Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise, I just use their creations to have my wicked way with them. No copyright infringement is intended.
Many thanks to Jadsmama and Ladysharkey1 for their amazing pre-reader- and beta-skills. I did, however, tinker with this chapter a little bit after they returned it to me so any faults are my own.
Some visuals for this chapter can be found on the IPoH blog. There's a link to it on my profile page.
Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.
John F. Kennedy (1963)
10.
By the time she could hear the tell-tale rumble of the garage door, Bella's nerves were so frayed she almost knocked a pan off the gas with the wooden spoon she'd been using to stir the stew, her lips pressing tightly together as she felt the blood slowly drain from her face.
Dear God, don't let him be mad at me for redecorating the entire house. She continued stirring, counting the heavy footsteps on the gravel as they moved slowly towards the house. Please, let him like the stuff I picked out.
Her hand tightened around the handle, making the wood bite into her skin as she continued to drag it around the pot and around again until he was right there, his pace halting abruptly as he entered the main open-plan living area.
She didn't dare look at him, afraid of the anger or disappointment on his face but as loud snorts started to fill the vast and awkward silence that lingered behind the low simmer of the stew, she could no longer contain herself. Laughter? Why the hell is he laughing? I didn't do anything funny, did I?
"Holy fuck!" By the Edward was holding his stomach, his long frame almost doubled over as he laughed at some secret joke. "When Tanya threatened to step in if I didn't do right by you, she sure as hell wasn't kidding, was she?"
"S-so you're not mad?" Bella half-whispered, clutching a towel just for the mere sense of protection it gave her. But really, what good do you expect to come from holding a towel?
"Mad?" For the first time since he walked in, Edward's eyes found hers, the light mirth fading off into a frown when he caught on to her anxiety. Crossing the distance between them, his arms wrapped around her and his lips found hers in a sweet kiss that made her toes curl, his thumb gently caressing her cheek as he broke away again. "Sweetheart, why the hell would I be mad?"
"Because I completely changed the décor on you while you were off at work?" Bella squeaked, still feeling a little antsy even though Edward didn't seem to harbor any ill will towards her.
"And thereby saved me from a tedious trip to the furniture store on my day off?" Edward spoke, his smile succeeding in reassuring her even more than his laughter had diffused the tension. "No, I don't see why I should ever be mad about that." He shrugged, running his free hand through his hair, the other still wrapped around her shoulders as he seemed suddenly unsure of himself.
"Then you like what I've bought for the place?" she hedged, letting her eyes wander from the new brown wooden dining table and six matching chairs with white upholstery covering the seat and back, to the huge white bookcase surrounding the television and the matching coffee table sitting in front of it.
But those weren't the things she had been most scared about. It was in the little fixtures and fittings; the new pillows and blankets and the plants and art prints that her anxiety lay since they were the ones that put her stamp on the living room as much as if she'd peed against the sofa legs like a dog.
"I don't mind it," Edward muttered, reminding Bella of what Tanya had said about him not noticing she'd changed anything as long as she left the TV alone and the remote control stayed in the same spot it had always been.
"Yeah," Edward went on, scratching his head as he took a few steps forward, breaking their connection as he perused all the new additions. "I believe it's good that you made it your own space since you'll be spending the most time in here." Another shrug as he turned towards her again. "Now, what's for dinner? I'm starving."
Part of her felt relieved and incredibly empowered, being able to make such huge changes and get away with it but she had to admit that part of her was also hugely disappointed that all the hard work she'd poured into this room all day inspired so little enthusiasm in Edward.
"I didn't know when exactly you'd be home so I made us a stew," she quickly explained, swatting Edward's hand away right before he could dive into the pot to steal a quick bite. "There's some fresh bread resting in the oven as well, so why don't you go take a shower while I set the table?"
"You think I smell?" Edward joked, making an involuntary blush stain her cheeks as she was still not used to teasing. To put her at ease again he made an elaborate show of sniffing his clothes and his armpits, the scrunch of his nose finally succeeding in making her giggle. "You're right, I do smell." He leaned in, his lips grazing her cheek before finding her lips. "You take such good care of me, angel."
"I love you, Edward. I'll do everything I can to show it." Her throat constricted as quiet tears of relief and gratitude poured from her eyes, her hands gripping the loose fabric of his shirt until he stepped away, their eyes locking for a second in a look of pure love until he was gone, leaving her to wipe away her tears in peace and set the table to the tune of running water streaming in from upstairs.
That was what living together as a family was supposed to be like; what she'd dreamed of for all those lonely nights before she'd even known him as she lay awake in bed, her door firmly locked and her ears trained for sounds of Aro stirring in his downstairs room.
All she'd wanted was to care for someone and have them reciprocate it in return.
She smiled as Edward tucked into his food with a gusto that betrayed a hungry man, his praise barely audible through his full mouth as she daintily picked at her own meal of hearty beef stew and fresh, still warm sourdough bread. Who needs food when you could be so full on life?
"Did you really think I was going to be angry?" he finally asked her, chewing around his final bite of beef.
Bella shrugged. "I didn't know what to think, did I? I know Aro wouldn't have been happy if I had changed the décor on him while he was away."
"But I'm not him, Bella," Edward pleaded, dropping his bread as his eyes locked with hers. "How long until you realize that I would never – ever – intentionally do something to hurt you?"
"I know you wouldn't hurt me," Bella was quick to explain, "but I wasn't sure you'd approve of me taking the initiative to change things around the house either."
"Well then." Edward sat back, his hands folded over his full belly. "For future reference: I have no problem with you changing anything about the house. As long as I have you and something to return to at night that has four walls, a watertight roof and a bed, I'm more than happy."
"So you don't need windows?" For the first time that night, Bella felt at ease enough to tease, her shoulders setting a little straighter and her skin a bit lighter as she stared at him.
"Nah," he shrugged, trying to act all casual even when it was clear from the sparks in his eyes that he wasn't. "Windows are overrated. All that light only keeps you from your sleep."
"So you'd have no problem with me painting the bedroom bright pink then?" she went on, tracing the rim of her water glass with the tip of her finger.
He shook his head, though clearly he would have hated it if she did. "Not as long as you're in my bed."
She sighed; acting all unaffected when deep down she could feel the heat building up between her legs. "I guess that could be arranged."
"Good." Edward smiled smugly, his grin sending pleasurable shivers down her spine, "because I feel like heading up to bed right now. Care to join me?"
Instead of grabbing his outstretched hand like she wanted to – really wanting to – she crossed them in front of her chest, trying to narrow her eyes and act all pissy. "We're not done talking yet."
"We're not?" Disappointment dripped off his face as he sat back down.
She shook her head. "You knew Tanya was coming to visit me, right?"
"I didn't know," Edward defended himself, his guilt written in the puppy-dog look on his face, "but I might have had a hunch she would."
"And it didn't occur to you that I might want to know you were springing your ex-wife on me?" She pressed on, her frustration empowering her to speak more freely than she usually would. "In fact, it didn't occur to you that I might want to be awake to see you off on your first day of work?"
He sighed as Bella turned her back, waiting for him to explain himself while she shut off the gas and bent down to grab the bread from the over, a clean kitchen towel carefully wrapped around her hands to keep them from burning. A lesson she'd learned the hard way.
Only he didn't speak and when she finally turned around, the bread knife hovering over the firm crust of the fresh bread, he was at the table, hunched over with his head in his hands.
She was too surprised to speak, her mind hovering between being pissed off at him for once again shutting down on her and, at the same time, wanting to reach out and cradle him to her chest as she told him everything would be okay. Her heart hurt for him, it truly did, but it also still felt bruised by his actions and the uncertainty she'd carried around with her all day because of it.
Why did she have to keep messing up, even if it was by asking a simple question or defending her right to make her own decisions? Why couldn't she just hold her tongue and count to ten before she lashed out, making the people she loved feel miserable?
She sucked in a deep breath, closing her eyes to regain control over her emotions before opening them again as she set to the task of carefully slicing the bread. "You still hungry?"
He hummed an affirmation but didn't say anything as she proceeded to slice off a few more slices of bread before putting the whole cutting board along with the bread on the table. It wasn't until she'd returned with the stew and started to dish out more of the food that he really spoke, her hands almost dropping his plate from the sudden sound.
"You're right." His voice sounded wary, and not just from a hard day's work. "I should have said something before I left the house this morning. It was just…" He sighed, his eyes on his plate as he pushed his food around. "You looked so peaceful while you were sleeping and I…I didn't want to run the risk of rehashing our fight and having it turn into an argument all over again."
She nodded, bringing another spoonful of stew to her mouth as she waited to find out if he was done talking, her answer coming only when her mouth was empty again. "I owe you an apology."
He shrugged. "Nah, I shouldn't push you, especially when I already know where you stand on this."
"True," she nodded. "But I shouldn't have said the things I did. It was a low blow and you had every right to be mad at me. I just…it's hard for me when you go all quiet. Kinda makes me wish you'd scream and yell."
He looked up, his shock making her giggle, which only seemed to confuse him more. "You want me to yell at you?"
She shrugged, using the food on her plate as a way to stall for time as she thought about her next words. "Not really but…it's what I know best; what I can handle." Another shrug as she nibbled on a small piece of bread. "I'm not used to being loved and the way you love me...this is all so new to me and I don't know how to act half the time or how you will react to some of the stuff I do."
"And when I push you or freeze out on you, it makes things even more confusing," Edward finished her thought, nodding as something must have clicked inside his head.
She nodded, feeling oddly relieved to talk about it. That was like a burden being lifted from her shoulders as Edward stepped in to share some of her load. "I know deep down inside that you will never intentionally hurt me, with your words or with your hands, but knowing it and acting on it…it's not the same."
"You're expecting me to treat you badly?" It wasn't a reproach or even a statement made in disappointment, Edward's eyes remaining merely inquisitive, his head slightly arched to the side as he held her gaze, trying to understand.
"A part of me, yes," she hesitantly confirmed, not wanting to disappoint and not able to shut off that hateful little voice in the back of her mind that was still constantly telling her to be on her guard. "I don't want to think like that and I know you're not like them, but sometimes I just can't help myself." She sighed, shaking her head. "I guess habits picked up over a lifetime of constantly being on your guard take a little while to shake off."
"And here I went and made it worse by giving you the silent treatment." Edward shook his head in that familiar self-disgust she'd grown to hate so much as he pushed his empty plate away. Why can't he just see the man he is, instead of the man he used to be?
"You didn't know," she answered, "And I wasn't exactly forthcoming with the details either." She chuckled, though there wasn't much humor in her laughter. "Just face it: we both went about this the wrong way."
"Bella, Bella, Bella," he sighed, his lips pulling into a genuine and quite devious smile that made her heavy heart spark with happiness again. "Now what am I going to do with you?"
She looked up at him through her lashes, her fingers coyly spinning her spoon in figures of eight along her empty plate. "Love me?"
She startled by the sound of his chair scraping along the wood as he abruptly rose, his hand appearing in her line of vision just as her spoon clattered loudly onto the plate. "Come to bed with me." The request itself was relatively innocent but the meaning conveyed by his scorching green eyes turned her insides to fire as she swallowed hard and grasped onto his hand as she nodded.
"I should clean up first, though," she hedged, indicating her head towards the mess of dirty dishes and leftover food on the table.
"Fuck washing dishes!" Edward growled, laughing out loud at her shrieks as he lifted her and carried her bridal style up the stairs, the tenderness in his movements as he sat her on the bed as careful as if she was made of bone China making her heart swell with the love she felt for him. No, he would never hurt her. She could trust him.
And he showed her. As they made love that night, slowly and almost languidly moving their bodies against each other, the pure love in every gesture and look he shared with her only reaffirmed what she already knew.
His feelings for her were as deep and raw and scary as those she had for him.
They were in this together.
"I love you, Bella Swan," he whispered, his warm breath created goose bumps on her shoulder as he held her close, his lips ghosting over her temple as she fell asleep, her body sticky and completely sated as she basked in the warmth that she had never known until she met him.
"I love you, too, Edward Masen," she whispered, listening as his breath evened out before she followed him into a deep, dreamless sleep.
He made her forget it all; the pain and misery of her former life, Phil, Aro, the fears and the dangers, living on the streets. He even made her forget that the next day, she was due at a community college not far away to start her life as a GED student which meant that only at five AM as she was awoken by the rattling sound of their neighbors' garage door, the nerves kicked in as she shocked awake.
Holy fuck, I'm going to school today!
Eeeep!
Her eyes were suddenly wide open, her mind kicking in just in time to stop herself from waking up Edward, the disturbance to his sleep as she carefully extricated herself from the starfish hold he'd assumed somewhere during the night relegated to a disgruntled moan as he turned, completely hogging the sheets as he clutched them to his chest before his breath evened out again.
Knowing that selecting a suitably professional outfit for her first day at school would wake him up again, she braved the cold, grabbing one of Edward's old college hoodies and her unused pajama pants to shield her against it as she tiptoed downstairs to clean up the mess they'd left behind the previous night and make some breakfast she knew she was never going to eat. Well, Edward sure worked hard last night so maybe he's hungry enough for two.
She was almost done when, as if on cue, Edward came down, his hair still wet from his shower and his skin smelling deliciously like spicy cologne and Edward as he hugged her from behind and kissed her neck, the low rumble erupting from his chest almost making her buckle over with desire. "Good morning, angel," he purred, his gravelly voice in her ear making her close her eyes as she let it wash over her, the splattering of the bacon fat against her skin forgotten as she leaned back against him. "Did you sleep okay?"
She nodded, switching off the gas as she turned in his arms to properly kiss him. "Like a baby." She chuckled, feeling her cheeks heat as she peeked up at him. "It seems you wore me out, mister."
"If it helps you sleep at night, I'm more than happy to volunteer my services." She could almost feel his grin seeping into her skin, his humor infectious as she soaked it up. "I didn't even ask you how it went yesterday." She'd felt so guilty when she realized that as she was scraping the leftovers into a Tupperware container. It had been such a big day for him yesterday but in all the commotion she hadn't even stopped to think about how things went for him, so wrapped up in her own little world. Selfish girl!
"And I'm glad you didn't," he spoke, before her guilt could swallow all the joy. He kissed the words away that were edging to tumble from her mouth; his thumb rubbed over her swollen lips as he pulled back. "It went good, don't worry, but it was just so much…I needed some time to process it before I was ready to talk about my day."
She nodded. In all their arguments and misunderstandings it had become clear to her that Edward wasn't the kind of person who spoke his mind immediately. He needed time to think and process everything before he was ready to give his opinion. The good thing about it was that, unlike her and her big mouth, he hardly ever lashed out in anger but the trouble was that his introversion also made him prone to wallowing and brooding; his displeasure festering under his skin until it came to a violent blow-out. "It went good?"
"Yeah." He scratched his head as if he was inwardly taking stock of everything that had happened. "I was held up by a lot of paperwork and shit and had to spend my lunch break talking to Doctor Adkinson but it was good to be back – better even than I could have imagined."
She frowned, trying very hard not to roll her eyes at his mention of Doctor Adkinson – again with the damn doctor! – as she tried to keep her mind on track. "It wasn't weird to be back there?"
"A little," Edward admitted, stacking some of the food she'd prepared onto his plate before making his way over to the table to eat, the rest of his words mumbled around bites of food, "but mostly it was just the same as I left it, only better now that I'm sober again and back on the right track."
Bella fixed up her own plate, knowing most of it would remain uneaten but determined to try and at least put some food in her stomach any way. She needed the energy for her first day at school.
My first day at school! Who would have thought?
Forcing her mind back to the topic of their discussion she sat down, gingerly slicing off a tiny piece of bacon as she looked at Edward, who was still stuffing his face like there was no tomorrow. "And your colleagues?" She knew he'd been worried about the way they'd react – peers and superiors alike.
Edward cringed, immediately letting her know that, in this case, his return hadn't been such a resounding success. "Some of them seemed genuinely happy to see me again while others…I guess they need some more time to start trusting me again and realize that I'm not the same person I was last year."
"So you're still sure you want to work there and not some other hospital?" They'd discussed it briefly, on their way back to Chicago. With as many things that had happened to Edward in his home town and as many bad memories that clung to it, it was sometimes really hard to understand why he still wanted to live and work there. Why not make a fresh start somewhere else?
"No doubt about it." The quickness and certainty of his reply left no room for doubt. "It's like a second home for me and it has been for years." He let out a deep breath as he rubbed his face, his plate sitting empty in front of him. "Walking in there yesterday felt like coming home again, you know? It felt so good to be back there and see my name on the board again – even if it was just a scrub in on a routine procedure – it doesn't really matter to me if everyone is glad to see my face again." He shrugged. "They'll get used to it in time and I'll make damn sure I work hard enough to earn their trust again."
She knew him well enough to drop the matter, the tone of his voice telling her he'd shared just about everything he wanted to share about his first day back and his intentions towards the future. "What's on the plan for today?"
His grin reappeared, his whole frame suddenly bursting with eagerness as he sat up straight. "Marcus is letting me scrub in on a Pheo-case." He paused to breathe before he explained himself, realizing Bella wasn't as up to speed in neurology as he was. "It's the abbreviation of a Pheochromocytoma, which is a rare sort of tumor that grows in the adrenal glands and causes uncontrollable high blood pressure. It's a procedure that doesn't come around too often so the fact that he's letting me scrub in…it's kind of a big deal."
"I'm so happy for you!" And she was; her joy at seeing him so boyishly eager and looking forward to his day made her forget her own nervousness for a moment. She'd rarely ever seen him like that, so driven and passionate about what he did, apart from when he was talking about his job at St. Mary's and the change from the broody, uninspired man she'd first set eyes on in Forks was staggering. That made her realize he truly was home here, in Chicago, no matter what had happened.
"How about you?" He stole a few bits of bacon from her plate, munching on them as he waited for her reply. "Nervous about your first day of school?"
She nodded. "I just wish I knew what to expect. I mean, I know there's going to be paperwork to fill out and I have to take a placement exam to find out where I'm at. I just wished I knew what kind of questions I'd have to answer so that I don't fail-"
"You won't fail," Edward insisted, interrupting her before her uncertainty could completely take over. "As long as you're able to stand in front of the mirror at the end of the day and say to yourself you gave it your all, the end result will be good enough, regardless of the outcome."
"Keep telling yourself that when the test points out your girlfriend's a complete dunce!" she huffed, rolling her eyes as she started to assemble the dirty dishes. "By the way, don't you need to get going?"
"Fuck!" Edward hissed with a look on the clock. "Are you sure you'll be okay on your own? It's not too late for me to call Carmen-"
"I'll be fine." She shrugged, the benefits of being able to prepare for the day ahead in silence far outweighing the conversation and support Carmen could offer. Besides, they'd spent the best part of their Saturday practicing driving around Chicago in an attempt to familiarize Bella with the new car and the busy roads, as well as the GPS system built into her dashboard. She had no trouble finding her way around, or any fear of being on the road alone.
"Before I forget," Edward was already halfway out the door before he turned around. "Carmen wants you to give her a call when you are done. She told me she had a lead on a part-time job you might like."
Bella perked up immediately. A job? Making money? That was almost too much to believe, the prospect of having her own money, no matter how little the amount, made her heart race in her chest. "Did she say what kind of job?"
Edward shook his head, shrugging as he looked at his watch before running back towards her and completely dazzling her with one hell of a kiss before he all but sprinted out the back door, leaving her confused and not a little flustered as she listened to the sound of his car leaving.
When the garage door had shut she jumped into action, taking the stairs two at a time as she ran to start her shower; the next hour passing in a constant debate as she over obsessed over every single aspect of her appearance.
It was only when the egg timer indicated she really had to leave that finally, with a big sigh, she settled on a pair of black skinny jeans, a white, elegant tank top and a black jacket to top it all off, her hair in a business-like up-do matching the new leather book bag Edward had surprised her with.
She looked professional and serious but not too much. Or so she hoped. "Okay, then," she muttered to herself, almost forgetting to turn the key in the lock as she made her way down the path towards the garage. "Let's do this."
The roads gave her no trouble at all, the hectic and crowdedness not scaring her nearly as much as it had on her first day in the city, her mind focused on the road she had to travel as opposed to those of the people surrounding her in their cars, as she cruised down the expressway into town, inwardly quite smug as the little time display told her she would be arriving at school at exactly the time she wanted: early enough to let them know she was eager but not so early as to appear overly so.
What she hadn't factored in, though, was the fact that the parking lot next to the community college might not have been as empty on Tuesday at ten-thirty as it had been late-Saturday afternoon, her heart hammering in her throat as she carefully navigated her Beetle through the narrow aisles between the cars in search of an empty spot large enough for her to dare squeeze her car into it.
That was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
A more experienced driver might have taken a chance on a smaller spot, knowing that if you'd turn the car in exactly the right angle, it would slide into the narrow space with just enough room to spare to get in and out. But Bella, wasn't used to city parking, had to drive around in circles for an excruciating twenty minutes until finally someone left, leaving an open space large enough for her to take up, her hands trembling as she tried not to over-focus on the cars to her left and right.
She closed her eyes, letting out a huge breath as she switched off the engine, the door opening all the way with no trouble at all as she stepped between her car and the one next to her.
She had no time to contemplate her own irrational fear of parking, though, as a look on her watch let her know that not only had her window for arriving early long passed, she was now bordering on being late.
Shit!
By the time she finally made it into the building and after asking for directions to the small classroom at the end of a long corridor, Bella was panting for breath, her hands carefully touching her hair to see if it was all still in place as her eyes flittered around the room.
She couldn't escape the notion that maybe she had slightly overdressed for the occasion.
Smoothing out her jacket she blushed, keeping her head down as she walked all the way to the back where the only available seats were, the eyes of the others burning into her skin as she stumbled her way to the first empty seat she could find.
The fact that almost every single conversation stalled as soon as she walked past didn't escape her notice. What have I started? Is it too late to turn back?
But the thing was, she really didn't want to turn back, not even with the beady eyes following her like she might explode at any moment. She wanted to be there, in that cramped little classroom with all those people because the prospect of possibilities beyond that room would be worth every bit of awkwardness she was feeling.
"Excuse me, miss," a deep, rough male voice sounded from her left. "Are you the teacher?"
"Oh, for God's sake, Jared!" a female voice hissed, followed by the sound of skin hitting skin as the unidentified woman slapped the man upside the head. "Cut it out before you make us all look like a bunch of idiots. If she was the teacher, don't you think she would have stood in front of the classroom instead of sitting there in her seat, looking all high and mighty?"
Bella sucked in a deep breath, her natural defenses kicking in as she stealthily scooted further away from the direction of the voices as she hid behind the few wisps of hair that had fallen from her clip. As curious as she was, and as much as a part of her was dying to defend herself and lash out against them, experience had taught her that it would only end in misery.
Been there, done that…didn't think it would happen again once I moved. Apparently the good people of Chicago weren't so different to those in Forks.
"Hey, don't let them bother you," a friendly voice spoke from right next to her, the nearness making her jump as she looked up into the face a kid who couldn't be any older than sixteen-seventeen at the most. Why isn't he going to a normal school? He looks like he should be. "Leah's barks are worse than her bites. She just turns into a bitch whenever she feels intimidated."
"Okay," Bella answered hesitantly, trying to scoot back to the middle of her table again so as to put a safe distance between her and Babyface. He might have looked friendly and acted it as well but she knew better than to be fooled by appearances.
"I'm Seth, by the way," Babyface went on. "Seth Clearwater, the bitch's brother, not her husband, thank you God!"
"I heard that!" Leah's sharp voice sounded, making Bella tense again, just as Seth and his easygoing ways were getting her to relax a little. "Just because she is between us, doesn't mean I've completely disappeared."
"Unfortunately not," Seth sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes as he leaned around Bella to catch his sister's eye. "And shouldn't you be prepping for the test? If you want to pull off a miracle, you'll have to find a way to grow a brain first." He scooted forward just in time for the piece of eraser Leah threw at him to bounce off his shoulder and drop to the floor, his voice conspiratorially low as he leaned in. "She can't be bothered taking classes. She wants to get the go-ahead to go straight through to the final exam." He snorted. "She's always had a head too big for her shoulders."
"So you don't think she can do it?" Bella whispered. The lack of faith Seth showed in his sister made her feel oddly related to the sharp, hostile woman sitting two seats to her left. How horrible it must be for her to go into this test, knowing your own family expected you to fail.
"Me, I think she's in for a rough awakening," Seth meanwhile mused, scratching the back of his head as he sat back again. "I mean, she's smart and all that but she's also lazy, spending time she should have spent studying lounging around the house doing nothing."
"I had a fucking baby three months ago, you miserable little twerp!" Leah, obviously having heard his last remark, growled. "It's not like I can balance a book that weighs a ton on my knees while I feed her or change her diapers."
Whatever Seth might have come up with next died on his lips as the teacher – the real one – came in, all conversation around them coming to a sudden stop as she took up her spot in front of the classroom and started to explain the procedures they would follow for the next three days.
It would start with a test – the dreaded placement exam – and then handing over paperwork Bella carried in with her tucked inside a neat little folder Peter had prepared, with the next day commencing with the results and a one-on-one meeting with their study advisors before coming to the grand finale on Thursday, when they'd get the grand tour of the college and meet their new classmates as a teacher would take them through all the need-to-knows before they'd finally start their classes the next week.
All this new information dazzled her, almost as much as it was exciting to finally be where she had longed to be almost her entire life - in a classroom with her peers, one big step on the way towards securing the future she'd always dreamed of.
When the teacher started to hand out the exams, though, all the excitement left her body, leaving a great big lump in her throat behind as her heart pounded violently.
Would she pass the test and prove to be smart enough to even qualify for her GED classes?
Suddenly, she didn't feel so sure anymore.
She was so highly strung that she almost yelped when Seth nudged her, his hulking frame leaning over his desk as he whispered, "We're heading out to the coffee shop across the road when we're done. Want to join us?"
She licked her lips, noting from the corner of her eyes that their teacher was shooting a disapproving glare in Seth's direction, causing her to answer with just a nod. It wasn't like she had anything better to do with her day, as she was sure the thorough cleaning of the upstairs rooms could wait a few hours…or even another day. Besides, it might be fun to hang around Seth and his crazy family a little longer.
For the next hours, her mind was focused on answering the fifty multiple choice questions laid before her to the best of her ability, the part testing her language skills proving to be infinitely less challenging than the math portion of the assessment.
When she finally put down her pencil, the end completely mangled by her teeth from the stress of struggling through the math problems and some of the questions testing her aptitude with words, she had no idea of how she'd done. She thought she might have done okay on the first half of the test but the math?
No, that would never be her favorite.
The rest of her new friends seemed to be of the same opinion as they gathered around a round table in the lunchroom across the road from the college; the simple menu catering to the needs and the wallets of the students attending the school.
Where at first they were all still too overwhelmed by the events of the morning, the atmosphere started to mellow out as soon as the waitress had brought them their coffees, their talk as easy as if they'd been friends for years by the time their sandwiches were put in front of them.
Even Leah wasn't so bad once you got to know her. She and Seth had both had a rough life with both their parents proving to be less than ideal to the task of raising a kid in the poor neighborhoods of San José. Leah had kept it together longer than her brother, who had been in and out of juvenile prison since he'd been fourteen, but in the end, she too had fallen for the charms of easy money, driving her into the arms of a notorious gang leader who left her as soon as he found out she was carrying his child. According to Leah, it wasn't so much that he didn't want the baby as that the little bean she carried kind of threw a wrench into his marriage plans with the daughter of the other local gang leader.
Pregnant and destitute, she'd turned to the only friend (or 'lackey' as Seth called him in a hushed whisper) she had left: Jared Long, the man who had been completely besotted with her since Kindergarten but was always passed over because he wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed and his family was as poor as Leah's.
Regardless of her former behavior, Jared pulled through; getting Leah and her newly released brother out of the city and in with his uncle from Chicago who ran a successful garage somewhere near the college. The only demand Felix – the uncle – had made was that all three would get their lives back on the straight and narrow and earn diploma's before they joined him in the business or decided to move on.
As for Bella, the story she shared with her new friends wasn't so much a lie as it was an omission of the truth. She couldn't believe how easy the story came as she told them she'd dropped out of high school to take care of a dying uncle and fell in love with his doctor in the process. Then again, hadn't she been lying, or at least pretending, all her life?
She felt bad about not telling the truth – it was wrong and she knew it – but there wasn't a hair on her head that felt ready to answer the questions the truth would have brought forth. Being as it was, by the time she parked her car next to Edward's empty spot in the garage, she still felt happy about the day's events.
Sure, she might have failed the test but at least she'd given it her all.
And at least for the first time in her life, she'd made friends.
Real friends.
Thoughts?
