Author's note- If only I had a gift to give you all for not hounding me about taking so long to update. A lot of stuff has been happening lately...some good, most bad. So I sincerely apologize for the wait but I hope you realize that it wasn't intentional. Hopefully you enjoy the newest installment. Review and let me know :)
Disclaimer.
BPOV
"This worrying is making me sick." I muttered in a sour tone. "The least they could do is let us know when we should be prepared to fight for our lives."
Edward snorted at my sarcasm and closed the book he had been reading.
"I completely agree, Bella. We should let them know that battles should be scheduled, formal invitations required."
His response didn't tickle my mood at the moment and I just rolled my eyes at the wall.
"Yeah! Who knows when something more exciting could come up and fill our calendars." Alice chirped from the doorway. Edward discretely joined her in laughing.
"I have nothing to do all day but worry…its breaking me down." I whispered, more to myself than anyone else.
"That's about to change." Alice smirked from her position in the doorframe and I took it upon myself to spin and glare at her questioningly. Edward's arms secured around my waist from behind and twisted me to face him.
"Pause." Alice stuck her arm between us, making Edward growl lowly. She winced apologetically and produced a piece of folded paper.
"Alice, what did you do?!" I cried -the content of the papers still unbeknownst to me…but I had this odd feeling I wouldn't like what they had to say.
"Nothing…" she made small circles on the ground with her foot as Edward snatched the papers away. His expression went wide and I knew immediately that I did NOT want to know what those papers said.
"You put us back in high school!" Edward's ferocious roar even had me cowering, but not his sister. She simply smiled sweetly, with that devious spark in her eye and turned to take her leave.
"Oh no!" I yelled, following her into the hall, "you are not getting off that easy!"
High school? Honestly? Maybe I had ended up in Hell after all.
"Bella, Bella, Bella," Alice cooed, putting her hands up as a signal for me to calm down, "the fall semester for the university already began…plus think of it this way, you won't have to pay much attention since you've already learned it all!"
"That would work…" I feigned pondering the fact before blowing up again, "if I remembered anything academic from my human life!"
Alice's eyes went wide and she suddenly looked a little scared.
"Oh yeah…" she mused, looking down at her feet.
"Sorry?" She spoke softly, opening her arms for a reassuring hug.
I groaned and pressed my back against the wall, sliding all the way down to the floor. My head fell into my hands and I ran my fingers through the thick brown hair.
"This is gonna suck." I confirmed, letting out a deep breath between my hands.
"Hey B!" Emmett called from down the hall. I shook my hand towards him as a pathetic excuse for a wave.
"What's the matter?" he asked, suddenly crouching in front of me.
"Ask her." I pointed at Alice who still resided a few feet to my left, calm as ever.
"What did you do?" Emmett turned to Alice, his tone simply curious.
"I signed us up for school." She replied. Emmett let out a booming laugh.
"That's going to be so boring for you guys!" He addressed Edward who was leaning against the wall just outside of our room.
"What do you mean 'you guys'?" Alice smirked and I swear I saw all humor literally get sucked out of Emmett's expression. "I signed you up too!"
Rosalie was fuming from her position on the couch.
"What were you thinking?!" She screamed at the little pixie who sat on the floor.
"We needed something to do besides sitting here worrying all day. Besides, I've heard the science department here is great!" Alice smiled reassuringly up at the blonde who returned it with a sickened grimace.
"Ugh, I hate science." Emmett complained, snuggling into Rose's arms.
"When are we supposed to start?" Jasper voiced from the other side of the room, having been more interested with the computer until now.
"Well, tomorrow actually." Alice seemed positively overjoyed. "We're supposed to be there at about 8:10 so that a student representative can give us a 'new students' tour."
"Kill me now," I groaned up to Edward, who was cradling me in his arms, "please?" He snickered softly and kissed my neck.
"Been there done that," he murmured into my ear.
That night before the first day of school passed painfully slowly. I spent most of the time chewing my fingernails nervously and fussing with my hair. At about six I heard a vicious Rose yell for Alice.
"What now, Rosalie?" Alice demanded from the top of the staircase.
"Why was this on my bed?" Rose was holding up a black jacket and matching pencil skirt.
"It's the required outfit for girls."
"Uniforms? We have to wear uniforms?!"
"It's a private school, Rose." Alice explained. "Plus, they're not that bad. Suits are in this season." Rose grumbled to herself and threw the garment across the house, stalking out of view.
I sunk into the couch in my bedroom and squished my face into a pillow; this was going to be unbearable. And then an even more nightmarish thought came to mind. How was I supposed to be around all those humans, and all day too? Sure I'd dealt with some from afar- way afar, as in ten miles or so- while we were hunting but for no more than a few seconds at most. And even then the faint smell was enough to distract me.
What if I ended up hurting someone? A grim panic grabbed my stomach and squeezed it until I was sure that I felt like throwing up.
"Bella?" A humored fairy stood by my closet, holding up an ensemble matching the one Rosalie had chucked.
"Alice, do I have to go?"
"It'll be fun, I promise!" Her voice was practically twinkling with delight. She laid the outfit on the bed and skipped out of the room. Edward appeared next to me and grabbed me into his chest.
"She's just trying to get our minds off of things." He attempted to comfort me as he gently stroked my hair. "She has good intentions."
"I know." I murmured into the fabric of his shirt.
Finally defeated, I shrugged away from Edward and headed towards the bed.
"What color shirt am I supposed to wear?" I yanked out a green top and a royal purple one. All the while I could barely hide the way my hands were shaking.
"The purple one will look nice." Alice sang from the room down the hall. I grinned just a little bit and pulled the soft fabric over my arms. I slid on the rest of my clothes and sat on the bed waiting for Edward to finish dressing.
He paraded out of the closet in a black pair of slacks and white button up shirt. God, how did I get so lucky?
The Greek God smirked at me and pulled an ivory down-feather coat out from the closet and threw it onto me. He grabbed a cashmere, lilac and cream striped scarf and wrapped it around my neck.
"But Edward, we won't be cold."
"Yeah, but normal people would be. And so we at least have to look cold." He smiled crookedly and my breathing fell short.
He grabbed a black parka and then we headed down to the living room to wait for everyone else. At the bottom of the stairs a rather irate Rose threw me a pair of furry black, knee-high winter boots while she shoved her feet into a pair of sweater wedges.
I kneaded my hands the entire car ride. Alice sat in the back seat with Jazz, Emmett and Rose drove separate. Edward grabbed my knotted fingers and his expression immediately turned dismal.
"Bella, you're shaking. What's wrong?"
"I'm just nervous." My voice even quivered. I couldn't show them that I was weak, especially not in this aspect. If Jasper could do it, so could I. I wasn't going to ruin this family. I felt my nerves dull a bit and gave a thankful nod in Jasper's direction.
"Bella, high school here's not so bad, believe me." Alice grabbed my shoulder and squeezed it gently.
"I'm not worried…" I trailed off, not wishing to express what was truly bothering me.
"What are you then?" Alice pressed. I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against the car window. It almost hurt to say what I felt.
"Scared."
"Bella, what's there to be scared of?" Alice was the only one still asking, it seemed as if Edward and Jasper knew, most likely because they both had experienced the torture of what I feared most.
"Hurting people."
The school was a beautiful private institution tucked into the woods a few miles down the road from town. The poor tour guide was so distracted by my family that he struggled to even explain the simplest elements. To my complete surprise it wasn't as difficult to abstain from attacking him as I thought it'd be. I could smell him so clearly…so potently, but there wasn't a huge pull on my instincts. That was something I'd definitely have to discuss with Carlisle later.
"You see, this is th-" he cleared his throat. "Er, this is the-"
"The cafeteria?" Rose rudely supplied. The young man cleared his throat again and nodded.
We waltzed through the carpeted halls, not paying much attention to the words of the guide, jumbled as they were. As the bell rang I felt Edward tense beside me but before I could ask him what was the matter I was overwhelmed with a sudden concentration of the smell of fresh blood.
Author's note- Leave your thoughts and you'll get a quote from the next chapter :)
