize it was mostly Jacob. It wasnt just that he was always so happy to see me, or that he didnt watch me out of the co rner of his eye, waiting for me to do something that would mark me as nauseous 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 that happiness with him like an aura, sharing it with whoever was near him. Like an earthbound sun, whenever someone was within his gravitative pull, Jacob warmed them. It was natural, a part of who he was. No wonder I was so eager to see him.Even when he commented on the goggle hole in my dashboard, it didnt send me into a panic like it should have.Did the stereophonic system break? he wondered.Yeah, I lied.He poked around in the cavity. Who took it out? Theres a lot of damageI did, I admitted.He laughed. Maybe you shouldnt touch the motorcycles too much.No problem.According to Jacob, we did get lucky at the dump. He was very excited to the highest degree several grease-blackened pieces of twisted coat that he pitch I was just impressed that he could tell what the y were supposed to be.From there we went to the Checker Auto Parts down in Hoquiam. In my truck, it was more than a two hour drive entropy on the winding freeway, but the time passed easily with Jacob. He chattered round his friends and his school, and I found myself intercommunicate questions, not even pretending, truly meddlesome to hear what he had to say.Im doing all the talking, he complained after a long story almost Quil and the trouble hed stirred up by enquire out a seniors steady girlfriend. Why dont you take a turn? Whats going on in Forks? It has to be more exciting than La Push.Wrong, I sighed. Theres really nothing. Your friends are a lot more enkindle than mine. I like your friends. Quils funny.He frowned. I suppose Quil likes you, too.I laughed. Hes a little young for me.Jacobs frown deepened. Hes not that much younger than you. Its just a year and a few months.I had a feeling we werent talking about Quil anymore. I kept my voice light, teasing. Sure, but, co nsidering the difference in maturity between guys and girls, dont you have to count that in dog days? What does that make me, about twelve years older?He laughed, rolling his eyes. Okay, but if youre going to get picky like that, you have to middling in size, too. Youre so dwarfish, Ill have to knock ten years stumble your total.Five foot four is perfectly average. I sniffed. Its not my defect youre a freak. We bantered like that till Hoquiam, still arguing over the dress formula to determine ageI lost two more years because I didnt know how to change a tire, but gained one back for being in charge of the bookkeeping at my houseuntil we were in Checker, and Jacob had to concentrate again. We found everything left on his list, and Jacob felt confident that he could make a lot of progress with our haul.By the time we got back to La Push, I was twenty-three and he was thirtyhe was definitely weighting sciences in his favor.I hadnt bury the spring for what I was doing. And, even though I was enjoying myself more than Id thought possible, there was no lessening of my original desire. I still wanted to cheat. It was senseless, and I really didnt care. I was going to be as heady as I could possibly manage in Forks. I would not be the only keeper of an empty contract. Getting to spend time with Jacob was just a much bigger perk than Id expected.Billy wasnt back yet, so we didnt have to be sneaky about unloading our days spoils. As soon as we had everything laid out on the plastic stage next to Jacobs toolbox, he went right to work, still talking and laughing while his fingers combed expertly through the metal pieces in front of him.Jacobs skill with his hands was fascinating. They looked too big for the delicate tasks they performed with ease and precision. While he worked, he seemed almost graceful. Unlike when he was on his feet there, his height and big feet made him nearly as dangerous as I was.Quil and Embry did not show up, so maybe his threat yesterda y had been taken seriously.The day passed too quickly. It got dark outside the intercommunicate of the garage before I was expecting it, and then we heard Billy calling for us.I jumped up to help Jacob put things away, hesitating because I wasnt sure what I should touch.Just get around it, he said. Ill work on it later tonight.Dont forget your schoolwork or anything, I said, feeling a little guilty. I didnt want him to get in trouble. That plan was just for me.Bella?Both our heads snapped up as Charlies familiar voice wafted through the trees, sounding closer than the house.Shoot, I muttered. Coming I yelled toward the house.Lets go. Jacob smiled, enjoying the cloak-and-dagger. He snapped the light rancid, and for a moment I was blind. Jacob grabbed my hand and towed me out of the garage and through the trees, his feet finding the familiar path easily. His hand was rough, and very warm.Despite the path, we were both transitping over our feet in the darkness. So we were also both laughing when the house came into view. The laughter did not go deep it was light and superficial, but still nice. I was sure he wouldnt notice the faint hint of hysteria. I wasnt used to laughing, and it felt right and also very wrong at the same time.Charlie was standing under the little back porch, and Billy was seated in the doorway behind them.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 Jacobs hand around mine.Billy invited us for dinner, Charlie said to us in an absentminded tone.My super privy recipe for spaghetti. Handed down for generations, Billy said gravely.Jacob snorted. I dont think Ragus actually been around that long.The house was crowded. Harry Clearwater was there, too, with his familyhis wife, Sue, whom I knew vaguely from my childishness summers in Forks, and his two children. Leah was a senior like me, but a year older. She was beautiful in an exotic wayperfect copp er skin, glistening black hair, eyelashes like feather dustersand preoccupied. She was on Billys phone when we got in, and she never let it go. hardening was fourteen he hung on Jacobs every word with idolizing eyes.There were too many of us for the kitchen table, so Charlie and Harry brought chairs out to the yard, and we ate spaghetti off plates on our laps in the dim light from Billys open door. The men talked about the game, and Harry and Charlie made fishing plans. Sue teased her husband about his cholesterol and tried, unsuccessfully, to shame him into eating something green and leafy. Jacob talked mostly to me and Seth, who interrupted thirstily whenever Jacob seemed in danger of forgetting him. Charlie watched me, trying to be inconspicuous about it, with dexterous but cautious eyes.It was loud and sometimes confusing as everyone talked over everyone else, and the laughter from one joke interrupted the telling of another. I didnt have to speak often, but I smiled a lot, a nd only because I felt like it.I didnt want to leave.This was Washington, though, and the inevitable rain eventually bust up the party Billys living room was much too small to provide an option for continuing the get-together. Harry had driven Charlie down, so we rode together in my truck on the way back home. He asked about my day, and I told mostly the truththat Id gone with Jacob to look at parts and then watched him work in his garage.You think youll visit again anytime soon? he wondered, trying to be casual about it.Tomorrow after school, I admitted. Ill take homework, dont worry.You be sure to do that, he ordered, trying to camouflage his satisfaction.I was nervous when we got to the house. I didnt want to go upstairs. The warmth of Jacobs battlefront was fading and, in its absence, the anxiety grew stronger. I was sure I wouldnt get away with two peaceful nights of balance in a row.To put bedtime off, I checked my e-mail there was a new communicate from Renee.She wrote a bout her day, a new book club that rilled the time expansion slot of the meditation classes shed just quit, her week subbing in the second grade, wanting her kindergarteners. She wrote that Phil was enjoying his new coaching job, and that they were planning a second honeymoon trip to Disney World.And I noticed that the whole thing read like a journal entry, rather than a letter to someone else. Remorse fill through me, leaving an uncomfortable sting behind. Some daughter I was.I wrote back to her quickly, commenting on each part of her letter, volunteering information of my owndescribing the spaghetti party at Billys and how I felt watching Jacob build useful things out of small pieces of metalawed and slightly envious. I made no reference to the change this letter would befrom the ones shed received in the last several months. I could barely remember what Id written to her even as recently as last week, but I was sure it wasnt very responsive. The more I thought about it, the gu iltier I felt I really must have worried her.I stayed up extra late after that, finishing more homework than strictly necessary. But neither sleep deprivation nor the time spent with Jacobbeing almost happy in a shallow kind of waycould 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 and tried to shake off the dream. There had been a small difference last night, and I concentrated on that.Last night I had not been alone in the woods. surface-to-air missile Uleythe man who had pulled me from the forest floor that night I couldnt bear to think of consciouslywas there. It was an odd, unexpected alteration. The mans dark eyes had been surprisingly unfriendly, filled with some closed book he didnt seem inclined to share. Id stared at him as often as my frantic searching had allowed it made me uncomfortable, under all the usual panic, to have him there. M aybe that was because, when I didnt look directly at him, his shape seemed to pulse and change in my peripheral vision. Yet he did nothing but stand and watch. Unlike the time when we had met in reality, he did not unfold me his help.Charlie stared at me during breakfast, and I tried to ignore him. I supposed I deserved it. I couldnt expect him not to worry. It would probably be weeks before he stopped watching for the return of the zombie, and I would just have to try to not let it bother me. After all, I would be watching for the return of the zombie, too. Two days was hardly long enough to call me cured.School was the opposite. Now that I was paying attention, it was clear that no one was watching here.I remembered the first day Id come to Forks exalted Schoolhow desperately Id wished that I could turn gray, fade into the wet concrete of the paving like an oversized chameleon. It seemed I was getting that wish answered, a year late.It was like I wasnt 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 hoi polloi around me. I tried to catch up on what was going on, but the conversations were so disjointed that I gave up.Jessica didnt look up when I sat down next to her in Calculus.Hey, Jess, I said with delusive nonchalance. How was the rest of your weekend?She looked at me with suspicious eyes. Could she still be enraged? Or was she just too impatient to deal with a crazy person?Super, she said, turning back to her book.Thats good, I mumbled.The figure of speech icy shoulder seemed to have some literal truth to it. I could feel the warm air blowing from the floor vents, but I was still too cold. I took the jacket off the back of 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 I arrived. microphone was there, Jessica and Angela, Conner, Tyler, Eric and Lauren. Katie Marshall, the redheaded j uniorwho lived around the corner from me, was sitting with Eric, and capital of Texas Marksolder brother to the boy with the motorcycleswas next to her. I wondered how long theyd been sitting here, unavailing to remember if this was the first day or something that was a regular habit.I was beginning to get annoyed with myself. I might as well have been packed in Styrofoam peanuts through the last semester.No one looked up when I sat down next to microphone, even though the chair squealed stridently against 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.Wheres Ben today? Lauren was asking Angela. I perked up, interested. I wondered if that meant Angela and Ben were still together.I barely recognized Lauren. Shed cut off all her blond, corn-silk hairnow she had a pixie cut so short that the back was shaved like a boy. What an odd thing for her to do. I wished I knew the reason behind it . Did she get gum stuck in it? Did she cheat it? Had all the batch she was habitually nasty to caught her behind the gym and scalped her? I decided it wasnt fair for me to judge her now by my former opinion. For all I knew, shed off into a nice person.Bens got the stomach flu, Angela said in her quiet, calm voice. hopefully its just some twenty-four hour thing. He was really mordant last night.Angela had changed her hair, too. Shed grown out her layers.What did you two do this weekend? Jessica asked, not sounding as if she cared about the answer. Id bet that this was just an opener so she could tell her own stories. I wondered if she would talk about demeanor Angeles with me sitting two seats away? Was I that invisible, that no one would feel uncomfortable discussing me while I was here?We were going to have a picnic Saturday, actually, but we changed our minds, Angela said. There was an edge to her voice that caught my interest.Jess, not so much. Thats too bad, she said, about to launch into her story. But I wasnt the only one who was paying attention.What happened? Lauren asked curiously.Well, Angela said, seeming more hesitant than usual, though she was always reserved, we operate up north, almost to the hot springstheres a good spot just about a mile up the trail. But, when we were halfway there we saw something.Saw something? What? Laurens pale eyebrows pulled together. Even Jess seemed to be listening now.I dont 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 dark mocking, and I decided I didnt need to give her the benefit of the doubt. obviously her personality had not changed as much as her hair. Tyler tried to sell me that one last week.Youre 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, shes 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, didnt 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 shed 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 didnt know why he was looking at me so strangely. I talked to him at work, didnt I? Did I? I thought soMike recovered. Yeah, there was a guy who said he saw a huge black bear right at the trailheadbigger 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 me tentatively, and I hurried to return the smile.So, what did you do this weekend, Bella? Mike asked, curious, but strangely 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 Saturday afternoon and most of Sunday down at La Push.The eyes flickered to Jessica and back to me. Jess looked irritated. I wondered if she didnt want anyone to know shed gone out with me, or whether she just wanted to be the one to tell the story.What movie did you see? Mike asked, starting to smile.Dead Endthe one with the zombies. I grinned in encouragement. Maybe some of the damage Id 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 didnt stop asking me questions till lunch was over. Gradually, the others were able to start up their own conversations ag ain, though they still looked at me a lot. Angela talked mostly 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-shes-lost-it kind. Are you okay?This is why Id picked Jessica over Angelathough Id always liked Angela morefor the girls night movie. Angela was too perceptive.Not completely, I admitted. But Im a little bit better.Im glad, she said. Ive missed you.Lauren and Jessica strolled by us then, and I heard Lauren whisper loudly, Oh, joy Bellas back.Angela rolled her eyes at them, and smiled at me in encouragement.I sighed It was like I was starting all over again.Whats todays date? I wondered suddenly.Its January nineteenth.Hmm.What is it? Angela asked.It was a year ago yesterday that I had my first day here, I mused.Nothings changed much, Angela muttered, looking after Lauren and Jessica. I know, I agreed I was just thinking the same thing.