Blinded

After we watched Jacob’s friends cliff jump and I after smacked Angela for screaming when every single one of his friends jumped - which was quite a lot - I met Jacob’s friends. It was like they were a pack, and Jacob and his friend Sam were in charge. Especially Sam. All of them were huge like Jacob, too. And warm. I could feel the heat radiating off of them when they surrounded Angela. It was like I walked into the sun.

We were up on the cliff side, apparently, where all of them were jumping off of. I asked Angela to keep me as far away from the edge as possible. Knowing me, I would walk off towards the edge without realizing it. I didn’t like depending on other people, but at a cliff, I held on to Angela for dear life. But I let go when I was shaking hands and introducing myself.

“So you‘re Mariabella,” one of them said, and his voice sounded even deeper than Jacob’s. There was that sense of leadership in his voice too. “I‘m Sam. Nice to finally meet you.”

I shook his hand. Then another hand grabbed it, and it was still very warm. That time it was Embry, next was Quil, Paul, Jared, Seth, and last Jacob wanted to confuse me and make me think he was another friend named “Jack.” Instead of going along with it, I purposefully made him guilty.

“You know that‘s very offensive, Jacob Black,” I said, making my voice shake. “I can‘t see. You shouldn‘t take advantage of me like that.”

All the boys stopped laughing and Jacob got a tighter grip on my hand. Since he’s touched me a lot today, I could tell his touch from others even more now. His hand was fairly rough, somewhat soft, and hot. It was firm and I could sometimes tell he was trying to be as gentle as possible.

“Mariabella, I - I‘m sorry,” he said quietly. “Please, don‘t - don‘t cry. Don‘t sound so sad.”

“I won‘t sound so sad if you would sound more happy every once in a while,” I tell him and smile, and I let go of his hand. “And you should know by now: You can‘t trick the blind girl! You learned that once when you tried to steal my dang sandwich.”

“You tried to steal her sandwich and she caught you?” Embry, I think, asked. “How did you do that?”

“I just know,” I answered, becoming a bit smug.

“You picked a good one, Jacob,” another said, and I think it was Seth. He sounded younger.

“You picked a good one, Jacob?” I repeated, not bothering to turn in the direction I thought he was. I’m sure he was still in front of me anyway.

“Shut up, jerk offs,” Jacob hissed to his little friends - I mean, ginormous friends. They were all so close, it seemed.

Angela and I laughed and she linked her arm with mine. “It‘s been really fun, guys, but we have to go,” Angela said. I raised my eyebrow. “While you were giving your boyfriend -”

“Oh my gosh, Jake‘s blushing!” one of the boys shouted.

“- a guilt trip,” Angela continued, “our aunt and uncle called me. I stepped away for a moment to talk to them. You were fine.”

“Jacob thinks your fine,” Paul, I think, said to me, leaning down to whisper it in my ear.

“Shut the hell up, Paul,” Jacob snapped.

“That‘s what your sister said last night,” Paul replied. “She didn‘t want me to wake up your dad when we were in her bed.”

I heard bodies slamming together and grunting, leaves shaking, twigs being broken, and I assumed Jacob tackled Paul. I heard the grunting get farther away and I surmised they had taken their wrestling elsewhere.

“Did they just wrestle their way into the forest?” I asked Angela.

“Yeah, they did,” Angela laughed. “Does that happen -”

“You have no idea,” Sam said, and it sounded like he had had enough of it. That made me giggled.

Angela and I were escorted by Seth Clearwater back down to our car and he was full of questions. He asked me if I was born blind or if I had an accident. I told him Jacob could tell him the story, but he wanted to hear me tell it because Jacob wouldn’t give him the time of day. I told him next time.

“I opened the door for you,” he told me and I hopped in. “Are you saying you are going to come by again soon? That‘d be cool - you‘re pretty cool, too. Jacob sure thinks so.”

“Seth Clearwater I can hear you!” a husky voice said in the distance. I recognized it as Jacob.

“I hope to come by soon,” I say and wave. “So I guess I‘ll see you then.”

“Bye!” he said, and I heard the car door slam.

Another opened and closed. “No wonder Bella wants to hang out with Jacob,” Angela mused. “They‘re all so . . . interesting.” I reached over and smacked her. “Ow! What was that -?”

“My boyfriend?” I scold, and I feel the car begin to move. “I don‘t like him and he doesn‘t like me. We‘re just friends with a confusing relationship, but friends none the less.”

She just laughed and continued driving me home.

|-*-|

The rest of the weekend went by slowly, but I guess that is a good thing, isn’t it? As for the school week I sat with Tyler and Yvonne, the wonder twins, every lunch. Their friends - Jamie and Lyle - were welcoming; however Lyle seemed like an unhappy fellow so he didn’t talk much. Jamie was nice, but she always text. It was mostly Tyler, Yvonne and I talking amongst each other at the table. Especially Tyler. He could talk.

Angela still walked me to my classes, though she switched off with Tyler and Yvonne when she was running late. I didn’t mind since Angela picked me up and took me home every day. She liked Yvonne and Tyler, too, so she was not getting jealous or anything. She is not the type anyway.

Friday finally came along and Tyler couldn’t be happier.

“And why is your twin so happy, Yvonne?” I laughed when I heard the pitter-patter of Tyler jumping up and down, up and down, apparently climbing up on the benches and jumping off.

“Because it is going to be sunny enough to go hiking,” Yvonne laughed. “Our family goes hiking whenever it is sunny. Unlike last weekend, our parents are going to let us go.”

“Why didn‘t -” Tyler whooped and hollered “- your parents let you go last weekend? It was perfectly sunny. I went to the beach with my cousin.”

“Because of all the missing person ads and the Seattle serial killing going on,” she explained. “It‘s been in the news for about a month. Lots of people are dying, and people were dying a few months ago because of the rumors of giant wolves.”

That sparked my interest. “After my first day of school I went out for a walk and I barely got passed a pack of wolves. That‘s actually where I met Jacob.”

“That big, confusing friend you were telling me about?” she asked. I nodded. “Oh, okay. Does he hunt?”

“That's what he told me he was doing,” I answered. “I don't like the idea of hunting myself, but if he does it that's his choice.”

“I’m shrugging,” she said, and she put her arm around my shoulders. “That's Tyler, not me.”

“Have you ever gone hiking, Maria, Maria?” Tyler asked, and he sang my name. He's a good singer and loves West Side Story, the musical, so me being Mariabella makes him want to sing my name. Now he and Angela are the only ones who call me Maria.

“No, I haven't,” I laughed. “But I heard it's fun and a great exercise. I'm sure the sights here are as wonderful as they feel and smell.”

“It's beautiful,” he agrees. “Maybe one day you should go hiking with us. We'll make sure you don't wonder off, that's for sure. I think it'll be fun. Maybe after school lets out we'll see if we can go. I don't think the sun will be that generous to Forks for a third weekend in a row.”

“Mr. Sun, sun, Mr. Golden Sun, please shine down on me,” Yvonne sang. She is a good singer as well, but she wasn't going for good at the moment, she was going for silly. It made me laugh.

We walked outside and I felt the slight drizzle: The norm here. After about a month of being here I have already gotten use to it. What wasn’t the norm was the roar of an engine, screeching, and I heard people gasping and saying a chorus of “Whoa's” and I tried to figure out what I was hearing. It could not have been a car; that was too much of a roar for any engine.

“What is it?” I ask Yvonne while tugging at her sleeve. She had been amongst the gasping people.

“Bella!” a familiar voice shouted, and I heard feet stomping past me in a quick manner. The wind of whoever was running by made my hair move slightly.

“Bella?” I asked, and I felt an arm brush against mine. I recognized the subtle hint, the feel of her warm skin, and I knew it was Angela. “What's going on?”

“Jacob,” Angela answered. “Just pulled up on his motorcycle in the most dramatic way possible. Bella just ran by you.”

“He's kidnapping her?”

“Looks like it. Alice looks pissed. Now they're -” She was interrupted by the loudest screeching I have ever heard, followed by equally loud roaring of an engine. That was burning rubber. Soon it faded and all was eerily silent.

“I guess Bella is taking the rest of the day off,” I mused. “With Jacob, too.”

Angela put a hand on my shoulder and Yvonne grabbed my hand. Did they know something I did not?