In the next few weeks, it became increasingly clear to me that Edward Cullen was beginning to become a problem. He'd been hanging around Bella an awful lot, too close for my own comfort. It didn't help that he was giving me the same treatment he'd given her the first week at school. He always glared at me, like I gave him a headache or something.
I watched her watch him at the lunch table. He wasn't even glancing in our direction, but she stared at him angrily. She'd been wrapped up in her own head lately, which I guessed I was too.
"La Push, baby," Eric said to her as he sat at the table. "You in?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Should I know what that means?"
I scoffed at her. "Bells, you already do. The beach down on the rez."
"Oh!" she said, running a hand through her hair. "Right."
I eyed her, confused. What was going on with Cullen that had her so frazzled?
"We're all going after school. Big swell coming in," Mike said to her.
Eric jumped on a chair, pretending to surf. "And I don't just surf the internet!"
I laughed.
"Eric, you stood up once," Jess remarked, "on a foam board."
"There's whale watching, too," Angela said to Bella. "You should come with. You, too, Eve."
"La Push, baby," Eric whispered.
Bella scoffed a laugh. "I'll go if you stop saying that."
"I'm in, too," I said. "I've got business down there."
Bella got up to go to the salad bar. Eric raised an eyebrow questioningly. "What kind of business could you have, dude? You're fifteen."
I smirked. "I have my secrets, Yorkie."
"Her business is Jacob Black," Jess teased.
Mike grinned. He'd been a lot more friendly with me since he'd apologized. "Oh, really?"
"Whatever, guys, he's just a friend." I rolled my eyes.
Jess giggled. "Yeah, yeah."
After school, we piled in our cars and drove out to La Push beach. Jess and Angela rode with Bella and me, and Bella filled us in on how she'd asked Edward to join, only for him to turn it down.
We pulled up to the beach. I watched as Jess and the guys suited up for the water, only halfway listening as Bella and Angela talked about prom.
"Bella! Eve!" Jacob said as he walked over to us, followed by Sam Uley and Embry Call.
I smiled. "Well, well, look who it is."
"Hey, you're on my rez," he joked. "You surfing?"
Bella coughed. "Definitely not."
"Keep her company," Jess teased. "Her date bailed."
"What date?" Eric asked.
"She invited Edward," Jess said.
Bella flushed. "To be polite."
Angela smiled approvingly. "I think it's nice she invited him. No one ever does."
"Because Cullen's a freak," Mike muttered.
"You got that right," Sam remarked.
I couldn't help but chuckle.
Bella frowned. "You know them?"
"The Cullens don't come here," Sam said sharply.
I raised a brow at Jacob, then threw a look at Bella. Jacob looked mildly embarrassed, and Bella was just as confused as me.
"Let's go look at the tide pools," I said to them.
Once we got down by the water, Bella asked the question before I could.
"So, what did your friend mean by 'the Cullens don't come here'?" she asked, a teasing smile on her face.
He laughed, embarrassed. "You caught that, huh?"
"Don't avoid the question, Jake," I chuckled.
"I'm not supposed to say anything," he said.
I hummed. "Well, we can keep a secret."
Jacob thought a minute before sighing. "Alright. It's just an old scary story. Did you know the Quileutes are supposedly descended from wolves?"
"Like, real wolves?" Bella asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, the Cullens supposedly descended from this, like... 'enemy clan.' ... But they claimed to be different, so we made a treaty with them," Jacob said with a shrug.
"Didn't they just move here?" I asked.
Jacob grinned. "Or just moved back."
Bella chuckled. "Right. So what was the treaty?"
"If they promised to stay off Quileute lands, we wouldn't expose what they really were to the pale-faces," Jacob whispered.
Bella shivered.
I smiled. "Nice."
"Wait," she said, "what were they really?"
Jacob smiled. "It's just a scary story, Bella."
She seemed to consider that.
I grabbed Jacob's arm. "And with that, I say we visit Harry and Sue. Haven't seen them in a while." I waved bye to Bella. "See you later!"
I dragged Jacob off toward Harry and Sue Clearwater's house.
He raised an eyebrow once we were out of earshot. "And why are we really paying a visit to Harry and Sue?"
"Mom and Sue used to hang out," I replied. "She could know about my father."
"Ah," Jacob said. "Off we go, then."
When we got to Sue's house, she offered us some of Harry's fish fry, and then some cookies, and then some muffins that her niece, Emily, had made.
"We're really okay, Mrs. Clearwater," I told her. "Just came to see if you needed anything! I heard that Leah's planning a wedding."
Sue smiled. She was especially pretty when she smiled, her dark eyes lighting up. "Yes, well, Leah's got it covered. She's such a particular bride." She chuckled. "The wedding won't be for a while, though. Harry wants her to wait until... Well, he just wants her to wait."
"Sam's a good guy," Jacob remarked. "They'll be happy together."
"I think so, too," Sue said. "Anything else you kids need?"
I took a breath before telling her why we were really here. "Well, you and my mom were friends, right?"
Sue stiffened. "Yes, your mother and I were good friends... until she left."
"I've been trying to track down another old friend of hers," I told her. "A guy by the name of A."
Sue's facade split for a fraction of a second before she smiled again. "Ah, no. Don't know anyone like that."
"Mrs. Clearwater–"
She stood up. "Evelyn... Evie. Sometimes the answers we want aren't ones that we're ready for." Her dark eyes were intense. "Now, you kids better be getting home. It's getting late."
She walked to the kitchen, leaving us alone in the living room.
Jacob frowned, standing up. "Sorry, Evie. Looks like Sue was a bust."
I sighed, standing as well. "I guess."
Then, fatefully, I caught sight of a picture on the side table– one of Leah as a young girl, sitting with a young Rebecca Black and my sister, who was only a baby, barely sitting up on the ground. In the background of the picture was my mother and a young, blonde man.
I frowned. I didn't recognize the man. He certainly wasn't from Forks, I could tell by his designer sweater and expensive jeans. His face was slightly blurry, but he was handsome.
Something in me snapped. I took the picture out of its frame, stuffing it into my pocket.
"Eve," Jacob hissed. "What are you doing?"
"I don't know," I hissed back. "Let's go."