OMG guys, thanks for the reviews. I guess I shoudl do more threats but i will do a bribe too - where I will update as soon as the 10 is reached.
Okay, so this chapter will be a reward, read on to find what
10. Envelope
Jake dropped me home, frowning with a determined look on his face. Was he trying not to think of what I had told him? Maybe it would be better to keep as many people in the dark, only tell them the things they absolutely had to know.
Charlie wasn't back, obviously, so I immediately called up Angela, Jessica, and Lauren. I hadn't properly hung out with them for ages, so they were all quite surprised when I invited them over. Angela had thought I would come over to her house to fill in her graduation invitations.
Angela came over first, carrying four huge bags and a thick book under her arm. I ran out to help her as she ambled towards the door, she looked like she was about to drop everything onto the wet floor.
"Thanks Bella, I can't believe you're agreeing to help me with this."
"It's no problem at all, after all, what's the point of doing all the homework the teachers give me anymore?"
Angela frowned at that. She knew the teachers picked on me, but she believed homework was supposed to be enriching, hep you remember what you studied. I supposed for her she might need it, but I didn't. Graduation was coming up soon, and soon after I would never need to study again. Once I heard something, I would remember it, and I would be smarter than most of the teachers, though sometimes I felt smarter than them now, at least in some aspects – like punishing someone for minor things they did in the past is wrong and will not make me change.
Jessica and Lauren came soon after, together, and both achieving that look of not wearing make-up or doing their hair at all when I knew that soon after I called them they both rushed to their bathrooms to fix their faces.
"Hi guys!" I called.
"Bella," they both squealed, running at me to give me a big hug.
"Oh my gosh Bella, I can't believe you skipped! Actually, I can, but you're going to be in SO much trouble," Jessica gushed.
"Yeah, the teachers all take any chances to be bitches to you, the men included." Lauren's voice was still annoying, but I could ignore that when she was on my side.
"And what the hell were you wearing?" Jessica put a hand to her chest like a soap star, over exaggerating how outraged she was. "I'm so glad you changed."
When I was waiting for Angela to come I had changed into my track pants and a plain tank-top. Yeah, even that was an improvement on what I had been wearing.
"C'mon guys, let's go inside before it rains on us."
Angela and I immediately started to work on the invitations. I had already set up a DVD to play while we wrote, and started it just as Jess and Lauren came in.
The two girls took one look at the overflowing bags of envelopes and immediately gawked, coming up with excuses for why they couldn't help. Lauren had just painted her nails and had to wait for them to dry, and Jessica had hurt her hand in volleyball in Gym.
Those two chatted away, and me and Angela half listened to them and half to the movie. It took ten minutes for them to realize that they liked the movie that was playing (they hadn't realized a movie was playing until then) and stopped talking to paint their toenails and watch the show.
At the end Lauren gushed about the male lead, and Jessica bitched about the female one, how she was so skinny and wished that she could be as skinny as that. Of course we all had to tell her how pretty she was for a few minutes before she perked back up.
"So, how's the situation with Mike?" I asked Jess.
She sighed and pouted. "He said he just wanted to be friends, but then today after lunch he asked me if I wanted to go out tonight." I pretended to gasp at how terrible that was, Jessica never saw through it, it wasn't even my best acting. I had a guess to why he asked her out, after what he had said to me at lunch before I left; maybe he needed someone to make him feel wanted. I hoped Jess found a better guy when she finally moved into a town with more than two okay single guys her age in it.
There were a few more minutes of chatting about the girls respective boyfriends, what certain things the guys said meant, what he did wrong, what he did right, the funny things he did – stupid or otherwise, and before I knew it the girls were asking me what's happening in my life.
"Are you still with Edward? You ran off with that huge buff guy today," Lauren wiggled her eyebrows. Jessica pretended she was only as interested as she had been with the other girls, but I noticed how her eyes scanned my face, how she leaned forward ever so slightly.
Angela was frowning, glaring at Lauren softly then turning to me with an apologetic smile on her face. She was such a great person, worrying about how I would feel. I forgot that sometimes.
I smiled thankfully back at her, shaking my head slightly. I should have known this topic would come up. I sighed a little, and looked to the floor; it would be easier that way. It's not that I was a bad liar, anything but, I was one of the best liars there were, but I hadn't had time to make it up, or even really thought about making an excuse until now.
And for some reason, some stupid reason, I didn't want to lie, not about heaps. I just wanted someone to know about it, to understand it, to whine about it with me and pat my back with pity.
But they would think about it at school, so that meant what I could disclose was limited. "I'm still with Edward."
"Then what's with you and the Indian?" Lauren asked.
"It's...complicated."
The two chatter-boxes grinned like I'd just given them a cookie. "Tell us, tell us, tell us, please, please, please," I didn't know which said which; they both chanted the words at the same time.
"Jake was there when Edward wasn't, but Edward is here now."
"So he's your ex, but you dumped him to get back together with Edward, but you still have feelings for both," Jessica summed it up.
It hit me how simple it was then. Jessica - with her mind not swayed by the supernatural sides – had a clear view of the situation. It was painfully simpler than I had ever thought. I always made excuses for myself, saying that one was a werewolf, the other a vampire, I had to get them to work together and all this, but down to the bone I had feelings for both guys.
"I guess that's it, I thought it was a little more than that."
"Of course it is," Lauren gushed, her hand fluttering at her sides. "You have to consider to pros and cons of each guy."
"Do we really have to talk about this?" I grimaced when they both nodded. Angela sighed almost inaudibly, continuing with her work. I joined her, trying to tune out what the other two girls in the room were saying about the two most important guys in my life.
I actually blushed once. It had been a good twenty minutes of the two discussing; I wondered if they had forgotten I was there. Angela and I had almost finished the pile of envelopes – amazingly – and I only had a few more names to strike off in front of me. I had listened to the two's musings, it was hard to ignore, and the further the conversation got the more humour I could find in it.
They had just finished discussing which they believed had the better abs – Jake definitely (what can I say, I love a tan) - they started to move to... lower body parts.
"God, though, that Indian guy is so big; his junk has to be HUGE!"
"Hey but in health they told us that steroids shrink that part. Plus, the size of those things is weird, like tall Asians still have tiny-ass ones, I mean think about Eric. Edward seems like one of those guys who must have a big one, that's why he's so antsy all the time."
Of course they noticed my blush. "Oh my gosh, sorry Bella, we didn't mean to make you u..." Jessica started before Lauren cut in.
"Could you tell us, you know, just out of curiosity, which's..."
I interrupted this time, feeling my cheeks flame. "NO! I mean, um... I've kind of never gone there, with anyone."
Jess and Lauren gasped, while Angela shook her head slightly, still writing on her envelopes.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing, it's just, I would have expected you at least to have..."
"Edward is very old fashioned, he's waiting until after he is married."
I didn't expect the words to inflict such squealing and giggling. I was immediately attacked by the two in a tackle/hug. They squealed and laughed and jumped and hugged me, and talked so quickly and in such high voices that I barely understood what they said. They seemed to think me saying that about Edward meant we were getting married. We were, but they didn't need to know that.
"Stop, please, stop!" I pushed them away from me. "Do you see a ring?" I asked, pushing my hand under their noses.
They immediately quietened, looking at me pityingly. "We're sorry, we just thought..."
"Just... just don't jump to conclusions, please?" I settled back down to the work, to find it was all done. Angela was smiling at me while she collected the envelopes; it was still that sad smile.
"I've got to go; Ben said he wanted to take me to the movies tonight. It'll probably be another kung-fu movie but," she shrugged.
"I think what you have is really cute," Jessica cooed.
"Yeah, you guys deserve each other. Your two together are so sweet, happy, infatuated..."
"Uncomplicated," I added. "You'll have a great life together."
Angela patted my arm softly at the words.
"I'll help you take your stuff outside." I declined her protests.
Jessica and Lauren both left, calling goodbyes over their shoulders after hugging me quickly. Talking about Ben had just reinvigorated their efforts to make both of their relationships better. I could hear them discussing what they thought Mike and Tyler needed to work on. I shook my head as I carried the last bags to Angela's car.
Angela gave me a huge hug, smiling widely. "Gosh, I miss you Bella."
"What?" I giggled, frowning. "You see me every day!"
"Yeah, and I never get to talk to you anymore. You're never at lunch, you always sit with either Edward or his sister, and on the off chance you are at the cafeteria, and you all but ignore us all. Yeah, you nod along, you add something sometimes, but I can see, everyone can see, you aren't listening. Ben and I actually have a competition between each other for coming up with the most original idea for what you are day dreaming about."
I laughed with her at that. She could be pretty close with most of her ideas about daydreaming. Angela was strangely – or annoying, it changed upon the situation – observant. It was a little disconcerting. "I'm sorry about that."
"And the way you talk to us sometimes, it's like you never expect to see us again."
I cringed at that. "I hope not," I knew I wouldn't, "but graduation is coming up," and I'll be for all intents and purposes dead to them.
She frowned slightly at me, looking slightly taller for once. Angela was one of the only girls I knew who was as tall as me after I had my growth spurt. "And you're going to Alaska," she sighed.
I nodded. "I'll write to you and send pictures, I promise."
She smiled genuinely this time. "You have to send me a picture of a polar bear!"
I grinned widely. "I promise that will be one of my goals!" I'd be likely to be able to take a photo of one much easier than other people too; I'd been able to sneak up on it.
"This was fun Bella; we should hang out more often."
I nodded; I did definitely want to make the most of my human friends while I could. "We definitely should."
"See you then!" She hugged me.
"Bye!"
I waved at her from the driveway as she drove off, waiting a few minutes before I went inside. I would hang out with them more, I would! I knew it was bad for someone who wanted to be a vampire, but I wanted them to remember me.
Okay, this reward is a seperate POV, it's actually Jessica's. I know its a little strange, but I wanted to do it.
So, you want to see what goes through Jessica's head - go review to get your reward