Disclaimer: Twilight does not belong to me, it belong to Stephanie Meyer. Itazura na kiss does not belong to me either, it belongs to Kaoru Tada.
A/N: Please bear with me when I say that the characters are different. Not many of you might be familiar with a fragile and childish Bella, but you might grow to like her if you give her a chance =]. Remember that Reviews are love!
NOTICE: I will be changing the fic to M instead of T—that's just because of some rather colorful words that will be incorporated as the fic moves on.
So, uh, I wanted to apologize to any of you who got fake new chapter alerts on Sunday. FF was being a little bee-otch after I sat down all day and finished this ultra extra super amazingly looooong chapter and wouldn't let me upload. It's almost 10 pages long!
BTW, did any of you go through the same thing? Don't you hate it when fanfiction spoils the delights of your hard work?
VERY IMPORTANT: I have a new story idea, but I don't know if I should put it on FF or just write it independently from Twilight. This is a rough summary:
*Early 1700 hundreds* Edward Cullen follows his father out to India on a business voyage for the British crown. There he meets Bella, Indian Princess and future betrothed to the Crown Prince of India. The attraction between them is undeniable, but so is the impossibility of their romance. Will Edward and Bella fight against the world for their love, or will the responsibilities and dangers of a secret affair beat them out?
It's bound to be very epic, very big, and very sweet. Would anyone be interested in reading it?
Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! I know this chapter took a lot more than promised, but school has been brutal. Oh well—That's what happens when you're a senior IB student...*shrug*
Bella's feet ached as she walked home. She had been walking for a solid forty-five minutes, and had another good fifteen to go.
She would've cached her bus if it wasn't for that stupid letter. The shock and heartbreak tore through Bella for a good ten minutes in which she sat on the floor with an absent look on her face. By that time, all the buses were long gone, hers included.
It's not like Bella minded walking—she actually preferred walking to calling her dad. Bella shuddered at the thought. Charlie would come, in his cruiser, asking too many questions on why she missed the bus. No, it was better to walk. That way, she would be too tired to think about anything at bedtime. She tried to ignore the little tears that streamed down her face. It's only a boy. It's only a boy. It's only a boy! She kept chanting in her head, wishing she never said anything to Edward at all.
Bella was upset with herself. She had had a crush on Edward Cullen for almost three years straight now. She felt embarrassed and ashamed of her attitude. Her friends thought it was cute; a cute school-girl crush on the best guy in school...but Bella was more ashamed than she let on. It's not like she could control it, though. She had tried year after year to will Edward out of her mind...but he was like a giant stone that wouldn't budge from her heart.
Bella thought about going home and smiled. Bella and Charlie had just bought a new house. It wasn't too big or fancy, but it was big enough-and it was brand new. Bella cheered up a little at the thought that she would be seeing her friends later for a little housewarming party they were throwing. It wasn't really a party, just Rose and Alice. But Charlie insisted in calling it a 'party'.
After about 10 more minutes of walking, Bella finally made it to her new house. It was a cozy-sized white house with big windows. Bella put the shiny new key through the door entered the house. It was a wreck. There were boxes all over the floor, furniture placed in odd places, and there was a lingering smell of paint all over the house. It wasn't very welcoming, but it would do while Bella and her father got settled.
Dropping her backpack by the door, Bella walked over slowly to one of the kitchen stools and sat down, wincing as a fiery lick of pain ran up her leg. She would be sore for a while...but the pain distracted her a bit. Suddenly, her phone lit up and chirped. She pulled it from the pocket of her jeans and looked at the new text message.
Call me, NOW.
-Alice
Bella sighed and called Alice, who picked up on the first ring.
"Bella? Bella, are you okay?" Alice asked, sounding a bit panicked.
"I'm fine." Bella replied absentmindedly, trying not to think about what she was really saying.
"I can't believe that Edward Cullen!" Alice ranted. It took a couple of seconds before Bella caught on.
"Wait—what? Alice, what are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the fact that Edward behaved like a total jerk when he replied to your letter!" Bella's stomach dropped to her knees.
"How do you know that?" Bella asked frantically, clutching at her cell phone. There was silence on the other side of the phone.
"Oh my God, Bella. Didn't you know? It's all over the place...I thought you knew." Bella closed her eyes deeply for a few minutes and tried to ignore the fact that she was now in the school headlines.
"Bella? I'm on my way to your house, okay? See you in a bit." The line suddenly went dead. Bella really wanted to give up. She felt incredibly stupid (more stupid than she already was) for even liking Edward Cullen in the first place.
Bella didn't know what to do. She didn't want to cry...she wouldn't cry. But things had gone horribly bad in a couple of hours. How could they possibly get any worse?
Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. Bella shuffled over to the door, looking through the peephole to find Alice and Rose standing in front of the door, Alice's Porsche parked haphazardly across the driveway. Bella opened the door and made her way toward the kitchen, hearing her friends walking in and shutting the door behind them. She settled in the stool she had been sitting in before and turned to look at Rose and Alice expectantly. They both gave her a hug.
"I'm sorry Bella...I thought you knew." Said Alice, looking as sad as Bella felt. Bella shrugged—she couldn't let the sadness get to her.
"I guess I won't have anything to hide now." I'll just have to face all the rumors.
"I think it was Jessica and Lauren. They must have seen your letter." Said Rose, flipping her hair over her shoulder and looking every inch the mama bear she was.
"Just forget about it," Whispered Bella, trying to pull herself together and forget that jerk Edward Cullen as fast as possible. "He's not worth it."
"You're right Bella," Said Alice, placing her hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner with a determined look on her face. "Now you can forget all about that asshole."
Bella blinked. She's never heard Alice curse so casually. It was actually kinda funny. Cute little Alice with her childish features cursing like a sailor—Bella started laughing, really laughing. Rose and Alice stared at her for a couple of minutes before laughing with her too.
Rose and Alice kept Bella company throughout the evening. Charlie walked through the door shortly after dinner had finished. Alice and Rose decided to stay for dinner and celebrate the completion of the new Swan residence.
Dinner was a quiet affair. Charlie asked about school while Rose and Alice answered all his questions politely. Bella remained quiet and subdued for most of the evening—something which Charlie picked up on but decided not to bring up in front of her friends. After dinner, Charlie offered to clean up the dishes while Bella, Rose, and Alice all went to hang out in Bella's new room.
After what had happened with Edward Cullen, Rose and Alice were at a loss. They wanted Bella to forget about him, but they also wanted to make sure she got everything off her chest. So they settled for helping Bella unpack, working quietly and silently offering their support should Bella change her mind and wanted to talk.
Around an hour after dinner, Bella had most of her boxes emptied out. Her room looked messy, but it would have to do for now. They all sat down by the foot of Bella's bed to munch on some popcorn and drink some soda.
"Hey, what's that noise?" Asked Alice, looking around and cocking her head, as if she was perking up an ear. Bella tried to hear for anything out of the ordinary, and she caught a slight rattle in the distance. She gazed down to look at her drink and froze. Her soda was shaking, nearly spilling out of her glass.
Before she had a chance to point anything out, the house started shaking violently. With a shriek, Bella tried to stand up before she was sent back to the floor by a particularly strong lurch. With unsteady ground, she scampered up unto her legs and threw herself underneath the door frame—Alice and Rosalie doing to same.
"Bella, it's not going to work!" Said Alice fervently, pointing at the wall across the room. She was right. There were multiple cracks in the wall. Some looked like hairline fractures, others were deep—separating the wall completely.
"The house isn't safe, Bella. We have to get out!" Shouted Rosalie, grabbing Bella and Alice by their arms and fighting their way down the stairs as quick as possible. The second they reached to bottom of the stairs, they heard Bella's room collapse, sending a cloud of debris billowing down the stairs. Charlie could be heart shouting in the distance—but they couldn't make out what he was saying.
The three finally made it to the door without tumbling unto the floor, clinging to each other for support. They watched to house lurch violently for a couple of long seconds before it folded in on itself like a house of cards, crumbling to the floor and bursting with chips of construction materials. The cloud lingered over the house for long seconds before floating away into the chilly night air.
"Bella!" It was Charlie. The girls could hear him getting closer, though they couldn't see him through the cloud of debris.
"Dad, I'm over here!" They found each other quickly and were soon embracing each other. Although Charlie was never really emotional, she wouldn't know what to do if she ever lost him. Charlie clung to his daughter before stepping back and doing a once-over, checking for any injuries. Surprisingly she only had a cut on her forehead. It would need stitches, but for Bella, a cut after an earthquake was an achievement. Before they realized what was going on, the area was surrounded by emergency responders. Sirens were ringing everywhere and lights were flashing as far the eye could see.
For Bella, the experience was surreal. She sat on the curb as people ran past her in all directions. Alice and Rose sat next to her quietly, also very shocked. The earthquake had been a nasty experience for everyone. After about an hour or people swarming by the area, Charlie took Bella out of her stupor by calling her out.
"Bella, could you come here?" Bella snapped up to look at Charlie and shuffled over to him, avoiding chunks of wood and plaster in he way. Charlie gently grabbed her by her shoulder and pulled her aside, behind a large pile of debris that had been piled up.
"Dad, what's wrong?" The astonished look on Charlie's face didn't suggest anything good. He took a deep breath and motioned for Bella to look around them.
"Take a look around Bella. Our house was the only house that collapsed. The earthquake was only a damn 3.2 tremor! The contractor built the house wrong!" Charlie's face was an uncanny shade of puce. Bella was speechless. Faulty buildings only happened in movies, right? Charlie took Bella silence as an opportunity to continue talking.
"Those lazy-ass constructors were trying to rip us off. They thought no one would notice if they ordered cheap materials but charged us for the expensive ones. Well, we almost died because of their faulty actions. And trust me Bella, they are going to pay for it."
Bella had never seen Charlie so angry. It was actually kind of frightening. After Charlie talked to Bella, he didn't hover much, and instead searched through the rubble to try to find anything useful, but most of their belonging were deep underneath the rubble and wouldn't be recovered until a machine came to do the heavy-lifting. That night Bella slept over at Alice's house while Charlie rented out a motel room. The Brandons were nice, but after what happened, she still felt as if she was in a surreal situation.
The next morning was a little better, until she got to school. Bella had to borrow Alice's uniform, as hers had disappeared with the rest of her belongings. Alice's uniform was a bit too short on her, the skirt several inches above her knees, but she didn't have much of a choice. Alice drove them to school in her Porsche (Bella had to admit, that part of her morning was nice) and they met Rose for first period. So far, so good.
That was until she saw Edward Cullen. Suddenly, the sadness she felt last night came rushing back to her, and so did the bad memories of the quake. Edward Cullen was lingering outside of his classroom with a couple of his buddies from Class B, where Rose was. Bella ran into her classroom and sat in the first seat she found—one that was practically next to the door. Alice sat in the desk next to hers and rubbed her shoulder soothingly, with a concerned look on her face. Not that it mattered, because Edward was completely unfazed by Bella. It was as if he didn't even know her. He joked around with his friends a little longer before the warning bell rang, sending students scurrying into their classrooms.
Bella couldn't help but feel a little deflated. She was looking forward to a look, a sneer, a snide comment, or anything, from Edward. But she knew that Edward didn't act rudely in public—after all, he was a role model for school conduct and academic achievement. However, after all she went through, she found she still craved his attention. She should feel angry and disgusted with herself, because Edward Cullen didn't have anything nice to give her—but she still wanted some attention from him. With a sigh, Bella tried to pay attention to the lesson and tried to take notes—although she's probably lose them anyway.
By lunch time, Bella had gotten used to her day. There had been a special of the earthquake on the news, and of course everything focused on Bella's house, so now she was double the talk out in the halls. Everyone looked at her with pity but in a condescending manner. It was driving Bella crazy with irritation.
During free period, Bella had decided that enough was enough. She had agreed to meet with Rosalie and Alice in the library, as the school counselor had pulled her out of class to help her get some stuff "off her chest". After answering all the questions in a mild manner and being deemed sane by the counselor, she set off on her way to the library on the other side of the school.
On her way there, she saw a small group of people gathered together. Wanting to know what all the fuss was about, she made her way closer and froze. There was a giant white sign that read:
Help Bella Swan
Donate Money Today!
The sign was being held up by none other than Lauren Mallory and Jessica Stanley. There was no doubt in Bella's mind that they were doing all of this to piss Bella off and to make her look bad. Lucky for Bella, they were too preoccupied babbling to the crowd to notice that Bella had zeroed in on them.
Stalking towards them with a determination she didn't know she possessed, she walked right in front of them and snatched the stupid sign out of their cheesy manicured hands. They had the nerve to pretend looking concerned.
"Bella, dear, what's wrong? We're just trying to help." Lauren asked, reaching an arm around Bella, who shrugged away from them.
"I don't need your help." Bella ground out, looking at them darkly. Jessica suddenly looked over Bella's shoulder and her eyes lit up.
"Edward! Hey Edward, over here!" Bella whipped around to see Edward making his way through his a couple of his friends and felt fer face heat up. She decided on keeping her mouth shut, as speaking in front of Edward would probably make her look dumber than she already was.
"Edward, you should give some money to Bella—after all, you were really mean in that letter you gave her back." Both Jessica and Lauren snorted and started giggling. Other people around them were laughing too. Edward's green eyes eyes settled on Bella and he gave her a once over, his eyes lingering on the exposed flesh near her skirt.
"Oh, you're Bella?" He sounded surprised. Bella tried to act unemotional and nodded stiffly. He stopped looking at Bella and turned to Lauren and Jessica. "I just have to give some money, right? It's all over?" Since the earthquake last night, people thought that Edward had some sort of obligation to Bella. Apparently he was tired of being associated with her. Bella tried to keep the hurt look from her eyes as Jessica and Lauren nodded excitedly.
Edward walked closer towards them his masculine scent invading Bella's nostrils before she had time to think. Digging for his wallet, he produced a plain leather wallet and dug out some money. Suddenly a collective gasp came from everyone around. While everyone had chucked a quarter or two into the bucket at Lauren's feet, Edward had two hundred-dollar bills in his hand. Two-hundred dollars! He walked past Bella to the bucket full of coins.
"Wait." Bella stalked over to Edward's tall lean frame and snatched the bills out of the bucket, leaving Lauren and Jessica reaching for the money.
"I can't accept this money, you should take it back." It wasn't in Bella's nature to accept money from others, especially two hundred dollars. However, Edward wouldn't take the money back.
"Bella, it would be better for both of us if you did. I hate when people say I'm obligated to you." Apparently he wasn't holding back. "I don't like stupid girls." Bella's jaw almost hit the floor, and so did everyone else. Bella responded in the first form her body could think of—she threw the money in his face.
"You think that just because you're smart, you can go around looking down on other people? Well, you're wrong! It doesn't matter if you're smart..." Bella's voice wavered at the end, full of emotion. "...when you're a monster on the inside." Edward's head snapped back as if he had been slapped in the face, and there was an eery silence in the crowd. Bella turned on her heel and walked back inside the school. Before she could get very far, however, the world started spinning quickly before fading from her altogether.
When Bella woke up, she quickly realized she was in the hospital. Huh? What happened? She took a moment to feel out her sore body and realized she was hooked up to an IV. Carefully standing up, she gently picked up the sac of IV fluids sitting next to her and cradled it to her chest. Years of accidents had thought her how to move around even while hooked up to an IV. She shuffled over to the door and pulled it open carefully, poking her head out into the hallway. Apparently she'd been out for a while, as all the lights in the hospital were out like they usually were in the evening. Looking around carefully, she suddenly saw Charlie near the end of the hall. He was talking to a tall man with light hair and a crisp black suit. Because he was facing Charlie, Bella couldn't see the man's face. After a couple of minutes, Charlie and the man's conversation came to an end and they both shook hands. Charlie noticed Bella staring and shook his head at her, walking over quickly and coming into Bella's room. Now that she looked at him, he looked a bit angry. He helped Bella to her bed before glaring at her.
"What were you thinking, Bella?" Suddenly, Bella's mean confrontation with Edward came to mind. Oh god. Did he find out? How?
"What are you talking about, Dad?" Bella asked nervously, cautiously avoiding Charlie's gaze.
"I'm talking about the fact you didn't get that cut on your forehead stitched up. You were getting an infection because it was too deep and it wasn't healing fast enough." Charlie scolded, while Bella breathed a sigh of relief. So that's what it was about. Bella apologized and kissed up to Charlie a little so he could cool off.
"So, who was that guy you were talking to?" Bella asked casually, munching on some chips Charlie had gotten off the vending machine.
"He's a lawyer who offered to help us. I wasn't kidding when I said that contractor was gonna get it. I have every intention of suing every dime off of them and throwing them in jail for a long, long time." Bella thought back to what her Dad said a day ago.
"But I thought we had no money for a lawyer." Charlie shook his head.
"We don't. He offered to help us free of charge. And he also offered to let us stay at his place while we get on our feet. Let me tell you something Bella, this lawyer has a good house with enough room for both of us."
"That was nice of him." Bella said blandly. Charlie smiled and nodded in agreement.
As it turned out, Bella had been discharged shortly and they were soon on their way to the lawyer's home. Bella felt a little weak, but the IV was working its stuff and she was starting to feel better. Bella and Charlie drove for about 20 minutes before they pulled up to a large mansion in the upscale side of town.
"Whoa," Bella breathed, while Charlie jumped out of the car and grabbed a large box with the majority of their recovered possessions. The house was absolutely huge. It was at least three stories high, made in a very sophisticated manner that exposed large panels of glass and beams steel.
Bella slowly scampered out of the car and grabbed the remainder of the things in the trunk, which consisted of her backpack and a small bag with a fresh change of uniform that Alice had lent Bella. Bella heard someone make their way from inside the gates and heard a smooth voice call out to her.
"Need some help?" She smiled and turned to the helpful person, before shrieking and dropping her belongings. It was Edward Cullen. Edward Freaking Cullen, wearing a white t-shirt and some gray sweat pants that hung off his hips.
"No way. What are you doing here?" Bella gasped, looking at Edward as if he was a grim reaper coming for her. Edward's eyes narrowed as he collected her stuff from the floor and walked inside the gates.
He looked back at her and finally answered her question.
"This is my house. The lawyer who unfortunately offered to help you happens to be my father. Now, are you going to stand there all day?" He smirked, before turning again and strutting through the walkway that led to his house.
Bella tried hard not to have a panic attack. No. No freaking way. There was no way she was going to be forced to live with the person she had been trying to avoid. But there was no way around it.
She was living with Edward Cullen.
