Disclaimer: As strange as it may seem, I don't own anything.
The Middle
I, Bella Swan, am officially a goody-two-shoes. Out of all of my friends I'm the only one who has never had a drink, never smoked a cigarette, never moved out of my parent's house, and my personal favorite, never slept in a bed with a member of the opposite sex.
I shoved open the door to the community college I've been attending for the past year and a half a little harder than necessary.
"Ow!" Somebody yelled as the door made contact with their head. I gasped and ran outside.
"I'm so sorry!" I looked over to see a young man holding his head. "I didn't see you and I—Oh my God—I" I stuttered. He held out a hand to stop me.
"No big, I was looking for an excuse to get out of class anyways" He replied. I laughed weakly and nodded.
"I'm really sorry" I mumbled. How like me to hit someone with a door.
"May I ask what the door did to you?" He asked once he got the strength to life his head back up. He must've seen my confused expression because he quickly spoke again.
"Well you slammed it pretty hard so I figured you were angry at it for some reason" He clarified.
"Oh no, I was just excited to get out of here" I lied. It would be way to embarrassing, not to mention personal, to tell him what I was really thinking about. He nodded in understanding.
"I totally know what you mean" He replied. Totally? Who actually says 'totally' anymore? There were a few moments of awkward silence before he spoke again.
"Well, I'll see you around…..?"
"Bella" I answered.
"Mike. Bye Bella" He waved as he left and I fought to hold in my laugh. Of course I knew his name, and why would he remember me? I was just the nerdy kid from Arizona back in high school. He probably didn't even know I sat behind him in Biology. He was one of the "popular" kids. Whatever that means. I mean, Mike is ok looking, I guess, but not 'ruler of the school' worthy.
I watched my step as I stepped into the parking lot. With my coordination, getting anywhere near where the ice is could be fatal. I sighed in relief as I reached the beat up pickup truck I have. The music blasted from the back as I turned on the ignition. Birthday present. I turned back to turn it down and screamed when I saw my best friend sitting there.
"Hey Bella" He said with a smirk.
"Jesus!" I yelled as I put a hand to my heart. He laughed and turned off the music before crawling up to the front.
"Edward! What the hell?!" I yelled. I slapped his arm when he laughed again.
"Sorry Bella. I got bored being all alone all day" He replied. I fought to hide a smile.
"Well, you could've waited a few minutes. I was driving over to the apartment like I always do." I said, trying to stay angry. The 'apartment' as in where he and the rest of our crazy group of friends live.
"Yeah I know, I just remembered how much you like surprises" He said, a crooked grin painting his face. I grumbled. I hate surprises and he knows it. Out of everyone in the group, I've been friends with Edward the longest.
I met him junior year of high school when were both new students. Alice and Emmett came during the summer and Jasper and Rosalie came during the middle of senior year. I've always felt closest to Edward.
Everyone always assumed we were dating, but it's never been like that. We've always been two comfortable souls. Destined to be each other's rock. At least, that's how I've always seen it.
"So, have you gotten a call yet?" I asked as I pulled out of the parking lot. Edward shrugged.
"We sent the demo weeks ago." He ran a hand through his crazy, bronze hair. A sign of nervousness.
"Worried about if people are liking it or not?" I guessed. He looked at me and smiled.
"Yeah, kind of. It's just—I gave it everything—we gave it everything. If it isn't good enough then—"
"It will be" I assured him. He really has nothing to worry about. He's the best artist I know and he's in a band with Emmett, Jasper and Alice. Not to mention Rosalie is their manager, and when that girl sets her mind to something, that's it.
"You guys have done an amazing job. You should be proud of yourself" I continued. Edward laughed and ruffled my hair.
"If you say so" He replied. I smiled widely at him before turning back to the road. I've always thought it was cute how he is so insecure about his music when he is so confident with everything else.
"So, you'll never guess who I ran into today"
"Mike Newton" He guessed right off the bat.
"What? How did you know that?"
"I saw you" He replied simply.
"Oh yeah" I muttered. Stupid me.
"Is it my fault you never became popular in high school?" I asked, thinking about Mike.
"Yep" He replied, before turning from the window to smirk at me.
"No really. I mean if I hadn't spilled all that stuff on you in Bio then you would've become all popular and stuff" I explained. Edward scoffed.
"Glad you think so highly of me"
"Instead you became Edward, friend of Bella Swan, the albino from Arizona" I continued.
"Much better option, I believe" he replied. I laughed and nodded.
"You're right. You're conceited enough as it is" I said and squeaked when he pinched my arm. I parked the car and got out, having to slam my door shut.
"You really need a new car" Edward suggested.
"Noted. Speaking of, how did you get to the college?" Since he doesn't even have a car.
"Walked" He shrugged and opened his apartment door. No wonder he's in such good shape if he walks everywhere. We automatically made our way to his futon as per routine.
Edward grabbed his keyboard out of the closet behind the couch and placed it on our laps. I smiled as he began to play the intro to Heart and Soul. I joined in at the main part and we successfully played the song all the way through. It took months for him to teach me that song so I couldn't help but smile at the accomplishment.
"So, how was school?" Edward asked as he started playing something else.
"Um, it was ok. It's school" I explained. He laughed and switched to a slower song.
"Yeah, but you're smarter than the rest of us" He replied. I scoffed and rested my head on his shoulder.
"If you say so" I mocked. I closed my eyes and let the music soothe me.
"No, really. I mean it Bella. It's really cool that you're going to college" He continued.
"You could've gone to college too you know. You had the grades" I pointed out, lifting my head to look at him.
"Yeah, I'm not the college type" He smirked and turned off the piano. I laughed and sank further into the futon. A few minutes later he walked out with a water bottle in one hand and a Dr. Pepper in the other.
"Thanks" I said when he handed me the water. I quickly took a drink.
"How hard are they working you over there?" Edward asked when he saw me yawn.
"It's not too bad" I said through my yawn. He chuckled and walked around to the other side of the futon.
"Watch out" He said right before he brought the other half down.
"Oof" I groaned as I landed. He disappeared only to come back with blankets and pillows. He pushed me back down when I tried to get up so I closed my eyes.
"What are you doing?" I asked, in my zombie-like state.
"Setting up your nap time" He replied cheekily and I could hear the smirk forming on his face. He placed a pillow under my head and threw a blanket over me.
"Are you going to read me a bedtime story?" I asked. He threw another pillow over my face this time.
"Sorry, fresh out of happily ever afters" He replied.
"Ok, Night" I mumbled and went into dreamland.
-THINKWITHCAUTION-
I awoke to the strumming of a guitar. I felt under the pillow for the lump that had been annoying me and pulled out a Hershey's bar. Oh God, I must be in Emmett's bed. I opened the wrapper and tore of a chunk before getting up. I threw the piece in my mouth and hid the rest in my pocket.
"What time is it?" I asked as I opened the door to the living room.
"Bella!" They all chanted. I was squeezed into a bear hug and couldn't breathe. Emmett.
"Bells, I thought Edward had killed you when I got home. You weren't sleep talking like normal" Emmett said frantically and searched my face.
"Well, you can see that I'm fine, so…" I replied as I squirmed out of his death grip.
"Hey Bell" Jasper said, looking up from his guitar. I threw my hand up in a wave before falling in Emmett's six foot, zebra print bean bag. I smiled at Edward who was also strumming away on his guitar. Alice and Rosalie came from the kitchen with chips and dip and placed them on the floor, since they don't have a table.
"Hey, nice of you to join the living" Rosalie commented before heading back into the kitchen.
"Did I really not sleep talk this time?" I asked excitedly. I have a really bad habit of sleep talking and since the college is only a few minutes from the apartment rather than the twenty minutes it takes from Charlie's house, I subject my friends to the torture every once and a while.
"Yeah you did, you had just stopped by the time they got here. Which is what I told them" Edward replied. Darn. Once I started listening to the music I realized I recognized the tune they were playing.
"I love that song" I mumbled under my breath. I heard the music start to get louder and looked around to see the guys smiling at me.
"What?" I asked. Emmet got up from the floor and walked over to me. I shrunk back in the bean bag.
"Emmett, what are you doing?" I asked, getting scared. He smirked evilly and grabbed my arms. He pulled me out of the seat and started twirling me. The guys started singing the words as Emmett threw me around the room.
It just takes some time
Little girl, you're in the middle of ride
Everything, everything will be just fine
Everything, everything will be all right
Just then Alice and Rosalie came in, shouting the rest of the song and bumping their hips against mine. By the end, I had fallen more than enough times and everybody was exhausted. We all fell into our own little spots. Rosalie and Emmett together on the bean bag she hated, Alice and Jasper on couch cushions the guys had found on some garage sale and Edward and I on his futon.
"How was work?" I asked once everybody was settled. Emmett immediately grabbed for the chips and dip and started shoveling it in his mouth.
"People can be such assholes sometimes!" Rosalie replied. "I'm trying to get this guy's order right but he keeps yelling at me and insisting to see my manager, and all I could do was smile and say 'Yes, you're right sir'" She groaned and stole a chip.
"I saw that. It looked like she was about to explode on the guy" Alice put in. The two of them got jobs at the local diner a while back and always have great stories to tell.
"You think that's bad. Emmett and I had to deal with this punk ass kid who thought he should get a refund on the guitar he slammed into the ground because he was 'rockin out and the darn thing, like, broke'" Jasper said, referring to his job at the music store.
"Nice surfer accent, dude" Edward replied in a "Surfer" accent.
"That's how he talked. He thought he was the shit" Emmett added, his mouth full of food.
"Don't speak with your mouth full" I scolded. He hung his head.
"Sorry Bells" He mumbled. Edward chuckled and put his arm over my shoulder.
"Damn" He said and made a sound like a whip. I glared at him.
"Sorry" He muttered making everyone laugh. The six of us laughed and talked for hours until finally I noticed the time.
"I should probably start heading home" I said, groaning as I got up. I waved goodbye to everyone and made my way back to my house.