CHAPTER NINETEEN

Jay's playing Metallica on the radio in Jake's barn as he teaches her more about how to rebuild the two motorcycles that she and Bella brought over, and the older girl's watching from beside them. He's pointing stuff out, and the younger girl nods as she listens intently. Jay seems to be catching on fast, but Bella's totally confused by everything that he's saying. They all start laughing at something Jay says, and she thinks back to one of their first days of the rebuild.

"So, I was thinking, if we're gonna do this every day — and hopefully we will — we have to, like, fit some homework in there somewhere." Bella tells them. "I don't want Billy and Henry thinking that I'm a bad influence on you guys."

"You influence me?" Jake questions. "Please."

"Are you... I'm older than you, so that makes me the influencer and you two in influencees." She argues.

"No, no, no." He chuckles as he turns to face her, and Jay looks up since he's no longer working on the bike. "My size and knowledge base actually makes me older than you, because of your general paleness and lack of know-how. Her, you can definitely influence." He points at Jay.

"Mhm." The younger girl nods, entirely amused with this whole thing.

"I convinced you to build two-wheeled death machines with us. Don't you think that makes you kind of young and naïve?" Bella insists.

"Okay." He concedes. "So where do we stand?"

"I'm thirty-five... And you might be, like, thirty-two."

"Oh, come on."

"What about me?" Jay asks, and they both look back at her.

"Twenty-one." They say in unison.

"Drinking age." She smiles, making them both laugh. "I'll take it."

"Hey, Jay?" Bella pulls her out of her thoughts, and she glances up at her. "What were you saying at lunch before Angela asked about your class?"

"I don't know, what was I saying?" The younger girl asks, not knowing what exactly she's referring to.

"Jessica had asked something about the hot guy from the beach — I assume she meant Paul."

"You still hang around him?" Jake asks the youngest, and she shrugs.

"Not lately." Jay tells him.

"Because of what happened at the bonfire?" Bella asks, and she shakes her head as she looks up at her.

"No, I really don't even care about that. I was already in a bad mood because of Ric, and I don't care about Laura one way or the other." She says. "Like, two weeks ago, Paul and I were going over stuff for his English class — he was working on Shakespeare stuff, and I've read a lot of his plays. Anyway, we almost kissed, but then Henry got home from work and walked in before anything could happen. I haven't spoken to Paul since."

"He's been avoiding you since?" She asks, and Jay shrugs.

"No idea, he just hasn't really been around. Neither has Jared — Kim says that they're busy with stuff, but I have no idea what. I don't ask. I just figure that they had their own things before I moved here, and they'll tell me about it if they want to." She says, and Bella nods.

"Jared and Paul are usually hanging around with Sam Uley." Jake says. "He's a few years older, and the tribe leaders love him. I don't understand it." He tells the girls, but his tone gives clue that it's not generally a welcome topic, so they stop talking about Paul and Jared altogether.

"Yo, Jake, you in there?" A familiar voice gets their attention, and the three of them look up to find Embry and Quil walking into the barn.

The two boys make their way over, and Quil tries flirting with Bella like he so often does when she's with Jay. The older girl smirks as she glances from him to Jake, and Jay rolls her eyes as she gets to her feet. Her dark eyes meet Embry's and a smile spreads across her face when she sees that he's already smiling at her.

The younger girl walks over to him as he takes a few steps back, putting some distance between them and the others. Bella looks over at her best friend and she sees Jay and Embry laughing as they talk quietly to each other. The two of them only pull their attention away from each other when they notice Quil and Jake wrestling in the middle of the barn.

"Hey, that hold's illegal!" Jake tells his friend, and the other three all start laughing at the boys.

"I got five bucks on Quil." Embry says, and Jay shakes her head as she glances up at him.

"Oh, you're on." She says, and he chuckles. "Go, Jake!" The little brunette cheers, and she leaves the barn five bucks richer a couple hours later.

—

Jay and Bella are watching Lilo & Stitch with Kim in her living room when the front door suddenly opens and the two boys walk in. Jared walks over and sits with his girlfriend in the big recliner while Paul heads into the kitchen to get himself something to drink.

"Why does Lilo remind me of Jay?" Bella asks, and the younger girl looks up at her.

"Excuse me? Who the hell have I ever bitten?"

"You bit Quil yesterday." She reminds her, and Jay starts laughing.

"Maybe now he'll learn not to steal off my plate."

"'Cause you'll eat him instead?" Jared questions.

"Hey, if I'm Lilo, then where's my Stitch?" She looks up at Bella from where her head's resting in the older girl's lap. "I want a Stitch."

"You want a little blue alien?" The Quileute boy quirks an eyebrow as he looks at her.

"Hell, yeah!" She says as she looks back at the tv, where Stitch is talking about Lilo and Nani.

"This is my family. I found it all on my own. It's little and broken, but still good." He says as he looks back at the girls. "Yeah, still good." He then starts toward the spaceship so that he can go back with the other aliens.

"Aww." Jared wipes fake tears from under his eyes.

"Bella's like Jay's Nani." Kim says. "The way she was chasing your drunk ass around the beach at the bonfire." She looks over, and they both start laughing.

"Does that make you Stitch?" Bella asks.

"They do both act like cats every now and then." Jay comments.

"Ironic since you're allergic."

"No, it's great." She chuckles as she sits up. "Does this mean you guys are my Ohana?"

"Aw, you're so adorable." Bella pulls her into her side and hugs her.

"Get off of me." Jay pulls away from her and then gets to her feet and goes into the kitchen to get a drink. She grabs a glass from the cupboard and then turns to find Paul standing right behind her. "Can I help you with something?" She asks as she looks up at him.

"I haven't seen you in awhile." He says, and she nods.

"Yeah, that's kinda what happens when you disappear for three weeks...without a word."

"I was busy."

"Mhm. Kim said that you and Jared both were."

"You were asking about me?" He smirks.

"Don't flatter yourself." She shakes her head. "I asked her where her other half was, she told me that he was busy taking care of something with you."

"Are you mad at me?"

"For?"

"You tell me." He says, and she shakes her head.

"I'm not mad at you. What reason would I have to be?" She asks. "You can disappear for as long as you want. Truthfully, I'm not sure that you and I have ever actually been friends. You come over with Jared, who's here for Kim. You and I simply hang out in the same room sometimes."

The amusement disappears from his face as he looks down at her, studying her face. She really believes that they aren't even friends, that he doesn't care about her...and that hurts him. Her phone starts ringing in her bedroom, and he takes a step away from her. Jay moves past him and goes to get her phone off of the charger by her bed.

"Hello?" She answers as she starts back toward the kitchen, still wanting to get herself something to drink.

"She's dead." Tyler's broken voice makes her feet stop and her blood run cold. "He killed her, and now I have no one left." He sobs.

"Ty?" She shakes her head. "What... What are you talking about? What happened?"

"I had a plan, and it was a good...plan." He chokes back his tears. "Hayley screwed us over, and she told Klaus that we had a plan to get rid of him. I helped all of the other hybrids break their sire bonds, and we were going to take Klaus down... He killed them all... All twelve hybrids — my friends!"

"Tyler, I am so sorry."

"They said that it was an accident — that's the story, that she got drunk at the Winter festival, and accidentally drowned in the fountain... But I know it's not a coincidence that she drowned right after my plan to take Klaus out failed. He killed her."

"Who, Ty? Who drowned?" She asks, and the others in the room all turn to look at her.

"My mom — she's dead." He tells her, and her jaw slacks as her eyes fill with tears. "He's taken everything from me. He's the reason that I lost you, he took my freedom...and when I got that back, he killed my mom. I have nothing left."

Jay clears her throat, fighting back her tears so she can try to comfort him. "You have all our friends, Ty. You have Matt and Caroline, and you have me. I know that I'm not there, but you will never not have me. I'm here, I'm always here for you. What can I do? Do you want me to come back? I can get a plane ticket, I'll stay there for a bit."

"No." He shakes his head. "You got out of this town, you should stay out."

"I can come till her funeral. Or, uh... We have a break coming in school, I can spend a couple weeks there." She tells him.

"I don't want you anywhere near Klaus." He says. "He's taken enough from both of us."

"I'm sorry, Tyler. I know..." She takes a deep breath as she rolls her lips over her teeth. She closes her eyes as she lets her head hang.

"What do I do now? How do I..." He sobs. "What's next?"

"Call Matt, stay with him. Don't stay at your place." She shakes her head. "I wish I could tell you that...the pain goes away, but it doesn't. Eventually, you just learn to live with it. But it helps not to try to do it alone. I've tried it that way, and it doesn't work. So, stay with Matt or Care, and let yourself feel it, 'cause there's no way around it. And you gotta remember, no matter how much you feel like you are, you are not alone." She tells him. "We're all here for you, and we love you."

"Jeremy said that you went on a weekend bender after Ric died. You're not recommending that way of coping?" He asks, and she half laughs.

"No, I'm not. I tried to numb the pain with the alcohol, and it worked for awhile...but then it just hurt even more once I was sober. You can't shut it out, you have to feel it. It's the only way to heal." She tells him. "You have to grieve before you can move on."

"Thanks for listening, and for the advice." Tyler says, and she nods. "I should call Matt."

"You better call him, 'cause I'll ask him." She says, and the corner of his mouth pulls up in a smile.

"I will, I promise." He hangs up after that.

"Jay?" Bella takes a few steps toward her, and the younger girl looks up at her.

"His mom died at the festival that I was telling you about before." She says. "The one that I told you was my favorite... She... She drowned in the fountain in the town square."

"Are you okay?" She asks as she reaches up and wipes a tear from her cheek.

Jay nods, trying really hard to convince herself that she's okay. "No." She admits, and Bella pulls her into her arms as the youngest starts crying.