Twilight-Exe – Chapter 8: Coming Storm

No matter how good Bella was at programming, she couldn't explain what happened to her navi. Lan just ended up being the normal annoying cousin, making her only miss her other cousin even more. It was frustrating, the fact his lack of intelligence – or lack of use of his brain, for he was a Hikari and should have the smarts, but she found herself simply frustrated. It was a drowning drum to her life, another thing going wrong.

When she woke in the morning, to make matters worse, she thought she had dreamed about that person. It wasn't one of those dreams where one met their soul mate, but a nightmare. She closed her eyes, not wanting to remember the break up, or how Edward had been towards her. He…

Brushing this aside, she opened her eyes to see Netto busily shoving food into his mouth, frowning at her cousin's disgusting habits. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed her bag, taking a deep drink of the glass of milk her aunt had poured her, thanking Netto's mom for the food as she headed out the door to take the bus to her school. One of the positive things in her life was the fact Lan's mom wasn't her, and that instead of taking care of the adult, the adults were taking care of her.

This helped put her in a better mood, just as Lan hurried out after her.

"Will you meet my friends?"

"Meet your friends?" Bella sighed. "Don't know. I've got to catch up on the extra school work for the school I'm going to. I'm not sure if I want to hang out with a bunch of guys."

"There's Maylu, though she's a lot like one of the guys."

"Joy. That sounds like the childhood friend who has a crush on you, but you don't realize she's a girl because your absolutely oblivious. If you're not careful, she'll go elsewhere. Then again, are you even interested in girls, are oblivious to the fact they exist?"

"I see you've got a Net Navi."

"Didn't I already showed her to you?"

"No. Well, maybe. Can I see?"

"Um… I've really got to catch the bus, but when I get home, maybe? I'll see how much homework I have."

"Come on Bella. Have a bit of fun. Having a Navi is an amazing thing."

"Says the person who just got his first custom navi."

The voice startled Bella, reminding her that Netto's navi looked just like Saito. She still hadn't asked her uncle about it, and instead brushed the issue aside. It made her want to interact with the navi even less, and yet there was that ache. Saito had always been a kind, quiet child, where as Netto had been loud and brash, bumping into things and accidently hurting feelings. That childhood had been so much more wonderful than the dreary days in Forks, the only positive thing being Jacob. That wasn't enough really.

"Note to self. Make sure Jacob gets a call to know how I'm doing, but mail him a ticket when I get enough money so he can come visit. I'm sure my Aunt and Uncle won't mind." Letting out a sigh, she tucked her hands into her pockets, giving her cousin a smile before heading off to school, only to stop short.

"Wait. Yai's in your class."

"Yeah, so?"

"You're not friends with her?"

"Bella, Yai's a brat."

"Yai got bullied at her old school. My school. Be nice to her. She might be a bit… well, you know. But still try to make friends."

"Fine."

Taking a deep breath, she finally found herself getting on the bus. She straightened out her uniform, noting when others got on. They looked at her, gossiped about her, reminding some of the rumors which had gone around about her being Edward and Jacob's slut girlfriend, but that she had left the school because she had gotten pregnant. None of it was true, but it was still painful. She'd read enough stuff to know that age group was mean, and she could handle it. But not people like Yai.

She got off the bus, only to find someone waiting for her. It was the guy she'd met the other day, the guy that the girls had gushed over. He was busy looking at his navi, headphones in ear doing who knows what, only to remove them when she got closer. "How are you doing?"

"I kind of don't know you."

"Fair enough." He glanced down. "I see you've got a navi now."

"Yes. It's not really that big of a deal."

"Navi's can make and break someone at this school."

"I'm not into fads."

"I'm not talking about that. Navi's are tools."

That didn't sound right, what with how much she liked Sakura. It was kind of like she was her child, or little sister. Then there was Saito, who had become a Net Navi, or had a Net Navie designed after him. She would definitely need to ask her Uncle about that.. Plus, she couldn't rule out the possibility of a true AI forming. No real nerd would ever rule that out.

"That said, if you're a real genius that might not matter, as…"

"Are you trying to help me, or insult me."

"It's hard to do things without a navi, that's all I'm saying. It would take a really skilled person to do it without, but even then you'd want one. Good luck in your classes."

He took off, leaving the girls at school to gawk at her. "Yeah. Trying to help me. You just drew more attention to me, and made the girls crushing on you even more angry because you choose to talk to me instead of them. That's what got me into trouble the other day, I think. Guys… even the smart ones are idiots." She let out a sigh, thinking about how that applied majorly to Netto.

Still, she couldn't let these girls get her down, and headed to class.