AN: This chapter is unbeta-ed, so the mistakes are all mine.
Thanks to team jazper, danielle72679, kittycat1980, Solar571, april666king, deeva, juney83uk, and ajowen for reviewing the last chapter.
Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer.
Enjoy.
Bella
Today passed quite quickly, and it was actually tolerable without that Mike guy there. This morning started badly though. I still couldn't find my hairbrush after spending a lot of time searching for it last night and today. I had to put my hair into some form of a ponytail to hide how messy it was.
I'll have to buy a replacement as soon as possible.
Alice sent me a text last night to ask if I could go to her place this evening. She sent me another one this morning to let me know she wouldn't be in school today. It sucked being told that, but I think it gave me a chance to get to know Angela a little more. She chose to sit next to me in our English class this morning. We ended up passing notes to each other while the rest of the class watched the end of Romeo and Juliet. It gave me a chance to thank her for what she did yesterday. I get the impression that she doesn't have many friends of her own. I think we share a lot of similarities in that respect.
It seemed to me like the events of yesterday had been forgotten by my Government teacher and classmates. Maybe it's a common occurrence around here? Although, I hope it isn't. It wasn't mentioned once to me. Everyone pretended that nothing had happened, and that was fine by me.
Charlie picked me up at the end of the school day as usual. At least the student population no longer stares at the police cruiser when they see it. I think I'm blending in here already.
"How was school today? You didn't have any trouble did you?" Charlie asks me as soon as he pulls out of the car lot.
"No," I state simply as I gaze out of the window to look at the surroundings.
"Right- well… good."
We continue the drive in silence. After a few minutes, I notice that Charlie has taken a wrong turn somewhere. It looks like he's driving us in the opposite direction of the house. I don't really recognise where I am.
I divert my gaze to look at my father. He hasn't acknowledged that he's made a mistake.
Fine- he should notice soon enough.
But he doesn't. It's been ten minutes now and he hasn't said anything.
Charlie clears his throat as I notice a signpost for some place called La Push.
Are we not even in Forks anymore?
Charlie must see some kind of expression on my face to indicate how confused I feel. My mom always said I was like an open book.
"Just visiting a friend, Bells- thought you might like the change of scenery."
He could have asked me first.
After another few minutes of silence, Charlie pulls up in front of a small, red coloured house. He eagerly opens the door and leaves the car. I guess you could say I'm a bit more reluctant than that. I take my time to unclip my seat belt and exit the car. I decide to leave my bag behind. Hopefully we won't be staying for long.
As I make my way over to the house, I see Charlie outside of the front door talking to a guy in a wheelchair. He introduces me as I join him.
"Bella, this is Billy Black."
"Hi," I say quietly as I look down at him.
"It's nice to finally see you again, Bella," Billy responds.
"Billy knew you before you left Forks," Charlie explains to me. "I guess you were a little too young to remember."
Too right, I think I was about two or three when my mom left with me.
"Anyhow," begins Billy, "she's right over there," he says as he nods his head in the direction of what I'm assuming is a shed…or maybe a garage.
Huh?
"Great, can we go take a look?" Charlie asks.
"Sure, sure," replies Billy.
It takes a little bit of time for Billy to get his wheelchair through the mud and grass but he manages with my father's help. Once we get there, Billy bangs on the large double doors. We wait a couple of seconds for them to open from the inside. When they do, we're greeted by a large guy- tall and muscular. He almost towers over me, and I have to say it's a little intimidating. He has dark, short hair and a tattoo on one of his shoulders. I'm assuming it's a tribal symbol of some sort. It might be sunny today, but it isn't all that warm. Isn't he feeling cold in a sleeveless t-shirt?
"Bella, this is my son, Jacob," Billy tells me.
At the mention of his name, Jacob starts to look at me intently. When he reaches my face, he must realise that I've just watched him staring at me. He begins to smile as if he might be embarrassed about something. He brings his arm up to behind his neck to scratch it, giving me a nice view of his stomach muscles underneath his tight shirt.
I look away quickly.
"Good to meet you," he finally tells me.
I just smile in his direction.
"You here for the beast?" Jacob asks us.
His father answers, "Sure are- you finished with it?"
"Yeah, just."
He walks back into the building. Charlie and Billy follow him. I walk in behind them.
So, it is a garage. There are tools lying around everywhere, as well as a couple of empty pizza boxes. Towards the back of the garage is a motorbike with the tyres missing. However, in front of us, is a truck that's a red, or orange colour, though that could be rust to be honest.
"What do you think?" Charlie asks. I'm assuming he's asking me as he's looking at me.
"I totally rebuilt the engine," Jacob says.
"You did good, son," Billy tells him.
"Thanks. You just have to double pump the clutch, but apart from that she's good to go," Jacob continues as he opens the driver's door.
"Uh…" I still don't get it.
"I just bought it off Billy here," Charlie tells me. "Think of it as a welcome home present."
For me?
He bought me a truck?
It's mine…
"You're kidding me," I finally manage to say. I realise now that I must have looked like an idiot while processing what Charlie said. My mouth must have been hanging open.
"She speaks!" Jacob says. He then begins to laugh at his joke.
I feel tears begin to prick my eyes. I defensively cross my arms over my chest.
It was just a joke, Bella. He didn't mean anything by it.
Charlie and Billy turn to look at him. That quickly shuts him up.
"Jacob!" Billy says to get his attention.
"Aw, jeez… I'm sorry," he tells his father. He looks at me, "I didn't mean…"
"Bella, I apologise. Please, ignore my son," Billy tells me.
Gladly.
I walk over to stand next to my father. It somehow makes me feel better. The threat of tears disappears from my eyes.
From the corner of my eye, I see Jacob leave the truck and go over to the tyre-less motorbike. He begins to mess around with some tools.
"So, is this thing good to go?" Charlie asks. He must sense how awkward this situation has become.
"It sure is. Take care of my old girl, Bella," Billy says as he hands me a set of keys.
"Thank you," I tell him.
He smiles at me and moves out of my way. I walk over to the truck, climb in and put the key in the ignition. I can see Jacob staring at me as the engine starts.
Wow, it's loud.
Charlie walks over to the open driver's door.
"You want to follow me back home?" he asks.
"Sure."
He closes the door, says goodbye to the Blacks, and walks out to his car.
I roll down the window as I put the truck into reverse.
"Bye, Billy."
"Take care, Bella. See you again soon, I hope."
My mom taught me how to drive when I turned sixteen. We saved up so I could take my test, which I finally did just before my seventeenth birthday. I haven't driven since then.
It's surprising how easy it is to pick up again I notice as I drive it along the roads back home. It doesn't seem to want to go any faster than fifty five miles an hour though. That could be one of the reasons why Charlie bought it I realise.
I park up in front of the house, behind Charlie's police cruiser. There's a slight ringing in my ears as I turn off the engine.
As I climb out of the truck, Charlie walks over to me with my bag in his hands.
"I think someone wants you real quick, your phone hasn't stopped ringing the whole ride home."
He hands me my bag. I place it on the driver's seat as I rummage through it to find my phone.
I see that I have about ten missed calls from Alice.
I'm about to call her back when my phone rings in my hand. I answer immediately. It must be important.
"Where have you been? I've been trying to get a hold of you! Why weren't you answering your phone?"
"Um… I'm sorry?" It comes out sounding like a question.
"It's okay… you're alright. You are alright, aren't you?" she asks.
"Yeah."
I begin to walk inside after closing the door to my truck. Charlie has already settled himself in front of the television.
"Okay," she breathes down the phone. "You're still coming over right?"
"Uh, yeah. After dinner with my dad."
"Great, I will see you later," she says as her goodbye.
I hang up and join Charlie to see what he wants for dinner.
"Whatever is easiest for you, Bells. I know that you want to head off to the Cullen's soon."
I don't really want to go. It would just seem rude if I turn Alice down again.
I leave the front room to see what we might have that I can cook. As I begin to walk away, I realise that I don't remember showing Charlie any appreciation for my new truck.
I turn to look at him and murmur a thank you in his direction. It's the best I can do right now. He's paying attention to what he's watching anyway. When he hears me, he turns to look at me.
"Uh… you're welcome."
As I start to walk away again, I hear him say, "I just want you to be happy."
I don't know how to respond to that, so I choose to pretend that I didn't hear it. I'm not ready to deal with what might make me happy. I can't actually remember the last time that I was.
When did I last find something funny? When was the last time I laughed at anything?
I honestly don't remember.
Edward
"Everything's alright," Alice tells me. "So why did her future just disappear like that?" she asks herself.
The day had passed by normally, up until now of course. About thirty minutes ago, Alice screamed and ran into my room. Her mind was blank to me. I could just hear her thinking over and over 'oh no, not again'. After she explained to me that Bella's future had disappeared once again, I realised she was worried that something terrible had happened to her. The sun was out still, so there was no way any of us could check on her. Alice repeatedly called Bella's number on her phone, trying to get an answer. Each time it would go to voicemail, so she would hang up and try again. I think the call finally connected on the eleventh try. Alice stayed with me in my room throughout her conversation so I heard everything that was said.
Her voice… there was no emotion to what she was saying, not that she had said much anyway. Alice wasn't concerned though, she was just happy that she was talking.
"I don't know, Alice. It doesn't make sense," I reply.
If nothing had happened to her, then there shouldn't be a reason for her future to fade away.
"Why were you looking for her future anyway?" I ask.
"I was just making sure that she was still coming over."
"Right. It's not too late for me to back out of this, is it?"
"I estimate that she'll be here in approximately one hour and thirteen minutes. Please just make sure you're around at some point this evening," she tells me.
Alice leaves my room then to spend some time with Jasper before Bella's arrival.
I have a feeling that she's keeping something from me. I don't know what it is, but I can guess it has something to do with this evening. Like I wasn't already nervous enough. It's strange, I can't remember the last time I was nervous about anything.
She's just a girl, Edward.
Yeah… a girl that I want to feed from.
No pressure or anything.
I spend the next hour doing anything I can to take my mind off Bella Swan. Eventually, I end up sitting at my old piano, just staring at the keys. I haven't played a composition since I left my family five hundred and thirty four days ago. Now that I'm here again, I don't know where to start. It's not like I've forgotten any of them, that's impossible with a vampire mind, but I don't know which song to choose. I want to play something that will distract me. After thinking it over for ten minutes, I settle on Esme's favourite.
I'm half way through the composition when I hear the roar and rattle of a decrepit engine.
"She's here!" Alice yells as she runs down the stairs to greet her outside.
Great- time to face the music, so to speak.
Bella
This place is huge! It's like a God damn mansion or something. I didn't know Alice's family had money… not that that changes anything.
It took me a while to find this place. Alice's instructions weren't all that detailed as she gave them to me via a text message. I had to ask Charlie to double check which direction to head in. Finding their driveway was the hardest part. It was practically hidden by trees, and I ended up missing it on my first couple of attempts. I had to turn around each time to try again.
"Bella!" shouts an exuberant Alice as she runs down the steps that lead to her front door.
I smile at her as she quickly approaches. She moves in for a hug. I manage to move my arms before she pins them to my side like the last time.
"Come on in," she says once she's hugged me. I follow her up the steps and into the house.
It's so… beautiful. The walls are made of glass, and the colour scheme is so neutral, but it suits this place. The furniture brightens the room up though.
The tranquillity of the place is disrupted when the sound of piano music comes to a crashing halt, like someone has slammed down on the keys. It was played so perfectly that I just assumed it was a recording when I walked in. I guess not.
"That would be Edward," Alice tells me when she sees my grimace at the thought of the piano being abused like that.
Edward? I haven't met him. Is he another sibling?
"Oh," I say.
"Ignore him. We do," she jokes.
Alice takes my jacket from me as Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie enter the room.
"Bella! How you doin'?" Emmett asks when he sees me.
"Um, good thanks."
Jasper stays over the far side of the room while Rosalie and Emmett come closer to me.
"How… how are you?" I manage to ask. My gaze flits between Jasper and Emmett. I feel slightly wary of Jasper, I'm not sure why. He doesn't look comfortable, like he's in pain or something.
"Can't complain," Emmett says as he takes a seat on the nearby couch.
"Having a day off school always puts us in a good mood," Rosalie adds cheerfully. She takes a seat next to Emmett.
I feel a little uncomfortable. I'm not a fan of being in new environments, and I don't know these people all that well.
What was I thinking? This is too soon.
"Let's go up to my room," Alice interrupts my thoughts.
I nod at her. I'll do anything to distract myself right now. It's too soon to leave. I only just got here.
I follow Alice up to her room. On the way up, I notice just how big this place is. There are so many doors. Alice's room is on the second floor. Turns out, she shares it with Jasper, although you wouldn't really be able to tell unless you looked in the wardrobe. I'm guessing that Alice decided how it should be decorated, unless Jasper's favourite colour is purple. Then again, it could be.
We both take a seat on the bed and spend the next ten minutes catching up with each other. She does most of the talking. I just chime in every now and then. Alice doesn't really need another person to have a conversation with.
"So, you got your own car then?" she asks when she's finished describing her earlier hiking trip.
"Yeah."
"That's great. You could come over he any time you wanted to now," she smiles at me.
I try to plaster a smile on my face.
I hope it works.
Edward
I can't hear her… nothing. She's quiet, silent, a mute. Obviously I can hear the little that she says out loud, but from her mind- nothing.
What the hell?
And that smell… it's enough to make me almost damage my baby- my piano.
Somehow I manage to restrain myself to where I'm sitting. However, the seat itself isn't surviving my personal battle. I look down to see my fists imprinted in to the wood of the bench. I could easily snap it in half. I'm surprised I haven't yet.
It's fine when I don't breathe. It's pointless for me anyway. So I stop. I's just another one of those human comforts.
I can still feel the venom pooling in my mouth though. It might be because I can hear the pounding of her heartbeat, and the whooshing of the liquid running through her veins.
Shame I couldn't block off my hearing for this torture.
How can my family expect me to stay here when the temptation is just upstairs in Alice's room? It's a good thing most of my family are around to act as Bella's bodyguards. I don't know if I could trust myself alone with the girl.
How you holding up, Edward? Emmett asks me with his thoughts.
It seems the rest of my family are also concerned.
Try breathing, Edward. You need to acclimatise to her scent, Jasper tells me.
Just calm down, Edward, Rosalie thinks.
I can hear Alice chatting nonstop. Bella doesn't try to interrupt her. She must have a lot of patience.
I decide now is a good time to try and breathe. She's two floors above me so I should be okay.
Slowly, I inhale.
Freesias, lilacs… honey and sunshine.
Too good to resist…
I shake the thought out of my head.
No! I can do this.
I breathe in again. I notice that it gets slightly easier with each intake of air. The burning in my throat doesn't hurt as much. It's still painful though, but not unbearable.
I get into a rhythm of breathing. It's quickly disrupted though by the words I hear coming from upstairs.
"Who's Edward?"
I notice that those two words hold the most emotion that I've ever heard that girl speak before.
I hear Alice tell Bella who I am to her. She then offers to introduce us.
I don't know if I'm ready for that yet.
You should try it, Edward. Join us in the living room. We'll hold you back if we need to, Emmett thinks.
Sure- what would Bella think about that? I can just picture both Emmett and Jasper restraining me while I act like an animal in front of her. I'll scare her to death.
Are you up for it, Edward? Alice thinks to me from upstairs.
I wish my family wouldn't put in on the spot like this.
Can I even trust myself to move from this bench and into the living room without ending up in Alice's room?
There's no time like the present to find out.
I take my time to stand up.
I walk at a human pace into the living room and take a seat on the far end of the sofa.
So far, so good.
"Uh… okay," I hear Bella tell Alice.
"Come on then," Alice replies.
Should I hold my breath for this?
Jasper is able to calm me slightly from his position over by the window. I feel better for it.
But each heavy human step down the staircase pounds into my skull bringing with it a fresh wave of eau de Bella.
My hand automatically grips the arm rest.
Not too hard, Ed. She might notice the damage, Rosalie thinks.
I ease up as best as I can.
Finally… there she is, staring at me from the last step of the stairs.
Why is she looking at me like that?
Bella
No!
It can't be.
It's him… the guy who distracted me the other day, the one who was staring at me from my back garden.
Why is he looking at me like that?
AN: Woohoo! Longest chapter yet :)
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