So this chapter is long but Bradley gets some answers so that's good. I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 13
When Bradley walked into her first class the next morning Bella was already being bombarded with questions. Bradley could see that she was uncomfortable and just wished everyone would move on but that didn't seem likely anytime soon. Bradley threw her a sympathetic look and took her seat. Luckily for Bella, the teacher called the class to order, not wanting to waste another day.
As Bradley walked to her next class she readied herself to confront Edward. She was determined to get some answers and since she hadn't heard much from him since lunch the day before, she figured she was going to have to fight for them. After promising her an explanation, he spent the rest of the day blocking her out. The only thing she really got from him was in Spanish when he and Emmett had another silent altercation that ended with Emmett gripping Edward's arm for all he was worth and Edward, his control slipping for a second, was thinking something about stopping Jasper.
Bradley walked into the classroom and glared at him. She sat in the obligatory empty desk next to the Cullen and turned to face him. He looked back at her, his face completely blank. Not here, he said, pointedly looking around at their classmates.
She seethed for a moment before realizing that a few of the other kids were giving her a strange look. She decided that her staring contest with Edward would seem a little strange to them. She turned and looked straight ahead as the teacher began his history lesson.
When? she demanded.
Edward sighed. After school. We can't have this conversation here.
Edward, so help me God... she didn't finish her threat.
We'll tell you everything. Just not right now. You aren't good enough at the silent conversations yet. Gettysburg.
She didn't understand the last part of his comment at all. As she turned to look at him in her confusion, she noticed the teacher looking at her and he seemed to be waiting for an answer. Bradley put two and two together and ventured, "Gettysburg?"
The teacher nodded in approval and continued.
Thanks, she muttered weakly. Later then.
She heard Edward stifle his laugh with a cough and, although it irritated her, she knew he was right about her not being good enough at the silent conversations to pull it off now.
They stayed out of each other's heads until the end of the school day. After the last bell, before Bradley could say anything, Edward told her, Give me half an hour. I'll pick you up at Elaine's.
Bradley nodded and followed him and Emmett out of their Spanish class. She wondered only briefly if Edward needed directions to Elaine's but figured that in a town this small everyone pretty much knew where everyone else lived.
True to his word, Edward pulled up in his silver Volvo half an hour later. Alice was with him and Bradley noticed that the "never be alone with the human" rule was still in effect.
Bradley climbed into the back seat and asked, "Where are we going?"
"To our house," Edward answered. Alice continued to look straight ahead. She seemed to be upset about something.
The Cullens' reclusiveness wasn't just in school. They lived just outside of the town limits and up a long dirt road through the woods that would be almost impossible to find if you weren't specifically looking for it. The house was huge. The back side of the house seemed to be all glass and it overlooked a gigantic yard that ended at a small river. Over the river was more forest. Bradley walked into a gorgeous living room and saw Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie sitting there in various stages of anxiety and unease. Alice scowled at Jasper but took a seat next to him.
Bradley was about to say hello when she looked over and saw the most beautiful grand piano she'd ever seen sitting there. "Whoa," she said. "Is that an Essex grand piano?"
Everyone just stared at her as she walked over to it and sat down. She played a simple chord and moaned at the clarity. "Oh man..." she mumbled.
"Do you play?" Edward asked from behind her.
"A little," she answered. She was looking at some sheet music that was sitting on the stand.
"More than a little," he countered as he heard the music in her head while she read the music. "Play it," he said, curiosity in his voice.
She looked over the music for a moment longer and then let her fingers fly over the keys. She had to cheat a couple of sections where the music was so complex she doubted it was humanly possible to play it the way it was written. The song was beautiful but it wasn't one she had heard before. When she finished, there was a small applause from her audience behind her. Bradley blushed as she turned around. She had gotten so caught up that she had sort of forgotten they were there.
"Impressive," Edward complimented.
"What is it? I've never heard it before."
"I wrote it," Edward answered. Bradley's eyes went wide. What else was she going to learn about this amazing family? Which got her back down to business.
Edward nodded reluctantly and motioned for her to take a seat on the couch. Rosalie was sitting in a chair with her usual scowl, Emmett was perched nervously on the arm of the chair, Alice and Jasper were sitting on the floor in front of a huge flatscreen TV and Edward sat down on the other end of the couch.
"Bradley," Edward began, "as you know our secret is important. No one appears to have noticed too much of what happened yesterday, with the exception of you and Bella. Bella doesn't seem likely to tell what she saw," Bradley noticed Rosalie's scowl deepen at this, "but we are keeping our eye on the situation." Bradley didn't like the implications of that, especially not as she coupled this with the memory of Edward wanting to stop Jasper the day before and Rosalie's comment about needing to "fix this."
"That brings us to you," Edward continued.
"You know I'm not going to tell anyone about you guys," Bradley said, a little hurt that they didn't trust her. "I didn't even tell anyone when I thought I was never going to see you again."
Edward nodded but kept his face businesslike. "We appreciate that. But what we explained to you last summer is still true. We can't afford human friends, especially not here when we've spent so much time isolated from the other students." Edward showed no emotion as he was talking and Bradley couldn't bring herself to look at the others.
Bradley fought the tears of rejection that were threatening to fall. "It's a little late for that, isn't it? Everyone already knows that we're friends."
"No," Edward corrected. "Everyone knows that we've met. It is only natural for someone who is new to an area to be excited to see people she knows. If you keep your distance now everything can go back to the way it should be."
Suddenly, Bradley felt peaceful about this situation. It made sense, just like it had over the summer. Of course, the Cullens needed to keep out of the attention of others so that they could live their life. If Bradley was any sort of friend, she would do as they asked.
It all made sense until she looked up and saw Emmett. His face brought fresh tears to her eyes. He looked like he was in pain.
"NO!" she yelled. "What is that?" It dawned on Bradley that the peace she was feeling wasn't her own. "What are you doing to me?" she demanded glaring at Edward.
Edward's eyes went wide and as he tried to assess what Bradley knew, she gathered that Jasper was behind it. She whirled around to face Jasper.
"What is that?" she demanded again, this time glaring at Jasper.
Jasper took a deep breath. Bradley could sense the tension in the room as the Cullens tried to determine their next move.
"Can we do this my way now?" Alice's little bell voice broke the silence.
Bradley wasn't ready to let them off the hook at this point. "You promised me an explanation and this is what you do?" she turned back to Edward. "It's no wonder you don't have any friends outside of each other if this is how you treat people! You use your stupid vampire tricks to manipulate people! What the hell is wrong with you?"
"I'm sorry, Bradley," Edward's voice was barely a whisper.
"No, don't apologize for me," Jasper spoke up. "I'm sorry I tried to manipulate you, Bradley. We really are trying to do the right thing." Jasper's voice was sincere but business like. At any rate, Bradley didn't care at this point.
"You can both save your apologies. I'm leaving."
As Bradley got up to storm out of the house and away from this madness, Emmett stood up. "Brad, please," his voice was pleading. "At least let us explain. Besides, how are you going to get home?"
"I'll walk." She started for the door but Emmett was faster. He planted himself in front of her and the look on his face would have put any puppy to shame.
"Bradley," Alice chimed in. "Please, let me talk to you. If you'd like, I'll kick all the rest of them out of the room and it can just be us."
"They'll hear everything anyway," Bradley muttered under her breath. Emmett snickered in spite of himself and Alice nodded as if she knew that this was what Bradley was going to say.
Bradley sat back down purposely not looking at Edward or Jasper. Even though she was absolutely furious with them she was grateful that Edward was not trying to probe through her thoughts at the moment. She looked to Alice with look that clearly told her to get on with it.
"I told them their way would end badly," she started. Bradley rolled her eyes. "Brad, there are some things about us that you still don't know."
"I'm sure there are," Bradley retorted. If Alice didn't hurry up and get to the point, she would never know them because she was leaving.
"For example, remember how Carlisle said that some vampires have extra talents?" Bradley nodded. "Well, Edward isn't the only one in our family that has one."
In spite of herself, Bradley's interest was piqued. "I'm assuming Jasper has one," she said shifting her gaze for a second to throw him a dirty look. His face revealed nothing in return.
"Yes, Jasper can read emotional climates and manipulate them when he needs to. He can calm a person down or rile them up if he so chooses."
"That doesn't seem fair to the people being manipulated," Bradley snapped.
"Maybe," Alice's calm never wavered but Bradley was sure that Jasper had nothing to do with it. "But it can be very handy in tense situations. Our family does try to exist peacefully, despite what you may believe right now, and Jasper has helped us avoid conflict on more than one occasion."
Bradley said nothing and Alice took this as consent to the occasional usefulness of Jasper's skill. "I also have a talent. I can see the future."
Bradley was trying her best to keep her cool facade up. She had already anticipated Jasper's talent so it didn't really phase her. But seeing the future was something else entirely. Her jaw dropped and her eyes popped wide open. "You see the future?"
"Yes. There are some drawbacks, of course. The future can change depending on the decisions people make. I told them this was a bad decision but they didn't listen."
"You knew I would get angry," Bradley said this as a statement and not a question.
"Yes. But I also knew you would keep the secret. They," she nodded toward Edward and Jasper, "decided that as long as the secret was safe, then they would do what they had to."
"So, ultimately, the ends justify the means," again, Bradley's comment was a statement and not a question. She glared at the two boys for a moment before turning back to Alice.
"I tried to convince them to just tell the truth, like I am now, but I couldn't guarantee an outcome because their decision was made." Alice now scowled at her brother and her boyfriend. Both of them finally showed some emotion. There was clear regret at not trusting Alice's suggestion.
"Now," Alice continued, "I can still see that you are still going to keep the secret and that you are going to feel better about everything when all is said and done."
"But why do I have to avoid you at school?" Bradley asked, trying to get back to what brought them to this place.
"The reasons I gave you are still true, even if our methods were wrong," Edward finally spoke up. Bradley again felt the sting of rejection.
"I disagree," Alice countered. Edward threw his sister an exasperated look. "Bradley, you strike me as someone who gets along with everyone." She looked at Bradley for confirmation.
Bradley just shrugged. It was true. Bradley enjoyed all sorts of people and had never really boxed herself into one clique at her old school. It wasn't uncommon for her to sit at different tables at lunch or strike up a conversation with whoever was closest to her regardless of their social status. The kids at her old school just rolled their eyes when she sat with the "in crowd" one day and the band geeks the next. It was just Bradley being Bradley.
"So," Alice went on, "I think you just be yourself. Treat us the same way you do all the other students. Talk to us as often as the rest of them and people will start to see that's just who you are. Like you said, they already know that we know each other so it is natural for you to continue to talk to us. But, in the interest of keeping our low profile, it would be best if you also made other friends."
Now this made sense and Bradley knew that there was no supernatural force pushing her to feel this way. She nodded to Alice, "I can do that."
Alice smiled and got a faraway look in her eyes, "And it will all work out perfectly."
Everyone in the room relaxed as Alice told them what they had been waiting to hear.
But Bradley still wasn't done trying to get answers. She turned back to Edward, and trying to keep the lingering annoyance out of her voice, asked, "So what happened with the accident yesterday?"
Bradley was surprised as she heard Emmett chuckle and Rosalie scoff. "Edward has some issues with Bella Swan," Emmett answered.
Now it was Edward's turn to have a pained look on his face. "Bradley, as vampires we have urges," Edward said.
Bradley lifted an eyebrow but said nothing so Edward continued. "You know that we, as a family, have chosen not to feed on human blood but it doesn't mean that we aren't still tempted."
Bradley did know that. In fact, she knew that sitting in their living room probably wasn't the safest place in the world for her, but at no point did she feel threatened. "What does this have to do with Bella?"
"Sometimes there is a human that smells particularly...appetizing." Edward and Bradley both flinched at his choice of words. "Bella is like that for me."
"I don't understand," Bradley said, her brow crinkling. All of a sudden she felt a burning in her throat like someone had stuck a flaming hot branding iron down there. She also felt an overwhelming urge to tear through someone's flesh with her teeth instinctively knowing that the blood beneath the skin would sooth the burning. As quickly as the urge came, it left. Her eyes widened as she realized that Edward was using his memories to show her what he meant.
"That's how you feel when you are around her?" Even though she was still annoyed with him for his earlier antics, she felt genuinely sorry for him. She wasn't sure she would be able to resist whatever would make that burning and that urge stop.
Edward's face crumpled as he nodded. "Well, then why did you save her?" Bradley was relieved that Edward had stepped in and saved Bella's life but if that was how she made him feel, wouldn't it be easier if she were out of the picture?
"I would like to say it was because I didn't want her blood spilled in front of me, risking my exposing us all," Edward's voice was again barely above a whisper. "But I couldn't not save her."
Bradley gasped as she caught more meaning in his words from his thoughts. "Edward, do you like her?"
His face filled with such anguish that Bradley almost teared up again. "So what does that mean?" she asked.
"Nothing. I will treat her like I do all the other humans. We'll finish high school, graduate and move on." Bradley didn't know who Edward was trying to convince but she certainly wasn't buying it.
It has to work that way, he thought. There is no other alternative. But in his thoughts Bradley saw two other alternatives: Bella's dead body in his arms and Bella as a vampire. Bradley gasped again.
"Edward!" she exclaimed.
"Oh c'mon!" Emmett yelled. "I hate when you guys do that!"
"You showed her my vision, didn't you?" Alice asked. Edward and Bradley both nodded. "Well, that hasn't changed, no matter what Edward thinks. It's only a matter of time before one or the other happens. And-"
Edward cut her off with a look but Bradley saw this memory too. It was a vision of Alice and Bella, arms linked around each other and smiling. "That doesn't seem so bad," Bradley said. "Alice and Bella look like they were friends."
"But if it leads to either of the other paths, I can't allow it!" Edward cried.
Emmett rolled his eyes. He was clearly tired of this topic and Bradley wondered how long the debate had gone on in the family. "Look," Emmett declared. "What's going to happen, is going to happen. Let's get on with it already!" Edward scowled.
"Emmett, you have the sensitivity of a bowling ball," Bradley rolled her eyes. Emmett just laughed. "Ok, look. I'm going to go along with the plan as it currently is because it's what I would have done in school anyway. But out of school, are we friends or not?" Bradley just wanted everything out on the table at this point. She needed to know where she stood with the Cullens.
They all looked around at each other and settled on Alice. "Yes, I think we are going to be good friends," she decided.
Edward showed Bradley what Alice's newest vision had been. It was a montage of Bradley and the Cullens hanging out and enjoying each other's company.