Chapter 20

"Hey, you survived Varner, congratulations." Bella's already waiting outside the cafeteria when I arrive. "I have to say, I wasn't sure you had it in you."

I scoff. "Well, thanks. You should know though, my survival skills are second to none." I'm joking, but she looks at me seriously for a beat, and I consider whether she's wondering about my past.

I smile, overly cheerily considering the way the day began, and nudge her toward the cafeteria.

"Anyway, extreme survival always makes me hungry, let's eat."

I follow her through the doors, cursing too quietly for her to hear as I see the table of kids I recognize to be her friends. She waves to them but heads for the food counter, walking ahead of me as we fill our trays.

"Where do you want to sit?" she asks when we're done.

"Uh…" I glance at her friends.

"I get it," she says gently.

"You do?" Relief begins to trickle through me.

"Uh-huh." She smiles and nods to an empty table in the far corner. "How about over there?"

"Sure."

We've almost made it when one of her friends calls her name out and encourages her to sit at their table. She pauses, tray in hand, and looks at me. My heart sinks but I can tell she wants to go to them, even as she turns back to the empty table.

"It's okay," I tell her. "We can sit with them if you like."

She stops and looks back at me.

"You don't want to though," she says, wincing. She's right, I don't, but she obviously does.

"It's fine."

She flashes me a smile and I decide seeing her happy is worth facing my insecurities for, as I let her lead the way.

It's clear up close there's not much room left, forcing Charlotte to move along to free up two seats together. I'm still more than a little reluctant as I sit down, and Bella draws everyone's attention to me. "Guys, you remember Edward."

There's a cheery greeting from the tall blonde girl I was talking to at Charlotte's house, a smattering of unenthused hello's from the majority of the table, and a look that could kill from Jas and another of Brady's guys. The man himself isn't here.

A small mercy to be grateful for, at least.

My relief lasts precisely eleven minutes. That's the point at which Brady strolls through the cafeteria door and over to our table, and gestures for Charlotte to stand up from the chair beside Bella. He sits in her seat and pulls her back down on his lap. The action sends a mixed scent of cologne and cigarette smoke into the air around him. It's not a pleasant combination, but Charlotte either doesn't notice, or else she doesn't give a shit. She giggles as he whispers something in her ear, then she gets up and walks away to the food counter. Her tray is still half filled with food, so I'm pretty sure she's being used as Brady's personal server for the day.

Bella's sitting between us, and I see him lean forward to look past her at me, from the corner of my eye. "Hello again, Edward."

I prickle at the way he says my name, but I refuse to look at him.

"Brady," I say, picking up an apple from my tray and taking a bite.

"I see you attracted Varner's attention this morning. You really should pay better attention in class, you know."

I stop eating, put what's left of the apple back down on the tray, sigh and turn to him.

"Do you have a problem with me?" I ask. I see Bella's eyes widen and she shakes her head at me with a barely-there movement. I'm aware that the rest of the conversations around the table are dying down, and the other kids are beginning to look in our direction. Brady grins at me. I'm getting the impression he enjoys an audience.

"A problem with you? Why would I have a problem with you?" He holds his hands out in front of him, palms up, and shakes his head as if he has no idea what I'm talking about.

"Yeah, well I'm not interested in games," I tell him. You don't like me? Stay away from me." I glare at him for a moment and he stares back, the smile only dropping a little.

"You know, you're sitting at my table, Edward." He slouches to the left and casually throws his arm around Bella's shoulders. I see her stiffen, but she doesn't move as she keeps her eyes on me, as if trying to project her thoughts into my mind.

I nod, aware of Brady's intentions here. He may be pretending to be friendly, but his message is coming across loud and clear.

"Actually, we were here before you," I tell him. "I get it though; territorial pissing. Nice." I push back my chair and stand, looking down at Bella as I reach for my tray. "Are you coming?"

I'm fairly confident she'll choose me, but she pauses for a long moment. Doubt is beginning to creep in when she finally frowns at Brady.

"You're being an asshole," she tells him, shrugging off his arm as she stands. She gathers her tray, ignoring the murmurs from the rest of the group, and follows me over to dump them.

I don't look back, so I have no idea if Brady reacts. I really couldn't give a fuck anyway.

~CU~

"Was he giving you shit this morning?" she asks, as she sits beside me in my car. We came outside to get away from Brady, but it started to rain as soon as the doors closed behind us.

"I've had worse."

"He could make your life hell here, you know."

I turn to look at her, all big, concerned brown eyes.

"Like I said, I've had worse."

"Edward, you don't know him-"

"I'm not scared of him."

She presses her lips together, keeping silent as she watches me. I know she's trying to read me; figure me out and unpick what came before so she can understand what's behind my attitude and words. She opens her mouth, moves to speak, stops and then takes another breath.

"It's just…" She pauses, but when the words do come, they fall out quickly. "He's not just another tough-acting high school punk, you know?"

"That's okay," I tell her with a shrug, leaning back in my seat. "Neither am I."