Disclaimer: I really hate the fact that I have to admit that I don't own these characters. I want them!!
Chapter 10
I felt a hand clench tightly around my forearm. My heart dropped to the floor in an instant.
'No, no, no, NO,' I thought, clenching my eyes shut. 'Not now, not right in front of everyone.'
That was when I realized that it wasn't Victoria who had a hold on me. The hand was far too warm to be hers. Hesitantly, I opened one eye.
'Oh, great,' I thought. Mike was looking at me intently. I wanted to throttle him for scaring me like that. "What is it that you want?" I demanded. "I really just want to get to a phone. I'm not feeling all that well so I want to get a hold of-"
I was about to say Edward, so that he could come and pick me up. Before I could finish my sentence, Mike spoke up.
"I can drive you to the station. Charlie can look after you that way," Mike stated, although I think he knew that I was pretending not to feel good.
"That really isn't necessary. You can drop me off at my house, instead," I refused. He was not going to force me to meet up with Charlie.
"Well, if that's the case, then I'll just get Miss Victoria to convince you."
My heart started racing again. I knew that if we went back to that classroom, just the two of us, I was dead for sure. I chose the lesser of the two evils.
"Fine, take me to Charlie," I sighed, thinking that it was a billion times better than the alternative.
We made our way to the parking lot. He directed me towards his vehicle, which I was grateful for, because it saved me the trouble of having to explain why my truck was absent.
My mind wandered while Mike drove. It kept on bouncing back and forth between thoughts of Edward and Victoria. I knew that so long as Edward was around I'd be safe. Surely he'd escort me everywhere now that she's back, even without me asking. But then what if Victoria found a way to get to me without having to go through Edward. Then we'd have some major problems. It also didn't help that Alice is preoccupied with Jasper. It could give Victoria the chance that she needed to have her way with me, then where would we be.
I didn't even notice that we had stopped. It was only when Mike shut off the car that I realized that I had to face Charlie in a few moments. Mike was unbuckled and around the car opening the door for me before I had even lifted a finger. Mind you, it didn't help that I was putting it off for as long as possible.
I took off my seat belt and stepped outside. Mike offered me his hand, but I pushed it away, determined to get rid of him. He gave me an affronted look but still persisted to pester me by trying to open the the station door. This was the final straw.
"You got what you wanted Mike. I'm at the station and Charlie is just indoors. Now leave me alone," I told him off, a little to harshly.
Immediately after the words had escaped my lips, I felt bad. Although it got me what I wanted, it left Mike looking a little bit heartbroken, but still determined to bend over backwards to date me.
I entered the station after Mike drove off. I had rarely been in there before. I quickly debated whether I should turn back. No, it would mean that I was stranded. So, I put on a straight face and walked forward.
It was a simple matter to find my father. He was close to the front of the building, not to mention the massive nameplate on the door. Hesitantly I knocked. "Come in, come in," Charlie said.
Putting my hand on the doorknob, I pushed it forward.
"What is it this time?" Charlie asked, sighing a little. He glanced up slightly, then did a double take. It definitely wasn't me he was expecting to see standing there.
"B-Bella, what are you doing here?" he stammered. Quickly, he took a peek at the time. "And at this hour too? Don't you still have school."
Thankfully, I had thought ahead. "Well, I felt bad about what I said and did yesterday, so I came to apologize," I said, putting on my most guilty looking face. "I would have come after school, but this has been bugging me all day and so I told my teacher and he said I could. Also, classes were almost over. There's only a few minutes left."
"Oh..." Charlie said. "But are you still with... him?"
"Yes, I'm still with him, and that won't change. I just wanted to let you know that I have no hard feelings towards-"
For the second time in the last hour I was interrupted. Edward came bursting through the door, nearly breaking it off the hinges.
"Bella, whats happened, are you alright?"
"Yes," I said flatly, facing him. This was not turning out the way I planned.
Charlie, still sitting in his chair behind me, was slowly turning a deep red. "What is the meaning of this? Bella, are you trying to make me change my mind?"
Edward spoke up for me, because I seemed to have lost my voice. "I heard someone at the school say she had left already, when I came to pick her up. I didn't know who had given her a ride, so I came here to let you know, and saw her silhouette through the window. I was just really worried that she had gotten a ride from a complete stranger. But now that I think about it, Bella isn't stupid enough that she would get into a car with a stranger, not that there are any around here. I guess I reacted before my brain, being completely irrational about the whole thing."
Charlie seemed to fall for this excuse, for he smiled slightly. I think he was pleased that Edward would worry so much about me, which was highly ironic considering that he thinks Edward is the cause of most of my problems.
"She just wanted to let me know that there were no hard feelings between us right?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's exactly it," I smiled weakly. "And rest assured Edward, it was Mike who gave me the ride."
Edward heaved a massive, pretend sigh. "I'll just step outside then until you finish your conversation."
Smiling meekly, he stepped out the door, shutting it behind him.
"So you were saying...?" Charlie asked, reopening the conversation.
It took me a moment to remember where I had been heading in the discussion. "I was saying that I have no hard feelings towards the way that you reacted last night," I gushed out in one breath.
"That's what I thought you were saying," Charlie sighed. "Okay, I'll let you come over on one condition: that you come alone. That means no Edward or Alice or any of the other Cullen's. Understand?"
I knew that when he said understand it wasn't a question, but an order. All I did to respond was nod my head vigorously, and back up towards the door. I groped for the doorknob, praying that I could find it before Charlie started to ask more questions. It turned out there was no need, because Edward had opened the door for me already.
I stepped out into the outer office, Edward closing the door. Hurriedly, we made our way outside, ignoring the stares of the other police officials. As soon as Edward was sure that no one could hear us, he spun himself around to face me.
"What happened?" he demanded.
I only spoke the one word, but in his mind it explained everything. "Victoria."
Edward growled slightly. Instinctively, I stepped back, thinking there was something approaching us. With his keen eyesight, Edward noticed the involuntary movement and gave me an extremely solemn look.
"We have to go to the house right now," Edward spoke, tension lining every word.
"And we'll have to run," he added as an after thought.
Before I knew it we were whipping through the trees and arriving at the Cullen's. Edward went straight into the house without stopping, already knowing that the others were anticipating his arrival.
He set me down on the couch, which I was grateful for, because my legs would have given way otherwise. Esme and Carlisle had already entered the living room.
Immediately I was bombarded with questions. I couldn't catch all of what they were saying but some questions that were repeated stood out at me like "How could we not see that coming?" and "how did she get here undetected?"
Soon the discussion was so intense and confusing that I finally had to yell, "Stop. I can only understand you guys one at a time!"
Everyone settled down and then I was finally able to focus. I decided the best plan of action to take at the moment was to tell everyone what exactly happened. They all listened patiently. Finally once I was done, I looked around to see the expressions on their faces. All of them were hard and fierce.
Seeing that I was done talking for the moment, Carlisle took the opportunity to tell us what he thought we should all do. "We should wait. Wait and see what actions Victoria will take."
At those words, Edward let out a roar of pure rage. He went over to Carlisle, swiftly, and he snarled, "I will not let you offer Bella up as bait."
Carlisle, pushing Edward off of himself, whispered something in his ear. Edward's tension eased slightly. He still looked unhappy, but also somewhat appeased. Walking up to me, he looked thoughtful. As soon as he was almost entirely calm, Carlisle started to speak again.
"What I was going to say before I was interrupted was that I think Bella should go back to Charlie's until we know what she may be planning. Bella will not go back to school, and there will be a watch of at least three of us on her at all times. Is this agreed?" He looked pointedly at me and Edward, making sure that we knew that it was mostly our decision. I nodded my head slowly, realizing that I hardly had any other alternative. Everyone else around the room made curt nods or showed there aproval in some way.
A plan had at last been decided upon.