I do not own Twilight or its characters. Stephenie Meyer does.
Thank you, again, Fran, for taking your time to cleaning up my mistakes.
Ch.3
EPOV
I stepped out of the main office, pausing to glance at my schedule. It was pretty mundane — same-old classes, again. It seemed to be a waste of my time. I should be trying to contact Bella.
"I guess, I'll see you two later," I slipped the paper into my pocket after already memorizing it.
Jasper nodded quickly. He was slightly on edge while adjusting to all the teenage emotions, as well as his thirst.
"We should meet at the table in the back of the cafeteria, left-hand corner, would be best. Come on, Jazzy; walk me to my first class." She grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hall.
I sighed and headed for the east corridor for my first class — English. I was about halfway down the hall when a familiar floral scent wafted under my nose.
Why would she be here?
I glanced to my right and found her immediately. She was leaning against the wall with one knee bent and the bottom of her high-heel pressing against the locker door. Her choice of footwear showed off her long, toned legs; I thought she hated high-heels with a passion.
Her beautiful hair hung loosely around her. Her clothes fit her snuggly, more than I was used to seeing her wearing. The top few buttons of her white collared shirt were undone, exposing some modest cleavage. Her black skirt was three inches too short for regulations. All of this was a far cry from her jeans and T-shirts.
To my surprise, she was also wearing make-up. Too much, if you asked me — it hid her natural beauty.
Some pubescent boy was hovering too close to her with one arm against the locker above her head. Instead of being focused on her face, he was shamelessly looking down her top. She threw her head back and laughed, then smiled up at this him and touched his arm.
Subconsciously, I emitted a growl, as I took in the scene. She was mine, and I was ready to rip his arm from his body. Just last night, she was kissing me as if she had never kissed me before. And now, here she was flirting with some unworthy suitor.
Her laughter stopped abruptly, and her head turned sharply in my direction. Her brown eyes widened in shock then quickly became furious. Her jaw clenched, and she frowned at me.
The boy, Carver, glanced over his shoulder towards me; his cold blue eyes gave me a quick onceover before turning back to Bella.
"You know that kid, Marie?" he asked.
Marie?
Her name change peaked my curiosity. Why would she need to change her name?
Bella broke her gaze and shook her head. "No, I thought I recognized him, but I'm sure that I'm wrong." She gave him a smile.
"You want me to say something to him? He was staring at you, not that I blame him, you are hot you know." Carver offered with a sly smile.
"Thanks, but I'll be okay," She winked at him.
"Cool, Babe, catch ya at lunch." He turned and headed towards me.
He purposely tried to hit my shoulder, and I didn't stop him. He winced and waited until he was a few feet away before he rubbed it mumbling, 'Fuck, that hurt.'
I snorted and looked up again jut as Bella was disappearing into a class a few doors down. I was pleased to realize that meant we had a class together.
I entered the classroom and glanced around. Bella was in the back row now wearing a cardigan, with her shirt buttoned.
She spotted me and muttered under her breath, "Of course, he would be in this class," As she tried to focus on the laptop in front of her.
"Can I help you?" An eager man appeared next to me. I could pick up from his mind that he was a first-year teacher. He wanted to relate to his student as a peer rather than an authority figure.
"Yes, today's my first day," I handed over my slip of paper.
"Glad to have you join us, I'm Mr. Stow. Welcome to Henry Hagg Academy. Please take a seat; there are few open ones at the back," He signed the slip and handed me a few pieces of papers.
Unfortunately, all the seats near Bella were all taken, so I chose one as close as I could. It is times like this I wished I could see into her mind. What was she doing in high school as a junior? It made no sense to me. What was she doing with this Carver? If she is with him then why did she kiss me last night?
I could be patient but coupled with everything else I'd recently learned, I had become increasingly anxious to figure out a few things.
"Class, before we begin, we have a new friend among us. Would you please stand?" Mr. Stow encouraged looking directly at me.
After I had held back a sigh, I stood and gave a grimace-like smile.
"Friends, this is Edward Masen."
Everyone turned towards me eyeing me as if I were a zoo exhibit. I hated this part. Many of the girls were curious if I was unattached or not. The boys were eyeing me as competition. Only Bella or I guess I should say Marie, gave me a quick glance then went back to the computer in front of her.
"Edward, you can take your seat. We are currently reading Wuthering Heights, have you had the pleasure of reading this book yet?" Mr. Stow asked as he sat on his desk.
I snorted under my breath. I have read it more than I cared too, and it was also one of Bella's favorites. "You could say I have read it before." Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Bella withheld any reaction.
"Excellent. Let's see…" Mr. Stow eyes darted around the classroom and settled on Bella.
"Marie, would be so kind as to get a copy of your notes to Edward so he can catch up with the class?"
"Of course, it would be me," Bella grumbled under her breath.
"Pardon?"
"Of course, it won't be a problem. I'll be happy to," Bella smiled sweetly.
"Great, thank you. Edward, you should find her notes to be in good shape." Mr. Stow explained before directing everyone to pull out their copy of the book.
He started the class by opening a discussion on the story. I tried to get Bella's attention, but she was pointedly ignoring my presence. As the clock ticked on, I was growing increasing agitated.
I raised my hand high, and Mr. Stow lit up, eager that his new student wanted to contribute to the class.
"Mr. Masen, what would you like to add?"
"I have to be honest and say I can't see how this could be considered a love story. The two main characters are horrible people, who only ruin each other's lives. How they are ranked up there with some of the greatest couples in literature is beyond me." I stated all while watching Bella out of the corner of my eye.
Her left eye twitched, and her fingers grasped her pencil so tightly that it was in danger of snapping. The way she was practically hopping in her seat, I knew I managed to get to her. Her hand shot up and waved in the air.
I hid my snicker, behind my hand.
"Yes, Marie."
"I disagree. Through everything, her selfishness, or his evil, or even death, nothing could keep them apart in the end." Marie defended her favorite book vigorously.
"Still, if they had one redeeming quality…" I egged her on.
She cut me off quickly.
"Their love is their redeeming quality." Her eyes narrowed. She still looked like an angry little kitten when mad.
My face slipped slightly, and she caught my amusement. She caught on that I was purposely antagonizing her, and it only fueled her agitation. My kitten was becoming a tigress.
The two kids sitting in between the two of us started to shift uncomfortably.
I couldn't help but to continue. "Well, I hope for your sake you don't fall in love with someone so…malignant."
She scoffed. "Well, I hope you stay away from someone so selfish. Anyone could see that it was Catherine that was the source of all the trouble."
"I'll keep that in mind." I nodded, earning a scowl.
"Excellent, I've never seen a novel extract such a passionate argument. I can tell our classes are going to be lively." Mr. Stow clapped his hands excitedly, "Anyone else."
Bella went back to ignoring me. As soon as the bell rang, she was up and heading towards the door as fast as humanly possible.
I still caught up to her easily. "Marie, wait up," I called out and grabbed her arm just above the elbow. A familiar spark radiated up my hand through my arm.
"Let me go, please." She tried to yank her arm away. "What do you want?"
"I was hoping I could catch up with you after school for those notes and maybe talk," I asked politely, dropping my hand to my side.
"Sorry, I have plans. I'll make sure you have those notes by tomorrow." Bella took a backward step away from me.
"I still think it's pertinent that we should talk." I pressed lightly.
"Don't worry. Where I might not be a sieve, despite some ill-perceived thoughts, I won't go gossiping about things that are none of my business. Does that suit you, Mr. Masen?" she said stiffly.
"Partially," I frowned. I realized that she thought my only concern was her exposing my family.
"Well, unfortunately, I have to get to class so it will have to suffice for now." She spun on her heels and stormed off.
Jeesh, Edward, we've barely been here an hour and already you've pissed her off? Jasper fell into step next to me.
"I pretty much said in front of the entire class that her favorite book was trash," I mumbled under my breath.
He shook his head. If you're trying to get back into her good graces — you're failing miserably. The last time she was that pissed at you, you had blocked her truck in the parking lot, to give Tyler a chance to ask her out. Why is she here anyway?
"I have no idea. You should ask your wife, she's been hiding a lot of things lately." I responded crisply.
I know, but she usually has a good reason for it. He grimaced, before ducking into his next class.
SG
Two class periods went by without Bella being in any of them. I spent the time looking into the minds around her for any clues to help me with Bella. Unfortunately, I lacked any success. There was one girl in class with Alice, who was comparing our arrival to Bella's. Apparently, Bella was fairly new herself, starting at the beginning of the semester in January.
I tried looking into Carver's mind and was concerned with what I found. His family seemed to be part of pretty large drug and human trafficking ring around the area. Carver himself sold drugs to the students here and in surrounding schools. He spent half of his time high.
He was concentrating on a trip he would have to make to Salem, after school. Then another trip to Seattle this weekend. He was upset because he wanted to go his uncle's club instead to check out the girls there. His father and uncle often rewarded him with his choice of the ladies before they were sold off as slaves.
I was not only appalled, but I very concerned. Why on earth would Bella hang around such a horrible crowd? She couldn't really be interested in this loser. I had to do something quickly before she winded up hurt and possibly addicted to drugs.
How could Charlie and Renée just sit back and let this happen? Surely they had to know that Bella wasn't at college. Wouldn't they be curious to know about their daughter's whereabouts?
Well, maybe not Renée, she was always more of free spirit and distracted with her own life. However, Charlie was a cop. If he knew that Bella was hanging out with a member of the Striker family, he wouldn't be sitting back and doing nothing.
SG
The bell rang, and I slipped out my seat prepared to head to the gym. Alice was in that class and I need to get some needed answers from her.
Our gym teacher tended to be on the scattered-brained side. He forgot he had new students starting, so he didn't have our gym uniforms or lockers ready.
Alice and I sat side by side on the bleachers, watching our classmates. My own eyes were glued on a particular brunette — Bella, who was also in the class.
"I want some answers," I demanded under my breath.
Alice snorted not all deterred by my attitude. "I'm sure that you do."
I waited for thirty seconds, but she remained silent.
"Alice," I hissed.
"Edward," she responded in a 'what' tone.
"Aren't you going to fill me in," My irritation grew.
"I can't fill you in on everything; you already know what I was able to tell you. I had a vision of someone who I thought was Bella. I sent Emmett and Jasper to check it out to make sure it was her. Did I know that she would be here at this school? Yes. However, I can't tell you why." She sighed looking bored.
"What about this Carver, where does he fit in? Does she really like him? Please tell he isn't her boyfriend," I pleaded.
"I can't read emotions or minds, so again, I can't tell you. Why would you care anyway? You tossed her away as if she meant nothing to you." Alice scoffed.
Her comment confused me since I thought her plan was to get Bella and me back together. "You know that's untrue, and that I left because I needed to protect her." I insisted.
"I understand that part of it, but you didn't have to pray on her low self-esteem to do it," Alice argued. She was still very angry with me for how I left Bella. She had made it known then that she thought Bella was owed the truth, and what I did was cruel.
"Well, it is not like she fought me to stay or called me out on my lying. She should've known I was lying."
Alice gave me a cold, hard look. Don't put that on her. That is unfair.
I sighed and ran a hand roughly through my hair. "This guy is bad news. He deals drugs — not minor stuff either. His family is in the major leagues with drugs and other things. Bella is going to get hurt. Isn't that why you really insisted on me being here? To save her. Why are you giving me such a hard time?" I exasperated blew a breath.
Alice's shoulders sagged. "Why are we here? I missed my sister, just as I've missed my idiot brother. What you choose to do with being here is up to you. Only you can fix things between Bella and yourself. I can't look into the future and give you the answers on how to do that. You can't expect her to just jump back into your arms either, so I suggest bucking up and talking to her."
"Bucking up? You are starting to sound like Emmett," I pointed out.
"And you are procrastinating," Alice teased, swinging her feet lightly.
I groaned rubbed my eyes with my hand. I focused back on the group of students surrounded a rope dangling down from the rafters. Bella stepped up for her turn to climb.
No…no…no, Bella was going fall and get hurt.
Alice grabbed my wrist and yanked on it.
Sit down.
"She's going to fall." I tried to pull away.
"Sit and just watch," Alice hissed again.
I turned to argue with her, and Alice gave me a reassuring smile. I reluctantly sat back down as Bella had started her way up. She was about halfway when Alice turned in her seat toward me.
"So tell me — since I know you have been watching her every chance you've gotten. How many times has she tripped today?" Alice asked with a cheeky smile.
I thought back and became mystified. I couldn't recall one trip, or one slip, or any clumsy moment.
"None," I admitted.
Bella reached the top and rang the bell with a big smile on her face. Down below, her fellow classmates applauded her achievement. Alice grinned and clapped from beside me. She nudged me with her elbow.
"It seems Bella has grown out of her awkward phase. I think we both know that she's not the same girl you left behind in Forks anymore."
Alice was right. Bella has changed, and I wasn't sure how much or even if was for the better yet.
Bella looked our way as she stepped back into the waiting group. I gave her a small smile. As she blinked and turned quickly away, I saw the small hint of blush on her cheeks.
Then again, maybe parts of the old Bella were still there after all.
A/N:
If you recognized their argument in English class, they had the same argument in Eclipse, while in Charlie's kitchen.
Many of you were right last chapter about Bella. She obviously doesn't remember the kiss; judging on the reception he received from her at school.
Thoughts on Carver?
Thoughts on Alice? Is she hiding more? Or does she think now that she pushed Edward in Bella's direction, that the rest is up to him? Both?
This story is featured on FicSisters site The International House of FanFic this week. Thank you, Edward's Eternal. Also Twilight Fan Fiction Finders for pimping. If I missed(didn't see) anyone else recommending this story, thanks to you as well.
Thank you for all the reviews and love.