For the Interest of Your Survival I Suggest You Back Off
When we came home from school that night (with a much frazzled Edward) I headed straight up to Carlisle's office, I knocked on the door and accepted the invitation to enter.
"What happened to you, Bella?" Okay I admit it; I have got close to the little human and now think of her as my sister if not daughter.
"Lauren Mallory, my wrist wasn't an accident like usual. She broke it on purpose and now she's carried on her bullying."
"I'll kill the bitch! Tell me everything." I sat down on the floor next to Bella's chair.
"She broke my wrist, bruised me, tried to push me down flights of stairs, called me ugly, said I ruined everything, told me I would never be loved amongst other things and it always happens when no one's there to protect me Rose! She always has a way to get me on my own." Bella explained to me reasonably calmly.
"How long has this been on for?" I was horror-struck at the cruelness of this human girl, and dreading the answer I was about to receive
"About two months."
"Oh Bells, why didn't you tell anyone sooner? One of us could have stayed with you at all times to keep you safe." I sighed and took Bella's warm hand in my own cold one.
"I was scared, that's what bullies do, and they isolate you until you're weak enough to deal the final blow."
"Right, we're gonna sort this. I and Jasper will be the overprotective older siblings, Emmett will be the companion for you between classes, Edward can do his freaky comforting thing and help Emmett, Alice will predict any possible attacks and outcomes, it also helps that Edward can read her mind if it's a snap decision." I pulled Bella up by the hand and towed her down the hall purposefully to the bedroom that I shared with Emmett where Alice was waiting for us. We entered and sat on the bed.
"So, our plan of action will come into play first thing tomorrow morning. We have to have an unbroken bond throughout the family and we must all look our best which means Bella Barbie will take place. We already know the basic day plan and all of our roles. So I think you should be in blue Bella, we all know that Edward loves you in that colour." Alice began her erratic plans; I could tell that Bella was beginning to like this plan.
"Right as long as I don't have to slut it up." Bella agreed
"Not even a little bit? Not a teensy weensy itsy bitsy bit?"
"How much is a teensy weensy itsy bitsy bit?" Bella looked suspicious
"Knee length skirt and a blouse with a waistcoat on top." Alice asked promptly
"Alright then, blue skirt, grey waistcoat, blue or white blouse." Bella agreed
"I'm rubbing off on you Bella, well done."
"Thank you, so are you coming over to mine or am I staying here?"Bella asked crossing her legs
"You're staying here; you can call Charlie in a minute. When you've done that we can get you showered up and prepped so we only have hair, makeup and clothes to start in the morning." Alice clarified, I passed Bella my phone and she tapped out Charlie's home number.
"Hello Charlie Swan speaking." Charlie picked up after six rings
"Hey Dad its Bella, I just wanted to ask if I can stay over with Alice and Rose tonight, we'll get to school on time and everything." To say Bella is a rubbish actor she was sure making the half-lie believable.
"Sure Bells, will you be back for dinner tomorrow night?" Charlie was complacent to the idea
"Yeah, I'm making steak and fries, okay I have to go bye." Bella confirmed to the phone
"Alright, see you tomorrow Bells." Charlie disregarded the conversation and hung up.
"Perfect, right your things are all in the bathroom through that door to your left, we'll see you when you're out of the shower." Alice notified Bella
"Right, I won't be long." Bella stood and went into my bathroom, a minute later we heard her enter the shower.
"Did you hear everything that Lauren's done?" I turned to Alice as soon as I was sure Bella would not hear our conversation
"I heard it all, she is so cruel; I personally can't believe that she's human." Alice answered
"So will tomorrow work? I think this would be the perfect end to Lauren's reign of terror." I was now getting excited; we never usually do much this radical
"Yeah, so do you think we should have her in white tights; break up the darkness with a white shirt and tights?" Alice criss-cross-apple-sauced her legs
"Oh definitely, I'm thinking of wearing a red sweater with a black tulip skirt a bit shorter than Bella's, what do you think?" I asked visualising myself in the outfit
"Stunning, I'm in a black blouse with a three-quarter white cardigan and a purple miniskirt. Bella will be in flats the same shade of blue as the skirt, you can have red kitten heels and I'll have purple flats. If Bella gets cold I'm sure Edward would lend her his jacket, there, all sorted. Now I need to get my hands on the guys and make them match us." Alice clapped her hands when she has finished her little speech. I heard the shower turn off and Bella step out of it to wrap her towel around herself. She entered the room and sat in the hanging chair. We automatically descended on her.
"Right we will dry your hair tonight and curl it in the morning which will mean a spritz of hairspray will be needed to hold it in place." I elucidated to Bella who nodded in agreement, we spent the rest of the time before Bella went to bed talking about the next day. Lauren was (unsurprisingly) not mentioned. Next morning we roused Bella at seven and gave her breakfast, pervious to this we had obviously dressed the guys (Edward in a white shirt with a beige jumper over the top with jeans, Emmett my monkey man in a deep red shirt with jeans and Jasper in a purple shirt with jeans). When she was done with eating we sat her down and applied eyeliner and lip-gloss, she then dressed and we applied her mascara. When we had finished with that we brushed out her hair before using the tongs to curl her hair and spritzed it with hairspray. I and Alice only dressed and slicked on lip-gloss and blush. We went downstairs to sit and watch TV before we could drive to school; we needed to arrive when the parking lot was at its fullest to achieve the best impact. Edward couldn't stop staring at Bella when we were talking, it was worth the effort for just that but then we had bigger fish to fry. We got in the Volvo and rode to school, as predicted the parking lot was very full. As soon as all of us were out of the car the whispers began. In our line it went: Alice, Jasper, Edward, Bella, Emmett and I, we strutted as one into the main school block.
"Shit! I thought I was rid of her yesterday." I heard Lauren curse under her breath
"Oh. My. God. Hottie alert!" was what most of the student body was thinking and saying. Alice and Bella were in first period together so we dropped them off like an armed guard. Emmett said that he would get them at the end of class just loud enough for Lauren (who was skulking around) to hear. My own lesson was excruciatingly boring for the most part so I was playing Monopoly on my phone. At lunch Jasper and Bella were in the lunch line queuing up when the bitch struck. Lauren came up to her and started to speak.
"Your stunt in health proved my point."
"Oh please anyone with two brain cells could have done that, no wonder you couldn't do it." Bella's comment was biting; it made me smirk as Lauren floundered for a minute before replacing her triumphant smile. This was not going to work in our favour at the moment. I had had enough at that point. I came and put my arm around Bella
"Is she bothering you, Bella?" I asked glaring at Lauren
"A bit, help me out here please Rosie." Bella gave me puppy dog eyes
"My pleasure. Now Lauren, since you are not one of us you will probably not realise that family is all that we Cullen's care about; insult one of us and you insult all eight of us. So break Bella's wrist and call her as many names as you want but in the end all that will do is make every single one of us make you pay for it. Comprende?"
"You're just as bad, walking around with your nose in the air."
"Don't you dare insult my sisters, or anyone in my family or you will pay like Rosalie said." Jasper spat out
"Jasper she's not worth it" Bella placed a hand on Jasper's arm and he looked down at her
"Oh this is just priceless, you're working on the whole set huh? Well you could do worse." Before we could stop her Bella's hand had struck across Lauren's face leaving a bright pink hand mark.
"How dare you say that? Jasper and Emmett are my brothers and nothing more!"
Lauren raised her hand to slap Bella back but Edward's hand wrapped around her wrist
"None of that, Lauren. Run along now." Edward was speaking dangerously quietly, he had only used that voice once and that was to Bella when the whole family was arguing about whether to change her or not. (She won that argument if you're wondering). Lauren scuttled off when Edward released her. Bella only bought a soda- no wonder she felt sick after being in that whore's presence! Or it might have been Edward's overly-sweet concern for her. After a while we thought we would go elsewhere to avoid the attention we were attracting.
"Bella?" Edward was trying to get her attention
"Hmm, yes Edward?" Bella turned to face him and Edward kissed her full on the lips, a number four which is kind of easy since Edward doesn't need to breathe. Oh this is the snogging scale by the way:
Holding hands
Arm around
Goodnight kiss
Kiss lasting over three minutes without a breath
Open mouth kissing
Tongues
Upper body fondling- outdoors
Upper body fondling- indoors (in bed)
Below waist activity
The Full Monty (sex)
It was all quiet for the rest of the day; I'm beginning to think that Edward won't be a virgin for all of his existence if he already loves number four! Ttyl.