A/N: This is the second of three chapters. R&R if you so desire.
I do not own Twilight, I just play with the characters.
JAKE
You would think that some things would only happen in high school. I'm here to tell you that is not true. If it can happen in high school, it can happen the rest of your life. That's shit, if you ask me. I mean college should be different at least, right? Sadly, no, college is a lot like high school. The girl I love is still with her ass of a boyfriend. To be fair, he wasn't always an ass. Let's go back to the beginning.
Bella and I have been friends since before we could walk. Sure, it was weird when she lived with her mom in Phoenix. But we, emailed on an almost daily basis. In those days, it was like were brother and sister, the kind that get along and are best friends. She told me everything about her life. I told her everything about mine. I do mean everything. Like the time that my father walked in on me 'relieving some stress' in the shower, or the day that she started her first period…during gym class.
Then high school happened. She was a year ahead of me. Bella moved back to Forks her sophomore year. I was actually very excited to see her…that is until I actually saw her. Gone was the girl I knew, whose clumsiness made her a target for cruel jokes. In her place was…was…this hot minx. She might have spent most of her time with me, but other guys tried to join in. At first, the protectiveness I felt towards her was attributed to my brotherly attitude. She was hot, but I still acted like nothing had changed. It's not that I didn't want to ask her out. I did. Let's just say that didn't work out. Okay, I waited too long.
One day, she came into our only time together with a new name on her lips. That ride home was awful. She had met the new student in her biology class. She went on and on and on about him. I could never forget the name of this new student as she said it 23 times in the barely 20 minute drive to my house. Edward did this. Edward said that. He looked at her through the whole class. He sat right next to her on the day that they happened to finalized lab partners for the whole year. I wanted to punch him in the face. I wanted to kick myself more though. I had waited too long to make my move. I had let this wonderful, beautiful girl slip right through my fingers.
So it was. I was stuck in the 'best friend' position. Better than nothing, I guess. At least she doesn't know that I have feelings for her. Even then, I knew it was love. But, I kept that word close to my heart and worked like hell to make sure that she never suspected a thing. She didn't. She still doesn't. As painful as that is for me, it was worth it to be able to see her face.
In the beginning, Edward only flirted with Bella. It made her feel special, so whatever. When he asked her on their first date, Bella made me sit through so many outfit choices. She would ask me my opinion and then completely ignore it, like girls do. The outfit that she settled on was amazing. She looked so beautiful. When Edward dropped her off at her house, Bella called me. I got to hear every gory detail of that dinner…lucky me. That was to be the pattern for every date, for awhile anyway. I would spend literally hours on end being dragged from store to store and then through the myriad of possible choices. She would always ask me how she looked. I would always tell her that she was beautiful. What? She really was. She would just ignore me. Then, when the date was over, she would call me. The date would be the main topic of conversation for days. He would ask her on another date, and the whole thing would start over.
When he asked her to be his girlfriend…I'm sure an elderly couple in Australia heard her squeal. I mean, was he like twelve years old? There were exclusive, so clearly the labels boyfriend and girlfriend applied. She was just so happy. I couldn't help being happy for her. I might not like the guy for taking her away from me, but he seemed like a good boyfriend. He was attentive and caring. How sad is it that I can say that with confidence? Seriously, I was most certainly angry with myself, but he was good to her then. She was happy.
About a month passed in…well…bliss for her, agony for me. Then, things started to get weird. He started to call her to see where she was all the time. It happened to be around the time her ancient truck finally died. So, Bella played it off like normal, boyfriend concern. I was not convinced, but who was I to question it? She was mostly happy despite the obsessive calling. I made an off-hand comment about it once. After that, she turned her phone to silent whenever we were doing things. Not that that happened very often anymore. So it went for a couple of weeks.
Next came the bruises. Okay, Bella always had bruises. She can barely walk across a level floor without tripping over air. The first different kind of bruise that I noticed was wrapped around her left upper arm. I asked her about it. Bella told me that, while she was at Edward's house, she tripped down the stairs. Edward was behind her. He reacted faster than either of them could think. He grabbed her upper arm to keep her from actually going down the stairs. She swore up and down that he felt terrible about the bruise. That story was plausible. In fact, it was even very likely to have happened. I let it go. But I did keep a closer eye on them. More weird bruises showed up, she tried to explain them away.
Slowly, she stopped spending time with me. Okay, she stopped being able to spend time with me. That was upsetting. Not just because I was hopelessly in love with her, but also because she stopped spending any time away from Edward. One night, I called her after I knew that he had gone home. She said that he was afraid that I was in love with her. Bella defended our friendship. If only she knew. Guys usually pick up on these things. When I asked her where she had been, she told me that Edward was going through a rough patch and he needed her. Bella's heart is too big to not be with the ass.
I happened to be walking down a hallway the next day. I turned a corner and stopped dead in my tracks. Edward was gripping Bella's arms and shaking her roughly. He had acid in his voice as he talked about the phone conversation. Bella was sobbing as she tried to apologize and explain. He wouldn't have any of it. The ass told her that she was lucky to have someone like him as her boyfriend. I saw red. The next thing I knew, I was standing over him while he clutched his bloody nose. He then stalked off to the nurse's office. Bella started after him, but I stopped her. I tried to convince her that he was a complete ass and that she deserved better. She said he was just being protective (was she serious) and that I needed to leave it alone. Protective my ass, he was clearly possessive to the point of abuse. She couldn't really believe that shit, could she?
Now we are all in college. Did she kick him to the curb? Nope. They are engaged now. She still gets bruises from the ass. But what's worse is her eyes. The spark of life that was one of the things that I loved the best about her is gone. It's like he sucked everything out of her, leaving only a shell. I would have cherished her. She would still be happy and full of life. Hell, I would still do that. All she needs to do is see that she would be better without him.
So, there you go Dr. Wesley. There is no real difference between how people are in high school and how they are in college. I know you said that you wouldn't really read this assignment. You just wanted us to do a writing exercise and would check for something to be written. But I also know that either you or the TA will want to. It's okay if someone reads this. Maybe then someone can help me rescue Bella. She needs it. She just doesn't see that her relationship with Edward is not healthy. He is way possessive and abusive. She thinks he's protective still. I'm just saying that there is a fine line between protective and possessive. Oh, and that Edward crossed it.