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His forehead creased. "There's something. Keep it close to town, okay?"

 

"Sure, sure," I said quickly. He didn't look completely appeased.

 

"Charlie's getting nosy," I complained to Jacob when I picked him up after school Friday.

 

"Maybe we should cool it with the bikes." He saw my objecting expression and added, "At least for a week or so. You could stay out of the hospital for a week, right?"

 

"What are we going to do?" I griped.

 

He smiled cheerfully. "What ever you want."

 

I thought about that for a minute—about what I wanted.

 

I hated the idea of losing even my brief seconds of closeness with the memories that didn't hurt—the ones that came on their own, without me thinking of them consciously. If I couldn't have the bikes, I was going to have to find some other avenue to the danger and the adrenaline, and that was going to take serious thought and creativity. Doing nothing in the meantime was not appealing. Suppose I got depressed again, even with Jake? I had to keep occupied.

 

Maybe there was some other way, some other recipe… some other place.

 

The house had been a mistake, certainly. But his presence must be stamped somewhere, somewhere other than inside me. There had to be a place where he seemed more real than among all the familiar landmarks that were crowded with other human memories.

 

I could think of one place where that might hold true. One place that would always belong to him and no one else. A magic place, full of light. The beautiful meadow I'd seen only once in my life, lit by sunshine and the sparkle of his skin.

 

This idea had a huge potential for backfiring—it might be dangerously painful. My chest ached with emptiness even to think of it. It was hard to hold myself upright, to not give myself away. But surely, there of all places, I could hear his voice. And I'd already told Charlie I was hiking…

 

"What are you thinking about so hard?" Jacob asked.

 

"Well…" I began slowly. "I found this place in the forest once—I came across it when I was, um, hiking. A little meadow, the most beautiful place. I don't know if I could track it down again on my own. It would definitely take a few tries…"

 

"We could use a compass and a grid pattern," Jacob said with confident helpfulness. "Do you know where you started from?"

 

"Yes, just below the trailhead where the one-ten ends. I was going mostly south, I think."

 

"Cool. We'll find it." As always, Jacob was game for anything I wanted. No matter how strange it was.

 

So, Saturday afternoon, I tied on my new hiking boots—purchased that morning using my twenty-per-cent-off employee discount for the first time—grabbed my new topographical map of the Olympic Peninsula, and drove to La Push.

 

We didn't get started immediately; first, Jacob sprawled across the living room floor—taking up the whole room—and, for a full twenty minutes, drew a complicated web across the key section of the map while I perched on a kitchen chair and talked to Billy. Billy didn't seem at all concerned about our proposed hiking trip. I was surprised that Jacob had told him where we were going, given the fuss people were making about the bear sightings. I wanted to ask Billy not to say anything about this to Charlie, but I was afraid that making the request would cause the opposite result.

 

"Maybe we'll see the super bear," Jacob joked, eyes on his design.

 

I glanced at Billy swiftly, fearing a Charlie-style reaction.

 

But Billy just laughed at his son. "Maybe you should take a jar of honey, just in case."

 

Jake chuckled. "Hope your new boots are fast, Bella. One little jar isn't going to keep a hungry bear occupied for long."

 

"I only have to be faster than you."

 

"Good luck with that!" Jacob said, rolling his eyes as he refolded the map. "Let's go."

 

"Have fun," Billy rumbled, wheeling himself toward the refrigerator.

 

Charlie was not a hard person to live with, but it looked to me like Jacob had it even easier than I did.

 

I drove to the very end of the dirt road, stopping near the sign that marked the beginning of the trailhead. It had been a long time since I'd been here, and my stomach reacted nervously. This might be a very bad thing. But it would be worth it, if I got to hear him.

 

I got out and looked at the dense wall of green.

 

"I went this way," I murmured, pointing straight ahead.

 

"Hmm," Jake muttered.

 

"What?"

 

He looked at the direction I'd pointed, then at the clearly marked trail, and back.

 

"I would have figured you for a trail kind of girl."

 

"Not me." I smiled bleakly. "I'm a rebel."

 

He laughed, and then pulled out our map.

 

"Give me a second." He held the compass in a skilled way, twisting the map around till it angled the way he wanted.

 

"Okay—first line on the grid. Let's do it."

 

I could tell that I was slowing Jacob up, but he didn't complain. I tried not to dwell on my last trip through this part of the forest, with a very different companion. Normal memories were still cangerous. If I let myself slip up, I'd end up with my arms clutching my chest to hold it together, gasping for air, and how would I explain that to Jacob?

 

It wasn't as hard as I would have thought to keep focused on the present. The forest looked a lot like any other part of the peninsula, and Jacob set a vastly different mood.

 

He whistled cheerfully, an unfamiliar tune, swinging his arms and moving easily through the rough undergrowth. The shadows didn't seem as dark as usual. Not with my personal sun along.

 

Jacob checked the compass every few minutes, keeping us in a straight line with one of the radiating spokes of his grid. He really looked like he knew what he was doing. I was going to compliment him, but I caught myself. No doubt he'd add another few years to his inflated age.

 

My mind wandered as I walked, and I grew curious. I hadn't forgotten the conversation we'd had by the sea cliffs—I'd been waiting for him to bring it up again, but it didn't look like that was going to happen.

 

"Hey… Jake?" I asked hesitantly.

 

"Yeah?"

 

"How are things… with Embry? Is he back to normal yet?"

 

Jacob was silent for a minute, still moving forward with long paces. When he was about ten feet ahead, he stopped to wait for me.

 

"No. He's not back to normal," Jacob said when I reached him, his mouth pulling down at the corners. He didn't start walking again. I immediately regretted bringing it up.

 

"Still with Sam."

 

"Yup."

 

He put his arm around my shoulder, and he looked so troubled that I didn't playfully shake it off, as I might have otherwise.

 

"Are they still looking at you funny?" I half-whispered.

 

Jacob stared through the trees. "Sometimes."

 

"And Billy?"

 

"As helpful as ever," he said in a sour, angry voice that disturbed me.

 

"Our couch is always open," I offered.

 

He laughed, breaking out of the unnatural gloom. "But think of the position that would put Charlie in—when Billy calls the police to report my kidnapping."

 

I laughed too, glad to have Jacob back to normal.

 

We stopped when Jacob said we'd gone six miles, cut west for a short time, and headed back along another line of his grid. Everything looked exactly the same as the way in, and I had a feeling that my silly quest was pretty much doomed. I admitted as much when it started to get darker, the sunless day fading toward a starless night, but Jacob was more confident.

 

"As long as you're sure we're starting from the right place…" He glanced down at me.

 

"Yes, I'm sure."

 

"Then we'll find it," he promised, grabbing my hand and pulling me through a mass of ferns. On the other side was the truck. He gestured toward it proudly. "Trust me."

 

"You're good," I admitted. "Next time we bring flashlights, though."

 

"We'll save hiking for Sundays from now on. I didn't know you were that slow."

 

I yanked my hand back and stomped around to the driver's side while he chuckled at my reaction.

 

"So you up for another try tomorrow.'" he asked, sliding into the passenger seat.

 

"Sure. Unless you want to go without me so I don't tie you down to my gimpy pace."

 

"I'll survive," he assured me. "If we're hiking again, though, you might want to pick up some moleskin. I bet you can feel those new boots right now."

 

"A little," I confessed. It felt like I had more blisters than I had space to fit them.

 

"I hope we see the bear tomorrow. I'm sort of disappointed about that."

 

"Yes, me, too," I agreed sarcastically. "Maybe we'll get lucky tomorrow and something will eat us!"

 

"Bears don't want to eat people. We don't taste that good." He grinned at me in the dark cab. "Of course, you might be an exception. I bet you'd taste good."

 

"Thanks so much," I said, looking away. He wasn't the first person to tell me that.

9. THIRD WHEEL

 

 

TIME BEGAN TO TRIP ALONG MUCH MORE QUICKLY than before. School, work, and Jacob—though not necessarily in that order—created a neat and effortless pattern to follow. And Charlie got his wish: I wasn't miserable anymore. Of course, I couldn't fool myself completely. When I stopped to take stock of my life, which I tried not to do too often, I couldn't ignore the implications of my behavior.

 

I was like a lost moon—my planet destroyed in some cataclysmic, disaster-movie scenario of desolation—that continued, nevertheless, to circle in a tight little orbit around the empty space left behind, ignoring the laws of gravity.

 

I was getting better with my bike, which meant fewer bandages to worry Charlie. But it also meant that the voice in my head began to fade, until I heard it no more. Quietly, I panicked. I threw myself into the search for the meadow with slightly frenzied intensity. I racked my brain for other adrenaline-producing activities.

 

I didn't keep track of the days:hat passed—there was no reason, as I tried to live as much in the present as possible, no past fading, no future impending. So I was surprised by the date when Jacob brought it up on one of our homework days. He was waiting when I pulled up in front of his house.

 

"Happy Valentine's Day," Jacob said, smiling, but ducking his head as he greeted me.

 

He held out a small, pink box, balancing it on his palm. Conversation hearts.

 

"Well, I feel like a schmuck," I mumbled. "Is today Valentine's Day?"

 

Jacob shook his head with mock sadness. "You can be so out of it sometimes. Yes, it is the fourteenth day of February. So are you going to be my Valentine? Since you didn't get me a fifty-cent box of candy, it's the least you can do."

 

I started to feel uncomfortable. The words were teasing, but only on the surface.

 

"What exactly does that entail?" I hedged.

 

"The usual—slave for life, that kind of thing."

 

"Oh, well, if that's all…" I took the candy. But I was trying to think of some way to make the boundaries clear. Again. They seemed to get blurred a lot with Jacob.

 

"So, what are we doing tomorrow? Hiking, or the ER?"

 

"Hiking," I decided. "You're not the only one who can be obsessive. I'm starting to think I imagined that place…" I frowned into space.

 

"We'll find it," he assured me. "Bikes Friday?" he offered.

 

I saw a chance and took it without taking time to think it through.

 

"I'm going to a movie Friday. I've been promising my cafeteria crowd that I would go out forever." Mike would be pleased.

 

But Jacob's face fell. I caught the expression in his dark eyes before he dropped them to look at the ground.

 

"You'll come too, right?" I added quickly. "Or will it be too much of a drag with a bunch of boring seniors?" So much for my chance to put some distance between us. I couldn't stand hurting Jacob; we seemed to be connected in an odd way, and his pain set off little stabs of my own. Also, the idea of having his company for the ordeal—I had promised Mike, but really didn't feel any enthusiasm at the thought of following through—was just too tempting.

 

"You'd like me to come, with your friends there?"

 

"Yes," I admitted honestly, knowing as I continued that I was probably shooting myself in the foot with my words. "I'll have a lot more fun if you're there. Bring Quil, and we'll make it a party."

 

"Quil's gonna freak. Senior girls." He chortled and rolled his eyes. I didn't mention Embry, and neither did he. I laughed, too. "I'll try to get hin a good selection."

 

I broached the subject with Mike in English.

 

"Hey, Mike," I said when class was over. "Are you free Friday night?"

 

He looked up, his blue eyes instantly hopeful. "Yeah, I am. You want to go out?"

 

I worded my reply carefully. "I was thinking about getting a group"—I emphasized the word—"together to go see Crosshairs." I'd done my homework this time—even reading the movie spoilers to be sure I wouldn't be caught off guard. This movie was supposed to be a bloodbath from start to finish. I wasn't so recovered that I could stand to sit through a romance. "Does that sound like fun?"

 

"Sure," he agreed, visibly less eager.

 

"Cool."

 

After a second, he perked back up to near his former excitement level. "How about we get Angela and Ben? Or Eric and Katie?"

 

He was determined to make this some kind of double date, apparently.

 

"How about both?" I suggested "And Jessica, too, of course. And Tyler and Conner, and maybe Lauren," I tacked on grudgingly. I had promised Quil variety.

 

"Okay," Mike muttered, foiled.

 

"And," I continued, "I've got a couple of friends from La Push I'm inviting. So it sounds like we'll need your Suburban if everyone comes."

 

Mike's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

 

"These are the friends you spend all your time studying with now?"

 

"Yep, the very ones," I answered cheerfully. "Though you could look at it as tutoring—they're only sophomores."

 

"Oh," Mike said, surprised. After a second of thought, he smiled.

 

In the end, though, the Suburban wasn't necessary.

 

Jessica and Lauren claimed to be busy as soon as Mike let it slip that I was involved in the planning. Eric and Katie already had plans—it was their three-week anniversary or something. Lauren got to Tyler and Conner before Mike could, so those two were also busy. Even Quil was out—grounded for fighting at school. In the end, only Angela and Ben, and, of course Jacob, were able to go.

 

The diminished numbers didn't dampen Mike's anticipation, though. It was all he could talk about Friday.

 

"Are you sure you don't want to see Tomorrow and Forever instead?" he asked at lunch, naming the current romantic comedy that was ruling the box office. "Rotten Tomatoes gave it a better review."

 

"I want to see Crosshairs" I insisted. "I'm in the mood for action. Bring on the blood and guts!"

 

"Okay." Mike turned away, but not before I saw his maybe-she's-crazy-after-all expression.

 

When I got home from school, a very familiar car was parked in front of my house. Jacob was leaning against the hood, a huge grin lighting up his face.

 

"No way!" I shouted as I jumped out of the truck. "You're done! I can't believe it! You finished the Rabbit!"

 

He beamed. "Just last night. This is the maiden voyage."

 

"Incredible." I held my hand up for a high five.

 

He smacked his hand against mine, but left it there, twisting his fingers through mine. "So do I get to drive tonight?"

 

"Definitely," I said, and then I sighed.

 

"What's wrong?"

 

"I'm giving up—I can't top this one. So you win. You're oldest."

 

He shrugged, unsurprised by my capitulation. "Of course I am."

 

Mike's Suburban chugged around the corner. I pulled my hand out of Jacob's, and he nude a face that I wasn't meant to see.

 

"I remember this guy," he said in a low voice as Mike parked across the street. "The one who thought you were his girlfriend. Is he still confused?"

 

I raised one eyebrow. "Some people are hard to discourage."

 

"Then again," Jacob said thoughtfully, "sometimes persistence pays off."

 

"Most of the time it's just annoying, though."

 

Mike got out of his car and crossed the road.

 

"Hey, Bella," he greeted me, and then his eyes turned wary as he looked up at Jacob. I glanced briefly at Jacob, too, trying to be objective. He really didn't look like a sophomore at all. He was just so big—Mike's head barely cleared Jacob's shoulder; I didn't even want to think where I measured next to him—and then his face was older-looking than it used to be, even a month ago.

 

"Hey, Mike! Do you remember Jacob Black?"

 

"Not really." Mike held out his hand.

 

"Old family friend," Jacob introduced himself, shaking hands. They locked hands with more force than necessary. When their grip broke, Mike flexed his fingers.

 

I heard the phone ringing from the kitchen.

 

"I'd better get that—it might be Charlie," I told them, and dashed inside.

 

It was Ben. Angela was sick with the stomach flu, and he didn't feel like coming without her. He apologized for bailing on us.

 

I walked slowly back to the waiting boys, shaking my head. I really hoped Angela would feel better soon, but I had to admit that I was selfishly upset by this development. Just the three of us, Mike and Jacob and me, together for the evening—this had worked out brilliantly, I thought with grim sarcasm.

 

It didn't seem like Jake and Mike had made any progress towards friendship in my absence. They were several yards apart, facing away from each other as they waited for me; Mike's expression was sullen, though Jacob's was cheerful as always.

 

"Ang is sick," I told them glumly. "She and Ben aren't coming."

 

"I guess the flu is making another round. Austin and Conner were out today, too. Maybe we should do this another time," Mike suggested.

 

Before I could agree, Jacob spoke.

 

"I'm still up for it. But if you'd rather to stay behind, Mike—"

 

"No, I'm coming," Mike interrupted. "I was just thinking of Angela and Ben. Let's go." He started toward his Suburban.

 

"Hey, do you mind if Jacob drives?" I asked. "I told him he could—he just finished his car. He built it from scratch, all by himself," I bragged, proud as a PTA mom with a student on the principal's list.

 

"Fine," Mike snapped.

 

"All right, then," Jacob said, as if that settled everything. He seemed more comfortable than anyone else.

 

Mike climbed in the backseat of the Rabbit with a disgusted expression.

 

Jacob was his normal sunny self, chattering away until I'd all but forgotten Mike sulking silently in the back.

 

And then Mike changed his strategy. He leaned forward, resting his chin on the shoulder of my seat; his cheek almost touched mine. I shifted away, turning my back toward the window.

 

"Doesn't the radio work in this thing?" Mike asked with a hint of petulance, interrupting Jacob mid-sentence.

 

"Yes," Jacob answered. "But Bella doesn't like music."

 

I stared at Jacob, surprised. I'd never told him that.

 

"Bella?" Mike asked, annoyed.

 

"He's right," I mumbled, still looking at Jacob's serene profile.

 

"How can you not like music?" Mike demanded.

 

I shrugged. "I don't know. It just irritates me."

 

"Hmph." Mike leaned away.

 

When we got to the theater, Jacob handed me a ten-dollar bill.

 

"What's this?" I objected.

 

"I'm not old enough to get into this one," he reminded me.

 

I laughed out loud. "So much for relative ages. Is Billy going to kill me if I sneak you in?"

 

"No. I told him you were planning to corrupt my youthful innocence."

 

I snickered, and Mike quickened his pace to keep up with us.

 

I almost wished that Mike had decided to bow out. He was still sullen—not much of an addition to the party. But I didn't want to end up on a date alone with Jacob, either. That wouldn't help anything.

 

The movie was exactly what it professed to be. In just the opening credits, four people got blown up and one got beheaded. The girl in front of me put her hands over her eyes and turned her face into her date's chest. He patted her shoulder, and winced occasionally, too. Mike didn't look like he was watching. His face was stiff as he glared toward the fringe of curtain above the screen.

 

I settled in to endure the two hours, watching the colors and the movement on the screen rather than seeing the shapes of people and cars and houses. But then Jacob started sniggering.

 

"What?" I whispered.

 

"Oh, c'mon!" he hissed back. "The blood squirted twenty feet out of that guy. How fake can you get?"

 

He chuckled again, as a flagpole speared another man into a concrete wall.

 

After that, I really watched the show, laughing with him as the mayhem got more and more ridiculous. How was I ever going to fight the blurring lines in our relationship when I enjoyed being with him so much?

 

Both Jacob and Mike had claimed the armrests on either side of me. Both of their hands rested lightly, palms up, in an unnatural looking position. Like steel bear traps, open and ready. Jacob was in the habit of taking my hand whenever the opportunity presented itself, but here in the darkened movie theater, with Mike watching, it would have a different significance—and I was sure he knew that. I couldn't believe that Mike was thinking the same thing, but his hand was placed exactly like Jacob's.

 

I folded my arms tightly across my chest and hoped that both their hands fell asleep.

 

Mike gave up first. About halfway through the movie, he pulled his arm back, and leaned forward to put his head in his hands. At first I thought he was reacting to something on the screen, but then he moaned.

 

"Mike, are you okay?" I whispered.

 

The couple in front of us turned to look at him as he groaned again.

 

I could see the sheen of sweat across his face in the light from the screen.

 

Mike groaned again, and bolted for the door. I got up to follow him, and Jacob copied me immediately.

 

"No, stay," I whispered. "I'll make sure he's okay."

 

Jacob came with me anyway.

 

"You don't have to come. Get your eight bucks worth of carnage," I insisted as we walked up the aisle.

 

"That's okay. You sure can pick them, Bella. This movie really sucks." His voice rose from a whisper to its normal pitch as we walked out of the theater.

 

There was no sign of Mike in the hallway, and I was glad then that Jacob had come with me—he ducked into the men's bathroom to check for him there.

 

Jacob was back in a few seconds.

 

"Oh, he's in there, all right," he said, rolling his eyes. "What a marshmallow. You should hold out for someone with a stronger stomach. Someone who laughs at the gore that makes weaker men vomit."

 

"I'll keep my eyes open for someone like that."

 

We were all alone in the hallway. Both theaters were halfway through the movie, and it was deserted—quiet enough for us to hear the popcorn popping at the concession counter in the lobby.

 

Jacob went to sit on the velveteen-upholstered bench against the wall, patting the space beside him.

 

"He sounded like he was going to be in there for a while," he said, stretching his long legs out in front of him as he settled in to wait.

 

I joined him with a sigh. He looked like he was thinking about blurring more lines. Sure enough, as soon as I sat down, he shifted over to put his arm around my shoulders.

 

"Jake," I protested, leaning away. He dropped his arm, not looking bothered at all by the minor rejection. He reached out and took my hand firmly, wrapping his other hand around my wrist when I tried to pull away again. Where did he get the confidence from?

 

"Now, just hold on a minute, Bella," he said in a calm voice. "Tell me something."

 

I grimaced. I didn't want to do this. Not just not now, but not ever. There was nothing lett in my life at this point that was more important than Jacob Black. But he seemed determined to ruin everything.

 

"What?" I muttered sourly.

 

"You like me, right?"

 

"You know I do."

 

"Better than that joker puking his guts out in there?" He gestured toward the bathroom door.

 

"Yes," I sighed.

 

"Better than any of the other guys you know?" He was calm, serene—as if my answer didn't matter, or he already knew what it was.

 

"Better than the girls, too," I pointed out.

 

"But that's all," he said, and it wasn't a question.

 

It was hard to answer, to say the word. Would he get hurt and avoid me? How would I stand that?

 

"Yes," I whispered.