A Bad Deal?

Feeding the Demon

"Bella, are you sure you're fine?" Angela asked with gentle concern for her friend, patting the brunette's hand.

"Yes, I'm sure," Bella muttered, unable to look the other in the eye as she retracted her hand. The two were in a crowded cafeteria now, Bella gulping down her lunch. She was so hungry. She couldn't remember the last time she had properly ate at lunch time. And it was only happening now because Rosalie had gotten sent home early for disrupting a class.

Jessica, Mike, Lauren and Eric were sitting next to them, observing the two's conversation politely. All of them seemed worried, except for Jessica who was doing a bad job of hiding her smirk behind her sandwich.

"It's just that.." Angela bit her lip as she tried to find a way to convey this without annoying Bella or scaring her off from answering. "You haven't been eating lunch in the cafeteria. At all. For the past month. That's a long time."

"I'm fine. I just wanted some time to myself," Bella mumbled out. She could feel all her friend's watching her and she hated this, hated their attention and scrutiny.

"Are you anorexic or something?" Lauren asked in that nasally tone of voice that Bella could never get used to no matter how many times she heard it. It made whatever she said sound condescending whether she meant it that way or not.

"I'm not," Bella insisted, pausing in her devouring of an apple to glare at the other. "What gives you that idea?" Was the fact that she was practically inhaling this food now not a good clue to dissuade that notion?

Lauren shrugged. "You disappear during lunch."

"That doesn't mean I don't eat." Bella was feeling really uncomfortable with their questioning and their prying into her business. If she had known they were going to be like this then she would have not eaten her lunch in the cafeteria. Naturally they had tried to ask her during class or in between periods on what was going on with her but it had only been one or two people at a time and Bella had easily brushed their questions off. But now it was the full combined force of all four of them and it was overwhelming. She sat hunched over her lunch tray as if she could somehow ignore them by doing this. As if their questions could bounce off of her.

"Did something happen in your family? Is it making you depressed?" Mike asked. "You can talk to us. To me," he suggested hopefully and she rolled her eyes at this. He was trying to be there for her only because he had a crush on her and wanted her to like him. Not going to happen, as I'm super duper gay.

"No, nothing of that sort happened," Bella insisted, getting tired of their pestering.

"Then, do you not like us?" Eric half joked. "You keep avoiding us during lunch. And you keep brushing off our concern."

"Nooo. It's not that either."

Angela could see that Bella was getting irritated and gave the back of her hand one more pat before she turned to the group. "I think Bella will tell us when it's time. When she's comfortable with it."

Jessica's smug face only grew smugger. "Oh, I don't think Bella will be ready to talk about this any time."

"Why do you say that?" Eric asked. Bella had a bad feeling about what Jessica would say next; she was a notorious gossip and she knew the most ridiculous and obscure of rumors.

"Someone got in trouble with miss popular and now has to go buy her lunches for her," Jessica cooed out and Bella's first thought was, that's why the bitch looked so smug, followed by her second thought of, she really wants to get on my shit list.

"You're buying Rosalie lunch?" Angela turned incredulous eyes on the brunette who shrugged as if this wasn't a big deal. But it was. The day after Bella had entered the deal with Rosalie, the blonde had approached her in the school halls and taken down Bella's number. Bella's heart had been beating like crazy when she heard the blonde ask for it. Rosalie wanted her number? It was only something she had dreamed for forever. Of course the happiness was shot down when Bella realized she wanted her number for the deal so she could make Bella do things for her.

And during lunch that day the text had come.

Meet me outside.

Kids at Forks high could eat outside if they wanted to, only Freshman couldn't. And Bella, being a sophomore, had left to meet the blonde, her chest thrumming with some sort of excitement. The blonde was standing there, a touch impatient, looking gorgeous as always.

"Hi," Bella had said softly, cursing herself for how pathetic she sounded. Why was it that next to Rosalie she could never say anything right, or even have a backbone? Maybe it was how intimidating Rosalie's beauty was-it made anyone feel lesser standing next to her.

"What took you so long?" the blonde snapped. Bella wanted to point out that it had barely been two minutes since the bell for lunch rang but she didn't say anything. She just shrugged and Rosalie frowned at this. "Here, take this money and go buy me lunch from Jambre's." Rosalie held out her hand, a stack of one's in it. Bella took the money, her fingers brushing against the back of Rosalie's knuckles. Bella nearly jerked back her hand and dropped the money as tingles spread through her fingers. Rosalie arched a brow at Bella's reaction but didn't say anything, thankfully.

"Okay," Bella had said and left to go to the food place. It was very popular in Forks and as such there was always a long line for it. Waiting for the food ate up a significant portion of Bella's lunch time, the girl herself not having eaten anything yet herself. When she got the food she brought it over to a picnic table outside her school where all the cool kids were sitting. Bella had seen them across the hall and even had one of them, Emmett, in her class before, but it made her very nervous to approach them like this. She figured she'd just drop off the food and leave. But when she quickly scanned their heads she saw the blonde wasn't there. Edward was listening to something on his headphones, Emmett was playing a game on his phone, and Alice and Jasper were talking to one another as they sat on the table top but no Rosalie.

Should Bella text Rosalie and ask her where she was? No, somehow it seemed wrong to text the other.

"Uh, do you know...where Rosalie is?" Bella asked in a squeaky voice as she approached the table. Jasper and Alice paused in their conversations to look over at Bella. The brunette felt inadequate standing in front of them with her ratty jeans, scuffed up converse and baggy sweater. In contrast they all wore designer clothes, all sleek blacks and whites and browns.

Alice's lips had curled up in a leer. "And what did you do to piss Rosalie off?"

"Huh?" came out of Bella's mouth.

"She's got you making it up to her. I doubt you would go buy her food from the kindness of your own heart. So what did you do wrong?" Alice leaned forward at this and Bella took a step back, feeling unnerved by the interest in the other's eyes.

"There you are, took you fucking forever," Rosalie grumbled out, making her appearance and Bella was glad for the interruption. She walked over and snatched up the food from Bella's hands.

"There was a long line. As always," Bella hastened to explain as the blonde sat down on the table.

"There always is. That's why I sent you, so I won't have to waste my time," Rosalie threw over her shoulder without looking back and Bella knew she was dismissed. She trudged back to class, her stomach growling as she had missed her whole lunch period.

This pattern continued all month long. Bella would go out to wait on line for Rosalie's food thus missing her own lunch period. She began to make her own lunches so that she could at least eat something while she waited on line. Bella's friends had begun to notice her absences and became worried for her. But she hadn't actually thought anyone would know the real reason as to why she was missing lunch until Jessica blurted it out. Bella should have known the blonde would know. After all, she made it her business to stick her nose into other people's business.

Bella felt a surge of protective anger at her Jessica's words. "That's not true! I'm just working on a private side project!" she sputtered out this excuse, not wanting her friends to think her weak for being bullied, or for being used by someone else.

"Bella-!" Eric started but the girl had slammed her tray down in her anger and then gotten up, taking her stuff with her.

She didn't want her friends to know. Besides, it was only getting lunch for Rosalie and nothing else. She could deal with that even if it was for the next three years, because it would mean her secret was safe.

And speaking of Rosalie...the girl had just texted her. Bella pulled out the phone from her pocket after it stopped vibrating.

I've got detention this Friday afternoon. So you know what that means, you're going to go get detention too because I am not sitting in there by myself.

Bella let out a strangled sigh, her eyes opening wide in shock and disbelief.

So much for only getting her lunch...

She should have seen this coming.

A/N: So I think I've got some of the plot figured out. Hopefully I'll be able to figure it out fully by the next update.