Chapter 14
"Bella!" yelled a voice from the other side of my closed bedroom door. My eyes cracked open. Groaning, I rolled over to investigate what time it was. Time to get up and go back to school. As I got out of bed I grumbled at how much catching up I would have to do in order to graduate. Luckily, the school was willing to let me catch up on my old classes online and start fresh with my new ones. My thoughts were interrupted when a pounding started on my door.
"Bella Marie Swan! Are you awake?" I heard my mother call from the hallway. Chuckling to myself, I walked the length of my room quickly to open the door.
"Yes, Mother, I am awake," I said, smiling at my Mom as she came into view.
"Would you like something special for breakfast? Heidi said it was up to you even though it's her day to pick," Renee asked me. I thought for a moment before shrugging my shoulders.
"Surprise me," I grinned at the annoyed look my mother gave me before heading down the hallway, away from my room. Just then Heidi walked by my door with a toothbrush sticking out the side of her mouth and a towel wrapped around her head.
"Hey, Turban, what's up?" I greeted sarcastically. Heidi chuckled and waved at me. I turned around and walked toward my closet, trying to decide what to wear. Just as my fingers closed around a pair of jeans, I could hear Heidi's music blaring from her bedroom. It was a good song.
"Turban! Turn that shit up!" I yelled, loud enough for Heidi to hear. A second later, music filled the hallway and I started dancing ridiculously toward Heidi's room, which was across the hall from mine. I pop-lock-and-dropped it in her doorframe. Heidi's laughter at my "awesome" dancing was contagious. She placed her hair-dryer back onto her dresser and did the "two-step". Just then a new song came on and it was upbeat. I started jumping around and singing into the hairbrush that I stole from her dresser. Suddenly, right before the chorus, I noticed both of my parents laughing their asses off at Heidi and I. Singing as loud as I could, I pulled them both into the room and started to dance around them. Heidi and my parents were barely able to stand because of their laughter.
"Bye Mom! Bye Dad!" I yelled over my shoulder, running toward my garage. Heidi was right behind me. I hit the button for the door of my Mercedes. Sliding the key into the ignition, I smiled hugely at the sound of the engine. Heidi and I backed out at the same time. I looked over just as she looked at me. I winked and sped off toward school.
"Bella!" I heard a beautiful, musical voice call toward me just as I cut the engine, my car parked in its usual spot.
"Hey, Alice!" I exclaimed, turning around and pulling Alice into my arms for a tight hug. Releasing her, I reached back into my car and grabbed my backpack from the front seat.
"How are you this morning?" Alice asked me while bouncing up and down, clearly excited.
"Wonderful! Are you excited, Alice?" I asked with a grin on my face. The sound of her musical laughter filled my ears.
"Of course, Bella! You're back to school!" Alice exclaimed as she took a couple of steps back to admire my car. Nodding in approval, she reached for my hand and pulled me toward the buildings. I squeezed her cold hand, just as excited as she was to see me, to see her. I hadn't been able to talk to her since the night at the hospital. My last weekend before starting school again was spent with my parents and Heidi. Suddenly, without me knowing exactly why, my feet lurched to a stop when I set eyes on a darker skinned girl with pitch black hair. She was dressed in a sweat shirt and sweat pants and looked disheveled. For some reason, I knew that this girl didn't normally dress that way, but I couldn't put my finger on exactly who it was. My head tilted to the side as I studied her.
"Something wrong, Bella?" Alice asked from beside me, sounding a little nervous. I shook my head.
"No, but who is that girl, Alice? I feel like I know her," I asked curiously, still watching the girl as she searched through her bag, frantically, for something. All of a sudden, her head jerked up and met my gaze. Her beautiful face contorted with an emotion that I didn't understand before she shoved everything back into her bag and ran off into one of the buildings.
"That was Angela, Bella," Alice said in a quiet voice just as the warning bell rang.
"Angela? Oh my God, Angela," I said as I recognized the name of the girl that Carlisle had told me about. Angela, my ex-girlfriend, Angela. The very Angela that I cheated on, Angela.
"Yes, Bella, you'd better get to class. You don't want to be late on your first day back," Alice said, letting go of my hand as she walked off in the opposite direction that I needed to go.
"I'll see you at lunch, Alice?" I called after her. She turned her head and nodded before disappearing through a door. Shrugging my shoulders, I ran toward my class, praying to God that I would make it on time.
"Isabella! Nice to see you again! Have a seat in the back next to… Angela? Is it?" Mr. Mueller gestured toward her. My stomach dropped to the floor when I realized who, exactly, that I would be sitting by. I started to walk toward the back of the room with my eyes trained on the floor. Pulling out a chair silently, I set my things on the table top and sat down next to her. Mr. Mueller started to instruct on how we were starting a new lesson and how it was going to be so much fun. Hahaha. Yeah. A new lesson in AP Government and Politics= Epic time. I pulled out my notebook and groaned when I realized that I forgot a damn pencil. Grabbing my backpack, I rustled around in it, trying to find something, anything, to write with. Suddenly, a freshly sharpened #2 pencil was plopped onto my notebook.
"Thank you," I said in a quiet whisper, looking over to smile at Angela for her kindness. I was met with a stone wall. Her eyes were trained forward, unwavering from their target. One of her hands was tangled into the mess that was her hair as she wrote notes in a slow and beautiful script. I studied every aspect of her profile, realizing that a few of her features seemed familiar to me. Now, memories weren't flooding back into my mind, but it was like a tid bit of information would float forward. The more I studied her messy black hair, the more I came to the conclusion that it wasn't supposed to be messy. I remembered that shiny black hair always lying flat, brushed smoothly into perfection.
"Why. Are. You. Staring. At. Me. Bella?" Angela asked, chopping the end off of each word. She spoke in a low and menacing voice. Slowly, I turned my head forward to face Mr. Mueller, knowing full well that Angela deserved to speak to me that way.
"I'm sorry, Angela," I said as quietly as possible. My voice was full of sadness. Every word of the story of what I did to her that Carlisle told me cut at my conscience. I buried my face into my hands, placing my elbows on the edge of the table. Sighing deeply, I tried to tune into what Mr. Mueller was saying.
"Alright, guys, I want you to read section one of the second chapter and take notes. I will be checking to see that you have a sufficient outline of the section done by the start of class tomorrow. You may talk quietly, but for sanity's sake, keep it down," Mr. Mueller instructed. As soon as he finished speaking, I reached for my book and flipped around, trying to find the correct page.
"32," Angela mumbled quietly.
"Thanks," I replied, turning to the page. I began to read.
"Bella?" Angela asked in a quiet voice. I jumped slightly at the sudden noise. She had been dead silent for the past thirty minutes. The rest of the class was whispering back and forth.
"Yeah?" I answered, turning my head slowly to look at her. Angela's eyes were still trained on her book, but I could tell she wasn't reading.
"How…How are you?" she asked, even quieter than before.
"I'm getting better. Still a little weak physically, but Doc says physical therapy will help with that. My memory is still a wasteland though," I answered, tapping my pencil nervously against my notebook.
"Your memory is a wasteland? What does that mean?" Angela asked curiously, meeting my eyes for the first time. Another familiarity hit me just then as I looked into those dark brown pools. There were heavy purple bags under her eyes. She quickly looked away again.
"Yeah, Doc says that my memory only goes up to two years ago," I flinched at her strangled gasp. I felt her hand squeeze my forearm, forcing me to meet her gaze.
"You don't remember me? Us?" she asked, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. I placed my hand over hears gently. Just as our skin made contact, she pulled away and cradled her hand against her chest. It was almost like my touch had burned her.
"No… But it's odd. I can't retrieve certain memories right now, but I'm starting to recognize things, like your eyes," I answered, slowly rubbing the soreness out of my forearm where she had squeezed.
"What do you mean? You don't remember anything that happened between us, but you recognize my eyes?" she inquired, studying her hands, not looking at me.
"Exactly, I'm starting to recognize things. The oddest thing is that I remember my classes and that sort of thing, but I don't remember you, us, nor Alice or her family," Angela flinched at the sound of Alice's name.
"What the hell? So you have no idea what happened between you and I?" she asked, her voice full of frustration.
"Well, I was informed of what happened, of what I did," I said in a strained voice. She laughed quietly, but it sounded off to me, dark.
"Oh, were you now? How you cheated on me with her," Angela practically spit out the words and I could hear the anger infused in her voice.
"Angela, I don't know what you want me to say. All that I can is I'm sorry. I really am, but that doesn't change a thing. I'm not stupid. I understand. You are allowed to hate me. You can curse my name. You don't have to speak to me unless absolutely necessary. You are allowed, Angela. After what I did to you, you have the right to hate me," I explained as my voice broke. Although I couldn't remember exactly what happened, I felt an enormous amount of shame for what I did.
"Bella… I don't hate you. I just. I should be happy that you woke up, you know? That you're okay! I was, at first, when Katie called me with the news. I was ecstatic. But then, this morning in the parking lot, I saw you with her, holding hands. It brought it all back, Bella. All of it. The nights I spent without sleep. The nightmares that replayed that kiss over and over. The nightmares that replayed memories of us. All of the tears that I cried for you, every last one, it all came crashing down on me. How am I supposed to sit next to you right now? How can I, Bella? My heart is shattered and no one is here to pick up the pieces for me!" Angela explained as the tears that had been forming spilled onto her cheeks. The bell rang, causing me to jump. I shoved my things back into backpack and slung it over my shoulders. Grabbing Angela's things off of the table, I wrapped my free arm around her waist. She leaned against my body as I led her out into the hallway. We stopped walking outside of the door. I leaned back against the wall and pulled her in for a tight hug.
"I am sorry, Angela, so, so sorry," I whispered into her ear. She nodded her head, which was resting on my shoulder. Angela slowly pulled away and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweat shirt. I handed over her things. She took them and walked away, quickly, down the hall. I watched her go with sadness. How was I going to fix that? What kind of person breaks someone that horribly?
"Is she alright?" a musical voice asked. My head jerked to the right. Alice was standing next to me.
"No, she isn't," I sighed deeply and grabbed Alice, pulling her tightly against me, suddenly needing her support. Alice's arms wrapped around my waist slowly as she buried her face into my neck. I rested my face against her hair, inhaling her scent deeply. Alice's presence calmed me.
"Alright, I will see you at lunch, okay?" she said, slowly pulling out of the embrace. I nodded at her. Smiling softly, she turned and headed down the hall. I was jolted once again as the warning bell sounded.
A/N: Long time no update… again. I'm sorry! Ugh, I don't have any excuses. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please. PLEASE. Review! People, I want to know what you think! Let me know!
Until next time,
Brooke.