CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"N-No!" Jay yells, and Jeremy smiles as he starts walking backward away from their table in the cafeteria. "You suck!" She picks up the red apple from her tray and chucks it at him.

The older boy laughs as he catches it. "Just like Jenna."

"I take that as a compliment." She tells him, and he rolls his eyes before taking a bite out of the apple. Then he turns around and leaves the cafeteria.

Bella's laughing as she looks at Jay. "You two always make lunch interesting." The older girl says, and Jay smiles as she looks at her. "What's the big deal if he invites Paul over to your guys' place anyway?" She asks.

"He's been acting weird lately — all kinds of back and forth."

"What's that mean exactly?" Her eyebrows are furrowed as she breaks the seal on her juice bottle. "Weird how?"

"Well, sometimes he talks to me a lot, I think he even flirts with me." The little brunette says as she leans back in her seat. "Other times...it's like he can't get away from me fast enough. I thought I was the only one who noticed it, and that I was imagining it, but then Jared said something to him while I was with Kim in the kitchen. I couldn't really hear them, but he seemed annoyed with him. Paul told him to mind his own business, and then he took off. That was the last time I saw him. It was a few days ago now." 

"Why don't you talk to him? Flirt with him, see what happens." Bella tells her, and she shakes her head.

"He's got a bit of a temper... I don't know. I dated someone like that already, I just... I think maybe I shouldn't...go there again." She says, but she seems like she's trying to convince herself of that.

"But you like him, Jay. That much is obvious." She argues. "I mean, you wouldn't have thrown an apple at Jeremy just now if you didn't."

"It doesn't matter." The younger girl shakes her head. "I mean, he was kinda avoiding me the last time he was at the house. I'm not exactly a fan of being somewhere that I'm not wanted with someone who clearly doesn't want me there." She says, and Bella nods in understanding.

"What about the guy that we met at the beach — Jake's friend, with the longer hair?"

"Embry." She smiles. "Yeah, we've talked a few times. He's really sweet."

"Look at that smile — you're adorable."

"Shut up." She covers her face, and Bella chuckles. She then changes the subject a few minutes later. "Hey, Kim and I are gonna catch a movie after school on Friday. You wanna come with?"

Bella hesitates for a second. "What movie?"

"Afraid we're gonna see some sappy chick-flick?" She chuckles, and the older girl smirks. "No, I refuse. We're watching Wrong Turn 2, and then Kim's not gonna sleep for a week."

"You didn't strike me as the kind to like horror movies."

"You kiddin'? I love 'em." She smiles. "So, what do you say?"

"Yeah, sure." She nods. "Why not?"

"That's the spirit." The little brunette says as she stabs her salad and then smiles at Bella, making her laugh as she looks at the younger girl.

Friday night rolls around, and the three girls are now walking out of the movie theater. Jay's laughing at Kim, who's totally horrified, and Bella's shaking her head at them. Kim's ranting about how she will absolutely never ever let Jay pick the movie again, and the youngest has a grin on her face that shows she's obviously very pleased with herself.

Jay starts skipping down the crosswalk, and Kim groans at how happy she is about this. Bella, however, gets distracted by the guys yelling down the street from them. Bella suddenly gasps, and it gains the attention of the other two girls. They both stop their — mostly — good-natured arguing to see what's going on with her.

"Bell?" Jay gets her attention, and the oldest turns to look at them.

"I think I know those guys." Bella says, and they both turn to look at the multitude of guys with their motorcycles.

"We got beer! We got bikes!" One of the men yells to the girls.

"Uh-huh." Jay nods slowly. "Let's head back. Kim promised Henry that we'd go back to the house right after the movie was over."

"I'm just gonna see something real quick." The older girl turns and starts walking down the street toward the men.

"What..." Kim looks between Jay and the guys with the motorcycles.

"Hey, girlie!"

"Son of a bitch." The youngest mutters. "Stay here."

"Jay?" Kim's eyebrows furrow as she watches the smallest of them start toward the bikers as well, and then her hand reaches into her front pocket, but Kim can't see what she pulled out.

"Alright, alright. We got a couple'a takers." The one who's been calling out to them says, seeming rather pleased with the turn of events.

Bella's steps suddenly falter and she starts to turn back, and Jay uses that as her advantage to catch up to her. "What the hell are you doing?" She questions as she grabs the older girl's arm.

"I need to see something." Bella shakes her off and walks over to the biker. She stops in front of him and just stares for a second. "Sorry, I thought you were somebody else."

"No, that's cool. I'll be whoever you want me to be, honey." He says as he climbs onto his bike, biting his lower lip. "So, what do you say?"

"That you look old enough to be her dad, honey." Jay says as she walks up beside her friend. "I think it's time to go now." She looks up at Bella as she adjusts the old pocket knife in her hand, not trusting these guys in the slightest.

"Why don't you let your friend speak for herself?" The biker asks as he starts to reach his hand out toward the girls.

The little brunette flicks open the knife and holds the point out toward him. "How about you keep your distance before I call her father, who's a cop." She says, and he holds his hands up, obviously caught off guard with the entire situation. "Back to the truck, Bella, so help me God..."

Seeming to finally be realizing what she's doing, Bella grabs Jay's sweater and takes a step back before turning away from the bikers. The girls quickly make their way back up to Kim, who looks more than a little freaked out by what just happened.

—

The girls walk into the Connweller house, and they gain the attention of the three boys who are watching tv in the living room. "How was it?" Jared asks as Kim walks over and sits with him in the big reclining chair.

"I hate them both." She says as she nestles into his side, and he wraps his arms around her.

Jay chuckles. "Your girlfriend's a wimp."

"What'd you torture her with?" Jeremy asks as his sister walks into the kitchen to get herself something to drink.

"Wrong Turn 2."

"Oh, gross." He starts laughing when Kim buries her face in Jared's shoulder. "Remember when we watched the first one?"

The youngest nods as she starts laughing. "Elena slept in your room for a week."

"You weren't scared?" Jared asks, and she shakes her head.

"She was laughing in the theater." Bella tells them.

"Yeah, 'cause bad acting is hilarious." Jay reasons as she walks back over to them in the living room. She wants to sit down, but the only open seat is next to Paul, and he's sitting in the middle of the couch.

"You know what's not funny?" Kim points at Bella.

"Yeah, I second that one."

"What happened?" Jeremy asks as Jared rubs his girlfriend's arm.

"Bella has a death wish." Jay says as she twists the cap off of her water bottle. "I mean, what the hell were you thinking anyway?"

"Remember how I told Henry that we didn't need a chaperone into Port Angeles?" Kim shakes her head. "I was wrong... And why do you carry weapons?" She looks at Jay.

"In case creepy old men weird me out, and I need to defend myself."

"Weapons?" Paul quirks an eyebrow.

"It's just a pocket knife." The little brunette says.

"That she threatened someone with." Kim interjects.

"So that Bella wouldn't get on the back of some random loser's motorcycle." She defends, and the boys — excluding Paul — look over at Bella, obviously surprised because that doesn't sound like something that she would do.

"Can I see it?" Paul asks, and Jay looks over at him.

"Uh, yeah. I guess." She pulls the small knife out of her pocket and walks over to him. She then holds her hand out and he takes it as she sits down beside him.

"Looks old." He opens it and the small, curved blade comes out of the wooden handle. "Where did you get it?"

"A friend of mine gave it to me when he came to say goodbye before we moved here." She tells him. "Said I should have some form of concealed protection on me at all times."

"That doesn't look anything like Ric's knives." Jeremy says, and she shakes her head.

"No, it's not. Damon gave it to me."

"You claim Damon as a friend now?" He asks, and she shrugs.

"It's faster than saying my older sister's ex-boyfriend's older brother." She says, and he nods slowly, still a bit surprised by her choice of words for Damon. Not to mention surprised that he would even bother giving her something for protection.

"I'm gonna head home." Bella says, gaining their attention.

"So soon?" Kim asks, and she nods.

"Straight home, no detours?" Jay teases, and the older girl smiles.

"Promise."

"'Kay. Text me when you get there so that I know you made it through the rain." She tells her, and Bella nods, promising that she will.

"How old is this?" Paul asks as he holds the closed knife back out to Jay.

"Old, uh... Civil War days." The little brunette says as she looks back at him. "I think it was passed down through his family, like an heirloom."

He nods as he sets it on her palm, his hand lingering there for a moment longer when his fingers brush her skin. Her dark eyes hold his for a moment, but then they look away from each other when Kim starts yelling that she needs food. She starts doing a rather amusing happy dance in the kitchen when she sees the leftover pizza from the boys' dinner.

"Hey, me too!" Jay says as she gets up, tucking the knife back into her sweater pocket.

"You made me watch the evil movie!" Kim points at her accusingly, motioning like she's gonna keep the pizza away from her.

"Jared's gonna turn on Nemo." She says, and then stops next to the Quileute boy when he gets to his feet. "But he can't touch the butt."

Jared chuckles as Jeremy groans. "Stop with the terrible movie references." Her brother tells her, and she shoots him a glare.

"Never!" She shouts as she makes her way into the kitchen, and Kim chuckles. The older girl happens to think that her references are funny.