Discover Twilight

chapter xiv

After school I drive us to Jake's school on the reservation to pick him up, with our bikes in the bed and book it to a clearing I found far down on First Beach. Seeing as we have to teach Bella everything there is to riding a bike, we put her on the dirt road with nothing around that could possibly hurt her. Though in my experience, Bella could find a way to make air hurt her. I sit on my tailgate, watching Jake give Bella the instructions, "Brake?" She taps it after being quickly instructed to ignore the brake by her right foot.

"Clutch?" She squeezes it in response, grimacing at the analogy Jake gave her regarding the clutch. He compared it to holding a live grenade with the pin pulled, a great analogy just bad for someone as jumpy and clumsy as Bella Swan. 

"Right. And gas?" She grips it.

Feeling like a proud mother, I clap loudly to congratulate her, "You ready?"

Bella nods eagerly then Jacob kickstarts the bike for her because she could barely keep the bike from falling over. "Slowly... release the clutch." She does... the bike inches forward so Jacob cautiously steps back. Bella turns her head to her left mesmerized by the air and her hand slips off the clutch so the bike bucks her off, falling on top of her.

Jacob quickly lifts it off her, inspecting her for any injuries she may have acquired, "You okay? Bruises, breaks?"

Bella shakes her head as she brushes off her pants, looking past Jake and at the area she had been staring at before she fell of the bike as though she were going to find something there but only to be met with disappointment, "I'm going again."

I hop of my tailgate walking to her side, "I'm not sure that's a good-" And before I could finish my thought process, Bella hops back on the bike making Jake laugh impressed by her tenacity, "Guess we're going again."

Not being as impressed as Jake I step back, knowing I won't win this battle and begin quizzing her again before she killed herself with round two, "Now what are you going to do with the clutch?"

She looks down at her hands tightening her grip, "Release it. Slowly."

Jacob and I nod before Jake kick-starts the bike again for her. She releases the clutch and moves forward slowly. She keeps going down the road, a little faster than before. Jake and I smile at each other watching her ride down the road no problem until she starts looking left and right yelling, "I don't -- how do I turn!?"

We look at each other scared of what'll happen if she doesn't do as we say and we both scream, "Bank it! Bank - hit the brake!"

Jacob and I haul ass toward her as she reaches the turn, she doesn't bank, goes straight... and flies right into a wall of trees. This time the bike didn't land on her and when we reach her we find her lying on the ground, looking around her like she were searching for something that wasn't there announcing, "I want to go again."

I help her sit up, inspecting her head that's bleeding profusely, growling at her, "Hell no. Forget it. I'm revoking your motorcycle privileges. Damn, look at your head."

Jake pulls off his shirt to mop it up. She shrinks away as I let Jake press the shirt against her temple, "God, I'm sorry."

I laugh, knowing she's alright by her apology but Jake's confused by it, "You're apologizing for bleeding?"

I chuckle to myself as I walk 5 feet away to examine the damage she did to the bike, thankfully it didn't cause any damage that couldn't be easily fixed in an hour, hearing her ask him confusedly, "It doesn't... bother you?"

He shakes his head, swaying his hair behind with the movement, "It's just blood, Bella."

I take my cousin's bike back to my truck leaving them to talk, or flirt or whatever they were doing. I lift the bike up high enough to make it onto the tailgate, allowing me to push it further into the bed. Much to my surprise, I didn't have problem getting it into the truck like I expected I would have. To my left I see a hurt looking Jake walk back to the truck with a staggering apologizing Bella, "I'm sorry. I should've said something right from the start-"

Jake cuts her off leaning up against the side of the truck, clutching his stomach, "No. That's not- I just feel...weird."

Bella looks up at him, ignoring the blood that was dripping from her superficial facial laceration, "I told you, you have a fever. Probably that flu everyone has."

I press the back of my hand against his forehead and it feels super hot to the touch.  So I did a trick my mom taught me when I was a kid, I pressed my lips to his forehead to see if it was still as hot as my hand felt. And lo and behold his forehead felt hotter when I kissed his forehead. At least I know I'm not the only one who's been feeling that way for the past few weeks. I'm constantly burning up and getting angry or I feel as though my insides are about to explode. Jake shakes his head climbing into the cab of the truck, "It doesn't... feel like the flu. I don't know what it is."