Chapter 25 – New Girl
Silver's POV:
"So…that is pretty much it!" I said plainly, ending my tour of Forks High. Bella was not really into the whole bit, I could tell. So, I made each stop short and brought her back to her locker as fast I could. 'She's a Devan!' I decided, ' Smart, but she doesn't like the school atmosphere,'
"Great, thanks," Bella mumbled with an awkward smile. Kids hustled on by us to get to their classes.
"I know…there is not much to see. A bit on the dull side, really, but you'll get used to it," I offered some console for the state of our school buildings. Forks is not exactly the most fantastic place to live. I could tell that Bella was just noticing for herself. 'Fresh Hell...as Devan likes to refer to it!' I remembered, hearing my sister's voice in my mind.
Bella shuffled a bit on her feet, anxious to get to her class I figured.
"I can take you to your first class if you'd like,"
"No, it's fine. I remember where it was. I can manage," she told me. She bit at her lip while waiting for me to finalize our formal goodbye. I obliged and took her out of her misery.
"Well, I'd better get going then. I will see you around!"
"Ya,"
"If you need anything…"
"Okay," she answered before I had time to finish. I smiled at her. 'I like her. She is not like the other girls,' I thought, thinking about how much Courtney, Tanna, and Rachel had been getting on my nerves lately. Even I needed a break every now and then from gossip.
I waved to Bella and we parted our separate ways. I was almost out of sight when something made me turn.
"Isabella!" I heard Mike Newton's obnoxious voice say her name and I turned to see him introducing himself before I went around the corner. 'Figures!' I thought. 'He would want to be first to get his hands on her,' Boys have a one-track mind. Girls!
'Sigh….Seth!' I thought. 'I am no better I guess,'
I saw Devan on the other side of the hall with Jodie. I quickly stopped to ponder how she was doing today. Edward was so hard to read. I bet she wished he'd be more like the other boys and just ask her out. 'Or not…Devan probably likes that Edward isn't an obvious player,' I changed my mind.
She looked at me and waved. I waved back so hard my hand was a blur and beamed my teeth her way exuberantly. She gave me a look and turned away. 'Good. I still have the power to embarrass my sister!' I laughed to myself and entered my classroom.
I had no desire to follow instruction today. I was not feeling very focused. 'What else is new?' I couldn't help shake the feeling that something was going down and I was missing it. The pit of my stomach told me that.
Lunch finally arrived and I found Bella being swarmed by Jessica Stanley and the rest of the 'it' crowd for the junior class. Angela Weber was quietly waiting her turn to talk to her. She was the only one in the group that didn't rub me the wrong way. Mike, Eric Yorkie, and Tyler Crowley were all acting like animals hunting for a mate. 'Geez…puff out your chest, why don't you, and close the deal!' I thought, stunned at how brazen they all were.
Poor Bella looked like she needed an escape. I skipped over and squeezed my way in beside Jessica.
"Hey Bella!" I announced my presence loudly. Jessica frowned down upon me. I returned her foul expression with a friendly grin. 'Kill with kindness!' I remembered my mother used to tell me. It really worked. The aggravation it caused people was reason enough for me to use it as a weapon.
"Hi," Bella muttered carefully, still uncomfortable by the number of eyes upon her.
"I am just going to steal Bella away for a bit," I said, taking Bella by the arm and pulling her towards me, "Thank you!" I sang the last part as they all tried to protest, but Bella came willingly so there wasn't time for them to process my theft in time to stop me.
"You can thank me later," I whispered as we headed out of the swarmed crowd of leeches. And Jessica Stanley was just that. She dug her claws desperately into anything that would bring her attention or raise her popularity meter. 'And Bella was the Belle of the Ball today!' I sang in my head, then blushed slightly as I did it. 'How corny...even for me! Thank goodness I didn't say that one out loud!'
"Thanks," Bella whispered back. I stopped by the food carts and picked up an apple.
"Would you like one?" I offered, putting it in her hand. She looked at it wondering if she really did or not.
"Thanks," she said again.
"You're welcome!" I beamed. "Oh…there's Devan! I want to introduce you!"
"Uh…" she mumbled.
"Don't worry. She's tame!" I explained. I waved Devan over to us.
"Dev, this is Bella. Bella this is my sister, Devan!"
"Wow…you two look so much…"
"Like twins?" I interrupted with a pleased grin, "Yup!"
"Nice to meet you," Devan said politely. Bella nodded back, trying to smile genuinely. The same expression was plastered on Devan's face. It was the awkward introduction face that my sister made when meeting new people.
"Well, I won't keep you. I think we are pretty awesome, but some would look down on you for hanging around a couple of freshman," I told her honestly.
"Oh! Uh..." Bella was trying to be polite, but didn't know what to say.
"Yes, Silver is always like this!" Devan explained for Bella's purpose. I agreed willingly, my head twitching up and down so fast it almost didn't happen.
"It is true!" I chanted proudly. 'Loud and proud!'
Bella laughed quietly, but something had caught her attention behind us. "Who are they?" she asked.
Both Devan and I swiveled around in the direction Bella was looking. It was the table of our siblings. Bella's face twisted with temptation. Our family did that to people. Drew them in, but not enough to make them less daunting. Devan let me speak. She got muddled whenever anyone asked her about our family. She was never good at lying. Even by omission.
"Those are our brother's and sister's!" I boasted merrily.
"Wow! You have a large family," she said, but you could tell she was wondering how we were all related.
"We are all adopted," I explained. I was sure someone would eventually tell her about Carlisle and Esme and how youthful they both are. There was no way we could all be their biological children.
"Oh," she said softly, trying not to be noisy, but I didn't mind telling her about us. It was better that I do it than another student who would gossip and make it more of a big deal than I thought it was.
"Rosalie and Jasper are twins. They are the blonde ones. Rosalie skipped grade one so she is a senior with Emmet," I told her, "She and he are together," I added. Bella's face showed a touch of confusion. I didn't go into detail.
"Alice is our older sister. She is with Jasper! They are juniors this year too" I tried to make it sound normal. Bella was still looking over to the table. Rosalie and Emmet affectionately canoodled around with each other. Jasper sat with Alice in his arms lovingly. And Edward just sat there in all his melancholy glory.
"Who is your other brother?" Bella asked. Devan glanced over to Edward and then at the floor sadly. 'Poor Dev!'
"That's Edward. He is a junior this year too," I told her calmly and as vaguely as I could for Devan's sake. She didn't need it rubbed in her face that Bella was obviously noticing how gorgeous and single he was. Edward was looking our way now, painfully I might add. I assumed it was because he didn't want me to give any more info away to the new girl. So I shut up and let the conversation dissipate.
*
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I had history after lunch with Devan. She was writing vigorously as Mr Rushlow posted notes on the overhead. I was bored to tears. I had already witnessed WWII through my visions and was not enthusiastic to dwell on it anymore that I had to. I had nightmares from studying for the previous exam. I hated war. Of course, I couldn't explain my reasons for not copying the notes, so I just jot down one or two to make it look like I was paying attention.
"Dev!" I whispered lightly in her ear. She tucked her head in and away. So I tried again, "Dev!"
"What?!" she whispered back harshly.
"So, what do you think of Bella?"
"I don't know. Who cares?" she stated. She was annoyed with me for talking in class. 'I will make it short,' I decided.
"Did you see her face when she saw the Cullen Crew?" I asked with a laugh. I could still see Bella's face when I told her that Alice and Jasper were a couple and so were Rosalie and Emmet. I had to admit. It was a bit odd if you didn't understand the context of our unique family.
"Ya. It was hilarious," Devan mumbled back, not really listening to me.
"Jessica Stanley hates me now. You should have seen-"
"Silver! Shut up!" Devan spit angrily at me. She shook her head turned it back to the front of the class.
"Fine! I will shut up, but I am warning you….I have seen this war and it is not pretty!" I cautioned her.
"Whatever!" she snarked at me and went back to her note taking. Mr Rushlow was glaring at my from above his glasses frames. I bite my lip and put my head down. 'Oops,'
I remained unfocused and fidgety. Sometimes I needed to move around so I decided to go for a walk.
I raised my hand.
Nothing happened.
I waved it about like a flag above my head.
Still, no one noticed me. So I got up, the legs of the chair screeching as did so, and walked up to Mr Rushlow's desk. He took his sweet time acknowledging me.
"Mr Rushlow…May I please have the hall pass?" I asked sweetly. He lifted his head to meet my eyes.
"I suppose so, Miss Cullen," he reluctantly handed me the wooden block he had with the words 'hall pass' burnt into it. I snatched it up eagerly with a thanking grin and took off.
The hallways were usually pretty quiet. Today was no exception. It was like a Western film where the town was all cleared out for a gunfight and a tumbleweed bounced on by. There was a draft and a granola bar wrapper was skittering across my path as I neared the end of the hall. I turned to go right, but I came to a sudden halt as I slammed into something solid.
"Owww…" I mumbled. I had landed on the ground on my bum somehow. A hand lifted me up with perfect ease.
Edward! 'What is he up to?' I wondered. Edward was supposed to be in Biology class right now.
He seemed different.
He was slightly erratic and out of control.
His eyes were black as coal.
"I am sorry, Silver," he uttered, insincerely as he briefly looked me over to make sure he hadn't done me any damage. I wasn't hurt so he let me go. Edward wouldn't look me in the eyes.
"What gives?" I asked him.
"I have to go," was all he said as he brushed on by me and took off in a hurry again. I stood there stunned and watched him leave. 'What the hell was that about?' I shrugged it off and carried on with my day.
I didn't want to head back to class just yet. I pranced myself over the library where kids went on their free periods to study. Alice had a free block at this time so I was hoping to find her there.
"Looking for me?"
"Ah!" I gasped loudly as she popped up beside me at the library entrance.
"Shhh!" she hushed with a teasing smirk, "This is a library, Silver. Keep your voice down,"
"Thanks for the tip!" I whispered back playfully and followed her.
"Skipping class again?" she quietly interrogating me, pulling me to a table to sit down with her.
"No…I have a hall pass!" I took pleasure informing her of the legitimacy of my outing. Even though I was supposed to be no more that 5 minutes and my time was more than used up by now.
"Why were you coming to find me?" she asked, trying to act innocent.
"Like you don't know!" I scolded her. I was frustrating when she knew things and played ignorant.
"Edward just needs some space. He is having a tough day!" she told me, her eyebrows rising at the words 'space' and 'tough'. I thought for a moment what would be so tough on a vampire with super senses.
"You mean…" I started. She nodded that my instinct was correct. "Has he not been hunting lately?" I whispered. 'It is unusual for Edward to be tempted by the scent of blood so badly he would have to leave school' I told myself. He was very disciplined. Jasper was usually the one that left on occasion when the smell of human blood became too much for him to resist. And Jasper was getting nearly perfect at withholding his urges.
Alice's face was plastered with a tenseness that had me a bit worried. She was not telling me everything. Which was fine. I would find out eventually.
"I think you should stop hanging out with the new girl, though,"
"What? There is a ban on her now too?" I asked, disgruntled by the bleep in my plans to befriend Bella.
Alice said nothing.
"Is she evil?" I added teasingly, tilting my head and gazing at Alice innocently. She ignored my snotty comebacks.
"Just for the time being, Silver. I think it would be best for our family," she told me, holding back what she was concealing from me. I squinted my eyes into slits to let her know that I was on to her.
"What is the matter with Bella? She's not a werewolf too, is she?" I burst out in a rant. Alice's eyes bugged from her head, but she didn't say a word.
"Is she some sort of demon? Oh oh! I know!" I sarcastically carried on with my schpeel, "A mermaid! That has to be it! She must be a demon mermaid!"
Alice was not impressed with my attitude. She sat back with her arms folded in her chest.
"She is disguised as a human girl, but when she touches water she reverts back to her true form!" I continued, waving my hands about like a crazy person.
"And she had come to Forks to summon all the teenage boys out to sea so she can devour them and stay young forever!!!" I exclaimed dramatically. 'He he he' I thought as I finished and settled down in my seat. 'I amuse me!'
"Are you through?" Alice asked sweetly, but still not amused by my ridiculously fake accusations.
"Yes," I giggled. 'Hmmm…I wonder if mermaids are real?' my mind wandered curiously.
"Good!" Alice sharply said, leaning forward. "Now, get your butt back to class or I will tell Esme you have been skipping out again!"
"You wouldn't!" I bravely taunted. Her face stayed fixed in a firm glare. 'Better not test her. She is a bit moody today,' I reasoned internally. I sighed deeply and stood up with gusto.
"Fine! I was done talking to you anyway!" I replied half jokingly, with my head held high, "I can figure things out on my own!"
I was almost out the door when she called out to me.
"Silver! Do as you are told for once!" I heard her warning. "For Devan's sake!"
I swung around to face her, but when I did she was nowhere in sight. All I saw were a dozen of so students staring at me. The librarian shot me a nasty face through her thick-framed glasses. I back out gently into the hallway. As I walked back to History class I thought about Alice's last words. 'For Devan's sake? What is that supposed to mean?'
*
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After School I went to Basketball practice, but was deeply distracted by two things. Most importantly, Seth! He was sitting in the bleachers watching with Cody. Ever now and then they would chant out to me as I ran laps or drills.
And the other thing that was on my mind was the whole 'stay away from Bella' thing. It didn't make any sense.
I had been trying to snoop a bit into Edward's day, but I was not getting anywhere. He had gone to class, completed all of his work, and then moved on to the next class. I was the only exception to a family of perfect students. Edward was like the others. He did as he was told and completed the assignments and got top marks. I never understood the point of doing that. It wasn't like he couldn't try again next decade!
I was trying to perfect my layup, but in between each rotation I was diving into visions. All I caught sight of was Edward in class or Edward taking off into the hallway. I couldn't seem to catch the in between scene that was surly the cause of his emotional upset this afternoon.
"Silver! You're up!" Coach Campbell announced. I snapped back to reality and caught the fast moving ball that was coming at me. I dribbled it, jumped up and let go. The ball hit the backboard, then the hoop, and bounced out. 'Shit!' I screamed in my head.
"Your timing is off, Silver! You released the ball too late!" coach yelled at me. 'Oh, bite me!'
"Thanks, coach!" I answered in a friendly manner. I went to the back of the lineup and tried one more time to see a better picture.
This time I was right on target. I could see Edward in Biology class. The only class of his I had not delved into yet. It was a rather dull start. Nothing exciting….but then Bella walked in. The mood shifted all of a sudden. I felt intoxicated by her scent. It was floral and made my head scream like I had allergies. As she grew closer to Edward I could feel Bella's confusion. 'Why was Edward staring at her like she was hurting him?' I couldn't breathe. I wasn't breathing! I needed to get out of the vision. Edward bolted up and swept out of the classroom.
I hunched over and held my side as I gasped for air. It had felt like forever since I had taken a breath. 'Geez, Edward!' I scolded him mentally, 'What the hell is your problem?' I had felt so out of control and pained while experiencing that memory.
I heard my name so I straightened myself up.
SMACK!
And then I went from standing to being seated on the gymnasium hardwood holding my head. 'What the?' I thought in confusion. 'How did I get down here?' I looked around. A few girls knelt beside me asking me if I was okay. I nodded and got back up. Irony hit me. 'This is the 2nd time today I had ended up on my ass because of Edward!'
"Get your head in the game, Silver!" Coach Campbell bellowed over to me, "We have a tournament this weekend!"
"Sorry," I mumbled and dropped my hand down from my red cheek. I swear the ball must have stamped an imprint of its texture onto my skin. 'Ouch,' I thought, looking over to the bleachers. Cody was laughing. Seth was eyeing me with concern. I gave him two thumbs up to tell him I was okay. Then he smiled and sat back down. I continued on with practice, but my mind was elsewhere. I didn't make a single one of my layups.
*
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*
We got out of practice 15 minutes early. I hurried over to Seth who was waiting outside for me under the covered awning out of the rain. I needed him close to comfort me. I was feeling vulnerable and a bit emotional from the events that occurred during practice. I ran into his arms and felt myself thud against his chest. It almost hurt, but I was so happy to see him I didn't care.
"Whoa! What is with you?" he asked me as I clung desperately to him.
"I am just so happy to see you," I whispered into his soft, worn t-shirt. It smelled so sweet. It smelled like Seth.
"You sure were acting loopy tonight. I rarely see you miss a shot. You were all over the place in there,"
"I know. I have a lot on my mind," I mumbled, squeezing more tightly into his rippled chest. 'My goodness, my boyfriend is hot!'
"You sure you are okay, though? You got smacked in the head with a basketball and just walked it off!"
"Ya. That wasn't so bad," I shrugged. 'It was Edward's run in with Bella in Biology that left me worn out,' I told myself. I finally pulled away and lifted my head up to see Seth's face. He was smiling warmly down on me. I felt the heat radiating from his breath hit the top of my head.
"Mmmmm" I moaned and closed my eyes. I didn't have to wait long. His lips very quickly became emerged with mine. I immediately felt relief from my troubled thoughts.
We took a seat on the side of the steps heading towards the parking lot. My ride wasn't due to pick me up until 7pm. It was dusk and everyone was on there way home from practice. I didn't notice anyone walk by us. Nor did I know what time it was. I had no concept of time when I was with Seth. What felt like a few minutes sometimes, in reality, was 10 or 15 minutes.
I felt him draw back from me. I tried to hold on, but he was too strong and his grip on my shoulders pushed me away from his warmth. I shivered slightly as I opened my eyes. 'Why was he stopping? Did I do something wrong?'
"I have to go!" he said bluntly, standing up. I shot myself up as swiftly as I could. I grabbed onto him.
"What's wrong?" I demanded weakly. I was shaken from the abrupt end to out make out session.
"Nothing! I have to go. Let go," he said under his breath. He struggled against me grasp. I knew if he wanted to he could have gotten free, but he was trying to be gentle.
"Seth,"
"Silver, let me go! I don't want this!" he shuttered as he spoke. His body was trembling. I say fear in his eyes. There were tiny beads of perspiration on his brow.
"What? You don't want what?" I tried to made sense of what he was saying.
"This is too much! I can't do this! I won't do this!" he seethed.
"Are you ill? Tell me what's wrong! Let me help you!" I practically begged him, now clinging to him with both hands desperately. His hands wrapped around my forearms and threw them off his body. My grasp on his shirt ripped the material in the forceful motion. His hands remained tight around my wrists and he shook in what seemed like anger, but he was grimacing in pain.
"Ow, Seth. Stop!" I gasped, "Please…." He was trying to stop. I could see he was trying, but he was not able to for some reason. "Seth, you're hurting me!" I cried out.
There was a growl set behind me. A low, rumbling sound and then as Seth released me. I stumbled back into another solid being. Seth's body was tense, but he eyes were immensely sad. He backed up a few steps. I remained still, two cold hands carefully took hold of my shoulders. My mouth was stuck ajar as Seth turned from me and ran.
"Silver, are you all right?"
I couldn't speak.
I couldn't move.
Everything was falling apart.
'Why? Why was this happening? Why now?'
"I don't understand!" I whimpered. Burning tears erupted from my eyes and ran hot down my skin.
"Come, let's get you home,"
I was dazed. I could see a blurring figure facing me, telling me to calm down. Telling me to breathe.
But I couldn't breathe…
For the second time today I couldn't breathe. Only, this time, it was really happening. This was the present. And I couldn't just come back to reality and make it all disappear.
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