Bella,

I don’t know why you’re making
Charlie carry notes to Billy like
we’re in second grade — if I wanted
to talk to you I would answer the

You made the choice here, okay?
You can’t have it both ways when

What part of ‘mortal enemies’ is too
complicated for you to

Look, I know I’m being a jerk, but
there’s just no way around

We can’t be friends when you’re
spending all your time with a bunch of

It just makes it worse when I
think about you too much, so don’t
write anymore

Yeah, I miss you, too. A lot.
Doesn’t change anything. Sorry.
Jacob

I ran my fingers across the page, feeling the dents where he
had pressed the pen to the paper so hard that it had nearly
broken through. I could picture him writing this —
scrawling the angry letters in his rough handwriting,
slashing through line after line when the words came out
wrong, maybe even snapping the pen in his too-big hand;
that would explain the ink splatters. I could imagine the
frustration pulling his black eyebrows together and crumpling
his forehead. If I’d been there, I might have laughed.
Don’t give yourself a brain hemorrhage, Jacob, I would have
told him. Just spit it out.