Everything After
Chapter 4
"Bella, I hope I caught you before you started dinner." Sue laughed into the phone.
"Yeah actually, the twins just woke up and are starting to color so I can start." I smiled at her silliness.
"Well, don't worry. We're all going to the country club, get the twins dressed cute and we'll be home in a few minutes. We're going to dinner with the Cullen's." I could hear the smile in her voice.
"It'll be nice to have some quiet time." I replied.
"Oh no sweet girl. You're going too. Get on a cute skirt or dress and be ready. You've got a playpen for a reason." Sue hung up on me so I couldn't argue.
I sighed and cursed her out under my breath.
Rushing around I got myself ready in a coral dress, my mom's pearls, some heels, a clutch, I brought my hat and sunglasses in case they decided to eat on the patio.
I dressed Boothe in cute plaid shorts, a white button-down shirt and a green sweater vest with Chucks and a little Fedora. Bonnie wore a white and green summer dress with white sandals and I put her hair into two little pigtails.
They were so adorable, I took a bunch of pictures of them to surprise my dad and Sue.
They arrived home and changed quickly before going crazy over how gorgeous we all looked. "Bells, you take your truck and Sue and I will take ours with the twins, that way if you want to hang out with the kids longer, you can." my dad smiled.
"Dad, I don't know any kids." I sighed.
"Well you'll get to know the Cullen boys better at dinner along with their friends." Sue nodded and left no room for argument.
I sighed and huffed as I got into my Mazda SUV and followed them.
"Bella! So good to see you again. Let me introduce you to my niece and nephew. This is Alice and Jasper Whitlock, as I told you they're twins. They've both got the green eyes that run in our family, but they take after my father and have a bit more yellow in them and have the brown hair." Esme pointed out. "Of course, you've met Emmett." she said a little louder than necessary to bring Emmett closer to us and Emmett smiled a tight smile. "Bella, Sue told me you weren't up to shopping the other day, so I'm sure Alice would love to go instead." Esme smiled and Alice was bouncing. "Oh, here's Edward and Tanya." she said dryly. "Edward dear, this is Bella,
Charlie's daughter and this is Bonnie." she reached out for Esme.
"Oh, how cute. You've got a baby." Tanya smiled a fake smile.
"Tanya, take your seat." Esme snapped.
"Yes ma'am." Tanya put her head down and walked to the table.
"Really mom? You're going to snap at her because she just said she had a cute baby." Edward huffed.
"If you don't want to be grounded, you'd do well to sit down with the tart." Esme snapped at him too.
Edward sighed and walked away shaking his head.
He and Tanya were sending me dirty looks while Esme talked to me and gushed over Bonnie.
"Mommy, mommy!" Boothe cried out.
I reached down to pick him up and he reached for Esme as well.
"Sweetie, Ms. Esme has Bonnie, I'll hold you?" I kissed his cheek.
"Ok." he hugged me back.
"Bella, they're adorable. And those outfits." Alice gushed.
"Thanks! I love shopping for them." I smiled.
"Great! Let's go shopping tomorrow. One last trip before school starts. Sound good?" She smiled.
"Um, yeah. I'll have to take the twins." I hesitated.
"Nonsense. I'll watch them." Esme smiled. "I've got stuff at my house, just bring what they'll need for the day. Come now, let's eat." she shoved us to the table and I couldn't help but notice the placement. It was Sue, Bonnie, me, Boothe, Emmett, Charlie on one side and Carlisle, Esme, Edward, Tanya, Alice and Jasper on the other. I tried not to smile every time Boothe got Emmett to play with him. Jasper kept making faces as did Alice, but Bonnie only seemed to want Esme or myself. During dinner, I told Esme to eat first and I'd eat after.
"Nonsense, Bonnie and Boothe both need to learn that it's time to eat, they need to do the same, even if it's just Cheerios." she smiled.
Sure enough, I put a few snacks in front of them and we were able to eat in peace for most of it. Boothe started to get antsy towards the end and I was mostly finished so I took him outside to the grass area to run.
"You know he's never going to want you, right?" a deep, smooth voice sounded behind me. "If you're referring to Emmett, I really don't care. I don't need someone like that in my life. All I need to do is graduate this year and then I'm off to college." I shrugged.
"College with kids." he laughed.
I whirled around on him. "Why don't you mind your own fucking business Edward Cullen, you have NO idea what you're talking about!" I snapped and picked up Boothe. "Come on sweetie, let's go get Bonnie and get some ice cream." I kissed his cheek.
I walked inside and Sue knew right away something was wrong, I shook my head a little but continued to smile.
"Boothe said he wants ice cream, so I'm going to take him and Bonnie. I'll see you guys at home." I kissed their cheeks, but before I could get away from the table Alice jumped up. "Let me help you Bella, I know a great little ice cream place." she took Boothe and glared at Emmett and Edward who both had the nerve to look embarrassed.
"C'mon Bella, I'll just ride with you and have Jasper pick me up later, I need some girl time." she laughed.
"I'll take you home after Sue and Charlie get home, if you'd like to stay a little longer." I smiled.
"Perfect! We'll talk about our shopping trip!" and with that we were off for ice cream.
The twins were covered in ice cream, Alice helped me strip them down to their diapers and wipe them off as much as possible with wet wipes before heading home.
"Here, we'll bathe them. You girls go have some fun, don't stay out too late, you're going shopping in the morning and Alice is a pro." Sue laughed.
I looked at Alice and we started laughing.
"I'll be back in a little bit Sue."
Alice and I ran up to my room so I could change into something a little more comfortable.
"Just put on some yoga pants and a t shirt." Alice shrugged.
"You want to borrow one? You're not much shorter than me." I smiled.
"Sure, that'll save us time. The guys are already at the park playing basketball." she smiled.
"Ugh! Alice. Edward and Emmett already hate me, I don't need any of the others hating me for something they don't understand." I sighed. I'd explained it all to Alice on our drive to eat ice cream.
"Don't worry about them. Once they get to know you they'll want to know the entire story and they'll feel like shit and make sure they feel like shit for dissing you." Alice told me. I saluted her and we both laughed before driving to the park.
Walking up to the picnic tables right by the basketball courts I saw a lot more guys than were there previously.
"Bella, get ready to be surrounded." Alice whispered.
"Where's your boyfriend?" I asked Alice.
"You'll meet him in a few minutes, trust me," she giggled "and Jasper will not be happy, nor will my cousins."
Before I could ask her why a blond guy who's built pretty nice comes over and scoops her up. "Hey babe, missed you!" he kissed her as her legs wrapped around him and I turned away to give them privacy.
"Oh, that won't work." I heard a chuckle in my ear.
Startled I looked up to Jasper smiling.
"Why?"
"She hasn't seen him in almost a month. He's been away at some special training camp his parents sent him to for baseball. We've got recruiters coming in a few weeks." Jasper shrugged.
"Oh wow. That's awesome." I smiled. "What about you? Where's Maria? Alice told me she was your girlfriend."
"Oh, she doesn't like coming to the park, she might get 'dirty'. Her and Tanya and Rose usually go shopping or dancing." he gave a crooked smile.
"Alice doesn't join them?" I asked.
"Sometimes, but she's been avoiding them lately because of Rose. She totally fucked with Emmett and he's family, plus she likes to watch Mike play basketball." he cringed at the last part.
I laughed out loud and Alice demounted Mike and pulled him over to us.
"Mike, you've got to meet my new bestie, this is Bella!" Alice said excitedly.
"Nice to meet you Bella. Will we be seeing you around?" he looked over at the guys playing basketball.
"Oh, uh with Alice, yeah." I smiled. "Not with anyone else. No." I shook my head.
"What? None of those idiots has hit on you yet? I'm guessing you haven't hung out with Alice much." and I just shook my head.
"Monday will be my first day of school here." I smiled.
"Oh, you'll have a boyfriend by the end of the day. Leave it to Alice. I'm sure she's got a list in her head." he kissed her cheek before running back to the game.
"He's such an idiot Alice." Jasper sighed.
"I thought he was pretty nice." I shrugged.
"That's because you've got tits!" Jasper snarked.
"Jasper Whitlock!" Alice snapped.
"It's true Alice, we all know he was a manwhore before he started dating you. Sorry." he shook his head and walked back to the game.
"See, I told you they didn't like him." she sighed.
"Sorry, I thought he was pretty nice and he seemed like he really missed you." I smiled and hugged her.
"He did. He bought me a surprise and is taking me out to dinner on Saturday night." she squealed.
"Awww, that's awesome!" we sat at the picnic tables watching them play.
All of a sudden, the ball comes out of nowhere and hits me upside the head. "Fuck!" I yelled.
And a fight is breaking out on the court between Edward and Emmett.
"Shit! I knew it." Alice is smiling.
"Alice, why the fuck are you smiling? I've got a concussion and Emmett and Edward are fighting." I'm holding my head as Jasper and another guy try to break them apart.
"Shit! I'm sorry. They're fighting over you, silly." she smiled.
"Yeah, right." I laughed.
"Bella, Emmett really likes you. He wants to hear your story. Edward is being a dick and telling him he's throwing his life away on someone else's throwaway fuck." she rolled her eyes.
"What? He called me a what?" I jumped off the table.
"Bella, don't go over there. That's a fight you don't want to get in the middle of." Alice was trying to stop me.
"No Alice, I'm done. I'm tired of people talk shit about me, Especially the Cullen brothers." I huffed.
"Listen assholes!" I put my fingers in my mouth and whistled loudly. Fuck that hurt my head.
They stopped fighting and all eyes were on me.
I could see both brothers had landed a few good punches.
"I'm here to set the record straight, that way come Monday morning there will be no more rumors from at least this little group. Which seems to hold 'ALL' the power anyway. I was just told this fucking asshole called me a 'throwaway fuck'. First off, I'd have to have SEX to be a 'throwaway fuck', dumbass! My babies, are NOT, MY babies. They're my brother and sister. Yes, they call me mommy. But that's because our mom and their dad died when they were 6 months old. So, I'M the only mom they know. I moved here to be with my dad and Sue, hoping to have a normal teenage life and enjoy MY senior year of high school. But if this is the shit I've got to put up with, I might as well homeschool myself and not even bother. Alice, Jasper and Mike, thanks for being so welcoming. Mike, I'm sure you'll give Alice a ride home." I hugged Alice goodbye.
I'd never been so thankful that I lived so close to the park, I managed to make it home before I broke down on the front steps.
"I'm sorry." I heard next to me.
"I don't want your fucking sympathy. Go the fuck away!" I stood up to go inside.
"That's not what I'm sorry for. I'm sorry for my brother calling you that. I'd just heard that right before you came out there. Alice must have heard it from Tanya or something." Emmett shrugged.
"It doesn't matter. I don't need anything from you. I can protect my own honor as you can see. My dad and step dad made sure of that." I cried again and he tried to hug me, I pushed him away.
"I can't comfort you?" he asked.
"I don't need anything from you. I'm fine on my own. I've done it for over 6 months without any help, I can continue to do it for more." I stated firmly, wiping my tears and looking him in the eyes.
"Fine." he threw his hands in the air and walked away.
Shopping with Alice reminded me of shopping with my mom.
It was an all-day excursion, I was glad that Esme had kept the twins and Sue was picking them up later.
I told Alice about Emmett stopping by and she already knew, she said he called her after and told her I'd been a bitch and shut him out. She said she didn't blame me because he'd been an asshole all this time.
As we were trying on a few dresses we heard voices in an adjoining dressing room. "Can you believe that girl passing off her dead mother's kids as her own! That's so sick! She must be desperate for attention or trying to hook a man!" a nasally voice said and I gasped.
Alice looked completely furious.
"Tanya said that Edward said she was trying to get her hooks into Emmy. That will NEVER happen! I'm going to make him forget Rose this year if it's the last thing I do!" another voice snapped.
"Yeah, your hair looks just like Rose's now!" the nasal voice giggled.
"Too bad Edward and Jasper are taken. Although we all know Edward isn't loyal to Tanya in the slightest. He'll eat a pussy if given the chance and let any girl blow him. But Jasper is loyal to a fault." It sounded like she was pouting. Alice and I were staring at each other with wide eyes. "And Mike! What I wouldn't give to suck his cock! Fuck he looks so good in that baseball uniform. But I know he's 100% loyal to Alice. I propositioned him when I saw he was back from that baseball camp. But he told me to get the fuck away from him. Alice was the only one who was touching any part of him." Alice smiled proudly at that. They left after that and Alice went into bitch mode.
"I'm going to so beat Lauren and Jessica's ass!" she spat.
"I take it they're not friends." I smiled.
"Ahhhh, not anymore." she nodded.
"I know who my friend is." she stressed hugging me.
"And you're mine." I hugged her back.
"I'm sorry they said those things about you." she smiled sadly.
"I can't dwell on them or I'll go crazy." I shrugged.
"Yeah, but Edward is my cousin and he's talking crap about you, that makes me feel like shit." Alice sighed.
"Don't let it Alice. you can't help what he thinks and says." I shrugged.
"You're the best… I'm so glad you came into my life!" she hugged me tight.
We left there and grabbed lunch in the food court.
We were talking and laughing when she stopped and gasped.
"Shit! Get ready to meet Rose." she sighed and put on a fake smile.
"Alice!" I heard a husky female voice.
"Rose." Alice said sharply.
"Is that anyway to talk to your friend?" Rose asked.
"We quit being friends when you crushed Emmett. Nice black eye by the way." Alice smirked and I had to chance a glance. "Who the fuck are you?" she snapped.
I wasn't going to let her intimidate me.
"I'm Bella, Bella Swan." I stood up and smiled and she started to laugh in my face.
"Oh shit! You're the one I've been hearing about. This is funny. You're my competition?" she snarked.
"No, I'm not your competition. I think Lauren and Jessica are. I overheard them saying they'd love to suck off or fuck Emmett, which ever. It didn't matter. They were sure they could do it better than you." I quirked an eyebrow at her.
"Alice, I can't believe you're hanging around with trash like this." she laughed dryly and smiled wide.
"The only trash that's here is you, Rose." a deep voice sounded off from behind me and Emmett put his arm around me. I frowned at him and he withdrew it.
"Well, it looks like someone doesn't like to be touched. Maybe daddy touches you in all the wrong places." she laughed. "God damn it Rose." Emmett growled.
"I don't need you fighting my fights. Can we go now Alice? I've lost my appetite and I need to get home." I looked at her.
We left those two in a stare off and walked away.
We were almost to my car when I felt a hand on my arm.
"Can we talk?" Emmett asked.
"No! I've got nothing to say to you Emmett, every time you come around I get hurt. I didn't come here to find love, I came here to finish high school and make friends. And so far Alice is the only one I can call a friend, I guess Jake and a few of them as well." I shrugged.
"So, you're not dating Jake?" he smiled.
"That's all you got out of that? Really?" I shook my head.
"No, Bella. I just want to know if I have a chance." he held my hand.
"I don't think so. I'm sorry." I looked down.
"What? Why?" he raised his voice.
"Because. You care more about what your friends and brother think than what it would mean to be with me, IF I were interested." I yelled at him.
"Come on Bella, let's just go." Alice looked at me sadly and angrily at Emmett. "Leave her alone Em."
Emmett lifted his hands in the air so I could get in the car and informed me he didn't give a fuck what his friends or brother thought and he wasn't giving up.
"I want to talk, just us Bella. Please." Emmett begged.
I didn't answer I just pulled away.
"Alice, I need you to talk to him please, find out if he is serious. If he is, I'll talk to him, but he's your cousin and you know him better than anyone I'm sure." I looked at her and smiled. "I do. I grew up with all those boys, so I know when they're lying and I really think he's serious, but I'll talk to him to be sure. One on One." she smiled.
I dropped her off at her house and she told me she was happy we'd have lunch and PE together.
I however was nervous as hell for tomorrow morning, I knew it'd bring on a new set of challenges and I'd need all the rest I could get tonight.
AN:
WOW!
A little over 3300 words…
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Hope you enjoy!
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