Page 4 (2/2)

"You could have called us," Edward said in a steel-hard voice

"Sorry," Jacob answered, his face twisting into a sneer "I don’t have any leeches on my speed dial"

"You could have reached me at Bella’s house, of course"

Jacob’s jaw flexed, and his brows pulled together He didn’t answer

"This is hardly the place, Jacob Could we discuss this later?"

"Sure, sure I’ll stop by your crypt after school" Jacob snorted "What’s wrong with now?"

Edward looked around pointedly, his eyes resting on the witnesses ere just barely out of hearing range A few people were hesitating on the sidewalk, their eyes bright with expectation Like they were hoping a fight ht break out to alleviate the tediue Austin Marks, and they both paused on their way to class

"I already knohat you came to say," Edward reminded Jacob in voice so low that I could barely e delivered Consider us warned"

Edward glanced down atsecond orried eyes

"Warned?" I asked blankly "What are you talking about?"

"You didn’t tell her?" Jacob asked, his eyes widening with disbelief "What, were you afraid she’d take our side?"

"Please drop it, Jacob," Edward said in an even voice

"Why?" Jacob challenged

I frowned in confusion "What don’t I knoard?"

Edward just glared at Jacob as if he hadn’t heard me

"Jake?"

Jacob raised his eyebrow atbrother crossed the line Saturday night?" he asked, his tone thickly layered with sarcasm Then his eyes flickered back to Edward "Paul was totally justified in -"

"It was no-man’s land!" Edward hissed

"Was not!"

Jacob was fu visibly His hands trefuls of air

"Emmett and Paul?" I whispered Paul was Jacob’s most volatile pack brother He was the one who’d lost control that day in the woods - the ray as suddenly vividin ?" My voice strained higher in panic "Why? Did Paul get hurt?"

"No one fought," Edward said quietly, only to ot hurt Don’t be anxious"

Jacob was staring at us with incredulous eyes "You didn’t tell her anything at all, did you? Is that why you took her away? So she wouldn’t know that -?"

"Leave now" Edward cut hi - truly frightening For a second, he looked likelike a va

Jacob raised his eyebrows, but made no other move "Why haven’t you told her?"

They faced each other in silence for a long athered behind Tyler and Austin I saw Mike next to Ben - Mike had one hand on Ben’s shoulder, like he was holding him in place

In the dead silence, all the details suddenly fell into place forEdward didn’t wantthat Jacob wouldn’t have kept fro that had the Cullens and the wolves both in the woods,that would cause Edward to insist that I fly across the country

So that Alice had seen in a vision last week - a vision Edward had lied tofor anyway Soht wish it never would It was never going to end, was it?

I heard the quick gasp, gasp, gasp, gasp of the air dragging through my lips, but I couldn’t stop it It looked like the school was shaking, like there was an earthquake, but I kneasthat caused the illusion

"She caive up till I was dead She would keep repeating the same pattern - feint and run, feint and run - until she found a hole through et lucky Maybe the Volturi would come for me first - they’d kill ling his body so that he was still between me and Jacob, and stroked my face with anxious hands "It’s fine," he whispered to et close to you, it’s fine"

Then he glared at Jacob "Does that answer your question, ht to know?" Jacob challenged "It’s her life"

Edward kept his voiceforward by inches, would be unable to hear "Why should she be frightened when she was never in danger?"

"Better frightened than lied to"

I tried to pullin moisture I could see it behind my lids - I could see Victoria’s face, her lips pulled back over her teeth, her cri with the obsession of her vendetta; she held Edward responsible for the demise of her love, James She wouldn’t stop until his love was taken from hiertips

"Do you really think hurting her is better than protecting her?" he her than you think," Jacob said "And she’s been through worse"

Abruptly, Jacob’s expression shifted, and he was staring at Edith an odd, speculative expression His eyes narrowed like he was trying to do a difficult lanced up at him, and his face was contorted in what could only be pain For one ghastly moment, I was reminded of our afternoon in Italy, in the macabre tower room of the Volturi, where Jane had tortured Edith her hts alone

Thein perspective Because I’d rather Victoria killed ain

"That’s funny," Jacob said, laughing as he watched Edward’s face

Edinced, but smoothed his expression with a little effort He couldn’t quite hide the agony in his eyes

I glanced, wide-eyed, frori to hi, Bella," Edward told ood ain

"Stop it! Whatever you’re doing"

"Sure, if you want" Jacob shrugged "It’s his own fault if he doesn’t like the things I relared at hi so he knows he shouldn’t by someone who he knoon’t punish hi on school property," Edward lish, Bella, so you’re not involved"

"Overprotective, isn’t he?" Jacob said, talking just to uess, you’re not allowed to have fun, are you?"

Edward glowered, and his lips pulled back frohtly

"Shut up, Jake," I said

Jacob laughed "That sounds like a no Hey, if you ever feel like having a life again, you could coe"

This news distracted me "You were supposed to sell that You proed on Jake’s behalf - after all, he’d put weeks of labor into both motorcycles, and he deserved some kind of payback - Charlie would have thrown my bike in a Duht Like I would do that It belongs to you, not me Anyway, I’ll hold on to it until you want it back"

A tiny hint of the ses of his lips

"Jake"

He leaned forward, his face earnest now, the bitter sarcas before, you know, about not being able to be friends Maybe we could e it, on my side of the line Come see me"

I was vividly conscious of Edward, his arms still wrapped protectively around me, motionless as a stone I shot a look at his face - it was calm, patient

"I, er, don’t know about that, Jake"

Jacob dropped the antagonistic faade cootten Edas there, or at least he was determined to act that way "I miss you every day, Bella It’s not the same without you"

"I know and I’hed "I know Doesn’tWho needs friends?" He gri to cover the pain with a thin atteered my protective side It was not entirely rational - Jacob was hardly in need of any physical protection I could offer But my arms, pinned beneath Edward’s, yearned to reach out to hi, aist in a silent pro aret to class," a stern voice sounded behind us "Move along, Mr Crowley"

"Get to school, Jake," I whispered, anxious as soon as I recognized the principal’s voice Jacob went to the Quileute school, but heor the equivalent

Edward released ain

Mr Greene pushed through the circle of spectators, his brows pressing down like ominous storm clouds

over his s "Detention for anyone who’s still standing here when I turn around again" The audience melted away before he was finished with his sentence

"Ah, Mr Cullen Do we have a problem here?"

"Not at all, Mr Greene We were just on our way to class"

"Excellent I don’t seelower on Jacob "Are you a new student here?"

Mr Greene’s eyes scrutinized Jacob, and I could see that he’d coerous A troublemaker

"Nope," Jacob answered, half a sest you re man, before I call the police"

Jacob’s little s Charlie showing up to arrest hi to satisfyto see

Jacob said, "Yes, sir," and snapped a military salute before he cliht there on the sidewalk The engine snarled and then the tires squealed as he spun it sharply around In a nashed his teeth together while he watched the performance

"Mr Cullen, I expect you to ask your friend to refrain froain"

"He’s no friend of "

Mr Greene pursed his lips Edward’s perfect grades and spotless record were clearly a factor in Mr Greene’s assessment of the incident "I see If you’re worried about any trouble, I’d be happy to -"

"There’s nothing to worry about, Mr Greene There won’t be any trouble"

"I hope that’s correct Well, then On to class You, too, Miss Swan"

Edward nodded, and pulled

"Do you feel well enough to go to class?" he whispered ere past the principal

"Yes," I whispered back, not quite sure if this was a lie

Whether I felt well or not was hardly the ht away, and English class wasn’t the ideal place for the conversation I had in ht behind us, there weren’t a lot of other options

We got to class a little late and took our seats quickly Mr Berty was reciting a Frost poe to let us break his rhythe out of ible than noritation

What happened? Tellhed, and then began writing It took hiraph in his own personal calligraphy before he slipped the paper back

Alice saw that Victoria was co back I took you out of town merely as a precaution - there was never a chance that she would have gotten anywhere close to you Emmett and Jasper very nearly had her, but Victoria seeht down the Quileute boundary line as if she were reading it from a map It didn’t help that Alice’s abilities were nullified by the Quileutes’ involveht have had her, too, if we hadn’t gotten in the way The big gray one thought Eot defensive Of course Rosalie reacted to that, and everyone left the chase to protect their cos calot out of hand But by then, Victoria had slipped away That’s everything

I frowned at the letters on the page All of them had been in on it - Emmett, Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, and Carlisle Maybe even Esh he hadn’t mentioned her And then Paul and the rest of the Quileute pack Itainst each other Any one of theined the wolves would be in the e olves, fighting

I shuddered

Carefully, I scrubbed out the entire paragraph with my eraser and then I wrote over the top:

What about Charlie? She could have been after hi his head before I finished, obviously going to downplay any danger on Charlie’s behalf He held a hand out, but I ignored that and started again

You can’t know that she wasn’t thinking that, because you weren’t here Florida was a bad idea

He took the paper from underneath my hand

I wasn’t about to send you off alone With your luck, not even the black box would survive

That wasn’t what I’dwithout hiether But I was sidetracked by his response, and a littlethe plane down Very funny

So let’s sayto do about it? Why is the plane crashing?

He was trying to hide a smile now

The pilots are passed out drunk

Easy I’d fly the plane

Of course I pursed ines have exploded and we’re falling in a death spiral toward the earth

I’d wait till ere close enough to the ground, get a good grip on you, kick out the wall, and jump Then I’d run you back to the scene of the accident, and we’d stumble around like the two luckiest survivors in history

I stared at him wordlessly

"What?" he whispered

I shook ," Iconversation and wrote one more line You will tell me next time

I knew there would be a next time The pattern would continue until so moment I wondered what my face looked like - it felt cold, so the blood hadn’t returned to hed and then nodded once

Thanks

The paper disappeared froin surprise, just as Mr Berty ca you’d like to share there, Mr Cullen?"

Edward looked up innocently and held out the sheet of paper on top of his folder "My notes?" he asked, sounding confused

Mr Berty scanned the notes - no doubt a perfect transcription of his lecture - and then walked away frowning It was later, in Calculus - ossip

"My

I peeked up to see that Tyler, Mike, Austin, and Ben had their heads bent together, deep in conversation

"Yeah," Mike whispered "Did you see the size of that Jacob kid? I think he could take Cullen down" Mike sounded pleased by the idea

"I don’t think so," Ben disagreed "There’s so about Edward He’s always soconfident I have a feeling he can take care of hireed "Besides, if that other kid et involved"

"Have you been down to La Push lately?" Mike asked "Lauren and I went to the beach a couple of weeks ago, and believeas he is"

"Huh," Tyler said "Too bad it didn’t turn into anything Guess we’ll never knoould have turned out"

"It didn’t look over to rinned "Anyone in the mood for a bet?"

"Ten on Jacob," Austin said at once

"Ten on Cullen," Tyler chireed

"Jacob," Mike said

"Hey, do you guys knohat it was about?" Austin wondered "That uess," Mike said, and then he shot a glance at me at the same time that Ben and Tyler did

From their expressions, none of the distance They all looked away quickly, shuffling the papers on their desks

"I still say Jacob," Mike muttered under his breath