Disclaimer: If I were Stephenie Meyer, Esme would have a personality, Edward would have flaws, Bella would be less perfect, and Twilight's plot would show up before page 343. Obviously, I'm not her.

Chapter 10—Bella P.o.V.

Bella made her way to her art class, wondering if Ms. Sanchez would ask her where she had been. She hoped not, she did not feel like giving explanations. Then again, Ms. Sanchez did not usually take much notice of what was happening, so she would probably not care that she had been late at all.

As soon as Bella walked into the class, she found herself in Jasper's arms. Realizing what he had probably thought had happened and remembering the previous night, she returned his hug just as fiercely. He brought her so much comfort all the time and his protectiveness made her feel loved, a feeling she lacked at home. She pulled away for long enough to check in with Ms. Sanchez who, as predicted, barely even glanced up from her desk to greet her. She did not seem to mind that Bella had been late at all.

When Bella started to head over to the table she shared with Alice and Edward, Jasper grabbed a bathroom pass from the front of the class and dragged her out of the classroom and into the closest supply closet. Once he had closed the door and he knew nobody could hear them, he turned to face Bella, hugging her once again.

"What happened? Where were you? I was so worried when you didn't pick up your calls yesterday or this morning. And when you weren't at school…did he do anything?" he rushed out, his words flying almost faster than Bella had the capacity to understand. After he had finished, however, she took a few seconds to process his questions before answering.

"I'm so sorry I worried you. To tell you the truth, nothing really happened. I found out something…new about James last night, and then we got into a fight. I ended up crying and it must have taken more out of me than I thought, because I fell asleep and didn't wake up until about twenty minutes ago."

"Well?" Jasper asked, curious and anxious to find out what the new information about James was, "What was this new something?"

"James," Bella started, taking a deep breath to calm herself before continuing, "James has taken a teaching position here, at school. He is Edward's teacher. They needed somebody who knew ASL, and the only adults in town who know any are James and Victoria. Since Victoria does not even have a college degree, it had to be James. Obviously, he took the job. It pays well and has relatively short hours. And with only one student, he has to spend much less time grading or planning."

Jasper looked as shocked as she had probably looked the previous night. His eyes widened and his jaw tightened, his concern for Bella obvious. He leaned over to grab her hands and squeeze them lightly in his much larger ones. Bella looked about to cry and she was avoiding his gaze.

"Bella? Please, don't be like this. I know you are worried and I know it hurts, but don't block me out. I'm not someone worth blocking out, am I?" he asked playfully, trying to lighten the mood.

It worked, of course, as most of his attempts to cheer Bella up tended to do. Bella shook her head, unable to help the little giggle that escaped her; they had had this same discussion too many times before. She leaned onto Jasper, hiding her face against the crook of his neck while she gathered herself again. Once she thought she was feeling better and was ready to face the public again, she pulled away. Jasper smiled adoringly at her.

"You ready to go back? I'm sure that Edward boy is anxious to see you again. You should see how excited he gets whenever you come around," joked Jasper, teasingly shoving her on the shoulder. She shoved him right back.

"Yes, because you know so much about his feelings. He's just excited that there is somebody else he can sign with. It must get lonely, being apart from everybody else in such a crowd as our art class. You and Alice, though…I see potential there. You two are always together, ignoring everybody else. I feel abandoned," Bella said, only half joking, but pouting teasingly to soften the statement. She was happy for Jasper and she did not want to hold him back; she could not help her low self confidence, however.

"I won't argue that!" Jasper joked, throwing his arm around Bella's shoulder and leading her back towards the art class. Once they were there, Bella realized she should return Edward's journal. She took it out of her bag and handed it to Edward nervously. She did not know what he had been expecting; she did not know if he would like it or if he would think it was stupid and pointless. She really hoped that he liked it but, just in case, she hid behind the curtain of her hair, carefully avoiding looking towards Edward. She was afraid that, if he did not like it, she would see it too clearly on his face and she would get too upset.

Bella was sneaking a glance his way, to try and judge his reaction, when he looked up and their eyes met. She blushed, ducking her head again. Her hair fell between them once more and she used the "privacy" to try and figure out what his reaction had meant. He had been smiling, but maybe he was faking it for her benefit. It was likely that he hated it. It was too simple, too plain. She had not wanted to crowd it, had not wanted to make her statement via common visual artifacts. Being Deaf brought the visual world to a much higher plane, and she had wanted to play on that. She was afraid she had failed at the attempt, maybe even offending Edward.

Bella had heard a stool pull away from the table, scratching against the floor, and footsteps approaching her. She had assumed it was Edward and had not wanted to look up. What if he was very angry? What if he thought it was a joke, or that she had put no effort into it? Painstakingly slowly, Bella looked up and met Edward's eyes.

Bella, it's beautiful. Thank you. I love it, he signed, and with that everything was fixed. Bella no longer felt uncomfortable about her work. She kept looking into Edward's eyes, smiling, trying to show him the gratitude she felt for his kind words. However, they were interrupted by Alice shortly after.

"Bella! Can I see your Journal? I'm sure Jasper's work was beautiful!"

Bella's shoulders stiffened slightly and she looked down at her closed Journal, unsure. She had not opened it yet, unsure of what she would find. What if Jasper had done something that was very telling of her secret? She could not let Alice (or anyone!) see it without knowing that it was safe for their eyes first. And so, she shook her head once again, Alice gave up and Edward drifted back to his seat, to keep examining his Journal. Bella relaxed and put her Journal back in her backpack, to look at later, in the safety of her room.

Not long after that, the bell indicating the beginning of lunch rung. She gathered her things and made her way to the cafeteria with Alice, Edward, and Jasper. They were joined at their table by Rosalie and Emmett, who, Bella found, much to her delight, were treating Edward perfectly, with good manners and everything. She interpreted for them half the time, and Alice did the other half. Alice and Edward struck up a conversation at one point, leaving Bella free to chat with Emmett, Jasper, and Rosalie without feeling awkward, as if she were ignoring Edward.

"Bella," Emmett said, "how are things?"

He stressed the word "things," to make it clear what he was referring to. Of course, the Hales knew the basics of Bella's situation. Rosalie knew most of it, but nobody (but Bella herself, of course!) knew as much as Jasper (who did not know the whole truth, anyway). When Emmett and Rosalie had become truly serious (they had been dating for a long time now; since the beginning of High School), Rosalie had asked Bella for permission to share the story. She did not want to keep secrets with Emmett, she said, and he had asked repeatedly why Bella had her own room and bathroom in the Hale household.

Bella had granted this permission, albeit reluctantly, and Emmett had been over protective of her. With Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper by her side, Bella always felt stronger and more loved. Unless, of course, James was around, in which case Bella would just stiffen awkwardly, unable to stand up to her "father." These thoughts reminded Bella that James was somewhere in the school building, possibly even in the cafeteria at that very time. She looked around nervously, and Jasper seemed to catch up quickly because soon they were both looking around nervously for James. They did not see him at any point, however, and, by the time lunch ended, left somewhat more calm than they had been upon their entrance.

Bella's afternoon classes passed by very slowly. To counteract the fact that all of her morning classes were with Alice, she was mainly alone for all of her afternoon ones but Phys. Ed. The only person in her afternoon classes who went out of his way to speak to her was Mike Newton, and he was not the sort of fellow a girl wanted going out of his way for her. And so, by the time that the hour for Phys. Ed. rolled around, Bella was beyond excited. They had some time to relax before the game itself started, and so she was standing around with Jasper and Alice.

My teacher is driving me crazy, signed Edward, as a way of greeting, He is a nutcase with one heck of an anger management problem.

Bella's eyes widened at this, and she leaned slightly against Jasper, whose muscles felt tight and coiled, as if he were as tense about the situation as hers. Her heart swelled; she loved that Jasper cared as much for her as to get tense about her personal problems, such as James' existence. Bella took care not to make any comments to Edward, however. She did not feel comfortable disclosing the fact that Mr. Carper was her "father," or at least not yet, so she ignored Alice's further comments on the situation.

The whole rest of the class was awkward, though, despite the fact that, that day, even Jasper and Alice were sitting on the sidelines with Edward and Bella. When Alice asked Bella and "her family" over for dinner, Bella stiffened once again; what could she say? "Sorry, I can't, my father is a maniac with anger management issues, and you hate him. He also happens to be your child's teacher." No, she definitely could not do that. On a later thought, however, she figured that she could always go with the Hales on a Friday. She would enjoy that, and so would Jasper and Alice.

At the end of the class, Bella said her goodbyes and headed to the locker rooms to change. Once she was done there, she went to the parking lot and got in her trusty old truck. She felt a shiver go down her spine when she saw James' car sitting in the teachers' parking lot. As soon as she was out of the lot, however, (that took longer than usual; why was traffic so bad?) she forgot about it. When she got home she went directly to her room, hoping James would have to stay after school and would give her a few hours of peace. If she did have free time, she thought, she would use it to look through her Journal.

In her journal, she had explained her story (except for her mother's infidelity and her not truly being James' child), much as Jasper had already heard it. Jasper's response was as beautiful as it was touching: he had drawn a tall building with many, many windows and, in each window, was a small, rectangular piece of a picture of her. Her right eye was in one window, half her nose in another, and so on. Bella smiled at the simplicity of it; it was so Jasper. She was snapped out of her reverie by the sound of the house's door slamming closed. James was home, and not in a good mood.

Worried for her well being, and slightly concerned for James, she went down the stairs, careful to make no noise, and approached the kitchen. Still wearing his suit jacket and tie, James was standing by the fridge, drinking beer of out the can. Bella did not let this bother her, however, since she had grown so used to the image over the years. She was fine.

At some point, Bella must have made a noise, because James turned to look at her.

"Look at you, pathetic little whore. Useless, stupid, toy. What good are you for, huh? I'll tell you the answer: none!"

James' rant continued on for quite a while, and Bella did her best to ignore the hurtful words that he hurled at her like simple paper airplanes. Too bad her self esteem was so weak that even the smallest of sighs would be able to knock it over; those paper air planes were like fire bomb attacks for poor Bella. Once James was quite done screaming at her, and telling her how worthless she was, Bella ran up to her room and locked herself in. She jumped on the bed and began to cry. She eventually cried herself to sleep.

AUTHOR'S NOTE—and here I go again, spoiling you. There is not as much writing, though…I was falling asleep (quite literally; closed eyes, dreaming, funny pot bunnies) throughout writing the second half of this chapter, at which point I kind of realized I could hardly stay up. So, sorry if it's not what you're used to, but it's better than nothing at all!

Thanks to:

Skittleysweet

bluebaby3296

not-a-writer-ish

iWant2BaMonsterToo—yup!

JK5959—sorry that was unclear!

UltravioletSpark

dolphingirl79

ameeona

Music ADD—poor Bella...

PlatypusFreak

Katevangogh—me too!

Tianna M.V.A.—OMG! That's almost a 100 reviews in two days...

LKDunck3

G

A. Fire. In. The. Attic

SRK1012010—you're reviewer number 200!!! W00tness!!!

BOREDOM14—clear what up? I'd love to help you, but it'd be strange for me to summarize the whole chapter.

Viper003—attentive! No, they don't. Obviously, Edward can't hear it during attendance, and Alice is not the type to sit quietly, listening to the teacher.

HorsecrazyJr—thank you! Even if I end up deciding not to do it, I still appreciate simply that you offered your help.

Questions & Comments:

Cabtwilighter—James = Mr. Carper = Bella's guardian, but not father. Is that better? You were right about all of your assumptions, and, as to your question...they hired him because he was the only signing person in town, basically. I'm happy you like where my story is going!

GrlWithoutAName—she is her guardian; he was the husband of her mother.

Kolored—hey, that's OK! We all do things differently. I'm just glad you review at all!

5tarRach6330—she was just so exhausted and drained out from James' words that she just kind of...kept sleeping. Obviously, James does not care if she goes to school or not.

Special thanks to:

Attackoftheeemo—that makes me happy and relieved. And your review made me smile (which is good, because I decided to sit and write today's 3000 words at 10 PM, which is about when I got your message, and it cheered me up enough to actually do the writing. So, thank you! And, of course, thank you for your permission to PM you; that will only help me improve. I am really, really, really thankful that you are allowing me to take a look into your life and that you are willing to share your experiences with me. As to the names...first off, I think your mother and I might probably be similar, if we both came up with the name, particularly since various people have reviewed telling me that it was not very likely for anybody to use that sign as a name...And I think Jordin is a nicer name than Anna; do you know how often I hear people calling out my name when they aren't really talking to me? Everybody is named Anna!!!! *Sigh* And since I have only just started learning ASL, I don't know anyone from the Deaf community, so it will probably take a long time for me to get a sign name. I will just have to deal with my very common name. Boohoo!

Julia—new reviewer! Thank you so much for taking the time to give me such a thorough review. I am very glad you like my story and that you care enough to point out ways to improve it. To address your points/comments, as to James' disrespect of Deaf culture, it is in part due to his completely jerky character, but (this has technically not been revealed yet, but whatever) Victoria was not born deaf. In fact, she grew up hearing, and with the idea that Deaf people were below her. When she became deaf, she did not truly change her mind, and so she did not grow to care much about Deaf etiquette. Obviously, James didn't either. As to the name, I was thinking about changing it, but I got a review on a previous chapter from a girl whose sign name was just like I described Jasper's (J followed by "calm"). Since it seems and acceptable name and since so many people have read that name already as being what it is, I think it'd be a bit strange to change it now. Thank you so much for helping my understanding of ASL and Deaf culture, though! Then, about Edward's lack of a reaction to Jasper's sign name. I thought of writing a reaction, but I thought that, since Edward could see that he was not very comfortable with ASL, he would probably not want to put him in the spot by making him sign. He did ask Bella about her ASL experience later, though. I am trying to present the community-oriented factor of Deaf life, but it's hard when the Deaf community is so small. If you can think of any ways to make it more noticeable, however, please don't be afraid to tell me! I am so glad that you like my story, and very flattered that you would recommend it to a friend. I hope both of you enjoy it!

Hannajamesnivek—I'm happy I made that more clear. I think that, in trying to keep you slightly in the shadow, I make things too confusing and ambiguous. I will have to work on that. I'm also glad that you can understand what I mean by the effects of abuse, although I'm most definitely not happy about the way that you have had to find out. I am so happy that your parents do that sort of thing for other children; there shall always be children in need, but as long as people who are willing to help them exist, the world shall be a slightly better place. Now, as to Alice and Edward's concern...you don't think I'm rushing it? As I wrote it, I kept thinking that maybe it felt like they had become friends over a practically nonexistent period of time. I think the fact that it took me eight chapters to write two days, however, helped with that. I sure hope so! And I will try and get you that conversation between Alice and Edward soon, don't worry! I am really glad you are liking it. And thank you so much for complimenting my English! It really does make me feel good about myself!

Cheesepuff311—oh, wow, that was entirely my bad. Thanks, I fixed it now. I'm kind of embarrassed...Silly me! As for the abuse thing, that comment will actually take part in the larger scheme, and a sub plot. It will be explained at a later point. Either way, thanks for pointing it out!

HONVampyreChick—again, I'm highly flattered! But, I must say, I have been considering replacing names and making this an "original" story. I'm part of a writing society, and I think I might submit it to them. If their reaction is anywhere near the one I'm getting here, on FFN, that'd be amazing...As for your comments, I'm glad that I'm beginning to make things less confusing. James would get in my last nerve as well, if it wasn't because, without him, my plot would be rather limited. But, don't worry, I'm already thinking of ways for Bella to get her revenge! Mwahahahaha!

BroadwayBound96—yay!

As of the time of this posting, I have 202 REVIEWS. Thank you all so much for all the support! You are all helping me so much to take this story to the best of its potential. I cannot thank you enough.