Day 12 – In Which I a Van Crushes My Plans.
Bob beeped me awake. I reached over to the nightstand and grabbed him, stroked my fingers over his perky little buttons and stopped his upset noise.
"Thanks, buddy." Cradling him to my chest, I stared into his screen and got excited for the plan we had today.
I smiled in to my pillow before getting out of bed and heading for my shower, already ahead of schedule. Alice's New Years, kissing, party-thing was tomorrow, Edward was my boyfriend and the sun was... well, not shinning. But the familiarity of the grey sky was comforting. It was going to be a good day.
I continued to smile all throughout my shower and getting dressed. I smiled as I brushed my teeth, and that was a little difficult. I smiled as I went downstairs for breakfast.
"What's up with you?" Charlie greeted me as I entered the kitchen.
"Getting ready for school, Dad. Everything's on schedule and beautiful and wonderful."
Charlie smiled and left the kitchen looking as if he was heading back up upstairs. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs to ask, "You'll be home tonight?"
"Yep. How do feel about extra cheesy lasagne? Very little noodle. Mostly meat and cheese." Charlie wasn't a big fan of pasta.
"Sounds good." He'd just turned his back to the front door when the bell started ringing. And didn't stop. I almost had to cover my ears.
"You expecting anyone?" Charlie looked over his shoulder at me. The way he said anyone I could tell he meant Edward. Which was silly. When did Edward ever show up when I expected him?
I shook my head and smiled to myself. Maybe it was Edward. Maybe he wanted to ride to school together and he'd shown up early because he knew about my schedule and that I needed to be on time.
"Hihi!" Alice stood on the other side of the door. I tried to hide my disappointment.
"Bella!" Alice yelled into Charlie's face. "Oh! And Bella-dad. Hello!"
"Good morning, Alice. Did your parents drop you off?" Charlie asked, suppressing a laugh.
"No, I got up early and walked over." Alice pushed into the entryway.
Charlie laughed and went back toward the kitchen. I guess he decided it wasn't worth tormenting me when it wasn't Edward.
Alice advanced on me as I walked out of the kitchen. She placed her hands on her hips tilted her head up, planted her feet and tried to do an impression of a wall.
Alice and serious didn't go together that well. She looked like abnormal.
"We need to talk. You're giving me a ride to school." Her voice had lost its high pitched, perky edge.
"What did you want to talk about?" I asked as I went back toward the kitchen for my breakfast.
"Edward." She paused a second, then followed me. "And Emmett because when Edward came home last night, he, well he..." Alice burst into tears
Not so serious any more.
I looked from the sobbing Alice to the kitchen. All possibilities of breakfast that it held. Why couldn't friends schedule mental breakdowns? Then everyone would be prepared.
"Uh," Charlie had come back from the kitchen and was staring at us. He was holding in a laugh which I thought was a little insensitive of him.
Should I hug her? I never had before. And I really didn't want to in front of Charlie. He would never let me forget it. What if he asked me to hug him before bed or something? I didn't want to make it a regular thing. So, my arms sort of flailed around until Alice threw herself at me and took the choice out of my hands. I hit her on the back a couple times in the hope that it came across as a comforting pat. Alice didn't seem to notice at all.
"Edward's so mean! I don't understand why he's made it his mission in life to destroy my happiness and mock my pain."
Edward a pain? But I woke up with a smile and he was my boyfriend and I didn't think Alice understood Edward at all.
"Okay, you sit here." I directed Alice into a chair near the front door. "I'm going to get my stuff, and then we can talk on the ride to school."
Without Charlie listening in.
Getting my school things didn't take long as I'd gotten everything ready the night before. However, shuffling a sniffling Alice out to the truck took ten minutes. I wanted to help my friend, really, I did. But if she made us late for class... I would have Charlie arrest her.
Once we were settled in the car, I checked the time on Bob, then invited Alice to start her story again. Skipping breakfast had us on time. It was a good thing I always made a point of preparing my lunches the night before.
"Well, Edward came home all blissful last night, so I assume he came from your house."
I started to interrupt her but she stopped me. "Don't say anything, I don't want to know. It freaks me out enough that I know you two... did the horizontal mamba." She shuddered.
"You know, I'm not the first person he's had-"
"Stop! No talking about that." She shook her finger at me. Charlie was rubbing off on me.
"So, he came in and I asked him what he was getting me for my birthday. Edward replied that he'd think about that in two months, when my birthday actually is."
As I had been with Edward when he bought Alice's gift, I knew this to be untrue, but was unsure of my place in the middle of their sibling relationship. I did not know if I should say anything or not. It was possible that Edward may have been trying to annoy her, or he might have wanted his advanced-shopping to be a big surprise as well.
Besides, Alice didn't give me much of a chance to interject anything.
"Then Edward went on and on about how my party was going to come to nothing because plans couldn't make someone like me. So, then I brought up you and..."
Great. Thanks Alice. As if things weren't patchy enough between Edward and me.
"And then Edward said that was different and then he claimed I wouldn't like Emmett at all now. And then he told about all the girls and which girls and oh my God, I don't want cross-contamination! Emmett once had sex with a girl because Jasper dared him to. I'm not going to say what girl but believe me when I say he was taking his life in his hands with that one. And then I told Edward that I didn't care. Emmett had always been nice to me. And then Edward I was being a stupid little girl. And that this plan was never going to work. "
I thought that was a little unfair of Edward considering how we had... hooked up? Commenced our affair? My plan had worked just fine. Although, to be fair, Edward had been in on my plan.
"And then he said that Emmett would never kiss anyone as silly, immature, and short as me." Alice wasn't snivelling at all anymore. She was pounding her tiny fist on my truck's dashboard.
I feared for my truck.
"And then I said that he was a bitter, sexually frustrated asshole who took advantage of, well, you." Alice gestured at me here. "Except I didn't say it as nice as that. Sorry."
We drove along in silence. I drove on and Alice sat hunched over and sulking in her seat. She didn't have her seatbelt on. This made my eye twitch, but I didn't say anything. Alice appeared to have bigger fish to fry than possible death at the moment.
Also, I wasn't sure if I was angry with her. What had she called me? Did she really think that about me? I did have intercourse with her brother without really knowing him at all. Did this make me a slut? Did Edward think I was a slut?
The silence stayed until I parked the car at school.
"Do you think this party-plan is a stupid idea?" Alice asked as I was about to exit the truck.
"No plan is stupid."
"You didn't even hesitate."
"Well, you've invited people, right?"
Alice nodded.
"So, there's no cancelling it. You can't go back on plans like that. It's bad form. The theme is set, the guests invited, food and alcohol have been paid for. In addition, I colour-coded a bird's eye view drawing of your house and mapped out predicted movement of guests."
Alice continued nodding.
"And if it's all going to happen, you may as well follow through on the plan. Otherwise, it's all been for nothing. The plan is set, the players in place, now all we have to do is follow through on the strategy." My voice had taken on the quality of a television evangelist. I was preaching planning and wasn't going to let disorganization win. I was going to get my kiss with or without Alice's enthusiasm.
"Now, go to class—and remember, my crazy plan worked out for me, so there's no reason yours can't work out for you."
Right? Edward and I had worked out? Sure, we hadn't kissed just yet... but it was going to happen. Tomorrow. At the Party of Kissing.
Class went by fast and I was able to take concise notes without my thoughts ever straying to sex or boys, which until late had been the norm but I now thought was a miracle.
I sat in my seat gripping my pen like a sword and kept my mind on the mission. Mine and Alice's. I concentrated, took the best notes I ever took, and was a perfect student. I was being such a perfect student that I didn't even notice when someone sat down beside me.
That is, I didn't notice him until he poked me in the ribs, and I jumped about a mile and made a strange yelping noise. Miracle over.
"Bella!"
" Jasper! Don't ever do that again!" I raised my voice at him so, of course, the entire class was staring at us. The teacher was holding her chalk midair and giving us an incredulous look. I smiled and shuffled my seat away from Jasper a bit.
He didn't take the clue, and moved closer to me as everyone turned around, and went back to what they were doing.
"I need to ask you something." Jasper whispered in my direction.
I rather thought it was a little late to try being covert.
"What are you doing here? You're not in this class. We don't have any classes together."
"Bella. It's the second to last week of school. Ever. We're not learning anything new anymore. Have you really looked at what you're copying down?"
I looked down at my notebook then glanced at the chalkboard. I had been studiously taking notes on a game of hangman. No wonder the teacher hadn't kicked him out.
"What are you doing here?" I repeated, choosing to ignore the whole hangman thing.
"I wanted to ask you to help me."
"What do you need my help for?" This was the first time Jasper and I'd had a real conversation. We didn't even really know one another.
"Well, I want to sabotage Alice's ridiculous plan."
"What? Why? Ridiculous?" He wanted to do what to my plan?
"Because it's stupid." I almost smacked him.
"Why do you care?"
Jasper hesitated before answering. "Because Emmett's an asshole, and he isn't going to care, and she's just going to end up the ass-end of some joke."
"And I ask again, why do you care?" He'd insulted my plan. I was not going to let him get away with this.
Even if he did have a point. Emmett didn't seem like the world's most upstanding citizen. Besides Alice's plan to hook up with Emmett coincided with my plan to kiss Edward. You couldn't cancel one without cancelling the other. Besides, I still didn't see what any of this had to do with Jasper. And I didn't see how, after everything, there was any way I could walk up to Alice and tell her not to try with Emmett.
"I care because...because..." He took a deep breath and entered start over mode. "Look, Emmett only hooked up with Rosalie because I told him I was interested in her."
"Then Emmett doesn't care about Rosalie at all. Alice might still stand a chance with him."
Jasper shook his head in frustration. "No. That's not what I'm saying. Emmett hooks up with girls to sleep with them and to brag that he has slept with them and that is all."
Brag about having sex? What was there to brag about? It isn't as if Emmett's encounters were the result of well laid plans and perseverance.
"And you're any different?" I accused attracting more stares.
Jasper glowered at me for a moment then stood up, knocking his chair over.
"Fine. Continue on with this stupid party. I'll watch and laugh when it blows up in your face."
Everyone stared as he stormed out of the classroom.
"Well, that was entertaining." The teacher said as after he'd left.
I stared at the door, thinking. If the party was just going to hurt Alice more, did I want to go through with it? She was pretty upset last Wednesday and Emmett didn't say or do anything. But why would Jasper infiltrate my class, give me a cryptic warning about things blowing up in my face, and then leave a short minute later? Why wouldn't he just want to watch it blow up in Alice's face and laugh at her?
Possibly while having sex on her parents bed.
I really hoped the Cullen parents weren't going to be home during this party.
The rest of the morning classes snailed along in hangman and exam review. I'd never wanted time to speed up as much as I did that morning.
I hadn't seen Edward at all before class. Logic dictated that I shouldn't miss him as I'd seen him less than twenty-four hours ago, but I did. I missed him a lot. Or, I missed being with him. I wanted to be with him. It didn't help that Alice's words this morning gave me a vivid yet irrational fear of him rethinking our whole relationship, or whatever it was, and coming to some crazy conclusion that he should break up with me.
At least, I hoped it was irrational.
So, I was ecstatic when I exited my last class of the morning to find Edward leaning against the lockers across the hallway, waiting for me.
"Hey," I said as I walked toward him.
"Hey," he replied and stared down at me.
He didn't look mad, so I took this as a good sign and reached down to take his hand. We walked toward the cafeteria, smiling at each other in a dopey manner. I think I might've been glowing.
We sat down at our table in the cafeteria still holding hands. Alice and Jasper joined us. We took out our lunch and ate, still holding hands. Alice and I talked about Saturday. I pulled out Bob and placed him on the table, looking things up when necessary but only using one hand. Jasper Alice argued about the party. Alice told Jasper he wasn't welcome, Jasper said he would come anyway.
Someone had to have sex in inappropriate places.
It was all so normal, so perfect. I looked over at Edward with a big bite of ham sandwich in my mouth and he looked at me at the same time and our grins widened. I still felt like I was glowing. I'd never felt this way before. I was having lunch with my boyfriend, and everything was perfect.
Afterward we walked to Biology together, still holding hands in comfortable silence. It wasn't until we sat down at our table that I noticed the guidance councillor standing at the front of the room and got a tingle of excitement down my spine. Guidance counsellors meant guidance—about school—but we were done with our high school education, so I hoped we would be talking about the future. I loved talking about the future. And this time I could talk about the future with Edward. My two favourite subjects together.
"Today, instead of biology, we're going to be talking about your future."
My eyes lit up and I bounced in my seat when the woman said this. "You will all be graduating shortly and while I'm sure some of you have plans for the fall..." She looked at me as she said this. "And I'm sure that some of you are lost now that you will no longer be legally obligated to spend time with your friends every day."
The councillor had pamphlets and late application forms and inspiring speeches for those that hadn't applied or gotten in to any colleges yet. She started passing them out to those who wanted them and I was surprised when Edward put up his hand to request some.
"What?" I kind of shrieked at him. "You don't know where you're going?"
Edward shook his head.
"Why not?"
Edward shrugged. "Well, Alice hasn't decided yet, and I want to go anywhere she isn't going." What did Alice have to do with his future? Siblings are so strange.
"That isn't a reason to put off your future." How could someone place their future in someone else's hands like that?
Edward shrugged again and flipped through a pamphlet on Washington State.
"You have applied to places, right?" What did it say about me if I've slept with someone who hadn't been accepted into college?
"Mmm." Edward made a non-committal noise in response. I stared at him, appalled.
"What?" He asked me. "I suppose you have everything all planned." He said it like it was a dirty word.
"Of course."
"Well, lay it all out for me."
"Dartmouth. Degree in business, then move to Seattle and work for Red Sky Blue Water at an entry level for three years. Meet my keeper-man at twenty-five and-"
"Red Sky Blue Water!"Edward yelled.
"Yeah, it's a marketing firm." How did he not know this?
"Marketing?" Edward stood, knocking down his stool in the process. "That's what you want to do with your life? And what is a keeper-man?"
"Edward," the councillor had walked over and was hovering over the pair of us. "Is there a problem?"
"Yeah." He said while staring down at me, "I hate planning." He stormed out of the room.
"Edward!" I called after him. Glancing up at the teachers at the front of the room, it only took me a moment to decide to go after him. What had happened to everything being perfect?
"Edward!" I called again out in the hallway. But he wasn't anywhere I could see.
I ran up and down a few hallways but couldn't find him. I decided to venture out into the rain.
He was standing by his car. Not making a move to get in or come back to the school, he wasn't even leaning on it. He was just standing next to it. Drenched. He wasn't wearing a jacket and the state of his loose button-up shirt had me kicking myself for not making him take it off during... well, during the sex.
I walked over to him, getting soaked as well, trying not to think about the state of my shirt.
"What's wrong?" Edward glared at me when I spoke.
He sighed and looked away from me. "Nothing."
What did one say to that when it was so obviously a lie? He ran out in the middle of class and was standing in the rain. Did you confront the lie? Or were you supposed to play along? Why did people answer questions that way?
"You're lying." I hoped that was right thing to say.
"Look, I just want to not have to think about my future right now."
"What? Why not?" I was appalled. How could anyone not want to think about their future? Especially right now.
"Because, not everyone is as obsessed with planning out their lives as you are. Some of us just like let things be. I don't need to know everything about my life before it happens. That would be boring."
"Boring?"
Edward made a frustrated noise and turned away from me.
"Okay, I'll just go back inside then." I turn and start to walk away, so I barely hear what he says.
"Yeah. Go back to your college plans and your career goals and your keeper-men."
"What do you want from me? You come into my life and start demanding-" He cuts me off.
"You asked me to come into your life, remember?"
"Just to have sex with me. That was all. All the other stuff was you. The dates and the mixing things up and the wanting to get to know me. I just wanted my plan and now you're upset about it?"
"No. I'm upset because I thought you'd changed, because I never would've agreed to continue seeing you if you were still hung up on planning every single moment of your life. What if...?" But he trailed off and made as if to get in his car.
"What if...what?" He had his hand on the car door and I knew I had to stop him. I couldn't let him drive away.
"What if," he was whispering this time. "I wanted to go to the same college as you, and I didn't want to go to Dartmouth. What if I wanted to live in the same city as you, and it wasn't Seattle. What if I wanted to travel the world? What if I wanted to go to Washington State and then come back here and live in a small, rainy town for the rest of my life? And what if I wanted to do it with you?"
"Well, why didn't you say something? We could've talked about this."
Edward turned back toward me. "Really?"
"Yes." I reached into my pocket and felt my fingers close around the hard plastic of Bob.
"Bella."
"Don't you know by now that there's nothing I like better than a little planning?" I pulled Bob out and waved him in front of Edward's face.
His face transformed. A darkness entered his eyes, and he took two menacing steps toward me. "That isn't what I meant."
"I can always work people into my plans, Edward." I turned Bob on and opened my calendar. We could meet up tomorrow and make things work. We could be going to college together in the fall.
"No. That...you don't. I'm sick of being second place to a stupid, little machine!"
"What? Why are you mad at Bob?" Edward looked so angry. Why was he so angry?
And then he reached out and grabbed at Bob. I yanked my hands out of the way a second too late.
Edwards's hands hit mine and Bob went flying through the rain, landing with a splash in the puddle covered cement.
I heard a squeak of tires and looked up from Bob lying forlorn in the water. An old, ugly, green van was barrelling down toward us. Tyler's van. Why wasn't Tyler in class?
"No," I yelled and leapt forward but Edward's hands grabbed me and pulled me back. In a matter of seconds Bob was a shattered, broken mess scattered throughout a puddle.
"Bob?" I whimpered.
"*"
Sorry about the big wait there. Life got away with me.
The last two days have been written and just need some polishing before being posted which will happen within two weeks hopefully.
Thanks to everyone who still cares about my crazy Bella.
And super thanks to Limona, my previous beta for all her wonderful support and tenacity and her super-awesome of telling me I could be better.
And extra super thanks to Pastiche Pen for being awesome in many ways, but in this moment, especially for stepping in for Limona on the last couple chapters.
