A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate them! Hey, here's a little curiosity question… how old do I seem through my writing? I'm just curious. I will not be giving away my actual age (except that I'm not 100. ;D).
P.S. That shout out from last chapter was for . Thanks for the jokes! :D
Disclaimer: I'm not crazy; I'm not a chicken (haha! But to certain others I am ;D Inside joke); and I am most certainly not Stephenie Meyer.
Chapter 20
Ugly Surprises
BPOV
I woke up, feeling surprisingly calm. I had the sudden feeling that today would be a good day. I wasn't sure, but then again why is the sky blue? Some things we just don't question.
I passed through my daily morning routine with a slight spring to my step. This might also have been the result of meeting Jacob during the weekend. Whatever the cause, it felt good.
I was about to grab my rain jacket, when it dawned on me that I now had a truck to drive in. A warm, rain protected truck. I smiled at the wonderful thought. Things were definitely looking up for me.
I stepped out of the front door and faced my new truck, sitting amongst the cold winter rain. I looked it up and down. It looked as though it had been through a lot in its lifetime, just like me.
I hopped in the cab of the truck and started up the engine. It roared to life, shaking slightly. I slowly drove to school; I didn't want to push it past its boundaries.
When I arrived at the student parking lot, I couldn't help but notice all of the new, shiny, fast running cars, and felt proud. My truck was unique. It had character, unlike the expensive Volvo that was parked across the lot.
I parked my truck in one of the only spaces left. I shut off the engine and silence filled the cab. I sat back in my seat for a minute, just soaking in the feel of being the owner of a truck. I was disrupted when a rapping sound came from my window. I turned and saw Mike, standing eagerly, waiting to escort me to class. I gave him a little half-smile and opened the door and jumped down to the wet pavement. I slipped on my landing and fell forward. I felt myself being grabbed by my arms and pulled up.
"Thanks Mike," I gratefully told him as I regained my balance.
Mike chuckled. "You do that a lot don't you?" He asked with humour coating his voice.
"Fall, you mean?"
"Yeah." He flashed me a gentle smile. I nodded, blushing. We started walking to the entrance. We talked casually the whole way. I decided that Mike wasn't so bad, he was really friendly. He made a few jokes that made me laugh. He was nothing compared to Jacob though.
"So, Bella, where did you get the truck?" He asked. He was hanging by my desk before English started. He was casually leaning forward on my desk, waiting for my response.
"My dad bought it for me from his friend Billy. His son, Jacob, from Sunday," His muscles tensed at the mention of his name, "he rebuilt it. It's obviously not new though."
"Yeah, I kind of figured that. Chevy, right?"
"Yeah."
"Nice," he commented. At the same moment, the bell rang, signalling the beginning of the school day. Mike rushed to his seat, barely making it before the teacher came in.
The lesson droned on. I answered when I was called on, but other than that, I stayed quiet. I was tapping my pen to my notebook in beat of the tune that was currently trapped in my head, Shut Up by Simple Plan, one of my favourite bands currently.
All of a sudden, there was a piece of paper in front of me. I looked all around me. Nobody was staring at me. I looked to my right. Alice Cullen was sitting beside me, facing forward as though listening intently to the lesson. I hadn't noticed her sitting beside me throughout the first week. She had probably switched seats, because no one had sat beside me last week. There was, I noticed, one empty seat at the front, two rows over. She caught me staring at her, and winked; a signal that the note was from her.
I glanced down at the note. I quickly grabbed it and hid it under the desk, out of sight of the teacher. It read:
Hey Bella! How are you?
-A
I chanced a peek at the teacher to see if he had noticed anything. He hadn't. I scrolled a few sentences on the piece of paper and handed it back to Alice. I wrote:
Hi Alice! I'm fine. I'm sorry that I didn't call you over the weekend. I was busy. How are you? How was your weekend?
-B
Within a minute, the piece of paper appeared in front of me again.
I'm good. That's alright; I was busy too (out of town). I was with Esme and Rosalie for most of the weekend, it was fun! Saw a few deer and elk. How was your weekend?
-A
Sounds like fun, what you did. All girls weekend. My weekend was good too. I got a truck! Charlie bought it the day after I arrived. That was nice of him, huh? I also went to the La Push beach with everyone (you know who, right?). We had tons of fun!
-B
Girl Power! Haha! I'm still random (as you can tell). That was really nice of Charlie. Yeah, I know who, I've seen you eating lunch with them. Sounds like you had a lot of fun. I'm glad that you're back! I've missed you!
-A
Same old Alice. :D I've missed you too! And I really miss Esme's chocolate chip cookies! Haha! So, has Rosalie been keeping Emmett in line? Gosh, I forgot how BIG he is!
-B
I loved her cookies! My taste buds have changed since then though; I no longer like them anymore. I know, I'm crazy. Yes, she's been keeping him in line (just barely ;D). I know! His muscles always cease to amaze me! It's amazing, Emmett, Jasper, and Rosalie had their growth spurts years ago, and now they don't grow at all! Weird huh? It happened to Edward and I too a few years ago. And you too! Look at you! You are the center of attention in the men world! They call you H-O-T! Haha!
-A
I blushed hard at Alice's statement to me being H-O-T, according to the boys. That was not true! I was the plain Jane of every crowd.
You don't like her cookies anymore?! You are crazy! Alice, honestly, I am most definitely not'hot'. Where would you get an idea like that?
-B
That idea is based on hard core facts, Bella! Don't doubt my judgement, or else!
-A
Or else? What do you mean by 'or else'? Should I be scared?
-B
I mean that believe or else I'll give you a makeover! Muahahaha!
-A
I was right, I should be scared. Alice, you know that I hate shopping.
-B
Trust me, that's one of the things that I could never forget! Please? Come on! Look at me.
-A
I dared a glance at her, which was completely and totally stupid of me to do. She was giving me her famous puppy pout. I didn't even stand a chance against her cute, pixie force. I crumbled. I nodded my head in defeat. Alice squealed just as the bell rang, so no one heard her. She had impeccable timing.
I gathered my things and rose from my seat, my chair making a horrible screeching noise that sounded like a scream. I hurried to the door and was just stepping over the threshold, when I saw him. Apparently, he had this class now.
Just my lousy luck.
I peered into his eyes, which were a stunning topaz today, and saw nothing. No anger, fear, joy; just nothing. His face was neutral. He didn't even look my way. I passed by him and walked to my next class in a daze.
In just one week, I had declared Edward Cullen my nemesis. We had fought so much, that I ad just assumed….
Maybe he hated so much that he didn't even want to fight with me.
I felt my heart turn to lead at my hypothesis. My breath whooshed out of my lungs. Why did this lead me to despair? I hated him as well, so why wasn't I feeling victorious from his actions?
The morning dragged on. My head hurt immensely. I went to the nurse and asked for some Tylenol, but my headache didn't fade. It continued to pound persistently in my head.
Then, during lunch, I had an idea.
Maybe I shouldn't try to be enemies with Edward Cullen. It was causing me too much hurt. It might be better if we were civil to each other. But I had no thought as to how I would talk Edward out of being enemies. We would both need to apologise to the other. He had hurt me, deeply; and I had hurt him in return. I had thought that were even then, because of that. But in truth, I had just made the scars cut deeper.
How was I going to mend this wound?
Before I knew it, it was Biology, and I was sitting next to Edward. I was just now noticing how close we were, no matter how far away he tried to sit. I felt some sort of electric pull emitting from him. I wondered if he felt it too.
Stop it Bella! Of course he doesn't! You're thinking crazy!
Lucky for us we didn't have to take notes today. Instead, we were watching a video. It was old and very poor quality, but it was nice to take a break from writing.
The lights flickered off. Almost immediately, the electric pull strengthened to a need. I needed to touch him. My whole life depended on me touching him. It was the strangest sensation. It was hard to resist, but I did. I was hugging myself tightly, my nails biting deeply into my skin. The pain felt good; it distracted me from the pull. I was unable to concentrate on what the film was about even though I knew that it would come back around and bite me in the butt.
That's how bad it was.
The teacher's voice rose from the semi-darkness, "Okay, you might want to take notes for the next little while. It might pop up on a future pop quiz," I heard him chuckling quietly to himself feeling satisfied with his poor attempt at comedy.
I figured that it was probably a good thing that if I didn't fail this class, so I reluctantly reached out to my pen and notebook. I accidentally pushed my pen farther over. My hand groped around in the pale dark, until I found my goal. I was about to grab it to start taking notes, but something stopped me.
A cold, hard hand clasped over mine. It was much colder than normal skin temperature and it was hard and smooth, like marble. I felt a jolt of electricity surge up my arm and spread through my whole body. My first reaction was to pull away, but my brain was unable to send the message down to my hand. I did flinch slightly and the other hand started to retreat from its place on mine, but I held it firmly. The other hand was stiff, unsure for a moment, before relaxing in my grip.
I never took a single note during the entire film.
The other hand was comforting, even through its oddities. Our hands fit perfectly together, like two jigsaw puzzle pieces. It felt natural.
Unfortunately, the bell blared not soon after. And I was just becoming used to the abnormally cold temperature. The lights turned on and the film was paused.
I glanced down at our entwined hands. Then, I followed the other hand, up an arm, and then settled on his face. Edward's face was calm and serene. His golden eyes were boring into mine.
"Bella-" he began. Those words hovered in the air around us. I didn't notice the 'after class chaos' surrounding us. It was as though we were in our own little bubble. Edward looked unsure whether he should continue or not so I gave his hand a comforting squeeze. He breathed in and started again, "Bella, I'm sorr-" a loud squeal interrupted him.
My gaze flew away from Edward's eyes, to the front of the classroom. Standing there, practically jumping from excitement was a girl. She looked to be about the same age as me. She had a head full of beautiful, straw-berry blonde hair. She was slender and was absolutely beautiful. Her eyes were light brown with a thread of gold weaved into them.
Who was she?
"Edward!" She shrieked loudly. Okay, so she was a girl that knew Edward. Edward's hand drew away from mine. I didn't stop him. He stood up swiftly and stepped towards the shriek-y girl. She immediately enveloped him in an intimate hug.
Okay, so she was a girl that knew Edward very well.
"Tanya? What are you doing here?" He asked, genuinely surprised. The girl, Tanya, released her hold on Edward's neck and looked up to him, her face as bright as a young child's.
"I've moved here to be with you, Edward! Isn't that wonderful? Now we can be together!" She squealed annoyingly. Wait? Together?! What did she mean?
Be careful with what you wish for. That saying could just about sum it up.
The next second, Tanya was kissing Edward fiercely. My breath caught in my throat, forcing me to hyperventilate. I had somehow gathered my things and had stood up during all of this, because I staggered backwards, almost falling over a chair.
Tears burned in the back of my eyes. My heart felt like a million pounds, weighing me down. Regardless, I was somehow able to sprint out of the classroom and down the hall. I could hear the fading sounds of Edward's protests behind me. People stopped and stared at me as I passed by them. By now, hot, salty tears were sliding down my face.
My prediction for a good day evaporated the second that Tanya's lips made contact with Edward's.
Edward kept hurting me with these ugly surprises. He was refusing a truce. He continued the war between us.
He was destroying me.
A/N: I know, I'm evil. Please don't hate me! It's all a part of the plan. Please remember to REVIEW! I love to read them! ;D Also, please remember to vote on my pole! By the way, I'm sorry, but updates will be coming farther apart due to school. I am sincerely sorry.