--EVERY ONE HAIL TO THE PUMPKIN KING NOW!
Lol.
Thanks for all the reviews! We took our PSAT today. My Algebra II teacher asked me how hard it was, I responded 'Easy peasy lemon sqeasy' (I was on two bags of candy corn I had eaten during the PSAT.) She asked 'Really? Looking over some of the questions, you guys haven't learned that stuff yet." I smiled and started bouncing in my seat. I was like "Wanna know a secret? It's easy peasy lemon sqeasy if you skip the hard questions!"
Yeah, but then you can't get as many points, but w/e.
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Disclaimer: It ran away with my fucking slipper again…
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Chapter 12: Pain
"Christopher," Bella stood up and looked over at the wall clock. It was only seven.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Swan," He said, pain on his face and voice. "She ran away from me. By the time I found her she was running across the front yard."
"Where did she go?" Alice asked quietly. Bella's face smoothed over and she dashed – at a human speed because of Christopher – to the back door. Christopher ran past the Cullen's, all eyes on him. Bella and Christopher slipped out the back door.
Edward looked at Alice, who knew exactly what he was thinking, even without the mind reading power.
'That's her boyfriend.' Alice thought. Edward turned back to the table and stared at the top.
Seconds later the back door opened again and Christopher stepped through, cradling Madison in his arms, who had buried her face into the shoulder of his black cotton jacket. All you could see was her black board shoes, her ripped dark wash jeans, her maroon hoodie, and of course, her long, dark bronze hair that draped down across her shoulders and Christopher's back. He headed for the stairs and walked up them slowly, careful not to drop his girlfriend.
Bella shut the door and sat down with a heavy sigh.
"Sorry, she's not too…thrilled…to have family over." Bella said slowly, searching for the right words. Edward looked up at her.
"Bella," his words forced her to look at him for the second time that night. "Can I talk to you, alone?" He asked extremely quiet. She nodded and they both got up. Bella led him out the back door. Just as the door was shut, she heard Alice.
"Finally!"
Bella rolled her eyes and walked past Edward and sat down on one of the swings.
He sat on the swing next to her, looking up into the dark sky. It was silent for a few minutes, neither of them sure what to say.
Bella found an easy topic. "Christopher reminds me a lot of you." He gave her a questioning stare. "He's so good to her. He sneaks in just to watch her sleep some nights." Her tone changed a little. "Other nights, not so much."
She paused. "He doesn't do anything with her that he wouldn't do in front of me. He has her home on time, and he's overly polite."
Edward chuckled, but he stopped when Bella's face twisted slightly. All she could think of were the words that he had said right before he left.
"Why did you guys…come back…after all this time?" Bella asked slowly. Seeing the irritated look on his face, she could tell Edward still couldn't read her mind. That look didn't last long. He looked…hurt.
"Alice said she came back because she had seen Madison cutting herself. She only delayed the date that Madison was supposed to do it. The night I came back, Friday, she was going to, but Christopher snuck into her room and talked her out of it." His voice was soft; the velvet that was his voice wrapped around Bella and she felt secure, safe.
"But why did you come back?" Something dawned on her that she had forgotten. "Who's mind did you pull Madison out of and when?" She started to draw conclusions. "You didn't come back because you found out you had a daughter, did you?! Because—"
"Bella…" He took her face in his hands. With her strength, she could have easily pulled away if she wanted to. But his eyes still made her lose her train of thought. "I came back," he started slowly. "Because I love you."
Bella stopped breathing. "I must be the first vampire to have fallen asleep. This isn't real." She whispered. Edward's hands dropped from her face and he stared at her in disbelief.
He was about to say something, but a hollow banging sound made them both look up at Madison's bedroom window. Madison was reaching for the window, trying to scream, but Christopher had covered her mouth and was trying to pull her away from the window.
Edward could just barely make out what she was trying to scream. 'Get. Away. From. Her.' The four words. Just words, but they seemed to rip open his chest.
"We should get going. It's late." Bella said nothing as Edward walked back into the house. She wanted so much to run after him. But she only got up and walked in the house to see the rest of the family standing.
"Edward already went to the car." Carlisle informed her. She nodded, not meeting anyone's faces.
One by one the Cullen family filed out the front door. Alice and Jasper were last. She hugged Alice.
"We'll fix it. I promise. I'll put him in his place if I have to." She walked out and stood at the bottom of the porch as Jasper hugged Bella.
"He still does love you, you know." He whispered almost in audibly into her ear. She watched as they left. She shut the door securely and turned toward the stairs.
Madison stood on the steps, visually shaking with anger. Her face red, eyes and cheeks wet. Bella walked up the two bottom steps and Madison flew down into her mother's arms.
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Okay. Next chapter you will find out what Madison was doing while Bella was talking to the Cullens. Review please!
