Disclaimer: Twilight isn't mine.
Alright, Chapter 7!! Has anyone else been noticing that the two of them are slowly becoming more comfortable around each other?
Phase One – The Teacher's Lounge
Bella's Point of View
As I fiddled nervously with Lauren's phone in front of me, Mr. Masen sighed in impatience. I scowled at him. Finally, I remembered. This was the part where he would slowly lose respect for the teachers here. Fabulous.
"Come on, Bella, we don't have all day," he whined impatiently. I glared at him.
"You know Mr. Masen, for a teacher, you sure don't have a lot of patience," I scolded him.
He laughed, throwing his head back in a carefree manner. "No kidding. Now please, continue."
I rolled my eyes in response but continued anyway.
--
Once Alice and Rose had calmed me down and fixed my make-up, we left the bathroom. There were only five minutes of class left, so there really wasn't any point in going.
"Alright, Bella, to make sure that this doesn't happen again, I'm going to let you borrow Emmett until the end of the day. He'll walk you to all of your classes. Who knows, now he might actually get to his on time!" Rose laughed, and I couldn't help but smile. "Now, we've decided that you'll start the plan before lunch. Emmett can't be seen with you, so he'll wait around the corner. Okay?" I nodded. At least I wouldn't have to worry about being late for class that way. "Mr. Masen has watch duty over the cafeteria today, so he won't be there."
The bell rang signaling the end of second hour, and the hallway filled with students. Alice took me to my next class, so I wouldn't have to wait for Emmett. Since I knew that I would have to start the horrid plan at lunch, the minutes slowly started going faster until it felt like classes finished in the blink of an eye. As Rose promised, Emmett walked me to all of my classes, and Rose or Alice joined us when they could.
Before I felt ready, it was time for lunch. Emmett walked me as far as he could. When we reached the corner where he would stand, my anxiety kicked in thrice-fold.
"Hey, Belly-Bells? Why are you guys even doing this? Rosie wouldn't tell me…" Emmett asked.
I sighed. "I have no clue, Emmett," I admitted. "You know how much Alice and Rose love scheming things. If I had it my way, I would have just asked him for the interview." He shrugged, knowing that that was true.
Realizing I couldn't stall any longer, I gulped, turned around, and walked towards the dreaded teacher's lounge.
--
I paused, trying to gather the little courage I had. He wasn't going to like any of his co-workers now. I figured he would ask what was wrong in only a few seconds… Three… Two… On—
"What's wrong?" Ah, right on time.
"You won't like your co-workers much after this," I answered honestly, looking up. His beautiful face turned into a frown, and I suddenly wished that he would start smiling again. As if he could read my mind, he smiled slightly, meeting my gaze. His eyes were filled with an emotion I couldn't recognize.
"It's alright," he commented, "I really never have liked them." He smiled reassuringly, and I continued with my story.
--
The green letters were mocking me, almost begging me to turned around and run. But even though I wanted to, I couldn't. Either Emmett would stop me, or Alice would kill me. And I happen to like living.
Slowly, with a shaking hand, I reached up and knocked on the door. I could see figures moving around through the blurred glass and a shadow moving towards the door. I was a second away from high-tailing it out of there when the door opened. Luckily for me, the woman who answered was Mrs. Cullen, who was basically my second mother.
Mrs. Cullen was probably the nicest teacher at the entire school. Not only was she young and happy, but also beautiful with her caramel-colored hair and green eyes. She taught all the FACS classes, including creative foods, which was an elective of mine last year. Since I had moved here from Phoenix, I found out that my dad really couldn't cook anything but fish. Since I didn't want to be like an Eskimo, I took that class so I wouldn't have to eat fish every night. She was so kind to me. Not to mention I see her husband at the hospital all the time.
--
"Did you know that Esme is actually my cousin?" Mr. Masen interrupted – again.
"Really?" I gasped. "Wow – what a small world!"
"Yeah," Mr. Masen agreed, "isn't it? Anyway, you can continue with your story."
--
"Hello, Bella dear. What brings you to the teacher's lounge? Do you need anything?" Mrs. Cullen asked nicely. I instantly felt more relaxed and at ease.
"Actually, I need to see the school address book. I'm doing an article for the newspaper and I was going to visit him and ask for an interview." I explained, knowing I could trust her.
"You're writing for the newspaper now? That's wonderful! I'm sure the newspaper will be ten times better because of it. Now, don't just stand out in the hall! Come on in and sit down while I try and find that book." She ushered me in, and instantly all the calmness I felt vanished. The teachers all turned their heads to look at me. Some rose their eyebrows in surprise, some only glanced me way before returning to grade papers, and some shook their heads in disappointment. I knew that it was the outfit.
'Curse you Alice and Rose!' I thought to myself before smiling meekly.
"Here you are, Bella!" Mrs. Cullen chirped, handing me a dusty old book. I smiled gratefully at her before opening it.
"What are you doing?" Miss Myers asked as I was looking up Mr. Masen's address. I looked up to reply, but Mrs. Cullen beat me to it.
"She is finding the address of the person she's interviewing for your newspaper." Mrs. Cullen smiled at me.
"Oh? And who would that be?" Miss Myers turned to glare at me, as if daring me to say a name she didn't approve of.
"Mr. Masen." I replied. Mrs. Cullen smiled, as if she knew a secret that I didn't. I blushed slightly in response before skimming the pages of the book. 'Aha! Here it is. 17456 Twilight Drive.'
I heard Miss Myers scoff. "Why him? I was sort of hoping you would pick someone with more experience." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mrs. Cullen glare at her.
I blushed. "W-well, he's new here, so no one really knows a lot about him. I figured not only could the students learn about someone new, but the teachers here would get to know their co-worker a little better. Not to mention he is an extremely good teacher, even though he is under a lot of stress since Mrs. Moir is gone all the time. Plus, I've always wondered why someone would want to go into teaching music. A lot of kids just use it as an hour to goof off. You'd have to have a ton of patience to deal with all of that. Also-,"
"Yes, yes, I get it. However, he isn't truly one of our co-workers." Miss Myers commented. "In fact, he's not even a teacher! He hasn't even graduated yet." I glared at her. "All I'm saying is that you should pick someone different or else I won't be satisfied. He is a childish wannabe unworthy of your time."
"Yeah, well you know what?" I asked, glaring at her full-force. "If it were up to me, I wouldn't even be doing this stupid thing. So shut up and back off or I'll leave the newspaper. And you need me." I headed out the door, relieved to be out of the teacher's lounge and away from Miss Myers.
"How'd it go?" Emmett asked, walking with me to the cafeteria.
"Horribly, thank you. But I got the address, and that's all that counts, so…" I trailed off.
"Good, because I'm so hungry I might actually think what the school cooked tastes good. Let's go!" He cheered and started running towards the cafeteria. I laughed and followed him, glad the worst part of the school day was done with.
There you go! Chapter seven fresh out of the oven!
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