Chapter 4
I was late to school the next day because my truck wouldn't start. I tried to make it work for at least thirty minutes until I decided to give up. Since I knew school had already started, I called Haley's mom and asked her if she would give me a ride. She was more than happy, and told me that she was planning on going into town anyway.
By the time I walked into the school the bell had just sounded to release the students into the hallways before second period. The secretary in the office didn't even ask me why I was late. No one ever counted me tardy to class because they knew my truck had problems.
I marched to my locker to drop off my coat and other belongings. When I turned around to put my backpack in my locker, I groaned....realizing it was still in my truck, which was obviously still at home. At least it didn't have anything I needed desperately, like my homework or anything, but my wallet was in there, along with my cell phone.
I slammed the locker door shut and made my way towards my second period class. Thinking about my phone had given me the idea to call Jake and see if he knew what was up with my truck.
When I walked into class Haley and Natasha greeted me with waves and friendly smiles. I took my seat beside them, only to have Edward walk in and take the empty seat in front of me. This continued every period up until lunch. For some reason I always seemed to have an empty seat around me, and Edward would always sit there. In third period he was making me so mad, I threw a pencil at him. He ducked in enough time and it ended up hitting Brandon instead. I whispered sorry to him and he waved it off like it was nothing. Edward merely laughed in response.
So at lunch I sat down and watched Haley and Natasha eat their lunch while I ate nothing.
"Bella why aren't you eating?" Haley asked me as she shoved her fifth brownie into her mouth.
"I left my wallet in my backpack, which is in my truck, which is at home." I replied, resting my head in my hands.
"Bella do you want me to give you some money to get something?" Natasha offered.
"No thanks Natasha." I said. "I can deal with it."
"You sure?"
"Not really, but yeah."
"Here Bella, take a brownie...it's good stuff." Haley said, handing me one of her brownies.
I laughed. "Thanks Haley."
"Don't mention it." She replied before she poked my arm. "Bella, look who is walking this way!"
I looked up in just enough time to see Edward sitting down in the seat beside Natasha, which was right across from me.
"Hey ladies." He said with a charming smile. "Mind if I sit here?"
"No."
"No."
"Yes."
"Looks like you're outnumbered." He said to me. "Two to one."
I groaned. "You guys I'm already having a bad day."
"Sorry." They chimed.
"Can't you go sit with your friends?" I asked him, motioning to the table two down from ours where his old friends still sat.
"Yeah, I don't exactly know what they think about me quite yet." He said, taking a bite out of his pizza.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Brandon specifically. He's acting sort of cold towards me. I'm just gonna play it cool for a while."
"So you sit with us?" I asked.
"Yeah, why not?"
"I could come up with a lot of reasons why not."
"I wouldn't really care, I'm still not moving."
"Ugh, Edward Cullen, you officially suck." I said.
"Ditto." He replied as he laughed a little to himself.
"You've only been here two days..." I said. "And you already have me on my last nerve."
"I feel so honored." He said, wiping his hands on his napkin. "Oh and here's this." He said, handing me a piece of paper.
"What is this?" I asked, looking at it.
"The announcements sheet. You told me to bring it to you when you were late."
"And you remembered?" I said in shock as I finished reading them over.
"I have a pretty good memory." He said before he threw down a ten dollar bill in front of me. "And eat some lunch already."
I looked up at him with no idea what to say. "How did you know I didn't have any money?"
"I'm pretty much a big deal." He said, leaning back in his chair.
"That's the second time I've heard you say that now. What is that...your catch phrase?" I asked.
"Not really, I'm just stating a fact." He said.
I pushed the money back towards him. "I don't want your stupid money."
"And I don't care. Eat some freaking lunch." He said, pushing the money back to me.
"Alright, alright. I'll go get some lunch. At least it gets me away from you."
"I'll be enjoying every minute of it!" He called to me as I got in line for lunch. I came back a few minutes later and literally threw the change at him before I sat down.
"It's a good thing those weren't coins." He said, picking the money up off the floor. "Do you know how many people would have hated you if you damaged my face?"
"I'd take them on, it would be worth it." I said, picking through my potatoes. "Besides, your face is damaged enough as it is, no one would know the difference."
"You go girl!" Haley cheered for me, as people's heads started to turn in our direction.
"I guess I could say the same for you...couldn't I?" He said, as a smile started to spread across his face.
It was very obvious that the guys at the table two down from us were listening now, as was most of the cafeteria.
"You could, but you wouldn't do that cause you're too much of a goody-too-shoe."
"Oh!" A few of the guys called. I couldn't help but laugh a little. Edward and I used to get in these burn wars all the time and everyone in the whole school seemed to love it.
"How am I too much of a goody-too-shoe?"
"You won't even flip me off. Come on! Grow a pair already!"
"Oooh!"
"I have a pair, thank you very much."
"I'm sure Rosalie would know...wouldn't she?"I asked.
"Ooooooh!!"
He looked defeated for a moment before he finally said something back. "Let's not bring Rose into this...ok?"
"By all means."
"If anyone here is the goody-to-shoe...that would be you Bella."
"Really, how so Edward?"
"Oh I dunno, maybe because you're eighteen years old and you've never been kissed before."
"Oooh!"
"Oh no he didn't!" Haley said, looking as though she was going to jump over the table and beat Edward up. Unfortunately Haley couldn't do that even if she really wanted to.
"At least I'm still a virgin!" I shouted back.
"Ooooh!"
"Oh and I'm not?" He asked.
"Um...yeah." I said, looking at him as if he should know this. Which I would think he would know this.
He laughed a little. "I believe you're mistaken."
"I believe you're a moron." I said as I got up to dump my tray.
"You barely even ate!" He yelled after me.
"I don't wanna eat food I bought with your stupid freaking money!" I yelled in response. On my walk back to the table, I remembered that I wanted to ask him something, so I marched over to where he sat and gently smacked his arm.
"What now?" He asked.
"You. Me. Hallway. Now." I said simply. The guys at the table started whooping and making animal noises.
Edward laughed. "Ah really? You're that desperate?"
I smacked him again. "You are such a pervert....come on!" I said, dragging him out of his chair and into the hallway. As we were leaving the guys starting shouting calls of "You go Cullen!" and "Get you some!"
Once we were safely out in the hallway I threw him against the lockers.
"Hey, hey, hey...watch the merchandise." He said, brushing off his shoulder.
"I don't give a crap about the freaking merchandise." I said, putting my hands on my hips.
"Well let's make this quick ok? And please don't tell Rose, she might get a little mad if she finds out I'm fooling around with girls in the hallway at school." He said with that same stupid grin on his face.
"I'm not gonna have sex with you so you can just forget about it...ok? Save your fantasies for Rosalie."
He just laughed.
"Yesterday when you left my house and got in your car, what did you say?"
"Um...is this a trick question?" He asked.
"It shouldn't be. What did you say?"
"I said goodbye. I know that much."
"When you got in your car, did you say something like...if you were my girlfriend I'd get you a much nicer car?"
"I might have said something like it." He said. "But I didn't say exactly that."
"What did you say then?" I asked.
"I said that I got my girlfriend a much nicer car." He said as he shrugged his shoulders. "Why do you care?"
I wasn't sure he was telling me the complete truth, but it made sense, so I decided to let it slide. "I don't really. I was just wondering."
Just then the bell rang to dismiss students from lunch. "Well now you know." He said, and he smiled at me before he walked away. A few of his friends ran after him and started to ask him if I was any good. I shook my head in disgust and waited for Haley and Natasha before I prepared myself to face the rest of the day.
By the time last period AP English had rolled around, I was beyond sick of Edward. I was sick of him because he had every single class with me. I swear whoever set up his schedule must not like me at all.
But I was excited for English, not only because I figured Edward wouldn't be in that class, but because of our new teacher. I was excited to see who it was.
I walked into the English room and took my seat in front of Haley. She was busy drawing outfit designs in her notebook, and she didn't seem very aware of her surroundings. Not that Haley is ever aware of her surroundings.
My excitement soon faded as Edward walked into the room and sat down in the desk right in front of me. I groaned in disgust and turned around to face Haley.
"Hey Haley." I said to get her attention.
"Haley be my name. Wadda want?" She asked. I wondered how she ever managed to get in this class, she had terrible grammar.
I laughed. "Haley how did you ever manage to get in this class?"
She seemed like she was thinking about it. "Hmmm. I really don't know."
"I'm not saying you're too dumb for AP English, it just seems odd."
Edward laughed at me and I smacked him in return.
"Yeah, I have no idea how I got in here." She said as she erased a line of feathers on a skirt she was sketching.
"Can you do me I huge favor?" I asked.
"Depends on what it is. Like if you want be to help you fight off the evil pickles that are trying to take over the world, by all means, but if you want help folding Phil's underwear, count me out."
I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. "It's neither one of those things."
She let out a sigh of relief. "Good cause I really didn't feel like folding Phil's underwear today. Maybe I'll change my mind tomorrow."
"Anyway...until I get my truck fixed or my mom and Phil come home, can you give me a ride to school in the mornings?"
"Sure...I'm down with that."
"Can you get me around seven thirty five?"
"Not a problem."
"You better write it down somewhere so that you'll remember it." Natasha told her, leaning forward so she could hear.
"I've got the perfect place." Haley responded.
"Where?" I asked.
"The bathroom mirror." She said, looking quite satisfied with herself.
"Haley the last time you wrote yourself a note on the bathroom mirror you still forgot what you had to do, and your mom was very mad at you."
"Yeah, permanent marker don't come off very well." She said, pausing for a moment before she spoke again. "Wasn't the note about something important too?"
"Yes, FEED THE HAMSTER!" I said, with an edge of laughter to my voice.
Haley seemed to remember now. "Oh yeah. Poor little Antonio, he never stood a chance."
"Haley had a hamster named Antonio?" Edward asked me, turning around in his seat.
"Yeah she got it at the very beginning of last year. She made a note to herself in permanent marker on the bathroom mirror to make sure she remembered to feed it, but she forgot and Antonio..."
"DIED!" Haley shouted really loud, causing everyone to look at her.
"Ok then." Edward said, turning back around to face the front of the room.
I focused my attention back on Haley. "Just remember to get me...ok?"
"Yep." She responded, and I could tell she was no longer really listening.
I heard someone walk through the door, and I turned around to notice our new AP English teacher.
"Hello class." She said in a very soft, sweet voice. "My name is Miss Lovely."
"Lovely is about right." Denver whispered.
"Denver, your girlfriend is sitting right here." Natasha said, pointing to herself. "It's kind of dumb to be checking out other girls out in front of her."
"Does it look like I care? No." He said.
Miss Lovely was defiantly lovely. Denver was right on that one. She had shoulder-length blond hair, bright blue eyes, a clear complexion, and a charming smile. I could tell all of the boys in the class were very attracted to her. She seemed young, like she was in her early twenties or something.
"Before we start class, I'd like to get the chance to know all of you." She said. "We'll just go around the room here and you can tell me your name and some things you like or enjoy." She pointed to a girl sitting at the far end of the room. "We will start with you."
"I'm Autumn." The girl said. "I enjoy cheerleading and talking on the phone."
"Very nice, and you?" She asked the girl sitting behind her.
"I'm Jasmine and I enjoy cheerleading and talking on the phone." She said with a smile. "And she is my BFF." She said, pointing to Autumn.
"How nice." Miss Lovely responded. "And you young man?" She said, walking over to one of Edward's friends.
"I'm Kyle. I like sports, girls, TV, and you." He said, looking up at her.
"Aw, how sweet of you." She said with a soft smile before moving on to Denver. "And you are?"
"I'm Denver." He said. "I like sports, girls, and TV."
"I'm seeing a trend here." She said, walking over to Brandon. "How about you?"
"My name's Brandon." He said, looking around the room at everyone watching him. "Um, I like sports, girls, TV and Bell..." He paused. "Bells."
"Bells?" She asked. "Do you collect them or something?"
"Yep, I'm quite the avid bell collector."
Edward was laughing so hard he about peed himself. Everyone else was laughing pretty hard as well, since they knew that wasn't what Brandon meant to say.
"How about you young lady?" Miss Lovely asked Natasha.
"Oh gosh, this should take forever." Denver said, laying his head on his desk. Kyle followed suit.
"I'm Natasha. I like cheerleading, volleyball, soccer, debate, history class, learning, hanging out with my friends, animals..."
About ten minutes later she finally finished.
"Very nice Natasha." Miss Lovely said.
"You forgot talking." Denver mumbled.
"What was that Denver sweetie?" Natasha asked him.
"You forgot to list talking as one of your favorite things to do."
Natasha ignored him as Miss Lovely motioned to Haley. "And you are?"
"I be Haley." She said, causing Miss Lovely to wrinkle her nose at her grammar. "I like fashion, feathers, food, fun, and this girl right here." She said, pointing to me. "Her name doesn't start with an "f" though, so she kind of messed up my chain."
"Very nice." She said, smiling at me.
"I'm Bella." I responded, and I heard Edward laughing quietly to himself. "I like to read, write, hang out with my friends, and just relax at home."
"Good, good." She said before making her way to the front of the room and smiling at Edward. "I bet I can guess your name."
He smiled. "I bet you can."
"Yeah it's Mr. Ego." I said, and the class laughed.
He didn't seem to care about my little comment. "I'm Edward Cullen. I like acting, hanging out with my friends and family, watching myself on TV, watching myself in the movies...."
"Listening to yourself talk." I said, causing everyone else in the room to laugh once more.
"And checking myself out in the mirror." He finished.
"Very nice." Miss Lovely said. "Now I want you guys to give me your opinion on something here. Who do you think is the best writer in this class?" She pointed at Autumn. "You first."
"Well...I guess that would be Bella." She said.
"I agree, the best writer in this class is Bella." Jasmine added in.
"Ok, and what about you Kyle? Who do you think is the best writer in this class?"
Kyle snored in response, and Denver lifted his head up off his desk to see what was going on.
"Kyle, dude wake up...we have a game tonight and you can't be sleeping during it." Denver said before smacking Kyle across the face. Kyle awoke with a jolt.
"Huh?" He asked, barely lifting his head up off of the desk.
"Who do you think is the best writer in this class?" Miss Lovely repeated.
"Oh." Kyle said before he rested his head back on the desk. "That girl over there, Bella."
"Ok, and Denver...what do you have to say?"
"Bella."
"Brandon?"
"Bella. So Bella. Totally Bella. Without a doubt Bella. Surely..."
"Dude!" Denver yelled, turning around towards Brandon. "Shut your face."
Brandon said nothing in response.
"Thank you. Gosh." Denver said, before laying his head back down.
"Natasha?" Miss Lovely said, ignoring the interruption.
"Bella without a doubt. And if anyone would like to disagree with me, I open this discussion for debate."
"Please no one disagree with her." Denver mumbled.
"Haley?" Miss Lovely asked.
"Bell to the a" She said.
"Bella?" She asked me with a smile.
"Gee, I dunno...maybe me?"
She then smiled at Edward. "And Edward."
"Cullen..." Denver said, raising his head to look at him. "Dude I know you hate her guts and all, but please be nice to her just this once so that way Natasha doesn't start a debate. Please dude. I'm begging you."
Edward sighed. "That would be Bella."
"Thank you!" Denver called to the ceiling before returning his head to his desk.
"Alright, now who would you say is the worst writer in the class? Autumn?"
"Sorry, but that would be Edward." She said.
"Edward." Jasmine repeated.
"I'm just going to skip over Kyle." Miss Lovely said, motioning towards Denver. "What do you think Denver?"
"It's Cullen. He sucks." Was his response.
"Thanks dude, that really helps the ego." Edward joked.
"Your ego doesn't need any help." I said to him.
"Brandon...who would you say is the worst writer in the class?"
"Edward. So Edward. Totally Edward. Without a doubt Edward. Surely..."
"Gosh Brandon for the love of freaking Pete already!" Denver shouted. "Shut your freaking face."
"Alright." Miss Lovely said, motioning at Natasha.
"That would have to be Edward." She said, sounding sad to admit the fact.
"It be Edward." Haley responded before Miss Lovely even asked for her to talk. "He may be good looking, but he can't write worth a crap."
"Bella?" She asked. "Who do you think?"
Everyone was right. Edward was not a very good writer at all. He was smarter than any of us in the room, yet he could not write. He would always look at the general ideas I had in my papers and then twist them around a little to make them sound like his own. He was never able to write a story or an essay effectively, but he still passed the class. That's why I was unsure if he would be in AP English or not in the first place. I didn't know if his writing skills were strong enough.
"I'm going to go with everyone else on this one and say Edward is the worst writer in the class." I said.
"I'm actually quite surprised that this is the case." She said, looking at Edward. "Would you agree with everyone?"
He quickly glanced around the room before he nodded. "Yeah my writing kind of sucks."
"Well maybe we can change that by the end of the year." She said with a soft smile on her face before she started to write something on the board. The sentence read... Something that makes me happy is....
"Now class, I want you to take out your journals and write at least a page on something that makes you happy. It can be a person, place, or thing. Whatever you desire."
Everyone got to work quickly, except for Kyle, who was still asleep. After we finished Miss Lovely picked Natasha and Denver to go up and read their journals. I think Miss Lovely learned that when you say "Write a page" Natasha turns it into "Write six pages" and Denver turns "Write a page" into "Write a few sentences and then fill the rest of the paper with a bunch of crap."
After they finished reading she had us put our journals away. She starting cutting some pieces of paper into small, even strips.
"Haley." She called across the room. "May I see your hat for a minute?"
"Me hat?" She asked, pointing to her vibrant, purple, feather-covered fedora. "Sure, but I don't think it will fit you."
Miss Lovely laughed. "I don't want to wear it. I need it to put something in."
"Ok, as long as you don't put guacamole in it, I'm cool with that. That stuff is so hard to get out of hats."
"And you would know this why?" Edward asked as she walked back to her desk.
"It has been done." She said proudly before siting down.
Miss Lovely walked to the far end of the room and held Haley's fedora out to Autumn. "Now I want each one of you to draw a paper out of this hat. You can look at it, but don't show anyone else."
She slowly made her way around the room, and when she was done she returned to the front of the class after she returned Haley's hat. "Now I want you to tell me what you have on your paper. Autumn we'll start with you."
"A cupcake." She said as she examined her paper.
"I have a butterfly." Jasmine said with an excited tone to her voice.
"Denver...what does Kyle have?" Miss Lovely asked.
Denver leaned forward to look at Kyle's paper. "Snowflakes." He said as he looked at his own paper. He made a disgusted face as he read. "And I have bunnies."
Everyone laughed.
"How about you Brandon?"
"Puppies." He said, not sounding too happy.
"And what do you have Natasha?"
"A rainbow!" She cried excitedly.
"I has songbirds...this makes me happy." Haley said. "Me likes the birdies. They gots feathers."
"There were so many things wrong with that sentence...but good for you." Miss Lovely said before motioning to me.
"I have kittens." I said before laying my paper down on the desk.
"And Edward?"
"The sun." He said simply.
"Ok." Miss Lovely said, folding her arms behind her back. "Now all of these things you just named off are fairly happy, sweet, innocent sort of things...are they not?"
"I dunno, those bunnies can get pretty evil at times." Denver said.
Everyone laughed at his joke.
"So if you were to write something about them, your paper would have a very light, innocent, happy mood, correct?"
We all nodded our heads in response to her question.
"I want you guys to write a paper at least three pages long on your object. It will be due next Friday, and we will work on it in class. You can chose to make a story out of it, or describe your object, but you must keep the happy mood throughout your paper."
Just as she finished her sentence the bell rang, and everyone all jumped up at once.
"It was great getting to know all of you. I'll see you Monday." She said softly before organizing some papers on her desk.
Denver got up out of his seat with a sigh and kicked Kyle's desk. "Come on dude. Coach said the bus leaves at three thirty."
"Dang Colorado...what's your problem?" Kyle asked, yawning as he stood up. "You don't have to be so violent."
"I've never got why everyone calls Denver Colorado." Natasha said, looking at me for an explanation.
I couldn't believe how someone as smart as her could be so dumb at times. "Natasha, repeat the last part of your sentence."
"Why everyone calls Denver Colorado." She repeated.
"Shouldn't that answer your question?"
"It doesn't." She said.
She was having on of her classic blonde moments."What's the capital of Colorado Natasha?"
"Denver."
"What's Denver's name?"
"Denver...duh."
"So everyone calls Denver Colorado because Denver is the capital of Colorado...right?"
She processed this for a minute. "It's still not making sense to me."
I laughed. "Goodbye Natasha."
She shook her head to clear her confusion. "Bye Bella." She said, walking out of class with Denver and Kyle.
I turned around to ask Haley if she'd give me a ride home, but when I looked behind me, I noticed Haley was gone.
"Crap." I said, noticing Autumn and Jasmine were the only other people still around. I sighed in frustration and proceeded to walk out of the room, when I ran into Edward, who was holding his car keys and smiling at me.
"Just don't ruin my car...ok?" He said, leading me out of the classroom.
"How would I ruin your car?" I asked.
"Because of your ugliness."
"Well then it should already be ruined in that case, since you drive it."
"Shut up virgin lips." He said, laughing at his own joke.
"Shut up crappy writer."
"Ya know." He said, turning to me with a devilish grin on his face. "I really don't like you."
"Tell me something I didn't already know." I said as he walked to the driver's side door.
"You." He said, pointing at me. "Are not going to talk for the whole ride to your house...got it?"
"Then you can't talk for the whole ride either."
"It's a deal." He said.
"Yeah...one that you are going to break."
"No, but if you break it there shall be consequences."
"Try me." I said, before getting in the passenger's seat.
"Oh I will." He said, taking a seat himself.
And as I looked out the window and saw Brandon giving Edward an evil glare as we drove away, I couldn't help but laugh hysterically.
So how was that for an update? I was gonna post something Sunday night, but the site logged me out and I lost the whole second half of the chapter, so I had to retype it all. Anyways...what do you guys think of their English teacher Miss Lovely? And which one of Edward's friends interest you the most? Kyle, Denver, or Brandon? Thank you so much for reading, and please send me a review if you have time. I'll love you forever!
Thanks again!
~Hazl~