A/N: Let's do this thing… thanks for the friendly reviews, btw. Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.
I'm listening to Better Than Ezra… it feels high school-y to me… this chapter is all about high school. :)
I don't own Twilight. There. I said it.
Chapter Twelve
"Bella, hey Bella! Let me help you with that!"
I had barely stepped out of my truck and Mike Newton was already rushing across the parking lot to help me. It was like he had been waiting for me. I thought about it for a moment. He probably had been waiting for me.
"Thanks, Mike," I mumbled, smiling weakly at him before handing over my backpack. I was generally not the sort who liked to be helped, but today I would take all the help I could get. Two days off my feet and out of school, and my ankle was still a mess. Balancing on the walking cast would be a lot easier if I didn't have fifteen pounds of textbooks and back-homework slung across my shoulders.
"Anytime, Ms. Bella," Mike replied, smiling warmly at me before giving me a jaunty little salute, making me giggle against my will. "I wasn't sure if you'd be coming back today or not."
"Yeah, I only had to stay off the ankle for a couple of days," I said, gesturing down to my enormous cast. He nodded and began walking slowly beside me towards the school, keeping an eye on me in case I needed any help.
We made it halfway across the parking lot before I stumbled, and he wordlessly linked his arm through mine, trying to help me balance. Instinctually, I wanted to pull away, but he really was helping me stay upright, so I wordlessly accepted his help once again.
"So, are you alright? I mean, that must have been really scary…"
"Yeah. I, um, I'm fine. It all happened so quickly. I don't' remember much, really," I stammered in what I hoped was my most convincing voice. I had decided this morning that feigning shock was my best course of action against having to repeat myself over and over for the rest of the week.
"I'm just glad you're ok," Mike said earnestly, stopping me for a moment so that he could turn and face me. "I was really worried about you."
"Thanks, Mike," I said, looking at the ground, feeling my face turn red. "You shouldn't have worried, though. I'm really fine."
I made a move to continue our walk, but Mike's arm through mine kept me in place, and I certainly didn't have the strength or the balance to force him to begin moving with me. There was too much implied intimacy here, arms linked, facing each other… it made me uncomfortable.
"Look, Bella, I…"
"Bella!"
I had never been so relieved to see Jessica Stanley in all my life.
"Bella, welcome back!"
She was crossing the grass, hurrying over to Mike and me where we stood on the sidewalk. Her tone was cheerful and friendly, but her face told a different story. She saw Mike's hand on me, saw his eyes on my face, and was not happy about it. At all. Interesting.
"Bella, Mike," she breathed, coming to a stop right next to us. "How's it going, guys?"
"Erm… Fine, Jess," Mike said uncomfortably. Jessica had broken his focus, and now he looked embarrassed about whatever he had been in the middle of saying before.
"Oh, Mike, are you helping Bella to class? That's just so sweet of you. You're always so thoughtful and caring. Our Bella here could surely use all the help she can get today," Jessica fawned. I felt like that last remark had been a dig at me, but I didn't really care.
"Yeah, Mike has been a real sweetheart this morning," I said, looking at him gratefully. Jessica's face contorted a bit at the smile that crept across Mike's face as I called him a "sweetheart" and I suddenly felt the urge to mess with her a little bit more. "Thanks again, Mike, really. I can't say thank you enough." I moved my free hand to his forearm, giving it a squeeze before letting my hand drop.
Her face was priceless. I wished I had a video camera so I could replay this moment over and over again. But then I looked at Mike's face and knew I had gone too far. All he had done was carry my backpack and help me walk, and I had squeezed his arm and thanked him as though he had just saved Gotham City from the Joker. He looked ecstatic. Shit.
"Anyway, we should probably get to class," I prompted, my eyes scanning the campus as though I was trying to find someone, looking anywhere but at Mike or Jess.
I saw him of course. Edward. And my day got a little more complicated.
He was not ten feet away, standing in the middle of the same sidewalk that my little soap opera was playing out on. His hands were at his sides, balled into familiar fists, and his eyes bored into mine, a mixture of anger and confusion and… hurt. Hurt? That was weird.
I met his glare and gave him a small smile. Too subtle for anyone to notice unless they were looking directly at me. He had to notice, though… he noticed everything.
Still, he just looked at me, watched me, seething.
"Let's go, Bella," Mike said, tugging at my arm, unaware that I was looking at anyone. "We'll be late."
I let him lead me away, keeping my eyes on Edward until I couldn't anymore.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
The morning played out much like my first day of school here at Forks. People were staring again, and it didn't help that I was late to pretty much every class because of my cast. I didn't get in trouble, of course, but it meant a very obvious entrance into a quiet room full of curious eyes. I wasn't a big fan.
Still, I made it to lunch without incident. Mike insisted on getting my lunch for me, sitting me down at the usual table and taking my order and trotting off towards the lunch line like he'd just won a new car. I'd never let him touch me before, and it was clearly going to his head. But he had been so helpful all day, waiting for me at the end of every class, carrying my bag and keeping me upright, never complaining about my snail-like pace and smiling at the steady stream of whispered profanities that issued from my lips as we walked. My ankle hurt. I was starting to wish for crutches.
I was sitting at our table with my head in my hands, wishing for a stack of pillows and an ice pack, when I felt someone sit down next to me.
"How's your ankle," a velvet voice asked quietly, causing my head to jerk up violently in surprise.
Big mistake. Ouch. The cafeteria got blurry and I felt my body sway. Suddenly my left side was heaving than my right, and I began to slide from my seat towards the floor, helpless against the vertigo that now consumed me. Stupid fucking head injury.
And then a pair of cold hands were around my waist, keeping my body upright.
"Bella," the voice said more urgently. "Bella, are you alright? Do you need a doctor?"
"I'm fine, Edward. Just…," I swallowed hard, and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to will my equilibrium back. "I'm just dizzy." My head rolled forward as though to illustrate my point.
"Come on, you shouldn't be in here right now," the voice said, bringing me to my feet.
"Edward, I…," I began to protest, but it was too late. He already had me up and halfway to the door, his arm around my waist, my backpack over his shoulder. He supported me so that I bore none of my own weight, and, even through the fog in my brain, I marveled at his strength.
He set me down gently a few seconds later, and after a couple of steadying breaths I realized we were outside. I inhaled the fresh air gratefully, feeling it clear my head, and was able to sit upright on my own after a minute, though I didn't say anything. I liked his hands around my waist keeping me steady.
"Are you alright?" he asked me quietly, his eyes searching my face.
"Edward, I'm sorry… I'm just so confused. What the hell is going on with you?" I hadn't meant to say it like that, to lay it all out, but the boy had just carried me out of the lunch room for god's sake. What the fuck was that about?
"You looked like you were in pain," he explained. "I was concerned."
"You were concerned." I pronounced each word carefully, turning them over in my head as I repeated them. Concerned. "What were you concerned about?"
"Well, you know, you didn't come to school yesterday. I was worried. And then I saw you almost fall again this morning in the parking lot—"
"Mike helped me," I interrupted. "He was there. I was fine."
"You… you didn't look fine. You haven't looked fine all day. You keep losing your balance and holding your head and sighing and swearing..," his voice had dropped to the point that I was pretty sure he was talking to himself. Trying to figure out why he had been worried about me.
"How do you know how I've been acting today?"
"I… I watched you. I've been… watching you. To make sure you're alright," his eyes met mine briefly before dropping to his lap in… shame? Embarrassment?
Wait. He's been watching me? This was getting old. Fast.
"Edward, I'm fine. I've been fine. I've been hurt worse before. Trust me. Next time, if you're so damn worried about me, why don't you just come up and ask me? Don't just follow me around campus all day and kidnap me in the middle of lunch. Mike's got to be so—"
"Mike. Mike Newton," he spat.
"He was getting my lunch for me so I didn't have to wait in line. He's carried my bad around all day and gone out of his way to help me balance on my cast. He's been taking care of me. And you just swoop in and—"
"I see." His eyes were furious.
"Are you going to explain to me how you got to me so fast that morning?" I asked, tired of his Jekyll and Hyde act.
"No."
"Then I'm leaving," I said, reaching across him for my backpack. He grabbed my arm, gently, but with an air of warning, and looked me square in the eyes.
"You shouldn't be friends with those people."
"Look, Edward, when you're ready to tell me what happened that morning in the parking lot, I'll be glad to listen, but, until then, I can't handle these mood swings anymore. This morning you looked furious with me. You didn't even say 'hi.' And now you're telling me how worried you've been and you're carrying me out of the cafeteria like some child. I've had enough. 'Those people' have been taking care of me today. They talk to me and smile at me and don't look at me like they want to kill me. I owe you my life, and I'll always be grateful to you for what you did. But I've kept my end of the bargain; I haven't told anyone the truth about how you saved me. And until you keep up your promise as well, I really don't care to talk to you anymore. This is bullshit. You don't get it both ways. So quit with the damn mood swings or leave me the fuck alone." I tried to twist my arm away from him but he held on for a couple of seconds longer before releasing me.
"Bella," he started again angrily, "those people…"
"Fuck off, Edward," I spat, grabbing my backpack and rising shakily to my feet. "I have no reason to listen to a damn word you say. If you're really so worried, so concerned, if you really care so much, why don't you prove it. Act like a fucking human being. You don't just get to barge into my life whenever you feel like it. It's my life. I say who's allowed in it. And right now, you're not welcome."
I turned and stormed away as best I could in that damn cast, nearly tripping a couple of times but mercifully making it back to the cafeteria in one piece. Lunch was halfway finished by the time I got back to my table, my friends giving me questioning looks but not saying anything. I gave everyone a weak smile before digging in to the food on the tray in front of me.
"They kind of picked at everything while you were gone. Sorry," Mike said, leaning across the table towards me. "We didn't know if you were coming back. Lauren said she saw you leave with Cullen…"
"Yeah, I had asked him to review his bio notes with me before class," I said dismissively.
"Oh, well, you could've asked me for mine." Mike was clearly relieved.
"Well, he's my lab partner and everything," I said as though that explained it. Mike seemed to accept the answer, though.
The rest of the period flashed by. Lots of chatter about the accident, but it had been made obvious that I had no interest in discussing it with anyone, so I was pretty much left alone. Mike would look at me and smile occasionally, but Jessica kept asking him questions and begging him to tell her stories, so his attention was elsewhere. She clearly liked him, and he clearly liked me. I'd have to figure out how to handle this.
Edward wasn't in biology. I hadn't expected him to be. I didn't see him again until Mike walked me to my truck at the end of the day. He was standing next to his Volvo, seemingly waiting for his siblings to appear, and his eyes stayed on me the entire time. I didn't look back at him. I just walked next to Mike, thanking him for his help today and climbing into my truck.
I was just about to close the door and turn on the engine when Mike's hand stopped me. It covered my own on the door handle and kept it there. It was intimate and serious and made me very uncomfortable. And I was pretty sure what was coming next.
"Hey, Bella, I was just wondering," he began confidently.
"Yes, Mike?" I asked, looking at Edward out of the corner of my eye. Could he see Mike's hand on mine right now? His posture told me everything. Yes. Yes he could. And he was pissed.
"Would you maybe want to get dinner with me on Friday night? Or we could see a movie? Or both. Whatever you like," he finished, dropping his eyes to the asphalt and waiting for my answer.
I turned my head and looked directly at Edward. His hands were in tight fists, his jaw was clenched… it looked like he was holding his breath. He did not like Mike touching me, that much was clear, but it also seemed like he had heard Mike's question. He was too far away for that to be a possibility, but his behavior implied otherwise.
I thought for a moment. I wasn't interested in Mike romantically, but he had taken very good care of me today. He was a cute teenage boy. He was relatively popular and he always had a smile for me. He liked me. Why not?
"Sure, Mike. That sounds great. Let me give you my phone number," I gave him a half-smile and repeated my number twice as he entered it in his cell, looking like he'd just won the lottery.
"Great, Bella. Friday night, then," he reminded me, grinning so broadly it looked as though his cheeks might crack from the strain.
"Friday night," I confirmed. "See ya, Mike."
I closed my door, and turned the key, pulling out of my space and backing up just a bit further than was necessary. I pulled my truck so far back down the lane that I was face to face with Edward Cullen. Clutching forcefully, I angled my head in his direction, smiled sweetly, and shifted into first gear, eagerly watching his reaction in my rearview mirror as I drove away, leaving him behind.
His hands clenched and unclenched, the muscles in his arms twitching. His eyes followed my truck as it turned out of the parking lot, down the street, and out of sight.
I had a date with Mike Newton. And Edward Cullen was pissed.
A/N: Sorry, guys. I know a lot of people hate Mike, but he's just a teenager. And Bella's hot. A hot girl dates, no matter how angst ridden and unusual she is. Review, though. I'd like to know how people feel about this.
And coming up next… a Mike and Bella date. : )
