It should surprise no one that I did not sleep well that night.

It did, however, surprise my dad when I slammed a mug of coffee too hard onto the kitchen table as I sat down for a quick breakfast before I took off. I didn't react as a butter knife skittered from his hand into his glass of orange juice and hunkered down further into my chair when Dad finally got to chiding me.

"No apology?" He asked gently, with more of a tone like he was talking to a wild animal then that he saw I was upset.

I didn't look away from the coffee as he walked to dump the now greasy glass of orange juice into the sink. "Sorry."

Dad accepted this for a few minutes, coming back to his chair with a new glass. When I continued staring into the mug without drinking, he tried again.

"You seemed worried last night. Did something happen after?"

"I..." How vindictive would it be to tell him what I'd heard in her room? But it would hurt him more than her. "Where's Isabella?"

"Left early..."

Something must have shown on my face because his next words were stern. "Genevieve, what happened?"

"Nothing." I was so tired. "I just..."

"I thought you and Bella were getting along." He leaned forward onto the table, trying to read my downturned expression. "Honey, is this because she's been spending so much time with Alice?"

I sighed tiredly. "No."

"Gen."

"Dad, I need to go to school."

He snorted at this and took the opportunity to snag the untouched cup of coffee for himself.

I slipped away before he could say anything else.

...

School was not great. With all the chaos of Edward, I'd forgotten the blowout with Tyler and his buddies. I got a couple notes tossed at my head—most of which missed pathetically—and I heard the teasing whispers of some of the girls behind me as well.

I survived it.

I got to lunch and found my way to the usual table, put my head down next to Annalise's tray, and dozed off. I wondered briefly if the vampires were going to come back to school now. This was too much of a nightmare to consider; I shoved it away.

I fell asleep.

I woke up to Cassie gently shaking my shoulder and telling me that the bell had rung. I told her to go ahead and sat up, pressing the palms of my hands to my eyes. Most of the tables were already empty and some of the cafeteria workers were standing off to the side, waiting to clean up. I had to leave.

I didn't have to go back to class.

The thing about having a school with 'outdoor hallways' is that it is very easy to play hooky. I'd done it quite a lot my freshmen year before my dad threatened to have me held back. Or was it before I got a crush on that guy in the period after lunch? I couldn't quite remember as I wandered out of the cafeteria and off the sidewalk, sneaking along the wall I knew had no windows until I got to the woods behind the school.

"This is a bad idea." I told myself softly, staring up at the bare branches and curling my toes happily inside my warm socks and boots. A breeze played with my hair. I stayed on the edge of the treeline but I knew if I didn't go further in soon someone was bound to notice me.

I looked around carefully, watching for a sign of something too pale or a hint of the red that was Victoria's hair. This led to a closer look through the woods, searching for a less vivid vampire who I was suddenly sure was watching me, watching the school, watching Bella.

"If you're listening..." He could hear a whisper, right? I didn't quite remember the less terrifying vampire skills that Bella had told me about. "If you're listening, Dick..."

I turned back to the building and leaned my whole body against it, throwing my head back so that the misting rain could soak my eyes. I was so angry at everything. At everyone. At Bella. At him.

I didn't actually have anything I wanted to say him.

Another dramatic moment ruined.

I grabbed my phone and texted Jake to come pick me up. I steeled myself to head off to the nurse to lie myself into a couple days off but found myself staring off into the woods again, heart beating a little faster.

Had I heard a voice?

I shuddered. "I hate vampires." My voice shook but I managed to laugh afterwards.

Then I practically sprinted to the nurse's office.

...

The nurse gave me a pass and asked if I wanted her to call someone. I surreptitiously checked my phone, found that Jake hadn't texted me back, and told her no anyway. An hour later I was still lying in the back of my car, alternating between dozing and checking my phone. As the phone finally buzzed I snatched at it and managed to instead throw the cell into my face in my eagerness. After a bit of swearing and rubbing at my bruised forehead, I found it was just a text from Annalise asking where I was.

I gave a very dramatic sigh as I texted her back and figured it was time to give up on any rescue from Jake, much as I loved the mental picture of him riding up on his motorcycle and me climbing up behind him... riding off with one arm wrapped around him and the other giving Tyler, Mike, Jess, etc the finger...

But I felt better enough to drive and decided to head up to LaPush and find Jake myself.

'Skipping school. Meet you at your place.' I sent the second text and clambered awkwardly over the armrests to get into the driver's seat. It was painful getting my knees under the steering wheel from that angle but eventually I managed and what felt like a few minutes later I was at the Black's house, pulling up at the curb and climbing out into the now pouring rain.

Still alternatively rubbing at my tired eyes and dented forehead, I trudged across their muddy front lawn and up the ramp to their front door. Billy was waiting for me with the door swung open behind his wheelchair and I reached out a hand to catch it, letting him head back into the kitchen.

I followed him and found him taking a mug of milk from the microwave. With a knowing smile, he motioned for the table and I sat and watched as he finished making the hot chocolate, fetched a bag of marshmallows, and set both down in front of me. I hadn't eaten anything yet that day and so instead of my usual dumping a fistful of marshmallows into my drink, I began to pick them from the bag one by one to eat instead. As I chewed I gave Billy a questioning look where he now sat across from me.

"Some days still bad?" he asked.

I winced. "Edward's back." It felt good to say it. "And Bella knows."

Billy nodded, looking no happier about this then I was. He reached over to a drawer and soon there was a bag of popcorn in front of me as well. He made himself a second bag and we sat in silence as we ate. I was mulling over what questions I could ask him and what I should keep between Jacob and me.

"Where's Jake?" I settled on eventually.

"Now that the Cullens are back, Sam asked that Jake take a turn watching them."

"But the treaty..." I shivered. "They're still dangerous?"

"They're still vampires." Billy agreed. "And none of us like how close Bella lets them get to all three of you."

I considered this as I drained the last of the cocoa. "I'm afraid of when they come back to school. I didn't quite realize before they left... And I don't know what to do if Edward starts coming over..."

Billy folded his hands on the table and listened. I found myself listing my fears. And I told him, finally, finally what happened when I was taken to Phoenix, when I was bitten. I told him everything up until the day before when Edward showed up and when I finished I found a wrinkle of amusement around his eyes.

"I'm sorry." He said.

I bit my lip and nodded in response.

"May I see the bite?" Billy asked.

I fidgeted with my sleeve for a moment but he waited patiently and... it was Billy. So finally I held out my hand and bared the white marks on my wrist, the skin that was still just a bit too cold to be alive. "Why didn't you tell me anything about them?" I blurted.

Billy kept his eyes on my wrist. He didn't seem to hear me. About a minute later his gaze went back to my face and I pulled back, self-consciously tugging at my sleeve again. I heard the rain begin to pick up outside, rattling on the roof.

"There has always been magic in our blood." The old man said simply.

"Jake said I should ask you to tell me the stories." I remembered. But my voice shook a little.

"I will tell you. Later." He laughed again at my sigh of frustration. "But try to understand that I wanted to protect my son. And the other sons of our tribe."

"Oh."

"And their job is to protect you. And me. And all humans like us." He sighed. "And before Jacob imprinted the best way for all of us was to keep you away from all this."

"When I was taken... What did you tell my dad?"

A flash of pain flew across his face. "Nothing."

"Oh." I waited but he didn't try to explain it.

"Any other questions?" Billy glanced at the back window. "Jacob should be back soon."

"Right." Jacob... "How would you describe this... imprinting thing?"

"Jacob didn't tell you?" Oh, crud the look on Billy's face—he was never going to stop teasing Jacob about any of this. "What did he say?"

"He said it was... like being tied to me?" Oh why did I bring this up. "Like nothing matters but-but the girl. It seemed to me like something that had just happened. Just like him changing into a werewolf..." My voice was struggling not to be miserable. "Like he has no choice."

Billy raised an eyebrow. "Would you like it better if I said you are his soulmate?" I turned a brilliant shade of red and my eyes widened in panic. Billy could barely speak his next sentence for laughing. "His other half."

"Right." I repeated. I didn't really feel any better.

Billy reached out and snagged the empty mug, heading over to the sink to wash up. "Gen, he chose to go see you. He knew it would happen." He shook his head.

I stood abruptly and gathered the empty popcorn bags, heading toward the trash and throwing him one more question I knew I'd regret. Why not?

"And what did you think of that?"

Billy turned and stared up at me, serious now. "I didn't want either of Charlie's daughters involved in all this." He said flatly. "He is my friend. But. I am glad to have you with us, Gen."

"Oh."

"I am glad that Jacob has a chance to be happy."

I nodded. That did help.

I helped Billy put the mugs back into the proper cabinet and was just about to announce my intention to go check out what Jacob had last been working on in the shed when the doorbell rang. I perked up hopefully but when I arrived at the door it was a girl I didn't recognize with short cropped dark hair.

She glanced up and scowled at me. "Hey Gen. Jake asked me to take you over to Emily's. He'll meet us there in a bit."

I blinked at her for a moment before I realized—Leah.

Well this should be an interesting walk.

And I gave Billy a quick goodbye and headed out the door.