Chapter Three: Early Morning Bells
Bella
"Good morning, Da–" Why is Jasper Hale sitting at my kitchen table? Before 7 AM? "Dad. Uh, and Jasper?"
"Good morning, Bella," the latter says, his chipper tone matching the smile on his face.
And not matching the look on my dads. Or the sound of his. "Bells."
"What's going on?" I ask, annoyed that I seem to be in trouble merely because I woke up today. And because Jasper did and decided to bring his awake self to my house.
"Jasper here thinks you need a ride to school."
Well, that's not exactly untrue…
"And has offered his services. And his sports car."
"Oh. Well, um…" Yeah, I have no idea what to say to that. So I let my dad say it for me, whatever it is that I should. By asking him questions. "Was that a helpful offer? For you, I mean? Since you would have to take me if he didn't?"
"Normally I would say NO. But on this particular morning..." he pauses. And growls? Yikes… "It just so happens to be."
And "Oh," I repeat. But before I can add my 'okay', he starts talking again. Or asking his own question, I should say. "Didn't you make any girl friends on your first day?"
And now it's Jasper who speaks before I can. "If I may, sir, she did. Rosalie Cullen, for one. You probably know her father? Dr. Carlisle Cullen? Well, anyway, she's a friend of mine, too, as well as being one of Bella's new, and she suggested to me that I should offer Bella a ride. So that you didn't have to take time out of your busy morning, and since I practically drive right by here every single morning, at the proper speed limit, of course, sports car or not, on my way to school…"
Never before have I wished for a pair of red, sparkly shoes.
But I'm wishing for them now. Because there's no place like home. Which is where I want to be instead of here in my new watching Don't bullshit me, boy steam come out of my dad's ears.
Which Jasper sees too. "...Which she would have offered herself if she didn't have an important errand to run for her mother, who is sadly feeling under the weather this morning."
"You know anything about my house getting TP'd last Halloween?" my dad asks him, instead of responding to anything he said.
"No, sir. Absolutely not," he answers quickly, and with just the right amount of disgust on his face at hearing that such an offense was committed against this house, especially. "But you might want to keep an eye on Mike Newton. I'd bet the title to my car that he's your guy."
I try not to laugh at Mike being thrown under the opportunity bus, and even decide to get behind the wheel and drive over him. "Mike Newton? Is that the creepy guy that was bothering me yesterday?"
"Bothering you?"
I think my dad just gave himself whiplash.
"Yes, Bella," Jasper says to me, before he turns back to my dad. "But don't worry, sir. I took care of that. He won't be bothering her again."
My dad looks to me for confirmation, and I give it gladly. Because I've decided that I like that Jasper Hale is in my kitchen. "He did. And that was at lunch, and creepy Mike didn't bother me for the rest of the day."
"Well, that's good, then. No creepy boys bothering you…"
"Definitely, Dad. But being late for school on my second day wouldn't be. So, uh, not to rush you or anything, but have you decided how I'm getting there?"
He answers my question by asking Jasper another of his own. "That car of yours has seat belts, doesn't it?"
"Yes, sir. Of course."
"That work?"
"Yes, sir. Perfectly."
"Well, alright then. Now get out of here. You have just enough time to do the speed limit and still get there on time."
We rush through the house and out the door without another word. And before he can change his mind. And, unlike yesterday, my first, I'm actually looking forward to the school day. Because in less than a single, I feel like I fit somewhere. Thanks to a couple of cute boys and one not.
And my dad… who didn't tell me I couldn't.
~ DtT ~
Edward
Well, Jasper certainly didn't waste any time. And I know that because as soon as I pull my car into the lot at school, I see him and Bella climbing out of his. A sight that bothers me for more reasons than one.
Bella doesn't look right climbing out of a car like that. It's too flashy. And too showy. Too 'Look at me!'. And that's not her. I may have only seen her and met her for the first time yesterday, but I know that. And that Jasper's all wrong for her, too.
He knows how to act like the 'right' kind of guy, flashy car or not… but it's all, like that car, for show. And most people don't know him well enough to know that. Most people, who don't include me. Because I, along with Emmett, know him better than anyone. Know the true him.
And the him that's without a doubt behind his 'waste no time' plans for Bella.
Rose badmouthed me to her the first chance she got, to protect her, she thought. But doing the opposite with Jasper was just as bad for Bella as she thought I would be. If not worse.
Though from that first moment I saw her I wasn't seeing her the way I saw other girls, I've never seen any girl, or made them see me, under or behind any kind of cover. I don't play games. And, despite what my sister thinks, I don't force anyone to unsuspectingly play any with me.
I'm who and what I am. What you see and hear–from me–is what you get. I don't pretend to be anything I'm not. Or promise to give. And, with girls, I don't have to to get anything.
I'm not a 'boyfriend' kind of guy. I don't do flowers or candy or poems, or 'Meet the parents'. I don't walk girls to their doors or open the door of my car for them. I don't carry their backpacks or books or lunch trays, and I don't give them my jacket because they're cold because they didn't wear one because it didn't match their 'Look at me!' outfit.
The kind of outfit that Bella–a girl I suddenly and shockingly know I would do all of those things and more for if given the chance–would never wear. Because she's not a 'Look at me!' kind of girl.
She's just a girl that no one can help looking at. Because she's not.
That's my reason, anyway.
~ DtT ~
"Thanks for not leaving me partnerless today."
I wouldn't have left you partnerless yesterday if I had known you existed, Bella. "Hi. And yeah, sorry about that. It won't happen again, I promise."
That's as much conversation as I get to have with Bella before the bell rings and Mr. Molina starts class. He's all business today and I hate him for it. I'm pretty sure Rose already ruined my chances with Bella, and Jasper is at every opportunity furiously pounding the nails in my proverbial coffin, but I still had hope that I could do or say something to change that. Especially after the way I saw her look at me when I walked into the classroom. Before she told herself to stop looking at me any way but in a 'We're biology lab partners' way.
Which is the only way she does, or talks to me, for the rest of the hour.
~ DtT ~
Bella
I just woke from the strangest dream ever. I was with Edward Cullen in a meadow, and he was looking at me like…
And it was a dream, Bella. A strange, pointless, means nothing DREAM.
That I woke up from because there was a commotion outside of my bedroom window. A loud, rumbling commotion. That is all that I'm going to give any of my just woken attention to.
What the hell is going on out there? It's six o'clock in the morning!
I rush to the window to see what that commotion is about, and see my dad, and Jacob Black, who I haven't seen since I was eleven, and Jasper? standing next to the source of the rumbling. A very old, once-red pickup truck sitting, rumbling away in our driveway.
Maybe it's Jacob's? But, even if it is, why is he here with it so early? And with Jasper? And why does my dad look so happy that he is?
Ugh. Too many questions! I haven't even brushed my teeth yet!
So I grab my clothes and head to the bathroom, secretly hoping that one of the neighbors makes a complaint about the early morning noise. And that there won't be any by the time I get out of the shower.
How does a noise complaint get handled anyway, when the noise is coming from the police chief's driveway? I guess I'll find out soon. Unless no one would have the guts to make such a complaint about their police chief neighbor?
Hmmm… I should call myself. Because strange, pointless, and nothing meaning or not…
I really was enjoying my dream.
~ DtT ~
Things are no quieter when I come out of the bathroom. And, when I come down the stairs and go straight to look out the living room window, I see that our visitors are still here, and paying some sort of homage to the noise.
The hood is up on the big rumbling beast, and my dad, Jacob, and Jasper are all bent over looking under it. And touching things under it. And if I wasn't annoyed, I might be touched by the sight of their male bonding.
Yeah, maybe another time. Because at this I want my Frosted Flakes.
And I no sooner get them poured into the bowl when I hear the front door open and my dad call out "Good, you're up! Come outside!"
"The whole neighborhood is probably up!" I return, and pour the milk over my favorite cereal as I add, more quietly because he's in the kitchen now, "But apparently too afraid of you to complain about why they are. Which, you know, is the same reason I am."
He ignores my jibe, or maybe doesn't get it, and picks up my coat from the back of the kitchen chair. "Put this on, we're going outside."
"But I just poured the milk," I say, because surely that's all I need to.
Or not. Because he wraps my coat around me and then reaches for my bowl.
"Never try to take Frosted Flakes from a hungry, cranky teenager! Do you want to lose an arm, Dad?"
He raises both of his in surrender, and looks at me like I've just grown a second head right before his eyes. "I just want to show you something, kiddo. I was excited for you to see it, that's all."
Excited? My dad?
My dad doesn't get excited about anything. Unless the fish are really biting, or the Mariners are winning, and both are happening when he's got a beer in his hand or in front of him. And it's too early for any of that…
"Okay. I'll go see what you want to show me. What you're excited to. But the Frosted Flakes come with."
"Sounds like a fair compromise to me."
A fair, yes, but not a smart. Because when I follow him through the front door and down our front steps while trying to eat my Frosted Flakes at the same time…
I slip and fall flat on my ass.
Jacob is laughing his off, after proclaiming "That's the Bella I remember!", and my dad and Jasper are both scrambling to help me up, with their in stereo "Are you alright?"s, but my mind is on one thing and one thing only. "I didn't spill any!"
"You're a weird kid," my dad says to that, and then, after not in any way subtly removing Jasper's hand from my arm, slaps his hand on the now-closed hood of the big red beast. "So, what do you think?"
"I think it's loud," I say, and take another bite of my sugary morning sanity.
"It is a little, I guess," he says, nodding his head, "But besides that, what do you think?"
I'm not sure why, but I am pretty sure that the truck is what he was excited about, so I take a slow walk around it (with his hand on my arm, making sure I don't fall again, I'm sure) before I answer him. "Well, besides that, I think it's cool. It has character."
His face literally lights up before my eyes and he smiles bigger than I've ever seen him. "Good, because it's yours. I bought it from Billy yesterday."
"What? Mine? That's…" is as much as I get out before I shove my bowl at him and fling open the door of my big, beautiful, rumbling gift of freedom and climb in.
And I'm so happy that I don't even care when Jake takes the bowl from him and starts eating my flakes.
Or when my dad says "Now you don't need a ride from anyone."
Which shines a sudden and bright light on his excitement.
And Jasper's just as sudden and bright not.
~ DtT ~
Edward
I'm just climbing out of my car when I see Jasper pull into the school parking lot alone.
And that alone would have been enough to make me smile this morning, but what I see–and hear–a minute later is what really does. Because what I see and hear is Bella pulling in. By herself. And in an old Chevy truck, that though isn't, like its driver, the prettiest thing I've ever seen, is definitely more her than his flashy, new sports car.
Because, even though you couldn't not see or hear it coming…
It does so in a quiet, unassuming way. And an unpretentious. An 'I'm just me.'
Like its beautiful driver who climbs out of it with a beautiful and proud smile on her face, despite all of the snickering that must be filling her ears because it's filling mine.
Snickering that tells me, because Jasper's silent joining in on is all over his face, that he's definitely the wrong guy for her.
And something else I already know, though admit I don't understand…
"That's a fine automobile, Bella."
"Thank you, Edward."
That I'm not.
