How It All Goes Down
Wager
- Bella is lost at how to deal with Jacob's declaration of love. When Jacob presses her to tell him how she feels about him, she responds: "I love you, but I'm not in love with you" (15.11). Jacob pulls her into an angry, forced kiss:
His mouth was soft, despite the anger, his lips molding to mine in a warm, unfamiliar way. (15.33) - However pleasant the kiss feels, Bella punches Jacob in the mouth for his rude behavior. Of course she cracks her hand while Jacob stays completely unharmed. He refuses to apologize. He thinks that he opened her eyes to her options and that she's never really given him a chance because she spends all her energy holding on to Edward.
- Jacob drives Bella home. Charlie reacts just as unperturbed Jacob did when Bella tells him that she cracked her hand punching him. He even congratulates Jacob for his attempt.
- When Edward arrives, Charlie gets between the two to avoid a confrontation. Outside the house, Edward tells Jacob that he'll break his jaw if he kisses Bella again. Jacob asks: "What if she wants me to?" "If that's what she wants, then I won't object," Edward responds (15.178). But then he adds: "She is mine… I didn't say I would fight fair" (15.186).
- When Jasper and Emmett find out that Bella punched Jacob, they make bets on how many people she'll kill in her first weeks as a newborn vampire. Their bet makes Bella wonder how her transformation will change her:
If I all I wanted was to kill people, what would happen to the things I wanted now?… There was nothing in this world that I wanted more than him. Would that could that change? (15.229-231) - This triggers the question: which human experiences is she not willing to give up just yet?