Bella
"Damn it," a voice muttered. I felt myself be hoisted into the air and the only thing I could do was snuggle against their warm body. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. I wanted to stay asleep forever. Life was too hard. Death was easier.
"Can weee just leaveherrr here?" A voice whined. The girl sounded familiar. A feeling of hate surged throughout my body. It multiplied when I heard her name.
"Tanya, shut the fuck up. Do you want her to die? I didn't think you were that selfish. We've got to get her back to the beach. Try calling Emmett again." He hissed.
"I've, like, already, called, like, ummm, threee, times." She slurred. "Emmettdoesntlikemeee."
"Yeah, I wonder why," Edward muttered sarcastically. He shifted me in his arms and like a bullet, a sudden burst of pain shot through my ribs. A soft whimper escaped my lips and Edward froze. "Bella?" He whispered "Bella, c'mon, you're safe. Just wake up." His voice was full of anxiety and continued to whisper sweet things in my ear. I knew I was safe. I knew that I was safe with Edward but I didn't trust the Wicked Witch of the East: Tanya. She wouldn't hesitate to leave me for dead.
"Bella, it's Edward," he said. "I won't let anyone hurt you."
My eyes flutter open but quickly shut, feeling the headache return. I groan, pressing my face into Edward's rock solid chest. He had a firm grip on me so I trusted him not to drop me. I was safe.
I try again, opening my eyes successfully this time, and stare into his warm ones. He sighs in relief and mutters my name. It's as if we're the only two people in the world and all the stars and the sun have aligned. Nothing can tear us apart. Except for the witch.
"What did you drink?" He breathes.
"Fruitpunch," I mumble into his chest, wanting to sleep again.
"Shit," he mumbles. "Do you know much you had?" I shook my head and closed my eyes. It felt like I was about to die of heatstroke. I was sweating and could barely breathe in this heavy sweatshirt.
He puts the back of his ice-cold hand against my forehead, instantly waking me up. The coldness felt so nice. I almost wished it was winter. I hated the heat. I hated the way it clung to my body as I so desperately tried to get it off. I hated Jacob's hot body the most. It suffocated me as I struggled to find some comfort. I didn't like the heat.
"I'm not letting you go back to sleep. You've got to stay awake," he said in a firm voice. I whimper, not wanting to be here. I want to be put down. I want to go back to sleep.
"Let's get this sweatshirt off of you," he mutters. "You're sweating."
Edward stands me up against a tree, lifting my arms up. It's dark out but I can make out Tanya standing to the side. She is seething, watching Edward and me together. Her hands are clenched in fists and it looks like she is about to murder somebody. Not in my right mind, my head lolls to the side and I smirk at her. I bet she wished she was me right about now.
Edward lifts my arms up, tugging the sweatshirt over my head, leaving me in temporary darkness. "Edwarddd," I say. I try to take a step but stumble forward into his arms. He catches me and lifts me back in his arms, bridal style.
"Tanya take her sweatshirt," he tosses to her but she lets it drop on the ground.
"I, don't take orders from youuu," She hisses. Her eyes are ablaze. She glares at the two of us before kicking my sweatshirt aside, covering it in the dirt. "Gooo, have fun with this attention seeking whooore. I'm going to back to the partyyy. Maybe I'll see what Tyler isss up tooo."
"Tanya, don't you fucking dare," Edward's jaw clenched. "I'll end this right here."
She snorts, obviously not believing it. I snuggle into his chest, wanting to get comfortable. Edward's eyes flash down to me and he gently rubs my back.
"Gooo ahead, Edward. Don't except meee, to comeee crawling back to you." Tanya stalks off, leaving us stranded in the forest. I was now in an even deeper pile of shit.
I was laying in the backseat of Emmett's Jeep. Edward had found Emmett and soon word had spread to the others, what had happened.
"What was she doing in the woods?" Emmett demanded. "I was only gone for an hour. How much trouble could she get into?"
"I don't know. Tanya and I were walking back to the beach and we found her lying on the ground unconscious."
"She has hickeys all over her neck. She must have gone off with some guy," Rose said in a grave voice. I knew what she was thinking. I'd been taken advantage of.
"No." Angela shakily said. "Bella's not like that. She doesn't drink. She doesn't do that stuff."
"Well, she's as drunk as fuck right now and obviously something has happened. She told me that all she had was fruit punch." Edward growled. My head was in his lab, and he rubbed circles on the back of my hand.
"Well she obviously didn't know the punch was spiked," Jasper says.
My breathing was heavy and labored like when someone had just finished running a marathon. I was going to puke. "Ed-" I try to say. I clumsily push myself up, letting my head hang low. Everyone was now silent, watching me.
"Bella?" Emmett reaches his hand out to me but I push him away, trying to get out of the car. "What-"
Before he can finish, I'm hunched over puking all over his shoes as Edward holds my hair back.
"Shit!" Emmett yells, jumping out of the way. I heave in deep breathes, trying to hold in the bile that's rising in my throat.
"It's alright," Edwards calm voice soothes my nerves. Certain, that nothing more is going to come out, I groan, falling back on the seats. I wanted to go home.
"What's going on?" I hear a new voice. Everyone turns around to see Jacob Black. "Is Bella alright?" Jacob walks forward, false concern coating his voice.
He may have fooled everyone else but he didn't fool me. He wanted me to know how much power he had. I wouldn't say anything in front of everyone. He knew that I was terrified. Jacob could smell my fear from a mile away and used that against me. I was right to be terrified. Who would believe the drunk girl?
"She's just had a bit too much to drink." Edward's response is short and annoyed.
Jacob narrows his eyes at Edward, pretending to be the concerned best friend. "Is she going to be alright?"
Emmett sighs. "She's going to be fine. You can go back to the party."
He doesn't listen to my brother. Emmett had always made it clear of his dislike of Jacob. I never knew why he hated him so much. I assumed it was because he was jealous. Ever since I became best friends with Jacob, Emmett and I spent less and less time together. It was always the two of us and I knew he was hurt and I ignored him. I'm a horrible sister.
"This is all my fault. I saw her drinking with this guy and I tried to tell her that she should slow down but she wouldn't listen to me." Jacob cries. "I should have tried harder to stop her."
"Why the hell didn't you try to find one of us?" Emmett roars. "Do you know what happened? She was found unconscious in the woods. She could have died out there if Edward hadn't found her!"
Jacob, taken aback, cowers under Emmett's deadly glare. "I'm s-sorry," He stutters. "I didn't know what to d-do."
"You idio-"
"Dude, back off the kid. He didn't know any better. Yelling at him isn't going to help anyone," Jasper steps in, breaking apart the fight that was most likely about to occur.
Panic was all I could feel. My heart racing because he was too close. Jacob, sputtering lies about me that everyone seemed to believe, made me sick to my stomach. Everyone believed him. I was just the drunk girl.
"Let's just get the fuck out of here before something else happens," Emmett grumbled.
"How about we go to my house? My parents are out of town for the weekend " Says Edward.
"Yeah, let's do that. My parents will freak if they see Bella like this." Emmett agrees and hops in the car with Rosalie.
"We'll meet you guys at your house," Jasper said referring to him and Alice.
"Yeah that sounds good."
The sound of the engine breaks me out of my thoughts and we're driving away from the beach. I can still feel the imprint of Jacob's hands all over me. I can still hear his voice in my mind, telling me to shut up. The bruise from his kick makes me want to scream in pain. But I can't. I can't be weak because when I'm weak, I'm vulnerable and I don't want to be vulnerable.
"What happened last night, Bella?" Emmett sits down on the edge of the bed. It's 9:00 in the morning, officially the next day. I feel my insides twist and turn as I'm sitting up. The pain increasing in my side with every move but I'm unwilling to ask for Advil. I don't want to reveal my pain because there will be questions that I can not answer.
I was in Alice's bedroom. I'm not exactly sure what happened after we left the party but I'm pretty sure I threw up on Edward and then Alice and Rose helped me into the bath. Everything was kind of blurry.
"I don't know." I sigh, crossing my arms while I stare at the ground.
"You don't know?" He muttered. "Well, the last time I saw you, you were sitting by the bonfire eating s'mores," he whisper-shouts. "The next thing I know, Edward is carrying you out the forest, half awake with fucking hickeys all over your neck." He pauses, trying to control his temper. "Jacob Black told me that you were hanging out with some guy and that you were drinking. He tried to get you to stop but you wouldn't."
He waits for my reaction but I have none. Jacob Black is a fucking liar and knows he can get away with it.
"Is Jacob telling the truth?" He whispers.
I shrug my shoulders, picking the lint off of my t-shirt. I know what he won't let me go until I tell him the entire story. Every little detail.
"You have to talk to me Bella!" he raises his voice. "You could have died last night. Do you know what alcohol poisoning is?"
I shake my head, never having heard the term before.
"It's when you've consumed large amounts of alcohol in a short period of time. It can have serious consequences and from what I saw last night you had more than a few drinks." His face is a mix of purple and red. "You could have fallen into a coma or died or started having seizures-"
"Emmett, I'm fine! I've just got a fucking headache!" I scream from the rooftops. He stares at me shocked. I'm shocked also. It's my first time saying the f- word out loud. I was never one to swear.
He opens his mouth but starts laughing, tears brimming in his eyes. "What the hell is going on with you? You're swearing and drinking and having sex with a random guy-" he pauses, "Did someone hurt you at the party? Is that why you're acting so weird? Because you are nervous to tell me?"
The color drains from my face, remembering what Jacob did last night. "Nobody hurt me," I lie through my teeth. "I wanted to go with the guy. I didn't know the punch was spiked but I felt good once I drank some. I was having a good time and didn't want it to end"
Emmett doesn't say a word. He stares at me like I've become a stranger. His jaw is clenched and I can see the hope in his eyes, hope that I'm just joking. That this is all a sick joke and I'll go back to being the perfectly naive little sister of his.
"That guy left you unconscious in the middle of the woods," he says, tapping his finger against his temple. "Anything could have happened. You looked a mess when I first saw you. You can't possibly say that you had a good time with that douche bag."
It was silent.
It was deadly silent.
I usually enjoy the silence but this silence had a bad feel to it. Emmett was silent because he didn't know how to react. His little sister had turned into a whore overnight and now he had to deal with the fact that I was a changed person. He couldn't control me like he used to. I wouldn't let him.
"You're lucky that I'm not telling mom and dad. Most of those guys were seventeen, eighteen. You are just fourteen. You're still a kid for fuck's sake! You are just a fucking kid who's acting like a fucking slut! This isn't you, Bella!"
"I'm hardly a kid anymore," I scoff.
"You can't do this, Bella."
"You can't control me." I challenge. "You're not dad."
"Yeah, I'm not dad- I'm your brother. I know that all of those guys like- they like girls like you-"
"Girls like me? Please tell me, what that's supposed to mean!"
"Naive and young and stupid girls who don't know any better. They'll use you and then dump you like garbage when they've gotten what they want."
"I'm a big girl," my voice is monotone. "I'll survive."
Emmett snorts, not believing what he is hearing. "I don't want you hanging out with Kate and Bree. They're bad influences and if they hadn't brought you to that party then none of this would have happened."
"You don't get to tell me what to fucking do." I hiss. My face, bright red- partly from the pain of my bruised ribs and partly because I'm furious. "Now get out of this fucking room. I'm tired of this conversation."
"I'm just worried about you, Bella." His voice, sincere. "This isn't you. For the past month, you've been so different."
The truthfulness within his voice was like a punch to the gut. Everything hurt from my ribs to my lungs to my heart. My hurt heart the most knowing that it would never be whole again. The most I could do was mask the pain, hoping I didn't completely fall apart.
"Now you're worried? I thought that I was just a slut. Where were you before when I needed you?" I growl.
"I didn't mean that," he breathes. "But wait, what the hell are talking about?"
I've said too much. "Just worry about yourself. I don't need anyone looking after me," I muttered. "Now if you would please leave."
Emmett doesn't move.
"Now! Go! I don't want you here anymore!"
He throws his hands up in the air, exhausted with me. He stalks to the door and turns around. "I don't know who you even are anymore."
And he's gone.
I push myself out of bed, clinging to the wall as every step sends another shot of pain up my side. I lock the door, making sure that no one can get in.
I'm the slut. I'm the school slut that's trying to get into Edward Cullen's pants. I'm now the evil witch that has broken up Tanya and Edward: the It couple. I'm the crazy drunk girl trying to steal everyone's boyfriends. At least that is what Tanya's spreading around on Twitter and everyone believes her.
I fling my phone across the room, watching it hit the wall and crack. Pings keep sounding from the growing number of people messaging me; telling me how they hate me.
I already hated myself so it didn't surprise me as much as it should have. It just confirmed what I already thought. There is no one you can truly trust.
The sound of the door handle rattling startles me from my thoughts. Somebody is trying to get in.
"Bella?" Edward says. "Please open the door. We need to talk."
"You can say what you need to say through the door."
Tears stained my cheeks. I didn't want him to me like this. I didn't want anybody to see me. I was supposed to be strong.
"Bella please," he sighs. "We need to talk in private. I'm going to put a stop to this. Don't believe anything people are saying. They're all idiots."
I laugh, finding absolutely nothing funny. "Let them say what they want. I could care less." My voice is unsteady.
"Bella, I know that's not true. Say what you want to others but don't you dare lie to me."
I can't take this anymore. I can't deal with Tanya and her little minions. I can't deal with Emmett and his constant mood swings. I especially can't face Edward. He is what's going to be the end of me. He's going to make me fall apart. I can't let that happen.
"Go away, Edward. I don't want to see you. I don't want to talk to you." I hiss.
Edward being fed up with me says, "Well when you decide to get off of your high horse, come and find me. I'm going to clean up this mess because believe it or not, some people actually still care about you."
He walks away, leaving me alone for the rest of the day. I know that I've screwed everything up. I've managed to alienate myself so much, possibly my only friends have left me. I didn't think it would hurt this much to be alone.
My emotions pour out of me like an open flood gate. Every reaction, every feeling, every emotion I've ever felt all becomes too much. I want somebody to hold me and tell me that everything will be alright. I want to go to Edward and apologize for what I said. I want to tell Emmett how much I love him. I want to kill Jacob Black and make him suffer as much as I've suffered.
But instead, I watch the clock strike midnight. Alice came a few hours ago saying that she'd stay in Edward's room tonight. Everyone left earlier in the day, giving up on me. I'd give up on me too if I were them. Emmett had called our parents saying that we were spending another night. I knew they would be disappointed.
Every Saturday was family game night. We'd play Pictionary or Scrabble or Charades until we were falling asleep in the living room. We would order pizza from Carver's Cafe. A gooey, oozy, cheesy, pepperoni pizza. Emmett and I would fight over the last slice like dogs fighting over a bone. Jeopardy would play on the tv and we would get a dollar for every question guessed right. That was the most fun. Watching Emmett lose while I earned bragging rights. It was known that I was the smarter one of the two of us. We'd curl up on the couch watching those action movies that Emmett loved so much until I fell asleep. He'd cover me with our grandmothers rough, ripped, dusty, but beautiful handmade quilt. That is how I knew Emmett loved me. But I also knew that love was only temporary. Love didn't last forever.