Infat. 4

How she made it through her last class, Bella did not know. The pain and confusion was eating her on the inside. She fumbled more volleyballs than normal, a feat that worried her. When the final bell rang she swept up her belongings and jogged to her car as quickly as she safely could. For a moment when she heard the small snatch of argument she smiled internally, thinking that thank God someone was having a day as bad as hers, but then she saw that it was the Cullen siblings and her wishful happiness disappeared.

She was happy to be in her room before Charlie came home. He would have asked about her day, and she did not think that she was capable of answering the questions yet. She was not, in fact, capable of much more than crying. The stinging tears were hot, an unavoidable fact, but she stifled them in her pillow and eventually they dried.

Bella made dinner from the scant ingredients Charlie stocked and made a mental note to go shopping. She was at the stove when he came through the door, suspicious of the smell wafting about the house. It made her laugh and she threw her arms around him in a hug as she told him it was real food they were having for dinner. She was glad that he was bad at asking typical fatherly questions because they were so similar that what others perceived as a tenuous relationship was actually the deepest of bonds they could share. Talking was almost unnecessary.

After dinner, Bella shooed her father out of the kitchen and washed the dishes. The repetitive motions and sloshing of warm soapy water were soothing; as usual, it gave her time to process her thoughts. Usually her thoughts revolved around the latest English assignment, a character in a book she was reading, or what her mother had done with the light bulbs. Tonight, however, she thought about Jasper.

He was handsome in his own way. She could give him that. He was mysterious and a bit quirky. That she could allow him as well. He had a faultless sense of sarcasm, too. But she understood why Jessica had snubbed him so harshly, and it hurt to know. When it came right down to it, he was rude, rash, and bad-tempered. He had a way of enchanting you and then ripping away the fairy tale before it really started.

Bella sighed and wiped off the counters. In the other room, Charlie had sat down in front of the television; he had protested this at first but, after they walked into each other twice, had retreated to safety. She glanced over once before finishing the chore and joining him. They watched an episode of Law and Order together, though both exchanged their doubts as to how realistic the scenarios really were, and then Bella went to bed. She was too exhausted, mentally and physically, to do any more thinking.

When she woke in the morning, Bella knew that she was going to confront Jasper Hale. She planned the verbal assault throughout her morning shower and breakfast until she was smiling. She would not stand for his behavior, even if he thought he was allowed make her feel like a rejected crush. What gave him the right to toy with her?

Very much aware that she did feel like a rejected crush, Bella pulled into the parking lot and looked for the familiar shag of dark blond. Anger eventually gave way to anxiety when she could not see him. Anxiety quickly became worry when she spotted Jasper's siblings walking toward the building; Edward had his arm wrapped protectively around his sister. Even from the distance, Bella could see her wiping her eyes against the inner fabric of her green cardigan as she looked up at Edward.

Bella could not bring herself to intrude upon them, but her stomach had clenched into a ball and she felt sick with worry. Instead, she went to her locker and headed off to her Latin class. She hoped that they were not already in the room. Without anger, she could now see how Jasper's absence was her fault and did not want to face the blame.

But, thankfully, the two did not get to class until just before the bell rang. They did not look at her before taking their seats, and Bella breathed a sigh of relief that she had escaped their notice for now.

Halfway through the class, the Principal knocked on the door and excused the Cullens from class. Bella's heart lurched as they stood. Alice's face, however chipper it might usually be, was crumpling. She noticed, too, that even Edward looked worried as he left class. Horrified, Bella decided to ask him on the matter as soon as he returned.

The Cullens did not return to classes that day.

The next day the silver Volvo was not at its usual parking spot in the morning. Bella hoped vainly that they had simply driven another car. When she realized that they had not, the sickness ate at her stomach; she did not eat during lunch that day.

On Thursday, there was no sign of any of the siblings. Bella sat through an entire day's worth of gossip – most of which she found not simply unfounded but also incredibly rude – before escaping to her truck. She cried again, not because she was so angry at him but because none of her other peers had even come close to having similar interests as her. Not that she knew any of his interests – it merely seemed that, if he gave her the chance to be friends, they could have that in common. As she cried, Bella was ashamed to admit that she had already begun counting the days until she could move home.

She walked into English class on Friday and nearly started when she realized that the chair next to her was no longer empty. Edward Cullen was bent over his desk, reading an excerpt from Self Reliance that they had gone over the day before. The hand that supported his head was cut and scraped. His eyes were little better; they looked shadowed and sleepless. He looked up as Bella took her seat and, wringing her hands, glanced over. Their gazes met.

Bella opened her mouth and shut it several times before she was actually able to speak. "Is – is your brother okay?" she said tentatively.

He raised his eyebrows at this and swept the room for eavesdroppers before answering tersely. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

Bella reached out as he turned away, more startled than him that she had done so. "And you?"

She felt a blush creeping up her cheeks as his eyes bored silently into her. When he finally spoke (much to her relief), his voice had taken on a different timbre. "I'm sure that I'll be fine, too."

Bella grinned, glad to be relieved of the gnawing guilt that had been with her all week, and offered him her notes from the day before. His reserved smile broadened when he saw the organized details and interpretations written out in her scrawl. They went over the notes quickly while he transcribed. By the time the teacher entered the room she had given him a summary of the lecture and the two were chatting comfortably.

E/N: It's a bum chapter ending, I know. Still, I thought it served a purpose of filling in a gap and creating another... just where did Edward go and why was he all scratched up? The answer to that: will be told during a following announcement - earlier, though, if you review and guess.

Also, I know I haven't responded to all the Favs/Reviews/Alerts, but to those I missed: THANK YOU! YOU ARE A MOTIVATING FACTOR IN MY WRITING, AND I HOPE TO SEE WHAT YOU ARE THINKING OF THE STORY VERY SOON. Much love, even with sporatic updates on this storyline,

~Mandala Morgaine