Summary

"How the hell did Mike Newton end up in this conversation?" – Bella Swan.

Did you ever wonder why Edward really brought Mike up in his conversation with Bella on the evening of her birthday?

Written from Mike's POV.

Story

Ugh. I could hardly stand to watch the two of them together. The way he watched her, stood over her, wrapped his arm protectively around her shoulders… He made me sick. And watching how attached Bella was to him, how devoted she was to him, how she would hang off his every word, was even worse. How had he ever managed to convince her, or how had she managed to convince herself, that she was in love with him? He must've been putting pills in her drink or something.

I finally decided that something ought to be done. Bella shouldn't have to endure his behaviour any longer. I decided to talk to him.

I would tell him how I thought that he was sick in the head if he thought he was treating Bella right. I would tell him that he treated her like dirt, like he was a million times better in every way than she'd ever be. Which, of course, he'd got backwards. I'd show him how he held himself around Bella, how his posture gave away way too much about his need to "protect" her. As if there was anything that could possibly worse for her than he was. I would tell him that he was a monster, and that he was only hurting her by treating her like he did. I would even try to convince him that one day, hopefully sooner rather than later, she was going to realise what kind of a snobbish, hypocritical, over-protective creature he was, and she would know that she deserved better. I would tell him that, quite frankly, I thought that anyone was better for her than him. (However, seeming unknown to anyone but myself, the one person who would be best for Bella would be me. I could treat her how she deserved to be treated, with respect and faithfulness. I could give her what she truly wanted, and no doubt, needed.) I might even drop in the fact that that sophomore Bella seems to like, what's his name? Jacob, that's it. Jacob would almost certainly be a better match for Bella than he was, although his preferred mode of transport was decidedly more dangerous. And, finally, I would warn him that if he ever hurt her again, in any way, shape or form, he would have a lot of people to answer to. More than he thought, I'd bet.

I waited all day for my chance to talk to him, and it eventually arrived when Bella briefly left his side. I quickly repeated my well-rehearsed speech in my head as I turned to face him, but before I'd even taken a breath, he beat me to the punch.

"Mike, I'd like to talk to you," he asked.

"Okay…" I nervously accepted. What did that scum want to talk to me about?

"I know how much you care for Bella," he began. Like hell he did. He wouldn't know what caring about someone was if it stuck its leg out and tripped him over.

"And I realise that you probably don't think I'm the best person for her to be with." That had me going for a second. I started to think of a witty and sarcastic response, but he interrupted my train of thought yet again.

"But don't you think that maybe, that's out of my hands? I can't choose if she loves me, Mike." I didn't even take a second to mull this over before I shot back my own rhetorical question.

"Well, for one thing, you could just turn her down, you know. Just get out of her life. I'm sure it wouldn't take her too long for her to get over you." Even I was surprised at the amount of rage and loathing in my voice. I waited for him to shoot something back, or maybe try to hit me or something. I started to feel a little uncomfortable; he could take me down with one blow. But he looked untroubled, too deep in thought to even consider the option of leaving Bella.

I took this as my chance to get out of there, so I quickly dumped my tray of half-eaten food in a trash can and walked out of the cafeteria. I vaguely noticed a little whispering and pointing as I departed, but it wasn't until I stopped to focus on one voice at a time that I caught snippets of the spectators' conversation.

"What's up with Newton? He's never normally this… angry."

"He's pretty hung up on that Swan girl, y'know. Bet it's hard for him to see her with another guy, especially a Cullen."

"What are the odds of Mike winning a punch-up with Cullen? Slim to none?"

I sighed agitatedly. Stupid Cullen.

Soon after leaving the cafeteria, I took a moment to recount my conversation with Cullen. I was a little speechless, or considering I wasn't actually speaking to anyone, thoughtless. It was as if he had been inside my head. He had managed to counter almost every single argument I made (until I ran out of there at least) before I had even made it. I did take note of the fact, however, that he hadn't mentioned that Jacob kid at all. Perhaps Jacob wasn't after Bella as a girlfriend after all. Anyhow, there was something very strange about that Cullen. All those Cullens, for that matter.

My thoughts were cut off at that point when I almost walked right into someone. When I looked up to apologise, I realised who it was that I had almost knocked flat. I stuck my head right back down and kept on walking. She turned her head to watch me walk – no, almost run – out of her line of sight, and I wondered if Cullen would tell her what I'd said. What was I thinking? Of course he'd tell her. But he'd twist it to make me sound like the bad guy.

I considered turning back and straightening everything out, purely for Bella's benefit, but I decided against it. Let him try and make me seem like the enemy. I had a few more tricks up my sleeve before I was going to give her up.