She also needs to learn to get a life outside of whatever one guy she's obsessed with at the moment. Without Jacob around, all she can do is...think about Jacob. And attempt to call him, again and again, even when it becomes obvious he's avoiding her. It gets to the point where Bella calls every half hour one night, all the way until after 11 pm. Come on Bella, can't you find anyone else to socialize with, ever?
But Bella's obsession with Jacob won't end. The only thing stopping her from heading down to La Push is the desire to keep Jacob away from vampires, because he's totally not a werewolf, and that would be much too dangerous for him.
Bella comes to the only reasonable conclusion: Jacob has been taken into the cult of Sam Uley. Incredibly, Bella is actually right about this -- but don't worry, she's also horribly wrong at the same time, keeping her amazing streak of wrongness alive. She's convinced that Jacob is brainwashed (wrong!) and up to no good (wrong!) with the evil (wrong!) Sam Uley. She brings it up with Charlie, but he's surprisingly dismissive. He also points out that the wolf problem is getting out of hand now -- two more tourists have gone missing.
Bella is shocked that the wolves are still alive. How could impossibly giant wolves have defeated an impossibly sparkly vampire? A normal person might start to consider that maybe there was more to these wolves than she thought, but not Bella. She assumes Laurent outran them instead, which would definitely explain why she hasn't seen or heard from him ever since he fled the meadow. Oh, and they're also in no way related to the cult your best friend is in. You know, your friend from the tribe with the accurate legends who also said his people were descended from wolves. That friend. Yeah.
Bella is focused on figuring out what's going on with Jacob now, consequences be damned -- it's the Bella Swan way. She heads down to the reservation, picking up Jacob's friend Quil on the way. Quil has seen Jacob with Sam's little gang; in fact, he's pretty much Sam's right hand man now. Quil is legitimately frightened that he'll get sucked into the gang next, apparently unaware that membership includes the ability to turn into a gigantic freaking wolf. Bella gives him a ride home, then waits outside of Jacob's house to finally force a confrontation.
And a confrontation she gets. An even bigger and more muscular Jacob, now described with even more impressive adjectives than in previous chapters, comes up to her truck with a nasty look on his face, flanked by the rest of his pack. Bella demands a private conversation, and Sam leads the rest of the troops into Jacob's house.
Jacob and Bella have a little chat. Jacob is cryptic, because that's what the men in Bella's life do -- they leave hints in the hope that she'll be able to figure out something for herself for once. It never happens, but that's just the way the game works. He says that he was way off about Sam's group. I'm guessing he wasn't counting on them turning into wolves and shit. Still, he can't tell Bella exactly what's going on...and says that they were friends. Ouch, Bella...0-2 with the boys in this book sticking around.
Bella wants someone to blame, she needs someone to blame (preferably, someone that isn't Bella). Jacob tells her who's fault this all is:
"If you want to blame someone, why don't you point your finger at those filthy, reeking bloodsuckers that you love so much?"Ouch, ice burn! Bella tries to save face by claiming the vampire legends are nonsense, but that falls a little flat when Jacob is already a freaking werewolf. He says that Sam's gang exists because the Cullens exist.
And then Headward returns! He doesn't want Bella to push Jacob any further, which of course means that Bella will push Jacob further. The Bella/Headward relationship is nearly as healthy as the Bella/Edward one, only with less fainting.
Jacob tells Bella that they can't be friends anymore, and Bella asks if he's breaking up with her. Bella, you do realize you're the one that didn't want a relationship with him, right? Jacob apologizes, and then Bella shows just how low she can go, telling Jacob that if he sticks around as a friend a little longer, that maybe...just maybe...someday she'd let him get to first base. MAYBE.
Jacob should be furious, but he understands how tough this is on Bella -- I mean, she clearly has issues -- so instead he gives her the old "it's not you, it's the fact that I'm a werewolf" routine. He's not good enough to be her friend anymore. Wow, way to bite the bullet on that one, Jacob; I think we all know who isn't good enough for who, and it isn't the apologetic werewolf.
Bella goes home, and tries to comfort herself by repeating over and over again that this isn't as bad as when Edward left. Bella's Edward hole now has a Jacob hole to play with. Wow, that really sounds dirty! In one of these chapter reviews, we'll talk more about the hole. Really, it's coming! Charlie is waiting for Bella when she arrives, because Billy called ahead to tell him that his unstable daughter was a tad upset about the fight she had with his werewolf son. It's one of those things parents just do.
Big props to Charlie, by the way: he pretty much goes nuts and calls Billy after Bella explains that Sam isn't letting Jacob be her friend anymore. Charlie knows that Jacob is the only thing keeping Bella sane, and he's not about to deal with four more months of mopey Bella again. But Charlie can't get any answers out of Billy, and his threats of keeping an eye on Sam's gang don't have a lot of weight behind them when, you know, they could eat him.
Bella goes to sleep crying about her holes, and dreams about Jacob and Edward disappearing. As the chapter ends, she's awakened by a sound at her window. Don't worry, it's not a vampire; that would be far too much excitement for Stephenie Meyer to handle.
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