Notes: Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed the last chapter! Here's a quick chapter, unbeta-ed, so apologies for any mistakes. We're getting close to there almost being actual plot, haha. The next update might be a bit slower, as the holidays are suddenly -here-. Speaking of, to any and all who celebrate events this month - Happy _ !

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the Twilight franchise.

Words in Grey: Part II

The next day, Bella takes advantage of the fact that her last class before lunch contains no one she's met - meaning no Jessica, Angela or Mike - and slips away outside before she can be dragged to sit and socialize again. While the three had been nice enough yesterday, Bella is eighty-five percent sure she'd scream if she had to sit through another lunch full of high school gossip about soul mate matches. She just didn't have the patience for that while also trying to settle into her new schedule and life.

So instead, the girl wanders outside. She's disappointed by the enduring gloomy overcast skies keeping a chill in the air - Bella would have loved a bit of sunshine to picnic in. But the fresh air is still nice, and the weather keeps most of the other students hidden away inside. So she wanders the ground, lunch sack in hand and looks for a quiet place to eat.

She turns a corner and sees a lone student sitting under a tree just ahead. It takes Bella only a moment to recognize the glamorous blonde as one of the 'Cullens' that Jessica and Angela had joyfully educated her on yesterday. As Angela and Jessica had walked with Bella to their last class of the day, they's pointed the girl out, whispering "That's Rosalie, one of the Cullens" as they'd rushed past.

And here the girl is, just as blonde and weirdly perfect as she'd seemed from a distance yesterday. Still bothered by this Cullen girl's brother's reactions yesterday, Bella has crossed the grounds and approached the girl before realizing it.

"Can I help you?" the beautiful blonde girl says, raising an eyebrow at Bella. Bella stops for a moment, suddenly regretting her insane decision to approach the other girl. It was more than a little intimidating to confronting a girl with such perfect skin. And that hair… "What was I thinking?" Bella whispers to herself.

"I'm sure I don't know," Rosalie Hale replies drily. "So you can just… go on then."

Bella nods and turns to walk away. She'd only taken one step when she spins around again and blurts out her question before she has another chance to change her mind. "I just… I wanted to see if you know what I did to piss off your brother. Edward, I think. In Biology yesterday, I don't know if you heard about it from him. I mean, he looked like he wanted to murder me and then he disappeared and … well… if I did something to upset him I'd like to know so I can apologize. I swear I didn't-"

"Oh my god, shut up!" The blonde cuts Bella off mid rant, glaring at the girl and looking decidedly uncomfortable. "From what Alice told me, you didn't do anything. My brother is just an idiot."

Bella blinks, mouth still open though she stopped talking when the other girl demanded it. She processes what she was told for a minute before her shoulders slump in relief. "Oh. Okay."

Rosalie just stares in response. The awkwardness of the situation ramps up in Bella's mind, as the teen remembers Jessica gleefully stating how all the Cullen siblings refrain from socializing at school. Meaning it is definitely past time for Bella to leave the other girl alone. "Okay. Well then," Bella states, her fingers nervously reaching up towards her shoulder and tangling up in some of the dark strands of hair draped there. "Thanks, and have a good lunch. It was nice to meet you."Bella gives what she hopes is a thankful - and not totally awkward stalker style - smile and quickly retreats back inside.

AS the door closes behind her, Bella decides maybe she'll go sit through lunch with Jessica and the others after all.

…..

The rest of the week passes in a boring whir of school, homework, sleep, repeat. Bella is just as happy as every other student once the final bell rings on Friday afternoon. She takes a back route out of the school to avoid the worst of the crowds, jumps in the truck Charlie had given her to use, and high tails it back to the house as fast as she can.

She's in a good mood by the time she pulls into the driveway. She's in an even better mood by the time she's dumped her classwork in her room, taken a quick shower, and started making her favorite recipe in the kitchen. Several hours pass as Bella hums along with the radio, letting the familiar motions of cooking relax her and erase the stresses of her first week at school.

"Smells good," Charlie Swan calls out as the door swings shut in the other room.

"Thanks, it should be done in an hour," Bella yells back, stirring the mushroom sauce and setting it to simmer.

"How was your day at school? Lots of homework for the weekend?" Charlie asks as he sits down at the kitchen table and looks at his daughter.

"It was alright. Glad it's the weekend though," Bella admits with a smile. Charlie doesn't say anything in response, so after a few seconds, Bella looks over at the man. His smile has vanished and has been replaced with a pinched stare. Following his gaze, Bella glances down, noticing with some surprise that her forearm is uncovered and baring the damning greyed out lettering to the world.

Shit.

"I'll be back in a bit to finish up," Bella says quickly as she tries to subtly move her arm behind her body. "Everything is done, it just needs to simmer a bit longer."

She's out of the room before Charlie even notices her moving. She's up the stairs before she hears the screech of chair legs along the floor and the tell-tale chinking of a beer bottle getting taken from the fridge.

In her room, Bella grabs one of the many forearm sleeves designed specially for keeping soulmarks hidden and private, and slips it back on. She can't believe she had forgotten to put one back on after her shower. Once satisfied her arm is fully covered once more, Bella falls backwards onto her bed with a sigh. Charlie's pinched face from the kitchen comes to the forefront of her mind. Bella growls and rolls over, burying her face in her pillows as she tries to banish the look from her mind. She's seen it on her parents too many times over the years to care to see it any more.

Bella has always known that Charlie and Renee Swan are not soulmates. When Bella was learning to read, she'd once sounded out the words on Charlie's arm and been surprised when it didn't say her mother's name. Her parents had sat her down and explained how Charlie had met his soulmate in high school - Deborah Marson. Debbie had been Renee's best friend in school, which was how Charlie and Renee met. But Charlie had lost Debbie before graduation to a drunk driver. Which is why Charlie had jumped right into the police department after school - studies have shown that almost 50% of all law enforcement officials joined due to something happening to their soul mates, so it's not a very unique decision on Charlie's part.

Renee and Charlie had then told young Bella that they had decided to start a family together, which Bella now knows means that they'd slept together when they were both grieving and Renee had ended up pregnant. So the couple had been married - in one of those quick-dissolve marriages that have a clause added that allows for a premeditated, near-instant divorce should either spouse encounter their soulmate.

Though, Renee and Charlie's marriage had ended long before Renee ever met Paul. And Bella was pretty sure that a big factor had been her own stupid soul mark. She wasn't stupid or blind; the girl had grown up seeing the horrified, pitying, guilty looks on both of her parent's faces often enough to see how her dead soulmate bothered them. They'd never been that compatible, and the guilt they seemed to constantly feel about Bella's situation just tore into every aspect of their lives until Charlie practically lived at work and Renee demanded a divorce and whisked Bella away to Phoenix.

Bella knows better than to let her parent's be reminded of her soul mark. She'd been sloppy. And lazy.

Feeling terrible about how she made Charlie feel, Bella almost calls her mom. She's used to talking to Renee when she's not feeling good. But she puts down her cell phone before she hits dial, not wanting to ruin her mother's happy honeymoon phase with a reminder that her daughter is fated to be alone. Bad enough Bella has reminded one parent today.

Growling again into her pillow, Bella kicks her legs in a small tantrum, trying to jolt herself out of the morose angsting she'd falling into.

"It doesn't matter," she reminds herself. "Soul marks don't matter."

She keeps repeating those words until a timer goes off downstairs and Bella jumps out of bed to go finish dinner. As she dishes up the food, she almost has herself convinced that she feels better.

By the time Bella is up and about the next morning, Charlie has already headed into an early Saturday shift at the station. Bella finds a simple note on the kitchen table, reminding her where her father is, and the teen can't quite figure out if she is relieved or disappointed by his absence. It's hard to know how to feel about a parent who hasn't been a part of her life in so long. But Bella is determined not to be morose all weekend. As she eats a quick breakfast, she pulls up the map into the nearby city on her phone. A day in a city, surrounded by strangers and relaxing in familiar chain businesses, and maybe Bella will feel more lively. And less homesick.

The drive is not as long as the girl had expected. It seems even on the weekends the roads are not terribly busy. Less than an hour after leaving the house, Bella is sliding into a table at a familiar coffee shop brand, pulling out her laptop and textbook and diving into her weekend homework. The interior decorating is so uniform, the girl can almost pretend that she'd in the cafe she'd often studied in back in Phoenix.

The brunette smiles at the thought and takes a sip of her coffee. This is a much more productive environment for studying than her depressingly unfamiliar room in that depressingly unfamiliar town.

"Hey, new girl, right?" The boisterous greeting is followed by the loud thunk of bags being set on the ground and the screech of the chair across the table from Bella. Startled, the teen looks up, meeting the eyes of an unfamiliar young man.

"Hi?" She asks, her confusion clear on her face. She honestly cannot remember ever seeing this boy before, though if he's calling her 'new girl' she assumes he goes to Forks High.

"Oh, I'm Emmett. Emmett Cullen," Obviously picking up on her uncertainty, the boy - Emmett - quickly introduces himself with a wave.

"Oh. I'm Bella Swan. Nice to meet you. I've met two of your siblings, kind of," The girl replies.

"Yeah, I heard all about Edward. Don't worry about it," There's a look that crosses his face for a moment that confuses Bella even more than she was before he'd introduced himself. It's that look of old regrets that she saw just last night on her father's face.

Bella has had more than enough of other people's emotional drama for a while, so she quickly spits out the first thing she thinks of to change the topic. "I met Rosalie too. Though I think I annoyed her even more when I said hi." Bella tries to play off the admission with a forced, weak laugh. So far her track record in interacting with the Cullens has been very poor, and she hopes that 'third time's the charm' works in this situation to give a better conversation with this Cullen.

"She told me! Rose gets annoyed easily, so don't take it to heart. Actually, it's pretty impressive, I think you really flustered her. She brought up your meeting twice that day, so you obviously made a bit of an impression. And trust me, my girl is not easily impressed. Makes anniversary gifts a pain in the ass," Emmet trails off with a looney smile on his face.

Lovestruck, that's what it is.

"So you're really dating your sister? I thought that was just over exaggerated gossip." Bella winces as soon as the words are out. Oddly close family relations are probably not the best topic to bring up with a stranger.

But Emmett just laughs, seemingly unbothered, "Adopted sister, so it's not as gross as it sounds. Besides, she's my soul mate - that's why I was adopted actually. Carlisle and Esme - that's our parents - took me in to make sure that Rose and I wouldn't be seperated."

Soulmates. Of course.

Though, seeing how blissful and soft Emmett looks thinking about Rosalie, Bella can't quite work up her normal distaste for the topic. Though that doesn't mean she wants to talk about it any more than this however. "That's sweet, I guess. So what brings you here?"

"Rosalie, honestly."

"Huh?" And the confusion returns again. Bella can't help but wonder what it is with this family that leaves her constantly off-balance when talking with them.

"Well, you talked to her. We have a bit of a reputation at Forks, a deserved one, I guess. But it means that no one really talks to us, besides our siblings. So I was a bit excited to meet you after Rose mentioned you. And there you were, sitting right by the window as I was walking by, hauling Alice's purchases after she ditched me, and it was like fate!" Emmet laughs and pats the pile of bags at his feet.

Bella still isn't sure that his story makes any sense, but the guy looks too satisfied with things for her to bother fighting it. Besides, she can sympathize with the loneliness of isolation. She was careful to hide things now, but she couldn't forget that last year of Middle School, when her greyed mark had been revealed in gym class and Bella had become a bit of an outcast herself. It's only natural to avoid what you aren't sure you know how to deal with, after all.

So, Bella settles herself in for a full on conversation. At least Emmett is matched so shouldn't get creepy the way others often get. "Alice, she's another sibling?"

The grin he flashes is nearly blinding. "Yeah, Alice and Jasper are the two you haven't met yet. Jasper went out of town with Edward for a bit, so you won't have seen him around school. Alice is going to go meet them too, so she'll be gone after today. The house will definitely be quieter!"

Then Emmett dives into an explanation about all of his siblings, his parents, his hobbies, his future goals, basically anything he can think of. Bella finds herself swept up in the conversation, not sharing much in return, but enjoying the company nonetheless.

They chat for about thirty minutes more before Emmett cuts off a story about an unfortunate stray dog incident to answer his ringing phone. "Hey Alice. You finally remembered me, huh? Yeah, I'll meet you there."

Hanging up he looks at Bella and gives an apologetic smile. "That was my sister."

"It was nice to meet you. See you around, I guess?" Bella says, waving off his unspoken apology.

"You know it!" Emmett picks up his bags and is out the door seconds later. Bella just shakes her head and looks back at her homework assignment. Happily, she thinks she just made a friend.

Bella doesn't realize it at the time, but that conversation with Emmett seemed to open the floodgates to his friendliness. The next week at school, every time Bella passes by the large teen in the hallways, he gives her a wave and a "Hey, Bella!"

It was a bit unsettling at first, but soon she is used to the loud greetings - and used to ignoring the questioning of Jessica and Mike at the friendliness of one of the aloof Cullens. They don't interact any more than that, however, and soon two more weeks of school have passed.

…..

"There you are."

Bella starts at the unexpected voice that breaks through studious haze. Blinking away the after images of math formulas, Bella looks up and is startled to find Rosalie of the Cullen siblings standing there with a slight scowl on her face. "I've been looking all over for you. You really do insist on eating in strange places, you know?"

Thoroughly confused, Bella sends a quick glance around to verify that yes, she is the only person in range whom Rosalie could be speaking to. "Hi, Rosalie."

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Rosalie asks, getting straight to business without returning the pleasantry.

"I was going to go into the city. I need warmer clothes," Bella says. She tries not to sound confused, instead is trying to accept the strangeness of this conversation and move on. "Did you want me to pick up something for you?"

The offer seems to surprise the blonde. Rosalie opens her mouth and closes it again, blinking at the girl before finally speaking again. "No, I want to go with you. Or I want you to come with me."

Bella winces a bit, not wanting to turn her down, but also not wanting to say yes. She's not a big fan of shopping, and something tells her that her quick errand will turn into a whole thing with the other teen along. Rosalie looks like someone who keeps her parent's credit card busy.

"Emmett thinks you're interesting," Rosalie says, before Bella can think of a way to turn down the proposal. "Since he seems intent on adopting you or whatever, I figure I should probably see what the big deal is. And I've got good taste in clothes - I can help you find the right ones."

Now it's Bella's turn to be slightly surprised. She honestly had no idea what could have prompted Rosalie's demand to spend time together, but doing it to make her boyfriend happy was not something Bella would have guessed. Though, thinking about it, it seems like a sweet gesture. For Emmett, not for Bella. Figuring Bella doesn't have enough (or any) real friends here in Forks to start turning people away, Bella sighs and says, "Okay."

"I'll pick you up at 9. Here, this is my phone number. Send me a text with your address later."

As soon as Bella takes the offered slip of paper, Rosalie is gone. Bella just sits there, confused and dazed by the encounter. And also, "How fast is she?"