Chapter 29

Crazy Times

The first day back to school dawned on me quickly. The days had bleed into each other, and January 3rd arrived, a sort of fog encircled me, as I got ready for the day.

I slowly got dressed, pulling a hoodie on in place of a shirt, an attempt at decreasing the amount of staring. I sighed, and took off the sweatshirt. They were just going to stare anyway.

"They want something to stare at," I mumbled looking through my shirts. "I'll give them something to stare at."

I grabbed a pair of black skinny jeans, a black cami, and a black mesh v-neck tunic. The clothes were still a little baggy on me—I had dropped at least two jean sizes since October. I tied my belt to the last loop, praying that it would hold up my jeans.

I pulled my hair into a high ponytail, and slipped on my black ballet flats. Grabbing a granola bar, I met Jake outside.

"Ready?" Jake asked pulling his car into the closet parking spot he could get.

I looked out the window, and closed my eyes, letting out a sigh. "No."

"You want to wait a few minutes?"

"No. Let's just get it over with." Opening my eyes, I unbuckled my seatbelt, and grabbed my bag, getting out of the car.

"Nessie," Alex smiled, as Jake and I met her at her car. "I'm glad you're back."

I let out a sarcastic laugh. "You and four hundred others. People stare at me when I'm at the store. This is me coming back to the scene of the shooting—I'm surprised we haven't been followed by news vans yet."

"Who says they aren't coming?" Alex joked. "I'm still seeing you and your Dad in the news—I swear, some Harry Potter geeks have been calling you 'The-Girl-Who-Lived'."

"Really?" I asked, exasperated. "Don't kids have anything better to do than to worry about things that happened three months ago?"

We started walking up to the main doors of the school.

"I don't know." Alex shrugged. "Some kids feed on this sort of shit." We stopped at the double doors.

I took a deep breath, and looked between my best friend, and my boyfriend. His hand slipped into mine, and gently squeezed it, for good luck.

"Well," I said, looking determined. "Let's get this over with."

As soon as we entered the school, we were flocked by hundreds of kids.

"Oh my God, Nessie, are you okay?" One kid asked.

"Is it true that Jake was the one to shoot you?" Another asked. The three of us shot a glare at her, and she looked down, embarrassed.

"I heard that Jake paidhis dad to shoot you," Kaylee Newton said.

"And check out that scar," She walked to the front of the crowd, and made a disgusted face, looking at my scar.

"It's revolting," She said. "You should really cover it up, Cullen. No one wants to stare at something as revolting as that scar. Haven't you ever heard of plastic surgery? You might want to look into it to get rid of that scar."

"Why you little bitch," Alex snarled towards Kaylee. "Don't you daretalk to my best friend that way," Alex dropped her bag at my feet, and rolled up her sleeves, getting in Kaylee's face.

"You want to go?" she taunted. "'Cause I'm ready to go, right here, right now. And I just can't wait to rip those little blonde curls of your pretty little face," She pulled her hair out of her face, prepping for a fight.

Kids 'oh'd' as Alex finished. Immediately, attention was turned to the cat-fight that was about to happen.

"Now, let's not get carried away…" Kaylee said nervously, taking a step away from Alex.

Alex made a mock pout-face. "Oh, of course," She said, nodding her head, taking a step closer to Kaylee. "God-forbid someone breaks a nail. Now we all know that would be a tragedy if Miss-Pretty-Little-Kaylee broke a nail."

Kids snickered, and, admittedly, so did I.

"Okay, okay, move along, class starts in five minutes," I recognized the voice of Ms. Berg, her heels clicking in the hall, as she headed towards the mass of kids surrounding us.

Glances were cast at us, as they mumbled 'yes ma'ams' and headed up stairs, or down the hallways, leaving Kaylee, Alex, Jake, and myself. Ms. Berg walked up to us, and looked at Alex.

"Ms. Dupree, I'm sure that Mr. Lee would hateto see you in his office again for this. This is the second time you and Miss Newton have been in a fight."

"The little bitch started it," Alex protested. "She thought it would be fun to call Ness out like that,"

"I don't care who started it, Miss Dupree, Miss Newton, the next time is a suspension. Off to class, both of you."

"Keep heraway from me, and I assure you that it won't happen again." Kaylee spat at Alex.

"Okay, that's it," Alex lunged for Kaylee, and grabbed at her hair.

"Girls!" Mrs. Berg reached for Kaylee, and Jake reached for Alex. They pulled them off of each other, a small fistful of blond hair in Alex's hand; a few forming bruises on Kaylee's neck and arms.

"Both of you, Mr. Lee's office. Now." Berg did not look happy.

She took out her radio and called for someone to bring them to Lee's office. A few moments later, a teacher came, grabbed them both, and lead them down the hall to where Mr. Lee was.

Berg sighed, and looked at me. "Keep an eye on your friend, Miss Cullen."

"I try my best," I shrugged.

"Well, now that that's taken care of, I would like to speak with you in my office."

"Uh…sure," I said nervously.

She smiled. "Great," She turned to Jake. "Mr. Black, you can wait outside my office, if you'd like."

Ms. Berg turned, and led us into her office. The secretaries smiled at us, and I could tell that they were trying not to stare, although their eyes kept straying to my chest.

"Take a seat," Berg said, closing the door behind her, as I entered her office.

She pulled a chair from the back of the office, and put it next to the one I sat in. She sat down, and looked at me.

"How are you doing, Renesmee?" She asked,

"I'm okay," I said, nodding slowly. "I mean, the staring, the gawking…what happened this morning isn't helping…but I'm okay." I said quietly. I looked down, and felt a tear slide down my cheek. I wiped the tear from my cheek quickly, a little embarrassed to have been crying in front of the principal.

"Well, unfortunately, we can't do much about the staring. It's going to happen. But, we have been trying to put a stop to the rumors, and they have not been tolerable, as they will continue to be."

I nodded. "And school…can I still make everything up, and graduate on time? I mean, I've already talked to my counselor about it, and Alex and Jake have been bringing me assignments, and they've helped me catch up a little, but I know I'm still behind."

She thought for a moment. "You missed ten weeks," She said, not directing the comment towards anyone.

I nodded. "And I'll have to miss a few days a month, until they deem the damage completely healed. I can try to get them to schedule some on four day weekends, and over breaks, but I do have to have a surgery about once a month."

Berg nodded. "Finals are in four weeks. If we have you meet your teachers every night for a few hours, I'm sure you can get caught up enough to take them. And for the days you'll miss, we can have someone bring your assignments to you."

"Thanks,"

Berg smiled. "It's no problem. Now, I'm sure you don't want to miss your first period class," She smirked lightly.

"You know it," I chuckled lightly. I stood up, and slung by bag over my shoulder.

"Thanks for the warning," I waved, as I left. I heard her laugh as I left the office.

"Was it like this for you?" I asked quietly, looking up at Jake, as we walked down the hall.

"What do you mean?" Jake asked, even though we both knew what I meant.

"When you went to school after the shooting. Was it like that for you? Or was the propaganda just about me and Dad?"

"For a while, kids stayed away from me—especially the freshman, because it was my dad who did that. Others tried to offer me sympathy, because he killed himself. They were scared…scared that I would do something, scared that he didn't actually kill himself, and that he would come back and start shooting again…just plain scared."

"Kaylee try anything?"

"She was the one to start the rumor that I had paid Dad to shot you and Edward, created most of the fear in kids who listened to her."

"How low can she go…?" I mumbled, shaking my head.

"I would just ignore her."

"I'm ignoring almost everyone today, Jake." I pointed out. "And I usually ignore her anyway."

"Well, here's your first period," Jake said, as we came to a stop in front of Brown's class.

"You'll be okay?" Jake asked, after giving me a small kiss.

"I'm fine," I insisted. "You don't need to worry about me."

"You know I'm only thinking of you," Jake laughed.

"I know, I know." I shook my head, and then cast a glance into the classroom. Brown was preparing some files—files I assumed were for me, which held my assignments from October.

"I should probably get going," I nodded towards the door. "Start working on everything I've missed."

"Good luck," Jake gave me a chaste kiss, before heading down the hall to his own first period.

Taking in a deep breath, I headed into the class.

"Nessie's back,"

"Cullen's back,"

"She's back?"

There were whispers spoken around the class, as I stood in front of the door awkwardly. Mr. Brown looked up, and got out of his seat.

"Class, class, settle down." He said. "Renesmee is obviously here, she is obviously healthy, she doesn't need all of this extra attention. Go back to work."

They did as Mr. Brown said, although continued to glance up at me occasionally.

"This is the work that you have missed over the last ten weeks," He started walking over to his desk, and I followed.

Brown picked up a filing envelope full of worksheets, and handed them to me.

"You're excused from all the tests we had over the ten weeks, but you should be able to finish these assignments in three weeks, from what I remember of your work habits. Just do one or two a night, and come to study period with me, or stay after school at least once a week, to catch up." He sat in his chair, and put his glasses on.

"Thanks," I tucked the envelope in my arm.

"Get to work, Miss Cullen." Mr. Brown said, keeping his eyes on the paperwork he had in his hands.

"Of course, Mr. Brown." I went to an empty desk, and pulled out the first few assignments. Luckily, they were all familiar—I had gotten these assignments emailed to me over the course of my absence. Alex had come over after school on most days and also gave me copies of assignments I had missed, and kept me updated on what I've missed. I only had one assignment to do for this class, and it was one everyone had gotten on the Friday before break.

I grabbed my Period 1 folder from my bag, and grabbed the assignments I had completed, and brought them up to Brown. He looked a little shocked that I had finished nearly thirty assignments in ten minutes.

"Alex grabbed extra assignments for me, and I've been getting them in my email," I explained, handing the stack of papers to him.

"Oh…of course," Brown nodded, taking the papers.

"You might want to give her more credit than she's getting," I smiled, walking back to my seat.

"Alex is a good student; she just doesn't like to show it."

"Speaking of Miss Dupree, where is she?" Brown asked, although I'm pretty sure he knew the answer to that one.

"Mr. Lee's office with Kaylee Newton for getting in a fight. I'm pretty sure they're suspended this time."

"Of course she is," Brown shook his head, as I walked back to my seat.

I sat in my seat, and began working on the worksheet I had been given.

The rest of the day went by pretty much the same. I'd walk down the hall and get stared at, whispered about. I'd walk into class…the same thing as first period. It had been ten weeks since I was shot…don't you think people would have found something new to obsess about by now? I mean, it's like I'm the shiny new toy, except being shiny and new, I'm a mass shooting survivor, and I'm dating the guy whose dad did it.

I'm not sure how much more of this I can take.