CHAPTER 13
GOOD RIDDANCE

MARGO sleeping past her alarm was just a catalyst to one of the weirdest days in existence.

She never slept past her alarm. Ever. It was loud enough to wake a heavy sleeper, but somehow she had done it today. Why today? She had stayed up until one-thirty AM last night, finishing another assignment and submitting her application to UCSF, which made her wake up with a queasy feeling in her stomach. She felt the same last night, and as much as she wanted to blame it on the Caesar chicken, she knew it was because she finally applied to her dream school. Now she just had to wait a few months for a response and, hopefully, an acceptance.

Margo dragged herself out of bed, trying to dress as quickly as she could. She ended up pulling on a pair of jeans and a dirty shirt from the laundry, but for right now, she didn't care about the stain in the middle of it. Throwing on a jean jacket and her sneakers, she ran down the stairs, messy hair and backpack in tow. She could barely open her eyes as her aunt spoke with her, not that she wanted them open in the first place.

"You're late today," she said with a questionable tone. Margo was surprised she was still there, because Jenny usually left before her. "You're never late."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Margo sighed, grabbing her clean thermos and messily pouring coffee into it. "I gotta head to school or I'll be late again."

Jenny lifted her hands. "Um – breakfast?"

"Coffee is the breakfast of champions!" Margo shouted as she slammed the door shut. She almost slipped on her front steps from the morning rain that coated them. Hopping into her van, she ignited the engine and took a large gulp of coffee. It was pure black – not the way she liked it, but the way that she knew would get her into gear. She saw Jenny leaving the house as she did, and Margo began to speed down the road to school.

The oddities didn't stop there. Everyone seemed to be so loud in the halls today. As Margo's sneakers squeaked against the floor, she heard nothing but a consistent ringing in her ears and the loud chatter of her peers. She groaned outwardly as she threw her locker open, and she momentarily forgot where she was going. Margo almost ignored Melinda's greeting too. She was falling asleep in most of her classes, wishing she had more coffee to keep her up. Finally, around eleven-thirty, something seemed to surge within her, and she suddenly felt more alive. Maybe the coffee had finally kicked in as she finished the last drop.

At lunch, she practically scarfed down the chicken noodle soup and bread that was tossed on her plate. Melinda watched her with curious eyes. "Are you okay?" She asked as Margo drank her glass of lemonade in one sip.

Margo wiped her mouth with the end of her sleeve. "Okay is an understatement," she replied, rubbing a hand over her eyes. "I'm tired. More than I've ever been."

"Why? You never go to bed that late."

Margo bit the inside of her cheek, hesitating on an answer. "Well, I may have stayed up applying to the San Francisco brand of the University of California last night ..."

Melinda's eyes lit up. "Really? Oh, my god. Finally!" She tore off a piece of bread and placed it in her mouth. "You know you'll get accepted. You just have to."

"Hopefully," Margo muttered, resting her cheek in her hand.

She was suddenly looking ahead now, barely hearing Melinda's new rant with her ringing ears. Bella Swan sat at her table with her "friends," but she seemed barely there mentally. Her mind was definitely somewhere else, and Margo's notion was confirmed when she watched the brunette look behind her. Margo followed her eyes – she was staring at the Cullens' usual table. It was empty. None of them were there. Margo wrinkled her nose in confusion. The Cullens were always gone on days with nice weather, and today certainly wasn't sunny or warm.

The curious tic in Margo's brain went off again as she entered her chemistry class. Her feet moved sluggishly to her seat in the front, and minutes later, Bella took the seat behind her. Margo was biting her lip to stop herself from saying something, but she just couldn't help it. She turned to Bella, who looked up at her with wide eyes and a furrowed brow, and asked, "How was the birthday yesterday?"

Bella cautiously pulled her sleeves over her knuckles, thinking that the action was nothing, but Margo saw suspicion behind it. Bella sighed, "It was ... interesting."

Margo's foot tapped against the ground. Her brow shot up as she replied, "Interesting as in ..."

"I ..." Bella cleared her throat, taking her chemistry book out of her backpack and opening it to the last page their class left off on. "I rather not talk about it."

Before Margo could ask more – and she indeed planned too, despite Bella's wishes – their teacher clapped her hands to begin class. Margo sent Bella a defeated look and turned around to face their teacher, eyes closing for a brief moment. Oh, how good it would be to sleep tonight.

•••

"You always make the best beef stew, Margo."

Margo glanced down at Billy Black with a smile. She stirred the beef stew in a large pot over Billy's vintage stove, but it did the job just the same. She switched the burner to a lower heat before grabbing a dish rag and wiping her hands. "It's my aunt's recipe," she explained. "I know it by memory, but I'll write it down for you sometime to make it on your own."

They had just gotten done with watching the Butterfly Effect, and while the movie was on a subject Margo enjoyed, the acting was horrendous. Although, she did enjoy Billy's hilarious laughter during parts of it, since his chuckles were reflective and made both his son and Margo laugh along with him. Jacob enjoyed spending time with his dad and Margo, and almost wished that Bella could be there too. However, if Bella was there, he knew he couldn't have gotten away with casually sliding his arm across Margo's part of the soon. He knew Bella would've given him a side-eye about that.

The three sat down at the small table in Billy's kitchen, enjoying the meal Margo created. Rain pattered against the old roof. The tiny electronic fireplace near them warmed up the room, creating an atmosphere of peace. "This is fantastic," Billy said towards Margo.

She grinned big, "Thanks, Billy."

"Yeah, real good," Jacob agreed, viewing to his friend. "Almost as good as Ashton Kutcher's acting in that movie."

The three of them cracked up at the joke, and Margo then jabbed her spoon in Jacob's direction. "Hey, I didn't know the movie was going to be that bad!"

"You said it was good!"

Margo shrugged. "I guess you can't trust internet reviews. I should've known that."

"You're, like, super smart," Jacob laughed, "so – yeah, you should've."

Billy chuckled at the teenagers' bickering. He almost wished there were people like Margo and Bella around Jacob more, because he thought them to be a good influence on them. At the moment, Jacob was constantly surrounded by the eyes of Sam Uley, but Billy wasn't an idiot to this. He knew exactly why Sam Uley stared at his son like he was waiting for something, and though Billy knew his son had a destiny, he just wanted him to stay young, just for a bit longer.

The phone rang loudly, shaking the homely atmosphere amongst the group. Billy was about to wheel his chair off to the phone, but Jacob put up his hand and walked to it anyways. He picked up the phone, greeting, "Black residence." Billy and Margo watched Jacob's face become perplexed at the words he was receiving. Jacob's mouth opened slightly, and he finally said, "Yeah, Charlie. We'll be there." He propped the phone back on the wall and turned to his dad with a fearful expression.

"Charlie says Bella is missing," he informed. "Harry Clearwater is already down at his house. We gotta go."

•••

Chief Swan stood over a map of Forks that he placed atop of his cruiser. A cellphone sat in one hand, while a walkie was in the other. Bella's truck was still parked in the driveway of her house. Harry Clearwater hovered over a small laptop, which he used to contact others for Bella's whereabouts. They were having no luck so far, and the sun had just set.

Margo hadn't even expected to be here with them. She thought Jacob would be driving his dad's truck back to her house, and then he would take both him and his dad to Charlie's place. But Chief Swan apparently needed all the help he could get, and he knew Margo Richards was a friend to his daughter, so he advised her to call some of her friends for information. The first person Margo called was, obviously, Melinda, who was shocked by the situation but had no info to share. Margo even called Mike Newton, who's number she somehow had not deleted from her cellphone. Mike found it very odd for Margo to be calling, but understood the circumstance. He, also, had nothing to share. Not like Margo expected anything from the dimwitted boy anyways.

Her mind was in the gutter. She felt completely useless. Margo wanted to find Bella, but what else could she do? She tried to find any signs or premonitions for this in her conservation with Bella today, though there were none. Except for, maybe, the way she was speaking about her birthday party. Why hadn't she wanted to talk about it? Did something bad happen to her? Whatever circumstance happened at that party, was that the reason her boyfriend wasn't in school today? Courtney was swarmed with questions.

Charlie picked up his phone from the cruiser. "I'm gonna try the Cullens' place again."

Billy's head perked up at the certain name. "The Cullens left town, Charlie."

"Good riddance," Harry mumbled.

Margo's brow furrowed at Harry's reply. She turned to the elder man, meeting his dark eyes for a moment.

Charlie's mouth twitched slightly. "Where'd they go?"

Harry stood up straighter, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder. "We'll find her, Charlie."

"Thanks, Harry."

Margo pursed her lips, glancing to Jacob for a moment. She realized he had been looking at her, and upon meeting her gaze, he was now staring at his shoes. Jacob wondered if she actually caught him staring, and suddenly, his stomach was overwhelmed with butterflies. She laced her arms around his, finding his towering form to be warmer than her jacket. Butterflies that she tried to ignore swarmed her stomach. Jacob's heart beat loud in his chest. "Do you think they're gonna find her?" Margo whispered.

"I hope so," he said.

The two teenagers heard footsteps approaching the house. They looked up, seeing a russet-toned boy with cropped hair heading their way. Despite the chilling air and slight drops of rain, he wore no shirt. Only a pair of ripped shorts and sneakers were adorning him. He carried a pale girl in his arms, who curled herself into him. Judging from the dark hair and similar yellow jacket, Margo knew it was Bella.

Jacob suddenly called out, "Charlie!"

Charlie was running then. He sprinted towards the shirtless teenager, breathing as heavy as ever. Tears were springing from his eyes at the sight of his daughter. The boy handed over Bella to her father, telling him, "She's alright."

"I got her," Charlie mumbled as he took Bella in his arms. "Thank you, Sam."

Margo smiled thoughtfully as Charlie carried his daughter inside the house. She hesitantly loosened her arm from Jacob's, now noticing the look this boy – by the name of Sam – was giving him. She narrowed her gaze in Sam's direction, but he paid no attention to the daunting girl. He was only staring at Jacob, and Jacob was trying his best to ignore him.

"Hey," she muttered, shaking his arm. "You okay –"

Jacob was now looking back at her, sending her a false smile. His eyes held something deeper, something that caused Margo to give him a confused expression. She glanced back to Sam, standing feet from them, but he was now gone. She opened her mouth to ask him what it was all about, but Jacob was already speaking. "Let's go inside," he said, before motioning for them to follow his father inside the Swan abode, and hoping that Margo forgot about the exchange. She didn't.