FML Contest
Title: No Admittance After Dark
Pen Name: Radiofreeamy
Characters: Edward/Jasper/Bella/Alice
Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight.
To see the rest of the entries in this contest, please visit the FML C2 http://www . fanfiction . net/community/FML_Contest_Fics/77195/ (remove spaces for link to work)
Special thanks to my lovely beta and dear friend, pbswimmer.
My parents had really outdone themselves. What was supposed to be a small gathering of family and a few close friends had turned into a massive shindig complete with an open bar and a catered meal. An impressively large cake was decorated with Good Luck Edward! whereas a shiny banner announced Harvard Medical School Class of 2014!
It seemed that every occupant of Forks, Washington had been invited to the festivities, and I couldn't take two steps before being stopped by someone offering their congratulations. Nothing exciting ever happened around here and having a local boy leave to attend medical school at the one of the nation's premiere institutions was a huge deal.
"Edward! Someone's on the phone for you!" my sister Alice shouted into the crowd.
I looked towards the house and saw Alice jauntily leaning by the backdoor holding a cordless phone in her hand.
I had been standing by the bar, trying to convince my girlfriend of four years to head up to my bedroom for a little private celebration, and was annoyed by the interruption. Alice was seriously interfering with my mojo.
"I'll be right back, baby," I whispered, kissing Bella softly.
I snaked my way through the crowd and reached my hand out to Alice.
"Who is it?"
"Someone from Harvard. Admissions or something."
It was seven o'clock on a Saturday night. Why on earth would Harvard be calling me?
Holding the phone to my ear, I walked inside.
"This is Edward Cullen speaking."
"Mr. Cullen. It appears we have a problem with your application."
The Dean of Admissions for the Medical School kept talking and my knees went weak. I almost dropped the phone. This couldn't be happening.
"Isn't there another option?" I pleaded.
My parents had been standing nearby and my desperate tone triggered my mother's protective maternal instinct, making her approach me immediately.
"Edward, is something wrong? Are you okay?"
My eyes were rimmed with tears and I couldn't talk. I just shook my head.
How could I tell my parents that I had totally fucked up my life?
My father was talking with Alice and I heard him ask who was on the phone. When she replied that it had been Harvard, he came over and snatched the phone from my hands.
"This is Carlisle Cullen, Edward's father. What seems to be the problem?"
I watched my dad's eyes get huge and his face flush with anger.
"This has to be some kind of mistake. You have the wrong student. Edward has never gotten into any kind of trouble."
My father continued arguing with the Dean, taking the phone and disappearing upstairs to his office.
My mother had her arms around me, telling me everything would be alright and that Dad would sort everything out, but I knew there was nothing he could do. I was fucked.
The back door opened and Bella appeared.
"Edward? What's going on? Why are you still in here?"
Before I could answer, my dad came stomping down the stairs with the phone in one hand and a piece of paper in the other.
"When the hell were you going to tell us about your criminal record, Edward?"
He was pissed.
"Did you think it would just go away? That Harvard wouldn't find out? What is wrong with you? What else have you been hiding from your family?"
I turned and looked around the room. My entire family along with my best friend and girlfriend were all staring at me, confused and concerned. They were waiting for me to say something, but every time I opened my mouth to speak, nothing came out.
"Can someone tell me what's going on?" Bella whined.
Glaring in my direction, my father answered, "Edward's admittance to Harvard has been rescinded."
After the initial group gasp, everyone started speaking at once.
"How?"
"Why?"
"Is this a joke?"
My mother wheeled me around, cradling my face with her hands. "Darling? How is this possible? You've been a model student and son."
At her words I began crying and laid my head on her shoulder. How was I going to explain myself?
"It appears your perfect son has a criminal record, Esme. He failed to include it on his med school application. They ran routine background checks on all students and discovered his arrest record."
My mother gasped and then she began crying too. I had broken her heart. Some fucking son I was.
Mom wiped the tears from her eyes and then I saw something I hadn't seen since the time I had knocked her heirloom vase off the mantle with a soccer ball when I was eight.
Anger. My mom was enraged.
I had learned at a young age that my mother was possibly the nicest woman on the planet, but hell hath no fury like my mother when she is angry. I was going down. And my friends were going to witness it.
"I'll be right back, and you better be prepared to talk, mister."
My mom exited to the backyard and began shouting. "Party is over. Thank you for coming, but get your belongings and go home."
I could see the confused guests making their way towards the front yard. My mother locked the back door and returned to stand in front of me. Her typical green eyes were jet black.
"EDWARD ANTHONY CULLEN! What have you done? Explain yourself, NOW!"
I was no longer crying, and now my body was covered in a cold sweat. My mom wasn't going to tolerate my silence anymore.
"Um. Well. I uh. I got arrested freshman year."
"Well no shit, Edward. We all figured that one out. What stupid thing did you do? Please tell me it wasn't drugs. You promised me you wouldn't do drugs. How could you? Especially after seeing what drugs did to your cousin Tanya. Oh, Edward."
"Mom, it wasn't drugs, okay. I've never done drugs. Hell, I barely drink."
"Then what happened?"
"Jasper and I got arrested for trespassing."
Mom looked over at Jasper, my best friend and my sister's boyfriend. My mom had never liked him.
"It was you! You led my baby down the path of destruction. I always knew you would bring trouble upon this family."
"Mom," I pleaded. "Jasper didn't do anything. It was just a big misunderstanding."
"How can one misunderstand trespassing? Isn't that the same thing as breaking and entering? We've given you everything you've ever wanted. Why would you need to trespass?"
"We weren't breaking into anything. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
I was being intentionally vague in my description of the charges. Mainly because we were arrested for the most pathetic thing I had ever heard of. It was simply embarrassing.
"How so?" My mother wasn't going to let this go.
Jasper suddenly seemed to clue in. "Hey Eddie, are we talking about that time we got arrested for being in that playground after dark?"
My slight nod of affirmation made him start to laugh. "I had totally forgotten about that. Ha ha ha!"
"Hardy fucking har, Jasper. My life has been ruined and you are laughing? Unbelievable."
My father stopped my mother before she could say anything more.
"Edward, I think it's time you told us exactly what happened."
And so I began to tell the tale of my one and only brush with the law.
It was freshman year of college and I was just returning to Seattle for the spring semester. My sister Alice and I attended the University of Washington. We still had a few days until classes started and so we decided to celebrate our last days free of homework. We went out and grabbed some Mexican food and used our fake ID's to order several pitchers of margaritas.
I had recently started dating a girl from my Intro to Biology class named Bella. She was from Phoenix and had arrived in town the day before. She joined us. Jasper was with us as well. He didn't attend college but came down from Forks pretty much every weekend.
We had a wonderful time drinking, ripping on each other, and just talking about nothing. It was a good night. Before we knew it we were all pleasantly buzzed and decided to head home. It was just before 11pm and I was hoping to spend a few hours in Bella's dorm room. I hoped to reach second base tonight. I didn't plan on ending this semester as a virgin.
We decided not to catch a cab and began the long trek back towards campus. Alice had begun complaining about her stomach hurting not long after we began walking. I figured she just drank too much, so I didn't take much stock in her complaints. Worst case scenario, she could barf in the bushes or something.
Her complaining became more frequent and she began crouching in pain.
"Oh God. I've got to find a bathroom, guys. Like now," Alice moaned.
"There are some trees over there, Alice. Just throw up. We'll wait for you." I was not impressed that she was delaying my alone time with Bella.
"I don't have to throw up, asshole. I need to use the bathroom!"
We were in a residential area of the city and there were no restaurants or anywhere else with a bathroom.
Looking concerned, Jasper said, "Alice, we are just a seven minute walk from your dorm. I'll carry you; heck, I'll run if I need to."
"I'm not going to make it thirty seconds, Jasper."
There was a park just a few steps ahead. The gate was closed, but we knew we would easily be able to scale its low height.
"Alice, just go squat by a tree in there. It's closed, so no one will see you."
"Edward, you don't understand. I need a bathroom. I'm going to shit all over myself if you don't find me a toilet!"
Oh. That was a whole different ballgame.
Bella pulled Alice to the fence and began to climb over.
"There's a bathroom in the park, Alice. It's right by the playground. Let's go," Bella explained.
Jasper picked Alice up and lifted her over the fence. Bella ran into the darkness while Alice sort of waddled behind her.
We climbed over and followed the girls. Bella had been correct. There was a brick building not far inside the park.
We headed over towards the bathroom and Jasper tentatively opened the door to check on Alice.
"Whoa!" he groaned, shutting the door. "You do not want to go in there. It's not safe."
I began laughing.
"That's disgusting, man. Maybe she should have just said no to the black beans."
We were overcome with laughter.
"Alice, baby. Are you alright in there?" Jasper yelled towards the door.
We heard a muffled moan as a reply.
The door opened and Bella stuck her head out.
"She's really sick, guys. I can't believe you are laughing at her. You're so insensitive. Just go wait by the playground and we'll be out in a minute."
"Yes, ma'am," we replied in unison.
I went over to a bench while Jasper headed toward the swings.
He sat down and began pumping his legs back and forth, gathering momentum as he moved through the air.
"Dude, what are you doing?" I asked.
"What does it look like, dumbass? I'm swinging. I haven't done this in years. It's fun."
I admit, it did look enjoyable, so I hopped on the swing next to him and before long we were competing to see who could swing the highest.
Jasper started to worry about Alice and wanted to go check on her, so we began slowing down.
Before he could get off the swing, a bright light shone in our eyes.
"Fuck!" We both exclaimed, startled by the intrusion.
"Well what do we have here?" A deep voice came from the source of the blinding light.
Gravel crunched as the figure came closer. The light never moved from our eyes and I was squinting, trying to see who was approaching us.
I noticed the gold badge first and then the gun in a holster on the man's belt.
Fuck. It was a Seattle policeman. I figured he would lecture us for being in the park after dark and then escort us to the entrance. I was a little concerned because we were both underage and had obviously been drinking. I hoped he wouldn't be too much of a ball buster.
But I never in a million years expected what came out of his mouth.
"You two lovebirds decide to troll the park for a date tonight?" His tone was snide.
"No, just waiting on my girlfriend. She needed to pee," Jasper replied.
"Yeah, right. Do you two think I was born yesterday? It's common knowledge that this particular park is a breeding ground for night-time homosexual rendezvous. I'm sure your girlfriend is tucked into her warm bed, completely unaware that her boyfriend is actually balls deep in a stranger's ass at the park."
What on earth was this officer talking about? I was confused and annoyed.
"Look Officer, I don't know what you think you see, but we are really just waiting on our friends. I am not here to pick up guys. And I certainly am not with him!"I pointed at Jasper.
"Edward? Are you denying our love?" Jasper cooed, laughing.
I have never hated my best friend more than I did at that moment. It was impossible for him to be serious about anything. He always pulled this kind of shit. But the problem is, we weren't in high school anymore. This was a real cop, with a real gun. Did he want us to get arrested?
"Jasper, shut the fuck up. This isn't the time for one of your pranks."
He didn't get it.
"But Edward. You said I was the only one. You said our love was forever." He thought he was hilarious.
Before I knew what I was doing, I tackled Jasper off the swing and onto the ground.
"Shut the fuck up, Jasper. This isn't funny."
"Oh baby. You know I like it when you're rough with me."
The next thing I knew, I was being lifted off of my best friend and placed into handcuffs.
"Fucking ass-pirates," the officer muttered as he escorted us to the squad car.
I felt like I was going to throw up as I rode handcuffed in the back of a police car. I had never done anything illegal in my entire life. I was the good kid. Last week I even told the cashier at the grocery store that she had given me back too much change.
My parents were going to kill me.
"Thank you, Jasper. Now our girls are completely alone in the park and have no idea where we are. And we're going to prison. I'm too pretty for prison, Jasper. I don't want to be anyone's bitch. What are my parents going to do? I'm so dead. What if they kick me out of school? My life is ruined." I couldn't stop rambling. A million horrifying scenarios were going through my head.
"Edward, shut up. We aren't going to prison. We didn't do anything wrong. He has nothing on us. They will slap us with a warning and then let us go. Trust me."
Jasper had been arrested in ninth grade for vandalizing some mailboxes. He was a little savvier about the legal system than I was.
"But what about your prior arrest, man? They will see you've got a record and then we're both fucked."
"I was a juvenile, Edward. That shit is sealed. They can't use that. I'm telling you to relax. They can't do anything to us."
I just had to trust Jasper and hope that Bella and Alice made it home safely. So much for getting a hand job tonight.
They booked us and put us in a holding cell. The only experience I had with jail was what I had seen on Law & Order. The men in the holding cell with us were far bigger, meaner, and smellier than anything on television.
A large bald man with a long, wiry beard stared intently and began growling. In one move he could be sitting on both of us, crushing us under his massive thighs. I jumped when he winked at me, fearful that I wouldn't survive the next few hours without being violated.
"I like your watch. It looks expensive."
Huh? My watch? What was this scary, beast of a man talking about?
I looked over at Jasper and saw the nice new watch my sister had given him for Christmas.
"I really wish I had a watch like that." The man cracked his knuckles, nonchalantly.
"Jasper, give him your watch," I whispered under my breath.
"Fuck him. I'm not giving him a fucking thing," Jasper retorted, louder than I hoped.
"It's your funeral," I warned, walking to the other side of the cell, attempting to hide in the corner.
An hour later an officer came to get us to question us. I walked with Jasper, now watchless and with a bloody nose.
Jasper was right that they didn't have anything on us, but he was wrong in thinking they couldn't do anything.
Entering a city park after dark was considered a misdemeanor. They charged us both. We were fingerprinted, photographed (I was now the proud subject of a mug shot), and given a written release to return to court in three weeks.
I tried calling Bella, but she didn't answer. I noticed she had texted me multiple times that night, appearing increasingly angry due to my lack of response, and I figured she may not be answering my calls for a while.
"Thanks a lot for leaving us stranded, asshole."
As I texted her back, trying to explain, Jasper and I caught a cab back to the dorms.
Looking back, I should have just called my father and had him get us out of it. He had money and influence and could have probably gotten the charges dismissed. But I was an eighteen year-old kid away from home for the first time. I was stupid. I didn't want to disappoint my parents and figured I could take care of it on my own, with my parents being none the wiser.
I wore my best suit to court three weeks later. Jasper wore one of those t-shirts that looked like a fake tuxedo, along with a pair of holey jeans. What on earth did my twin sister see in this guy? And better yet, why the hell was he still my best friend?
We both agreed to pay a $25 fine and court costs. We were both going to be on probation for a few months and had to perform eight hours of community service. Jasper assured me the probation didn't really mean anything. We just couldn't get arrested again for six months. I had never been arrested prior to this experience and hoped to God it would never happen again. I already volunteered several hours a week at the University of Washington Hospital, so the community service would be no problem.
Maybe Jasper was right. This entire event would amount to nothing. Or so I had hoped.
I had honestly forgotten about the whole ordeal and it never occurred to me to include it on my college applications. Sure, they had that prompt asking if you had ever been convicted of a crime, but my run in with the law during freshman year never even registered in my mind.
I was such an idiot. I was sure if I had included that information they would have seen what a ridiculous thing I was arrested for and I would still be about to start med school in a few days. But since I left it off the application, the Dean said I was obviously trying to deceive the admissions committee. If they couldn't trust me to be honest on an application, how could they expect me to be an honest in my medical endeavors? I had unknowingly violated the Harvard University Honor Code when I neglected to disclose my lame criminal past. As I mentioned before, I was fucked.
The look on the faces of those around me was a mixture of shock and amusement. My mother was no longer angry, and my dad was quick to let me know that had I not withheld information from him, he could have taken care of everything.
No shit, Dad. I'm an idiot.
Jasper and Alice laughed, retelling the events of that night from their point of view.
I should have let Alice shit herself. I vowed never to do a favor for my sister or my best friend ever again.
I helped my parents clean up after the party and had a restless night of almost sleep.
The next morning my parents were quizzing me about what I planned to do with my life. Dad was going to make some phone calls and even though he wouldn't be able to get me readmitted this year, he hoped that I would be able to reapply and be admitted to next year's class.
There was no need for me to go to Cambridge now. I didn't have a job and my parents had no interest in paying for an apartment for me if I wasn't in school.
Bella would be attending Boston College's Law School in the fall. We had talked about living together, but her dad was forcing her to live in campus housing. He still had it in his head that his daughter was still the innocent little girl he remembered. I knew it would be a huge inconvenience, but I believed our love could make it through a year apart.
Bella had been staying with us for a few days so we could fly to Boston together. Obviously she would now be traveling alone and I wanted to make sure we were on the same page about our relationship before she left for the airport.
I explained the situation to her, promising that I would try to visit her as much as I could. Imagine my surprise when she told me she didn't want to do a long-distance relationship and promptly dumped my ass.
I stood in shock as she walked away from my life forever. Bella would never know that still packed in my suitcase upstairs was my grandmother's engagement ring. I had hoped to propose sometime in the next few months in Boston.
So in a matter of hours I got kicked out of med school, lost the love of my life, and was left with no future. All because I was once arrested for swinging in the park after dark. FML
Prompt: Today, my friends and I went to court. We are all college students, and for next semester, we will be on probation and have to do 8 hours of community service, as well as a $25 fine each. All for swinging on swings in the park after dark. FML
Thanks so much for reading! Be sure to check out all the other entries and remember to vote for your fave, starting Feb 22nd.