**BELLA**
I didn't understand what I was seeing at first. I had to be hallucinating, because it LOOKED like my boyfriend was boning my best friend… and that just was NOT possible. And then I heard it. He was moaning her name, telling her that she was the only one who had ever made him feel that good. My initial reaction was to scream, "Hey Dickhead, if you're gonna fuck around on me don't do it on the living room couch with the front fucking door unlocked!!" but I didn't.
I saw red in that moment. How dare he? Wasn't his fucking promise ring sitting on my finger right this very second? How dare she? She was dating one of my best guy friends, she was supposed to my best friend, and she was fucking my boyfriend? Whore! I got out my phone and took a photo so I could show the whore's boyfriend EXACTLY what kind of "family emergency" she'd blown him off for tonight.
The flash disrupted the little cocoon of bliss they had themselves wrapped in and they looked up. Fortunately they were both too shocked to say anything, so I turned on my heel and stormed back across the yard to my car.
He caught me just as I was opening my car, and grabbed my elbow.
"It wasn't what you think, Bella!"
"REALLY!? Because I THINK I saw you fucking another girl. Take your filthy hands off me. We're done!!!"
I threw the promise ring in his face, slipped into my car and hit the locks. I drove to the end of the street and stopped because the tears were overcoming me. After I took a second to scream out some of the pain, I quickly opened a text to the whore's boyfriend and sent him a message that said "Guess what I just walked in on?" and attached the picture to it. His reply took less than a minute, and was just as shocked and dismayed as my own initial reaction had been. My phone chimed again, he wanted to talk to me. I told him to meet me at my house in about 15.
Before I pulled back onto the road, I decided that I was going to take parental pressure out of this equation. My father would be all over me to forgive and forget because that's just how he is, so I sent the picture to him with the same message and I added "Do NOT ask me to forgive this". My phone rang just as I was parking. The caller ID read Daddy.
"Hello?"
"Bells, do you need me to come home? Have you called…"
"No, don't come home, Daddy. Yes, I sent the photo to him too. He needed to know and he wants to talk to me. I need to get in the house before he gets here."
"I'm calling that bastard's dad."
"Daddy, it isn't his father's fault he's a disgusting man-whore."
"I know. But I don't want to hear anything about this somehow being your fault, so I'm sending him that picture. I'll be late tonight baby girl, working a double as a favor to Mark. If you need me, call and I'll get somebody to cover me."
"I should be fine. I can get Alice or Rose to come keep me company."
"If that asshole shows up and won't leave, call me and I'll send a deputy."
"I'll be fine, Daddy. Love you."
"Love you too, Princess."
Whoa… now I KNEW my dad was pissed about this situation. He hadn't called me Princess in almost 8 years, and he rarely says the "L" word out loud to anybody. I giggled thinking about how the asshole would assume my daddy was on his side, only to be met at the door with the business end of a double barrel.
While I was still lost in my thoughts a silver Volvo pulled in behind my old Cavalier, and the familiar frame of my friend Edward emerged. I hopped out and we stood facing each other, neither knowing what to say to the other. The silence dragged on and I noticed the tears in his eyes that matched my own. Then he was right in front of me and dragging me into a hug.
"This is one fucked up situation, Shortcake."
"I know. Let's get inside before one of them shows up here looking for us."
"Fuck 'em. I don't mean that literally of course, because I won't touch that skank again for any amount of money."
"Same here. They deserve each other. If they make a fuss Daddy said he'd send a deputy."
He chuckled and took my bag off my shoulder to carry it in for me. I grabbed my key from above the doorframe, but for the first time ever I didn't put it back after I opened the lock. He shot me a quizzical look as it was well known amongst my friends that the key was always there, and they never needed to knock.
"I don't want Jake or Leah to have access to the house."
He settled in at the kitchen table. I didn't know if guys had an equivalent of Ben and Jerry's for heartbreak, but I knew Edward was partial to my brownies. I'd made a pan before I left to go to Jake's, expecting that Edward would be over to watch the UW game with Daddy tomorrow. I cut a few and set them on a plate on the table while I was heating milk to make cocoa. Edward hopped up from his seat and grabbed napkins and mugs for me. He had been a close friend of mine since kindergarten and he knew this house as well as I did.
"Is Renee back on overnights?"
"Just for this week, she's covering a vacation. She goes back on mornings starting Monday."
"I haven't seen her for awhile. Maybe I should come home with you one day next week, I've missed her."
"She's missed you too, but she knows you've been busy. She was planning on going to the game with me next week so she could see you."
Edward's phone rang. He looked at it and scowled.
"It's Leah."
"Gonna talk to her?"
"What is there to talk about? That picture you got was pretty fucking clear; she can't even try to say it isn't her."
"From what I overheard out of Jake, I don't think this was the first time they've been together, Edward."
"Bella, I don't even know if I should be more pissed at him or her right now."
"I don't know who I'm more upset with either. He was mine, but she was my best friend, the one person whose loyalty I should've NEVER had to question. I'm sure you're feeling about the same"
"Exactly. But I do think we need to know how long this has been going on."
He dialed Leah and put his phone on speaker, motioning me to stay quiet.
"Edward?"
"Yup. It's me."
"Baby, I don't even know what to say right now."
"Well for starters, don't call me baby ever again. Secondly… I need to know how long this has been going on, Leah."
"Edward… this was the only…"
"Bullshit! Don't lie to me now, Leah. You've been weird with me for awhile. How long have you been fucking around on me?"
There was a really long silence. Edward and I knew she was debating whether to tell him the truth or to try and lie her ass off.
"Well, how long?"
"I've been sleeping with Jake since your birthday back in June."
Edward hung up, both of us staring at the phone like it might decide to bite us if we looked away. It rang and he tossed it to me. Sure enough, the caller ID showed Leah's name. I looked at him and he shook his head, so I powered it off.
We sat silently eating our brownies and drinking our cocoa. He was looking more miserable by the second before he turned to me.
"This is my fault."
"How in the Hell do you figure our respective significant others fucking each other is your fault, Edward?"
"I wouldn't sleep with Leah that afternoon. She had some big seduction routine planned, but I just wasn't there yet… so she went to him. On my fucking birthday, of all days. I knew she'd had a crush on Jake long before we were together, but I figured her loyalty to you would be enough to keep her from ever acting on it. When we started dating she swore she didn't see him that way anymore."
"No, if anything this is my fault. I convinced her not to split up with you. She was pissed that you weren't ready for a physical relationship when she was, but I reminded her you two had only been together a few weeks at that point. I didn't tell her you hadn't been with anybody else, but I knew you wanted it to be special so I convinced her to wait until you'd been together longer. I never thought she'd go to your best friend behind your back."
He scootched his chair over so he was sitting next to me and dropped his arm around my shoulders. I was concentrating on my folded hands, and he was staring up at the ceiling. We sat there silently for several minutes before he spoke.
"You know what, Shortcake? Seriously, fuck them. They deserve each other and neither of them ever deserved us. Be my date for Emmett's Halloween party, we'll have a blast and he won't let them in."
I grinned at him and snuggled into his shoulder.
"I have to get a different costume since we were gonna do a couple costume. Come with me tomorrow afternoon so I can take it back and buy a new one?"
"Same here. I actually have several errands to run in Port Angeles tomorrow. I'll skip watching the game with Charlie and we can make an afternoon of it. We can catch a movie afterwards if you want to. I know how much you love your slasher flicks this time of year. We'll both keep our cells off and just hide for the rest of the weekend, cause I for one do NOT want to hear any bullshit from either of them."
"Edward? What are we gonna say at school? People are going to want to know what happened…"
"Well, as pissed as I am, I can't go around publicly calling Leah a whore. And I don't think you could either."
"No."
"Let them play it off however they want it. We'll tell our group the truth, but who cares what anybody else thinks."
**EDWARD**
Almost six months later, I was regretting my choice to not destroy Leah and Jake's reputations when I'd had the chance. They had labeled me and Bella as the cheaters before we had even gotten to school Monday morning. The fact that I'd driven her that morning had cemented it for all of the idiot gossips at Forks High. Perez Hilton had nothing on those morons in rumor spreading ability.
So Jake and Leah had gone on their merry way, flaunting their new relationship and actually getting sympathy from students and teachers alike, while Bella and I had been publicly humiliated, and pretty much socially ostracized. Only in such a boring, small town as Forks could this big of a fuss get made of such a stupid thing. Fortunately her friends Angela, Alice, and Rosalie and my friends Ben, Emmett, and Jasper had stuck by us. We'd apprised them of the whole ordeal the night it happened. Too bad nobody else believed us. Who knew that trying to be the better person and not trash somebody could kick you in the ass like that?
I couldn't keep the trampy girls off of me. Their thinking was if I'd cheat on Leah who was admittedly one of the most beautiful girls in school, then I'd cheat on Bella too. Bella was having the same trouble with the boys thinking she was easy and accosting her in the hallways. Wouldn't they drop dead from shock if they knew the real reason Jake and Leah had initially hooked up was because Bella and I weren't the type to hop into bed with someone just for the Hell of it.
We hadn't actually been together as long as everybody assumed either. We'd hung out together for the first 2 months just out of self defense, but it had slowly become more. We'd only started dating over Christmas break, but we both knew it was already more than our previous relationships ever could have been.
Jake and Leah had tried to strike again once school was back in. They put it around that Bella and I had been trying to split them up so we could get them back over break. We didn't know about that one until after we'd already made it publicly clear that we were together. Two of the biggest gossips in school had seen us kissing that morning at my locker and had spread it around that we were trying to make Jake and Leah jealous again. Ironically, that part seemed to be true. The more public our relationship became, the more Jake and Leah couldn't leave it alone. I was completely over Leah, and Bella had only had one small setback when Jake had taken to letting Leah drive his pickup truck to school.
Bella had loved that old classic truck of his, but he'd never allowed her to drive it. He had tried to use her love of that truck to get her to sleep with him, promising she could drive it whenever she wanted to if they had sex. I was shocked to find out he'd tried to connive sex out of her, and thrilled when she admitted she'd never given in for that exact reason. Jake had lied through his teeth to everybody about how far their physical relationship had actually gone. I teased her about being more upset about losing the truck than about losing Jake. She'd laughed and agreed with me.
So now it was almost April, and we were both highly resentful of the whole thing. Every time we turned around, there was a new rumor about us. Bella had over slept one day and worn sweats to school, so everyone assumed she was pregnant. I overslept one day and hadn't had time to tame my crazy just-rolled-out-of-bed hair, so everyone assumed I'd had a morning tryst… there were even several slutty girls trying to claim to be the one I was with that morning. We apparently also copied each other's homework, cheated on tests together, screwed in the teachers lounge and on the principal's desk, and got high at lunch time.
I was so thankful that Charlie, Renee, and my parents were behind us 100% because courtesy of Leah's mom, who happened to be the guidance counselor at the school, every single one of those rumors that never should have gotten outside of school ended up being repeated to our parents' friends and eventually made it back to them.
Charlie and I had had a man to man talk regarding the whole thing after Bella and I started dating. As he had initially feared Jake had tried to use Charlie's friendship with his father to his advantage, thinking Charlie would guilt Bella into giving him another chance. Charlie had offered to send Billy the picture, only to have Billy tell him that his daughter was a lying whore and it probably wasn't even Jake in the photo. That had ended almost 30 years of friendship between the two men.
Charlie had also cautioned me to not take Bella to First Beach as he couldn't guarantee that Jake and his friends wouldn't start a fight. He explained they could jump me, and there was nothing the local authorities could do since that was on reservation lands and had to be handled through federal authorities. That drove another wedge between us and our few remaining school friends, as beach parties were about the most exciting thing to do in our small town.
I was pulled from my thoughts by the one thing that made this whole piece of shit year worth living through. Bella. She really was my soul mate.
"I know, baby. I feel the same way about you, but we're gonna be late to class if you don't shake a leg."
"Fuck! Did I seriously just say that out loud, Shortcake?"
"Yep."
I was pretty deep into my self-recriminations for declaring myself out loud and putting pressure on her to reciprocate, when she turned to face me. She laid her tiny hand on my cheek, and gave me the smile that always turned me inside out.
"Edward, I love you. I was waiting for some indication of how you felt before I told you. I think calling me your soul mate is a pretty good indication."
I smiled as I got lost in her big brown eyes. I leaned down for a scorching kiss. When I came back up for air, I told her I loved her too.
Realizing we really were going to be late and that her short legs wouldn't keep up with mine, I swung her up into my arms and ran for our first period class. Our English teacher had been less than friendly towards both of us since the whole fiasco because her husband had left town with another woman and she identified with the whole "jilted lovers" thing Jake and Leah put out. We were sure to get detention for a week if I didn't get us in that classroom before the bell, but I got us there just in time. The final bell rang just as Bella's feet were hitting the classroom floor. That didn't prevent the teacher from sneering at us as we quickly sat down, but I couldn't manage to wipe the smug grin off of my face.
Even the scowls from our peers that any public display of our relationship garnered couldn't bring me down off my high today. Bella loved me! I felt like everything was right in my world for the first time in months.
**BELLA**
I couldn't believe I finally found the nerve to tell Edward I loved him, and to have him tell me he loved me too? I floated on a cloud all day. Even almost being late to English didn't faze me. Edward carried me and ran the whole way, saving both of us from detention with the Wicked Witch of Forks High.
Edward and I had wrapped ourselves pretty tightly in each other, because aside from Ang, Ben, Rose, Em, Ali, and Jazz we didn't have anybody else. Our friends were staunchly by our sides, and they sympathized with what we were dealing with but they couldn't really understand it. They did, however, defend us to their last breaths every time a new rumor came around. So when Alice decided we all HAD to participate in the talent show this year because she was the head of the committee, even though we didn't want to do it we knew we would. We argued half-heartedly though lunch, but she was adamant. Perform we would.
Edward and I discussed what we could possibly do as he was driving us towards my house, when a song came on the radio. We listened, both of us with evil grins spreading across our faces.
"Perfect song! Maybe we should do that. Y'know, baby I'm tired of taking the high road for them, so I posted the photo of them on Facebook."
"God, Bella tell me you didn't really! They're gonna kill you!"
"Didn't say it was MY Facebook, baby. I lucked out that Jessica was breaking library internet usage rules during study hall today. She also forgot to logout. Amateur. It especially worked out since they do that stupid calendar thing in the school newspaper every month. Guess who had their six month anniversary listed in this issue? The date on the calendar makes the date they got together about a week after I caught them. The date on the photo will show when they got caught."
"I don't know Shortcake; there are an awful lot of idiots at our school. It doesn't seem fair to them to expect them to figure out impossible higher math concepts such as counting..."
"We've told the truth, and been called liars. Now we're putting our proof out there. Some will believe it, some won't. I do not care. I am just tired of lying down and taking it while they play the victims."
Daddy was still at the station when we got home, but Mama was there. Edward was immediately invited to stay for dinner when she found out that neither Carlisle nor Esme would be home for dinner time. Since Edward loved my mother's cooking, it was a foregone conclusion he would stay.
"What are we having, Renee?"
"Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, spinach salad, and I'm sure you can smell the bread baking."
"Run away with me, Renee! Forget Charlie and Bella! We can live on your cooking, open a diner somewhere!"
Mama laughed and told him to take his fresh mouth off to do his homework until it was time to help her cook.
We worked on our homework and discussed the song we'd heard earlier until Mama called up to us that she was ready to start dinner. Edward loved eating at my house because when my mother wasn't on overnight shifts, cooking was a family affair. Mama was frying chicken and Daddy was mashing potatoes and whisking gravy when we came down. Mama had left two cutting boards and knives out for Edward and me. I started on veggies for the salad while he started on the loaf of sourdough Mama had thrown in her bread machine when she got home.
We all talked and laughed as we cooked and then as we ate. I thought back, how Jacob had never fit in with my family the way Edward did. Jacob wouldn't cook with us when he'd eat here. Edward enjoyed cooking the meal with us almost as much as he enjoyed eating it. While Jacob was athletic, he wasn't one to sit and watch a game if he wasn't in it, not even to make an effort to socialize with my father. Edward could sit and watch sports all day with Daddy if Mama and I let them. When Carlisle had weekend shifts it wasn't uncommon for Edward to come over and watch whatever sport of the moment was on with Daddy long before he and I ever thought of dating each other.
Daddy had made his signature dessert last night, and we had just enough left for dessert this evening. Edward actually groaned when he saw that Mama was slicing the rest of the Oreo cheesecake.
"I didn't make dessert, Edward. You'll have to proposition Charlie for a repeat on this."
"Is he hitting on your cooking skills again, Ree? If he wasn't so crazy about our baby girl I might've had to get jealous for a second."
The phone rang, and Mama stopped smiling when she read the caller ID.
"Charles? Why is Billy Black calling here? I told you I'd castrate him if I ever had to deal with him again."
"I have no idea, Renee. I haven't spoken to him in almost 6 months. Maybe you should answer it?"
"Hello?"
Mama listened for a moment and then hung up.
"Bella, is there a picture of Jacob and Leah on your Facebook page?"
"No, Mama. I'll log in if you want to look."
"Please."
**EDWARD**
Bella left the table, Renee right on her heels. Charlie and I looked at each other, and then I stood and began clearing the table. He joined in, putting away the left-overs as I scraped the plates and started the dish water.
"Edward, what is Renee going to find on Bella's page?"
"Not a picture of Leah and Jacob."
"What am I gonna find when I insist on checking yours here in a minute?"
"Not a picture of Leah and Jacob."
"Let the dishes soak a minute son, you can use the laptop in my office to log in."
Charlie followed me into his office and I quickly logged in. I stood aside so Charlie could sit and take a moment to look. I saw there were several nasty comments from Leah and Jacob, and quite a few apologies from people who hadn't really spoken to Bella and me since all of the shit went down.
"Edward, I thought six months ago you should have busted them out for what they did, but you didn't. You two got dragged through the mud, and never fought back. Now, what has gotten this mess all stirred up again?"
"I think somebody else may have posted a picture of them."
Charlie gave me "the look" and I knew he wasn't buying it. The man is a cop, and he wasn't born yesterday. He's also more laid back than Renee… hopefully if I spill to him it won't get Bella busted…
"Edward, what did she do?"
"Maybe it was me, Charlie."
"We both know better, boy. Now talk."
"Jessica Stanley may have left herself logged in at school, and… someone… may have used her account to post the picture."
"Were you physically there when it happened?"
"No."
"Logout and let's get back to the kitchen before Renee gets downstairs."
Renee and Bella came back to find the table cleared, food put away, and I was almost done with the dishes. Charlie was sitting at the table reading me an article about the UW football team's spring training camp and upcoming spring practice game. There was a lot of talk about their chances of making it to Pasadena this season… which he and I both agreed were not good as the hopeful reporter made them seem.
"Anything good on Facebook, Ree?"
"Bella does not have pictures of Jacob and Leah. You will call Billy Black and Sue Clearwater and inform them of that. If I make those calls, you'll end up arresting your own wife tonight."
Charlie walked over to the phone and dialed.
"Billy? It's Charlie. Yeah, Ree and I checked both Bella and Edward's pages. Neither of them have pictures of Jake or Leah. I expect this will be the last I hear of your son accusing my daughter of anything. If not, I can make a harassment charge stick. … Yeah? Well, it's not my fault your son decided he couldn't keep it in his pants. … It's not Bella's or Edward's fault either. … If he's so miserable maybe he needs to take a look at what got him there."
Charlie hung up and dialed again. He gave Leah's mom the same speech he gave Billy, and then went a step further.
"Sue, you ever heard of confidentiality agreements? … No? Well, I have a feeling you're gonna by the end of this next week if you don't stop spreading school business around outside of school. Goodnight."
There was an uncomfortable silence, and I could tell the mood of our evening wasn't going to recover.
"I should probably head home. Thanks for dinner, Renee it was delicious as always."
"Edward, you don't have to go yet, Honey. How late are your parents going to be? I hate to think of you there alone and it isn't late yet."
"Dad should be home around 10:30, but mom is in Seattle until tomorrow."
"At least stay here until your dad gets home. Did you two finish all of your homework?"
Bella chimed in that we had finished everything, but that maybe we should go to my house to practice for the talent show. Charlie cocked an eyebrow at me, but I was as surprised as he was…
"Why can't you two do that here?"
"Because Daddy, Edward's guitar and amp are at his house. Plus I'm sure you don't want to listen to him playing while there's a game on."
"What the Hell are you doing in a talent show, Bells? You HATE doing things like that publicly."
"It's a favor to Alice. She's the head of the committee and she needed to get people to participate so they wouldn't cancel it. She coerced our whole group to perform so she'd have enough people."
An evil grin spread across Charlie's face.
"Ree, make sure we charge the camcorder. We may never get another chance like this one. Home by 10:00 sharp, Bells!"
We both hugged Renee and she hugged Charlie before we left. I opted for the more manly gesture of affection with Charlie… smile and nod while he slapped me on the back. I held the door and helped her into the car before getting in myself. Once we were on the road, I asked her about her time with Renee.
"Mama totally believed me, don't worry baby!"
"Well, your father wasn't bluffing. He checked my page and he knows what happened."
"He won't tell Mama. If he was going to he wouldn't have called Billy and Sue."
"That's what I was hoping for when he put the old cop eye on me."
**BELLA**
School got quite interesting for about a week after the Facebook posting. Jessica had gotten an in-school suspension day for using the school internet for personal reasons, but because she was a well known airhead everyone believed her that she just hadn't logged out and anybody could have accessed her account. Edward and I had both deleted the photo off of our phones, and neither of us had ever put it on a computer, so even though Jake and Leah knew it had to be one of us they couldn't prove it. The sweet, sweet irony of that situation always made me laugh.
The people who were smart enough to do the math realized they'd been had, and apologized to us for taking Jake and Leah's word about the whole thing instead of listening to our side too. Even our English teacher had apologized. The rest of the morons thought we'd faked it to make Jake and Leah look bad, oh well. Jake and Leah had taken to completely ignoring our presence, which suited both of us just fine. We didn't have all of our old friends back, but we had repaired our relationships with several people we'd truly missed. We knew that our small group of friends who had never abandoned us were all loyal and worth having around, everybody else didn't matter.
Life in general was just pretty damn spectacular for us lately. We'd both been accepted to UW, Edward for music and me for English. We both planned on teaching eventually. Alice and Rose would be joining us at UW, Alice for Architecture and Rose for Psychology. Unfortunately for them Emmett would be at Boise State on a football scholarship and Jazz would be even farther away studying Biochemical Engineering at Ohio State. Ben and Ang would be far away too, both planning on attending USC for pre law. We'd all already made promises to visit back and forth whenever we could and to go on spring breaks together.
The most pressing thing on all of our minds at the moment though, was the talent show. Since Edward, Jazz, Em, and I all played instruments we'd turned into the house band for each of the individuals in our group, and a few other people. We'd decided practices were going to be at Em's, because his drum set was a pain in the ass to disassemble and reassemble. We'd also decided that everything would be billed only under the singer's name, instead of as a band because there were people outside of our little group using us as accompaniment. I'd taken to leaving my keyboard at Em's because there wasn't enough room for that and Edward's guitar and amp in his trunk.
At lunch on Tuesday Alice dropped her head into her hands with a sigh. This was unusual, because she was normally a cross between a coked-out Energizer Bunny and Tigger.
"What's wrong, Pixie?"
"I found out that heinous bitch Lauren is doing the same song I was planning on doing. You know I was gonna do How Do I Live because I don't know what I'm gonna do with Jazz so far away for the next four years, but that nasty bitch is doing the same song! I know today wasn't my rehearsal day at Em's, but can I steal a spot? I found new music and you guys will need the extra time to learn it."
"You can have my spot. I think my song is pretty solid. What are you gonna do now?"
"It's called Hanging On by Britt Nicole. Yours is bloody well hilarious, Bells. I can't wait to see the hissy fits."
"Neither can Mama and Daddy. Mama said it was gonna be a toss up between recording me or the reactions."
"Who is practicing today?"
"Everybody. You were the only one who wasn't going to today, but I really don't need it."
"OOO! I managed to put everybody that you guys are playing for all together. And for even more dramatic effect you get to be last!"
I froze immediately. The only two things getting me through the thought of singing in public were the tantrums I would get with my song choice, and that I had been sure I would be lost in the shuffle, not at the very end where there would be no one else coming up to detract from me. Edward must have seen my panic, because he smiled at me then leaned towards Alice.
"Actually, Ali… I was hoping to go last. I have a reason; I'll tell you in French later, OK?"
"FINE! Ruin my moment of revenge on behalf of my best friend!"
"Trust me, Ali. You'll get your moment either way."
"OH! Edward, I almost forgot to warn you. Jake is singing and considering the song, I'm pretty sure it's a dig at you."
"Ya know what, we're digging right back, so let him have his moment. I'll hear it Friday afternoon when we do the full run through. Besides, for him to take a shot at me means he assumes I still give a shit about Leah, and I don't."
Jasper stood to throw his trash away and yelled over his shoulder to Edward.
"Cullen, get your ass in gear! We have a lab test in Physics and I want to go over the notes!"
Edward dropped a quick kiss on my lips then grabbed his books and followed Jasper for a last minute cram session.
"What is he doing, Alice?"
"Really want to know?"
"Yup."
"Ever see Eurotrip?"
"Oh my God… he's gonna admit they were cheating. He thinks he's being so clever with the dig about the birthday, but he's just gonna confirm they were cheating on us. This is gonna be epic win, Ali!"
"OHMYGODYOUARESORIGHTBELLA! I didn't even think about it that way! I was more concerned with how Edward would react to the lyrics."
"Chill, Pixie he's watching you! Don't clue him in that we're onto it. I'll let Edward be surprised. I wonder if Jake doesn't realize that Edward knows they started cheating on his birthday."
"Please! Leah can't be honest to save her own life. Do you really think she told Jake she copped to that shit?"
"I just hope they don't stop him for vulgar lyrics, Ali."
She just grinned at me. Sometimes that tiny little girl can be purely evil…
**EDWARD**
I don't know how Alice had managed it, but she'd put Jake absolutely first, and she was sure Charlie would end up arresting him by the end of the actual show. For some reason, the thought of Jake hauled out in cuffs gave her manic giggles. OK, I'll own it… that thought gave me manic giggles too.
The rest of the acts were hanging out in the auditorium seats while Alice and the techies were discussing lighting and sound cues with Jake and his friends Sam who was drumming for him, and Embry who was on bass. Em was bitching about how long it would take him to reset the drum kit for his height since Sam was such a short little prick. Jazz was fingering cords on his bass and singing quietly to himself. His song was gonna be a real test of my playing, because let's face it I'm no Eric Clapton. Ben was quietly picking out the notes to the song he and Ang were singing together on his acoustic. Bella, Rose, and Ang were sitting in an odd little circle French braiding each other's hair and giggling about something while Leah sat several rows away scowling at them.
Finally Alice and her tech crew dispersed and I heard the amps onstage hum as they were turned on. Jake, Embry, and Sam ran a quick warm up as I heard some weird screeching from the sound booth and saw lights flashing. I guessed they were running a check on the boards. Alice's voice came across the PA system letting the guys onstage know that they were ready, and the lighting dropped to spots.
Bella joined me, looking a tad bit nervous and squeezed my hand just as a wailing intro ripped out of the guitar in Jake's hands. I may hate the jackass now, but I'd always given him props for his ability to play. It was one of the things I actually missed most about our old friendship, playing together… then I realized what song he had picked. He truly was a total jackass.
His voice came in, and it was as horrible as ever. I was hard pressed to stifle the laughter. I turned to Bella, and she was trying to suppress her own laughter as we listened to Jake publicly admit his infidelity.
Scotty
doesn't know that Fiona and me Oh Scotty doesn't know!
Do it in my van every Sunday.
She
tells him she's in church but she doesn't go
Still she's on her
knees and Scotty doesn't know!
So
Don't Tell Scotty!
Scotty doesn't know!
Scotty doesn't know!
So
Don't Tell Scotty!
"It's coming up, baby… listen."
The
parkin lot
Why not? It's so cool when you're on top!
His front
lawn in the snow
Life is so hard 'cause Scotty doesn't
know!
Scotty doesn't know
Scotty doesn't know!
I
did her on his birthday...
Scotty
doesn't know!
Scotty won't know!
Scotty doesn't know!
Scotty's
gotta know!
Gotta tell Scotty!
Gotta tell him myself!
Scotty
doesn't know!
"Ahhh, I see. The bit about fucking her on my birthday was supposed to upset me, wasn't it? Why would that bother me now?"
"Alice and I are pretty sure that Leah never told him you knew that part. He was too focused on convincing me it was only once, remember? Ali theorized it's because she couldn't tell the truth to save her own life."
We sat through several more musical acts, a couple of the drama kids acting out scenes from plays, a group of underclass tramps doing what they obviously thought was a seductive dance routine to some atrocious pop song, and even a poetry recital before Alice called for a break. I knew it was taking longer today because Alice had to confer with each act on sound and lights before they could do their run through, but I was getting bored with waiting.
Most of the kids who were performing in the first half of the show left during the break. Fortunately Jake and Leah were among them, because Bella really didn't want them to hear her until tomorrow night.
Jasper had run to the diner down the street at some point while the others were performing and grabbed food for our group. We all wolfed down a quick sandwich before going to the stage to set all of the instruments to our preferences and warm up. It took Em almost the entire fifteen minutes to reset the heights on all of the drums, and he cursed like a sailor the entire time because we only had a 15 minute intermission during the show to get things set and run a quick sound check.
**BELLA**
We'd drawn straws for performance order before Ali had to finalize the listing, and Rose was up first out of our group. Alice had put the six of us as the final acts, with the people we were playing for directly in front of us. It didn't escape me that out of our group I was the only one not doing a song that I could dedicate to my love. When that thought had occurred to me I had wanted to change songs, but Edward swore that he would rather see me perform the song I'd already chosen than sing a song that told him what he already knew.
The morning of the show, I stumbled down the stairs in search of breakfast. Instead of coffee and eggs, I found Rose and Alice sitting and having a very serious conversation with Mama about how it was crucial to "the plan" that I look like an absolute heartbreaker tonight. When the three of them finally looked up after I'd cleared my throat at least TWICE I asked after some coffee. Rose said I sounded more like a zombie inquiring after brains than a human looking for a cup of French roast. I grunted at them and began my de-zombification via delicious caffeine.
After I was somewhat awake and aware, Alice and Rose informed me I had to get dressed because we had shopping to do and hair and nail appointments to get to. I tried to play it off like I had chores and such that needed attending, hoping Mama was in a generous mood. Unfortunately, she grinned at me and handed Alice the credit card she and Daddy had gotten for me to use for emergencies like car issues and such.
"Mama, shopping is NOT an emergency!"
"It is today, baby girl. Fashion emergency, now take this and buy yourself some hot little number for tonight!"
"FINE! At least tell me what this mysterious PLAN is then!"
"Baby girl, you will find out when you are supposed to. Now go get dressed and go shopping like a typical teenager for once in your life!"
I got dressed, and the twin shopping terrors dragged me to Hell, otherwise known as the Port Angeles mall. After three hours, I was exhausted and getting cranky. Alice hadn't liked the dress I had wanted, but she and Rose couldn't agree on anything for me or themselves today. If I hadn't been caught so firmly in the middle, I would have enjoyed watching the meltdown they were having. After Alice threw yet ANOTHER too short, too tight, cleavage baring red number at me, I lost my temper.
"ALICE! WHAT PART OF BLACK DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND? SINCE WE ARE THE BACK UP MUSICIANS WE ARE WEARING BLACK!"
"But Bella, black makes you look washed out!"
"I don't care! Em, Jazz, and Edward are all wearing black and they expect me to wear black as well! Get your shit together and pick or I am going back to that first store and buying that loose fitting, mid-shin length dress!"
"Can you at least wear colored shoes?"
"Since my feet will be under a keyboard all night, I SUPPOSE I can deal with that, Alice."
15 minutes later, I was staring in a mirror absolutely bemused. I was wearing an adorable, swingy baby doll dress that had a velvet halter neck and chiffon skirts that stopped about three inches above my knee. It was black, as requested. I was impressed with Rose for finding it and started squealing. I couldn't help it, I looked so awesome! Alice was back not even five minutes later with deep red satin strappy heels and a matching velvet choker with a silver heart slider on it. The overall effect was perfect! I jumped up and down like Alice and grabbed my girls in a tight hug.
"I love it so much, thanks for finding it for me guys! I think I'll be wearing this for Prom too!"
After they broke their shopping curse by finding me the perfect dress, Rose and Alice were both able to pick their own outfits in about 20 minutes. Rose was going with a plum colored silk halter blouse and a short white skirt. She said she already had shoes at home that would look perfect, even though Ali pouted and said you could NEVER have too many shoes. Since Alice's song was a little more rock than ours were, she went with a little more edge. She found a pair of black leather pants and a top that looked like it was made of liquid silver. It had one long sleeve, while her other shoulder and arm were left bare. She found a pair of platform heeled boots to complete her look.
We grabbed a quick lunch before heading to our hair appointments. Alice was insistent that I have my hair up since I would be in profile most of the night. The stylist curled it, then twisted and clipped it so all of the curls were spilling over the clip onto my neck, but they didn't obscure my face. It actually looked really pretty, and I was starting to be glad mama had insisted on the girly day so I wouldn't sit at home letting my nerves get to me. Rose had gone for simple with a high twist, but Alice had actually changed her hair instead of just having it styled. She had gone from a sleek chin length bob to a short, spiky pixie cut, and she had them put a few dark purple streaks in that looked fantastic against her black hair.
Nails didn't take that long. They were both just getting their acrylics balanced and repainted. I told the lady to file and buff my natural length down a touch since I would be playing all night. Alice insisted on showing my manicurist my shoes and had her paint my nails to match. I normally wasn't one for painting my nails at all, but I had to admit that the crimson color looked pretty good even though my nails weren't all that long.
By the time we got back on the road to Forks, it was almost 5:00 and we had to be at the school at 6:30. I called Mama to let her know we were going to Alice's house to get ready, and that I would see her and Daddy after the show was over. She asked if I'd had my phone off because Edward had called twice to see if I'd made it home when he couldn't reach me on my phone. I told her I'd call him, and she wished me luck before hanging up.
**EDWARD**
"Ed, dude you need to chill! It's a fucking talent show man, not brain surgery!"
"Fuck off, Em! I have a good reason to be nervous tonight."
"Why?"
"You're an ass, McCarty!"
Emmett walked away, grumbling about my mood swings and pissy attitude. I wanted to tell him and Jazz what was going on, but I knew neither one could keep a damn secret to save their lives. I was even more on edge than I was expecting because I hadn't been able to reach Bella all day. Talking to her would have calmed me, but Alice was determined to prevent that. I knew I never should have told her my idea, interfering little pixie!!
I felt like I paced myself through the floor of Em's room by 6:00. Alice had called and informed me that Bella was too busy to talk after they had gotten home from Port Angeles. I knew that was crap and Alice was just trying to annoy me, but I couldn't very well storm the castle as it were... so I waited.
FINALLY it was time to load up and head to the school. When we got into the auditorium, I looked around for Bella and the other girls, but only saw Angela.
"Hey, Ang! Have you seen the other girls?"
"Hey, Edward. Alice said something about keeping you and Bella separated for the evening. Did you guys have a fight?"
"No. Alice just likes to meddle!"
I'd always heard if you spoke of the devil he would appear, but today I learned that the devil is a small, black haired girl.
"I'm not meddling! You asked for my help!"
"No, I told you about an idea I had. YOU decided to "help" whether I wanted it or not!"
"I don't want you to wuss out, Edward. Now both of you get backstage because the doors are opening! Second half acts are backstage left. GO!"
Ang and I bolted to get behind the stage curtains, and ended up on the wrong side. We decided to just stay where we were and attempt to stay calm until the intermission.
After crowd was settled Alice went out with the principal to welcome everybody and thank them for their attendance. After Mr. Greene's brief speech Alice announced Jake's act and walked offstage. When he passed me he rammed me with his shoulder, his friends smirking at me as they followed him onto stage.
The lights dropped and Jake and Embry's amps hummed on. Ang and I sat rolling in silent hysterics when the lyrics of Jake's song registered in the minds of the audience and we started hearing the shocked gasps of outrage for the vulgarity even over the music. I motioned her further back behind one of the legs so we could search the audience. I found Charlie and Renee seated next to my parents just as Jake got to the line about the birthday fuck. Charlie and Dad both stood up looking outraged, both of them having caught the inference perfectly, while Mom and Renee fought to keep them seated. I noticed Sue Clearwater seated with the rest of the faculty, looking humiliated. She'd done too good of a job making sure everybody knew the story Jake and Leah had put around, and now it was backfiring on her.
Mr. Greene sprinted in from the hallway and out onto stage just as they wrapped the song and were met with a deafening wall of shocked silence, broken only by a few boos.
Mr. Greene apologized profusely for not stopping the song earlier but explained he had been on an emergency phone call and was leaving the rest of the evening in the capable hands of Alice and Mr. Varner. He grabbed Jake by the collar and hauled him offstage as he headed out. He told Jake they would discuss punishment Monday morning, to report directly to the office instead of first period. Ang and I couldn't keep our laughter silent after that, several muffled chuckles escaping from both of us. Thankfully it was almost pitch black and impossible for anybody to know who was sitting where.
When the curtains were pulled so the crew could remove the instruments for the next act, Ang and I bolted across the stage and found nobody even attempting to muffle their laughter at Jake's expense. I found Em, Jazz, and Ben and regaled them with watching my dad and Charlie ready to go on the warpath and Mr. Greene ripping Jake's ass before bolting. Alice laughed as she joined us and said that Mr. Greene's wife couldn't have picked a better night to go into labor because what she had planned wouldn't have stalled him as long and she'd wanted everybody to hear the part about Jake and Leah hooking up on my birthday.
The rest of the first act was pretty uneventful other than Mr. Varner stopping the pornographic dance routine the pop tarts in training were doing about halfway through. I don't know who told those girls they were the next Pussycat Dolls, but they were LYING.
After what seemed like eons, Alice finally announced the 15 minute intermission. Em ran on stage and began resetting the drums as soon as the stage crew brought them out. He had been practicing with his drums all afternoon and had himself down to eight minutes. Jazz and I waved away the generic amps the school had provided and carted our own onto the stage and then ran back to grab our instruments. Jazz had his bass of course, and I had my two guitars. One was electric and one was an acoustic that you could plug in to the amp. I quickly checked to make sure it was tuned properly. Just as I was finishing I turned to see Em helping Bella position her keyboard, but she was turned full profile. The sight of her in that short little dress was almost enough to stop my breathing, but I knew I didn't have time to get lost in Bella at the moment.
"Hey Shortcake, you have to face the audience at least slightly. You're singing tonight, nobody wants to see the side of your head while you do that."
"What do you suggest?"
I swung her keyboard around so that when she was seated she was facing the exit door on the left side of the auditorium instead of facing straight towards backstage. That would give most of the audience a good view of her, but wouldn't put her fully facing outward which I knew would terrify her. I wanted to make sure our parents had a good view of her. I knew Renee and Mom wouldn't want to miss this for anything.
All too soon, Alice and Mr. Varner were back on stage announcing that as soon as everybody sat back down they'd begin the second part of the evening. Since Em, Jazz, Bella and I were going to be on stage for pretty much the rest of the show we went ahead and took our spots as Alice was introducing the three girls who were singing next. I looked around the audience and noticed the performers from the first half had taken seats in the audience… perfect! We played through the music for the few people who'd asked us in what seemed like no time at all.
Then Rose was confidently striding to the mic while Mr. Varner introduced her, and I shot a quick look at Em to see what he thought of her outfit. I chuckled and caught Jazz's eye nodding back towards him. I was almost afraid he'd miss his cue but he came in exactly on time. Towards the end I looked back at him again and saw a tear streaking down his face. I don't even think he was aware of it. I hadn't understood before why Rose wanted to sing You're Where I Belong, but now I realized this song was Rose's way of telling Em she would wait for him and he was clearly getting the message.
Alice was taking a moment to introduce us as the house band of the evening now that we were down to only our group left, and introducing Bella's song. I looked at her and winked as I started playing the intro and waited for her voice to come in.
State
the obvious So go and
tell your friends I hate that
stupid old pickup truck So watch me
strike a match
I didn't get my perfect fantasy
I realized you
love yourself
More than you could ever love me
That I'm obsessive and crazy
That's fine,
I'll tell mine
You're gay and by the way
You never let me drive
You're a
redneck, heartbreak
Who's really bad at lying
On all my wasted time
As far as I'm
concerned
You're just another picture to burn
I
had been making my way towards her just a bit through the first
verse, and just like she'd planned, she stopped playing during the
second verse and came around the keyboard to rub herself all over me
while she sang. There's
no time for tears And if you come around 'Cause
I hate that stupid old pickup truck
I'm just sitting here planning my
revenge
There's nothing stopping me
From going out with all
of your best friends
Saying sorry to
me
My daddy's going to show you
How sorry you'll be
You never let me drive…
Her keyboard came back in perfectly as the refrain started and I walked back over towards Jazz. He smirked at me and I shot a glance out into the audience to see a scowling Jake being held in his seat by his father while Dad and Charlie were shaking with laughter.
Bella's song finished and she rose from the bench to take a quick bow and ran over to hand the wireless headphone mic to Emmett for his song. He'd gone with Lullaby by The Spill Canvass. He didn't have any drumming to do, but he'd said he would feel like too much of a douche if he had to stand at the mic while I played. I quickly switched out guitars for my acoustic while Jazz set his amp so you'd just barely hear the bass line he was playing underneath.
Em crooked a finger towards backstage and Rose came back out, dragging a stool so she could sit next to Em while he sang to her. He'd arranged with Alice to have the lights dropped to a single spot so even though everyone could hear Jazz and I playing, you could only see him as he sang to Rose. It was one of those moments you could never forget seeing. Big, burly Emmett singing a sentimental song with all the love and pain he would feel over the next four years while separated from her plain on his face, and the normally hard shelled Rose sitting there with her beautiful face streaming tears. I was thankful when the song was over that the whole stage went black for a moment so I could wipe my eyes without everybody seeing me do it.
I took my guitar off and went to grab the wireless mic from Em for Ben since he was borrowing my guitar to play while he and Angela sang. They were doing After All by Peter Cetera and Cher… and as I looked out on the audience from my spot backstage I suddenly understood why our parents had insisted on sitting in the last row. All four of them were out of their seats dancing in the back aisle, uncaring of the looks they were drawing. I knew I was seeing a flash of what my life could be like in 20 years… the woman I loved more than life itself still in my arms and happy. I saw Charlie and Dad both dip their wives and pull them up into kisses as the song ended and had to wipe my eyes again. I was starting to feel like a girl with all of the crying and emotions, and I knew it was only gonna get worse.
Fortunately I had a break from the overwhelmingly emotional songs for Jazz's performance. He had picked Layla, and he wanted the original version, so I had to be on my game. I was gratified to see a few jaws drop when I started wailing it and I was totally hyped when we were done. I took the wireless mic from Jazz when he was finished since Alice would be using the regular mic for her performance. She had picked a pop song called Hanging On by a singer called Britt Nicole. To be completely honest I'd never heard of her until Alice brought us the music, but it was a decent song and I knew it was Alice's promise to Jazz for the next four years.
**BELLA**
FINALLY we were down to the last song of the night. It was technically Edward's performance, but I was singing with him. Alice brought the regular mic over and helped me set it up so I could play and sing at the same time while Mr. Varner was thanking everybody for coming and announcing the song Edward had chosen. I thought it was especially appropriate for us given how our relationship had started. There was almost no intro, but fortunately Edward had to sing first, or I would have missed it. I was too busy ogling how incredibly hot he looked in his tight black shirt and fitted slacks. His voice brought me back into the moment.
I
run from hate I run my life When
lies become the truth This world
keeps spinning faster We run on fumes Our
love's the only truth
I run from prejudice
I run from pessimists
But
I run too late
Or is it running me?
Run
from my past
I run too fast
Or too slow it seems
That's when I run to you
To a new disaster, so I run to you
I run
to you, Baby
When it all starts coming undone
Baby, you're the
only one I run to
I run to you
Your life
and mine
Like the sands of time
Slippin' right on through
That's why I run to you…
I saw Edward was walking over to me. We hadn't planned anything, so I hadn't expected him to move from the center of the stage. Suddenly he was perched on the end of my bench and we were alone in the spotlight as the final notes of the song played out.
I heard the wild applause from the audience and some whistling I knew had to be Daddy and Carlisle, but all I could see were Edward's bright green eyes looking right into my soul. I leaned forward to kiss him, but he just smiled and held up one finger, asking me to give him a minute.
He stood and offered me a hand. I took it, expecting that he was going to take a quick bow. He pulled me in front of the keyboard and dropped to one knee in front of me holding out a ring while my entire world froze.
**EDWARD**
Bella always swore she didn't remember the actual proposal. I knew that had to be true, because when she'd finally stopped shaking and crying that night, she'd made Rose and Alice recount the whole thing for her. She kept her left hand clutched in my shirt like someone was going to take the ring off of her finger if she didn't.
Renee and Mom had gotten to us mere minutes after Bella had finally unfrozen long enough to say yes, and they had both been crying and smiling like loons. Charlie and Dad weren't far behind them. Even though I'd spoken to Charlie and he knew this was coming he was still upset about losing his baby girl. Dad was slapping him on the shoulder and telling him that if I ever fucked it up he'd help Charlie kick my ass. Thanks Dad.
The rest of our senior year had flown by quickly. Jake had been suspended for 2 weeks for his little stunt, and when he did come back he and Leah took pains to avoid us. Prom had been fantastic, and we'd witnessed another sentimental moment that night as Ben had proposed to Angela.
Graduation had been almost anti-climactic, and we hadn't lingered long in Forks afterward. Since Bella, Rose, and Alice had already made plans to rent a 3 bedroom house, I had just given up my room in the dorm and moved in with them. Charlie had strenuously objected to that idea until Renee had leaned over and whispered something that had him blushing into his ear. We never asked, we didn't want to know.
By junior year Em had made enough of a name for himself as a linebacker that he was able to get a scholarship and a transfer to join us at UW. I thought I'd never see Rose that happy again, until the night we went out after our last finals senior year and he proposed to her. They left that night for Vegas and came back just in time for the commencement exercises. Bella was a little miffed that she'd been waiting four years and we still weren't married, but I'd promised Charlie we would wait until we had our degrees. The minute we had them in hand, I told her to pick a date and let our moms know.
As our last order of business before leaving college behind, we were all in Em's SUV heading for the airport to pick up Jazz. He had been granted a spot in a graduate program at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, but first he was coming home for Alice. She didn't know it yet, but he would be proposing to her as soon as he saw her.
Em and Rose had been listening to the radio quietly, but Rose was suddenly laughing and turning it up. I chuckled when I heard the familiar words.
Our
love's the only truth This world
keeps spinning faster When it all starts coming undone Oh oh, oh I run to
you This world keeps spinning faster When it all starts coming
undone Oh oh, oh I run to you I always run to you
That's why I run to you
To a new disaster, so I run to you
I run
to you, Baby
Baby, you're
the only one I run to
I run to you
To a new disaster, so
I run to you
I run to you, Baby
Baby, you're the only one I run to
I run to you, I run
to you
Yeah
I'll run to you
girl
Oh Oh
Run to you
I pulled Bella into my side and kissed her before whispering into her ear.
"Hey Shortcake, this song was true then and it's still true now. I love you."