Chapter 30:
A week and a half after the Cullens voted on Bella's fate, everything was back to normal. Or as back to normal as things could be. The hospital received Carlisle with open arms; they didn't even question the Cullen's stupid reason for them coming back. Apparently, Esme did not like California. As if. Rosalie and Emmett spent most of their time at the garage, considering they were supposedly away at university. Edward, Alice and Jasper went back to school, much to Bella's complete delight. Bella's little annoying group of friends were incredibly happy about it, too. Now they were once again popular for being the Cullens' only friends. My sister no longer lived with me. She now lived… well, honestly, I didn't know. The only thing I knew was that she spent 90% of her time down at the reservation. She barely even stepped a foot in Forks. When we met, it was either in this little diner at the outskirts of town or when we went shopping at Port Angels. I missed the support but as long as she was happy I was somewhat happy. And my, oh, my, was she happy. Not only was she completely head-over-heels over Paul, she hadn't exactly said it out loud, a bad habit we apparently shared, but I could see it, she also loved the reservation, apparently. She loved the small scarce shops, the little diner; she had even visited the school. She also was best friends with Jared, which surprised me because I hadn't expected her to actually form bonds with the pack. But it suddenly was like back when we came here the first time. I was grateful, however, that she tried to avoid mentioning Jacob. It still hurt whenever she talked to me about what she and the pack did. Victoria was laying low and that meant they had lots of free time, apparently. I was so envious of my sister, I'm pretty sure I would turn green any moment now.
As for me… I was angry at the world. Once I had been done sulking in that one tall tree, I had gone back to the house and straight up to my room, where I proceeded to take all of the things Edward and Alice had ever given to me. My sister was of great help when I quite literally pushed the piano Edward gave me in the 60's down the stairs. It made such an ugly, disharmonized sound when it hit the wall, the Cullens were horrified of my actions. Charlotte left after that, trusting I'd be able to get rid of all the other stuff. And I was. Everything the Cullens had given me went down the stairs; paintings, shoes, musical instruments, jewelry, expensive original paintings, books, even clothing.
"Marie Antoinette, what exactly are you doing?" Esme had asked me with the admonishing tone a mother would use on her unsubordinated child.
"Spring cleaning," had been my sardonic answer.
I had nearly laughed at her perplexed expression. She didn't stop me, though. None of them did. I was glad. I wouldn't have answered for my actions had they interfered with what I was doing. When my 'spring cleaning' had been done, I lay low for a while. I went shopping with my sister, looking to replace the things I had thrown down the stairs, and I cried but apart from that I did pretty much nothing. Two days ago, however, there was a knock on my door; Carlisle. He asked me to return to school and continue where I had left off, as a favor to our long friendship's memory more than anything else. It would be ideal to everyone if I kept our old façade. I reluctantly agreed, deciding that it would be the ultimate pay back, if I were to show up at school and make Edward's life hell. He was pretty close to loathing me and having to see me everyday wouldn't make him happy. And that's how I ended up here, in front of the mirror at 6:00 A.M. in the morning, incredibly sleep deprived. My nightmares had happily returned. I was wearing a high-waisted black skirt that reached my mid-thigh, black tights, a black long sleeved shirt that was under my skirt so everyone could she my skirt was high-waisted and black high heels. All black was the extreme but I loved it. What I couldn't deal with was my stupid hair. I hated it. It was too dark and looked dull. It had been the same stupid shade of black for the last four hundred years. The same stupid shade of black Jacob Black loved so much.
So, keeping in mind both the right spell and the color I wanted, I dyed my hair. Yes, that's right. No more black hair for me. I dyed it until it was so light, you wouldn't be able to know whether it was incredibly light blonde or completely white. Considering the procedure had been done with magic, there was no such thing as split ends or damaged hair. My hair was as healthy as ever but with a better shade. I was in love with it, so much that I honestly didn't give a dam about what others would think of it. I finished my make-up, dark red lipstick and cat eyeliner, just in time for me to get to home room. People stared at me as I walked through the school hallways to room 505, my English class. The classroom was empty, everyone was still in home room, and it wasn't until ten minutes later that people started to walk into the room. Everyone did a double take, but the only reaction I actually wanted to see was Alice's. She walked into the room with Bella, both engaged in conversation. I was surprised to see Bella so absorbed in actual conversation but I guess I shouldn't have been. Bella was always open for the Cullens. Anyone else was simply a waist of time. I wasn't exactly sure why my bitterness was directed at Bella as well. But it didn't matter.
"Anyway, so I'm thinking maybe you could pick me up at work?" Bella asked. "And we could—oh, god." She stopped midway and stood there, staring at me.
Alice followed her line of sight and blinked twice at me but apart from that she didn't actually acknowledge anything. But I knew. I knew she was angry at me for throwing everything she had gifted me. And I also knew it bothered her that I had dyed my precious hair.
"So you decided to finally show up?" Alice asked me.
"Hmh, yeah," I hummed, giving her a bitter hypocritical smile. "I just missed school so much."
She narrowed her eyes at me and I noticed how much like a cat, a predator Alice truly looked. I hadn't realized it before; maybe because she used to be my friend, but now, she looked so much like a vampire, I was disgusted. She didn't say anything else and walked to the farthest seat available. Bella stayed behind, looking at me curiously. I blinked at her emotionlessly before turning to my copy of Call of the Wild and opening it on the first page. After a few seconds of only me reading and clearly ignoring her, Bella walked away. I had AP History after English and I went for the sole reason that I actually liked History. It was incredibly amusing, seeing how wrong the text was and how stupidly the teacher swore on it. A History text was not the bible, man, don't be so radical about it. Hell, even the bible wasn't completely accurate. But after that, I didn't pay attention at all. I showed to all the classes I shared with the Cullens, simply to annoy them, and then spent most of my time roaming around aimlessly through the school corridors, hoping to get caught. If I got caught, the principal would have no choice but to call Carlisle at the Hospital. And Carlisle simply hated being bothered at the Hospital. I didn't get caught, though, but I didn't cry over it. Today was only my first day back. And there were still three months left in the school year. At lunch, however, I showed up at the cafeteria, given, it was fifteen minutes late, but I was there. Everyone quieted a bit whenever I passed them, only to erupt in whispers once I walked away. If only they knew I could still hear them perfectly.
"Have you seen her?" Jessica asked. "She looks like she joined a satanic cult or something."
If only she knew, I thought, smirking. The real demons were sitting right beside her. The real demons were the ones she so badly wanted to befriend.
"I actually like it." Angela, sweet loyal Angela, commented. "Black looks great on her."
"Maybe, but I don't find all that make up appealing at all." Eric's face was so contorted I hoped it would stay like that forever.
What made him think I dressed up for him? That I wore make-up so that scrawny, worthless, sexist Eric would find me attractive? Please. If I dressed up for anyone, it was for myself. And Jacob, but I wasn't about to start thinking of him. My dark make-up and clothes represented the way I felt inside and, in all honesty, I loved the color black.
"And that hair!" Jessica continued, angrily stabbing a French fry with her fork. "Who does she think she is? A rock star or something like that? Um, no. I don't like it at all. It's super… improper?"
I laughed as I got nearer to them. There was envy in her voice, whether she wanted to admit it or not. She was actually envious of me. This was rich.
"Jessica bitching about someone else's better looks?" I said sarcastically, standing right behind her. She turned around with widened eyes, obviously not believing she got caught. "Why don't I find that surprising?"
I sat down next to Jasper and looked expectantly at everyone else. The Cullens hadn't said a word about me, which wasn't weird considering they barely spoke to the humans, but those who had said something looked like a deer in the headlights. Not really bothering about the looks I was receiving, I bit into the red apple I had grabbed from the fruit bar, keeping eye contact with Mike. I smirked when Mike squirmed on his seat, whether it was because of my intense staring or my actions, I wasn't completely sure. I had a hunch it was the former, though, if Jessica's deathly glare towards both Mike and I was anything to go by. I didn't pay attention to her and kept my eyes on Mike, making sure to over-sexualize my every move. Mike looked about ready to bolt and run to get a cold shower in the changing rooms. An icy hand gripped my wrist under the table and I was drowned with the greatest sadness I had ever felt. I wanted to disappear; I wanted to cease to exist so the pain that weight my chest down would stop. I ripped my eyes from Mike and turn to glare at Jasper, hating him for making me focus on my own misery.
"Okay, so guess who was chosen to give the graduation speech?" Angela exclaimed, obviously trying to break the tension around the table.
When it was announced that Jessica would be giving the grad speech, I turned the conversation into white noise. I didn't care about their petty trivialities. I spent most of lunch examining my nails and trying to come up with ways to bother the Cullens even more. Being a bitch wouldn't suffice, I had to do something else. Of course, I couldn't decide anything now, what with Edward and Alice breathing down my neck. It would also have to be a spur of the moment thing, no doubt Alice would see me make a decision and try to stop me. My attention went back to the conversation going around the table when Alice spoke.
"I've decided to throw a party." She announced proudly.
Conversation halted and even I turned to Alice with a surprised look. The humans looked both insecure and eager to know if they'd finally see the Cullen threshold, while the vampires were looking at her like she'd lost it. Bella was frowning, most likely remembering her birthday party.
"Another party, Alice?" Edward asked with a demanding tone that had me looking at him in near disgust.
"It's not a bad idea," I said, grabbing my bag and starting to get up. Alice's eyes flew to my face, quickly filling with hope. Poor thing thought I was back to normal, didn't she? "Considering last one was such a hit."
With that I walked out of the cafeteria, making a bee line to the front doors. I was done with school. I had come and stayed until lunch, my favor to Carlisle was more than paid. Just as I was getting into my car, I received a text from Charlotte, asking me to drop by the diner in the outskirts of town. I wrote her I was on my way. She couldn't have better timing. As I spent more time alone and was actually able to drop the 'I'm-better-than-anyone' look, I started to feel gloomy. It was hard to breathe through the knot on my chest. I couldn't do this. It had only been exactly thirteen days since I had seen Jacob and those thirteen days had been harder than anything I had ever gone through in my life. And I'd done some pretty darn hard things in my three thousand years of age. I wanted to die just so that I could forget about the pain for a while. But I couldn't do that to Charlotte, who had never been okay with dying and coming back to life and made a fuss over it, or to Jacob. I had seen the expression in his eyes when I told him we were done; pure devastation. As if someone had told him that he'd never see the sun again and night was eternal. I knew he loved me and that he thought we were truly meant to be, unaware that his soul-mate was most likely out there somewhere, waiting for him to get over me and be happy with her forever. But if the news of my alleged death ever reached him, he'd probably be even more broken than he was now. Because I knew he was heartbroken and it was my fault and that made me feel worse than having to endure medieval torture.
The rain worsened as I drove through town, becoming a full blow storm by the time I parked in front of the diner. The eight parking spots that circle the left lateral of the building were empty, except for my spot, of course. It seemed like nobody had wanted to go out on this rain. I walked quickly from the car to the door, strangely not in the mood for getting drenched in water. The place wasn't too big, in fact, as I stood by the door, I was able to sweep my eyes through the entirety of the place. Every table was empty. The bar was empty and two of the waitresses were sharing a piece of the displayed apple pie while the third waitress was leaning on the window that led to the kitchen and openly flirting with the cook. The cashier was the only one who noticed me; she was an obese fat blonde lady with a frown etched to her face, who only blinked at me boringly. I turned back to the customer's side of the diner, slowly making my way further inside. My sister was in a booth by the far right corner, exactly next to the window. There was a half-full Oreo milkshake beside her and she was nibbling on the straw as she read the book that was balanced between her hands and the edge of the overly used table. She looked up when I sat down and her face morphed into a surprised look.
"Oh, goodness," she said. "That's… quite a change."
I rolled my eyes, sitting back in the chair. "Why does everyone react that way? Does it look that bad?" I asked, running my fingers through a silvery strand of hair.
"No!" Charlotte rushed, closing her book. "You look amazing! It's just that—well, I don't think I've ever seen your hair dyed."
I shrugged, happy with the answer. Charlotte wouldn't lie about that, I knew that. So her answer was more than enough. Not that I would have dyed my hair back just because people said it didn't look good, I liked it. One of the waitress, the dirty-blonde one that had been eating the pie, approached us with an annoyed smile etched to her face.
"Hello, welcome to Woodland Diner," she said, flipping her hair away from her face. "Would you like anything to drink? Coffee?" she asked.
"Actually, do you guys have ice cream?" I asked her. She nodded, looking at me like I had lost my mind. "Bring me the biggest amount of chocolate ice cream you can, please."
"Um—of course," the blonde waitress nodded, still looking confused.
"Don't mind her," Charlotte jumped in. "She just went through a tough break-up."
Her lame but incredibly accurate excuse made me frown. It seemed to be a perfect explanation for the waitress, however, for her expression turned into that of pity and she rushed to let me know the ice cream would be right away.
"You had to say that, didn't you?" I commented, raising my eyebrows.
"It's the truth." charlotte replied, seemingly still angered over it.
"Anyway, why did you call me here?" I changed the subject, not wanting her to start again on how the love potion had definitely worn off, she could see that, and that all this was just some lie the Cullens had somehow made me believe.
Charlotte immediately went back to business. She closed her book and pushed it aside, looking at me with intense blue eyes that meant she didn't want to beat around the bush.
"Okay, so remember when I told you I came here for two reasons?" she started. "I want you to go back to Underworld, rule again, and make things better. They don't want me, and I'm not too good at it."
I took in a sharp breath. Go back? Hadn't that been what I wanted for the last hundred years? To go back, to once more see the people I loved even if they were more than just problematic, to walk through the gardens, to enjoy the never-ending cold, to sleep in my bed. I had been so sad over being banished I had cried myself to sleep for a whole decade. I had dreamt of this day for years and in every last one of those dreams I said yes. I'd jump at the opportunity without hesitation. So why was I hesitating now? I hated to admit it but Jacob was one of the reasons I wasn't sure I wanted to go. One thing was being just a few miles from him and another thing was being in a complete different dimension. And I was scared. It had been so long since I had set foot there and my sister had ruled over them so poorly, I feared nothing I tried would help them.
"I don't know…" I trailed off, not really knowing how to explain myself.
"Why not?" she asked me. "You don't like the Cullens, I hope."—at this she sent me a pointed look.—"and you're not with Jacob anymore. It's your time, Marie Antoinette!"
"I haven't been there in ages, Charlotte." I replied. "Rodney is here. You are here. Who am I going to have down there? I killed my other two friends." I reminded her.
"We won't talk about James and Alexandria." She snapped at me. I flinched slightly. "I'll give you small jobs to do while we're here and if you find yourself believing you can do it… then you'll go back. If not, there's no harm done. I'll find someone else."
I agreed with her preposition. That sounded more doable than simply going back without knowing I'd succeed or not. The waitress came back with my ice cream but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I had other things in my mind now, choices to make and things had just gotten more difficult. We stayed there for another hour before we went separate ways. I hadn't even entered the Cullens' house when I was already annoyed by their presence and the fact that all of them were there. I was ambushed by Alice the moment I stepped foot in the place and I had to stifle a groan. She couldn't be here to admonish me for the snide comment in lunch, could she?
"Have you had any visions lately?" Alice asked me, following me up the stairs.
"Yes," I said. "But, don't worry, none of them concern you."
"I had a vision about Victoria, Marie!"
Her words made me pause. I turned back around and looked down at her from the balustrade of the stairs. I hadn't had a vision concerning Victoria in so long, it stressed me out. How could I protect my friends if I didn't know where our prime enemy was? I asked her to tell me everything with a slightly soft tone so she wouldn't be defensive. And, surprisingly, she told me everything, including Edward and hers plan. Victoria would be this Saturday on their territory, which would be a first because she'd spent the last two weeks going from the Quileute territory to Canada, somehow. All they had to do was off her before she tried to leave to the wolves' territory again. Edward would take Bella to Jacksonville to visit her mom, he'd tell her it was so she could say goodbye before they turned Bella, but in reality it was so she would be safe from Victoria. They'd all wait deep within the woods so no innocent camper would be caught in the middle of it all, and ambush Victoria. It was six against one; there was no way Victoria would survive.
"I just wanted to know if your visions had been different, so we can know every detail." Alice finished, now standing next to me.
"No." I shook my head. "But there's one more thing to your plan."
"What?"
"I'm going with you," I said sincerely.
Victoria had caused so much trouble, I was done. Besides, if Victoria was out of the chess board, the pack would be safe. Sam would finally be able to marry Emily. Quill, Embry and Jacob would be able to go back to school, finish their education, without having to spend hours of the day hunting down a very annoyingly sneaky vampire. Jared wasn't too angry with the overall situation but I was sure he'd be happy to have a little more free time. Go out, enjoy his life the way he wanted to. And Paul… well, I was sure Paul would still be his grumpy self but it wasn't as bothersome as one would think. Of course, they'd still have to be at the ready, just in case some other vampire appeared and threatened their people, but it wouldn't be as tiresome as now. They deserved this. And if they were safe and happy, I could go back to Underworld without remorse of leaving the people I love undefended and by themselves against a vindictive enemy. So, I gave Alice a small smile, letting her know I wasn't mocking her plan but that I truly wanted to help. Alice smiled back excitedly.
A/N: hey, cuties! how are you? first of all, I'd like to thank you all for the support you've given me and for favorite-ing this story and following it. Second of all, WELCOME all new readers! it means a lot to me to know people are somehow still fiding this story somewhere and reading it and actually liking it! I know I almost never say this, guys, but it means a lot and I love you all. Now that we're officially in Eclipse, I'm going to go back and edit all of the past chapters, especially the beginning because it's not as good as the past five to six chapters when I finally decided to get my ish together and focus on finishing this story and doing it with love. So, I won't exactly be publishing soon, although I have it all planned, but I do recommend you guys go back once in a while if you want to see how things get better. Tomorrow, I'll edit chapter 4.
I want to thank MissTigerLily1013, Just Another Netflixer, KSave, lightbabe,deidaralover1234, Nina and Layla347 for reviewing in the last three chapters. I really appreciate it!
How about you make me the happiest girl in the world and give me five reviews for this chapter? I really want to know what are your thoughts on my future plot. BUT what I really wnt to know is, what are your thoughts on Renesme? let me know in the reviews or PM me, please!
See you in a few, cuties. xoxo
