Chapter 6

The next day, I woke up to the sound of rain pounding on my window. Rain wasn't always my favorite, but it was a nice change from the blazing Arizona sun. I wondered how my mom and Phil were doing in Florida. She would probably be expecting a phone call soon to make sure I was settling in okay. I made a mental note to call her later that day. I couldn't believe how much my life had changed in such a short period of time, but it was a good change. I was excited to see what would happen and I was nervous to find out how my dad and my new friends would react to Jacob and my relationship.

I was just about to get out of bed when there was a light rap on my door.

"Bella?" My dad's voice called through the thin wood.

"Come in." I said, getting out of bed.

"Good, you're up. I'm making breakfast, do you want some?"

"Sure, sounds good." I was searching around my room for something to wear for the day.

"Do you have any plans today?" Charlie asked.

"Not really. Maybe just some exploring."

"Oh. Well I was going to head over to Harry's after breakfast and he mentioned that Leah really wanted to see you again."

"Um, yeah, that would be nice. Leah is really cool." I was glad that I hadn't made too big of a fool of myself at the bonfire. Having some girl time with Leah sounded like fun. Besides, she probably was dying to know how the date between Jake and me went.

"Great." Charlie grumbled and then left to start breakfast.

After breakfast, the two of us took Charlie's non-police car to the reservation to visit the Clearwater's. The rain still hadn't let up by the time we reached their house, so I practically ran to the porch. Charlie just chuckled at me, taking his sweet time. By the time he reached me, his hair had visible droplets of water in it.

"It's just a bit of rain, Bella. You'll get use to it soon enough," He said as he rang the doorbell.

"Charlie, Bella! Please come in." Harry said happily, moving aside to let us pass.

Immediately after we entered, I heard someone move around upstairs and then Leah was visible at the top of the staircase. "Bella!" She ran down the stairs and gave me an unexpected hug. "It's good to see you again!"

"Thanks, Leah. You too." I said gently patting her back.

"Come on, let's go upstairs!" She said as she grabbed my sleeve and started pulling me behind her.

"Oh, okay." I looked back at Charlie, giving him a panicked expression, but he and Harry just laughed at my discomfort.

Once we got to her room, Leah pushed me inside, closed the door behind her, and leaned back against it. "Tell me about your date." She whisper yelled.

"It was fine." I mumbled, backing up to take a seat at the edge of her bed.

"Fine? You expect me to believe that your date with Jacob Black was just fine? Have you seen him!?" She said as she took a seat next to me on the bed.

"Okay then…it was really fun. He took me out to dinner and we talked." She didn't need to know how the rest of the night went.

Leah stared at me for a moment, as if trying to assess the information I just gave her. "You're leaving something out." She said suddenly.

"No I'm not. Why would you think that?" I said quickly. Leah was making me very nervous and I could feel my face heating up.

"Because you're as red as a tomato, Bella Swan"

"I'm not leaving anything out." I said, only somewhat confidently.

Leah paused, giving me a smirk. "Look, I didn't want to be the one to bring this up, but I saw something at the beach yesterday."

I immediately froze. My heart started pounding a million beats a minute. I tried to act cool and calm, but even I could tell that my actions were completely off. "Oh. Well, w-what did you see?"

Leah stood up and went to her desk as if searching for something, but I knew that she was just trying to create a dramatic build to what she was about to reveal.

"I was just walking down the beach, minding my own business, when I hear a noise. I decided I would go over and see what was there, and lo and behold, I end up seeing a couple making out!"

Crap. She definitely knew what happened. I hoped that she hadn't heard what we were talking about, though. I decided to play the dumb card and see how that played out. "Oh…well did you see their faces?"

"It was you, idiot!" Leah gave me a pointed look.

My face was so hot; I was sweating bullets. "No one was supposed to see that…"

Leah smiled in response. "Honestly, I am a bit surprised. I didn't peg you for the type to make out in public, especially with a guy you just met." She raised an eyebrow at me.

No, I definitely wasn't like that. And I really didn't want people thinking I was like that. If that sort of information started to get around about me, it could be bad. "Can I trust you, Leah?" That was the real question. I definitely wanted to trust her, but my secret was so big that even the most trustworthy of people would have a problem keeping it.

"Of course you can." She gave me a no-nonsense look, sensing that the conversation had turned from playful to serious.

I thought for a second, wondering if I was about to make a huge mistake or not. Yes, I did trust Leah. Even though we had only just become friends again, I knew that she wouldn't say anything if I asked her not to. Since I was paranoid that someone might be listening, I got off the bed and opened the bedroom door to poke my head out and check if anyone was around. When I was satisfied that no one was listening, I went back to the bed and gave Leah a stern look. "You can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you. Not Seth, not your mom and dad, not anyone. Got it?"

"I've got it." Leah said calmly, but I could tell she was dying to know what I was about to tell her and why I was being so secretive.

"I've met Jake before."

"But-"

I put up my hand to stop her. "Please just let me finish." I had to take a deep breath before continuing, to calm my nerves. "Jake and I went to school together. We met sophomore year and we started dating."

"Okay…so you guys have been dating a couple of years? Then why would you pretend like you didn't know each other?" I could tell that she was genuinely confused.

I sighed. "My dad is really overprotective of me. We had to keep it a secret. And then the lie just kept getting bigger and if I told my dad now, then he would completely freak."

"Then just tell him you met Jake at the bonfire and you started dating. No big." She shrugged.

"Leah…Jake and I aren't dating." I was nervously playing with the hem of my shirt.

"But I saw you two at the beach…"

"We're married." I bit my lip and waited for the storm.

"WHAT?!" She screamed. I sprang across the room and covered her mouth with my hand to get her to shut up.

"Kids, is everything okay up there?" Harry called from downstairs.

"Fine!" I yelled back, looking at Leah, panicked. "If I let you go, are you going to scream again?"

She shook her head and I released her.

"Is this for real?" She whispered.

"We got married after graduation and then we both went our separate ways. We weren't expecting to see each other the night of the bonfire. Do you understand why my dad can't know? I never told him we were dating, so he would have a heart attack if he found out we were married."

"I think I need to sit down." Leah sat on her bed and looked at me strangely. "I can't believe he has been able to keep that a secret."

"He never slipped?"

"Never. There have been girls practically throwing themselves at him every time he visits during breaks and he never even gives them a second glance. I always thought that was a bit strange, but I was glad that at least one of the guys on the reservation wasn't obsessed with women. I think that's why so many girls liked him; he was playing hard to get. Now it all makes sense." Leah shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe he has kept this from all of us for three years!"

A swell a pride went through me when I heard that Jacob didn't look at other girls even when I wasn't around. He really was respectful and kind and absolutely perfect. It was in the middle of my swooning that I realized that I hadn't even consulted Jacob about telling Leah the secret. It's not like I was planning on telling her, so hopefully he would understand, but I also hoped that it wouldn't ruin any of our plans to start getting his friends to believe we were dating. I wasn't the best actress, so having to pretend when Leah knew the secret would be a challenge. I knew she would be watching our every move to see how Jacob and I acted around each other. On the plus side, I now had someone to talk to about my secret, and that felt good. Keeping something hidden for so long was extremely draining.

I knew my dad wouldn't approve right away, but that had me thinking about what Billy would do. I wasn't exactly Quileute. Would he be mad that his son married someone outside of the tribe? Would the tribe be mad at their future leader's choices? Would I be accepted? Things were definitely more complicated that I originally anticipated.

"Is the tribe going to hate me when they find out?" I asked softly

Leah was silent as she thought it over for a moment. "Some people might not be too excited, but you're a very likeable person. I don't see why people wouldn't like you once they get to know you. I definitely don't think any of Jake's friend's will have a problem with it. I mean, you already know what Paul thinks of you."

I chuckled at the memory of Paul's comments during the bonfire. "I really hope you're right."

"People would be crazy not to like you! And don't worry, I'll do my best to help however I can."

"Thanks, Leah. You're a good friend."

"I know."

IMPORTANT: This will be the last update for a couple of weeks. I will be moving into my apartment and starting school in a few days, so I will need to be focusing on that. But don't worry, I will be back soon enough with a new chapter! It'll be like I wasn't even gone! Thanks for reading this far and I hope you decide to stick around!