A New World Full of Strangers
Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use.
Chapter 36: Bella's New Friend
Despite the fact that I thought that I knew what I was getting into, I never realized how different high school would be from the vampire point of view. In the first place, it is great to have a vampire mind and learn material so quickly and thoroughly. I can easily see now why the Cullens were always able to do their homework so quickly.
It wasn't just because they had been through high school more than a dozen times. You retain not only more of what you hear, but also more of what you read. And the ability to write at vampire speed makes taking notes literally a breeze. I had hoped that when I became a beautiful vampire that my handwriting would also improve. However, my old scrawl is still the same, my old scrawl, only faster.
Edward laughed at me when I asked him about it, and the fact that his handwriting was like calligraphy. Apparently, before the days of computers, they spent a lot more time in school making kids practice their penmanship. And, while all kids back in the early twentieth century didn't have cursive handwriting as beautiful as his, even their worst handwriting was better than mine.
Three weeks into the school year and I'm glad that I had the chance to practice at being the object of attention as the new kid when I went to Forks High School. The difference is that this school is a lot bigger and there are fewer kids who really care about us. Alice told me that it's unusual for the Cullens to blend in so well and not to get used to it.
And it's not like there aren't those who find us freaky. After all, how many families of gorgeous, super-pale, look like they need a good night's sleep kids are there in the world? I had always wondered why they had all worn long sleeves to school, even in warm weather. But now I knew.
I never realized how often humans touched each other's arms. Mostly, it was just by bumping into each other in crowded hallways, but there were also those times when someone would put her hand on my arm or he would brush up against me accidentally on purpose. Skin to skin contact would certainly have given away that something wasn't right with us.
And since the first day, I was often very grateful that I had Alice jumping in to speak up for me. The biggest problem that I had was when I became comfortable in casual conversation with someone. After thing that I had never realized was the need that humans had to share similar experiences and compare notes about previous perceptions. For me, the most dangerous time of the day was science, when it was just my lab partner and me chatting about mundane as well as scientific things.
My initial impression of Maggie had been correct. She was sweet, shy, and reminded me a lot, the more I got to know her, of Angela Weber. Unlike Angela however, Maggie had never made it into any if the "alpha" social crickets at the high school. In fact, it seemed as though she didn't have many friends at all. The more I got to know her, the less I understood why.
It took me a couple of labs, but I was finally able to draw her out. My biggest challenge with the labs, aside from the fact that I had done them already, was that I was capable of doing them at lightening speed. In addition to slowing down, I also had to let my partner figure out the answers too.
This was the kind of thing about school that frustrated Edward to no end, which was why he liked it when there were an odd number of students in the class. In addition to the vibes he put off that put the other students off from him, the teachers preferred that he work alone for fear that he might just give his partner the answers. It was lucky for Maggie that I had more patience.
Because I was also "shy," I could let her control the conversation. During our first lab, I had Edward listen to her thoughts. Throughout the lab, we worked very quietly together while I subtly let her answer the questions, sometimes giving her hints. She didn't ask any of the usual questions about a newcomer, but it wasn't due to lack of interest.
Edward discovered that it was actually she who was worried about me. She was happy that I seemed to be able to "follow along" and occasionally had some good insights. In fact, she was trying not to dominate the lab activity because she had done it before. When she wasn't sympathizing with me for being the new kid in school, she was thinking about her own family. Once I knew her story, I decided to try and get it out of her.
"So Maggie," I said during our next lab. "Do you have any brothers and sisters?"
She smiled at me shyly.
"I come from a big family too," she replied. "Only I'm the oldest, not the youngest."
The story put out was that of the six high schoolers, I was the youngest and would be turning fourteen on September 13.
"I do have one younger sister," I said. "Her name is Renesmee and she's in the seventh grade."
"Is she in French Immersion too?" she asked.
"Yes," I said. "She is in Mlle. Charles's class."
"Then she is in class with my little sister Terah," she said. "I have two younger sisters and two younger brothers and they all go to that school. I will have to ask Terah about Renesmee."
I ran through the list of little girls that Renesmee had already mentioned from her class, but the name Terah wasn't among them.
"I don't think that Renesmee has mentioned her," I remarked.
"Terah is like me," explained Maggie. "She's very shy. We just moved here last year from northern British Columbia, you know, Dawson City."
"The beginning of the Al-Can," I said.
"Yes," she said. "My father received a better job offer up here and with such a big family, he decided to take it. But all of our family is still back in BC. You know, the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins . . . Up here, it's just us."
"That must be hard," I replied.
I'm glad that I knew that ahead of time or I might have let it slip out that I knew what it was like to move away from your home to go to a place that you've never been before. Or in my case, to a place where I had been before but had hoped to never go back to.
"It's very hard," she agreed. "Especially since . . . "
As soon as her voice trailed off it took all of my self-control not to put my arm around her shoulders to comfort her. But that was out of character for me. I had to remember that I was the shy one.
"It's okay if you don't want to tell me anymore," I said carefully. "I didn't mean to pry."
"Thanks," she said. "I don't really like to talk about it."
I understood and respected her privacy. It was bad enough that I already knew what part of it was since my husband, the master spy, had told me. Of course, he wouldn't tell me the whole truth because he thought that I was such a bad actress. But then a couple of days later, I had another chance.
Maggie came into school looking completely exhausted. Edward, Alice, and I were standing together in the hallway when she walked in and then walked by us as if she didn't see me. Edward and Alice looked at each other anxiously.
"What is it?" I asked.
"She's had a rough night," said Edward at vampire speed. "I might as well tell you now that one of the reasons why they left Dawson City was because her mother had died suddenly and tragically. Her father couldn't stand to be around the memories. But if they had stayed, they would have had help with all the kids.
"Maggie is the one who has been taking care of the younger ones because her Dad works long hours. She thinks it's because he can't stand to look at them. Last night, he was working an all night shift and she was at home alone with the younger ones.
"One of her little brothers woke up screaming with a nightmare and a neighbor heard. The neighbor came over to see what was wring and found the kids all by themselves with no adults in the house. She left pretty pissed off and Maggie is scared of what she will do."
"When Maggie walked by," continued Alice. "I saw the neighbor calling the child protective services or whatever they call it up here. Then I saw a social worker coming."
"And taking them away," I breathed. "What can we do?"
"Nothing yet," said Alice. "I can't see any decisions made after they are taken out."
"Which means the future isn't definite," I said.
"Bella," said Edward grabbing my arm. "You can't get involved unless she tells you something. Remember that you don't know any of this. Alice, keep am eye on her."
"I will," replied Alice.
"Good," he nodded and ran off to his first class.
"What does that mean?" I asked Alice. "Good."
"I means that I don't see you telling her that you know everything anymore," she said as we began to move towards math. "Bella, you have to be careful. This kind of thing is just as dangerous for us as Edward lifting up a van to save you. If you can get her to confide in you, fine. But otherwise, stay out of it!"
"But you still don't see her confiding in me."
She shook her head as we entered math. That class, English, and History just crawled by as I ran through all the possibilities for what I could say to get her to open up in my mind. Every time I came up with a new one, I looked at Alice who shook her head. As the time drew closer, the more worried I became. Finally the bell rang and it was off to science.
When I got to the room, I panicked because I couldn't see Maggie there. Then she came dragging in, sat down beside me, and put her head on her arms. Not knowing what else to do, I decided to talk to her.
"Are you feeling sick?" I asked her.
She shook her head and then put it down again in her arms so that I would see her tears. The teacher began her lecture on single-celled organisms. She was oblivious to Maggie. I tried to focus on her words, but I could only see Maggie out of the corner of my eye. That was when I noticed her starting to slip on her lab stool.
"Excuse me," I said without raising my hand. "May I please take Maggie to the nurse? I think that she is ill."
"Of course," said the teacher absent-mindedly and continue to drone on.
On the way out I looked at Alice who gave me the thumbs up. Maggie was going to talk. Naturally, instead of going to the nurse, we went to the girls' room. Maggie was so tired I practically had to carry her. When we got there, I noticed the "closed for cleaning" sign on the floor, so I hung it up and closed the door. Maggie and I sat down on the floor after I helped her wash her face and get a drink of water from the water fountain.
"Thank you so much," said Maggie when she had recovered enough to talk. "You are not even my friend and you are helping me."
Then I remembered that I had a role to play.
"I know," I said shyly. "But, well, I kind of know what it's like to have problems at home. I know that you didn't say anything, but I can kind of tell."
"Is that why you're in foster care?" she asked.
"My Mom is kind of in prison for selling drugs," I admitted. "Nobody ever goes into foster care who doesn't have problems at home."
"What about your father?" she asked.
"I never knew who my father was," I answered. "There is no name on the birth certificate. I mean, I don't think that my Mom even knows who my father was. It's kind of pathetic."
"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" she asked, now interested in me. "I mean, other than your foster siblings."
"No, it was just me and Mom," I sighed. "But mostly just me. When I was little she used to lock me up in the house and tell me that if I made a peep I would be in big trouble. She was scared that the neighbors would come. We had an apartment and the walls were thin."
"So how did you end up with the Cullens?" she asked.
I knew that I would have to do a little embroidery, but I also knew that as long as I kept it in line with the general story and told everyone what I said, it would be okay. And if I knew my husband, I figured that Alice signaled him as soon as I left the room so that he could listen through Maggie.
"When the cops busted my Mom, they took me to the hospital," I said. "They said that I was dehydrated and undernourished. But I wouldn't talk to anyone. Then Dr. Cullen came in for his shift. He was really nice. I almost talked to him, but I was still too scared. My Mom always told me never to tell her secrets.
"I don't know why, but then Mrs. Cullen came. She was so nice that I wanted to talk to her. I told her a little and then I started crying and she hugged me. My real Mom never hugged me. When social services came to get me, she told them to let me come home with her. They were already in the system as foster parents because they had Rosalie and Jasper."
"The blonde twins?" she asked.
I nodded and then put my head down and let my hair fall over my face.
"I never tell anyone that story," I said. "I hope you want tell anyone. It would really suck if the other kids found out that my real Mom was in jail . . . "
I let my voice trail off, hoping that she would pick up on the shame that I was feeling even though I knew the story wasn't true. Maybe it was because I somehow felt that I was betraying Charlie and Renee for making up this bogus tale of childhood abuse. But Maggie caught my drift. If I was going to trust her, them she could trust me.
"Wow!" she said at first. "And I thought that my life was bad. I mean, it's pretty messed up right now, but at least I have my Dad, and my brothers and sisters. And before my Mom died we had a really great life."
"Your Mom died?" I asked remembering that I wasn't supposed to know that.
"Yeah," she said. "It was really awful too. She and my little brother were crossing the street in Dawson City when a car came driving straight at them. She threw my little brother out of the way, but it slammed right into her and killed her."
"Holy crap!" I whispered. "How did that happen?"
"Drunk driver," she shrugged. "At two in the afternoon."
"I hate drinking and drugs," I said emphatically.
"Yeah, I can see how you would, you considering your Mom and all," she said sympathetically.
"It must have been really bad for all of you," I said.
"Yeah," she said. "It still gives my little brother nightmares. He had a bad one last night and he was screaming so loud that our next-door neighbor heard and came over because she thought that someone was being killed. But it was just Colt. I tried to tell her not to worry, but then she started to snoop around."
"Uh oh," I said. "Nosy neighbors are bad news."
"Yeah, well, she figured out that I was the oldest one at home," she said. "I tried to lie to her and tell her that I was seventeen, but she didn't buy it. I couldn't sleep for the rest of the night because I was worrying. I'm afraid they're going to take us away and split us up."
"Where was your Dad?" I asked. "Did he, like, run away and leave you alone?"
"No, he was at work," she replied. "He works a lot of hours. I think that it's because he doesn't like being around the house with all us kids. We remind him of Mom. I think."
"Maybe they won't take you away," I suggested. "Maybe they'll just give him a warning that he has to stay home at night or get a babysitter. "
"You landed up in foster care," she answered.
"That's because my Mom landed up in jail," I replied. "And I don't know how it is in Whitehorse, but in Fairbanks there weren't a lot of foster homes. They were real happy when the Cullens wanted to take me. And when Dr. Cullen wanted to move, they even let him take me and Jazz and Rose out of the country."
"I hope you're right," she said.
"I don't know if I'm right," I replied. "But I do know that we should make a quick stop at the nurse's office and then get back to class."
"I missed all those notes," she said, getting upset again. "And you did too."
"Don't worry," I replied. "Alice takes really good notes. Come on. You can sit with us at lunch."
We got back to class with five minutes left. As soon as the bell rang, Alice was at our side.
"Hi!" she said in her chirpy little voice. "I'm Alice. I saw you leave the room with
Bella. Are you okay?"
"I'm better now," answered Maggie. "Thanks to Bella."
"Wow!" said Alice. "You got Bella to say more than two words to you. That's amazing!"
"Yeah, sure," she said, looking puzzled. "Bella was real nice. We talked about lots of stuff."
Then Alice began to lay it on thick.
"That's awesome," she said. "Bella never talks to anyone but family."
"Hi, girls!" said Edward coming up behind us. "Who's your new friend?"
"Actually," said Alice. "She's Bella's friend."
"Bella made a friend?" asked Edward looking surprised. "All by herself?"
"All by herself," said Alice proudly. "By the way, this is Maggie. It looked like she was sick and Bella helped her out of class. Maggie, this is our brother Edward. He's just a little over-protective."
"Just a little," I muttered.
"Well, Bella needs protecting," objected Edward. "And I look out for everyone in the family. But Bella is like another little sister to me."
"I always wanted an older brother," said Maggie wistfully.
"You can have one of mine anytime that you want," I muttered under my breath.
Edward practically tripped me from behind, after I said that, but I didn't care. At the moment it didn't even matter which brother she got.
By the time we reached the cafeteria, Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie were already at the table. But I didn't want to leave Maggie alone. I looked at Alice since I couldn't make that move on my own.
"Hey, Bella!" said Alice. "Why don't we sit with Maggie today? See there's a table right next to ours."
Edward gave her the evil eye and I wondered what he saw in her mind. After we sat down, I realized exactly what. Pauline immediately sat down next to Edward and demanded his attention. I slid down in my seat and hid my face behind my hair so that no one could see me laughing.
Meanwhile, Alice was chattering away about nothing in particular. However, she did set Maggie at ease enough to get her to confide in her also. Then I was thankful that my vampire brain allowed me to listen to two conversations at the same time, because suddenly I heard Pauline asking my husband to be her date for the Sadie Hawkins dance coming up in two weeks. If he could have, I know that he would have been blushing to the roots of his bronze-colored hair.
But Alice heard her too and whirled around.
"Sorry, Pauline," she said sweetly. "But Edward is already spoken for."
"Oh," she said, her face falling. "Who's the lucky girl?"
"Bella!" answered Alice and turned back to Maggie.
"You're going with your sister?" asked Pauline in surprise.
Edward looked at her with a world-weary smile.
"We are trying to help Bella expand her social horizons a little," he answered. "She doesn't really like dances, but we decided that it would be good for her to go. So I'm going to be her 'date.'"
"Oh," she said. "So then it's not like a real date."
I kick Edward in the shin and he grimaces.
"I don't know," he said. "It feels real enough to me. You know, like, there's a boy, there's a girl. They are like, going to a dance. What would you say, Alice, real date?"
"Real enough," she shrugged.
Unable to believe what I was hearing, I turned my full attention to Maggie and Alice.
"I think that Bella's right," she was saying. "I don't think that social services will take you all away because your Dad worked late one night. What do you think Edward?"
"Highly unlikely," he agreed. "But we could tell Carlisle about it. He knows a lot of people in town. I bet that he could help."
"Carlisle?" asked Maggie.
"Dr. Cullen," I say softly.
"Oh, yeah," said Alice with a smile. "Edward can be a little rebellious sometimes. You know, he will call both our parents by their first names."
Edward gave her back a big toothy grin and just said, "That's right little sister."
But in the end, Carlisle's help wasn't needed. The child protective services had their hands full with children who were getting beaten up by their parents and all sorts of other horrible things. So even though the social worker made them come down to the town office, it was only until their father could pick them up.
Maggie's Dad agreed to not pull any more all nighters at work. If he did, he promised to hire a babysitter over the age of twenty-one to look after the kids. He grumbled about the second one, but didn't want to lose his kids.
It all worked out for everyone except for Pauline who ended up having to go to the dance next week with her cousin. And because of Alice's cover for the "date" between Edward and I, all six of us are going to the dance, as "dates" with our foster siblings. I can see what the reason is now for the split between "adopteds" and fosters.
I started thinking back to the day that we helped Maggie because today is the day of Renesmee's surprise party at Celine's house and I would finally get to meet Maggie's sister Terah. As usual, Esme drops her off at dance class. Then she comes back to the house for Edward and me, so that we could all help Sylvie decorate the house for the party. Of course, I have to remember that she is Mrs. Bouchard to me.
I am happy that Esme was able to arrange for Edward and me to also come. I never had a party like this when I was a child because it would start out as one of my mother's projects. But like so many of her projects, it would become so elaborately planned that she could never pull it off. And this is the kind of party that I had never dreamed that my daughter would have. On two scores, it is a dream come true.
Luckily, Sylvie isn't one of those parents who goes completely overboard with decorations. The table is tastefully decorated in pink and white for the ten little girls. After lunch, she has a couple of craft activities planned and a couple of games.
Then they will sing happy birthday, have the cake, and open the presents. I am impressed with her attention to detail and take notes for the party that I hope that we can have for her next year.
It is one of those times when I am enjoying being the shy one. Needless to say, Sylvie zooms in on me as the one she wants to converse with. Edward and Esme cover for me, but I know that she is still curious. I suppose that Renesmee gave out the cover story and now she feels sorry for me. But she is also known as one of the biggest gossips in town.
The dance class is over at noon, and before Sylvie goes out to pick them up, six of the other girls have arrived. I note with interest that Terah comes in with a tall, handsome First Nations man who has a look of profound sadness about him. He looks like kind of man who is still grieving for his dead wife.
Then two more girls arrive, Emma and Becca, who are bursting with some secret or another.
"Oh, Mrs. Cullen!" cries one of them. "I can't wait for Renesmee to get here so that she can tell you her marvelous news."
But she doesn't say anything else, because she has run into the little "pack" of girls who are giggling and whispering together. Edward has a broad grin on his face.
"I don't suppose that you are going to tell us what that was all about?" I ask.
"No way!" he says. "Two of you should be able to show genuine surprise anyway."
Then, we hear the car pulling up in the driveway. Everyone hides and we wait for the door to open.
"So Renesmee," says Sylvie loudly. "Are you ready for some lunch?"
That's the signal, we all jump out and yell, "Surprise!"
When I look at my daughter's face, the expression is first stunned and then amazed. Her eyes are huge and she looks absolutely thrilled. It is a look that I will remember for the rest of my existence.