Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all.
Rated M for several reasons.
Chapter Six The Living is Easy
RPOV
Driving people away is a particular speciality of mine, since I don't especially care about anyone's feelings, not even mine.
I can't bring myself to do it to directly to Angela though, she's just too damn nice and she and Ben aren't really a threat to my well being anyway, as I predicted we aren't exactly besties, more like comfies.
Bella and Em are another matter though.
I've decided that I'd very much like them to fuck off and leave me alone.
It can't be that hard, they may be weird but they're still just people.
And no sane person hangs around for a heinous bitch.
...
First up, no more detention trysts, I'm going to be a good girl even if it kills me.
Next, no more rides to school.
"Em. I don't need a ride to school any more, thanks, though."
"O-kay." I hear him say as I swing away down the corridor.
Now, no more lunch table, big breakfasts and hanging out under the dripping bleachers with the pot heads. They aren't exactly pleased to have me join their group but then they aren't really coherent enough to do anything about it most lunch periods either.
And, stonewall . . . .
...
Was I disappointed when Em's truck wasn't in my driveway the next morning? Maybe?
Did I touch Jessica and Lauren when they wanted to know if Em and I had broken up again? No, though I may have started an ulcer that day. Bitches.
Is Biology as awkward as fuck? Hell yes.
Anyway, life goes on, the days and weeks crawling past . . . .
...
The school year is coming to a close and its only just dawned on me that I'm going to be spending the summer in Forks. Fed up does not do it justice, although it isn't as cold as it was it isn't any less wet. Still, I'm sure I'll find something to do to stop me going completely insane.
Mom invited me to spend a couple of weeks in Phoenix and after careful consideration I declined. I didn't want to leave but now I have I'd rather not go back.
Dick sent me plane tickets and Mom got Dad to tell me I was going.
I declined.
...
"They didn't want me to live with them, fine, I don't want to visit them."
"Rose." Dad pleads. "She's your mother."
"Then she can come see me here."
"How about just a long weekend?"
"No."
"You know Rose, it must be hard when a parent remarries but honey, don't cut off your nose to spite your face."
"Platitudes Dad?"
"Its not a platitude Rose, its an idiom."
I fold my arms over my chest.
"I won't make you go, even though your poor stepfather has paid for the plane tickets, but I want you to think about it, you only get one family Rose."
...
Mom actually rang me to berate me for wasting Dick's money, which was great because I'd pretty much forgotten what her voice sounded like.
Dick's calls went straight to voicemail and the joy of delete.
And with all of that rumbling on in the background the High School year squeaked to a close.
Angela and Ben strong armed me into going to a couple of parties with them, which I didn't exactly not enjoy and then it was over. Not even a vacation with Dad to look forward to since he's short staffed and can't afford the time off.
I'm gonna go bat shit crazy . . . .
...
Turns out the Olympic Penninsula is awash with tourists over the summer and even Forks gets in on the action, I managed to find work, the goal, a car of my own.
Working most days, hanging out down at La Push while Dad and Billy fish, riding motorcycles, running around PA with Angela and Ben, hiking, somehow I get through the summer and before I know it its time to go back to school.
I have no real feelings about it either way, its a step closer to getting out of here I guess.
I've barely laid eyes on the Whitlocks all summer but for someone reason the world and his wife have been more than keen to keep informed about them. Esme, Carlisle and Edward are taking a year out before college so they can all go together, makes sense for a family that does everything together and is as rich as Croesus I suppose. Em has a girlfriend, some willowy blonde who looks like a supermodel, considering she was only glimpsed twice by the entire town they sure had a lot to tell me about her.
Mom threatened to visit a couple of times but never followed through.
Someone actually likes me, Mrs Reynolds, so I still have a part time job at the hardware store even though the 'season' is over and only the locals will be in looking for bait and tackle. Mrs Reynolds is about two hundred years old and can be more than a little strange, but she's determined not to let Mike Newton Sr buy her out so she's okay in my book.
...
"It's not much Rose." Dad warns me as we swing into La Push.
"If it has wheels and its in budget its good enough for me." I inform him.
We pull up in front of Billy's and Jake rushes out, grinning from ear to ear to give me a fist bump, he's so cute and adorably dorky you can't help but like him.
"Ready to see your new car?"
"Potential, new car." I correct.
"Come on Rose." He whines. "This will be my first sale, have a little heart."
Dad snorts and I glower at him.
We round the side of the house and there it is, scrap metal with wheels on.
I swallow.
"Does it run?"
Jake leaps in and starts it up.
It sounds okay.
"And you'll fix it for nothing, parts and labor, every time I have a problem with it between now and graduation?"
"Damn Rose, you're hard." Billy laughs from the wrap around porch.
Jake cuts the engine.
"Yes Rose, yes, yes, yes. You'll be my first official customer."
"She ain't a customer if she ain't paying." Dad observes and I elbow him in the midriff.
I hand over my hard earned dollars and am rewarded with the broadest whitest smile I've ever seen.
Sucker, that thing's gonna be a millstone round his neck till graduation.
...
It feels great to drive myself to school in my own car, it doesn't matter that I wouldn't have been seen dead in it twelve months ago, Dave is awesome, Dave is freedom.
Angela and Ben are waiting for me in the parking lot.
"Ready to get it done?" She asks.
"As I'll ever be."
...
I didn't see him till lunch and the sickness in my stomach when I did was enough to convince me that I'd done the right thing.
He's just as gorgeous and just as dangerous.
He smiles at me but he and Bella make no attempt to sit with us, thank god.
I hope he isn't in any of my classes this year but I warm a bit toward Ma and Pa Whitlock, at least they don't seem to have adopted his supermodel girlfriend, that would have sucked.
...
The week flies by fast enough.
I've managed to make sure I'm just as unpopular as last year with the people who count and Dave hasn't let me down once.
I pat his battered dash affectionately, Jake's idea of restoring a car is all about the boy stuff that makes it go, he hasn't even filled any of the holes in the body work, Mrs R says she has just the thing for that though, before it gets good and rainy round here again.
There's a shiny new car in our driveway and I chuckle to myself as I make my way into the house, expecting to have to rescue Dad from some over eager salesman.
"Baby!" Mom squeals, launching herself at me. "We've missed you, Rich managed to get away for the weekend so here we are!"
Oh fuck no . . . .