'I'm too young to feel this old.'

Kings of Leon - Cold Desert


Chapter 7: Cold Desert

~*~Bella~*~

The CB's had invaded my house again.

"So, Bella..." Jessica's mousey face grew mischievous, as her pouty lips curled up at the corners in an impish smirk. "Which Forks High guy has caught your eye?"

"Huh?" I asked articulately.

We were in my room. Jessica was perched on my window sill, I'm not really sure why she liked to sit there, I mean, it couldn't have been that comfortable considering the size of her ass, but whatever. Alice had stretched out her tiny body on my bed – huge Dr. Martin boots and all – and was making herself comfortable whilst blackening my duvet with her dirty boots. Sue was going to have a fit when she saw it in the laundry basket. Rosalie was casually lounging on my rocking chair. She was in a skirt, one long, tanned, dancer's leg hooked over the arm of the chair, thus exposing a glimpse of her red, lacy thonged crotch. For some reason it was incredibly difficult to look away from it, I mean, like I said, I could go gay for the girl.

I found myself on the floor, leaning against a large, blue bean bag I had stolen from Seth's room. My ass had started to go numb.

Alice sighed, rolling over onto her back on my bed, her arms behind her head. "C'mon Bella! Spill! Who do you like?"

"Well..."

"Ok, who do you think is hot?" Rosalie interrupted. "No wait; give us your top five."

"Um..."

"You like Conner don't you?" Jessica screeched. "I saw you guys having a conversation by his locker the other day, and you looked pre-tty cosy..."

"Who?"

"No, I think she likes Tyler. Emmett told me, that Tyler told him, that she's always staring at him during Algebra, the one class they have together." Rosalie said, flashing me a knowing smirk.

"Excuse me?!"

"I think she was sort of interested in Caleb Smith. I was pretty out of it but I clearly remember seeing him standing next to her that night in Eclipse and she was giving him 'the look'." Alice waggled her pierced eyebrows at me.

Um what? She was 'pretty out of it'? The girl was paralytic that night; she couldn't even see her own finger an inch in front of her face, I'd be damned if she saw me giving some guy 'a look.'

I just gave up.

I mean, they ask me a question and don't even give me a chance to answer it! Like I said, these chicks were something else. I sat there, ignoring them and painting my toenails a shiny, Black Cab black, whilst they argued over which guy I was crushing on in Forks High like I wasn't even in the room, despite the fact that I didn't even know most of the guys they were talking about.

"I wonder if she's noticed the Cullen's yet." Jessica mused.

That caught my attention.

And my head snapped up to look at her, causing me to smudge the polish on my big toe in the process. I groaned, wiping it off with my finger, and getting ready to start it over, when I noticed that the CB's were being unusually quiet. I glanced back up and they were all staring at me in silence.

"What?" I asked, my eyes darting to each one warily, meeting intense cloudy grey, expectant bright green, and sparkling pale blue.

"The Cullen brothers." Rosalie replied. "You must have seen them by now, I mean, you've been here over a week now."

I shrugged, feigning nonchalance, though my heart was pounding at the prospect of getting to discuss these two strange guys. I wondered if anyone else noticed anything off about them. "Sure, I've seen em."

Alice sat up suddenly, pulling my pillow to her front and hugging it, lifting her knees up to her chin – her boots still on! – her grey eyes wide and eager. "So? Where'd you see em? Did they say anything to you? Which one did you see? What do you think of them?" She probed, the words tumbling out of her mouth.

What was up with that?

"Um...well, one of them, the one with the reddish brown hair –"

"Edward." Jessica almost sighed his name.

I looked at her quizzically, and noticed Alice also looking at her, except Alice was glaring.

"What?" Jessica asked defensively. "You know Edward was always my favourite Cullen, but he and Tanya had been going steady for what, two years? So there was no hope there –"

"So you decided to move on to Jasper instead. He was a sort of consolation prize huh? You didn't even really want him, did you?" Alice cut in, her teeth wedged together as she scowled at Jessica.

I didn't have a clue what was going on.

Rosalie sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Aw c'mon Al, you know it wasn't like that. I did want him...I mean, after you had broken up...I mean, Jasper told me that he had broken up with you, I didn't know..." Jessica trailed off. "I thought you'd forgiven me Al!" She yelled exasperatedly, her large ringlets bouncing as she raked a hand through them.

I winced. Why did the girl always have to yell? Her voice was like a goddamn foghorn.

Alice shrugged. "I have forgiven you Jess." She said fiercely, sounding like she hadn't forgiven her at all. "Chicks before dicks right?"

"Right..." Jessica mumbled, looking at Alice apprehensively. Alice was glowering at my pillow, picking bits of fluff off of the pillowcase with her long, black talon-like nails, and flicking them on the floor.

There was a tense, awkward silence for a whole minute, in which I amended the smudged nail polish on my toe. Then Rosalie spoke, easing the tension minutely.

"So Bella, what were you saying?"

I wondered if I should bring up the Cullen brothers again, I mean, it seemed to be a touchy subject. There had obviously been some kind of drama involving them, seeing as the mere mention of them seemed to stir up emotions, and I didn't wanna be responsible for any cat fights – especially while we were in my bedroom.

"Well, I was just saying that...I sit next to Edward in biology." I said cautiously, glancing at Alice and Jessica to gauge their reactions.

Jessica, who had been staring at her lap glumly, looked up at me quickly. "What?!" She shrieked. "You sit next to Edward Cullen in biology? And you haven't mentioned this to us because...?" She raised her eyebrows at me accusingly.

I was puzzled. "Should I have? I mean, what are they, celebrities or something?"

"They might as well be." Jessica answered. "So? What's it like? You know, sitting next to Edward Cullen?"

I shrugged; quirking an eyebrow. "Like sitting next to any other person."

"Yeah, except any other person isn't absolutely gorgeous! God Bella, don't you think he's hot?" Jessica asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah, I suppose he is good looking..."

"Does he talk to you?" Jessica quizzed.

"Not really, just a few times, and it was about the work we were doing." I replied. It was a lie but I was intuitive, I figured it would be better to say that to Jessica seeing as she was obviously nuts about the guy.

And I was right to say it, because Jessica seemed almost thrilled by this news. She visibly relaxed, slumping against the window. "Oh."

Rosalie rolled her eyes again. I noticed Alice was awfully quiet, still picking my poor pillow to pieces.

"What about Jasper?" Rosalie asked. "Have you spoken to him?"

Alice's eyes darted to me at the mention of Jasper.

"Yeah, but not properly, he just showed me where a class was when I got lost."

Alice's jaw dropped open minutely. "He helped you?" She asked, her brows arched and her expression incredulous.

Seriously, were these guys' gods amongst men or something? I mean, jeez, what was the hype?

"Um, yeah...?" I looked to Rosalie questioningly, seeing as she was the only one acting remotely sane over the mention of the oh-so-special Cullen brothers.

Rosalie sighed. "You see, Jasper Cullen isn't exactly the nicest of guys. The only time that he gets friendly and well...helpful is when he wants something in return. I.E. he wants to get in your pants."

Alice was silently glowering at me. When I caught her eye she quickly went back to decimating my pillow.

"Hey Bells, can you show me where the bathroom is?" Rosalie asked, getting up from the rocking chair and stretching sinuously.

"You know where the bath – Ow!"

She had gripped me by the arm, her French manicured nails digging painfully into my flesh.

"Just show me again." She muttered through clenched teeth.

We went out of my room and down the hall to the bathroom. When we got there she pushed me inside and shut and locked the door. I blinked at her, thinking that maybe my semi lesbian thoughts towards her were actually mutual and she wanted to give it a go. I wasn't complaining...

"Look, I thought I should explain what just happened in there. You must be confused." She eyed me, as if waiting for a response.

"Yeah, I am actually. I take it there's some history between the Cullen brothers and Alice and Jessica right?"

She nodded. "Al was dating Jasper. And Jessica slept with him."

My eyes widened. "Wow."

Rosalie's own eyes rolled in their sockets. "I know. Apparently, Jasper told Jessica that he had broken up with Alice, and that's why she agreed to sleep with him. Though honestly, what kind of friend is she for hopping into bed with him straight after she discovers they broke up? She didn't even call Alice to confirm that it was true, or to even console her like a friend is supposed to." She shook her head. "She says that she didn't know what made her do it, it was like Jasper had some kind of hold over her and she couldn't help herself." She rolled her eyes again. "Pretty lame excuse if you ask me, but whatever."

I was surprised the muscles holding her eyes hadn't weakened, and that her eyeballs hadn't dropped out of their sockets at the amount of times she did that. But then again, the muscles would probably get stronger instead of weaker right? I mean, rolling her eyes was kind of like exercise for them or something.

"So anyway, that's what she said happened, but then, she goes on to date him for three months." She continued. "Of course, me and Al weren't speaking to her during that time. I mean, our friendship with her was over – well, I thought it was. Then, when Jasper got bored with her – as he apparently does with every girl – and moved on, she came crying to us." And there was that, now trademark, eye roll again.

"Her and Al kissed and made up, and vowed to never put a dick before their friendship again. But naturally, things are still a little tense on the Jasper front. And, Alice says she's over Jasper, but I've known the girl since we were six years old, I can read her like a book, and she's definitely not over him. In fact, I think she loves him, so hearing that Jasper's banging a new chick damn near every week really hurts her, and now to hear that he might have an interest in you...well...I'm not telling you what to do, I mean, if you wanna date him, do what you want, but just don't expect us to remain friends with you if you do."

That was quite a bit to take in. Though most of what I got from it was that Jasper Cullen was a complete douche.

"Um, ok, thanks for telling me. And don't worry; I'm not interested in Jasper Cullen." Why did I feel like I was lying as I said this? "He's a total asshat from what I can see."

She smiled, seeming relieved. "He sure is, but don't let Alice catch you saying a bad word against him, she still defends the jerk like he's the second coming or something. But I don't rib her about it 'cause...well, she loves him and she can't help that." She sighed. "Thanks anyway Bella."

I smiled back at her.

TTT

I was walking to my locker after lunch, just going to get my biology textbook and notebook, when I passed a sight that was literally assault for my eyes. And it wasn't the first time this particular person had assaulted me in this way.

Jasper was leaned against a locker a few lockers down from mine. A vivid red headed girl was pressed against him via her lips and her hips, and they were, literally, sucking the faces off of each other. I mean, God, they were acting like they hadn't had a decent meal in days.

I grimaced as I passed them, and tried to block them from my periphery as I opened my locker and got out my books. It was hard, as I could see a definite thrusting movement from the corner of my eye, and hear sounds that sounded like a pig grunting and eating a meal very enthusiastically, along with a small dog, panting, occasionally letting out a breathless, "mmm Jasper..."

I groaned internally, grabbing my textbook and notebook and slamming the locker shut before hurrying over to my class. As I passed them, my eyes – involuntarily – darted over to Jasper and his playmate one last time. His hands were in her wild, curly hair, gripping tufts of it as he held her face pressed to his. Her hips were thrusting into him, and she was now letting out loud moans. The hallway was practically deserted, seeing as I was almost late - as usual – and I felt very awkward, and sort of voyeuristic, but truthfully, I couldn't look away.

As I was hurrying down to the science building, just crossing the quad, I felt a presence behind me. My head whipped around to see, none other, than Jasper Cullen. I rolled my eyes and continued on my way, choosing to ignore him, when I felt a cool hand wrapped around my wrist.

"Isabella." He said.

I stopped and sighed, though still not turning around to look at him.

"What Jasper?"

He chuckled. "What's up with the hostility? I only wanted to say hello." He moved to stand before me, still holding my wrist, his boyish grin plastered on his face.

"Ok, well you've said it. Hello to you too, now, are we done here?"

He pouted playfully at me, and I noticed that his lips looked plumper and redder, not surprising seeing as the red headed chick had practically been sucking them off his face. Still though, once I'd noticed them it was sort of hard to look away from them.

"You're so...feisty Isabella. That's a real turn on you know." He winked.

I felt my cheeks burning despite myself, and I cursed them internally. Jasper watched my face intently, as if fascinated by my blush, and his grip on my wrist tightened infinitesimally.

"Why the hell do you call me Isabella?" I snapped, hoping to distract my face from his previous statement, in order to lose the blush.

His eyebrows quirked and he looked at me like I'd asked the most ridiculous question ever. "Um...maybe because it's your name?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah yeah smart ass, but everyone calls me Bella, even my parents."

He grinned. "Well I'm not everyone Isabella."

"Well, I prefer being called Bella." I grumbled through clenched teeth.

"That's too bad." He replied with a shrug.

God, he annoyed the heck out of me.

I scowled, and tried to remove my wrist from his hand, but his grip was unyielding. "Are we done here? I'm gonna be late for class."

He chuckled. "As usual. But no, we're not finished. I wanted to ask you something."

"What's that?" I was curious, to be honest.

He stepped closer to me, until he was just about an inch before me, and I had to crane my neck to look up at him. I was hit, once again, with his gorgeous scent, and I almost inhaled him involuntarily, but stopped myself at the last moment. He leaned down towards me, and moved the hand that was holding my wrist down, so he was holding my hand.

"You're pretty smart right?" He murmured, his voice coming out raspier as his cool, sweet smelling breath fanned across my face.

I shrugged, frozen as my eyes were locked with his.

His eyes darted down to my lips for a split second, before he looked back into my eyes, and they held a look I had seen before, the all too familiar 'fuck me' look, and once again a blush coloured my hot cheeks. I saw his jaw tense, and he held my hand tighter in his, a small grimace flittering across his features.

Then I heard it again.

And this time, I was absolutely certain that I hadn't imagined it. He growled. He really growled. A low, rumbling growl that came from his chest. It was very quiet, but considering our proximity, I heard it clearly. My eyes widened as I stared at him, but strangely, it did something to me. I'm ashamed to admit it, but my girly bits tingled, just a little.

He closed his eyes for a moment and leaned away from me, his lips mouthing what looked like, 'fuck'. Then he opened his bedroom eyes again, and they continued boring into my own.

"I err, I'm flunking algebra. Can't graduate if I don't pass it. I figured you were smart, so I thought you could tutor me."

I sucked on my bottom lip, contemplating. I wanted to do it, not because I wanted to help him or anything, but because tutoring him would give me plenty of opportunities to observe him, and maybe give me a few clues on their secret, so I could take a guess. I hadn't managed to come up with any theories at all on the strangeness of the Cullen's, and it was frustrating.

But then again, I had a feeling that Jasper didn't really need a tutor, he was just finding an entrance into my pants, like Rosalie had said. And also, if I did tutor him, would the CB's be mad at me? I mean, those bitches were starting to grow on me, and I didn't want to lose them as friends.

Jasper's eyebrow elevated and I could no longer see it underneath his shaggy blond tresses. He needed a haircut. "So?" He questioned.

I sighed. "Ok, I'll do it..." He grinned. "But..." I held up my index finger. "But, it has to be in secret ok? I don't want anyone to know that I'm tutoring you."

His face broke out into a wide smile, though he kept his lips closed. "Sure, fine by me. How about I call you tonight, to arrange our first session?"

"Ok. But do you know my number?"

"Yeah, your dad's chief of police, everyone knows your number."

"Oh."

"Thanks for this Isabella." He murmured, for once seeming sincere. His thumb stroked the back of my hand, which I realised he was still holding, and I swallowed thickly, my traitorous cheeks once again flaming.

"No problem." I answered shakily, and pulled my hand away from him. He let it go this time. "Um, I really gotta go to class now, I mean, I'm like five minutes late now."

He nodded. "Sure, I'll see you around."

I waggled my fingers in his direction before hurrying away from him, sighing in relief as soon as I was out of his proximity.

God, he was such an ass, but why did he have to be so darn hot? And why did he seem almost...nice for a moment there?

This guy completely fucked with my head.

TTT

Mr. Banner, thankfully, didn't comment on my lateness.

Edward did however.

"Why are you late?" He questioned, eyeing my face suspiciously.

"Um, no reason. I err, I was just taking my time getting here, I guess." I realised that I was probably still flushed, from Jasper as well as from practically running away from him.

Edward still studied my face, obviously not believing my lame excuse, but he didn't say anything else.

We were silent then, though I noticed that he kept glancing at me every now and then. He was still always tense in biology, but nowhere near as unfriendly as he'd been before.

"Come up with anything yet?" He asked after a while, one corner of his lips quirked in a half smile.

I sighed. "No."

He grinned to himself, seeming pleased by this.

"Don't get too smug, I'll figure something out soon." I muttered, nudging him in his side.

He just shook his head, still grinning, eyebrows raised as if to say, 'I didn't say anything.'

I usually sat quite far away from him on the desk, ever since the time he'd told me I smelled bad I'd felt a little paranoid about it. I leaned over to his side to borrow his red pen, and he stiffened even more than normal, leaning way back from the desk until it looked like he would fall backwards off the stool.

I flinched back to my side of the desk, shuffling even further away, blushing, and murmuring a "Sorry." He must have really hated the way I smelled, maybe he didn't like the smell of coconut and vanilla. "Wow, I must really reek huh?" I asked him, keeping my eyes downcast.

I felt his eyes on me, so I glanced up at him from under my lashes. He looked horrified.

"No, you don't smell bad at all. What made you think that?" He asked, looking genuinely confused.

I raised an eyebrow. "Well, on my first day, you told me I was sitting too close for comfort, and that I should move away from you a little 'cause I smelled bad. I mean, way to knock down a girl's confidence."

His jaw dropped and he shook his head. "I didn't say you smelled bad."

I scoffed. "O...k, are you saying I'm lying?"

"No, I'm saying you misunderstood."

"I'm not following." I said, now I was confused.

He clenched and unclenched his teeth a few times, and I only knew he was doing that because I could see a part of his chiselled jaw poking out as he did, pulsing like a heartbeat.

"I didn't say you smelled bad, I said you smelled really strong."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, that's way better." I said sarcastically.

He shook his head again. "You smell strongly, but not bad. In fact, you smell too fucking good."

My top lip quirked in puzzlement, and he fought back a smirk. He leaned closer to me, his face about an inch before mine, and he whispered, "You smell fucking awesome."

I was hit by that same, sweet, cool, aeroplane air conditioning smell that Jasper's breath also smelled of, and involuntarily, I inhaled it.

"And..." He continued, watching my face steadily. "Let's just say that it got a little...overwhelming for me."

"Something to do with your secret?" I whispered.

He nodded.

TTT

"Damn it." My dad cursed, stretching out his back as he stood from the couch. "My back is killing me."

"What do you expect dad? I mean, you're a local hero, you know, you chase the bad guys away from Forks. You're bound to get a little war wounds." I smirked at him teasingly.

Dad had reached the dinner table where I was seated, and he poked my nose. "Don't be a wise guy kiddo; you know this podunk town ain't got anything going on. Chasing bad guys." He scoffed. "I wish. My ass gets more action sitting on the toilet than it does sitting in the station."

"Ugh Charlie! Don't be so vulgar!" Sue scolded.

My dad and I grinned at each other. He loved saying things that he knew would wind Sue up.

"I'm sorry honey." He said to her. "But I think it's because I'm always sitting on my ass that's giving me this backache. I'm way too young to feel this goddamn old."

I snorted. "Don't kid yourself dad."

He pointed a finger at me in warning as I laughed.

Susie Homemaker brought over the food to the dinner table. We were having roast lamb with gravy, mashed potatoes and sweet corn. For dessert we'd be having apple pie and vanilla ice cream – home made.

It was only a Tuesday night by the way.

"Where's Seth?" Sue asked.

"I think he's up in his room, on his Xbox." I answered.

Sue sighed. "That boy..." She muttered.

"I'll get him." I volunteered, getting up from the dinner table.

I made my way upstairs and knocked on his bedroom door. "Seth?" I called, "Dinner's ready."

I couldn't hear the sound of his Xbox, or his PS3, or his electric guitar, or his CD player, which was odd.

"Seth?" I called again, and I heard him sigh.

"Come in." He called glumly.

I opened the door and walked into the bomb site that was his bedroom, to find him on his bed, lying on his stomach, his face buried in his pillow. This wasn't like him, he was normally so chipper. I sat on the edge of the bed, next to his lanky frame, and tapped him on his back.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked.

He sighed again, and turned onto his back, his hands behind his head, but he stared up at the ceiling.

"Why are girls so...frustrating?!" He asked, seeming frustrated.

I laughed. "I honestly don't know why we are. You having girl troubles?"

He nodded. "There's this girl in my English class. And she's so..." He sighed again. "I like her, and my friend Paul told me, that she told her friend Kim, who Paul's dating, that she liked me too. So we've got this dance coming up at school, and I figured it would be the best time to ask her out. And she's been giving me these looks and stuff, and I catch her staring at me sometimes, so I thought that maybe she really did like me. So I asked her to the dance today, and guess what her answer was?"

I tried to hold back my smile. "What?"

"She'll 'think about it'."

He scowled at the ceiling, and I couldn't help laughing.

"It's not funny Bella." He muttered irritably.

"I'm sorry Seth, I didn't mean to laugh." I said, stifling my giggles. "Don't worry about it though, 'cause I'm ninety nine percent sure that she'll say yes. Just give it a few days. It sounds, to me, like she's just trying to act nonchalant about it, and wants to seem like she's waiting for other options, but I bet she's probably squealing like a fan girl to her friends on the phone as we speak. 'Oh my God, Seth just asked me to the dance!'" I nudged him and winked. "Trust me."

He sat up then, his face brightening. "Really?" He asked. "You think so?"

I nodded, and he smiled widely, his dimples pronounced on his russet cheeks. I ruffled his shoulder length hair – which was in dire need of a cut, but he insisted on growing it out because 'a lot of rock stars had long hair' – and hooked an arm around his shoulder.

"C'mon, dinner's waiting and I'm starved." I said.

He stood, - and he was about 5,9 so it was quite a strain to keep my arm around his shoulder – and we went out of his room and down the stairs to dinner.

TTT


Author's Note:

Hey guys! Thanks for the readers, favourites, alerts, reviews! I love them and am very grateful. Just thought I'd let you know about my chapter titles just in case you're wondering. I'm just naming them after Kings of Leon songs, they have nothing to do with the content of the chapters, except for the quote from the song I've got at the top of the chapter, which is a line that's incorporated into the chapter somehow. It's random, I know, but I'm KoL fan so I just thought I'd pay homage to my fave band. LOL. Plus, I'm promoting their music and maybe even introducing them to people who haven't listened to them before, so it's all good. ;)

Now, after that long ass note. Please Review!

Savannah-Vee