Chapter 8
Re-cap:
"No problem. Oh look, there's Jazzy! Ill see you at lunch Edward!" She says and skips off to meet Jasper at his car.
I didn't feel the need to fill her in on the fact that I wont be there at lunch. I make my way to my first class, praying for the day to hurry up so I can be one step closer to finding my peach and brown… Brown curls…
BPOV
"OUCH ALICE! You burnt me again!" I screamed again for the fifth time.
"I did not burn you! And if you would just sit still! I'm almost done!" Alice said. Damn, she was enjoying this.
I huff but sit still.
"I don't see why I can't dress myself today" I say, letting all my irritation seep into my sentence.
"Sweetie, it's not that's there's anything wrong with the way you dress, it's just, you're a girl, and you never accentuate your femininity"
I huff yet again. I do too look like a girl. She's just crazy.
"Besides, you never know when you might meet a cute boy" She slyly adds.
"Right. Me? Meet a boy? I think you've inhaled too much of that hair spray Alice" I mumble out.
"Oh hush you!" She says while whacking me on the shoulder with the hairbrush.
Maybe I should start inhaling some of the hair spray to make this tolerable. I scream out yet again when she burns my scalp, yet again.
"Darnnit Alice! Why are you even curling my hair again? IT'S ALREADY CURLY!"I say exasperatedly.
"Because yes, you do have curly hair, but it looks so much nicer when the curls are neat. Which means, I need the help of Mr Hair curler here!" She pipes out while waving the hair curler around dangerously.
"Voila, now go put on the outfit I brought over" Alice says. Her voice is shrill after the few minutes silence we had.
I get up off my chair and walk to the mirror. She did do a good job, my hairs done in soft curls.
"You like?" Alice asks while walking up behind me. I nod.
"Yeh it looks great. But do I really have to wear that?" I ask, while nodding in the general direction of the clothes resting on my bed.
"Yes, now go put it on"
"But –" Is all I manage to get out before I'm cut off.
"No buts! Put in on" Alice says in a final tone, then walks off and sits in the computer chair that I was sitting in while having my hair curled.
I huff but grab the clothes anyway and make my way to the door so I can change in the bathroom.
"Stop huffing will you? What are you, a horse?" She says while spinning around on my computer chair.
"And get changed in here, I've seen you naked before Bella" She says, not stopping spinning.
I stop walking and turn around. I raise an eyebrow.
"And when exactly have you seen me naked?" I ask. She hasn't seen me naked. Practically naked (in my undergarments), yes, but fully naked, no. I would have remembered that.
"Duh! Remember that time you were getting ready for school and Charlie let me in and said you were in the shower, so I walked up to the bathroom to give you the clothes you were going to wear that day but I forgot to knock on the door so I just walked straight in and you just got out of the shower and were stark naked and lunged for the towel?" She says in one breath, still spinning on the chair.
I was absolutely shocked. She said she didn't see anything!
"But you said you didn't see anything!" I yell, panicked.
"Yeh well I lied" She says, smiling. I'm frozen in place. No, no, no, NO! Please don't let her have seen me naked. She couldn't have seen me naked.
"No! I SAW you put your hand over your eyes! I SAW YOU!" I practically scream at her.
"Yeh I did. But not before I got a good look at the birth mark on the top of your thigh near your huh-hum" She says while smirking.
Oh My God.
"Oh My God"
Alice saw me naked.
"Guh, all this spinning is making me sick" Alice says while stopping spinning and trying to get up. She takes two steps before falling sideways and landing half on my bed and half on the floor with her ass up in the air.
"Whoops" She giggles, still trying to stand up straight.
Still too mortified to care, I strip off and put on the clothes that she gave me on. I guess they aren't too bad. It's not like they are revealing or anything. Just a pair of faux leather leggings, a brown knit sweater shirt and a pair of brown ankle boots.
After dressing, I go look in my mirror to check out the complete outfit. Alice comes up behind me as in looking.
"Ah I am a genius" She says happily, obviously very proud with her work. I decide to pick out some jewellery off the top on my chest of draws. I pick out a gold heart locket on a gold chain and a gold and turquoise ring.
"My, my Bella, I think my fashion sense is finally rubbing off on you" She says, obviously proud of my choices. Really I just like the ring and necklace. The necklace belonged to my grandmother Marie, and the ring was a present from my mum.
I just roll my eyes at her.
"Come on, let's get to school" I say, and with that we grabbed our bags and were off.
/\\/\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/
"ALICE PLEASE SLOW DOWN!" I scream while holding onto the side of the seat in her car and the roof, angling my whole body towards her. She's going to get us killed if she doesn't slow down.
"Why are you so worried? I'm a great driver. Besides were nearly there" She says while swerving slightly. That does not make me feel any better.
"Please just slow down a little bit. Charlie will kill me if we get pulled over, or worse, killed" I say in what I hope is a pleading voice.
"But if we die in the car, how is Charlie going to kill you?" She asks with a smile in her voice. I just roll me eyes.
"Please" I plead.
She huffs, but also slows down marginally.
"Thanks you. And stop huffing. What are you, a horse?" I say, using her own words against her.
She lifts her eyebrows and glances at me.
"Do you want me to speed up again?" She asks, knowing it'll shut me up.
"Crazy pixie" I mumble out, not bothering to reply to her rhetorical question.
"I hearrrrrrrrrrrd thaaaaaaaaaaaaat!" She sings out happily, knowing she won.
/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\
Once we pull into the school parking lot, Alice zooms into a spot and slams on the breaks.
"Were hereeeeeee" She sings, then opens her door.
"I can seeeeeeeeeeeeee thaaaaaaaaaat" I sing back sarcastically.
Once we get out of the car and grab out bags, I see Alice waving at someone, so I look over, and who do I see coming over but none other than Edward Cullen. I give him a small smile, then look down at my shoes… Well… Alice's shoes.
"Hello ladies" He says in his usual charming voice.
"Hey Edward!" Alice chirps out. I swear that girl could replace the energiser bunny.
"Hi" I say quietly. Damn him and his sexiness.
"You look really nice today Bella" He says, looking me up and down. I suddenly feel very naked under his gaze.
I look up at him and meet his eyes.
"Thanks. Um Alice did it" I say, trying to keep my blush down at his intense stare. He keeps staring at me and looking at me funny, so I quickly say bye and walk away.
"Bye Bella" I hear Edward call out.
"Cya Bella! I'll meet you here after school" Alice yells out to me.
"So is there anything you wanted Edward?" I hear Alice ask, I just keep walking.
I walk through the school building to my locker. I open my locker and pull out my heavy calculus textbook and stick it in my bag. As I close my locker door, I see Angela walking up to me.
"Hey Bella" She says with a kind smile. I've always liked Angela; she's so sweet and honest. I notice Ben isn't with her.
"Hey Ange. Where's Ben?" I ask, looking around as if he will just pop out of nowhere. They are usually joined at the hip.
"Oh, he's not here today. He said there's a new karate movie out today, so he's gone with his friends to go see it at Port Angeles"
"Oh, that sucks. Why didn't you go with him?" I ask. If I were Angela, I would have felt ditched.
"Have you ever seen a karate movie? It's so boring. And he watches them all the time. Im so sick of them" She says with a laugh at the end.
I laugh a bit.
"Oh ok" I say.
"So I was just wondering if you're going to be in the library at lunch today?" She trails off.
"Uh yeah I'll be there" I say. Alice won't miss me at lunch today.
"Awesome. See you at lunch then. Bye Bella" Angela says after the bell finishes trying to deafen us.
"Yeah see ya Ange" I say and wave as we walk to our different classes.
/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\
EPOV
"And the Civil War lasted all the way from blah blah blah blah blah…" Mr Vaughn babbled on.
This morning's classes all blurred into one continuos space of time that seems to slow down every second that it ticks on.
I looked for Peach and Brown in every class that she said we had together, but still no sighting of her. I though that perhaps she was just sick yesterday, but now im thinking she's not. Maybe she lied to me… No. in the short time that we talked, I know she's not a liar.
I was getting impatient.
I could be literally only a few minutes away from finding out who my Peach and Brown girl is and I'm stuck in the stupid class learning about the Civil War.
"Mr Cullen!"
Im snapped out of my impatient thinking by Mr Vaughn, my history teacher.
"Huh?" Is my genius response.
"Well Mr Cullen, now that I have your attention, perhaps you could tell us what was the cause of the Civil War?"
Just as I was about to open my mouth to say the answer, he snaps again.
"I didn't think so! Pay attention!" He says, then continues his teaching.
I did in fact know the answer, but I can't risk getting detention or causing a stir in the office so I just sit still and keep my mouth shut. My lunchtime is too important.
Just six more minutes, just six more minutes, just six more minutes, just six more minutes, just six more minutes.
It was like my mantra.
Every few seconds id glance at the clock, willing it to move faster.
Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!
As soon as that bell sounds, I was up and out of my seat so fast that no one probably noticed I was gone.
I power walked the whole way to the office, dieing to get there faster but not wanting to attract too much attention.
Once I reached the office, I stood to the side a bit, waiting for the principle to walk out, so I can get access to his office.
Did I mention that waiting is not my strong suit?
After a gruelling four minutes and nineteen seconds, Mr Greene walks out and into the main building, no doubt to the teachers lounge to drink coffee and talk about how much they hate us students.
A few seconds after Mr Greene is completely in the main building, I put my plan into motion.
I get close to the office doors, stop, straighten out my clothes that are wrinkled from my power walk, attempt to tame my wild hair, then walk in.
Mrs Cope looks up from her desk and spies me.
"Edward my dear, how are you today?" She asks. I Swear I don't think she even realises she's flirting with me. I guess it's just a female's natural reaction.
"I'm good, as always. How are you today Mrs Cope?" I ask, laying on the charm extra thick, while leaning onto the edge of her desk with my fore arms.
Her eyes seem to glaze over a little bit.
"I-uh I'm good thanks Edward. Is there anything I can help you with?… Edward?"
Ahhhhh she's reacting like planned.
"Actually there is. You see I'm stuck in a bit of a predicament at home. You see my parents feel that I'm not reaching my potential at school and have decided that if they are not satisfied with my grades when we get our report cards home, they are going to take away my car" I say. She just nods as I talk.
"And how can I help you with that Edward? W-would you like me to t-t-tutor you?" She stutters out. Ah she's nervous. I tend to have that affect on people.
"No. I was actually just hoping that I could take a peek at my grades to see where they are right about now. Just to know which classes I need to step up in. Y'know?"
"Oh Edward, I d-don't think I could do that. That would mean going on Principle Greene's computer in his office and, well I'm not supposed to let anyone do that" She says, looking genuinely upset.
"Well we don't have to tell Mr Greene, do we?" I say, while reaching forward and touching her arm.
"I-I-I shouldn't" Ahhhh she's grasping at straws here.
"Please" I breathe out, and her eyelids flutter.
"Well, ok. But we can't tell anyone" And she cracks. Boo-yah!
"I won't breathe a word about it. I promise" I say, while using my hand in a gesture that says 'lead the way'.
Mrs Cope gets up, ushering me along, and walk down the hallway with me hot on her tail. She slows down and stops right in front of Mr Greene's office door. The black print on the glass of the door reading 'Principle Greene'. What a joke.
She looks left and right a few times, then opens the door and pulls me in with her, then closing it as fast as she can. She walks over to the computer and logs in.
"Well, heres the computer. Would you like me to open your file for you?"
I stride over as fast as I can and place my hand over hers on the mouse. She looks up at me.
"That's ok. I know how to do it. Besides, don't you think you should go back to your desk and keep guard to make sure no one comes down here at busts us" I say, hoping that she'll leave.
"Oooo good idea. Remember, be quick" And with that she was out the door.
Finally. I think. Ive been looking forward to this all day. I sit down on the computer chair and pull my note pad out of my bad and place it on the desk.
I open up the student search engine and type in 'Abused Students'. Nine names pop up. I then filter out the males, and is left with four names.
Anna Pacston
I click on her name and open her file. I take a glance at her photo and immediately know it's not my Peach and Brown. This girl has black hair, grey eyes and a round face. Very attractive, but not my Peach and Brown. I go back to the list of names a look at the next one.
Mary Donovan
Well its deffinatly not her. I did her behind the school gym after a school football game four months ago. I'd know if Peach and Brown was Mary. So I don't even bother to click on her name.
Linda Hartly
I click on her and yet again, immediately know it's not her. Blonde hair and the brown of her eyes isn't the same. So go back to the list of names and look at the last one.
Jennifer Jackson
I click on her name, and what I see startles me. Dark brown hair, but the lights at Jasper's party were flashing a lot of colours; she could have that shade of brown hair. Light brown eyes. Kind of tanned skin, but she could have had powder on her skin at the party, making it lighter. It could be her.
I write down her details and just as im putting my note pad back in my bag, I hear footsteps and talking from the hallway coming closer to my direction.
I listen more intently.
"… et me get that for you. There's no need to go into your office Mr Greene"
Oh shit, Mrs Cope's voice.
"Nonsense, I just need my coffee mug"
Double shit. Mr Greene.
I quickly finish zipping up my bag, log off the computer, then put my feet up on the table and my hands behind my head. The door opens and in comes Mr Greene with Mrs Cope right behind him.
"Edward, what are you doing in my office? And get your feet off my desk" He says, standing in the doorway. I take my feet off the table and place them on the ground and place my hands on my lap. I see Mrs Cope looking at me with a panicked expression.
"Got in trouble in class, was told to come see you" I say, acting cool. Mr Greene contemplates this for a moment.
"Very well, Mrs Cope, leave us" Mr Greene says, not even looking back at Mrs Cope. She visibly relaxes as his words and scurries off. Mr Greene closes the door.
"Edward, out of my seat" Mr Greene says.
I huff but comply. I get up and lean against the wall and Mr Greene takes my place in the seat.
"Now Edward, I'm hungry, and I want my lunch. So how about this; you pretend to actually feel bad about doing something wrong, I pretend to punish you, and you pretend to have learnt your lesson. Deal?" He asks. I raise my eyebrows, but walk over to him and shake his hand.
"Deal" I say then grab my bag, and walk out.
As im walking down the hallway, I can't keep the smile off my face. Not only did I get away with being on Mr Greene's computer, but I also may have found Peach and Brown.
I re-enter the main office room, and smile at Mrs Cope, who smiles back.
"Thanks for all your help" I say then head towards the door.
"How are your grades Edward?" She calls after me.
I pause with my hand of the door, and turn and look at her.
"Great Mrs Cope. They are Great" I smile then push my way through the door.
Little does she know I'm not talking about my grades.
/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\
Picture's on profile.
