Chapter Fifteen: Wolves Gone Wild

Spring break, WOO!

Oh, it's Spring break in Forks. Lame. Bella spends most of her time down in La Push, so that the werewolves can stop Victoria from eating her so much. Jacob acts all boyfriendy around Bella, but it doesn't bother her because they both know the truth. Even though everyone can tell he's totally in love with her and she knows she's sort of leading him on, it's okay because....umm, because Bella says so. Okay, sure.

Jacob expositions out a little more about werewolves for Bella. For instance, werewolves are hot! Umm, literally, because they run body temperatures of around 108-109. Quil's been burning up, so he's expected to come off the werewolf assembly line next. It really sucks when you first become one, apparently; you freak out a lot, which I suppose is easy to imagine when one day you feel a little sick, and the next you're a giant freaking wolf for no apparent reason. For Jacob, feeling out of control is the worst part; the best part is Bella knowing about him, because maybe now she's think he's hot and date him it gives him a friend (just a friend, really!) to confide in.

Hold on to your hats though: Jacob just happens to be really good at being a werewolf. Who knew? It comes so easily to him, he's an amazing fighter, he can phase between his forms with little effort. He's the Edward of werewolves! In his case, it's genetic; two of his ancestors were among the last wolf pack when the Cullens first showed up in Forks.

It turns out werewolves are very fast -- fast enough to catch vampires. Don't worry though, this won't make Bella think that werewolves have a chance in hell against vampires in a fight. I think Bella bases fighting ability on how much creatures sparkle.

Jacob wants to know something about vampires: namely, how Bella can stand being around them. Or why Edward killed James. So Bella shows him why it's totally okay to be around vampires: her scar from when James bit her. That'll clear everything up. To calm Jake down from learning that his best friend was nearly killed by a vampire a few months ago, she tells him all about the Cullen superpowers. Unfortunately, thinking about them makes her dizzy, and forces her to grab on tight to her hole. Jacob asks about her mysterious hole, and why she needs to play with it so much -- the kind of question every teenage boy needs to ask once in a while. In the end, Bella and Jacob agree that they both have issues. I have no argument with that.

Bella spends most of the rest of her break worrying about everyone getting eaten by vampires, or shot at by hunters, or possibly even shot at by vampires (there's no reason they couldn't use guns, is there?). Jacob decides she needs to do something fun soon before she gets all mopey again, and suggests he keep his promise to go cliff diving with her. Given Bella's record, she'll probably die before she even hits the water, but at least she'll probably get to hear Headward again!

And so after some more brooding about whether Victoria will kill all the werewolves somehow, and a little moping, it's time for cliff diving -- only Jacob can't get away from his pack responsibilities, so Bella shows her typical good judgment and decides to go alone. Even better, instead of jumping from the lower ledge, she manages to find her way up to the very top of the cliff, where the werewolves like jumping from. Sure, Bella, this is going to end well for you.

Headward agrees with my assessment, and tries to stop Bella to no avail. Of course, the more she tries to kill herself, the more she gets to hear her sparkly god! And, so, she jumps.

And falls. And lands in the icy cold water, so proud of herself for not dying...until the current catches her, and she realizes that she's entirely screwed. She tries and tries, and listens to the vampire in her head, but she can't even tell where the surface is or which way to swim. Bella isn't exactly a doer, so giving up seems like a really good idea to her right about now.

At the last moment, Bella hits something hard that starts to drag her away. For the three of you out there who can't figure it out yet, I apologize for the spoilers -- we technically don't learn this until the beginning of the next chapter, but the "something hard" is Jacob coming to save her, and she's not going to die -- we could never be so lucky. So close though...so close.