Chapter 3
I will never understand morning people. Like how the fuck you do that bro? Quite frankly, if you naturally wake up before the sun rises, there is 1000% something wrong with you. So when Bella bangs on my door at 6:45am to tell me I have to get up, I legitimately question if she is human.
I rub at my eyes as I roll out of bed. Last night, after a brief nap, I started watching the TV show Outlander, and well I ended up not going to bed until 4am. Today was gonna be a bitch.
I crawl up the stairs and into the shower, hoping to wake up a bit.
"Beth," Bella's voice sounds from the hall, "you don't have time to shower! We have to leave in thirty minutes!"
"Don't stress Bells," I call back, "this is gonna be the quickest shower ever, you'll see."
She huffs and stomps away. She's been in a strange mood since school ended yesterday. I add figuring out what's up with Bells to my agenda.
Forty minutes later, I am out the door and in the car with slightly damp hair. Throughout the drive Bella is mumbling under her breath and casting annoyed glances at me. Honestly we go through the same routine nearly everyday. I walk up late and she loses her shit. It's a fun game.
The closer we get to Forks the more anxious she becomes. "You good Bells?" I ask, casting her a worried glance.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she answers while pulling into a parking spot.
"Bella I am not an idiot, I can tell when there is something wrong with you."
She huffs as the bell rings and students start to walk to class. "Can we please talk about this later?"
"Fine," I sigh, "but we will be talking about it."
###
It turns out that math class might soon become one of my favorite classes this semester. It has nothing to do with the teacher or the material and all to do with Soph and the boys in my group.
"Bro the new Star Wars ain't got nothing on the originals," Henry cried passionately.
"Nah man you don't understand, the new characters are so complex, and the stakes are higher! Plus the CGI is better, honestly the movies have just improved so much" Michael responded.
"Michael, I will actually kill you," Henry deadpanned.
"Not if I kill you first!" He chimed before pretending to launch himself at Henry.
I laughed and turned to Soph. She leans in to whisper in my ear, "I wish they would actually fight, it would probably be pathetic and hilarious. I mean look at them, they are both noodles!"
I laughed again. Forks is getting better and better.
###
I stared out the window waiting for World History to start. What could be bothering Bella? I hadn't been paying much attention to her at school yesterday, but I could vaguely recall seeing her sitting with a large group at lunch. So it wasn't like she wasn't making any friends. As I puzzled over what could be wrong with her, I failed to notice the guy approaching my desk until he was standing over me. He holds out a blue pencil to me.
"I think this is yours," he says.
Imma be honest, it took me a second to remember the pencil boy-I think Kate said his name was Mason? I responded after a brief delay, "Oh yeah it is, thanks for returning it."
"No problem, hun, I'm Mason by the way. I'm on the football team," He perches himself on the edge of my desk.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Beth, but I'm sure you already know that. Football is cool, is the team any good?"
"We are amazing, trust me. Do you know anything about football-most girls don't," he smirks at me.
Damn this dude was a lil' cocky. "Yeah, I was actually a cheerleader at my old school, so I know a bit."
"That's good to know, our season is over unfortunately so you won't get to see us play."
"How terribly tragic," I struggle not to laugh. I know about football but I don't care about football.
The bell rang then, and Mason made his way back to his seat with a wink. We were watching the Gandhi movie in class, so I was able to keep thinking about Bella. She always talks to me-always tells me when something is on her mind. We have a very open relationship, and it's always been us against the world. So why didn't she tell me what was wrong outright? Did I do something? I take a quick look back at my recent behavior, and I have been a freakin' angel compared to how I normally act. So I am really drawing a blank on what reason she has to cut me out.
Maybe I am overreacting. It has only been less than twenty-four hours. The real test will be how she acts after school today. If she continues to not talk to me, then I'll know something is really wrong.
As soon as the bell rings, Mason is back at my desk, offering to walk me to my next class, "What do you have now?"
"Oh I have Earth Science," I replied.
"I know where that is," he responds and starts walking in the direction of the class.
So do I, I think. It's obvious he is trying really hard. Maybe he doesn't know how to flirt? We are only sophomores and finessing the flirt takes practice. I shouldn't be so critical.
"So I was thinking," he starts and darts a glance down at me, "we should go on a date sometime."
"I don't even know you," I try to keep my shock out of my voice.
"Well dates are how you get to know someone."
I spot Jack walking past us. It's clear he heard Mason, and he seems to be trying and failing to contain his laugh.
"So, how about it?" he asks when I don't respond.
I turn back to him, "How about what?"
"A date," he gives me a look like I'm dumb.
"Well you never asked me if I wanted to go on a date with you," I point out.
"Yes I did."
"No, you said 'we should go on a date' that's not a question."
He stops in the middle of the hallway and spins to face me, "Beth, will you go on a date with me?"
I take a moment to think. This is only my second day at Forks High, do I really want to accept the first offer I get? But a date isn't a contract or a big agreement, it could just be one date and we never go on a second. What's the harm in a casual date? Jack's laughter flashes through my head. Was he laughing at me or Mason? I am not sure why but that helps propel me to my decision. "Why not," I finally say.
"Great!" He smiles and then walks off in the opposite direction.
Furrowing my brow, I continue along my path. "Guess he didn't want to walk me to class after all," I mumbled.
###
"OMG Beth! I heard you are going on a date with Mason," Caroline shouts as soon as I sit down at the cafeteria table.
"How did you hear that already?!"
"It's a small school," she shrugs.
"I know I made a lot of jokes about guys asking you out quickly," Soph says as she grabs her juice, "but I honestly am shocked by how fast that happened. You think they would wait a bit to get to know you."
"He probably was scared someone else would snatch you up if he waited," Katie chimed.
"So Beth," Caroline turns back to me, "do you like Mason now?"
I sigh and pick at my food, "Like I said yesterday, I don't even know him. We will see how this date goes. No guarantee there will be a second though. Honestly I'm not sure he is my type. He seems super standoffish, but I just thought like why not, give him a chance you know?"
"I get that," Katie says.
The girls continue to talk about boys while I look around the cafeteria to find Bella. I locate her at a table in the center. She is staring at the table in the corner with a strange look on her face. I follow her line of sight and see four pale ass kids. There is one that kinda looks like a pixie, a supermodel, somebody who looks constipated, and a big dude-oh wait that's Emmett! Seeing all four of them together, I got a strange vibe. They looked so similar but different. They were all pale, and they looked like they had perfect contour on, but I doubt they were wearing makeup. They all were staring off in different directions so I couldn't see their eyes that well, but I could've sworn their eyes were the same caramel colour. Very strange vibes.
I tap Caroline on the shoulder and ask her about them, because she knows all the gossip at school.
"Oh those are the Cullens. They transferred here a couple years ago and everyone freaked out."
"Why would people freak out?"
"Look at them Beth! They are perfect and beautiful but they don't interact with anyone but their family. And," she leaned in closer to me, as if they could overhear her from all the way across the room, "they are all together."
"Together? But they're related!" I gasped in shock. I didn't know Forks was one of those states.
"Okay well they aren't technically related," she concedes, "Dr. Cullen and his wife adopted all of them, the only ones that are actually related are Rosalie and Jasper. They are the blondes. The little one is Alice, and the big one is-"
"Emmett," I cut her off, "he is in my Spanish class. He seems really nice."
"OMG you talked to one?!"
"Yeah."
"That's insane. They haven't been rude to anyone but they never talk to anyone unless talked to first, and even then they don't say much. They are all super smart too, they never pay attention in class and they all get perfect scores on every assignment. The only one missing today is Edward, which is a little strange, they are usually all here or they are all gone. Edward is also the only one who isn't in a relationship. So many girls have tried but he has rejected all of them," Caroline leans back in her seat when she is finished.
"I wish Dr. Cullen would adopt me," Katie stared longingly at the Cullens.
"You want to be a part of the orphan sex cult?" Soph asks.
I choke on my water, "What did you just call them?!"
"An orphan sex cult." she responds plainly, like she hadn't just said a group of kids at our school were part of a sex cult, "I mean think about it. They are all orphans and they all definitely have sex with each other. Look at them. They all look like sex gods."
As a group we turn to the Cullen table. Sex gods is a fairly accurate description of them.
"Hey, Jailbait!"
Speaking of sex gods, I turn to see Jack pulling up a seat next to me.
"Whatcha doing this Saturday," he asks as he grabs a french fry from my tray.
I snatch back the fry as I respond, "Nothing, why?"
"There is going to be a bonfire at La Push beach, you and your friends should come."
I see Caroline's jaw drop in the corner of my eye. "Sounds fun, I'll let you know if we want to go."
"Here let me give you my number, you can just text me," I hand him my phone and he enters his number, "let me know if you need a ride or anything."
"Got it!" I send him a quick text so he has my number as well, and try to hide my smile. Cute senior boy invited me to a party, ahh!
"Oh and Beth?" he asks as he stands up.
"What?"
"Mason isn't invited," he winks and leaves.
Laughing as I turn back to my friends, all their faces show their excitement.
"Wow," Katie sighs, "this is amazing."
"Why? It's just a party."
"Beth, basically no sophomores are invited to the senior parties. Well, he only invited us to get you to go, but still we got invited," Caroline giggles excitedly.
"I normally get invited, but this is big for them," Soph states, "we can all get ready at my house, and then I'll drive us there.
"This is going to be amazing!" Caroline cheers.
###
After school Bella and I went to the grocery store. She had decided to take up the role of chief at this house as well which was fine by me; I burned everything I tried to cook. During our shopping trip I updated her about my day. Telling her about my upcoming date with Mason, even though we hadn't chosen a day or made a plan yet. I also told her about the bonfire-I elected to keep the party aspect of it to myself, and just told her that I was going there with a group of friends. Bella, at times, was like the strict parent I never had. I worried she would get upset at my party habits.
I tried to ask her about her strange mood again, and she deflected my questions. Saying that she was just tired. That wasn't it. I could tell she was keeping the real reason under wraps and it was driving me crazy. I know that I wasn't telling her the whole truth about my life, but whatever, it's entirely different, I don't like to be kept in the dark.
I had almost given up hope of figuring out what was wrong with her, until she brought up the Cullens at dinner.
"Do you know the Cullen Family?" she asked our dad.
"Orphan sex cult," I gasped around my mouthful of food without thinking. Ever since lunch that had been playing in my head. Spanish had been a little awkward that day because of it.
"What did you say, Beth?" Charlie questioned in confusion.
I swallowed my food, "Nothing, nevermind."
"Anyway," he gave me a weird look, "I know Dr. Cullen's family. Dr. Cullen is a great man."
"They...the kids...are a little different. They don't seem to fit in very well at school," Bella said shyly.
Orphan sex cult, I thought gleefully. Honestly it's ironic that Bella is saying that about the Cullens. She never really fits in at school either, she would probably be perfect in their little clique. Actually I take that back, my older sister does not belong in a sex cult. That girl has never shown an interest in a boy before, she isn't sex cult material.
Unfortunately, Bella's jab at the Cullens launches Charlie into an angry tirade about the Cullens' magnificentness. Immediately after his rant, Bella backpedaled on her criticism of the Cullens. She looks down and fidgets with her food. Her weird behaviour about the Cullens is curious.
After we clean up, I follow her up the stairs to her room. "So what's your deal with the Cullens?"
"What? I don't...I'm not...I have no problems with the Cullens," she looks flustered.
"Sure you don't Bella," I roll my eyes, "you can't lie to me Bells, I can tell when you do."
"I just don't want to talk about it, Beth," she snaps before storming into her room and slamming the door.
"Well okay then."
I make my way to my room and flop onto my bed. I should probably do my homework and then go straight to bed seeing as I didn't sleep much last night, but where is the fun in that? I pull out my phone and go to Netflix. Just one episode of Outlander and then I'll do some homework.
Let's just say there was more than one episode watched.
Before I fall asleep, I once again find myself thinking about Bella's behavior. I'm not sure how, but the Cullens have something to do with it. I know I should probably let it go, because it's obvious she doesn't want to talk about it with me, but I just can't. That's not in my nature.
I don't let things go. Ever.