As I sat in my room, trying to concentrate on thethird act of Macbeth, I was really listening for my truck. Iwould have thought, even over the pounding rain, I could have heardthe engine\'s roar. But when I went to peek out the curtain — again— it was suddenly there.

I wasn\'t looking forward to Friday, and it morethan lived up to my non-expectations. Of course there were thefainting comments. Jessica especially seemed to get a kick out ofthat story. Luckily Mike had kept his mouth shut, and no one seemedto know about Edward\'s involvement. She did have a lot of questionsabout lunch, though.

\"So what did Edward Cullen want yesterday?\" Jessicaasked in Trig.

\"I don\'t know,\" I answered truthfully. \"He neverreally got to the point.\" \"You looked kind of mad,\" she fished.

\"Did I?\" I kept my expression blank.

\"You know, I\'ve never seen him sit with anyone buthis family before. That was weird.\" \"Weird,\" I agreed. She seemedannoyed; she flipped her dark curls impatiently — I

guessed she\'d been hoping to hear something thatwould make a good story for her to pass on.

The worst part about Friday was that, even though Iknew he wasn\'t going to be there, I still hoped. When I walked intothe cafeteria with Jessica and Mike, I couldn\'t keep from lookingat his table, where Rosalie, Alice, and Jasper sat talking, headsclose together. And I couldn\'t stop the gloom that engulfed me as Irealized I didn\'t know how long I would have to wait before I sawhim again.

At my usual table, everyone was full of our plans for the nextday. Mike was animated again, putting a great deal of trust in thelocal weatherman who promised sun tomorrow. I\'d have to see thatbefore I believed it. But it was warmer today — almost sixty. Maybethe outing wouldn\'t be completely miserable.

I intercepted a few unfriendly glances from Laurenduring lunch, which I didn\'t understand until we were all walkingout of the room together. I was right behind her, just a foot fromher slick, silver blond hair, and she was evidently unaware ofthat.

\"…don\'t know why Bella\" — she sneered myname — \"doesn\'t just sit with the Cullens from now on.\"

I heard her muttering to Mike. I\'d never noticedwhat an unpleasant, nasal voice she had, and I was surprised by themalice in it. I really didn\'t know her well at all, certainly notwell enough for her to dislike me — or so I\'d thought. \"She\'s myfriend; she sits with us,\" Mike whispered back loyally, but also abit territorially. I paused to let Jess and Angela pass me. Ididn\'t want to hear any more.

That night at dinner, Charlie seemed enthusiasticabout my trip to La Push in the morning. I think he felt guilty forleaving me home alone on the weekends, but he\'d spent too manyyears building his habits to break them now. Of course he knew thenames of

all the kids going, and their parents, and theirgreat-grandparents, too, probably. He seemed to approve. I wonderedif he would approve of my plan to ride to Seattle with EdwardCullen. Not that I was going to tell him.

\"Dad, do you know a place called Goat Rocks orsomething like that? I think it\'s south of Mount Rainier,\" I askedcasually.

\"Yeah — why?\"

I shrugged. \"Some kids were talking about campingthere.\"

\"It\'s not a very good place for camping.\" Hesounded surprised.\" Too many bears. Most people go there during thehunting season.\"

\"Oh,\" I murmured. \"Maybe I got the name wrong.\"

I meant to sleep in, but an unusual brightness wokeme. I opened my eyes to see a clear yellow light streaming throughmy window. I couldn\'t believe it. I hurried to the window to check,and sure enough, there was the sun. It was in the wrong place inthe sky, too low, and it didn\'t seem to be as close as it shouldbe, but it was definitely the sun. Clouds ringed the horizon, but alarge patch of blue was visible in the middle. I lingered by thewindow as long as I could, afraid that if I left the blue woulddisappear again.

The Newtons \' Olympic Outfitters store was justnorth of town. I\'d seen the store, but I\'d never stopped there —not having much need for any supplies required for being

outdoors over an extended period of time. In theparking lot I recognized Mike\'s Suburban and Tyler\'s Sentra. As Ipulled up next to their vehicles, I could see the group standingaround in front of the Suburban. Eric was there, along with twoother boys I had class with; I was fairly sure their names were Benand Conner. Jess was there, flanked by Angela and Lauren. Threeother girls stood with them, including one I remembered

falling over in Gym on Friday. That one gave me adirty look as I got out of the truck, and whispered something toLauren. Lauren shook out her cornsilk hair and eyed mescornfully.

So it was going to be one of those days. Atleast Mike was happy to see me.

\"You came!\" he called, delighted. \"And I said itwould be sunny today, didn\'t I?\" \"I told you I was coming,\" Ireminded him.

\"We\'re just waiting for Lee and Samantha… unlessyou invited someone,\" Mike added. \"Nope,\" I lied lightly, hoping Iwouldn\'t get caught in the lie. But also wishing that a

miracle would occur, and Edward would appear. Mikelooked satisfied.

\"Will you ride in my car? It\'s that or Lee\'s mom\'sminivan.\" \"Sure.\"

He smiled blissfully. It was so easy to make Mikehappy.

\"You can have shotgun,\" he promised. I hid mychagrin. It wasn\'t as simple to make

Mike and Jessica happy at the same time. I couldsee Jessica glowering at us now. The numbers worked out in myfavor, though. Lee brought two extra people, and

suddenly every seat was necessary. I managed to wedge Jess inbetween Mike and me in the front seat of the Suburban. Mike couldhave been more graceful about it, but at least Jess seemedappeased.

It was only fifteen miles to La Push from Forks,with gorgeous, dense green forests edging the road most of the wayand the wide Quillayute River snaking beneath it twice. I was gladI had the window seat. We\'d rolled the windows down — the Suburbanwas a

bit claustrophobic with nine people in it — and Itried to absorb as much sunlight as possible.

I\'d been to the beaches around La Push many timesduring my Forks summers with Charlie, so the mile-long crescent ofFirst Beach was familiar to me. It was still breathtaking. Thewater was dark gray, even in the sunlight, white-capped and heavingto the gray, rocky shore. Islands rose out of the steel harborwaters with sheer cliff sides,

reaching to uneven summits, and crowned withaustere, soaring firs. The beach had only a thin border of actualsand at the water\'s edge, after which it grew into millions oflarge, smooth stones that looked uniformly gray from a distance,but close up were every shade a stone could be: terra-cotta, seagreen, lavender, blue gray, dull gold. The tide line was strewnwith huge driftwood trees, bleached bone white in the salt waves,some piled together against the edge of the forest fringe, somelying solitary, just out of reach of the waves.

There was a brisk wind coming off the waves, cooland briny. Pelicans floated on the swells while seagulls and a loneeagle wheeled above them. The clouds still circled the sky,threatening to invade at any moment, but for now the sun shonebravely in its halo of blue sky.

We picked our way down to the beach, Mike leadingthe way to a ring of driftwood logs that had obviously been usedfor parties like ours before. There was a fire circle already

in place, filled with black ashes. Eric and the boyI thought was named Ben gathered broken branches of driftwood fromthe drier piles against the forest edge, and soon had ateepee-shaped construction built atop the old cinders.

\"Have you ever seen a driftwood fire?\" Mike askedme. I was sitting on one of the

bone-colored benches; the other girls clustered,gossiping excitedly, on either side of me. Mike kneeled by thefire, lighting one of the smaller sticks with a cigarettelighter.

\"No,\" I said as he placed the blazing twigcarefully against the teepee.

\"You\'ll like this then — watch the colors.\" He litanother small branch and laid it alongside the first. The flamesstarted to lick quickly up the dry wood.

\"It\'s blue,\" I said in surprise.

\"The salt does it. Pretty, isn\'t it?\" He lit onemore piece, placed it where the fire hadn\'t yet caught, and thencame to sit by me. Thankfully, Jess was on his other side. Sheturned to him and claimed his attention. I watched the strange blueand green flames crackle toward the sky.

After a half hour of chatter, some of the boyswanted to hike to the nearby tidal pools. It was a dilemma. On theone hand, I loved the tide pools. They had fascinated me since Iwas a child; they were one of the only things I ever looked forwardto when I had to

come to Forks. On the other hand, I\'d also falleninto them a lot. Not a big deal when you\'re seven and with yourdad. It reminded me of Edward\'s request — that I not fall into theocean.

Lauren was the one who made my decision for me. Shedidn\'t want to hike, and she was definitely wearing the wrong shoesfor it. Most of the other girls besides Angela and Jessica decidedto stay on the beach as well. I waited until Tyler and Eric hadcommitted to remaining with them before I got up quietly to jointhe pro-hiking group. Mike gave

me a huge smile when he saw that I was coming.

The hike wasn\'t too long, though I hated to losethe sky in the woods. The green light of the forest was strangelyat odds with the adolescent laughter, too murky and ominous to

be in harmony with the light banter around me. Ihad to watch each step I took very carefully, avoiding roots belowand branches above, and I soon fell behind. Eventually I brokethrough the emerald confines of the forest and found the rockyshore again. It was low tide, and a tidal river flowed past us onits way to the sea. Along its pebbled banks, shallow pools thatnever completely drained were teeming with life.

I was very cautious not to lean too far over thelittle ocean ponds. The others were

fearless, leaping over the rocks, perchingprecariously on the edges. I found a very stable- looking rock onthe fringe of one of the largest pools and sat there cautiously,spellbound by the natural aquarium below me. The bouquets ofbrilliant anemones undulated ceaselessly in the invisible current,twisted shells scurried about the edges, obscuring the crabs withinthem, starfish stuck motionless to the rocks and each other, whileone small black eel with white racing stripes wove through thebright green weeds, waiting for the sea to return. I was completelyabsorbed, except for one small part of my mind that wondered whatEdward was doing now, and trying to imagine what he would be sayingif he were here with me.

Finally the boys were hungry, and I got up stifflyto follow them back. I tried to keep up better this time throughthe woods, so naturally I fell a few times. I got some shallowscrapes on my palms, and the knees of my jeans were stained green,but it could have

been worse.

When we got back to First Beach, the group we\'dleft behind had multiplied. As we got closer we could see theshining, straight black hair and copper skin of the newcomers,teenagers from the reservation come to socialize.

The food was already being passed around, and theboys hurried to claim a share while Eric introduced us as we eachentered the driftwood circle. Angela and I were the last to arrive,and, as Eric said our names, I noticed a younger boy sitting on thestones near the fire glance up at me in interest. I sat down nextto Angela, and Mike brought us sandwiches and an array of sodas tochoose from, while a boy who looked to be the oldest of thevisitors rattled off the names of the seven others with him. All Icaught was that one of the girls was also named Jessica, and theboy who noticed me was named Jacob.

It was relaxing to sit with Angela; she was arestful kind of person to be around — she didn\'t feel the need tofill every silence with chatter. She left me free to thinkundisturbed while we ate. And I was thinking about how disjointedlytime seemed to flow in Forks, passing in a blur at times, withsingle images standing out more clearly than others. And then, atother times, every second was significant, etched in my mind. Iknew exactly what caused the difference, and it disturbed me.

During lunch the clouds started to advance,slinking across the blue sky, darting in front of the sunmomentarily, casting long shadows across the beach, and blackeningthe

waves. As they finished eating, people started todrift away in twos and threes. Some walked down to the edge of thewaves, trying to skip rocks across the choppy surface. Others weregathering a second expedition to the tide pools. Mike — withJessica shadowing him — headed up to the one shop in the village.Some of the local kids went with them; others went along on thehike. By the time they all had scattered, I was sitting alone on mydriftwood log, with Lauren and Tyler occupying themselves by the CDplayer someone had thought to bring, and three teenagers from thereservation perched around the circle, including the boy namedJacob and the oldest boy who had acted as spokesperson.

A few minutes after Angela left with the hikers,Jacob sauntered over to take her place by my side. He lookedfourteen, maybe fifteen, and had long, glossy black hair pulledback with a rubber band at the nape of his neck. His skin wasbeautiful, silky and russet- colored; his eyes were dark, set deepabove the high planes of his cheekbones. He still had just a hintof childish roundness left around his chin. Altogether, a verypretty face.

However, my positive opinion of his looks wasdamaged by the first words out of his mouth.

\"You\'re Isabella Swan, aren\'t you?\"

It was like the first day of school all over again.\"Bella,\" I sighed.

\"I\'m Jacob Black.\" He held his hand out in afriendly gesture. \"You bought my dad\'s truck.\"

\"Oh,\" I said, relieved, shaking his sleek hand.\"You\'re Billy\'s son. I probably should remember you.\"

\"No, I\'m the youngest of the family — you wouldremember my older sisters.\"

\"Rachel and Rebecca,\" I suddenly recalled. Charlieand Billy had thrown us together a lot during my visits, to keep usbusy while they fished. We were all too shy to make much progressas friends. Of course, I\'d kicked up enough tantrums to end thefishing trips by the time I was eleven.

\"Are they here?\" I examined the girls at theocean\'s edge, wondering if I would recognize them now.

\"No.\" Jacob shook his head. \"Rachel got ascholarship to Washington State, and

Rebecca married a Samoan surfer — she lives inHawaii now.\"

\"Married. Wow.\" I was stunned. The twins were onlya little over a year older than I

was.

\"So how do you like the truck?\" he asked. \"I loveit. It runs great.\"

\"Yeah, but it\'s really slow,\" he laughed. \"I was sorelived when Charlie bought it. My dad wouldn\'t let me work onbuilding another car when we had a perfectly good vehicle rightthere.\"

\"It\'s not that slow,\" I objected. \"Have you triedto go over sixty?\" \"No,\" I admitted.

\"Good. Don\'t.\" He grinned.

I couldn\'t help grinning back. \"It does great in acollision,\" I offered in my truck\'s defense.

\"I don\'t think a tank could take out that oldmonster,\" he agreed with another laugh. \"So you build cars?\" Iasked, impressed.

\"When I have free time, and parts. You wouldn\'t happen to knowwhere I could get my hands on a master cylinder for a 1986Volkswagen Rabbit?\" he added jokingly. He had a pleasant, huskyvoice.

\"Sorry,\" I laughed, \"I haven\'t seen any lately, butI\'ll keep my eyes open for you.\" As if I

knew what that was. He was very easy to talkwith.

He flashed a brilliant smile, looking at meappreciatively in a way I was learning to recognize. I wasn\'t theonly one who noticed.

\"You know Bella, Jacob?\" Lauren asked — in what Iimagined was an insolent tone —

from across the fire.

\"We\'ve sort of known each other since I was born,\"he laughed, smiling at me again. \"How nice.\" She didn\'t sound likeshe thought it was nice at all, and her pale, fishy eyes

narrowed.

\"Bella,\" she called again, watching my facecarefully, \"I was just saying to Tyler that it

was too bad none of the Cullens could come outtoday. Didn\'t anyone think to invite them?\" Her expression ofconcern was unconvincing.

\"You mean Dr. Carlisle Cullen\'s family?\" the tall,older boy asked before I could respond, much to Lauren\'sirritation. He was really closer to a man than a boy, and his voicewas very deep.

\"Yes, do you know them?\" she asked condescendingly,turning halfway toward him. \"The Cullens don\'t come here,\" he saidin a tone that closed the subject, ignoring her

question.

Tyler, trying to win back her attention, askedLauren\'s opinion on a CD he held. She was distracted.

I stared at the deep-voiced boy, taken aback, buthe was looking away toward the dark forest behind us. He\'d saidthat the Cullens didn\'t come here, but his tone had impliedsomething more — that they weren\'t allowed; they were prohibited.His manner left a strange impression on me, and I tried to ignoreit without success.

Jacob interrupted my meditation. \"So is Forksdriving you insane yet?\"

\"Oh, I\'d say that\'s an understatement.\" I grimaced.He grinned understandingly. I was still turning over the briefcomment on the Cullens, and I had a sudden

inspiration. It was a stupid plan, but I didn\'thave any better ideas. I hoped that young Jacob was as yetinexperienced around girls, so that he wouldn\'t see through mysure-to- be-pitiful attempts at flirting.

\"Do you want to walk down the beach with me?\" Iasked, trying to imitate that way Edward had of looking up fromunderneath his eyelashes. It couldn\'t have nearly the same effect,I was sure, but Jacob jumped up willingly enough.

As we walked north across the multihued stonestoward the driftwood seawall, the clouds finally closed ranksacross the sky, causing the sea to darken and the temperature todrop. I shoved my hands deep into the pockets of my jacket.

\"So you\'re, what, sixteen?\" I asked, trying not tolook like an idiot as I fluttered my eyelids the way I\'d seen girlsdo on TV.

\"I just turned fifteen,\" he confessed,flattered.

\"Really?\" My face was full of false surprise. \"Iwould have thought you were older.\" \"I\'m tall for my age,\" heexplained.

\"Do you come up to Forks much?\" I asked archly, asif I was hoping for a yes. I sounded idiotic to myself. I wasafraid he would turn on me with disgust and accuse me of my fraud,but he still seemed flattered.

\"Not too much,\" he admitted with a frown. \"But whenI get my car finished I can go up as much as I want — after I getmy license,\" he amended.

\"Who was that other boy Lauren was talking to? Heseemed a little old to be hanging out with us.\" I purposefullylumped myself in with the youngsters, trying to make it clear thatI preferred Jacob.

\"That\'s Sam — he\'s nineteen,\" he informed me.

\"What was that he was saying about the doctor\'sfamily?\" I asked innocently.

\"The Cullens? Oh, they\'re not supposed to come ontothe reservation.\" He looked away, out toward James Island, as heconfirmed what I\'d thought I\'d heard in Sam\'s voice.

\"Why not?\"

He glanced back at me, biting his lip. \"Oops. I\'mnot supposed to say anything about that.\"

\"Oh, I won\'t tell anyone, I\'m just curious.\" Itried to make my smile alluring, wondering if I was laying it ontoo thick.

He smiled back, though, looking allured. Then helifted one eyebrow and his voice was even huskier than before.

\"Do you like scary stories?\" he askedominously.

\"I love them,\" I enthused, making an effortto smolder at him.

Jacob strolled to a nearby driftwood tree that hadits roots sticking out like the attenuated legs of a huge, palespider. He perched lightly on one of the twisted roots while I satbeneath him on the body of the tree. He stared down at the rocks, asmile hovering around the edges of his broad lips. I could see hewas going to try to make this good. I focused on keeping the vitalinterest I felt out of my eyes.

\"Do you know any of our old stories, about where wecame from — the Quileutes, I

mean?\" he began.

\"Not really,\" I admitted.

\"Well, there are lots of legends, some of themclaiming to date back to the Flood — supposedly, the ancientQuileutes tied their canoes to the tops of the tallest trees on themountain to survive like Noah and the ark.\" He smiled, to show mehow little stock he put in the histories. \"Another legend claimsthat we descended from wolves — and that the wolves are ourbrothers still. It\'s against tribal law to kill them.

\"Then there are the stories about the coldones.\" His voice dropped a little lower. \"The cold ones?\" Iasked, not faking my intrigue now.

\"Yes. There are stories of the cold ones as old asthe wolf legends, and some much more recent. According to legend,my own great-grandfather knew some of them. He was the one who madethe treaty that kept them off our land.\" He rolled his eyes.

\"Your great-grandfather?\" I encouraged.

\"He was a tribal elder, like my father. You see, the cold onesare the natural enemies of the wolf—well, not the wolf, really, butthe wolves that turn into men, like our ancestors. You would callthem werewolves.\"

\"Werewolves have enemies?\" \"Only one.\"

I stared at him earnestly, hoping to disguise myimpatience as admiration.

\"So you see,\" Jacob continued, \"the cold ones aretraditionally our enemies. But this pack that came to our territoryduring my great-grandfather\'s time was different. They didn\'t huntthe way others of their kind did — they weren\'t supposed to bedangerous to the tribe. So my great-grandfather made a truce withthem. If they would promise to stay off our lands, we wouldn\'texpose them to the pale-faces.\" He winked at me.

\"If they weren\'t dangerous, then why… ?\"I tried tounderstand, struggling not to let him see how seriously I wasconsidering his ghost story.

\"There\'s always a risk for humans to be around thecold ones, even if they\'re civilized like this clan was. You neverknow when they might get too hungry to resist.\" He deliberatelyworked a thick edge of menace into his tone.

\"What do you mean, \'civilized\'?\"

\"They claimed that they didn\'t hunt humans. Theysupposedly were somehow able to prey on animals instead.\"

I tried to keep my voice casual. \"So how does itfit in with the Cullens ? Are they like the cold ones your greatgrandfather met?\"

\"No.\" He paused dramatically. \"They are thesame ones.\"

He must have thought the expression on my face wasfear inspired by his story. He smiled, pleased, and continued.

\"There are more of them now, a new female and a new male, butthe rest are the same. In my great-grandfather\'s time they alreadyknew of the leader, Carlisle. He\'d been here and gone beforeyour people had even arrived.\" He was fighting a smile.

\"And what are they?\" I finally asked. \"Whatare the cold ones?\" He smiled darkly.

\"Blood drinkers,\" he replied in a chilling voice.\"Your people call them vampires.\"

I stared out at the rough surf after he answered,not sure what my face was exposing. \"You have goose bumps,\" helaughed delightedly.

\"You\'re a good storyteller,\" I complimented him,still staring into the waves.

\"Pretty crazy stuff, though, isn\'t it? No wonder mydad doesn\'t want us to talk about it to anyone.\"

I couldn\'t control my expression enough to look athim yet. \"Don\'t worry, I won\'t give you away.\"

\"I guess I just violated the treaty,\" helaughed.

\"I\'ll take it to the grave,\" I promised, and then Ishivered.

\"Seriously, though, don\'t say anything to Charlie.He was pretty mad at my dad when he heard that some of us weren\'tgoing to the hospital since Dr. Cullen started working

there.\"

\"I won\'t, of course not.\"

\"So do you think we\'re a bunch of superstitiousnatives or what?\" he asked in a playful tone, but with a hint ofworry. I still hadn\'t looked away from the ocean.

I turned and smiled at him as normally as Icould.

\"No. I think you\'re very good at telling scarystories, though. I still have goose bumps, see?\" I held up myarm.

\"Cool.\" He smiled.

And then the sound of the beach rocks clatteringagainst each other warned us that someone was approaching. Ourheads snapped up at the same time to see Mike and Jessica aboutfifty yards away, walking toward us.

\"There you are, Bella,\" Mike called in relief,waving his arm over his head.

\"Is that your boyfriend?\" Jacob asked, alerted bythe jealous edge in Mike\'s voice. I was surprised it was soobvious.

\"No, definitely not,\" I whispered. I wastremendously grateful to Jacob, and eager to make him as happy aspossible. I winked at him, carefully turning away from Mike to doso. He smiled, elated by my inept flirting.

\"So when I get my license…\" he began.

\"You should come see me in Forks. We could hang outsometime.\" I felt guilty as I said this, knowing that I\'d used him.But I really did like Jacob. He was someone I could

easily be friends with.

Mike had reached us now, with Jessica still a fewpaces back. I could see his eyes appraising Jacob, and lookingsatisfied at his obvious youth.

\"Where have you been?\" he asked, though the answerwas right in front of him.

\"Jacob was just telling me some local stories,\" Ivolunteered. \"It was really interesting.\" I smiled at Jacob warmly,and he grinned back.

\"Well,\" Mike paused, carefully reassessing thesituation as he watched our camaraderie. \"We\'re packing up — itlooks like it\'s going to rain soon.\"

We all looked up at the glowering sky. It certainlydid look like rain. \"Okay.\" I jumped up. \"I\'m coming.\"

\"It was nice to see you again,\" Jacob said,and I could tell he was taunting Mike just a bit.

\"It really was. Next time Charlie comes down to seeBilly, I\'ll come, too,\" I promised. His grin stretched across hisface. \"That would be cool.\"

\"And thanks,\" I added earnestly.

I pulled up my hood as we tramped across the rockstoward the parking lot. A few drops were beginning to fall, makingblack spots on the stones where they landed. When we got to theSuburban the others were already loading everything back in. Icrawled into the backseat by Angela and Tyler, announcing that I\'dalready had my turn in the shotgun position. Angela just stared outthe window at the escalating storm, and Lauren twisted around inthe middle seat to occupy Tyler \'s attention, so I could simply laymy head back on the seat and close my eyes and try very hard not tothink.