No Way to Say Goodbye.

As Hannah began to drive away she wondered who was on the phone. The only thing that circled over and over again in her brain was the fact that Hannah had seen everything, and they were forced to tell her what was going on. Suddenly, agony swept over her. She wasn’t meant to be there, she wasn’t meant to even be here in Washington. Hannah felt bad that they had to be exposed and all for her. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair.

The moment Hannah walked into her home, Maggie gripped her like she hadn’t been home in months. She hugged her grandmother back and promised that the next time this were to happen that she would either call or just have Jacob come and get her so she didn’t have their truck.

“Speaking of the truck, Miss Hannah your grandfather and I want to show you something,” Maggie glowed.

Glowing herself Hannah enthusiastically asked, “what is it Gram-cracker?”

Maggie motioned for her granddaughter walk with her but just before she opened the door to the garage, she placed her hands over Hannah’s eyes. Biting on her lips, Hannah soon became wary. What were these two up to now? She questioned but immediately screamed once she saw the sleek new mini version of her grandparents’ truck. It had four doors, a shorter cab, but it was definitely more accessible to Hannah. She didn’t have to climb the mountain. All she had to do was hop inside. Plus, inside there was an envelope that displayed some money inside.

“Truck is from us,” Maggie placed her hand on her husband’s back who sat on a stool. “Money is from your parents, apparently they—well Miss Hannah, your father got a better job in Portland and sent ya some money.”

Shaking her head in disbelief that her father would do this, Hannah jumped out from her truck and let the tears spill onto her grandmothers shoulders. This was one of the best gifts ever. Not even her parents would give her a car, let alone a nice truck. Walking back to her truck it hit Hannah like a ton of bricks, “does this mean I can go home?”

Looking down at her husband, Maggie gave a saddened smile. Not the kind of smile that was gloomy because Hannah would get to leave, yet it wasn’t one that meant she had to stay either. Then again, why would she even want to go home? This was slowly becoming her home. Besides, this was her last year of high school and transferring wasn’t really a forte Hannah had. She’d finish it up here and see where the road was to take her. Plus, after getting this for a gift, she wondered what Christmas would be like? She winked to herself for the horrible thought.

“Never mind Grandma,” Hannah smiled. “So, why this gift all of a sudden?”

“Well, we thought that there are going to be days you need the car and days we need it, so your grandmother took some of our retirement money and put it down on this truck,” Addison explained coming over to his granddaughter, “also if you’re to remain friends with those boys you can’t be having no car.”

“When did you guys even do this?” Hannah soon became flabbergasted.

“Thursday, when we took you to school to go to the bank,” Maggie enunciated the last part.

“The truck doesn’t get cleared until Monday technically, so you won’t be able to drive it until then,” Her grandfather said before walking over to his wife.

Shaking her head in amazement Hannah whispered, “that’s fine.”

After the third call Hannah thought it would seem a little desperate if she tried to call him again. He had promised to be here at six and as Hannah sat in her cute outfit, legs crossed but one shaking Hannah checked her phone to see that it was now seven ten. Realizing that he wasn’t coming to come, that this was a big mistake and that maybe Jake did in all actuality ditch her Hannah trumped up the stairs and sat at her desk and pulled a compact mirror to the side to look into.

The only person who would stand her up on a constant basis used to be Jeremy; Hannah never let anyone stand her up and be able to walk away. No one.

Grumpy from waiting so long Hannah took a bag of crackers to her room and watched a movie all by her lonesome. She didn’t exactly know what to do. Seeing as how Jake had never not be there, and they weren’t together she would just have to shrug it off right? But Hannah didn’t feel like doing that right now, she felt the urge to be mad and mad she would stay. So much for a Saturday night, she thought before tossing the crackers aside and laying facing her window.

She let a tear mesh into the pillow fibers before deciding that Jake wasn’t going to call, and that it was better to catch up on some sleep anyway. She knew he was too good to be true. He was like a fictional character brought to earth in order to suck in poor victims and once he’d had his fair share he would crush ‘em.

But what would he be doing that he couldn’t tell her?

Monday at school was surprisingly a good one. Edward wasn’t there, the sun was shining, and that girl Casey had asked Hannah to go get some ice cream after school to talk. Not only was Hannah not pestered but she was actually making a pretty good girl friend. However Jacob still found his way to pop into her mind. She was still heated but not boiling over.

“Hi girls,” the middle aged woman beamed. “What can I get ya?”

Looking over the flavors, Casey decided on strawberry but Hannah got raspberry sorbet. They sat facing the Pacific Ocean, being able to see the San Juan Islands in the distance. Port Angeles was definitely becoming one of Hannah’s favorite places. There were some cool little shops around and the people there seemed fairly friendly.

“So, where’d you move from again Hannah?” Casey asked licking her side of her cone.

Swallowing her bite Hannah laughed, “Beaverton Oregon. You lived here all your life?”

“Eh I used to live in Bellevue but my Mom wanted to move up here, she’s so strange.”

Going on about how Casey had loads of friends in Bellevue, and how strict her school was she did miss it when she had to come to a smaller town where she was an outcast for a while. But when she met a few friends in her junior year things turned around and Casey soon grew to like Forks, even if it was cloudy and rainy most of the time. She laughed after that statement. “But my mom also said she was trying to get me away from my snobby rich friends and actually show me there were better people out in the world.”

“Why, is Bellevue a bad place to live?” Hannah asked curiously.

“Not if you’re rich,” Casey laughed taking her last bite of her ice cream cone.

Hannah laughed with her. She was glad that Casey had actually talked to her because even though Hannah could be social, it was more a matter of would she be social at this point. Senior year is meant to be shared with the people you’ve know for at least three or four years and you’ve got extracurricular activities busting out of your belt, but Hannah didn’t have all this anymore. So, she supposed that Casey and her were in a similar boat.

Casey and Hannah spent most of the night walking around and talking. Turns out they both hate marshmallows, but love cold pizza. Their favorite colors are blue, and they both love water. Casey in the middle child whereas Hannah has no siblings; Casey is the only girl in her family though. Even among her cousins it is her and three other girls. Hannah found this to be quite amusing because she had a very small family.

“Well, goodnight Hannah Banana,” Casey made a silly face, “meet me by our lockers tomorrow.”

Just as Casey sped off Hannah saw that her grandparents had forgotten to leave the porch lights on so the trip from the road to her house was going to be tricky with all the loose gravel and stairs. Not even taking her fourth step Hannah felt her body being swooped from the dirt and it looked as if she were floating.

Rolling her eyes at her guy friends Hannah very irritated asked, “can you put me down?”
Presuming that Paul was to her left and Jacob on her right, Paul said, “Jacob’s come here to tell you something.”

“Thanks, but I’m sure he has a mouth Paul,” Hannah said coldly. He grumbled.

“Hannah,” Jacob said very low.

Shaking her head and squeezing her eyes shut tight Hannah slightly yelled, “I don’t care what you have to say. Put me down now!”

“I don’t think she wants to listen Jake—“

“Well, she has to!”

“Uh, excuse me? No I don’t, and no I won't.”

Groaning and latching his big hand to her wrist Jacob whined, “but why? I can explain everything this time.”

Rolling her eyes to the darkness Hannah stomped her foot, “this time?” But clearly she’d had enough when she gave him a shove out of her way and said quite bitterly, “Save it, because I’m not sure there will even be a next time at your rate.”

Hannah’s porch light had come on as Paul’s short laugh could be heard and as Jacob’s darker frame spun abruptly to made his way towards the abandoned trees. Paul shook his head, not wanting to make any eye contact with Hannah who looked like her arms were firmly glued at her sides. Paul knew that she was upset, and even though Jake did have a legitimate excuse he couldn’t help but make the situation worse, “Hannah?”

“What Paul?” She asked somewhat a whine and the other part sad.

He pondered for a moment. He couldn’t believe that he was going to be standing up for Jacob. In all of his years of being more of a confrontational guy it was very hard to defend someone, but Jake did have a good excuse. Looking directly at Hannah he sucked in a deep breath and explained.