Wow. We've reached the triple digits with the reviews. I have to say, I'm truly shocked and flattered. But short chap today, sorry. But really, you guys are amazing. Amazing.

Don't own.

Ch. 7: Don't Worry, Be Happy


Tuesday was horrible.

My mother had a stack of bills that came in yesterday for me, and I didn't have time to look at them in before work, and I woke up late and was running late already…

I started out the whole workday wrong by being late, which made me irritable because Edward yelled at me for being late, which made me yell back at Edward more than I would have usually, I'd slammed the door in Clemons' face again, and I had to start this article.

Politics interested me a bit, but the fact that I had been forced to take on this article bothered me. The fact that I hadn't been free to choose what I wanted to do for this article bothered me.

And I was getting sick of Edward's macho shit. I wouldn't even call it macho, I would call it…what I did the other night. A superiority complex.

He had to be in control of everything, all the time.

I was just in such a bad mood, that I couldn't think. You know those days, when you just can't wake up. You're physically awake of course, but you don't know a thing of what's going on around you for some reason or another…

Yeah, it was one of those.

"Bella, what is this." Edward's condescending little voice said snidely as he barged into my office again. He threw another hardcopy of an article Clemons had written for this morning's edition on my desk. "He said you went over it, and okayed it."

"I did." I said coldly. "This is good writing. It's engaging, and lighthearted. Not all news has to be bad."

"I already have writers on the human interest stories." He snapped. "Clemons is not one of them, I did not ask for a story about some charity event."

"It's the freaking Jimmy Fund, for heaven's sake! And I thought part of being a journalist was going out there and finding the stories." I said, rising to my feet to stare him down more effectively. "He's shown the initiative to write a story about something he believes in, something that appeals to the community. I think he deserves a lot of credit for it, this kind of thing isn't easy to do. Or rather, it isn't easy to do well."

"Just…do me a favor, alright?" he said, still fuming. He looked like he wanted to hit something, and I didn't really know what had upset him that much. "Stop playing editor. That's not what I pay you for."

"Then what do you pay me for?" I exclaimed. "Because frankly, I really don't know anymore! Right now I'm writing an article, they still come to me for advice before they dare asking you, and I'm also your personal freaking slave around here, doing all the business matters for you…I can't keep up with it! Stop changing your mind and pick one already!"

"You do what I tell you to, nothing more, nothing less, got it?" he replied coldly, his tone dangerous. "That is your job."

"No! Hell no!" I shouted at him, smacking Clemons' article back down on the desk amidst the bills I'd been going over, hard. "I am sick of you patronizing me! If you wanted a secretary, you should have hired one. But I am a journalist. I am not your little bitch and I refuse to be treated as such!"

"The meeting's at four thirty. I suggest you show up if you value your job." He said coldly, starting towards the door.

"I suggest you kiss my ass!" I shouted after him, as he slammed the door loudly.

Ugh, he was so infuriating!

Why was he being such a dick today? Because I was fifteen minutes late? That hardly seemed like something to get that upset about…

I would say maybe he realized that everyone hated him, but I sincerely doubted he cared enough about what his employees thought.

He was a jerk.

And he was annoying as hell. And he had more mood swings than a pregnant woman.

But God, did he look good! Even when his eyes were glaring at me, even when he was practically barking orders at me, he somehow looked amazing doing it.

And it's sick that I notice this. I'm well aware of how messed up it is. That, and that fact that oh, you know, he's my boss

I'd forgotten about my debts, until today.

Well, not forgotten, but since that large chunk of money Carlisle had paid me, I hadn't been worrying about it as much.

Then this morning came, and I had a stack of bills to go through and ultimately find out I couldn't pay all of.

Hell, I was paying bills for everything—from my few months at that apartment to student loans from college to health insurance.

I swear, every time I turned around I had a new bill to pay, and it was really bothering me. I honestly don't know where they all came from…

Or maybe it was that I was just getting used to being financially on my own. Yes, I had moved back in with my mother, but I had lived in an apartment for a few months, and had accumulated quite the number of bills, and thank God I didn't have a credit card…

When you're a kid, you don't realize all that your parents do to support you. Then when you're on your own, it kind of slaps you in the face.

As it was doing to me, now.

This was such an awful day. Manic Mondays and Terrible Tuesdays…the worst two days of the week.

I sighed heavily, taking a deep breath to calm myself, then letting it out.

I could do this. Just have to get back on track.

Okay. Most important bills first…such as health insurance. That was a pretty important one…

I eventually calmed down, and started going through my bills.

I'd write the article tomorrow. I had too much going on right now.

Of course, I can't get ten minutes of peace in my office. So, naturally, after I had calmed down and was working through my finances, the door to my office opens and Robb pokes his head in instead of using the buzzer.

"Hey, you have a call on line two from a Jacob Black." He said cautiously. His desk was right outside of my office, and he had heard every word of mine and Edward's argument.

"Tell him I stepped out for a few minutes and you don't know when I'll be back." I said, standing with Clemons' article to go give it to him. I couldn't deal with this, I was too wound up. I got my jacket, needing to step out for a few minutes anyway, just to get out.

Hey, at least it wasn't lying…

Maybe Alice would join me for coffee…

No. Just looking at the debts put me in panic mode again, and I knew I couldn't afford to be spending any more than I was.

I checked my watch, and saw that it was almost time for the meeting, but didn't care. I think my sanity is more important than paper and ink.

And apparently Edward had decided to spend more money, and bought new computers for the office that would be arriving tomorrow.

That was part of why I disliked him so much. Whether he was trying to be progressive or nice or not, the fact was he fixed most of life's problems by throwing money at them. More money, more money…

That made me sick. I hated people who did that unnecessarily.

Such as Edward Cullen.

I think yesterday and this weekend I'd let my guard down too much. I'd let myself get comfortable with him, even if he pissed me off. I was comfortable with his arrogance, and almost accepted it.

That was bad.

I had almost thought that I liked him. Psh, as if! He's such a jerk!

I walked around for a while in the cold, with no destination in mind. I just needed to walk, get out my frustration.

The cold air helped immensely. Mainly because it was freezing out, and it numbed my mind a bit.

I got back to the office an hour late for the meeting, but didn't care. I passed the paper and ink representatives in the lobby of the building, getting in the elevator they exited.

Whoops, guess it was over.

What a shame, Edward had to do something on his own.

Shit. He was going to be pissed.

I mentally prepared myself for entering my office, and from the dead silence that fell over the place knew that yeah, I was in some pretty big trouble.

Oh well. Serves him right for pissing me off earlier. Asshole.

I knew he'd be in my office waiting, and took a deep breath before entering and shutting the door.

"Did you get lost? The conference room is to the left, not outside." He said at my entrance. His feet were up on my desk again, and I saw that my bills were still out.

I bet he looked through them. I bet he was smug with himself, knowing I was in such a predicament and he virtually held the key to my financial freedom.

"Oh, my mistake." I said sarcastically, taking my coat off. "I thought it was on I-Don't-Care-Boulevard. So sorry."

"I can deal with you being late sometimes, I can deal with you insisting on editing, but do not miss a meeting again." His voice was low and deadly, threatening.

I was surprised he wasn't screaming his head off.

"Oh, of course not, Your Majesty." I said, bowing low. "How inconsiderate of me, why…it's almost as if I'm only a journalist. Hmm…that seems…fitting, don't you think?"

"So does unemployment." He said with a sinister grin. "You see, Bella, I thought I made it quite clear that you would help in the transition. I thought I told you that you would write less often and would be more of a manager, for now. Does any of this ring a bell?"

"Oh, I recognize it, but I just can't agree with it." I said, in the same light tone I'd been using. "You see, I just don't understand why I went to college and obtained a degree in Journalism if I'm doing managing. I should have gone to business school for that. Get a new pet, because I don't want to be it."

He closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, then released. I could tell he was livid, as he did this. He was doing everything in his power to keep from strangling me, I guessed.

Okay, maybe not strangling, but he looked like he wanted to.

"You're giving me no choice, Miss Swan, if you keep this up." He said, his voice stern. "You are being counter-productive. You're not cooperating, and it's hurting the company. One more slip up and you're fired."

I stood by the window, looking at the street down below. I could feel the cool air, the cold radiating through the window panes.

It was all that kept me from screaming.

I needed this job. It was my profession, even if I wasn't doing anything journalistic for the present moment. I could tell, the paper was going to flourish under his management. It just needed to get there. It was getting back on its feet, and soon would be profiting. Soon we'd all get pay raises…

I was crazy to think about giving this up.

And I didn't want to give it up, but I didn't want to give up my independence. He was trying to break me down, I think. He was trying to undermine me.

And I was fighting back, and we always came back to this point, this fact that he was my boss and held my future in his perfect fingers.

"Why are you like this?" I said softly, not even realizing that I was voicing my thoughts again. I turned to look at him, and saw he had a different expression on his face, stern but pensive, like I'd seen the first day here. "Why are you such a hard ass? You don't have to be such a jerk, you don't have to threaten everybody to get them to work. You don't have to remind me of the fact that you're my boss, every day!"

I was picking up steam, and didn't care that I would soon be yelling at my boss.

I was frustrated, I'd had a bad day, and he didn't help any of it.

"You're awful! You're the most infuriating person I've ever met! You have this irrational need to have control over everybody, and the second someone does something you don't like you flip out at them! I can't stand that! It's driving me crazy!" I began shouting, striding to be in front of my desk, where he was now standing behind it with his arms crossed over his chest, listening, waiting.

That look. He had that smug, know-it-all look on his face.

I really wanted to smack it off of him.

"I'm trying to cooperate but it's pointless because you're just going to get pissed off and start yelling! Excuse me, maybe I might be the odd man out, but I don't really like being yelled at all the time. I don't like how mean you are to everybody, I don't like anything about you! You're just this mean, stuck up rich boy who thinks that you can throw money at a problem to solve it! Some things can't be fixed money. You can't manage people with money!" I finished, breathing hard. I was certain that in my long-winded rant my face had reddened with anger, and that I probably looked like a mutant right now, but didn't care.

Damn, that felt so good.

Now for the repercussions…

"Have you figured out why I didn't fire you and the rest of the staff, yet?" he smirked, amused.

"Ugh!" I humphed, and turned on my heels to leave, but his voice stopped me.

"Aren't you forgetting your bills?" he said, picking the stack up and waving them at me as I put my coat on.

I snatched them from him, and shoved them in my purse, opening the door.

"Bella, Jacob Black called again." Robb said boredly as soon as I opened the door. "Hey, leaving early?"

"I'll see you tomorrow." I said, sighing.

It was only half an hour early, and with traffic I didn't get home until six forty five anyway.

I walked in through our kitchen downstairs to go up to my room, and stopped dead in my tracks.

Are you effing kidding me?

There, standing in my kitchen, was Jacob Black, standing with my mother and chatting.

"Oh, hello dear. You didn't tell me you had a date with Jacob tonight!" she said when she saw me.

What? I don't have a date with him, I'd rather chew glass!

"Maybe that's because I don't." I snapped. "Go home, Jacob."

"Well, I'll leave you two kids alone to chat." Renee said, before skipping past me to no doubt listen on the stairs.

"What the HELL do you think you're doing!" I hissed, crossing the room in three steps to fume in front of him. "Get out of my kitchen, you're not welcome here."

"And here I thought maybe we could have a nice dinner downtown. At that new Italian place that just opened." He said, producing a red rose from behind his back.

"No." I snapped, crossing my arms. "Go away."

"Aw, c'mon Bells…" he said, stepping forward and into my comfort zone, placing his giant hands at my waist in one fluid motion.

"NO!" I shrieked, pushing away from him and slapping him with as much force as I could muster. "KEEP YOUR HANDS THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME, JACOB BLACK! Get out of my house and stop harassing me or I'll get a restraining order!"

I could not believe he just dared to touch me. He left in a huff, slamming the door, and I shuddered, holding myself a little. I hated him so much. I didn't want him near me, nevermind touching me.

I felt dirty. I felt violated, and he'd only put his hands on my waist.

I darted up the stairs, past my mother coming down with a fake story on how she'd heard yelling and came running. I didn't ant to hear it. I didn't want to deal with any of it.

God, what an awful day.

I immediately went to the bathroom to start a hot bath, still slightly shaking with rage. I couldn't believe he'd just done that. The nerve of him!

I'd slammed the bathroom door pretty loudly, and was pacing, waiting for my bath. I was so angry. I would have punched the wall, if I hadn't been sure that it was most definitely harder than my hand and I would have definitely hurt myself.

And I'm not a violent person. He just pissed me off more than anything else, ever.

Even more than Edward Cullen.

I heard music, as I paced, and heard footsteps leaving in front of the bathroom door.

My mother had put on some classical music, to calm me down. I hadn't listened to classical music for years, I hadn't had time to.

I'd forgotten how much I loved it. Debussy. One of my favorites.

I could feel tears brimming in my eyes at this small gesture. It was just a stereo placed behind the door. It took two minutes to do. It wasn't some grand scheme or anything, just putting the stereo outside of the bathroom door.

But she knew I was upset, and she put it there to help me calm down. She did it because she loved me.

As much of a worry-wart and a pain in the ass she was, she loved me dearly. I'd been taking it for granted for the past few days, I think. It's not that I'd forgotten, but I didn't really pay much attention to it.

I loved my mother. She was half of the reason I'd ended up staying sane before I moved back in with her. She was supportive of me, and tried to do her best to help me out.

I took a deep breath, and let it out in a sigh, before shutting off the running bath water.

Another much-needed bubble bath, coming right up!


And don't worry, things will eventually turn up. And soon Edward will make more sense. ...cough cough next chap cough cough... Review, lovelies :-)