The summer ended too soon. Sam proposed to Emily, who accepted enthusiastically. Both Kari and Jacob could see how much that hurt Leah to see but neither commented on it. Leah had become more withdrawn and angry since Sam had broken things off. Her brother, Seth, felt bad about how much his sister was hurting and was stuck in the middle. He wanted to be happy for his cousin. Harry had told Leah it was for the better and she would find someone that was her perfect match one day. Leah hadn't cared about what anyone said.
Shortly after school started, Jacob convinced Kari to go to Forks with him early one morning to see Bella. She went despite herself. They waited on the sidewalk in front of the main building in the misty air for Bella to show, Edward in tow as always. Edward looked angry, his lips pressed into a thin line. Bella smiled brightly and greeted Jacob.
"Happy birthday, Bella," Jacob told her.
"Sh!" Bella had said quickly, looking around to see if anyone had heard.
Kari snorted. The girl was eighteen. Did she really have an aversion to growing older already? She understood the desire to be pretty and youthful forever, but Bella was being ridiculous.
"I brought you something," Jacob said. He pulled the dreamcatcher from his pocket. "For the bad dreams."
"Wait, did you make this?" Bella asked. She took the delicate gift and looked it over carefully.
Kari rolled her eyes. "Course he did. He made one for me two years ago. Yours looks better, though."
"Wow," Bella mused. She beamed up at Jacob. "Thanks, Jacob. This is sort of perfect."
Jacob beamed back and Kari nudged him in the ribs. "We should get back before school starts."
"And hope not to get pulled over," Kari added. "Since neither of us technically have a license. You won't tell Charlie, will you?"
Bella bit her lip, deliberating for a moment, before nodding. "No worries."
"Bye Bella," Kari and Jacob chorused as they left. Though Kari didn't care for him, she offered the slightest of waves to Edward before they were out of sight.
The drive back to the reservation was faster than the ride to Forks. "You and Edward don't really like each other, do you?"
Jacob glanced at Kari and shrugged. "He doesn't like me. I think he's scared of a little competition."
"Do you seriously still have a crush on that girl?" Kari asked. She rolled her eyes. "Jake, it's been six months."
"They could still break up," he insisted.
Kari stayed quiet. She ignored Sam standing in front of the school when they got there, clearly wondering where she had gone and why Jacob was driving without a license. She went to class quickly so she wasn't late. It wasn't until lunch that she realized Jared was staring at her.
"Hey," Quil said quietly. He gestured with his chin. "Why is Cameron staring at you today?"
Kari glanced over her shoulder and shrugged. "I don't know. He's been hanging out with Sam lately. He might have said something. He's way too overprotective for his own good."
"I don't like it," Jacob said just as quietly.
"Me either," Embry added. He glanced at Jared every few minutes after that. Lunch ended and Jacob went to class with Kari. They were talking about a movie night that weekend when Jared walked up and leaned down on the table.
"Where were you this morning?" Jared asked. His voice was almost a whisper and he looked over his shoulder briefly.
"Why does it matter to you?" Kari jeered.
"Sam was worried when you were gone early."
Kari rolled her eyes. "Jake and I went to Forks. He had to run an errand."
Jared's eyes narrowed. "You should've told Sam, or at least your mom."
"My mom works so much I hardly see her," Kari said.
"Sam can shove it," Jacob muttered.
"You should have more respect," Jared said, aimed more toward Jacob. It was as if the words were a reflex. The thought made Kari shutter. "Sam does more than you know."
"Right, for the tribe," Jacob said. "Look, Sam isn't anything to me. I deal with him because I'm friends with Kari."
Jared rolled his eyes. "Just tell someone next time you leave the reservation alone."
The teacher walked in then and all conversation stopped. Kari and Jacob shared a look, silently wondering why Jared was so on edge and weird. They could practically feel the heat coming off his body, and he'd cut his hair out of the blue. If that wasn't enough to tell them something weird was going on, the kid also had a major growth spurt in the few weeks since school had started.
Kari met Jacob in his garage after school and dropped her backpack to the floor. He looked up with a furrowed brow. "Everything okay?"
"Jared wouldn't stop looking at me," she whispered. She sat on a stool. "I can't shake the feeling he's watching me for something to happen."
"It's probably just Sam being paranoid," Jacob suggested. "He avoids Forks at all costs now. He doesn't even like Emily going. I heard Billy talking about it on the phone earlier."
"I swear, Sam's afraid of his own shadow sometimes," Kari muttered. She let out a sigh. "What are you working on?"
"Math," Jacob said. "Billy gets mad if I push it aside."
The two sat and worked on homework in silence, the radio playing softly in the background. They planned to do the same thing for the rest of the week before working on the Rabbit more. Jacob, shocking as it was, had decided to put the project on the back burner for the summer since he didn't have all the right parts for it just yet. It was strange for Kari to see him without a mechanical project, but she understood. They wanted to start up again the next week.
"Jacob!" Billy yelled from the house. "Bring Kari and get up here!"
The two teenagers shared a look. Billy sounded worried, which wasn't something normal by any means, and that immediately had them worrying. They raced toward the house, breathing hard and surprised to see Sam. Jacob looked between the two. "What happened? Is someone hurt?"
"It's Bella."
Kari looked at Jacob, catching his expression, before looking at the men in front of them. "What happened?"
"She's missing," Sam said. "I'm going to help Charlie look for her."
"Let's go," Jacob almost shouted.
"Jacob," Kari said. She put a hand on his arm. "We might just be in the way."
Jacob almost glared down at her, only for Sam to interrupt them. The four of them climbed into Sam's truck and drove out to Forks. Charlie had a map on the hood of his police cruiser, trying to map out where to look.
"Any luck?" Sam asked immediately. It was getting dark.
Charlie shook his head. "No. The search party is still looking."
"I'll go help," Sam said. He took off into the trees near the house. Kari looked after him, confused when she noticed he's only wearing a pair of shorts. No shirt, no shoes. He was going to freeze out there.
"Sam!" she tried calling after him. She looked down at Billy when she didn't hear an answer. "What? I can't leave La Push for two minutes, but he goes out into the woods in only shorts. How is that fair?"
"Sam can take care of himself," Billy said. He turned to look at the map Charlie was studying and put a hand on his back, unable to reach Charlie's shoulder due to his wheelchair. "We'll find her, Charlie."
It wasn't long after that when Sam came out of the woods, Bella in his arms. She was pale and shivering and her lips were almost blue. Bella looked like she could've been a zombie for all anyone knew. How long had she been out there? It had rained that afternoon, but it was possible the trees protected her from the rain a bit. Charlie quickly took the girl into his arms, struggling a little, and carried her into the house with Sam shadowing him. Billy decided shortly after to take Jacob and Kari home.
That was the beginning of Kari's nightmare. Jacob was depressed because Bella was depressed, hearing everything Charlie told Billy second hand, and that made it hard for Kari to want to be around him. The depression didn't seem to bother Quil or Embry and they listened to Jacob's worries without much comment. It was the end of January when Bella showed up, the thundering of her truck announcing her arrival. Kari was shocked and surprised but followed Jacob as he ran off to see his new friend.
"Bella!" Jacob said loudly. He picked her up and spun her around. "Where've you been?"
Bella's smile was faint, a shadow of the one Kari remembered from her birthday. "I brought you something. It's stupid and reckless and dangerous, and I get it if you don't want to help me..."
"What is it?" Kari asked, forcing a smile.
Bella led them to the back of her truck to where two motorbikes were lying on their sides. They looked old and decrepit and beat up. Did they even run? Jacob snorted. "Scrap metal, you shouldn't have. Thanks."
Bella's smile was slightly bigger this time. She still looked as horrible as the night Sam found her in the woods. "They might be more to fix up than they're worth."
"You want to fix these?" Kari asked flatly. "Doesn't Charlie have some big vendetta against motorcycles?"
"She already said it was stupid and reckless," Jacob said. He beamed. "I'm in."
Kari kept a watch for Billy while Jacob lifted the bikes from the truck and walked them to the garage with Bella. She smiled softly to herself when she heard Bella's surprise at how buff Jacob had gotten since they last spoke.
"Just filling out," Jacob said confidently.
"He's six-two now," Kari added when she got to the garage. She appraised the bikes. "Where did you find these?"
"A kid in Forks was getting rid of them. They don't run and his mom didn't want them just lying around," Bella answered.
"Let's see what we're working with," Kari mused. She went over to the black bike and looked it over as she expertly took it apart. Jacob did the same with the red one.
Hooting and laughing came from outside the garage and Bella stood from where she'd perched, her hands flitting in the air as if she didn't know how to help. Kari snorted and Jacob smiled. "Don't worry. It's just our boys. They won't say anything."
Quil and Embry came in beaming. "What new project is this?"
"Bella brought us scrap metal," Kari teased, only glancing up from her work.
"Oh, so you're Jake's girlfriend," Embry said loudly.
"Yeah. I said she was a girl, and my friend," Jacob said weakly.
"I don't remember that distinction," Kari muttered under her breath. Embry laughed.
"I'm Quil Ateara," Quil said. He was trying to be smooth, clearly only seeing Bella's apparent beauty. Kari didn't understand the effect she had on the male species.
"Oh, so you guys have girlfriends then?" Bella said smartly. "That's cool."
Quil blushed and Embry went quiet. Kari laughed. "They wish. Quil is literally taking his cousin to prom."
"I feel bad no one asked her," Quil muttered. It may have been early, but most people already had prom dates by now.
The afternoon progressed nicely. Quil and Jacob started wrestling and Embry and Bella made a bet as to who would win. If Embry wasn't careful, he was going to find himself with a very serious gambling problem later in life.
"I should get back," Bella said. She stood and stretched her legs. "Charlie can't cook to save his life."
Kari nodded. "Right. I think he tried to make something easy once and the chief of the fire department wouldn't let him forget it when he showed up."
"Sounds like Charlie," Bella said.
"When do you want to work on the bikes again?" Jacob asked. He sounded too anxious.
"Well... I was thinking tomorrow?" Bella said it as a question.
"Sure, sure," Kari said. "We'll be here."
Jacob walked Bella to her truck and they talked for a minute out of Kari's earshot. Kari turned on the radio once more, not quite understanding Bella's aversion to music. Jacob smiled when he came back to the garage. "That was fun."