Here's the next chapter.
I don't own the characters or the good grammar. The grammar belongs to ArabellaWhitlock who corrects my your and you're. Enjoy!
Firework
Time Flies
My first week of school flew by; Mystic Falls High was the same as any American High school, there were cheerleaders, jocks, nerds, stoner's, but unlike Forks High everyone here seemed pretty genuine. If the kids here didn't like you they mostly ignored you, if they were interested they asked, if they were friendly with you they went out of their way to say hi in the halls.
My first day at school was much better than my first day at Forks. Firstly I knew people, or they knew me anyway, I couldn't remember some of them; I was pretty wasted at the party after all. Also I had friends this time, Elena, Caroline, Stefan, Bonnie, Matt, Tyler and Jeremy. They all looked out for me, making sure that I got to my classes alright, that I didn't get lost. It was my best first day ever.
The rest of the week was mostly standard for school, though having Alaric as my history teacher was strange. I got given boat loads of homework which Bonnie, Caroline, Elena and I mostly worked through together. It was a novel yet nice change to school. I liked having a group of friends, people with whom I fitted, whom I trusted, who I could have fun with, laugh and joke with.
I did have a couple of eventful moments that week though. My fourth day of school and I took a detour through something they called stoner alley to get to the cafeteria where I was meeting the gang for lunch. Up ahead I saw a group of people jeering at something, they were making a small tight circle and it wasn't until I got up close that I realised what was happening. This group was picking on a kid, a guy beating on him as the rest shouted out insults.
"Hey!" I yelled, mad as hell. I knew what it was like to be considered weak, an easy target, and the thought of someone else going through that made me see red.
The crowd turned to look at me, parting slightly to do so, that's when I completely lost my cool. Jeremy was the kid being picked on.
I pushed past the bullies and into the ring. "You okay Jer?" I asked him while looking him over, he had a split lip and was gonna have a black eye. But there was no further damage luckily.
"Bella get out of here!" Jeremy hissed at me, hurt and worry held in his eyes which he never took off the jerk towering over us.
"Yeah Bella get out of here." The jerk mocked before going for Jeremy once more.
That was it. The day after Jake's appearance Alaric had started training me, I couldn't really do anything yet, we'd just been jogging and Alaric had taught me how to throw a proper punch, I wasn't sure what use that would do against a vampire but I was pretty sure it would come in useful now. "Back off!" I growled, channelling my inner Damon from the other night. He'd been terrifying when confronting Jacob. And that's what I was aiming for.
The jerk laughed at me before back-handing me to the floor. "Know your place bitch." He spat at me before lunging for Jeremy again.
I got back up to my feet and hit the jerk with all the force I could straight in the stomach. The guy bent from the waist down, his hand clutching his mid-drift and his breath leaving him in a gasp. I heard a crow cawing loudly from a tree near-by which made me smile, looked like even the wild life was enjoying this bully getting taken down a peg or two by a girl.
"Touch him again, and I swear to god you'll regret it." I said bending down to the jerks ear so I could whisper it. I then stood back up, took Jeremy's arm and led him out of the group and towards the cafeteria.
"Bella that was fucking awesome! Are you okay, that slap must have hurt?" Jeremy asked me with a huge grin across his face.
The adrenalin and anger started leaving me to be replaced by something I was pretty sure was shock. My legs turned to jelly and I started getting light-headed. I'd never raised my fist to anyone ever. I'd never needed to resort to violence before. I'd just hit someone!
Just as my knees started to give way Jeremy caught me under my arms. "Bella! What's wrong!?" He sounded panicked.
"Nothing I'm fine. Give me a minute." I said, my breath coming fairly quickly, I was pretty sure that I needed to sit down otherwise I was gonna fall down and take Jer with me.
"Sit here. I'll be back in a second." Jeremy said quickly, he sat me on the front steps before dashing up them and leaving me alone. My head still felt a little fuzzy but my breathing was loosening up a bit. Though my cheek was starting to hurt where that ass had slapped me. What an idiot! Hitting a girl?
I was only on my own for a minute or two before Alaric and Stefan were baring down on me, Jeremy right on their heels. "Bella! Man that's nasty. Jeremy said you were dizzy, how you feeling now?" Alaric asked me with love and worry in his voice, his hand pushing my hair out of my face so that he could see my cheek better.
"I'm okay." I muttered the dizziness coming back again.
"Her heart beats erratic, I think she's having a panic attack. She should go see a nurse." Stefan nodded to me before standing up and heading off the steps into the school grounds.
"Where are you going!?" Jeremy called after him.
"To see Jaime Maloney, he needs to learn some manners." Stefan said, sounding and looking malicious. I'd hate to be Jaime right now. Stefan was every inch the vampire with a point to prove, and I didn't think Jaime was going to like that point somehow.
"Come on we'll take you to the nurse." Alaric said softly before helping me to my feet. "I'm proud of you Bella. Jer told me everything, you must have hit him with some force." He beamed at me.
The nurse sent me home, declaring that I was okay, but maybe I should rest a bit and put some ice on my cheek to stop any swelling.
"I'll ring Damon." Alaric said to me when she'd left the room.
"What why?" I asked, surely everyone didn't need to know everything about what happened here?
"You shouldn't be on your own. Especially when there's a deluded vampire after you and a we don't even know what hanging round still." Alaric said firmly.
"So you're going to get another deluded vampire to babysit me?" I asked with raised eyebrows.
Alaric chuckled before replying with a simple "yup."
As Alaric made the phone call I sat on the bed in the nurses office thinking about the we-don't-know-what.
Jake had turned up at school on my first day. When the bell went and I made my way to my car I was surprised and angry to see him lent against it.
Stefan, Caroline, Elena and Tyler had immediately flanked me. Their easy going chatter from a second ago completely gone now.
Jake looked at the sight; me approaching with a girl and a guy either side of me looking pissed off. He seemed saddened by it.
"What are you doing here Jacob!?" I'd growled out to my once best friend.
"Bells I'm sorry... Last night was messed up... I didn't mean to hurt you, you know I'd never hurt you..." Jacob tried saying, his face full of sadness and hurt. I didn't want to be mad at him, he'd done so much for me. Been sunshine in my darkest hour, but then he'd left and when he decided to come back look what happened. I just couldn't forgive him yet, I was certain I would, but not yet. Real friends don't do what Jake had, I'd found some real friends now and things were starting to get scary and threatening, yet they were still here looking out for me.
"But you did. Twice Jake. You hurt me twice. And every time you lie to me you hurt me more. I want to be friends with you again Jake, but I can't. Not until you tell me the truth, not until you're open and honest with me." I said sadly.
"What, you mean like you were open and honest with me!?" Jake spat at me, his eyes holding anger again.
"No, I wasn't. But at no point did I directly lie to you, I wouldn't have been able to." I said sincerely. What I would have done was change the subject or figured out a way to distract him, but he didn't need to know that.
Jake's face got that angry twisted look about it again and I took a step back, still having deep bruises on my arm from the last time. As I stepped back my friends stepped forward.
"I'd think twice about it if I were you." Caroline hissed looking fierce.
"Bella asked you to leave. So leave." Tyler sounded just as scary as Caroline, wow they were two people I wouldn't ever cross.
So Jake had left, but he'd kept popping up at places I was. Always seeming disappointed that I was never alone.
I was snapped out of my thoughts when Damon and Alaric walked into the room. "Take her home Damon." Alaric warned the vampire sternly. "And make sure she stays put." At my confused look Alaric carried on speaking. "Charlie's told me just how stubborn you can be if you don't want to do something, creative too apparently. Just go with it though, do what the nurse said." I rolled my eyes but nodded as did Damon.
Alaric looked between us and half chuckled half sighed. "Right I've got a junior class to teach. Please look after her."
"Fine." Damon sighed as though annoyed, but I could see the amusement in his eyes. "I'll be a good babysitter." I could tell he was trying to get a reaction out of me.
"Do you promise? My last babysitter let me eat ice cream and stay up really late!" I said with fake enthusiasm and just a touch of sarcasm as well.
Damon rolled his eyes once more as Ric chuckled again. "C'mon Wild Cat." Damon huffed before walking out of the room, but I could see the smile lightening the muscles in his toned back as he turned it on me. Ha, made him smile. I was glad though, I felt bad for him having to babysit a walking disaster like me.
Damon drove in silence, his music turned up so that talking was impossible. It was only when I realised that we weren't heading for home that I turned it down so I could hear him speak.
"Where are we going?" I asked confused, my cheek throbbing now as well.
"Home." Damon replied simply before turning the music back up, his driving insanely fast. Must be a vampire thing.
I turned the music back down and Damon glared at me, I just rolled my eyes once more. Damon had told me a lot about himself the other day, and while he'd done terrible things in his long life I wasn't scared of him. He made me laugh too much for fear to be a part of our... Friendship?
"You were letting me win the other day! When we were racing!" I scowled at him. His face registered shock for a brief moment before his mask snapped in place. I knew because I knew that look.
"I've no idea what you're talking about Isabella." Damon drawled.
"Sure." I said back sarcastically. He knew. "Anyway, this is not the way home, I live in the other direction."
"Who said we were going to your home? Hmmm...?" Damon smirked. Cocky ass.
Soon we were pulling into Damon and Stefan's home. Their beautiful, old, gigantic home. Were all vampires rich?
Damon asked me if I wanted something to eat or drink, or maybe some ice for my cheek when we entered the mansion he called home. I accepted the ice and asked for a cup of coffee, surprised at Damon's hospitality.
After he'd come back with my ice and coffee Damon smirked and asked me to follow him. I did without fear, as I said, there was no room for it on our friendship.
I followed Damon down a long corridor which was barely lit with dark side panelling; this was more what I'd have expected from a vampires house. He pushed open a door at the end of the corridor and stepped back so that I could enter first. When I did I stopped and stared with my mouth open.
"I think I've died and gone to heaven." I muttered in awe.
"Nah. I'm here and I'm defiantly hell bent." Damon said from behind me, the smirk still in his voice.
We were standing in a huge library, the space filled with floor to ceiling bookshelves and jam packed with books. Two comfy looking armchairs and a couple of sofa's plus an old looking oak desk were the only other pieces of furniture in the room. It was nirvana.
I ventured to the nearest shelf, looking over the books but not quite daring to touch any of the books themselves; they all looked old and valuable.
I stopped at what looked like an original copy of The Great Gatsby, one of the best books that I'd ever read.
"You can read it you know." Damon drawled from somewhere behind me. I turned my head to see him sprawled out in one of the sofas, a whiskey glass in one hand and a book in the other.
"This is your library?" I asked in surprise.
"Well duh... Who's did you think it was? Saint Stefan's? He's all about baring his soul to his diaries, not reading about other peoples lives." Damon said, but his voice was full of concentration. He was reading and talking at the same time. How did he do that!? I barely remembered to blink when I was engrossed in a book.
Gingerly I picked the book up, careful to keep my coffee well away from it and the ice firmly planted between my cheek and shoulder. I must have looked like an idiot but at least the book wouldn't get damaged under my clumsy hands. Slowly I made my way to the cosy looking chair near Damon's sofa and sank into it.
I emerged myself in the world created by . Fitzgerald and reality sank away around me.
It could of been minutes, hours or even days later that a voice brought me out of the twenties and back to the present. "Isabella!" Damon was knelt next to me his mouth close to my ear as he spoke my name impatiently.
I turned to face him with a small jump. His handsome face was inches from mine, his gorgeous blue eyes scanning my face and coming to rest on my lips. My heart started to beat wildly and I knew he could hear it by the gentle smirk that crossed his flawless face.
"Sor..." I stopped myself from apologising quickly, that deal might have been over, but I liked not saying sorry all the time, it was a tiny bit of freedom for me, a tiny bit of a different person from the one Edward had known. "I get lost in books, what's up?" I asked softly, my heart still racing, my eyes going to his full soft red lips.
"Your dad's on the phone." Damon said quietly while raising my phone that he had in his hand and raising his eyebrows at me as well. I couldn't stop the blush that came to my cheeks, that was one thing I'd never be able to control no matter how hard I tried.
I reached for the phone, my face now even closer to his, I tore my eyes off Damon, embarrassed and confused, focusing on my phone instead. Charlie was waiting on the line, which means that he could hear everything, it also meant that...
"You answered my phone!" I said, why the hell would he do that? Annoying much?
"Well you didn't answer it and it had been ringing for half an hour. It was driving me insane!" Damon scowled back at me, moving away from me and handing me the phone at the same time.
I huffed before taking the thing and answering it. "Hey dad!" I said, wondering what dad was going to make of what he heard.
"Hi Bells, who was that?" Charlie asked, I could hear humour in his voice.
"That was Damon." I replied while glaring at the man in question who just lifted one eyebrow and pouted, which made me chuckle. What kind of five hundred year old man pouted. It was ridiculous. And also made something leap in my stomach.
"Is he your boyfriend?" Charlie asked.
"What!? No! Damon's just a pain in my ass. And my friend." Kind of. Damon started laughing on his sofa, obviously able to hear every word from both ends.
I finished my phone call with Charlie after ten minutes or so, he was excited about finding a new fishing spot with Billy and Harry, and he was much happier, knowing that I was happy now. And I was happy. I'd found some brilliant new friends and I was starting to live, starting to become me.
"You didn't tell him I was your boyfriend!? I'm hurt Rocky." Damon smirked at me.
"You'll get over it." I quipped back. "Can I have another coffee please?" I asked as I relaxed back into my chair and picked the book back up. I didn't know how or why, but around Damon I was completely at ease, able to be myself without worry or fear.
"Do I look like a maid?" Damon scowled once more.
"Put on one of those frilly aprons and maybe? Anyway, what's with the 'Rocky'?"
"Rocky, the boxing movies? Surely you've seen them?" Damon seemed stunned.
I blushed slightly embarrassed, I'd seen them just hadn't made the connection. "Never said I was quick off the mark." I told him, I was so open and honest around Damon it worried me slightly.
Damon eventually caved and got me my coffee before sinking back into his own book.
Too soon a pissed off Alaric was ringing demanding that Damon take me home.
When I'd eventually got back Damon had got a lecture on responsibility, one that I don't think he cared for, judging by the way his face got dark and slightly scary. And I got one on letting people know where I was so that they didn't worry.
Friday rolled around soon after and Bonnie collared me in the toilets before lunch at school. "So... Are you coming tonight? Go on it'll be fun. And you need to have a night of fun. This weeks been a drag, homework, the grill, homework, homework. Let's have fun tonight! Please..." She smiled at me.
Tonight was something called senior prank night. And as I was a senior now Caroline, Bonnie, Elena, Tyler and Matt had been bugging me to go along with them. I'd been a bit hesitant at first though, we were going to be breaking laws and after all I had been brought up by a cop. But the more they spoke about past prank nights and what they were planning so that our class stood out I'd been getting turned around. It sounded fun, and Charlie was the one who'd wanted me to break a few rules.
"Sure. I'm coming." I told Bonnie with a huge smile. Smiles were no longer fake, not around my friends and family.
"Yes!" Bonnie grinned before hugging me and then dragging me to the cafeteria where we met everyone else.
~0~
"Wow, you think everyone would be a bit more stealthy about this." I whispered as that night Tylers car pulled up outside of the high school. He was giving a lift to me, Caroline and Jeremy, the others were coming in Stefan's Porsche, and Bonnie was already inside.
"What do you mean...? There's no lights on, you can't tell anything's going on inside." Tyler said with a frown. I liked him, I really did, but he was a jock through and through, a bit on the slow side.
"Yeah, you wouldn't guess that anything's happening inside at all. If you ignored the twenty cars parked outside and the toilet paper covering the football goals that is." I replied sarcastically making Caroline and Jeremy giggle.
"C'mon. I wanna paint the boys locker's pink." Caroline dashed out of the car, her face lit up with excitement.
We headed to the school, whispering and laughing as quietly as we could. Although the mood was light and carefree I noticed Tyler and Caroline scanning the surrounding areas, on constant alert. One of the vampires, Tyler or Bonnie had been with me at all times this week. Stefan had even stayed over with Elena every night. Trying to protect me from Victoria, they thought they were being sneaky about it, I knew that. But Damon had informed me that I was being babysat a couple of days after I'd figured it out on my own. It was sweet, and it helped to calm my nerves over the red headed feral vampire. I was protected and cared about, something I hadn't thought would ever happen again after they left.
Having my friends watch out for me, but also not making me seem like a burden, it was helping me more than they'd ever know. The hole in my heart wasn't painful anymore. It was scabbed over, healing. I was healing. And I couldn't have done that without the group of people that were stood in the school sports hall with me trailing toilet paper over the bleachers.
"C'mon, let's go glue Alaric's desk shut. I wanna mess with him." Elena said while grabbing my hand and running from the hall with me. I ran with her, a smile plastered over my now care-free face.
Elena and I giggled as we thought of new ways to mess with Alaric in his classroom. We drew on the chalkboard. Glued his desk shut and his chair to the floor.
Laughing we decided to pile the desks and chairs up in the middle of the room, poltergeist style.
We'd just got as far as we could reach and I was jumping to try and put the last three chairs up when the one I was holding was taken from my hand and placed on the top easily. Together Elena and I turned with smiles on our faces to thank our helper.
The smiles died on our faces as Jacob was stood behind us though. Elena placed a hand on my arm and started guiding me backwards towards the window. Her plan was easy enough to see.
"I promise. I swear, I'm not going to hurt her. I just want to talk." Jake said to Elena pleadingly. His face was scruntched up with shame and hurt. "I need to talk to you Bella. I need to do it now though, I'm leaving tomorrow."
"Jake every time you've tried to speak to me you get this look on your face like your about to go hulk on me. And if you're so worried about protecting me then why are you leaving?" I asked with a frown. This sounded like he was playing with me a little. His eyes darting for an excuse told me just that, it was a lie to try and get me to speak with him. I sighed, he wasn't going to leave me alone until he said his piece so he might as well do it.
"Fine. Talk." I said while crossing my arms.
"Bella..." Elena said in a whisper.
"It's okay Elena, go and help Stefan in chem." I said, I wasn't scared of Jacob. Not now Alaric had started training me, I had some pretty neat skills up my sleeve now.
Elena looked from Jake to me, her face worried and hesitant. After a second she nodded. "If you need us, shout." She pleaded. I nodded, I knew she meant that Stefan, Caroline and Tyler would be listening out for me.
"So go ahead Jake. Talk." I faced my old best friend with my arms crossed.
~0~
So there were my two chapters for today, the next two are written and beta'd. Hope you liked todays.
Next chapter Damon turns up... Wonder how that will go?
Tametiger x