Thanks to le moulin, vanilladoubleshot, doitforyou, and windtrails. You all are my light at the end of the tunnel.
Disclaimer: Everything is owned by Stephenie Meyer; I only rudely manipulate their lives.
The Bad Boys Standing In The Shadows
Fate really hated her. She knew this, so she wasn't really surprised when the only seat available was next to the surly boy who had shot heat through his irises not even ten minutes ago in the cafeteria.
She plopped down on the stool, whipping out her notebook and trying to ignore the tight bands contracting in the pale fist next to her pen. She chanced a look in his direction, met dark knitted eyebrows over a black expression and quickly turned her face back to the front.
She flew to a blank page and wrote quickly, her handwriting making dark marks that carried to three pages below the one she scrawled on.
He hates me, and I didn't even do anything. He hates me, like God hated Lucifer, and cast him down, and I'm sure this boy is just as beautiful as a fallen angel.
She felt a gaze, looked up, and saw his eyes just leaving the paper she had marked. Glaring at him, all indignant prowess and private scribe, she continued.
I see you reading this, and you have no right to treat someone you've never even spoken to like that. You can either be nice to me or ignore me. Give me a sign if you understand.
An angry sigh left his lips after her last period, and she took that as a sign.
Thank you.
When the bell rang, they both shot up out of their seats so quickly, their stools collided and fell with a resounding crash.
Bella bent down to pick hers up just as Edward did, and their foreheads knocked painfully together.
"Fuck," Edward growled at her, rubbing the red knot on his brow.
She was redder than a bed of poppies; she knew it. "Sorry, I'll just – " She reached for her stool, but his hand nearly smacked hers away.
"Go," he said in a low voice, all Zeppelin and cigarettes.
She went.
In gym class, she was so angry, she actually played a decent game of volleyball. By the end of the game, people were calling her Spike and Killer, but she assured them it wasn't an everyday thing.
"You're on my team from now on, right Bella?" asked Mike, all breathless blonde sweat.
He was actually a very nice person, cute in a Backstreet Boys sort of way. He had picked her for his team so she was saved the indignity of being last, and it had worked out to his advantage, today.
"Oh, sure," Bella said with a smile. "But really, Mike... this was all luck." And imagining the face of a certain maple-tree colored boy on the volleyball, but that was her secret.
"So, you're like, my Lady Luck Killer?" He grinned shyly.
Bella wrinkled her nose. "No, that makes me sound like a serial killer. You know, the ones they have to give names to."
He laughed. "Oh, right. Well, I'll work on the whole nickname thing, and get back to you."
"Sounds good." She turned to make her way back to the girl's locker room, when Mike stopped her with a touch on the arm.
"Do you have a cell phone? Just so, you know, I can text you as soon as genius strikes."
Bella, who might not be well-versed in boys but wasn't born yesterday, smiled at his fishing. "Sure. Meet me outside the girl's locker room in ten, okay?"
He took off so fast, she imagined Wile E. Coyote and the gust of air he always left behind him when running. Laughing at her weird day, she made her way inside the locker room.
She heard whispers as she was getting dressed, but Bella was good at stifling unpleasant things, so she pulled her sweaty hair back from her face with a pen and made to leave.
"Hey, Bella," Jessica called before she could make it to the door. "Mike is, like, the one cute decent guy we have here at FHS. Try not to snake him, okay?"
Bella stopped at the door. "Really? I thought Edward Cullen was more your type." It was rude of her, she knew, to throw the information that Jessica had been simpering after the seraph face with a vengeance ever since he and his family landed here.
Bella heard the disloyal cackles of Jessica's friends as she made her way out of the locker room, smiling at Mike leaning against the wall opposite.
"Hi," she said, and he returned the sentiment with a smile. "Hand," she demanded, whipping the pen out of her hair, making her smooth mahogany locks tumble in a pile over her shoulder.
She caught Mike staring, and it made her flush, red, white and black all over. She flipped Mike's hand over, and wrote her number in his palm with a smiley face. She had done this twice already today, for Alice and Angela, and she couldn't believe after only having a cell phone for two days (Charlie had bought it for her, and presented it to her last night, after the truck) she already had the numbers of three people.
She hadn't even had a cell phone in Phoenix.
"I'll see you later, Bella," Mike said happily, closing his palm after she finished. She was about to reply in the affirmative when she heard a derisive laugh.
She turned to see Edward walking behind her, shaking his head, a long paintbrush tucked behind his ear. Alice was by him, holding the hand of the blonde boy. She waved merrily, and Bella waved back, ignoring Edward all together. There were two others walking with them, a burly boy holding the waist of a girl with spiraling corn silk hair. The muscular boy smiled kindly at her with a little nod, and the blonde girl gave her a small grin, more of a survey than a kindness. Then they were gone, into the mystic of a Forks' afternoon.
XxXxX
"I'm really enjoying myself," Bella promised her mom that night, as she balanced her cell phone between her ear and her shoulder. She was mashing potatoes in a bowl for dinner, the exertion making her sweat a bit under the hot lights of the kitchen.
"Are you sure, honey? I remember hating it, constantly."
"Mom, you hate anything that has to do with snow or rain. Hence, why we lived in Phoenix." Bella switched the phone to the other ear and added more milk to the potatoes.
"That's true," her mother hedged. "Really, Bell, we're going to be moving to Jacksonville soon. Come with us."
Bella laughed. "I've only been here a day and you're already trying to get me back? May I remind you I left so you and Phil could have some peace as newlyweds?"
"Tell your mom she's not getting you back, and that's final," said Charlie behind her. He stuck his long finger into the bowl of mashed potatoes, and then licked them off. "Mmmmm, not ever. What are in these, Bell?"
"Ambrosia," Bella teased. "Um, just some ranch powder. Mom, Dad says he's keeping me forever to be his kitchen slave."
"I just bet," Renee said with a laugh. "All right, I'll let you go. You use that fancy cell phone and call me, okay?"
Bella promised she would, and with mutual love, they hung up.
"So, how was school?" Charlie asked as they sat down to the baked chicken, mashed potatoes and corn.
Cutting up her poultry slowly, Bella considered her answer. "It was okay," she said. "I met some nice people. Alice Cullen was really sweet to me right off the bat."
Charlie nodded in approval. "They're good people, the Cullens. Their story is a bit strange, but…" He shrugged. "Nice people."
Bella had heard through the grapevine that the blonde twins, Jasper and Rosalie Hale, had been dating Alice and Emmett Cullen (who were not twins) for a couple months when the handsome, widowed Dr. Cullen met the newly-divorced, beautiful Esme Hale. They had tried to keep it a secret from their dating children, but knew they were in love and wanted to get married. The children were horrified at first, but were allowed to keep dating, and so they all made one happy family, in the same house, under the same roof…
Bella thought it was a little strange and fairly gutsy and liberal of the Cullens, especially in this small town. But the Cullens were nice, as far as she could tell, all except Edward.
She snorted. No wonder he had been left out of the dating game.
Later that night, she sat crossed-legged on her bed, notebook open in front of her. She held the cap of a pen between her teeth, reading the note she had written to Edward, pleading him to play nice or not at all. Sighing, she flipped to the next blank page, and began to write.
I've always thought friendship was difficult, but maybe it takes a few nice girls in a small town to let me know that I'm the one who's backwards. My day could've been better, but not by much, and I refuse to let the dreariness of someone's demeanor ruin anything for me.
Alice is beautiful, dainty and tough, with long limbs and a short stature. When she talks, my head automatically leans towards the sound of her voice. Angela is tall and graceful, and moves like a dancer, gliding through the hallways…
When she awoke the next morning to the alarm, she had her notebook draped over her stomach. She fell asleep writing, as usual, and it made her feel groggy and dirty. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and stumbled to the shower.
She had a better day at school. Alice was perfect in a long green trench coat and brown leather boots, and Jasper, Alice's boyfriend, spoke to her in a lovely Southern accent. She actually blushed from it, and Alice had laughed and grabbed her hand as they skipped off to fourth period.
Mike passed her a note that said, how about just My Lucky Swan? And Bella shook her head no, that nickname wouldn't do either. Mike had sighed, and then acted like he was thinking hard, and it made Bella giggle in a way that was unlike her.
She walked with Angela and Alice to lunch, and made good on her promise to sit with Alice that day. Edward was there, quiet and brooding, his long fingers holding a stubby pencil against a sketchpad she couldn't see.
"Thought you were staying home," Alice had said as she offered Bella some Triscuits.
"Esme woke me up because the office called and said if I missed another day, they'd have to get the truant officer involved," Edward said in a low voice.
Alice rolled her eyes at Bella, who laughed, causing Edward to glance sharply up at her. She looked back at him, and watched him take in all the lines of her body, like he was drawing her in his mind. Then he shook his head 'no' at Alice, who sighed angrily.
Bella acted like she didn't see this whole exchange.
Emmett and Rosalie were kind to her. Emmett made her laugh so hard she almost shot apple juice out of her nose, and Rosalie checked Bella's nail beds for shoddy cuticles.
"Women are works of art," she had said, shooting Edward a disgruntled look, "and should be ready to give inspiration at a moment's notice." She had the same accent as Jasper, and it made her sound gentile and cultured.
She didn't play a very good game of volleyball that day, and she apologized to Mike with a laugh.
"I did warn you," she moaned as he rubbed a big knot in the back of his head.
He just smiled at her. "Don't worry, I'll let you play nursemaid."
She waved goodbye to Alice as she reached her truck in the parking lot.
"Call me," Alice said, "and we'll do something. I have to get away from all the testosterone."
"What about Rosalie?"
"Rosalie is her own special brand of testosterone. Did I tell you she rebuilds classic cars?"
"And I wouldn't touch this hunk of junk," Rosalie said behind her with a smile, nodding to Bella's truck. "See you, Bella."
"Let's go, straggler!" Alice called to Edward, who was lagging behind, flipping pages in a sketchbook like a man possessed. "Bye, Bella."
Bella waved and turned to her truck. There, perched on the bed, was a perfect little origami swan. She picked it up, transfixed, staring at the delicate lines and folds. She was so far into her mind, she didn't hear the loud squeal of tires, wailing high and frightening, before it was too close for Bella to do anything but scream and throw up her hands.
A rough hand grabbed her by the jacket and shoulder and hair. She folded into the person as Tyler Crowley's van made impact with her tank of a truck, the crush of metal and plastic and glass deafening.
"Oh my God," Bella moaned into the person's chest, shaking.
"You're fine," said a rough voice above Bella's head. "I think I pulled out a lot of your hair. Hey!" he called. "Someone call nine-one-one, I think Crowley's bleeding."
Bella caught a whiff of turpentine as Edward, her savior, backed away and handed her the small clump of hair that had come out of her head when he yanked. She took it, staring, not really feeling the stinging in her scalp from where it came out.
"Bella!"
She heard Alice's voice, high pitched and frantic, like the whine of an ambulance. Her tiny arms went around Bella's neck and she was hugging her tightly.
"Oh my God, I thought you were going to…"
"I'm fine, Alice. Edward pulled me away."
"I've never been so grateful for that jackass," Alice whispered.
"I heard that," Edward grumbled as tried to slink away. Bella went to stop him and thank him with a touch on his arm, but he wrenched out of her grasp and walked towards the silver idling Volvo, with Rosalie and Emmett and Jasper all hanging out.
"He can save my life and make me feel like he regrets it in the same breath," Bella whispered to Alice, earning a sad sigh in response.