I jumped at the sound of her voice. She was back already? But I couldn't focus on that for long. What had Jacob just said? Had I really heard right?
"Over my dead body!" he rowred at her.
He took a step forward and tried to pull me over to him by my waist. Alice's hand grabbed mine, and I started to get scared that a tug-o-war would begin. That would be painful. Jake growled. I looked back at Alice. She was glaring at him in such a terrifying way...she honestly scared me a little. She yanked on my arm, and I came flying towards her, out of Jacob's grasp. She flung me behind her body. My mind still couldn't catch up with what was happening.
"Let her go!" he growled, taking a step closer. Now that I had time to look, it was obvious that he was shaking violently.
"Keep away, mongurel. Do you really want to do that so close to her?" she spit at him.
Jacob seemed just as suprised as I was, ad he leaned away for a moment in shock. Then he recovered and all the anger and shaking came right back.
"I would never hurt her!"
"Hey! What in the world is going on in there?!" Charlie yelled, banging on my door. Oh no! This was not good. I didn't even know what was goig on, so how could I explain it to him? Not to mention he did not even know Alice was back. He was going to see her if she didn't move. Which she clearly had no intention of. No one moved. No one breathed. "Bella?!" he sounded worried now.
"Yeah, dad," I squeaked. "I'm here."
"What's going on?" he repeated. "Are you two fighting?" he asked, opening the door. I wanted to run, to shove them both out the window or something, but it was too late. Charlie froze in the doorway, his wide eyes focused on Alice, standing protectively in front of me.
"Alice...?" he breathed.
"Hi, Charlie." she answered with a breathtaking smile.
"What? Wha..." he was at a loss for words. "When did you get here? how did you?" he sputtered, shocked. "Why didn't you say anything, Bella?" he turned to me. Jacob mumbled something under his breath.
"I was going to...she just got here." I whispered. I was probably in just as much shock as Charlie.
"Well, what's going on?" he said, recovering slightly.
"I just arrived, Charlie. Sorry I didn't call first, I just wanted to visit Bella."
Jacob growled, still not taking his eyes off Alice. What was wrong with him? Why did he hate her so much? He had never even met her before! And what had he called her...? Bloodsucker? As in vampire? How did he know? How did ALice know he knew? If I think about this any longer, I thought to myself, My mind is going to explode.
"Well that's great." he really meant it, but then he seemed to rememeber something. "But who was fighting up here?" he looked to me. I had nothing.
"Um...well, it was just...uh..." I was thinking, but nothing was coming. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jacob smirk.
"I'm sorry, Charlie, I'm afraid that's my fault," Alice interupted, saving me. "You see, Jacob wanted to borrow Bella for the evening but we already had plans together. It got a bit out of proportion." she explained. I really wished I could do that. Jake's expression tightened.
"Yeah, well, don't worry about it," Jake said, finally turning away from Alice. "You can have her, I have to go anyway." He started heading for the door.
"Uh, okay Jake," Charlie said, distracted.
"We should go downstairs." I said quickly.
Charlie threw me an odd look, but shrugged and headed down the stairs. I let go of Alice and ran ahead of them, catching Jacob at the door. "Wait..." I protested, grabbing his arm. He shook my hand off and continued to walk. "I'll be right back!" I called to Charlie, who was still on the stairs with Alice. I slammed the door behind me. "Jake! Wait!" I called to him. He was ten feet away. He didn't stop. "I don't know when I'll see you again..." I could hear the sadness in my voice. He paused, but didn't turn towards me. I ran to him. "Why have you been ignoring my called?" I demanded.
"That is what you're worried about?" he demanded right back. "Not the fact that you have a vampire in you house, alone with your father, or that people are going missing, or that you're trying to become a filthy, discusting, reacking creature! No, you're worried that I had Mono!" He screamed in my face, shaking again. I was stunned. It hadn't really sunk in before that he knew Alice was a vampire. He had just made a small comment that I couldn't be sure I had heard properly. But now there was no doubt. Why did he suddenly believe all these stories? The ones he would have laughed at a week ago? Whathad changed? And most importantly, how did he know I was going to be a vampire? Just thinking the words sent a thrill through me, even in this incredible moment. "What do you mean?" I asked in a dead voice. I had no hope of lying in any other voice.
"You know damn well exactly what I mean!" He was shaking violently now, his entire frame blurred.
"Let him calm down," Edward's voice, to my suprise, commanded me. This was an odd time for his voice to show up, and it wasn't making sense regardless, but I listened to him. "Please, Jake..." I stuck my hand out to grab his arm. He did not shake me off this time. "Please...I'm leaving soon, and I can't leave things like this. But you understand, don't you? I need to go get my life together." Tears started streaming down my face as I said this. Some of the anger faded from his face, and he grabbed the tops of my arms. "Bella, you can't do this! Don't go with her!" he jerked his head towards the house. "Don't leave."
A sob broke through my chest, and I hugged myself to him. "I have to, Jake..." I muttered into his chest. He was so hot! It felt like he still had a fever. He wrapped his arms around me, making me feel like a child again. "You don't, Bella." His voice cracked. "You can't become one of them! I can't let you!" His voice was angry again, and that just made the tears flow like a river. I wanted my Jacob, not this new, bitter, angry Jacob who I had never met. I missed my easy-going friend. My sun. My Jacob. Although I had no idea how he knew this, there was obviously no doubt that he did know, so I answered honestly. "It's not your choice," I whispered. He pulled me away from his chest and looked at my face. "No." he cried, his eyes watering. "No." He said louder. I looked at his face. "Goodbye, Jacob. I love you." I jumped up to wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him on the cheek before turning and sprinting for the house.