Yes! Another update this week! I am currently working on chapter thirty right now, and I am dying for you guys to know what happens! This has to be my favorite story I've ever written, I'm having so much fun writing it! And I said that if it snowed today, it was a sign for me to update. Welp, it snowed! I hope you guys enjoy this new chapter!
Chapter Twenty-Three
I smoothed my skirt down as I walked into the large building. I was meeting with Carlisle's friend today to go over the scholarship details. I had baked a batch of delicious brownies, but now that I was walking in with them, I realized that maybe that wasn't the best move. Would he be impressed? Or would he think it was ridiculous.
"Hi," I said to the receptionist, "I'm here to meet with Mr. Newton. I have an appointment at ten."
"Of course," The receptionist said, "He's back there. Just go on in. I'll let him know you're here."
She pointed me to a set of doors. I smiled at her and tentatively knocked before walking through the doors.
It was a big office with huge windows. An older man was sitting behind a large desk in front of the window. He was preoccupied with the paperwork in front of him.
I stepped closer to his desk, "Hello, I'm Isabella Swan."
"Nice to meet you," He said, then looked up from his paperwork. He seemed a bit shocked at first, then looked me up and down that made me want to squirm.
He stood up and extended his hand, "Pleased to meet you. I'm Mr. Newton, but you can go ahead and call me Mike, honey."
I didn't like that he had called me honey. It made me feel like he was talking down to me.
"Please sit," he said, "The chairs are very comfortable, so just make yourself at home."
"Thank you," I said, "I made these for you, as a thanks for seeing me on such short notice."
He took the brownie box and smiled, "You are such a doll, thank you so much. I'm a sucker for sweet things," He winked. I forced a giggle, even though I wanted to retch.
We sat down in the chairs. I pulled my skirt down as I crossed my legs. His eyes kept glancing down at my bare legs.
"So, Carlisle told me that you're a business owner?" He said.
"Yes, I started my own bakery. It's been pretty successful this far." I said.
"Oh how sweet," he said, "There's a bakery right down the street from this building. It's decent. But I swear women make the best cooks. Men just don't even compare." He said.
I knew his statement was meant to be a compliment, but there was just an underlying insult that irked me.
"Yeah, well, I was hoping that maybe I could qualify for the scholarship your company offers? I want to go to Columbia."
"Oh really?" He said, "I went to Columbia. It's a hard school. Have you been accepted yet?"
"I talked to an advisor and all my paperwork is being looked over. He's ninety-five percent sure I'll be accepted. I graduated with a 3.9 GPA." I said, "But it helps that I volunteered a lot when I was in high school."
"3.9 that's pretty good," He said, "What degree are you trying to get?"
"I want a business degree to help me run my business." I said, "I just worry about getting into trouble and not knowing what to do. I think a business degree would help me out."
He nodded, "It would. But you know, you could hire a financial advisor. That's what I do. I help business owners with their businesses. I would be more than happy to help you."
I forced a smile, "That's very kind of you. But I really do want to earn a degree and be able to handle this stuff on my own."
"Understandable. But you can come to me if you need anything at all." He said.
I shifted uncomfortably in the seat, "Um, so what are the requirements for your scholarship?"
"Well, you have to be accepted into a reputable college. Which Columbia is. And in order to keep your scholarship, you have to pass all of your classes with a B+ or better. You have to maintain a 3.8 GPA. And you have to take a minimum of 4 classes a semester." He said, "It can be rather difficult. You have to maintain it throughout your entire college career. A lot of people lose it because they have difficulty maintaining it."
"I think I'll be able to manage it," I said.
"Are you sure? You have a business to run too. Do you think you could juggle school and your business?" He asked.
I nodded, "I'll be taking online classes. I can dedicate the time to school. And I can run my business."
He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his chin. I could feel that I wasn't going to be able to convince him.
"I know that it seems so crazy that I'm trying to run a business and go to school. But I'm a hard worker, and when I put my mind to something, I'm going to get it done. I really need this scholarship to help me with school. I know I'm asking for a lot, but I really want you to just give me a chance." I begged.
He thought about it for a moment, "How badly do you need it?"
He moved his legs so they opened slightly, but I could see his pants tenting furiously. I bit the inside of my cheek. I wanted to slap him for being so gross. I didn't think people actually did this.
I shook my head, "Not that badly." I snapped as I got to my feet.
"Hey, hey no need to get upset," He said quickly, grabbing my arm, "I just want to talk about it. It's a lot of money I'm investing, and I need to see that my investment is well placed. There are several other better qualified candidates. What can you do that they can't?"
I pulled my arm from his hand, "I'm not fucking you just so you can give me money. That's so disgusting. You should be ashamed of yourself."
I turned and started walking to the door.
"Honey, I can guarantee you that anyone else you talk to, is going to require you to give them some sort of payment in return. You're a pretty girl. Use what you got to get what you want." He said, "And I can give you a lot of money. You wouldn't have to worry about college. Hell, you wouldn't have to worry about anything."
"I would never ever sell myself for anything. Especially not to you."
"Well, good luck trying to find someone willing to give you as much money as me, sweetie."
I walked out of his office, keeping my head as high as I could. I felt disgusted. How could someone like that be in charge of anything.
Tears had formed in my eyes. I couldn't believe this. That was the biggest scholarship I had been applying for. With the money I could've gotten, I wouldn't have had to pay so much out of pocket.
I thought the worst thing that could happen would be him saying no. I could've gotten over that. I would've been a little upset. But what happened in there was disgusting. I think I was sort of in shock. Nothing like that has ever happened to me.
My phone started ringing loudly when I got back to the truck. I looked down to see Edward's name pop up on the screen. I squeezed my eyes shut; he said he was going to call me to see how the meeting went.
I tried to swallow back my tears, so he didn't know I was upset. I sucked in a deep breath and answered the phone.
"Hello?" I said.
"Hey, honey," The cute little nickname that I adored had now turned sour. I couldn't stop the tears from falling after that.
"What's wrong?" he asked, after I was quiet for a few moments.
"Nothing," I lied quickly.
"You're lying," he said, "What's wrong? What happened?"
I wiped the tears away, "It's nothing. It's not a big deal."
"It's big enough to upset you," he said, "That's a big deal to me. Did something happen in the meeting?"
I balled my fists, "Look, I'm only telling you because I think Carlisle deserves to know that he's friends with a complete asshole!" I snapped.
"What did he say to you?" Edward demanded.
"He was a pervert! He talked down to me, he basically said that he would give me the scholarship if I did stuff with him. Or at least that's what he eluded too! He opened his legs, and he had a raging boner when we were talking. It was disgusting! And humiliating!" I shuddered as I retold the events of the meeting.
"Where are you?" He asked after a minute of absorbing the information.
"I'm still in the parking lot," I said.
"My sister and my mother are having lunch close by. I'll give them a call and you can meet up with them."
"No, I'm fine. I just want to go home." I said.
"They're at Dion's. It's about nine blocks away. Big restaurant. You can't miss it." He said.
"Edward, I'm fine," I huffed, "And I don't need you going in there defending me. That makes me seem so weak."
"Bella, what he did was absolutely not okay. He crossed a line. A big one. He could go to jail for trying to solicit sex from you in return for money. I'm going to speak with my father and let him know about his friend." He sneered the word.
I sighed, "You swear you're not going in there and make a fuss?"
"I won't. But I can't stop my father. He's going to be pissed," He said, "And it shouldn't happen to anyone else."
The last part got me. He was right. I didn't want anyone else to be subjected to his perverted ways. Who knows, the next person might be in a real bind and would have no choice. That's not fair.
"Okay." I said.
"Good," He paused for a moment, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm just really irritated, and I feel gross," I sighed, "I should've walked out the minute he called me honey in a professional setting. It sounds harmless, but—,"
"But it's degrading," he finished, "It sounds innocent enough, but in reality, he was talking down to you. And men only ever do it to women, which is especially insulting in a professional setting. I'm sorry that happened to you Bella."
"It's fine," I sighed, "I guess I'm not getting that scholarship." I weakly chuckled.
"Don't worry about it," he said, "I texted my mom. They're already seated but they're waiting for you."
I sighed internally, "Okay. Just tell them I'll be there soon."
I couldn't turn down Esme and Alice. If they were waiting for me then I needed to go. And I could use a little lunch. I had shut down the bakery and given Riley and Maggie the day off, I might as well enjoy my day.
I found the restaurant easily enough. It was huge and literally right down the road. It didn't look as fancy as Obsidian, but I was glad I had nicer clothes on.
When I walked in, Esme was the one to spot me. She waved me over to their table.
"Bella," She said as she hugged me, "How are you honey?"
"I'm good, it's nice to see you." I said.
"Hey Bella," Alice said, also grabbing me in a tight hug, "I'm glad you could join us for lunch. Hopefully, we're not too boring."
"No it's fine," I said as I sat down, "I wasn't too far from here."
"Well, I'm glad you came," Esme said.
"How's Rosalie doing?" I asked.
Esme sighed, "She's home now, but she's isolating herself. She does this every time she miscarries. Shuts down, doesn't talk to anyone. I wish I could help her, but she won't talk to me about it."
"That's understandable. I think I'd shut down too," I said; not that I've ever been pregnant, but I could imagine it was absolutely horrible.
"I don't want to talk about this today," Alice said, "I'm really glad you came Bella. You can take Rosalie's place for the time being. We're going over some wedding details."
I nodded, "I don't know too much about wedding planning, but I guess I could help."
The waiter walked over and took our drink orders. When he brought our drinks out, he also brought out a huge salad bowl for us to scoop out our own salads.
"So, it's officially the wedding countdown," Alice said as she scooped out her salad, "Everything is ready! I'm so excited!"
"It's going to be so wonderful," Esme said, "Just some minor details we need to work out."
"Like what?"
"Well," Alice said, "We're not doing traditional bachelor/bachelorette parties in our family. We have a pre-wedding party the night before. Edward has a few places that we can reserve, but I'm not sure."
"Bella, you should come to the pre-wedding party as a guest," Esme said, "Not as staff. I feel somewhat bad that you'll be at the wedding working."
I waved my hand dismissively, "It's okay. I'm really excited to do it. I'm getting stuff ready for it now. It's going to be great."
"I don't doubt it," Alice said, "I'm so excited. My wedding is going to be the most talked about party this year!" Alice pulled a large binder out, "These are all my details. Our reception is in the observatory room at Aspire. It's really high, it overlooks the entire city. I really hope it snows!"
"So, where is your ceremony?" I asked.
"At the big church on Maiden Lane. It's Roman Catholic church," She said, "Family tradition. Every Cullen has to get married in the Roman Catholic church."
"We value our traditions," Esme added very seriously.
"Bella, do you think you'd be able to come to the ceremony? As a guest? Will you have the time?"
"I don't think so. While you're at the ceremony, I'll be putting the finishing touches on the dessert bar and the cake."
"That reminds me, I haven't seen your cake." Esme said.
"It's beautiful mom," Alice said, "Bella is an absolute genius. The design alone is going to drop jaws."
"And hopefully they'll love the taste," I added.
"I'm sure they will," Esme said, "Your desserts are phenomenal."
"Thank you," I smiled.
I was glad I came to lunch. It really took my mind off of everything that had happened. And talking with them was really nice. They welcomed me and talked with me as if I were one of them.
Creepy perverts. An unfortunately very common occurrence. What do y'all think Edward's going to do? Let me know in a review! I love your opinions and your theories! I will still be posting Sunday!
