Hold on,”

    I was frozen for a second before I understood.
    I looked at Mike quickly. I knew I only had seconds.
    How far would Alice go to restrain me in public?
    “I got really sick and went home, okay?” I said to Mike, my voice filled with sudden excitement.
    “Fine,” he muttered.
    I pecked Mike swiftly on the cheek. “Thanks, Mike. I owe you one!” I called as I sprinted away.
    Jacob revved his engine, grinning. I jumped on the back of his seat, wrapping my arms tightly around his
waist.
    I caught sight of Alice, frozen at the edge of the cafeteria, her eyes sparking with fury, her lip curled back
over her teeth.
    I shot her one pleading glance.
    Then we were racing across the blacktop so fast that my stomach got lost somewhere behind me.
    “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.