Twilight: But it's a Thriller and I Never Read Twilight

I didn't get the chance to see Jacob again until after the first day of school. I'd been dreading it for so long, but when I arrived, Jessica and Angela found me quickly. We had a lot of classes together and I didn't find myself thinking about how much this place was missing the Cullens while they were around. I didn't hate it, but I did find myself staring at their empty lunch table in the corner. Edward and Alice should have been there. I should have been sitting with them.

They should have been playing their game again and guessing all the hidden thoughts of our classmates. Now, as I sat among the new seniors, I tried to guess what each of them were thinking. Mike Newton was probably thinking about varsity football try outs, and Eric Yorkie was probably thinking about how he was going to balance AP classes and hiding behind the bleachers to smoke cigarettes after school. And Jessica. As I paused on Jessica, I tried to sus out what she was really thinking. She was deep in conversation with Angela already, but I hadn't been listening for the past ten minutes.

As she spoke, I watched her mouth move and the way she played with the end of her ponytail. I tried so hard to guess what she was thinking like Edward did with just a look. But she was so effortless and warm in her smile that I got choked up just looking at her. She'd thought something Edward hated all those months ago, and I wanted to know what it was, but that thought, whatever it was, had disappeared with Edward. No one could tell me now what she'd been thinking.

Jessica turned over to me, but I barely registered that it was me she was looking at. "What do you think, Bella?"

I blinked at her. "Me?" I didn't even know what she'd asked. "About?"

"Senior bonfire," she said. "Mike's family is throwing it."

"Oh," I said. I scrambled for something to say, but I still didn't quite know what she was talking about. "Sounds cool."

"So you'll come?" she asked. "Because I could use a ride. Angela's going with Tyler." She stuck out her tongue to emphasize how annoying it was that she couldn't get a ride from Angela.

"Uh, I don't know. My Dad has been pretty weird lately," I said because I didn't have another excuse. I loved Jessica, but I really didn't want to go to a party full of people who'd been talking about me since I disappeared from school at the beginning of May.

"Because of the mountain lion attacks?" she asked.

Another one had been called in last night near Beaver. The attacks were getting closer to us now. I didn't know if the attack had been from the vampire I'd seen or the wolf. Either way, Charlie was more than a little worried.

"Yeah, he's at the station late most nights now," I said. "I doubt I can go."

"Shit," Jessica snapped. "Maybe I can find another ride."

I nodded and went back to staring at her face as soon as she looked away from me. She was beautiful, I realized as I watched her, and I was a little surprised she was friends with me. A girl like her could have been friends with anyone, but she settled for hanging around with me and dragging me out to parties to meet people. I didn't say another word for the rest of lunch, and I didn't manage to read her mind.

After school, I didn't drive my truck past Elk Creek to the glass house in the woods. Instead, I drove my motorcycle West, toward La Push and the Quileute reservation, toward Jacob. Among the trees, the world felt fine for a moment, but I looked out for any stray wolves as I rode. The faster I rode, the better I felt and the closer to Edward I felt until he was too much for me.