Disclaimer: I'm not Stephenie Meyer
Bella woke, startled, that she'd had a dream like that. She looked at the clock, which read 6:35, and gathered her toiletries. She locked the door of the bathroom and took her shower-using her usual Rose Petal shampoo and conditioner-she'd gotten tired of the strawberry kind so opted for the rose scented one. She was out of the shower in ten minutes and quickly dressed in her Disturbed tee and her favorite hip-huggers. She put on her red and black vans and was ready to go-only to find that her Monte wouldn't start. She swore loudly and walked back into the house. This time Jasper and the twins were up, Emmett nowhere to be seen. "Jazz, can I get a ride?" she asked, taking a cup from the cupboard and filling it with coffee.
"Sure. No pr-problem." he yawned, following her actions and drinking his coffee. "When do you want to leave?"
"Anytime. I have to meet Rose and Alice in the abandoned science lab at lunch, so I'm not going to be sitting with you guys today, 'kay?" she looked at her brothers, waiting for one of them to object. She figured that Emmett, at least, would try and stay with her at all times.
"Whatever. Let's go." he said, picking up his keys. He'd prized the Camero since their parents had gotten it for him. She put her bag in the back seat and climbed in the front. She was ready to go when she saw Jasper walking out, talking to someone. He was laughing-for once-and that was how Bella knew it was a girl.
She waited 'til he hung up the phone to ask him, "Who was that?" she was smiling.
"None of your business..." he replied, driving to the school. Bella noticed that he was blushing. She smiled to herself, thinking that it was about time that Jasper got a girlfriend. Most of the guys at school made fun of him because he decided not to date the sluts of the school-Lauren and Jessica. Emmett always put the jocks in their place when they made fun of Jasper, but he couldn't control what the teachers said behind closed doors. Everyone knew that the school was completely anti-homosexual, but they couldn't keep the homosexual students out, or harass them. They dealt with it, mostly by being unfair to the students. None of the Swan kids wanted to attend the school, but they had to since it was the only private school there and Renee and Charlie didn't want them to attend a public school.
Unlike normal private schools, this one didn't have a fixed uniform. You had to wear t-shirts and jeans, no shirts or tank tops, and tennis shoes of some sort. Some days, like the day that Bella wore her black dress, that was low cut, and really short, that had the red trim on the collar and hem, the dean allowed you to dress up. You had to have special permission from the dean himself to wear the item, though. Bella had wanted to piss off her brothers as badly as possible that day so she'd gotten the permission from the dean the week before and wore the item to school. There was no censoring of the language on the clothing there, because if there was vulgar language you were kicked out of it. "I have no clue how Lauren Mallory and Jessica Stanley got accepted into Forks Prep. They're so...I don't know..." Bella trailed off, at a loss for words.
"Trashy." Jasper finished, laughing at Bella. "They got in because their parents donated half the library and a new wing to the school when it was first being built. The dean had to admit those to, not that he wanted to."
"How do you know these things?" she asked him, grabbing her bag as Eric slid in the back seat. Jasper usually gave Eric a ride to school since his mom had taken away his car. Bella greeted Eric and turned to her brother.
They both had the chocolate brown color that their mother had given them, but blue eyes. They had been told that when they were little they'd had really blond hair. They looked almost alike, but they had different facial features. Bella had taken after Renee and Jasper had taken after Charlie. Bella was on the short side, while Jasper was almost taller than Emmett. Bella was soft-hearted, and helpful, while Jasper was quite, and stayed to himself. They weren't too different. They liked some of the same bands and television shows-though none of the Swan kids watched much television. They each had a show on a certain day that they would watch every week, then not pay attention to the television until the next episode was on.
"It pays to work in the office and library sometimes. I hear gossip every day in there. You should try it." he replied, pulling into a parking space. "Now, get out before I push you out." he laughed, grabbing his bag. He watched as she walked away, laughing, and Eric stumble out of the back seat.
"C'mon man! When are you gonna let me have a chance at her?" Eric asked, closing the door.
"How about...NEVER!" Jasper laughed, turning on the alarm to the car. "She's my sister dude. I'm not going to let you go out with her...especially since she's just broken up with this other guy."
"Who would want to break up with her? She's smokin' hot!" Eric said, walking with Jasper to his class.
"Well...it was that photographer...uh, Dakota something. It was a weird last name, but he dumped her when me an Em told him to stay away from her. Said she was too...immature for him." Jasper said, grasping his bag so hard that his knuckles turned white.
"What an ass. You should'a called me so I could've consoled her! AGH! You don't want me to ever have a girlfriend do you?" Eric yelled, causing the students in the schoolyard to look at them.
"Thanks, Yorkie. Give the jerk offs another reason to think I'm gay." Jasper said, anger seeping into his voice. "Find your own ride home. I'm tired of you trying to hook up with my sister." Jasper pushed Eric away from him and ran to his first class-Math.
Bella watched Jasper walk to Math, which she had also. She followed him and saw that the classroom was empty, except for him, of course. She sat beside him and gave him a hug. "Thanks Jazz, for defending me. If you want, I'll ask Alice if she likes you. I know you have a crush on her. Okay?" she asked, rubbing his back.
"Really?" he asked, looking up. "Sure...thanks Bells." he smiled, just in time for the biggest jock of the school-Ben-(I know! Lol, how funny!)walk into the room. Ben had made fun of Jasper and Bella since kindergarten.
"If it ain't the incest twins." he said, standing in their way. "Going to go home and make retard babies?" his friends, who were hiding in behind Ben, laughed.
"Get the hell away from us Cheney." Bella said, standing up.
"Why, so you and you're emo brother can do it in the classroom? Nasty. Maybe I should tell Mr. Varner about this thing going on between you two...unless you go out with me." he directed the last statement toward Bella. She made a gagging sound and Jasper laughed. "What are you laughing at fag? You can't get anyone to date you except your slut of a sister." Jasper sat back, shocked that Ben dared insult him, and Bella.
"Take it back, Cheney." Emmett said, stepping into the doorway. "Or I'll make you." Emmett was easily the biggest guy at school, and Ben was the second biggest, but he didn't come close to Emmett's strength.
"Why? I'm only stating the truth. Your brother, here, is a fag, and your sister is a whore. Why else would my step-brother go out with her." upon seeing the puzzled looks on their faces, he laughed. "My step-brother is Dakota Fyre. You're bitch of a sis-" he didn't get any farther.
Emmett lunged at him, taking him to the ground, and Jasper started hitting him as hard as he could. With their combined strength, they were able to knock him out, but didn't see Ben's friend going toward Bella. That was when she started hitting them, using her karate training to keep them away. She was not as strong as them but held them off until Jake and Josh arrived. "Ready bro?" Josh asked, taking out a sling shot.
"Ready." Jake replied. They loaded water balloons onto the sling shot and made the guys going after Bella move back. "Bells. Go get the dean." Jake started to run out of balloons and brought out his favorite of all weapons-his skateboard. He put it on the ground and started skating around the jocks and started using the last of his water balloons from the rear. They finally got the jocks herded into a small corner when the dean walked in.
"What's going on here?" he asked the boys, who were keeping the jocks in the corner with water balloons in their hands and Emmett and Jasper, who'd walked away from Ben's whining body.
"You see sir," Josh started...
"These guys tried to hurt our sister..." Jake finished. Dean Simms looked at the twins, in awe at how they could finish each others' sentences.
"How do you know that? How do I know if you guys started this fight, or they did?" he asked. It was a logical decision, but everyone in the room had chosen sides.
"Security tapes." Emmett said, sitting across from Bella and Jasper. He'd always taken his siblings' sides, because they were family and nobody got any closer than that.
"Fine." the dean said, beckoning for security guards. They brought the tapes to the dean and he watched them. "It seems that Ben, you started this fight between yourself, your friends, and the Swan family. I'm sorry but I'm going to have to suspend you. Jake, Josh you two used balloons and a skateboard in this facility. Both are prohibited and named as weapons. I'm sorry, but you both are expelled from the school. Jasper, you, of course, have the right to press harassment charges on Ben and the others-if you choose. Bella you also have that right. However I'm going to have to expel you Jasper, and Emmett, for physical violence on Ben. He too has the right to press charges. The only one out of it all that can continue going to this school is Bella. You four have the rest of the day to get your books returned and to say your farewells to your friends. Good day." The Swans stood there, shocked that they'd been kicked out.
Bella knew that she was going to leave, if her brothers had to leave she didn't want to stay without them. She pulled Rose and Alice aside and told them what happened. They continued on to their classes, breezing through Math, History, Gym, and French. They met at the science lab and started talking. "Okay, first of all, Alice. Do you like Jasper? It seems that he needs someone to talk to besides us and he really likes you." Bella started.
"Yeah. Didn't he tell you?" Bella shook her head and Alice continued, "I just talked to him this morning. He asked me to go on a date with him on Saturday. I agreed."
"Oh. I see. Okay then. Next, my brothers got expelled for defending me and Jasper when Ben only got suspended. I'm the only one that didn't but I'm going to leave here anyway. I hate this school." Bella continued.
"Bella...you can't leave us. If you do, then who'll we talk to every lunch?" Rose asked, pouting. She started writing on the blank chalk board. Nobody knew about the abandoned science lab since their was a new one on the other side of the building. It had been abandoned since before Bella and the twins went to the school.
"I think we'll be living here still...just getting home schooled. But by a tutor instead of our parents. Don't worry. You can chill at my house any time." Bella hugged her friends until they calmed down. "Oh! I almost forgot. Dakota broke up with me after Emmett and Jasper found out about our date the other night. But what was strange was that I didn't mind. I kinda want to date the new kid, Edward." she said, sitting at one of the lab tables. They didn't care if they were late to class because it was Bella's last day, and Rose and Alice wanted to spend every second with her. "And I had a dream of him last night. He was at my house and..."
"Edward? What's wrong?" Bella asked Edward, who was sitting across from her. She watched Edward move his mouth and not hearing anything. Instead, he pulled a notepad and started writing. .dad pets ym morf yawa teg em pleh He pushed the pad over to Bella and she tried to make sense of it. She didn't know what to do with hit. "I-I don't understand you Edward. Why are you writing weird?" .mih morf yawa teg ot deen I Edward wrote, pushing the paper back to her. Bella still couldn't understand the writing, though she figured that it was simple. She couldn't make her mind grasp the way that the words looked familiar.
"!mih morf yawa em teg." Edward yelled, falling to the floor. Bella watched his heart rate increase and she tried to get him up. He was twitching, and moaning in pain. She felt his head and he was burning up. "!?Esaelp" he lay still, passed out.
"That was when I woke. I still don't know what the words were, but I remember how he wrote them." She relayed them on the chalk board, writing them as they had been on the paper from her dream. She thought it peculiar that there were punctuation marks before the sentences began.
"Don't you see Bella?" Rosalie asked. "The sentences are backwards." she took the chalk from Bella's hands. "It reads, Help me get away from my step dad. Then, I need to get away from him. Next it says, Get me away from him! And finally, Please?! Apparently he doesn't want to be near his step-dad."
"Wow, it's so simple. I never actually thought of that. Thanks you two. Why would he want to get away from his step dad so bad? I mean, how could anyone that hot have problems with a step parent?" Bella hugged her best friends. She didn't notice the figure standing in the doorway, watching them.
"Can we help you?" Alice asked the figure, skipping over to him.
"Um..." he started, staring at the three.
"Hey Edward." Bella said, walking over to him. She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the room. "What's wrong?" she asked, sitting him down at a lab table. "Oh, guys this is Edward." Bella said to Alice and Rose. "Edward, this is Rose and Alice."
"H-hi." Edward replied. "Um could you point me to t-the Advanced Biology room? I, um, I'm kinda late for class." he looked around, nervous.
"Sure. I actually have to return my book to Mr. Banner, and that's where his class is. I'll take you there." Bella said, waving to her friends. She pulled Edward out to the hall and walked him to the other science lab. "So, do you want to come over for dinner, Edward?" she asked.
"Um...I'm kinda grounded...and I don't want to impose on you're family..." he started, blushing. (I know, Edward blushing is OOC, but this is my fic...lol). He looked around. "Why do you have to return a school book. Aren't you a junior?"
"My brothers got expelled today and I'm not going to stay here and let them have all the fun with the tutor that my parents have to get." she shrugged. "The dean expelled them because Ben Cheney was picking on me and my twin, Jasper. He's the other one in the family with the brown hair."
"O-oh." he replied, smiling.
"Listen, Edward." Bella turned into an empty classroom. She shut the door behind them. "How much of that conversation back there did you hear?" she asked.
"Just the very end of it. I swear!" he said, "please, I didn't mean any harm by it." he started shaking. Instead of pressing, Bella took his face in her hands and kissed him. She deepened the kiss, but before anything went too far he pulled back. "What was that for?" he asked.
"If you heard the last part of my conversation with my friends, then you should know that I like you. And I don't care if you don't like me because I figured that not making a move would be a bad idea." she explained, sitting on a chair. "The science class you're looking for is right across the hall. Room 304. I"m not a bully, Edward, and I won't let my brothers know about that. But if you want to go out with me this Saturday, then come to my house tonight and ask Emmett, Jasper, Jake, and Josh for their permission. Trust me...that's the only way that we can go public about it." Bella left Edward, stunned. She took all of her things from her locker and dropped them off at the office. She left with Jasper, who was in there returning his things.
"Good day?" he asked, driving the Camero home.
"Yeah. Someone might come over and ask your guys' permission to date me. Be nice to him. And you didn't tell me that you and Alice were going out on Saturday. Good job, bro."
"Thanks. I just hope she doesn't turn out like Brittany or Jennifer did. They only wanted to get to the money that mom and dad leave us...which almost worked." Jasper had dated only two girls, and they'd been money crazed. They'd found out that his mom and dad were members of Star Fire, a famous band that played all over the world. They'd opened for Disturbed, Nickelback, Puddle of Mudd, and Linkin Park.
"She's not. If she were then she would've stolen money from me. So far every dollar that we have is in the bank."
Jasper turned into the driveway and parked. There was a strange red car sitting in his parking space. "Damn. Phil." they said together. They walked into the house, prepared for the lecture they were going to receive. Phil had always parked in Jasper's spot, since it was the closest to the door.
They walked into the living room and saw a big mess in it. There were clothes all over the place and shoes. They pillows from the couch were strewn all over the place. They followed the clothes trail to their mother's bedroom. Bella cautiously opened the door and what she saw horrified her. She screamed and Jasper ran up. He looked in the room and screamed. "Bella, Jasper, it's not what you think." their mother said, walking out of the room.
"What do you mean? You and Phil? Mom, come on. How could you do this to dad?" Jasper asked. Bella was still rubbing her eyes, trying to get the image out of her mind.
"Kids...he doesn't have to know." Phil said, pulling a pillow over his exposure. Renee had a sheet wrapped around her body, covering herself.
"Like hell he doesn't!" Bella yelled. She pushed Phil backward, into a wall, and ran out to the Camero. She waited for Jasper to come out and when he started the car and drove away she pulled out her phone. "I'm calling dad." she said.
"Hold on Bells. You do realize that this could be the end of their marriage. We should tell the others before you call. Okay?" Jasper had always been able to calm Bella down, and vice versa. They pulled into the school parking lot and saw Emmett standing by his truck and the twins waiting for him.
"Em, we need your help." Jasper said as he parked next to their brothers. "Mom...um..mom's home. But we kinda walked in on her and-"
"Nasty bro. Don't want to know about her and dad."
"Not dad. Phil." Bella finished. "I want to call and tell dad about it, but Jazzy wanted me to wait and ask you guys."
"Call him!" Emmett said, while the twins started thinking.
"We think that he should know." they replied slowly, pulling out their iPods.
"Well..time for the worst conversation of my life." Bella mumbled as she dialed her dad's cell.
"Hello?" their father asked. Bella could tell that he was smiling, happy at something.
"Dad?" she asked, hesitant to ruin his good mood.
"Bells? Hey baby girl. What's up?" He sounded surprised to hear her, though they talked every week.
"Um dad. We have some bad news." she murmered, hoping that he heard her. She didn't want to repeat anything.
"Your brothers there? Tell them that I say 'hello'." he started laughing at his little joke. It was as if he knew that they knew what he said. They'd gone through that every day they talked.
"Yeah dad. I told them. Um dad, mom's home..." Bella trailed off, her courage dissipating at the sound of his good mood.
"I know Bells. She said she needed a break to be with you guys. Did something happen to her? Is she okay?" he started to sound worried. Bella wanted to tell him that everything was fine, but she didn't know how.
"She's fine, I suppose. Nothing happened. She, um, Jasper and I...we caught her..." suddenly Emmett took the phone away from her and ignored her protests.
"Dad, mom's cheating on you with Phil." after a pause he continued, "no, Bells and Jazzy caught them going at it. Yeah...sure, we'll tell her for you. No prob. We love ya dad." Emmett hung up the phone and handed it to Bella. "There. Now we have to kick mom out of the house."
Edward stared at the wall in his science class, looking forward to the night. He called his mom and told her that he'd be gone for most of the night. Even when she protested he said that he was going to be gone. He was sure that Carlisle was going to be mad at him, but he didn't care. He was going to see Bella. He'd forgotten about the conversation that he'd overheard. He really had only heard her say that she thought that he was cute.
There were only ten minutes left...then he could leave and find his way to the Swan residence. He watched the clock, the minute hand moving so slowly. He wanted to get out of there. He'd had an amazing first day, but didn't like some of the teachers. Some of the students had already started taunting him because he was the "new kid." He never cared to make friends since Carlisle's job always made them move anyway.
With the bell he was out of the room before most of the other students. He walked to his locker, put the books that he needed to use for the homework in a backpack and slung it over one shoulder. He slammed his locker shut and walked out to the old truck that he'd been given. It was one of the only gifts that Carlisle had given him.
He turned on the radio and started listening to a good song.
I'm over it
You see I'm falling in the fast abyss
Clouded by memories of the past
At last I see
He recognized it as "Forsaken" by Disturbed. He'd liked this song when it had first come out but forgot about it.
I hear it fading, I can't speak it
Oh yes you will take my grave
You feeling, finding, always whining
Take my hand now be alive
You see I cannot be forsaken
Because I'm not the only one
We walk amongst you feeding, raping
Must we hide from everyone?
The chorus of the song had always reminded him of the vampires that he read about in his books. He'd taken to reading vampire stories over the past few years.
I'm over it
Why can't we be together and erase it?
Sleeping so long taking off the mask
At last I see
My fear is fading, I can't speak it
Oh yes you will take my grave
You feeling, finding, always whining
Take my hand now be alive
You see I cannot be forsaken
Because I'm not the only one
We walk amongst you feeding, raping
Must we hide from everyone?
You see I cannot be forsaken
Because I'm not the only one
We walk amongst you feeding, raping
Must we hide from everyone?
Everyone
Everyone
By the time that the song ended, Edward had reached Bella's house. He'd parked on the road, so that he wasn't blocking anyone's parking spot. He'd marveled at the house when he'd first seen it, and it still took his breath away.
He walked up to the door and rang the bell, waiting for someone to answer. Finally, after a moment or two, the bigger one, Emmett he'd guessed, answered the door. "Hey man." he said, opening the door. "Come on in." Edward shut the door after himself and followed Emmett into the living room. All of the kids were sitting on a huge couch and had a chair sitting across from it. "Bells told us that you were stopping by to ask us something. Go ahead." Emmett said, sitting right across from him.
"She told me that if I wanted to date her...that I would have to come and ask your guys' permission. So I would like to ask you, Emmett, Jasper, Jacob, and Joshua Swan, if I could have permission to go out with Bella on Saturday night?" he said, looking each one of them in the eyes.
"Let me and my brothers converse for a moment." Emmett said, leading the other three into another room. Bella was sitting farthest away from him and smiled. You're doing great, she mouthed to him. He gave a slight nod. Finally, Emmett and the others walked back in. "Okay, Cullen, you have to perform one test from each of us to prove that you really want to date our sister, and not use her in any way. Alright?"
"That's fine with me. What's my first test?" he asked.
"Jake, since you're the youngest you tell him you're test first." Emmett said, looking at his brother.
"He's not the youngest! I am!" Josh said, pouting.
"Whatever. God, you two can switch another time. Rock, paper, scissors, if you can't decide." Emmett said, throwing his hands in the air.
In the end, Jake won anyway. "Okay, Eddie...my test for you is to...kiss Bella, but not touch her with any part of your body except your lips. Now!" Edward nodded and moved to where Bella sat and kissed her, quickly, on the lips. He managed not to deepen it, or touch her face, though it was hard.
"My test is for you to watch her...eat an ice cream sundae without thinking any dirty thoughts about her...and me and Jake have a machine, that works, that tells us if you do. We tried it on Emmy before." Josh danced over to where the "machine" thing was and put it on Edward. It seemed that they knew that no guy could stand watching a girl eat ice cream with syrup, cherries, peanuts, and whipped cream on it without thinking of licking it off of their bodies. Edward, instead, focused on his grandmother washing her dentures as he watched Bella eat the sundae.
"Damn..he's better than we thought." Jasper said to Emmett as Edward passed the test. "Alright...my test for you is to...stay in a room full of hot girls and not look at any part of their body except their eyes. Understand?"
Edward looked at the boys, hoping that it was some sort of joke. Upon finding none of them laughing he knew that they were dead serious. He knew that if he wanted to date Bella, he had to get Emmett's approval, more than anyone else's. He looked at Bella, and she gave him a 'thumbs up' signal. He knew that he could finish these last two tests by thinking of other things. Edward nodded and an hour later he found himself in a room with fifty girls. All had blond hair and trampish clothes on. Somehow, Edward managed to pass that test as well. He walked out of the room, after the time that he'd been in there, and the girls pouted. He went into the bathroom and composed himself. He'd managed to get through it by thinking of how proud his mom would be if he started dating a "decent" girl. He knew that he would glow from the thought of it. He stayed in the room for an hour talking with them about advanced calculus. He'd stumped them and kept his eyes to their eyes.
"Edward, those were some easy tests," Emmett started, sitting down in his original spot, "but mine's going to be harder. You have to win in a wrestling match..against me. If you are to date our sister you're going to have to fight off some big dudes. Now, let's go out to the yard and wrestle." Jasper lead Edward out to the yard, where a ring had been set up with small ropes as the "walls" of the wrestling ring.
"First one to pin the other down, in any way, for three seconds wins. No do-overs, no rematches. Edward, you ready?" Asked Jasper. After Edward nodded, Jasper turned to Emmett. "You ready Emmett?" Emmett nodded and Jasper signaled the start to the match.
First, Emmett tried to rush Edward, found air, and noticed Edward in the opposite corner. He saw that Edward was fast, and knew he couldn't catch up to him. While Emmett was looking where Edward's body was supposed to be, Edward walked behind Emmett and got him in a half nelson. Emmett flipped Edward over his shoulders and had him in a head lock, but before he could pile drive him, Edward escaped and darted around the ring.
Edward looked at the audience watching, paying attention to Bella, and didn't notice Emmett coming toward him. He, luckily, glanced toward him and saw the larger man running toward him. Edward ducked away and watched Emmett ram into a post that kept the ropes up. Edward tried to keep his laughter from coming out as he put Emmett in the headlock. He was pulled over the larger man's shoulders, again, but quickly got out of it.
Finally, Edward was able to get on the ropes and jumped on Emmett, who didn't expect it. After a half an hour of wrestling, Edward had Emmett in a headlock, after he'd tackled him to the ground, of course. Jasper counted to three before pulling Edward off of Emmett. "No fair!" Emmett yelled, kicking dirt.
"No do-overs." Jasper said, declaring Edward winner. "Edward wins, fair and square."
"Fine!" Emmett huffed. "I, as head of the house, for the moment, grant you, Edward Cullen, permission to date our sister, Bella Swan. You've passed all of our tests. Now, Bells, is dinner ready?" Emmett walked into the house and Bella hugged Edward.
"I knew you could do it. Congrats. Jesse didn't get as far as Josh's test before quiting." she said, kissing his cheek. She lead him inside and made tacos for the five boys.
After Edward had his fill of food, he said that he had to leave. Though it was only Monday, he couldn't wait til Saturday. He knew that they wouldn't be at school, so he had to settle for going to her house after school. He knew that he was going to face hell for not being home right after school.
And sure enough, when he got home, Carlisle was in a rage at his disobedience...
A/N: Okay, this was ten typed pages long. Double what it would have been but I wanted to put in Edward's point of view. I think that the tests that the brothers gave him were funny. Please review and let me know what you think. If you have any suggestions for me, then please tell me. I don't know if I'm going to make Bella pregnant by Edward, probably not since there are so many stories like that already. No, I am not going to put in vampires because I want this to be an All Human story. I'm glad that you like it enough to keep reading. I want five reviews for this chapter before I think of starting it and ten if you want the chapter sooner than a week. This was beta-ed by Word Nazi. Thank you. You are an amazing beta.
--AMS