The warmth from the blue flames before her heats Maria as she sits on a makeshift driftwood bench. Her hair is still dripping wet, but the water drops onto Edward's blue coat and rolls onto the floor, leaving her leggings and thick hoodie dry. She would have preferred to surf for a while longer, but Jessica had wanted to get out and dry off, and apparently, her lips were turning blue. She tries to hide the fact that she is shivering so violently by wrapping her arms around her body and inching closer to the burning wood. 

"Jesus, Maria," Bella rolls her eyes, noticing how cold her sister is. "I knew it would be too cold to go surfing."

"No, it wasn't," Maria shakes her head defiantly. "It was really fun, and I'm only cold now because the air is cold."

Bella eyes her sceptically before sighing and sitting down beside her, uncomfortably wrapping her arms around her sister's shoulders to try and share some of her body heat. Maria looks up at her in surprise.

"You never hug me," Maria points out, and Bella lets out a huff.

"Don't get used to it," she orders. "I'm only doing it because your lips are still blue, and you would do the same if I were cold."

"Aw, you're so sweet, Bells," Maria gushes sarcastically, and Bella shushes her. Eventually, Maria warms up, and her lips return to their healthy pink hue, so Bella quickly lets go of her and awkwardly shoves her hands into her pockets. A young boy, one of the locals from the reservation, walks over and sits beside them. He's younger than them, maybe fifteen, with long glossy black hair and dark brown eyes. He smiles at them, and Bella smiles back shyly, a light blush forming on her cheeks.

"You're Isabella Swan, aren't you?" He asks, and Bella's smile falters. "And you're Maria?"

"Bella," Bella sighs.

"I'm Jacob Black," he holds his hand out to Bella. "You bought my dad's truck."

"Oh," Bella seems relieved as she shakes his hand. "You're Billy's son."

"Yeah, you probably remember my older sisters," Jacob says as he shakes Maria's hand. "Jesus, you're freezing. You're not a vampire, are you?"

Maria laughs, shaking her head as she shoves her hands in the pockets of Edwards's coat. "No, I've just been surfing. How are your sisters? Are they here?"

"No. Rachel got a scholarship to Washington State, and Rebecca married a Samoan surfer - she lives in Hawaii now."

"Married? Wow," Bella says, stunned. "She's only one year older than us."

"Well, if they're in love, they're in love," Maria shrugs, smiling a little. "It's nice that she found someone. I bet Hawaii is nice, too."

"Yeah," Jacob agrees, and then he turns to Bella. "So, how do you like the truck?"

"I love it. It runs great."

"Yeah, but it's really slow," he laughs. "I was so relieved when Charlie bought it. My dad wouldn't let me work on building another car when we had a perfectly good vehicle right there."

"It's not that slow," Bella objects.

"Have you tried to go over sixty?"

"No," Bella tells him.

"Good. Don't." He grins.

Bella smiles a little, her cheeks red. "It does great in a collision."

"I don't think a tank could take out that old monster," he agrees, laughing.

"So you build cars?" Bella asks, and Maria rolls her eyes, laughing to herself. Despite Bella's love for her truck, that's where her interest in cars ends, and Maria can tell she's asking Jacob purely because she is interested in him.

"When I have free time and parts. You wouldn't happen to know where I could get my hands on a master cylinder for a 1986 Volkswagen Rabbit?" he says jokingly.

"You have a Volkswagen Rabbit?" Maria enquires, eyebrows raised a little. "That's cool."

"It will be when it's up and running," Jacob nods.

"I have a Volkswagen too: a Beetle," Maria tells him, and he smiles, impressed.

"Nice? What condition is it in?"

"It's pristine," Maria replies proudly. "I've put a lot of money into it - when we lived in Phoenix, I worked almost every night and all weekend so I could buy it and fix it up."

"That's cool."

"You know Bella and Maria, Jacob?" Lauren Mallory interrupts their conversation, and Maria sighs, looking over at the girl.

"We've sort of all known each other since I was born," Jacob laughs, smiling at Bella again.

"How nice," Lauren sneers at them, narrowing her eyes at them. "Maria, I was just saying to Tyler that it was too bad none of the Cullens could come out today. Didn't anyone think to invite them?"

"Well, I did ask, actually," Maria replies, unbothered by the girl's nasty tone. "But Edward is camping with Emmett, so he couldn't make it. Don't worry, I'll tell him you were disappointed he couldn't come. Maybe I'll tell him when he picks me up for the Spring Dance?"

"What?" Lauren stares at Maria with wide eyes. "I thought he rejected you?"

"Well, we talked, and now we're going together," Maria shrugs her shoulders.

"Are you talking about Dr Cullen's family?" one of the local boys, a friend of Jacobs, asks. He seems a lot older than Jacob, with a deep, manly voice.

"Yes, do you know them?" Lauren asks condescendingly, turning halfway towards him.

"The Cullens don't come here," he says in a harsh tone, ending the conversation without answering her question. Tyler distracts her by talking about a CD, and Bella is staring at the boy who spoke about the Cullens, her eyebrows furrowed.

"So, is Forks driving you insane yet?" Jacob disturbs Bella's silence, and she finally looks away from the boy.

"Oh, I'd say that's an understatement." Bella grimaces, and he grins understandingly. She hesitates for a moment before she speaks again. "Do you want to walk down the beach with me?" 

Jacob jumps at the opportunity to go on a walk with Bella, and Maria decides not to join them, noting the blushing and smiling between the two of them and allowing them to have some time alone to talk.

*

"Maria, I need to talk to you," Bella says, sitting up on her bed and running a hand through her hair. Maria glances up from the homework she is catching up on and over at her sister. "It's what I wanted to talk about the other day."

"Oh yeah," Maria hums thoughtfully, remembering that the two of them had forgotten to talk about whatever was troubling Bella. "What's up, Bells?"

"It's about Edward," Bella admits quietly. Maria sits up straight, closing her textbook and turning to face Bella properly.

"What about him?"

"Okay..." Bella starts uncertainly. "Don't laugh, though."

"What are you talking about, Bella? You don't have a crush on him or something, do you?" Maria enquires, her eyebrows raised.

"No! Definitely not!" Bella says defensively. "I don't like him! It's just... when he saved me from the van, he pushed the truck away with his hands!"

"What?" Maria laughs in amazement at her sister's claims. "You think he pushed a whole van away with his hands?"

"I know! It sounds ridiculous, but I promise you, Maria," Bella states seriously. "He pushed it away with his bare hands!"

"Don't be ridiculous! You're just confused because you hit your head during the accident. You've made it up."

"Maria!" Bella quickly stands up, her annoyance growing stronger as she tries to explain her theory to her sister. "He pushed the van away with his hands, and he was on the other side of the parking lot when the van spun out of control, so how did he get over to me in time? He knew where we were during the blood typing! I've never even seen him eat. And when he saved me from the van he was ice cold, like a dead body?"

"Bella, you hit your head during the accident, and you're confused. He skipped class during the blood typing incident and happened to see us. There's nothing odd about that and maybe he just doesn't like to eat in front of people?" Maria offers explanations for all of Bella's issues. "And it was icy when he saved you from that van. He probably felt that cold because he was that cold."

"Maria, how can you come up with so many excuses for him? There's something not right about him and his family," Bella implores. "Jacob and his friends think so, too. You saw how they were when they mentioned the Cullens today."

"So?"

"I think they're vampires."

Maria's eyes widen in disbelief, and she laughs, shaking her head, "Vampires?"