The day had been normal, for the most part, anyway.
That is until we reached lunch.
To think this entire thing started because I had worn my favorite, authentic black Star Wars cold-shoulder t-shirt, and my hair in mini space buns. Wearing my favorite washed out jeans, and black leather ankle booties.
Authentic, why? Because I made it myself. From buying the cotton fabric, to sewing the shirt together, to drawing of episode IV cover, to painting it, to the writing in white on the back.
I had a skill when it came to seeing, or making things...well certain things.
Wearing the shirt isn't what set her off, of course.
What really set her off is, the fact, I wasn't wearing contacts but my thick framed glasses today, which according to her are 'totally not fashionable', to which I rolled my eyes in response, it's not like I asked to have astigmatism, not that she cares.
"I don't understand why you are so into these stupid movies. They are so dumb." Alice scoffs.
"What are you talking about? They are awesome! Don't knock it 'til you've tried it." I scoff, taking a bite of my delicious burger.
She had been going on and on about how Star Wars is so dumb, and boring.
To my amusement, she had become especially agitated when I simply said, "Do not you know what missing you are." Before continuing to munch happily on my tater tots.
"That's the thing, Bella, I have tried watching those damn movies with my dorky older brother, I didn't make it past the first fifteen minutes before I was asleep." She reveals, scowling at me.
I roll eyes at her comment, since we're all the same age, and she is six months younger than him.
How? You may ask. They are adopted. Their parents, Carlisle and Esme Cullen, were unable to have children after a freak accident while on their honeymoon ...they decided to adopt. First Edward Anthony Masen from Chicago, Illinois and shortly after a Mary Alice Brandon from Biloxi, Mississippi, but that's a story for a different time, and place, let's get back to the now.
"Damn it, Bella! Why do you even like that crap? What is so cool about it?" She finally asks after I ignored her ranting for a whole fifteen minutes.
"Which one did you see?" I asked, after swallowing a piece of the smothered mayo and ketchup dipped burger and partially-chewed tater tots I had in my mouth.
"Episode I, well part of Episode I, anyway." She says scowling, down at her salad.
"You missed the best part of the movie if you only saw part of it. You should watch Episode II, the little boy you saw in the first movie? Turns into a big hunk." I say, smirking at her annoyance.
Oh yes, I remember the first time I saw the movie, and Hayden Christensan. He had starred in all my fantasies since. Naughty Naughty but not too much.
"I don't understand any of it." Rose says, pouting as she crushes some crackers and drops them onto her salad, smothering it all under the dressing before closing the container to shake it.
I roll my eyes at them again, "Why the sudden interest in becoming a Warsie?" I ask, looking at her, lazily.
"W-well...you see…" she trails off as she looks up, a goofy expression appearing on her face as she does.
"Oh, for fuck's sake! She is interested in one of your little friends from that club of doofuses you belong to." Rose says, blushing as she watched the trio that passed before our table.
"Insult my friends you do not." I reply, calmly.
"Bitch, if you don't speak right, I swear— !" Rose said, moving to hit me.
"Woah! Easy there." Alice's brother, Edward, says, suddenly appearing between me and Rose along with a few of our other friends.
"Move out of the way, pizza face." Rose growls at him, only to be stopped by someone else.
Pizza face? Is in fact named Edward. He stands at an admiring height of six foot one. It is comical, if you compare it to my five foot one and a half. Another thing I should mention is that he doesn't have acne, just a few breakouts here and there.
The fact that he is tall, and well built but not overly so, makes him a target for Miss. Priss, Rosalie Hale.
"Rose, cool it." I say, rolling my eyes at her, as I finish my food. "Ed, what's crackin', ma boy?" I say, turning to him.
"There is a marathon this weekend on TNT. I thought you might want to come over and watch it with us." He says, as he moves the top bun of the burger off, and starts preparing his burger.
I can't help it as I watch his long fingers, mesmerized. "Oh, uh...sure. At what time does it start? and who does 'us' entail?" I ask, clearing my throat.
"Nine in the morning. Well, originally, Ben , Eric, Em, Jazz, Ang, Margot and I were in but Ben and Ang bowed out, as did Eric and Margot so now it'll just be Jazz, Em and me..." He says, as he smashed the top bun and the burger together and slowly begins to eat it with enthusiasm.
"Cool, I'll tell my parents and head over as soon as I can. Tomorrow morning, right?" I ask, shaking my head to clear it.
He nods in response, as he bites into his burger again, leaving a bit of ketchup on the corner of his lips.
I find the way his throat moves as he swallows incredibly hypnotic, and it takes me a few moments to snap out of it. When I do, I flush and look back down at my half-eaten, abandoned lunch.
The rest of the day passes by without incident, that is, of course, until I am on my way home after a brief visit to the library for some research for a report I had to do for one of my sociology class; when my decrepit, rusty old truck begins smoking and sputtering, forcing me to have to pull onto the shoulder of the road.
"Not now, baby… please, not now." I beg, as I turn the truck comes to a stop.
Old Bessy has been with me since I was fifteen. That's three years of ups and downs with this old rust bucket.
I remembered the work that went into her. I had to learn the basics of mechanics just to keep her going. I can feel my shoulders sag in disappointment as I lift her hood up, and assess the possible damage. Unfortunately due to the thick, hot, white smoke coming from the manifold, I can't see a thing.
I'm hunched over the hood trying to figure out what is actually wrong with my baby when I suddenly hear the honking of another car's horn.
The noise causes me to jump up in surprise, and bang the side of my head on the hood.
"Oh, fuck!" I complain, as I failed the attempt to straighten myself, only to realize that one of my buns is caught on something on the inside of the hood."Ow! Ooh, damn it! Not again…" I muttered, albeit a bit feebly.
With the jumbled motion, my left bun is now a tangled loose pigtail. Well, part of it, the rest is now stuck on the hood of Bessy.
"Hang on, don't struggle, you'll only make it worse." A familiar masculine voice spoke from behind me.
Edward? What was he doing here? Oh my goodness, this couldn't get more embarrassing. Or would Murphy's Law strike again?
It takes a few minutes for him to pull the locks of my hair from the bulbous hood.
When I am free, I slowly move away from my hood.
"Thank you... for that…" I mutter, flushing from embarrassment.
"It's no problem…" he replied, shoving his long fingers into the pocket of his pants..
"So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow morning…" I mutter flushing tomato red as he stares down at me.
"Oh, uh, yeah… do you want me to give you a ride somewhere? It looks like it'll rain soon…" he says, while looking up at the darkened sky.
"If you don't mind? My parents should be home by now but I..forgot my cell phone at home…" I mumbled, as Old Bessy gave its last splutter and then nothing.
My heart gives a painful squeeze as I realize that Old Bessy is no more.
"I have mine if you want to use it...it's in my car." He says, disappearing for a moment.
I nod, saddened by the death of Old Bessy and look at her as her smoked simmered down.
"Thank you, for stopping...and helping me." I muttered as he hands me the phone.
Quickly dialing the phone number, I press the green key and bring it up to my ear, listening as it rings.
"Hell-oooh...Swan Residence?" My mother chirps happily into the phone.
"Hey, mom?"
"Bella? Where are you? It's four-thirty already, is something wrong? What's wrong, bug?" She asks, suddenly frantic.
Oh jeez…she's in a mood again.
"Mom, Mom? Hey, mom?! Calm down. I stopped at the library after school, though, that's not why I am late. The truck's engine is dead. I got stranded here for an hour before a friend of mine, who happened to be driving by, saw me and stopped to check if I was alright." I explained, calmly, though I was feeling anything but.
"Damn it, Charlie! I knew that damn truck would end up leaving you stranded one day! Damn you, William Black! He should have just gotten rid of the stupid thing! Hell! he could have even driven it off the cliff for all I care! Watch when your father gets home!" She growled into the phone.
"Hey, Mom? Mom? Momma? Yo, Ma! Hey, the truck is dead. It's raining, are you coming or should I get a ride home?" I ask, impatiently as I wrapped my arm around myself to prevent the shiver that wracked my body as the icy wind bit at my exposed skin.
"Oh I'm sorry, sweetie, but your father has my car. He had to go to the convenience store for a few things I needed for dinner…which I now realize I should have just gone to get myself... Would you mind getting a ride?" She asked as something fell in the background and she began swearing again.
"Sure thing. See you in a few minutes then." I muttered, hanging up.
I quickly looked towards Edward and handed him the phone.
"I take it your mother isn't happy that your beast is dead?" He asks, a small smile.
"She is angry that my dad got me this thing in the first place, instead of a used car from the dealership down in Port Angeles, like she suggested." I say, rolling my eyes, as I stomped towards the cabin and snatched my things off of the seat.
It got awkward on the ride to my house. We tried talking but it kept going quiet.
When it finally did end, I sighed in relief. "Thank you for the ride home, I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"See you then, Bell." He says, smiling at me before driving away.
I winced at the thought of listening to the arguing I knew was occuring on the other side of the door.
I spent the rest of my night locked up in my room, blasting music as my parents sat in the living room staring at the TV aimlessly.
I was tired of listening to their bickering. My father informed me that my abandoned truck was towed, he saw it on his way home from the store.
I wasn't interested in hearing his apologies over spilled milk, Bessy's impending doom was a long time coming. She was old, what else was expected? The fact that he wanted to take the truck to Billy's creepy, overbearing son to look at, made me roll my eyes in response and scoff a 'Do whatever you want…' in response.
Which made my mom laugh, and say I could use her small Zion xB instead.
The next morning, I woke up extra early, grabbed my tote bag, filled it with a change since I knew this marathon was a weekend thing, grabbed my backpack before heading out the door, kissing my mom goodbye before I walked out.
I silently drove to the Cullens' house, hoping to God that I could peacefully enjoy the marathon without any interruptions…