Anything!

    “Hold on,” Jacob shouted.
    I hid my face in his back as he sped down the highway. I knew he would slow down when we hit the
Quileute border. I just had to hold on till then. I prayed silently and fervently that Alice wouldn’t follow, and
that Charlie wouldn’t happen to see me. . . .
    It was obvious when we had reached the safe zone. The bike slowed, and Jacob straightened up and
howled with laughter. I opened my eyes.
    “We made it,” he shouted. “Not bad for a prison break, eh?”
    “Good thinking, Jake.”
    “I remembered what you said about the psychic leech not being about to predict what I’m going to do.
I’m glad you didn’t think of this — she wouldn’t have let you go to school.”
    “That’s why I didn’t consider it.”
    He laughed triumphantly. “What do you want to do today?”
    “Anything!” I laughed back. It felt great to be free.

                                                  8. TEMPER


WE ENDED UP ON THE BEACH AGAIN, WANDERING AIMlessly. Jacob was still full of himself for engineering my
escape.
     “Do you think they’ll come looking for you?” he asked, sounding hopeful.
     “No.” I was certain about that. “They’re going to be furious with me tonight, though.”
     He picked up a rock and chucked it into the waves. “Don’t go back, then,” he suggested again.
     “Charlie would love that,” I said sarcastically.
     “I bet he wouldn’t mind.”
     I didn’t answer. Jacob was probably right, and that made me grind my teeth together. Charlie’s blatant
preference for my Quileute friends was so unfair. I wondered if he would feel the same if he knew the choice
was really between vampires and werewolves.
     “So what’s the latest pack scandal?” I asked lightly.
     Jacob skidded to a halt, and he stared down at me with shocked eyes.
     “What? That was a joke.”
     “Oh.” He looked away.
     I waited for him to start walking again, but he seemed lost in thought.
     “Is there a scandal?” I wondered.
     Jacob chuckled once. “I forget what it’s like, not having everyone know everything all the time. Having a
quiet, private place inside my head.”
     We walked along the stony beach quietly for a few minutes.