Thanks again, lil artist. While your analogy is not my favorite, I'm gratified that you noticed the mood swinging. There was previously a sentence referencing that in this chapter. It got cut during an edit, but the fact that the emotions still come through is good.

Everyone else, as always I'd love some input. Or praise. Or unmitigated rage at my defilement of your beloved Edward. Whatever floats your boat.

Talking It Out

Mike Newton called later that night. Jessica was thrilled, until he asked her to pass the phone to Maureen.

"Why does he want to talk to you?" She sniffed, handing over the phone.

"I'm his wingman." Maureen said. "I bet he wants me to read your diary, so he can tailor his personality to fit your hopes and dreams."

Jessica rolled her eyes. "I never know when you're being serious or not."

What Mike actually wanted to talk about was…unspecific. He kept making 'hrm' noises, and asking Maureen random questions in a vaguely accusatory tone.

"Do you think the cut on my finger was gross?"

Maureen put the cordless phone under her ear, and opened the refrigerator door. "I think the cut on your finger was microscopic."

"Hrm. I…um. Do you think I could carry someone if they were dead weight?"

Maureen pulled a carton of orange juice out of the fridge, and poured herself a glass. "I don't know. Are we talking kid or adult?"

"Someone your size."

I'm chunkier than Bella Swan...or what passes for chunky in this place.

It was actually a little weird. In almost two years, Maureen hadn't seen a single fat person her age. There were a bunch of parents and other forty-somethings who looked normal, but everyone younger seemed to be missing some key cellulite glands. They were slightly plump, or barely curvy...but never rubanesque.

"Yeah, you could probably carry me if you tried." Maureen answered. "What's this about?"

"What? Why do you want to know?" Mike asked quickly.

Good grief. "Mike, drink something non-caffeinated and go to bed." Maureen said. "If you actually wanted my input on anything, you wouldn't be hemming and hawing so much."

The conversation ended shortly after, and Maureen took her own advice. She curled up in her bed under a pile of blankets and quilts, listening to the wind rush past her window. Maureen stared at the white ceiling above her, seeking out the cracks in the paint as her eyes slowly became accustomed to the dark.

"I thought you were a peaceful place." Maureen said. "I thought the whole world was shallow and unimportant. I thought I was safe. Why is everyone suffering from this pointless angst and jealousy?"

Forks didn't answer.

The next morning, Maureen found Rosalie behind the Gym. Alice was there too, scribbling something in a notebook.

"Hey, Rosalie." Maureen paused. "Hey, Alice."

"You were supposed to find us two minutes ago." Alice said. "You should have checked here before you went around the cafeteria."

"Yeah, I missed you too." Maureen turned to face Rosalie.

"You seem irritated." Maureen observed. The blonde vampire snorted.

"Someone took the Volvo to go drop somebody else off yesterday. Her scent is still all over the car!"

"Well, he had to take Bella home after the blood typing fiasco." Alice said. "He didn't want her to drive in her condition."

"What condition? Nauseated and ineffectual?" Maureen said. "I've never seen someone so dramatically helpless. And Edward is acting like the male lead in a daytime soap opera!"

"He's testing his abilities of control." Alice said. "And he wants to understand Bella, since he can't read her mind. Really, he's courting her. But try not to think that word near him. He'll get testy."

Maureen scoffed. "This is beyond stupid. And just so you know, he's also testing Mike's abilities of control. The boy won't admit it, but he is seriously pissed off."

"Edward may have upset Mike Newton." Alice ventured. "But it was incidental on his part."

"So he's incidentally taking pleasure in other people's anger and pain."

"You know, you really are a danger to us." Alice said calmly.

Rosalie's head shot up. "Alice, what are you talking about?"

"Not this again." Maureen groaned.

"No, it's different." Alice said. "We were foolish to think that getting used to your smell would make it easier for us to hurt you. Bella's blood causes more trouble than yours ever did."

"So what's your point?" Maureen demanded.

"Bella will like Edward, I'm sure." Alice smiled. "And she'll definitely like me, once she meets me. She'll like all of us. But you don't like us. You think we're rude, and patronizing, and pathetic examples of vampirism."

"You sparkle in the sunlight." Maureen said flatly. "You know what sparkles in the sunlight? Butterflies. Quartz rocks. Water with the right levels of sediment! Not the goddamn Bloodsucking Children of the Night."

Alice crossed her arms over her chest. "You've been reading too much horror fiction."

"I've been places that you'd call 'horror fiction'!" Maureen cried. "And I'm not going to hurt you just because I don't like you. I'm not a psychopath."

"Or a vampire." Rosalie interjected. "She's a…a concept. With the strength of a human being. She couldn't possibly hope to injure us. We'd break her."

"Good to be reminded." Maureen said dryly.

"She can't physically hurt us, no." Alice said. "But she could hurt us in other ways. She could tell people about us."

Maureen threw up her hands.

"You know what? You're right. I totally could. But why the hell do you think I would? I haven't told anybody anything about you. People don't even know I talk to you guys."

"You're constantly acerbic." Alice said. "Edward says your thoughts are so angry and muddled up, he can't make heads or tails of them."

"Are you sure he's not just confused by the vocabulary? I don't think he knows the meaning of the word: 'misogyny'."

"See? That's exactly it." Alice said. "Why don't you try being nice, Maureen?"

Maureen was about to open her mouth and let loose another string of oaths. But then she stopped. And thought about what Alice had said.

She stared at the little amber-eyed girl, looking her over. Alice was calm. She hadn't raised her voice or lost her cool once. Rosalie and Edward got angry so easily. But Alice was harder to upset.

"Okay."

Rosalie looked back and forth between them. "Did I miss something?"

"Alice has a good point." Maureen said. "You want me to be nice? I'll...consider it."

Alice grinned. "Excellent. You have a great day, Maureen!"

She strolled off, leaving Rosalie and Maureen behind. Neither girl spoke for a moment.

"She spent yesterday helping Edward compose lullabies for Bella Swan on the piano." Rosalie finally said.

"I am unsurprised." Maureen responded.

"I love Alice dearly. But you don't need to take her seriously when she acts like this."

"I take nothing your family says without the recommended dosage of salt." Maureen assured her.

Maureen sat with the group at lunch, and so did Bella. Everyone kept talking excitedly about the LaPush trip to First Beach. Mike made sure everyone knew where to meet tomorrow, and Angela compiled a list of food supplies people were bringing. Mike also chatted happily at Bella, as if Edward McHeroPants hadn't swept her away from him less than twenty-four hours ago.

Lauren was snubbing Bella, though. It started out subtle, but got more blatant as the hour passed. Maureen had been on the receiving end of a lot of snotty looks from Lauren, and she knew the signs.

The lunch bell rang, and everyone exited the cafeteria in a clump.

"I don't know why Bella doesn't just sit with the Cullens from now on." Lauren told Mike. She didn't shout, but she wasn't trying to be quiet either

"She's my friend, she sits with us." Mike said.

Maureen gave him a mental thumbs-up. Fuck Edward and his baiting: Mike was a good person, and a loyal friend. And his worst traits were nowhere near as bad as Lauren's.

Bella had obviously heard Lauren, though. She lowered her head and slowed her steps, letting Jessica and Angela walk past her. Maureen slowed down as well, just outside the open double doors of the cafeteria.

She caught the sleeve of Bella's flannel shirt with her thumb and forefinger, to make her stop.

"You okay?" Maureen asked.

Bella looked up. She seemed surprised that Maureen had even spoken to her.

"Oh! Um, I'm fine." She said, smiling despite the unhappy crease in her forehead. She rapped her forehead with her knuckles.

"I guess...it's just hard being in here, sometimes." Bella said.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to live inside your head." Maureen mused. "It seems exceedingly narrow."

Bella frowned.

"That's not insulting your intelligence, just your worldview." Maureen said hastily. "Good grief. Everyone here is being way more sensitive than they ought to be. Even the Cullens, and God knows they think they have a lot to be sensitive about."

Maureen grimaced inwardly at herself. So much for trying to be nice. But Bella wasn't offended—she just looked confused. She was staring at Maureen with abject puzzlement.

"The Cullens?" Bella echoed. Maureen sighed.

"You look lost. But if you don't speak, you won't get any answers." She said. "And this place is a haven for petty head games."

Bella smiled a little. "Yeah, I noticed."

"No." Maureen said. "You really haven't. If you were able to see all the awful, manipulative patronizing shit that occurs here, you'd work to avoid it all. Not that I'm successfully avoiding it myself. But I'm trying."

Maureen jerked her head towards the table of ice-pale teens. Emmett and Edward were absent, but Jasper and the girls were still sitting, slowly stacking their trays and crumpling up napkins.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" Maureen said. "If you consider milk-colored skin to be a turn on. Mind you, I don't think I'd enjoy fucking a marble statue. But that's just me."

Bella's head turned sharply towards Maureen.

"…you know what the Cullens are." Bella said. "Whatever's going on with them, going on with Edward. You know what it is."

Maureen tried not to look surprised. She kept forgetting that Forks seemed very set on Bella unearthing the Cullens' spooky, mysterious secrets. So it made sense that Bella would be perceptive on the matter, regardless of her actual observation powers.

"That I do." Maureen said. "But it's not my place to say a damn thing. I promised not to."

And as much as I hate them sometimes, I keep my promises. Maureen thought. They kept theirs, after all.

Suddenly, Maureen got it. This was what Alice had been driving at this morning. She'd seen this conversation coming!

And she thought I'd blab that they were vampires. Maybe she even wanted me to tell Bella. Maureen shook her head disgustedly. Does the concept of 'cross me' not register with these people? Or are they just used to making impossible promises, and inevitably breaking them?

Regardless of what Alice wanted, Maureen wasn't going to bite. There was always a third option.

I'll tell you what, Bella." Maureen said, putting her hands together. "Ask me any question about myself, and I will answer you truthfully."

Bella eyed Maureen skeptically. "Are you going to give me straight answers?"

"Not if a straight answer means I'd be revealing something I shouldn't." Maureen said promptly. "There, I've already started telling the truth. You see how easy this is?"

Bella bit her lip.

"Okay." She said. "When did you move here, exactly?"

"Late August, year before last."

"When and how did you first meet the Cullens?"

"We're not talking about them."

Bella folded her arms across her chest. "I'm asking about them in relation to you."

"You're full of shit." Maureen said. But she sighed. "I met them the second day of school. I was sitting at their table, by myself. They asked me to move."

"Why do you dislike them?"

"Because Edward's patronizing, and the things his family does are pathetic."

"Not because they're freaks?"

"They're not freaks. Calling them freaks is too unspecific. I'd rather insult them for doing things that piss me off." Maureen stretched her arms. "Next question."

"What do they do that pisses you off?"

"They come to a public school and don't interact with anyone." Maureen said. "They treat people like ants, and don't make an effort to become more socially adept. Next question."

Bella hesitated, then plowed ahead. "Do you like any boys here?"

Maureen laughed. "Not in a romantic sense."

"Do you like any boys in a romantic sense anywhere else?"

"That's clever of you. But no."

"Why haven't you brought some kind of knitting to school recently?"

"I need to pay attention in class, occasionally. And I'm mostly weaving on a loom right now. It's not exactly portable."

"What do you do when you walk into the woods with Rosalie Hale?"

Maureen's eyes widened. "You know about that?"

Bella Swan, Edward's pinnacle of selflessness and virtue, actually smirked.

"I saw the two of you walking across the soccer field together. You've gone back there with her at least twice."

Maureen shrugged, composing herself. "We sit in the woods and talk. It's peaceful and private."

Bella scanned Maureen's face.

"I'm not lying." Maureen said flatly.

The crease in Bella's forehead deepened. "Fine. Okay. Why do you like fiber arts so much?"

"It's what I am." Maureen said.

"You mean 'who I am'." Bella corrected.

"No. Not who." Maureen turned to go.

"You chew on that, Bella Swan." She called back, over her shoulder. "I expect you'll know everything one day. And tell Edward that if you guess his weirdo secrets, he can tell you mine—just don't go blabbing them to anyone else."

Maureen walked down the hall to Biology, chewing on her lip. The hole from the day before hadn't healed yet, because she kept picking at it with her teeth.

The girl's still half a person, and Forks is still her crutch. Maureen thought. But damn me. I almost want to know what she does next.

Read & Review, please. I have no idea if anyone is reading this. I can only assume I have an audience of one.