Chapter Five – Cheater

Chapter Number: Five

Chapter Name: Cheater

Page Numbers: 120-136 (Hardcover)

Date of Chapter: Saturday, January 17th, 2006

Summary: The chapter opens with the first time we actually see Bella at work with Mike. It’s nearing closing time and they are simply waiting for the last two customers to make their purchases and leave the store. But they don’t seem to be concentrating much on hiking gear. Instead, they’re arguing about a monstrous black bear one of them claimed to have seen. Mike suggests Bella heads home and Bella reluctantly complies.

Bella rushes out into the rain and gets in her truck. As she begins to drive away from the store we learn about the nightmare that has plagued Bella since Edward’s departure. She explains it as “nothing, really. Only nothing.” She searches and searches until she finally realizes that is “nothing to search for, and nothing to find. That there never had been anything more than just this empty, dreary wood, and there never would be anything more for me.”

She realizes that now that she’s woken up from whatever numb state she had been surviving in for the past few months, she’ll be more prone to give into the thoughts she had been pushing away and the pain that she was carefully avoiding. She remembers Edward’s promise – “It will be as if I’d never existed.” – and has to stop the car because of the pain the memory brings up. She remembers the promises she made to him, too; to not be reckless and stupid. She’s distracted from her pain by the “hopeless proposition” of trying to be reckless in Forks and begins to ponder ways in which she could actually accomplish her goal. She turns off her engine, looks around for the first time, and finds herself sitting between the Cheneys’ house and the Markses’.

“Sometimes, kismet happens.”

As she is looking around at her surroundings, Bella sees a hand-printed “FOR SALE, AS IS” sign next to two rusting motorcycles. She instantly realizes that this is probably the most reckless thing she could do. “Reckless and stupid. Those were Charlie’s two very favorite words to apply to motorcycles.” She marches up to the Markses’ front door and knocks. The door is opened by the younger Marks boy whose name she doesn’t remember. She asks about the bikes and he helps her load both of them onto the back of her truck. He asked what she was going to do with them and she says that she might take them to Dowling’s repair shop. He scoffs and reminds her that he would probably charge more than they were worth working. After that statement, Bella suddenly remembers that Jacob Black builds cars. She forms a plan.

Bella rushes home to call Charlie at the station. He immediately assumes that something is wrong, but after she promises nothing is he gives her directions to the Blacks’ house. She drives there and Jacob meets her outside. Bella feels an unfamiliar sense of enthusiasm when Jacob smiles at her and suddenly remembers how much she liked Jacob Black. They catch up on various things and Bella notes that he’s grown again, now to an impossible 6’ 5”.

Bella says hello to Billy, sidesteps his attempts to invite Charlie over for dinner, and follows Jacob out to his “garage.” In the garage is Jacob’s much talked about 1986 Volkswagen Rabbit. He announces that after his father made good on his promise last year to buy him a master cylinder, he’s almost done with the car. Bella quickly changes the subject to the motorcycles. It works. Jacob is pleased by the challenge of fixing up the bikes and has no qualms about keeping their existence secret from both of their fathers. Bella promises to pay for all necessary parts by skimming from her college fund and Jacob readily agrees.

Characters Involved: Bella Swan, Mike Newton, Hiker 1 (man with beard), Hiker 2 (leather-face), the younger Marks boy, Deputy Steve, Charlie Swan, Jacob Black, Billy Black

Character Mentioned: Edward Cullen, the Cheneys (Ben Cheney), the Markses, John Dowling, and Embry Call

Places Visited: The Newton’s store, the Markses’ house, the Swan home, the Black home, and Jacob’s garage

Memorable Quotes:
“Like I’d told Jessica after the movie, there was never any doubt that I would have nightmares.”
~Bella Swan, pg. 122

“My nightmare probably wouldn’t even frighten someone else. Nothing jumped out and screamed, “Boo!” There were no zombies, no ghosts, no psychopaths. There was nothing, really. Only nothing. Just the endless maze of moss covered trees….”
~Bella Swan, pg. 122-123

“Sometimes, kismet happens.”
~Bella as she finds her way to be reckless and stupid, pg. 126

“I wanted to be stupid and reckless, and I wanted to break promises. Why stop at one?”
~Bella Swan, pg. 127

“I was strangely comfortable here. It was familiar, but only distantly. There were no painful reminders of the recent past.”
~Bella after seeing Jacob’s house again, pg. 133

“What are you, forty?”
~Jacob Black teasing Bella, pg.135

“Only a teenage boy would agree to this: deceiving both of our parents while repairing dangerous vehicles using money meant for my college education. He didn’t see anything wrong with that picture. Jacob was a gift from the gods.”
~Bella after Jacob agrees to fix the bikes, pg. 136

Important Information learned:
Bella has nightly nightmares revolving around the night that Edward left and her fruitless search for him.

Bella realizes that Edward’s promise that it would be “as if I never existed” had been broken as soon as he’d made it and wonders why she is working so hard to keep up her end of the bargain.

Charlie hates motorcycles.

Jacob Black is a brilliant mechanic.

Bella still doesn’t have a cell phone.

Jacob was instantly and sincerely happy to see Bella and Bella found herself feeling the same way toward him.

Jacob is now 6’ 5”

Bella feels automatically at home at the Blacks’ house, mainly because of Jacob’s warmth and the distant familiarity of the place.

Jacob seems to know instinctually what will upset Bella.

Bella was happier around Jacob than she had been for a long time.

One of the bikes Bella picked up is a Harley Spirit.

Bella will be using some of her college fund to pay for the bikes’ repairs.

Chapter Prepared By: Seraphyn