A/N: Even though I did 2 POV in this chapter there's only one song for it cause I thought it was very appropriate. Also, there is a slight reference to the Notebook in here as well, so look out for that. Keep the reviews coming. They're better than playing Twister with Edward. XOXO
Edward
I snuggled closer to Bella as she slept. I could smell the woodsy smell of the forest and the fresh air. My mind was running through the perfection that was the last two weeks. Nobody anywhere in the world had experienced as much love as we had in the last fourteen days. No one had laughed, or kissed, or touched, or played more.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Mmmm," Bella mumbled half sleeping. "Do we have to go to school today?"
I reached over her and turned the alarm clock off.
I pressed my face into her neck. "I'm afraid so love."
There was a knock on her door.
"Bella get up! Time for school! It's your first day of your senior year I want to take your picture!"
I watched as the door handle turned. My breath stopped. It came out in a big whoosh as the handle stopped abruptly. Thank God Bella remembered to lock it.
"I'm gonna go take a shower and get ready. I'll meet you at my car in an hour."
"Ehhh…." She rolled over as I climbed out of bed and out the window. She was definitely not a morning person. I was showered and ready to go in ten minutes. I opted for a simple shirt and jeans. Hell I wasn't trying to impress anybody. I ate breakfast with my mom, she avoided the whole picture fiasco that I'm sure Bella was enduring right at this moment. I had to laugh at the thought. I couldn't imagine Bella's smile being that genuine as she complained and bitched to her mom about how ridiculous this was.
As I walked out the door, I grabbed my bag off the counter and gave my mom a kiss on the cheek. Bella wasn't out by my car yet; I'd be surprised if she could escape her mom.
I leaned against my car and lit a cigarette. This was going to be one stupid ass day. If school wasn't bad enough, first days of school were worse. Everything was about rules, and guidelines, and deadlines, and assignments, and bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.
I was just finishing my cigarette as Bella opened her front door and trudged out. Her mother was yelling after her. Something about wanting her to look nice for her last first day of school.
"Bella shouldn't you wear something nice. Like a skirt or a dress or something. You just look a little…plain."
I almost bolted up the stairs and let her mom have it for that comment. My girl couldn't look plain if she tried. And right now she looked beautiful. A simple blue-gray v-neck shirt and torn jeans looked amazing on her. Her hair was in a loose braid that hung limply over her shoulder.
She smiled as she got closer to me, completely ignoring her mother's rant.
"You look beautiful babe."
"Thank you." She leaned up and kissed me briefly, pulling my face to hers with her hand.
I opened the door for her and she got in, not even bothering to wave goodbye to her mother.
I on the other hand, was happy to rub this into her mother's face. I smiled largely up at Renee, who was standing on the porch, hands on her hips, clearly unhappy that I was the one driving her daughter to school. With an over exaggerated wave and a "Have a good day Miss Swan" I got into the car and backed out.
Bella took my hand as we drove the ten minutes to school. The window was rolled down and a few loose strands of her hair blew across her face in the wind.
The parking lot was halfway full when we arrived. I parked the car and started to get up, when I felt Bella's hand tense around mine.
"What is it?"
She forced a smile across her face.
"Nothing." I followed her line of sight.
"Fuck me," I whispered. Rosalie was standing a few cars away.
Bella glared at me.
"Sorry, wrong choice of words."
We opened the car doors simultaneously and stepped out of the car. I hurried over to Bella and took her hand, leading her towards the front door of the school. I felt Rosalie's and everyone else's eyes on us the entire way. Emmett had a lot of friends; he was the big man on campus. I'm sure he'd told everyone some lovely stories about Bella and me. This wasn't going to be pretty. I took my leather jacket off and slumped it around Bella's shoulders, staking my claim. If anyone messed with her, they'd have to deal with me.
Fortunately Bella and I had our first class together. I waited for her as she got her books out of her locker, my arm slung lazily overtop of it. After a quick stop at mine, we were off to Geography. As we walked into the classroom, hand in hand, I felt everyone's eyes on us again. Emmett was seated in the front of the classroom. His eyes were like sharp daggers stabbing at us. I felt Bella shy away as we walked by.
"Why don't you take a picture fucker?" I whispered to him. His eyes followed us all the way to the back. A scrawny freshman sat in the only table that had two seats empty. The only other seat was next to Emmett. This wasn't happening. There was no way I was sending Bella up there, and if I had to sit next to him I may have problems keeping my fist from meeting his face.
"You. Freshman." The skinny beanpole looked up at me, completely terrified. He gulped hard as he pointed as his chest and mouthed "Me?"
"Yeah you. You're being relocated. See that guy up in front. Looks like a complete idiot."
We both looked up towards Emmett. His finger was digging in his ear.
"Yeah." The freshman's voice squeaked.
"You're going to go sit with him now."
"Ummm…okay. Sorry sir."
I laughed as he stumbled out of his seat and ran up to sit next to Emmett. Bella and I took our seats and waited for class to begin. This was going to be a tough class for me. It wasn't that I had problems learning geography, I just couldn't stop looking over at the angel sitting next to me. Her eyes never left the blackboard, but they shifted slightly every time I looked at her. Her cheeks flushed a brilliant pink and she cracked a smile, trying to hold in laughter.
The rest of the day was going to be torture, well at least until last hour when I had Gym with Bella. These were the only two classes we had together. At least we'd see each other at lunch. The next couple hours were boring as hell and I found myself skipping excitedly to the cafeteria.
Bella was already there, sitting at a small round table with Jasper and Alice. Unfortunately Emmett and Rosalie were sitting at the next table with a bunch of the popular crowd huddled around them. I sat down next to Bella, prepared for her to have the same reaction to Rosalie as she did earlier, but she was absolutely vibrant. Her voice wasn't shaky, it was confident. She scooted over to my lap and wrapped her arm around my neck. I felt her eyes flicker to Rosalie's table, but it wasn't a nervous gaze. She was gloating. My girl was flaunting our relationship right in front of Rosalie. I fucking love her. I chuckled when I realized what she was doing. I chanced a look back at Rosalie, who was getting up and walking towards our table.
"Rosalie," Alice said, sweet as ever. I don't think she had a mean bone in her body, even for Rosalie.
"Rosalie?" Bella said happily. "What are you doing here, sweetie? Aren't you supposed to be at boarding school?"
"Actually Bella I've moved back here. For good." Her eyes darted to me like she was claiming her territory. Back off bitch, I'm taken.
Rosalie pulled up a chair and started chatting with Alice. Pretty soon Emmett scooted his chair over, sitting directly across from Bella and me. It was a little awkward to say the least, but Bella didn't seem to mind. She kept kissing my neck and running her fingers through my hair.
She finally leaned down to my ear and whispered, "Meet me in the nook." She bit lightly, knowing Rosalie was watching and got off my lap. I waited a minute before getting up myself.
"Excuse me."
Jasper and Alice laughed. They knew what that meant. Rosalie and Emmett looked absolutely livid.
I made my way through the crowded cafeteria to the nook, a small little hallway that led to absolutely nowhere. It was where all the couples went to have crazy make out sessions during school because nobody ever went back there and you couldn't see in it from the cafeteria.
As the bell rang for class, I pulled my face away from Bella's.
"I think I can safely say that was the most intense action the nook has ever seen."
She laughed as I straightened my shirt. I grabbed her hand and pulled her along down the hallway, dropping her off at her math class while I headed to history. One more hour until I see her again. Well, kinda. They usually separated the boys and the girls for most of the gym classes, but she'd only be across the gym. I'd still be able to see her.
The hour dragged on, I never thought I'd be so excited for gym class. I couldn't get to the locker room and dressed quick enough. I had been hoping that since it was the first day we wouldn't be doing anything, but unfortunately I was wrong. I listened to Coach Taylor explain the rules of basketball. Quite ironic, considering I'd recently lost a game of horse to my girlfriend. I caught Bella's eyes across the gym and nodded to the basketball, hoping she would get my joke. She smiled only slightly and I could finally see why. She'd gotten stuck playing with Rosalie and all her old friends from here. They were the definition of bitches. Bella stood completely still, her eyes locking on mine. Rosalie walked strongly towards her, bumping her obviously on purpose. She stumbled forward and fell onto her hands. I started, deciding to run over and kick Rosalie's ass myself, but Bella got up and brushed herself off. I stopped when I saw her tap Rosalie on the shoulder. As Rosalie turned, Bella shoved her with so much force that she fell back onto the stacked bleachers making them shake. Everyone in the gym paused.
"Bad move bitch!" Rosalie yelled as she lunged at Bella. All of Rosalie's friends gathered around the two in a circle. I could see them heckling and even trying to kick Bella. I ran over there as quickly as possible, busting through the circle and throwing Rosalie off Bella. Coach Taylor was there an instant after me, restraining Rosalie as she fought against him.
I picked Bella up and looked her over. She didn't have a scratch on her.
"Are you okay?" I said softly.
"I'm absolutely perfect." She said sternly, glaring directly at Rosalie.
Rosalie fought harder against Coach Taylor's restraints. Her friends were still making threats towards Bella, even with the Coach right there. I knew as well as them they wouldn't get in big trouble. Their parents probably paid for this gym.
"Mr. Cullen, thank you for your help, but you can go now. You aren't needed. The rest of you. I'll see you in detention after school." That was met with gasps and bitching from the band of Barbies. "Not another word or I'll make you come in on Saturday." Absolute silence followed. "Mr. Cullen?" He raised his eyebrows at me.
I leaned down close to Bella. "I'll be waiting for you after school." I gave her a quick kiss and made my way back to my side of the gym.
My finger tapped impatiently on my leg as I waited for Bella after her detention. She should have been out almost fifteen minutes ago, what was taking her so long? I called her cell, no answer. I was just about to go in and check on her when I saw Rosalie and her clan coming out of the small gap between two of the buildings. They were laughing and joking with each other. Rosalie's eyes connected with mine as she passed car.
"I didn't even break a nail," she said smugly. That wasn't good.
I jumped out of the car, left it running, left the door open, and ran towards the gap they had just come from. She was sitting on the ground, her knees pulled up to her chest. I couldn't see her face, her hair was covering it. Her knuckles were bleeding. Damnit.
I bent down slowly and tried to pull her hair back from her face. She shied away, allowing it to fall back in place.
"Babe what happened?"
She got up suddenly and started walking towards the car. "Nothing."
"Bella!" I said adamantly as I ran after her. She stopped and turned towards me.
"Shit…" I said slowly. Her nose had a little blood dripping from it. Her lip was cut and it looked like there was a black eye starting to form under her right eye, in addition to the numerous scratches across her face.
My hands were quickly on her face, caressing and assessing the damage. She winced away.
"Sweetie what happened?"
The tears started to form in her eyes.
"I could…I could feel them staring at me the entire time we were in detention. So I took the back way when it was finished to try and avoid them. They, they followed me and….I couldn't fight them off there were too many." She looked down at my jacket that she was still wearing.
"I'm sorry about you jacket Edward, I think I got some blood on it." She touched her lip.
"Hey I don't care about the jacket. Let's get you home and cleaned up." I put my arm around her and led her to the car.
Rosalie and her friends were still huddled around her car laughing.
I opened the door for Bella and helped her in. "I'll be right back love. Stay here."
I walked over to Rosalie. She smiled bigger when she saw me.
"I don't know what the fuck you think you're doing Rose, but I can promise you if you mess with Bella again. If there is one piece of her hair out of place because of you, you'll have to deal with me and I promise it won't be pleasant."
I turned and started to walk away.
"Looking forward to it."
"Cut the shit Rosalie, it's getting old." I didn't turn back, I just kept walking. Back to my car, back to my Bella.
She was silent the whole way home. I helped her out of the car and walked her up to her door. Her mother opened the door and gasped when she saw her daughter's face.
"Bella! What happened?" Her eyes darted to me. "This. This is your fault, you filthy no good…"
"Shut up Mom!"
She walked in, dragging me behind her, and headed up to her room. On the way she grabbed an ice pack from the freezer.
Her mother only banged on the door for the first half hour, then I guess she gave up. Bella lay on her bed, ice pack over her eye. I had grabbed some cotton swabs and the anti-bacterial stuff and started cleaning her gashes.
"I'm so sorry Bella. This was my fault."
"No it wasn't Edward. It's not either of our faults. If they have a problem with us then that's their problem." She tried to smile.
"Well yeah I know that. I don't care what anyone thinks. But I sure as hell don't want you to get beat up all the time." She winced as I cleaned the gash on her lip. "Just. Just make sure you don't go anywhere alone okay. Make sure me, or even Jasper or Alice are with you okay."
"Edward I can take care of myself. I don't need a babysitter."
"I know you can sweetheart, but I can't take any chances with you. You're kind of important to me."
"You're kind of important to me too," she said with her first genuine smile since gym.
"Alright Million Dollar Baby, let me take a look at that eye."
She took the ice pack away. It was swelling already.
"Damn. You look kind of badass with a black eye. It's very sexy."
"Yeah?" She got up and turned to look in the mirror over her bed. "Wow. Very sexy."
"Okay can you handle being by yourself for a little bit while I go get food and clothes for tomorrow." She nodded. "You aren't going to pick a fight with your stuffed animal or anything?" She laughed.
"No I promise."
I kissed her and headed out the window, back across to my room. I didn't flick the light on, I just walked right to the door and flung it open.
"Mom?" I said as I walked down the stairs. I searched through the refrigerator for the leftover pasta from last night. She didn't answer. Hm. She must not be home.
I found what I was looking for and headed back upstairs to get my supplies for tomorrow.
I flicked on the light and walked to my closet.
"Rosalie how is it that you keep ending up in my room?" I said completely monotone. I had seen the instant I came back in. I started throwing things into my duffel.
"Your little love display today was so…. nauseating."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it."
"Did you enjoy it Edward? As much as you enjoyed me?" I didn't need to look to know she had probably moved into an incredibly provocative pose.
"Ha."
"Do you really think this is going to last with her? We're two of a kind, you and me. Meant to be. You can't avoid it."
She was right behind me now, with her arms wrapped around my waist and her hands on my chest.
"Rosalie we go together about as well as ketchup goes with chicken noodle soup. And it doesn't matter. I'm in love with Bella and I'm not playing your games anymore. So keep on trying whore, I'm not taking the bait."
Her breath caught in her throat as my words flew out. I didn't even acknowledge her presence as I slid back out on the balcony and crawled across the tree, making my way back to the beautiful girl next door.
Bella
I felt like death the next morning. My face felt like a puffy blowfish. I couldn't even see all the way out of my one eye. Edward's arm was draped lovingly around me as he slept. I don't know how I'd woken up before the alarm, but I still had a solid thirty minutes before he'd even move. Maybe it was enough time to assess the damage and cover up the evidence. If my face looked anything like it felt, Edward would go berserk.
I crawled quietly out of bed and snuck to the bathroom. "Shit," I whispered as I leaned closer to the mirror. I definitely needed to do some damage control. My one eye was almost completely swollen shut. My bottom lip was pink and puffy; there was scab over the gash now. The little scratches all over my face looked tame compared to my eye and my lip. Don't even get me started on my nose. It was definitely noticeably crooked. That bitch broke my nose. If the crooked nose didn't convince me of that, the dark purple bruises under my eyes did. I reached for my makeup bag to attempt to cover this mess up. I was starting to scare myself by just looking in the mirror.
The makeup helped, but nothing could cover the puffiness that used to be my eye. I got frustrated and threw the compact down, not at all satisfied with the results of my makeover. In my haste, I'd realized that Edward was still sleeping. I peeked my head out of the bathroom to check on him. He was still sound asleep, the sun shining behind him through the window on his bare back and through his golden hair. It almost looked like there was a halo around his head. Seemed appropriate, he was my own personal angel. I laughed as I walked slowly to my closet. Maybe I should dress up a little bit today to distract from my face. I grabbed for my white flowy knee length skirt and a navy blue v-neck tank. After I was dressed I went back into the bathroom to fully assess the situation. Should I pull my hair back, or leave it down? Pulling it back would just exaggerate my injuries. I decided to pull the sides up, pinning them loosely behind my head. That would show Rosalie I wasn't afraid of her, proudly showing off my battle wounds. I leaned in again and starting poking at the area around my eye. My finger formed an imprint for an instant before the skin puffed back out to its original bloat. "Ouch…" I whispered to myself.
"Take these," Edward said, handing me some aspirin. I didn't even hear him get up. Plus he was already fully dressed and ready to go to school. I guess I didn't realize how late it was. "And stop obsessing over your face, you look beautiful."
"I should wear an eye patch, it'd be better to look like a pirate then this."
"You would be a very cute pirate."
I laughed and decided to forgo the eye patch.
"Do I get my own personal Johnny Depp if I'm a pirate?"
"Silly girl, if you're a pirate I'm a pirate."
"Arrrg," I said as I grabbed my bag and his hand and turned to walk out the door. My mother's eyes got wide as she watched us leaving the house together. She had to know he was staying over, it shouldn't be a surprise.
If yesterday was rough, today would be worse. Rosalie eyed Edward's car as we parked.
"We can skip today if you want," he said caressing my face.
"No. No we can't. I can't. I'm not afraid of her and she needs to know that."
I stepped out of the car confidently and put a smile on my face.
"Hi Rosalie." She looked disgusted with my politeness. Good.
Edward soon joined me, laughing at my display. His arm was secured firmly around my waist as mine was to his.
The day passed by uneventfully until lunch. I had to talk to a teacher about something, so I was a little later for lunch than I was yesterday. I stopped in the doorway, completely overtaken by Edward and his beauty as he sat at the lunch table. I leaned against the doorframe, watching him joke and laugh with Jasper. Those two were truly two peas in a pod, made for each other. It felt good to see him laugh like that, big and loud and happy.
"Bella…" Rosalie sneered as she stepped in front of me. "How's your face? It looks a little…bad." She laughed.
"Still looks better than your fake one Barbie." I started to walk away, heading directly for Edward.
"He didn't tell you I was in his room last night did he?"
I stopped dead in my tracks and spun around.
"That's impossible Rosalie, you must really be desperate."
"Oh really?" She said crossing her arms. "And how can that be impossible?"
"Because Edward was with me last night. All night."
She raised an eyebrow. "That would be a little hard when he was clearly in his room at around…10:15 last night packing a duffel for your house."
My breath caught in my throat. I'd forgotten he'd went to his house for that.
"He was only gone ten minutes Rosalie, you know lying whore is not a good look for you."
"Ten minutes is plenty of time." I didn't miss her emphasis on the word plenty. "Last time he only needed 3 minutes…" She laughed again and walked away.
No, no, no. I closed my eyes and shook my head. Don't listen to her Bella; she's just messing with your head. How could she have known when he was back there, and what he was doing? I couldn't believe I actually doubted Edward right now. I strolled over to the table and sat down. Edward and Jasper were still laughing at something, but Edward's face changed when he looked at mine.
"Baby what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"That's not nothing. Come here." He grabbed my hand and headed for the nook. There were two kids making out down at the end of it. He pulled me in just far enough to escape the stare of the cafeteria.
"Talk to me." He put his hands on my face, forcing me to look him in the eye.
I tried to look at the floor but it was impossible.
"Edward was Rosalie in your room last night?"
He swallowed hard. That couldn't be a good sign.
"Yes," he said calmly.
I could feel the tears start to form in my eyes.
"And?" My foot started tapping loudly on the floor.
"And I told her to fuck off." The instant I looked into his eyes I knew he was telling the truth.
"Okay." I can't believe I ever doubted him. I was so stupid for giving in to Rosalie's game.
I started to walk away, but he pulled my hand back.
"Hey," he said as he leaned his face close to mine. "Never again." His voice was strong and fearless and ringing with perseverance.
The tears started to spill over as I clung to him.
"I'm so sorry Edward, I can't believe I didn't trust you. I shouldn't have listened to her…"
"Hey it's okay." His thumb gently wiped away the tears. "I definitely didn't give you a reason to trust me with what happened last time. But I love you…always."
"Always," I said smiling. He bent down and gave me a kiss.
"Now let's get out of here before he eats her face off." I looked down at the couple at the end of the hallway. The guy was pressed up against the wall, the girl's hands rubbing furiously through his hair.
We were both laughing as we re-entered the café. I shot a loud laugh in Rosalie's direction before placing my hand in Edward's back pocket. Take that SuperBitch.
I dressed quickly for gym, anxious to see him again. We'd met briefly, before we separated into our respective dressing rooms, to form a plan of action.
We were playing basketball….again. I was on Rosalie's team…again. I kept stealing looks at Edward, smiling widely as his eyes caught mine. I felt a sudden blow to the head. The basketball bounced away, just like it'd hit a brick wall.
"Nice catch Swan," Rosalie said.
I looked back at Edward. His stance was on alert, ready to pounce as soon as I said the word. I shook my head at him, rubbing the spot where the ball had hit me. I can take care of this, there would be no "Arg" ing from me.
"Yeah he is a nice catch isn't he?" I smiled, motioning to Edward who was attempting to dribble a ball.
She didn't have a comeback for that one.
"Swan, sit the rest of the day out. You took quite a klonker to the head." Coach Taylor motioned to the bleachers. I was lucky. I got to sit and watch Edward for the rest of the period. I watched Edward try to dribble, I watched Edward try to shoot, I watched Edward miss terribly...several times. He noticed that I was watching him a couple times and tried to do an exaggerated dribble while still looking at me. He promptly ran into a brick wall better known as Emmett. I watched his face bounce back from Emmett's chest as he fell to the floor.
My feet couldn't fly fast enough. I was over there in no time.
"Edward?"
He was curled up on the floor. My hand flew down towards his face. When I brought it back up again it was covered in red. Blood.
"FUCK! DAMN! SHIT SHOOT! MOTHER FUCKER!"
"Keep it down Cullen!" Coach Taylor said as he made his way over with a towel.
I turned to Emmett and pushed him hard on his chest. He stumbled back.
"What the fuck was that Emmett?"
"Miss Swan," Coach Taylor placed a firm hand on my shoulder.
"You can join your boyfriend in detention for your choice of words." I looked back at Edward. He was holding the towel up to his nose.
"Edward. You should learn to control your old lady. She's picking your fights for you." Emmett laughed as he headed into the locker room an instant before the bell rang.
Edward and I sat in detention together. At least now I wouldn't have to walk out alone. The bleeding had finally stopped but you could tell something was not right with his nose.
I kept throwing him sad looks. He returned them by crossing his eyes, or sticking out his tongue, or doing something equally hilarious to get me laughing. We got yelled at twice for "disruption." How can you get yelled at for a disruption of detention? We both set our heads down on the desks, facing each other for the rest of the time.
That night I was the one tending to his wounds. The next morning we both woke up to the sound of the alarm. I turned to face him.
"Oh man," I said when I saw his face. He had purple bruises under his eyes, completely identical to my purple bruises.
He must have understood what I meant. "So we're twins are we?" He said as he propped himself up on the pillow.
"Unfortunately."
"It's okay, it makes us look badass." He laid his head back down.
"We are totally badass."
We both laughed for a moment before I turned serious.
"Have I ever told you how lucky I am to have you?" I smoothed the hair away from his face.
"I'm the lucky one babe." He kissed my forehead, then both my eyes, being careful with the puffy one.
"How about we forgo school today?" I said.
"Isabella Swan suggesting we skip school?" He laughed.
"Well since we're being badass and all. And plus I don't think I have enough makeup for the both of us." I crawled on top of him, straddling his waist as I bent down to kiss him.
"Definitely skipping," he said against my lips.
"Definitely."