Act II
Chapter 17 ━━ Motorcycles & Cliff diving

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The time is passing by day by day to week by week and it seems that Bella is slowly regaining back her memories Esdras compelled out of her. And she has already gone all crazy without him. 

Shelley hasn't seen her smile for a long time. It's like she has forgotten how to smile. So here they are in front of Jacob's house to hang out with him. Bella pulls up in her truck. 

Jacob comes out of the house with a huge grin. "Bella!"

Bella hops out, Jacob hugs her. Bella's surprised by his affection but doesn't mind. 

"Bout time you came by." Jacob finally turns to the blonde and hugs her but not with the same enthusiasm as he did for Bella. "Hey, Shell." 

"Yeah. Hey." 

"We brought you something." Bella pulls the tarp back, revealing - her neighbour's two dilapidated, rusting motorcycles. 

"Scrap metal. You guys shouldn't have." He says.

"It was her idea. Not mine." Shelley interjects.

"I rescued them from the dump. They'd cost more than they're worth to fix… unless one had a mechanic-type friend." Bella explains.

"Me, being the mechanic-type friend?" Jacob asks. "Since when are you into motorcycles?"

"Recently." Bella shrugs.

Studying the bikes, Jacob speaks. "The parts alone will be pricey."

"I have a college fund I can dig into." Bella says.

"Charlie's gonna love that." Jacob remarks sarcastically.

"Absolutely." Shelley scoffs.

"Charlie won't know. You promised, Shell."

"Whatever."

"Wow. Lying to Dad. Blowing through college money. Repairing dangerous machines-that I'm guessing you'll want to ride?" Jacob asks the brunette twin.

"I really get it if you think this is stupid and reckless."

"Oh, it's totally stupid and reckless." He leans closer to Bella and grins. "When do we start?"

A hint of jealousy blasts through the blonde. But it quickly vanishes away as Bella's face spreads into something she hasn't seen in a while… a wide smile. 

"How about now?" Bella asks.

"Cool." He smiles. "Shall we wheel the bikes into the garage?"

As they pull the bikes off the truck, they laugh and joke as though Jacob has brought Bella back to life. 

Jacob is once again acting as Shelley is invisible to him. It's not a surprise. Bella is all broken and single. He's trying to fix her and be her saviour. All Shelley has to do is watch from afar and be happy for Bella's sake.

The blonde sighs and follows them into the garage. This is going to be a hell of a lot for her. Motorcycle parts are spread out on blankets when she enters the garage. 

Jacob moves among them excitedly, piecing them together. Bella watches as Shelley takes a seat and takes her phone out and sends a text asking how's everyone. "If we're going to be working on this every day, we should probably include some homework. Don't want the Dads to think we're a bad influence on you."

"You guys influence me? Please." Jacob scoffs.

"We're older than you." Bella reminds.

"Age ain't nothin' but a number." 

"And I convinced you to secretly build us two-wheeled death machines." 

Jacob suddenly mock-horror. "God, you're right, you're like Satan."

"Yo, Jake, you in there?" A voice booms outside the garage and Bella abruptly sits up, starts to pull a tarp over the bikes. 

"It's cool, it's just my boys." Jacob assures her when Quil and Embry enter. 

"Hey, Jake." Embry greets Jacob but they stop when they see the twins. The two guys share a smile. 

"Hey. This is Bella and Shelley." Jacob introduces the twins to his friends. "Girls, that's Quil and Embry."

"We already know, Shell." Quil says to Jacob. "She's our friend, loser."

Shelley smiles at them, waving at them lightly which they wave back in response.

"You guys are building bikes?" Embry asks, taking a look at the motorcycles.

"Taught him everything he knows." Bella jokes.

Shelley's phone beeps, making her quickly look at her phone screen to see Esdras's name. A smile spread on her face as she opened the reply for the message she sent him. It is a long message saying that everyone's fine and the Cullens miss them.

"Who are you texting with that smile on your face?" 

She looks up from her phone to see everyone looking at her.  "Just a friend." She lies through her teeth.

"You sure it's just a friend?" Quil asks with a grin.

Bella raises an eyebrow, not taking her eyes off her sister.

Shelley sighs. "Fine. It's my ex-boyfriend."

"You had a boyfriend?" Jacob asks, looking shocked. 

"Yes." 

"Why didn't you didn't tell me?" He sounds more hurt and some kind of envy too.

"Cause you never asked." She glares at him.

"Right." 

"Yeah. I think I need some air." Shelley states and walks out of the garage not wanting to stay there any longer. She's done. She walks to Bella's truck and opens the door to close it again. Leaning into the truck, she closes her eyes and covers her face with her hands. She is falling, unconditionally and irrevocably, in love with Jacob and he doesn't even care about her existence.

"You okay, Jakey Girl?" 

A worried Embry shows up with Quil. 

"Kind of." She replies and they nod understanding not to touch the subject further. 

"So… is that your ex-boyfriend?" Quil asks, gesturing at her phone. "You seemed happy."

"He's actually a good friend." She corrects him. "You guys must have girlfriends."

"Yes, we do." Quil beams.

"Right. Quil took his cousin to prom." Embry laughs loudly.

"Yeah, that's still a riot. You want funny, Call? I'll give you funny." Quil makes a run at him, he dodges a playful scuffle ensues. 

Shelley chuckles in amusement as the scuffle continues. Maybe it isn't very bad.

Over several days, the bikes begin to take shape, the parts on the blanket thin out. 

Jacob clowns for Bella's amusement and pretends to skewer himself with a pipe. He makes her laugh. Helping to forget the reason for doing what they are doing. The whole Edward forgetting thing.

Shelley watches her spirits beginning to lift with Jacob being the bigger perk. He constantly touches her, playful, affectionate. On the other hand, it broke her every single time she witnessed them together. Embry and Quil tried to cheer her up, constantly showing up every day. But it's not enough. 

Bella is currently driving along the La Push cliffs after our small visit at the hardware to pick up something for the motorcycles.

"Quil keeps asking to come over. I think he likes you a little too much." Jacob tells, cutting the silence.

As always, Shelley chooses to text Esdras to avoid their conversations. But this time, she cannot help but eavesdrop.

"Tell him I'm not into the cougar thing." Bella says. 

"What is it with you and age? I mean, that Cullen guy was young, didn't seem to… bother you." Jacob instantly regrets saying Edward's name as he sees it crush her spirits. "Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."

Bella lights up instantly with a smile. "It's fine."

Jacob smiles back and studies a grease-blackened motorcycle crankshaft. "We got lucky at the dump. You know how much a new crankshaft goes for?"

"Sure, I spend all my free time on crankshaft-dot-com." Bella lies and the blonde raises an eyebrow at her sister's words.

"I think that's a porn site." Jacob says, making the blonde chuckle. "These bikes are gonna be rolling soon. Where should we ride first?"

"Someplace sunny." Bella replies.

"Like there's any place sunny around here." Jacob rolls his eyes.

"I know a place above the cloud line." She stops the second she says it as she regrets it.

"Where is it?" Jacob asks.

Bella's face falls once again. "Actually, it's… too hard to get to."

Jacob brings his easy smile and optimism to the rescue. "So we'll find our sunny spot, right?"

Bella smiles, grateful. 

Not taking interest in the going subject, Shelley looks out the window at the cliffs and notices four men in the distance standing on the rocky ledge of the cliff. They wear nothing but cut-off shorts. They push each other, rough-housing. "Isn't that... Sam Uley?"

"And his cult." Jacob replies bitterly when two of the guys throw a struggling guy over the cliff! 

Bella slams on the brakes, noticing this and jumps out of the truck where Jacob and the blonde climb out after her. "Oh my God! Stop them!" 

Bella runs toward them. But Jacob's laughter slows her where the blonde raises an eyebrow and turns to Jacob who talks.

"They're not really fighting, Bella. They're cliff diving."

"What, on purpose?" Bella asks.

"Scary as hell, but a total rush." Jacob shrugs when one of the divers takes a running start and flings himself into the air, twisting and cartwheeling down. "Most of us jump from lower down."

"Think I could?" Bella asks, looking intrigued.

"No, definitely not, Bella." Shelley shakes her head in disbelief.

"Man, first motorcycles, now cliff diving?" Jacob jokes.

"You said it was a rush." Bella says.

"Maybe on a warmer day." Jacob says, making the blonde send him a death glare. He shrugs it off and continues. "And not from the top. We'll leave the showing off to Sam and his disciples. There's that bitter edge again."

Bella looks at him. "You don't like them."

"They think they run this place. Acting all badass, calling themselves protectors." Jacob says.

"What are they protecting?" The blonde questions him.

"The tribe, the land, their right to be jerks. Embry used to call them hall monitors on steroids, now look at him." Jacob points at the gang.

Shelley looks closer to see the fourth guy is Embry, hair now shorn, a thin frame filled out, laid back expression gone. It pains Jacob to see him. "That's Embry? I didn't recognize him. What happened to him?"

"He missed some school - then, out of nowhere, he's following Sam around. Same thing happened with Paul and Jared. They weren't even friends, now Sam owns them. Sam keeps giving me this look like he's waiting for me or something; it's kinda freaking me out." Jacob explains.

"Maybe you should just avoid them." Bella points out.

"I try but…"

Bella sees he's unnerved, instinctively hugs him reassuringly. "Hey. If it gets worse, we'll go to my Dad. Or you can come stay with us."

"Thanks." He smiles, holding her. "If this is how you're going to react, I'll freak out more often."

Bella realises she crossed a line and covers, playfully shoving him. As they head to the truck, Shelley rolls her eyes and looks back to see Sam Uley now looking directly at her. Then he turns and dives over the edge, cutting a clean line into the water. Weird. A shiver runs down her spine as she quickly makes herself into the truck.