CHAPTER TWELVE

BPOV

So weird and strange how a little break up can lead into such extreme reactions. You'd think that the way Edward was reacting he was trying to kill us or something. What an absolute freak. I thought to myself.

I made sure to stay deadly quiet in the storage unit that I was hiding in. Squinting my eyes, I tried to see through the slits in the locker but it was too dark. That was, until two people burst into the room and the room was filled with the light coming in from the hallway.

I heard two voices, and I knew who they were immediately. The rough, extremely unkind voice belonged to Tyler, Edward's right hand man, and the equally rough, but seemingly kind voice of Ben Cheney, Angela's boyfriend. I heard Ben start to talk. "Tyler, go and help Edward, make sure he doesn't get in trouble with any teachers. I'll keep searching here." He demanded. I heard Tyler's whine and then a slam of the door. Then, the room was surrounded in darkness again.

I heard Ben take a deep breath and then let it out slowly, "Jasper, Bella," he whispered. "I know you're in here, I saw you. Come out now and I'll help you get home before they figure out where you are." Ben whispered. I was surprised that Ben was helping us, but at the same time I wasn't. Ben was one of those boys that act like any other jock when their around their friends. But as soon as they're on their own and you're having a one on one conversation with them, they're the sweetest person ever. Which is why Angela always steers clear of him when he's with Edward and Tyler.

I slowly got up from my crouching position, careful not to knock over any of the water bottles or make the apples roll around, I peeked through the slits in the locker and Ben was close enough that I could see his facial features. I wasn't going to go anywhere, literally. Seeing as Jasper had the combination to the locker I was in, it was up to him whether we trusted Ben or not. I didn't know whether or not Ben was telling the truth and was just trying to get us come out of our hiding place so Edward could complete whatever stupid, desperate plan he made.

The silence in the room was deafening, and knowing Jasper, he was probably contemplating whether or not to listen to Ben. What seemed like hours which probably was only a few minutes, I heard shuffling and directed my eyes, struggling to see Jasper's silhouette on top of the cupboard. There, I saw Jasper's figure climbing down from on top of the cupboard, onto the table and then jumping to the floor. He walked over to Ben and stood over at him.

"What is Edward up to?" Jasper demanded.

"I don't know, that's why I'm trying to get you out of here, because I don't want to find out" I heard Ben reply. His voice shook, and locked in a locker or not, I could tell that he was lying, and so could Jasper.

"You're lying, so, I'm going to ask you again, what the hell is Edward up to?" Jasper said softly. His voice was deadly and I knew that if that voice was directed at me, I would have run away. I swear I heard Ben gulp before replying. "All I heard, was that Edward told Tyler he was going to stand up in front of the entire cafeteria and tell everyone about Bella's parents, I don't know what he meant by that but that's all that Tyler told me." Ben said.

I gasped quietly. No one knew about my parents, only Jasper knew and even then even if we spoke about it, it was never at school. Only at my house or Jasper's, no one, not even any teachers at school knew that my Ma had cancer, or that she had to get a mastectomy. No one knew that my Pa had to go to desperate measures so that he could get enough money to pay off the medical bills. We had to sell everything, and I mean everything; cars, books, belongings, furniture, clothes, laptops, phones, all of that. We're lucky that we were able to keep our house in Texas.

Everyone at my school in Texas knew about what was going on with my Ma, and we were so embarrassed that we couldn't afford the care that Ma desperately needed. So we moved. A secluded, wet, cold, raining town that no one would ever go to, was the perfect place for us to make a fresh start. No one knew anything, and I didn't tell anyone anything. Ma still went all the way to Seattle for her checkups, and even there the doctors didn't know where we lived. We didn't want to go through the trouble of moving again just because everyone felt pity on us. I'm happy with where I am now, and Edward Cullen was not going to change that.

When we moved, we first relied on the rent we received from the tenants that moved into our house back in Texas. It wasn't much, but we managed, especially with the help of Char and Peter. Dad was a full time carer for Ma, and so he couldn't work much to begin with, but he soon got a job with the police department here in Forks. He is now the Police Chief.

Jasper must have heard my gasp, because he turned in my direction slightly before looking at Ben. "Fine, but you get us out of here now, and then you go find Edward and somehow convince him not to say anything about Bella's family, I don't care what you do or how you do it, just do anything that you can to convince him." He said. Ben looked curious but he nodded. That was another nice trait that Ben was hiding. Most people would have straight out asked what Jasper had meant by what he had said, and would have nagged him until they knew, but Ben never did that to anybody. I could see why Angela likes him so much. It was a shame that Ben was so desperate to be in with Edward's group.

With that, Jasper turned and manoeuvred his way through the dark until he stopped outside the locker I was in. "Hey Bells you alright in there?" Jasper drawled, looking through the slits at me. I looked back through the slits at him, "Yeah," I replied. "Can I just get out of here now so we can go home" I pleaded. I had to admit that it was getting quite stuffy and I was getting a tad claustrophobic in the locker. Jasper didn't reply, all I heard was him grab the crumpled paper from his pocket and shine his phone light onto it, reading the numbers. He turned the lock and tried to open the door.

It wouldn't open.

Jasper tried again and again, getting more and more frustrated, eventually Ben went to help him and they still couldn't get it open. I was getting more and more annoyed, before I called out to them. "Guys, are these old lockers or new lockers?" I asked, making sure before I did anything. "Uh, they're old lockers that they haven't been able to get rid of yet, the principal was talking to the cleaners about it and they had to put the cleaning equipment somewhere else" Ben explained. I nodded my head, even though they couldn't see me. "Okay, get out the way of the door then please" I told them. I heard them walk to the other side. I leant my back against the door and lifted a leg up off the ground, and pushed as hard as I could against the lock. The lock loosened but it didn't break. I tried and again and again until it finally gave way and the door flew open, I picked up the bottles of water and apples before hopping out, seemingly 'fresh' air hit my flushed face and I sighed.

Both boys were looking at me. Ben looked dumbfounded, Jasper looked unsurprised.

"That's my girl" he drawled, winking at me. I smiled.

I looked at the boys and said,

"What are you waiting for? Let's get the hell out of here."

END OF CHAPTER TWELVE.