For the Love of Emmett

Chapter 10—Reversal

The ringing bell signaled the end of lunch. Finally. Lunch had been tortuous. For Bella, because of the stares and rumors. Edward because he had to watch it. Jasper, because he felt torn between his best friend and Alice, and Alice, because she knew that she should be tortured just as much if not more than Bella, except that no one else knew about her part in the deception. It was a relief to leave the cafeteria and go to class.

Edward took a deep breath as he grabbed his bag and headed to class, relieved that lunch was finally over. Until, of course, he remembered which class he had next. Biology. The one class that he had with Bella. Hesitating, he gave some serious thought to skiving, but decided against it. I'm not going to give her the satisfaction of letting her think I ran away. It's my class, and if she wants to avoid me, then she can skip. Besides, he had never skipped a class before, and he wasn't about to start now.

Once inside, he saw that her seat was blessedly empty. Relieved, he sank into his own seat two rows behind her empty chair. At least this way he wouldn't have to walk past her.

Two minutes later, Bella walked into the room with her head lowered so that she could avoid the stares of her classmates. She had nearly made it to her seat when a foot was suddenly placed in her path, causing her to trip. For the briefest of moments, Edward nearly jumped out of his seat to catch her, but he remained seated. His efforts would have been unnecessary anyway, as Bella managed to regain her balance before falling. She glared at the offender, who feigned innocence as she turned in her seat to talk to the girl next to her.

Bella pondered the new development as she lowered herself carefully into her chair. The rumors were unexpected, but not shocking. Throwing around dirt at people who were disliked was a common enough occurrence. Deliberately tripping her, however, was a whole different level altogether. No one would have dared trip her before today, especially not on purpose. She may not have been the most popular girl in school, but she was among the most influential. Staring at the foot that still rested in the aisle, she felt some of that power start to slip from her grasp.

*****

By the end of the day, Edward was very proud of himself. He had managed to avoid Bella all day, despite seeing her occasionally in between classes, and at lunch, and in Biology, and in the parking lot, and in his mind, and when he closed his eyes. Okay, so maybe he hadn't avoided her as completely as he had thought. At least I didn't have to talk to her, though. There's no way I could have handled that. It was uncomfortable to realize that, no matter how much he despised her for using him, there was still a part of him that wanted to be with her. Knock it off! It is never going to happen with you and Bella! Suck it up, put on your big boy pants, and move on. Pushing aside his conflicting emotions, he sealed them up behind a wall of hatred. He forced himself to replay every moment, every conversation, every nuance of his time with Bella over the last month and a half. Each encounter was now seen as having sinister overtones as he remembered them in light of Bella's deception. Thinking back to how he had changed over his time with her, he began hating himself even more. He had completely reinvented himself for her, and it had still not been enough. I would never have been enough for her. I was the wrong brother. Seizing the errant thought that threatened to send him into another depression, he sealed it up behind his newly constructed wall, along with the rest of his heart.

*****

Throughout the week, Bella was treated with the same disdain from the student populace that had greeted her that first day. The rumors had now moved beyond her obsession with Emmett and were now fully concentrated on exposing her every fault. Walking down the halls, she would now hear disparaging remarks about her clothes being slutty, her attitude being bitchy, and the disdain she treated others with. They mused aloud that it was no wonder she had no real friends, aside from Alice, who was reputed to be just as bad as Bella in the conniving bitch department. Wherever she went, she was met with sneers and turned shoulders. It was now painfully clear that the jealousy of the other girls would no longer be held in check for fear of her vicious tongue. Going after the popular boyfriend of a very popular head cheerleader by dating his geeky brother was intolerable, no matter who tried it. The fact that the other girls had been dying for a chance to get out of her shadow for years just made them pounce on the opportunity with increased enthusiasm.

By the end of the next week, Bella's new ambition was to blend in. If people didn't notice you, they tended not to talk about you. Her form-fitting clothes that highlighted her assets were now exchanged for baggy clothes and sweatshirts. Instead of spending an hour each morning on her hair and make-up, she just pulled her hair into a ponytail and left the make-up off. The only times she somewhat resembled her former self was at the school rallies when she would wear her cheerleader outfit.

Her deterioration was difficult to watch. Alice tried everything she could think of to pull Bella out of her downward spiral, but to no avail. Every time she attempted to improve Bella's appearance, she would receive the same response of it not being worth it. Alice was truly becoming concerned. She saw how the whole school had turned against her best friend. They had turned against her as well, but to a slightly lesser degree. Finally, she decided to do the only thing she could think of to do in the situation. Even though it might not make any difference, she knew that it was the right thing to do. She was going to tell the truth.

*****

Driving to Jasper's house that night was one of the hardest things she had ever done. As she waited nervously for him to answer the door, she had to fight every instinct that told her to run for the car while she still could. Bringing the image of Bella from earlier in the day, being taunted and sneered at strengthened her resolve. There was no way she was going to leave her friend alone to suffer while she carried on with her own life.

The smile on Jasper's face nearly undid her conviction. He slowly sobered his expression as he took in her uncharacteristically serious look. The grin fading off of his face panged at her, as she knew he was going to look a whole lot more forlorn before the day was out, and it would be her fault.

"Can I come in?" she asked nervously. Wordlessly, he stepped back and opened the door wider, granting permission. She walked in to the family room, as stiffly as if she was marching towards a firing squad. Coming up behind her, Jasper took her hand and led her to the sofa, where they sat side by side. He retained her hand. Better enjoy it while you can, girl, because he's not likely to touch you anytime soon after he knows the truth.

"Alice, what's wrong?" His concerned eyes bore into hers, and she briefly toyed with the idea of brushing it off and pretending she was upset about something else entirely. Stop being such a coward and tell him! She took a deep breath and began.

"I have something to tell you." She broke off, but his eyes encouraged her to continue. "It's about what happened between Bella and Edward." Jasper's eyebrows flew up in surprise at the unexpected turn the conversation took. "You know how Bella told him that she had a plan to get closer to Emmett by dating Edward? Well, I…sort of…came up with the plan." Her voice lowered throughout the last sentence.

"What do you mean?" Alice steeled herself against what she knew had to be said.

"I mean that Bella and I have both been after Emmett for a while now, and it was my idea to use Edward as a way in. I told her to date Edward. I'm the one who came up with the stupid plan. It was all my fault. It was all my fault." She ended with a whisper.

After a tense pause, Jasper interjected, "how do I fit into all of this?"

"You didn't, not really. You were just my excuse to always be around Bella and Emmett."

He paused again.

"So, let me see if I have this right: you used Edward to get to Emmett, and you used me to get to Edward."

"Basically." She was amazed that Jasper was still speaking in calm, even tones. She had thought the yelling would have already started by now, but so far, he had not even raised his voice.

"Well then, I have to ask, was any of it real?"

By now tears were pooling in her eyes. She should have been prepared for the question, but in truth, she had avoided thinking about it. Was any of it real? She had never pretended about enjoying his company. She had genuinely enjoyed spending time with him. Aside from Bella, he was the only person she had truly been herself around. So, was it real?

"Yes. When I was with you, yes it was real," she murmured.

"Okay." She froze, looking up in confusion.

"'Okay'?"

"Yes, okay. I'm not going to lie, it hurts that you used me, but I'm not going to let it get in the way of us."

"Why?" she cried before she could stop herself.

"Because I've seen what it's done to Edward and Bella, and I don't want to go down that road," he answered lowly. Cupping her face, he continued. "Alice, I love you. I know that we haven't said that before, and I know that my timing probably sucks, but it's the truth. I love you. To be honest, I think I knew something was going on that first day we met to go shopping. I knew that there was no way that Bella Swan and Alice Brandon would suddenly be so interested in me and Ed without some hidden motive. At first I just thought it was a dare or something, but I ended up falling for you that day. I decided that I didn't care. All I wanted was to be able to be around you. If that lasted a day, a week, a year, I'd take whatever I could get. I just wanted you."

The tears that had been pooling in her eyes were now streaming unchecked down her cheeks. "Why?" she ground out. "Why do you love me?"

He smiled, smoothing away her tears with his thumb. "Because you're kind, you're generous, you are incredibly beautiful, and you're the most loyal person I know. But if you want to know the real reason, it's just because you're you. You are my other half. Life just doesn't fit right without you." Leaning in, he kissed her gently, sealing his declaration.

Alice had no idea how she had become so fortunate that he could love her. She had never thought such love existed in the real world. Thinking back to what she had thought was love for Emmett was now revealed to be so paltry and shallow that it was laughable. The completion she felt with Jasper was beyond anything she could have dreamt.

"I love you too," she sighed.

For a long time afterward, they sat and just held each other. Both were reluctant to move from their spot, knowing that once they did they would have to deal with the rest of the world and its problems. Finally, it was time to address the issue of their wayward friends.

"So what are we going to do about Bella and Edward?" Alice hesitantly asked, playing with the hand that she had not released since sitting down.

"I don't know. Edward is incredibly stubborn, and she hurt him pretty bad. Honestly, I'm not so sure there's much we can do."

"Do you think if you explained it to him that it was all my fault that it would help?" He pondered for a moment.

"I really don't think it will. We can give it a try, but frankly I don't see him caring too much about who came up with the idea, only that it was executed."

"Can we try at least?"

"For you, anything," he whispered against her lips.

True to his word, Jasper informed Edward of the complete story the following morning. Just as he had suspected, it had no effect.

"Who the hell cares who started the whole thing? The fact is that no one forced Bella to do that to me. She chose to do what she did. She chose to use me like that."

Edward stormed away from his best friend, anger clouding his vision so much that he was hardly aware of the other students around him. It did not matter too much, though, as everyone stayed out of his way. Ever since Bella had started with his makeover nearly two months previous, ha had been treated with more respect. Whenever he thought about it, which wasn't often, he scoffed at how shallow everyone was for treating him better simply because he dressed like everyone else and was dating a pretty girl. At the moment, he was merely grateful that he no longer had to watch out for tripping hazards that would 'suddenly' appear wherever he was walking in between classes.

He was abruptly pulled out of his anger haze by the impact of a soft body against his own. Looking down, he saw blue eyes blinking up at him. With a look of mock-chagrin, the girl began apologizing for 'accidentally' bumping into him. His first thought was to just dismiss it and continue on his way, when he suddenly became aware of the fact that her hands were still resting on his chest. With a start, he realized that she was hitting on him. Seriously? I'm getting hit on by a girl? That's actually kind of cool. Hmm, she's kind of cute, I guess.

Deciding to take a chance, he offered her his arm. "Maybe I should walk you to class to make sure you don't have anymore 'accidents'," he winked. To his relief and amusement, she giggled and told him that maybe he should. After he dropped her off at her classroom, he pondered the new development. Following the incident with Bella, he had decided to keep wearing the new clothes he had bought. He had started to like them and the response that he got from others when he wore them. Now that he was single, it seemed that girls were smiling at him a lot more than before. Up until the collision that he had just had a moment before, he had deduced that it had probably been a fluke or a coincidence. Now he was not so sure. Was it possible that after all this time girls were starting to like him?

Knowing he had a few minutes before the start of class, he stepped into the boys' room to check his reflection. For a moment, he just studied himself as he pretended to just wash his hands. After much effort, he had finally been able to achieve the tousled look that the stylist had taught him to do. His clothes fit him just right, hinting at the toned muscles underneath—muscles that existed thanks to Emmett's continued prodding on working on his self-defense techniques. His thin rim glasses framed his eyes and made him look a bit older than his actual age. All in all, he thought he looked pretty good. He smiled. Maybe it was time for an emergence of a new Edward Cullen.