I woke up to my bedroom light being flickered on and off. "Quit it!" I yelled at whoever was disturbing my sleep on a Saturday. Saturdays were meant for lay-ins.

"Nope."

Jake.

I groaned and rolled over, squashing my face into the pillow, pulling the blankets over my head.

"Blue, come on. Get up, we're going to the beach, Embry and Quil are waiting downstairs." He spoke softly, whispering in my ear as he hovered over the bed.

"But it's raining." I pouted into the pillow and he chuckled softly as he laid down beside me, resting his head on the pillow too, his body turned towards me.

"When is it not raining? Come on." He pulled the blankets out from underneath him, so his body was beneath the blanket as well as my own. This allowed him to now reach over to put his hand up under the back of my shirt.

Of course, I was wondering what the hell he was actually doing as his warm hand slid over my bare back towards my sides. "What are you doing?" It was kind of muffled, so I leant up slightly on my elbows and turned to look at him, squinting at the light entering the room through the curtains. He just looked at my face with a smirk on his own. I raised an eyebrow, my body tingling under his touch. The nice, warm feeling was short lived though, when he began to tickle my sides.

"Oh my god Jake! Stop!" During the madness, I ended up turning over, so I was laying on my back instead of my front as I tried to pull his hands off of me. "Jake! No."

He continued his assault, laughing at me as giggles escaped my lips along with the protests. "Will you get up and get ready?" He threatened, now hovering over me, his face millimetres away from mine. Almost chest to chest due to his closeness.

I was breathing heavily, an effect of the tickling and the distance between us. If I leant up just slightly our lips would be touching. 

"Ari, please?" Jake added and I forgot where we were for a moment.

I nodded my head slowly. "Okay." Was all that left my lips. 

I was waiting for Jake to climb off of me, but he stayed put for a moment, his deep brown eyes searching mine for something I wasn't certain of.

After what felt like forever of staring at each other, he slowly climbed off of me, telling me he'd be downstairs waiting. When the bedroom door closed behind him, I let out a heavy sigh, why do I have to have a crush on him? It's such a large case of unrequited feelings that I even feel sorry for myself.

I was ready about half an hour later after showering, but leaving my hair knowing it was gonna get wet from the rain anyway, so I quickly plaited it to keep it out of my face. I had jeans, a thick cream jumper, my rain boots that I always wore down to the beach unless it's summer, and my large waterproof jacket. I only put some mascara and concealer on to hide the blemishes on my face before making my way down the stairs.

"And she's finally ready!" Embry called as I made my way into the kitchen, his comment earnt him me flipping him the finger as I stalked over to the fridge.

The selection was pretty bland, nothing unless I wanted to waste time cooking bacon. I felt a presence behind me and turned my head to see Jake literally standing right behind me, looking over my shoulder into the fridge. I could feel his warm breath on my neck.

I grabbed the carton of orange juice waiting for him to grab something which he did; a can of coke. "Oh please help yourself to my food and drink without asking." I said sarcastically, opening the cupboard for a glass.

"Thanks." He smiled dorkishly and I rolled my eyes taking a sip of my orange juice.

"Why are we going to the beach?" I asked, looking at the three boys.

"It's something to do." Quil answered shrugging his shoulders.

"Okay, wait. You're telling me there is no specific reason as to why we are going to the beach." They all nodded and I groaned. "Ugh I'm going back to bed. Waking me up on a Saturday for no reason." I began mumbling curse words to myself as I put my glass down and made my towards the kitchen door only to be stopped by Jacob's arm going around my waist and pulling me back into his body. "No let me go sleep." I protested, trying to pull myself from his grasp.

"Nope we are leaving. Let's go." He said chucking me over his shoulder with simple easy, the other two laughed at my continuous protests.

"Don't laugh at me I should be sleeping right now." I said lifting my head to look at the guys as we made our way down the hall. "Wait!" I said, and Jake abruptly stopped. "Embry, can you throw me an apple please?" I begged, batting my eyelashes at him sweetly.

"Sure, Blue." He stopped in the doorway by the fruit bowl and tossed me an apple, which I caught with one hand. "Look at that Quil." Embry said patronisingly, shoving Quil's shoulder. "Even Aria can catch." He laughed and so did Jake.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked but I was ignored.

"I dropped the football one time. Why am I now labelled as the kid that can't catch?" He argued as we began to walk down the road towards the beach. Jake still carrying me over his shoulder.

"Because you drop everything." Jake spoke up and Embry laughed.

"See." Embry argued.

"You guys are such dicks." He said folding his arms and stalking off ahead of us. Not that I could see in the direction we were walking.

"Jake, can you let me down now please. Your shoulder is kinda hurting my hip." I asked, holding onto my apple securely. Priorities of course. 

"Sure Ari, we are far enough away from your house now so that you can't run back." He chuckled, crouching slightly so my feet could touch the floor again.

"Ha ha very funny." I smiled at him sarcastically before taking a bite of my apple. 

We carried on walking and Jake wrapped his arm around my shoulders. He and Embry occasionally making digs at Quil as he continued to walk ahead of us.

* * *

The beach was cold and boring. I knew that. Jake and the guys knew that, but they didn't want to admit it.

"So, what are we meant to be doing exactly?" I asked as I pulled my hood up over my head to block some of the wind.

"Hanging out." Embry said in a duh tone and I squinted at him.

"Ari how's your arm now?" Jake spoke up but then closed his eyes slowly as if he didn't mean to say it out loud.

"What happened to your arm?" Quil asked moving closer across the rock we were sitting on.

"Thanks Jake." I said scowling at him.

"Ari I didn't mean to." He began but I waved him off.

"Well what happened? You know you can tell us." Embry insisted and I nodded. I slowly began to pull up the sleeve of my jacket and jumper, exposing the purple and blue handprint on my wrist.

"Holy shit that's a handprint!" Embry said gently taking my arm to look at it.

"Who did this?" Quil asked leaning over to get a better look.

"Err... Jesse... he err... got a bit angry with me. I only asked him if he was on steroids, it seemed like a blatant question to ask. He kind of snapped, Jake tried to stop him but he didn't listen." I explained looking down at the sand.

"Jesse did this?" Embry asked dumbfounded. "But he'd never do this to you." He protested, not believing it.

"That's what I thought, it's like over the past month he's changed completely, Paul too." I said taking my wrist back and pulling my sleeve back down.

"Maybe Sam has got to them, remember he went through that change a few months ago. I just hope we don't have to go through it." Jake said pulling me into his side again, wrapping his arms around me.

"Please don't do that to me guys, I can't lose all of you." I felt the need to cry. The thought of losing all of them made my heart hurt, especially Jake.

"We won't we promise." Quil said rubbing my arm.

After a few moments of trying to collect myself I jumped up from my seat on the rock and turned to face to boys. "Can we go do something, like go on a walk? I want to take my mind off of things." I sighed and the boys nodded in agreement, standing as well.

We began to walk down the beach, well, I was carried by Jake. I got kind of lazy. Don't judge me, it's a long beach.

We carried on walking until we rounded a small bend on the coast, the few trees blocking our view dispersed and revealed smoke and the blue and gold flames of a driftwood bonfire.

"The pale faces have returned." Embry joked and I scoffed, reaching out to smack him across the back of the head. "Ow!" He flinched, his hand flying up to soothe the sting I had just created.

As we got closer I noticed that I recognised the group of people to be a few kids from school. Bella's friends to be exact, and then when a tall guy moved a few steps to his left, Bella was revealed from behind him.

"Hey that's Bella." I said pointing over his shoulder.

"Do you wanna go say hi?" Jake asked and I nodded.

She was with all of her friends, they all looked to be going surfing except for Angela and Bella. "Hey Bella!" I called as we reached the logs of their fire. She looked up and smiled as I jumped down off Jake's back.

Angela was helping Jessica with her wet-suit as we approached. "Hey, guys you know Aria." She said motioning to me just before hugging me.

"Hi guys. These are my friends Jacob, Embry and Quil. Bella you might remember Jake, he's Billy Black's son." I looked up at Jake and he smiled sheepishly at her before giving her a wave.

"Yeah I remember. How you doing?" She asked politely, she seemed kind of awkward around a kind of new face.

"I'm good, thanks. It's been a while." He smiled his sweet, half crooked smile at her and a pang of jealousy struck me, I knew I was being pathetic. I brushed it off.

I watched him for a moment as he looked at her. His eyes seemed to light up as she spoke. "What are you guys doing here?" She asked and Jake scoffed before I had the chance to answer.

"You're on our Rez remember." He told her as he laughed lightly. I continued to watch them, my eyebrows furrowing slightly. This was weird watching them interact, but Jake couldn't help but be friendly, it was in his nature.

"Are you surfing?" He asked and she laughed.

"Definitely not." Embry came up beside me and put his arm around my shoulder making me look up at him, he had a questionable look on his face.

"You guys should keep Bella company, her date bailed." Jessica said looking at all of us, her grin smug.

"What date?" Eric interrupted.

"She invited Edward." Jessica said laughing lightly as Bella looked down at the ground embarrassed.

I felt sorry for her as I could tell by her expression that she really liked him, but Edward wouldn't come here. It was part of the "treaty" or whatever.

"It was only to be polite that's all." Bella mumbled still looking at the ground.

"I think it's nice she invited him." Angela said, she always saw the positive in everything. I liked her.

"Yeah." I agreed only to be nudged by Embry and I scowled at him. Jake sent me a confused glance and I shrugged.

"Nobody ever does." Angela continued.

"Yeah coz Cullen's a freak." Mike said earning chuckles from the guys.

"You got that right." Embry said laughing, I just shook my head.

"You guys know him?" Bella asked as Jake stayed silent.

"The Cullens don't come here." Embry added and I rolled my eyes. Why make a big thing about it when they claim to not even believe in the legends?

After an awkward silence for a few minutes Jessica spoke up. "So Aria what are you doing here?" Oh here we go...

"I live here." I explained and she nodded.

"What do you mean?" I didn't want to cause a scene so I just answered her questions.

"I'm half Quileute, my dad lives on the Rez but my mom lives in Forks."

"But how comes you don't look Quileute?" Quil stifled a laugh and I bit my tongue.

"Jessica you can't ask that." Angela said as Bella and Jake tried to hold in their laughter. I scowled at them.

"No it's fine. I take after my mom, she has blonde hair and blue eyes where as my dad has brown eyes and black hair. I have his skin colour but my mom's eyes and a mixture of their hair." I explained and she nodded again.

"Oh." She paused for a moment. "That's so cool." She finished laughing lightly and I nodded.

She really irritates me.

My phone chiming broke the silence telling me I had a text.

From Dad
Come home please. I need you to take Tori out. I've been called into work. x

I groaned internally. I cannot wait until she can drive next year.

"Who is it?" Jake asked standing to look over my shoulder.

"Dad wants me home." I said looking up at him. He glanced at Bella and then back at me. He wanted to stay. "You can stay here, I'll walk myself back." I said and he nodded whilst Embry and Quil protested.

"I think I'm gonna stay here. I'll see you guys later." He said hugging me quickly before placing a quick kiss on my forehead. "I'll call you."

"Wait." Jessica's shrill voice broke our goodbye. "I thought you were dating Ryan Morris?" Gossip as always and I internally rolled my eyes.

"No, we're friends..." I said looking up at Jake who had a scowl on his face. "Why did you think that?"

"You didn't tell me you were actually with him." Jake said monotonously, he was angry but didn't want to make a scene.

"No! I'm not, I swear." I protested, trying to calm him, placing a hand on his arm reassuringly.

"Oh, I didn't mean to cause any trouble." Jessica feigned innocence, a meek smile on her face as I glared at her. "I had just heard that Ryan was telling people you were practically back together again."

Deep breaths Aria...

"Well, we aren't." I snapped and her grin disappeared. "We are just friends." I said seriously before turning to Jake. "I'd tell you if something else happened."

"Okay. I believe you." He hugged me to him again and I sighed in relief, ignoring the stares coming from Bella's friends. I can't believe Ryan spread rumours. Such a cocky imbecile.

"I guess I'll see you later then." I nodded at him as I pulled away from him. "Bye Bells, guys." I waved at the rest of them, completely embarrassed at Jessica's outburst. There was no need for that.

Embry and Quil said their goodbyes before walking off with me back down the beach. Jake had never not walked me home before and around Bella he seemed like he couldn't wait to spend some more time with her. I love Bella of course, but it was just strange seeing him act like that with her. He hardly knows her. He hadn't seen her for years.

"You need to get over him." Embry said breaking the silence and I looked at him quickly.

"How do you know?" I asked, surprised.

"It's obvious. Especially with the way you panicked back there." He stated and Quil agreed. I could feel my heart beat quickening and my palms getting sweaty. If they knew what are the chances Jake did? "Don't worry he doesn't have a clue." He added and I nodded slowly.

"Please don't tell him." I begged.

"We won't. We haven't told him before so why would we now?" Quil said I nodded again.

Well there goes me thinking I was the only one who knew.

* * *

It was Monday again, and my friends and I were all gathered around our regular table at lunch in the cafeteria. It was a slow day today, not that any other Monday was particularly enjoyable, but today I just felt off.

I had argued with Ryan just before lunch. I was furious with him for spreading untrue rumours about us. Two sophomore girls had even come up to me that morning telling me how lucky I was to be dating the Ryan Morris.

I explained that even if we did have fun on our date, it had only been one date. It didn't automatically just put us together. His excuse was just that he got overexcited at the thought of us being a couple again. He did apologise, but I warned him to never spread shit again because that is what will end us before we even begin.

Jake kept to his word on Saturday night and called me. He could have sworn he thought that Bella was flirting with him, but it was hard to believe now seeing as she was currently completely immersed in conversation with Edward Cullen a few tables away from us. Jacob had also admitted to breaking the rules by telling her the tribal legends. It wasn't telling her the legends that bothered me, we didn't believe it and its not like Bella would run to Billy and tell on Jake. It's just he gave up sacred information to a girl he hardly knows.

"What you thinking about there Ari?" Ryan's mention of my name pulled me from my thoughts and back to reality, my eyes tearing away from Bella and Edward in the corner of the room.

"Huh?" I was caught off guard.

"In you own little world again." He laughed it off wrapping an arm around my shoulder casually. He was acting overly friendly and very possessive of me, especially around our friends. Which was pointless really because nothing had even happened after that one date a few weeks ago.

I shrugged it off, my mind on better things as I looked back at Bella and Edward. She was besotted by him, it was obvious, but it was also clear that he felt the same way about her. I just couldn't understand how or why? What had made them suddenly so close?

I watched for a little longer, my ears straining to try and hear what they were saying amongst the hundreds of other conversations happening around us but I was failing. Then I cursed myself when my nosiness back fired... horribly.

I knew what was about to happen when the thudding in the back of my head began slowly, in time with my heart beat. I didn't realise I had been straining my brain so harshly. The thudding then turned to thumping, and soon enough the harsh pulsing pain was throbbing all over my head.

My hands flew up from my lap to my temples, adding pressure to try and relieve the pain but it didn't work. "Ryan." I stammered as I squeezed my eyes shut and slowly let myself sink to the floor and off my chair so I could put my head between my legs.

It didn't happen as gracefully as I hoped, I slid off the chair quickly, my rear end hitting the floor with a thump as my chair clattered back to the floor behind me, the sudden noise silencing the room. My groans filled the air as I tried to curl up into a ball, anything to stop the pounding in my head.

"Aria, can you hear me?" Scarlett's voice was quiet but it was close and I nodded, the thought of even speaking made my head feel like it was going to explode.

I was lucky in a way. This happened so often that my friends all knew what to do in these situations but that didn't stop the rest of the school from finding some sort of entertainment from it. "We need to get her home." Ryan said quickly keeping his voice an even tone, he knew loud noises made me worse. "Someone find Catori." He ordered as I felt a presence behind me.

"Aria?" A new voice called out, it was loud and obviously didn't know that I needed things quiet.

"Bella you need to keep your voice down." Ryan told her his hand sliding underneath my head so it was on his lap and no longer on the floor.

"What's wrong with her?" She was panicked and agitated, I struggled but I opened my eyes to see in what direction her voice was coming from.

"She suffers from serious migraines." Edward informed her with his clear, smooth voice. It was strangely soothing and eased the throbbing slightly.

"We can't find Catori." Jason said quickly, panicked. When this happened Tori would usually call Dad and he would come and get me but she wasn't in today, she was on a field trip.

"She is with the freshmen on a field trip." Edward spoke before I could even muster the strength to talk.

"We need to get her home quickly." Ryan instructed, he had never been this concerned before, usually it was Scarlett who took care of me.

"Edward you drive fast." Bella burst out. "Can you take her?" She obviously didn't pay attention to Jake's stories.

"I can't." He looked embarrassed but not a single blotch of red covered his cheeks.

"I'll do it." Ryan affirmed, his voice a little off, no doubt because of Edward's refusal to help me but I understood.

I felt Ryan's body shift and suddenly I was lifted up into the air, cradled against his chest as he began to walk out of the school buildings. The cold air hit me hard, it was chilling and the shivering that took over my body only increased the pressure against my skull. "It hurts." The tears began to slip through as Ryan shushed me and told me I'd be home soon.

I think I faded in and out of consciousness on the way to La Push. The drive seemed short though that might have been due to reckless driving by Ryan. I felt the Jeep skid to a stop, the sound of moving gravel telling me it was my driveway.

I heard Ryan open his car door and then close it again, his footsteps on the gravel were moving towards the back of the car near my door. "Where is she?" Jacob. He sounded scared, my heart ached for him. I didn't want him to be scared he knew this was a regular thing. That I'd be okay soon once it subsided.

"Where's Mr Hotah?" Ryan completely ignored Jake's question but still hadn't shown any interest in showing my crippled body to Jake as I lay crumpled up on the back chairs of Ryan's Jeep.

"At work. He called me. Now where's Aria?" Jake's voice was edgy, his protectiveness showing.

I opened my eyes slowly, the dark overcast clouds outside a nice welcome to the bright light I had expected when I thought about opening my eyes. The pain was subsiding but the pressure against my skull was making me queasy.

"What about her older brother?" For fucks sake Ryan. He knows how close Jacob and I are, its not as if he was handing me over to a stranger.

I looked out of the window above my head and I could just about see the top of Ryan's back. I closed my eyes again. "I won't ask you again." Jake warned, his voice menacing.

I heard a scoff and then suddenly the door by my head was opened and I was being lifted out of the car. At first I had expected it to be Jake, I wanted Jake, but I guess it wasn't Ryan's intention to hand me over.

"I can carry her in I'm used to it." Jake muttered but Ryan's grip on me somewhat tightened and I didn't like it.

"I got her." You could almost hear the smirk in his voice and it disgusted me. I was incredibly ill and he felt as if this was the appropriate time to try and 'win' me against Jacob.

Time to rain on his parade. "I want Jake." It felt all wrong with him carrying me. I wanted the warm and safeness that Jake provided me when he held me.

"Are you sure?" Ryan asked, his wounded ego jolting the confidence he once held in his voice.

"Jake." I called out to him, the stress was making me feel a hundred times worse. I squeezed my eyes shut even tighter as I was jostled around, being transferred between the boys.

"I'll show myself out." I didn't even know we were in the house. His ego was definitely bruised.

As I felt Jake ascend the stairs I turned my body into his chest, his warmth dulling the thudding in my head as I breathed him in. It was calming. I could hear Jake grumbling to himself incoherently so I couldn't make it out. He was definitely not happy with Ryan's little attempted hero act, and neither was I.

Jake settled me onto my bed, his body then laying onto the bed beside me as he cuddled me to him. He knew this is what I needed when I felt like this. Ryan would have been no help. The way he ignored Jake's questions as well irritated the hell out of me.

"Hey, hey, hey. Stop that and get some sleep." Jake soothed as he stroked my hair.

"Huh?"

"You were talking out loud. Get some sleep." He ordered calmly. His hand gently massaging over my scalp was lulling me into sleep, soothing the pulsating inside my head.

I nodded against his chest. I would complain about Ryan tomorrow. As my mind eased and relaxed it was easier for sleep to consume me, and soon enough I was out, with nothing but Jacob soothing me on my mind.