** Okay these Bella chapters will not be the norm, but I think you'll be happy I included it. There is no "Jasper drawing" to go with this chapter since it's not from his POV, but feel free to join the facebook group I created dedicated to sharing all the little extras! Just search "superlunar" in the facebook search bar to find it, or send me a PM for the link, it won't let me post it here. **
Chapter 5. Bella POV.
I climbed into my truck, still in a daze. What the hell had happened today? I looked around to make sure no one was close by, and pulled out the drawing that Jasper had given me. I couldn't put my finger on why I was so drawn to it, or to him for that matter. I thought back to our first encounter, and was brought back to reality with a sharp twinge of pain. My body was stiff and sore, it felt like I'd been hit by a bus. I sunk into the seat and groaned when I remembered I still had to head to the grocery store before going home. All I really wanted to do was crawl into bed with some ibuprofen. Maybe I should just tell Charlie I got knocked over in gym class. It wasn't that far from the truth, and I was sure he'd be understanding if I didn't want to cook tonight. On the other hand, I was scared to leave dinner in his hands, and I was starving. I hadn't ate much during lunch today. Also, I didn't really want to tell him about my injury if I didn't have to.
The pouring rain made the task seem all the more daunting. I carefully placed the drawing back into a notebook where it wouldn't get crumpled, and put it back in my book bag before starting my truck. The engine roared to life and I headed to the Thriftway. It took me longer than it should have to get all the items on my list. My shoulder was killing me, and on top of that I kept zoning out, thinking about how strange the day had been. I had to keep referencing my list. I was having a hard time remembering what I was looking for. It didn't help that anytime I closed my eyes, all I could see was a pair of golden eyes staring back at me, looking through my soul. No one had ever looked at me like that before, and I had never wanted anyone to look at me like that before.
I had been just going through the motions while paying for my groceries and driving home. When I pulled into the driveway I blinked a few times, barely recalling how I got there. The thudding of the rain on the windshield was getting more aggressive, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to grab everything in one trip and be able to hold up my umbrella, so I opted just to leave it. I turned the ignition off and sighed before slinging my book-bag over my good shoulder and getting out to unload the groceries. I couldn't help the curses that escaped my lips as I drug the bags into the house, the pain in my shoulder deepening, and other new pains making themselves known. I decided to go through the back, straight to the kitchen. I was carrying my book bag, 5 full bags of groceries, and struggling with my keys. I lost my grip on one of the bags handles, and a can of green beans fell out, bouncing off of my right thigh before thudding to the ground. Suddenly all the bags were on the ground and a wild scream escaped my throat. Great.
I decided to leave the groceries, and focus on getting in the house. I opened the door and caught my breath, slinging my keys on the table. Maybe I was a little more banged up than I initially wanted to believe. I begrudgingly headed back outside to survey the damage, slowly gathering the spilled groceries, cursing the stupid rain yet again. The only casualty of war turned out to be a carton of eggs, and my dry clothes. The rest of the groceries were kind of banged up, but at least the bags kept most of it out of the mud and everything else was salvageable. I stuffed the groceries where ever I could, it didn't seem like Charlie had much of a method when it came to kitchen organization. I debated what would be the quickest meal I could toss together, and decided the easiest thing, would probably be the steak I bought, and some baked potatoes. I turned on the oven, wrapped the potatoes in foil and tossed them in the oven. Then, I put the steak in a glass dish with some marinade, and set it in the fridge.
Okay, now, it was time to do the thing I'd been dreading all day. My body was already prone to bruising easily, so I was sure that my run in with Jasper was going to look even worse than it felt. I hadn't changed in gym today, knowing it wasn't going to be pretty. I lied and said that I forgot my gym clothes, and since I was new, the coach didn't seem to care. It'd been almost 6 hours so I knew whatever bruises were forming would probably be starting to show up by now. I went upstairs and dropped my book-bag off in my room and grabbed some sweats, deciding a hot shower sounded nice. I was already soaked from the rain, and I hoped the hot water would help dull the pain that was settling in. I looked at my computer before making my way to the bathroom, making a mental note that I needed to check my email when I got out, I probably had a few from my mom.
I went in the bathroom and locked the door, taking a deep breath. I closed the toilet, set my clothes down on the lid, and slung my towel over the shower rail before starting the shower. The pipes creaked and groaned as the water rushed to the shower head, sputtering a few times before settling in to a steady spray. I stood in front of the mirror and peeled off my wet shirt, now feeling the bruises on my ribs as I pulled it over my head. I couldn't help but gasp when I saw the deep blue and purple splotches staining the whole right side of my body. I knew it was going to be bad, but I wasn't expecting this. It looked like I had been in a car accident. How much did Jasper work out? He must be solid muscle. How the hell was I going to hide this from Charlie? I took a deep breath before pulling down my jeans. I found one massive bruise running from my hip to just past the middle of my thigh.
My breathing picked up, and I felt my heart begin to race, as I swung the medicine cabinet open and grabbed the bottle of pain reliever. I shook one into my hand. My mom always yelled at me for taking anymore than that, something about it "eating your insides away". I paused for a moment before shaking out two more and popping all three into my mouth. I set the bottle on the edge of the sink, and finished getting undressed before carefully stepping into the steaming hot shower. I opened my mouth and let the water spray in so I could swallow my pills. I couldn't really tell if the hot water was helping the pain, because having to lift my shoulder to wash my hair and body was only making it worse. When I was done rinsing off, I cranked up the hot water and stood there for a moment, trying to let it work it's magic. When I felt it slowly start to get colder, I turned it off and got out. I dried off, and grimaced while I pulled my sweats on carefully. The most painful part, was pulling the sweater over my head. It seemed like my shoulder was only getting worse.
I decided I was just too worn out to power up the computer and check my e-mail, so I decided to lay down for a bit until Charlie got home. Before I did, I pulled out the drawing that Jasper gave me and took another look at it. I just couldn't figure out why he would give this to me. Jessica said no one in his family ever spoke to, or interacted, with anyone besides themselves. During gym Jessica had mentioned she'd never seen Jasper so much as crack a smile, or speak more than a few words to anyone in the time he'd been going there, both of which she had seen him do with me. She sounded jealous, though I didn't think she had much to be jealous of. His behavior was normal, and friendly. Though, I did notice that his demeanor was very different than that of his siblings. I hadn't liked the way his brother Edward was looking at me yesterday, it left me on edge. The way his blonde sister was glaring at me today at lunch didn't make me feel any better either, but he seemed different.
I hadn't dared to bring up Jasper's drawing to anyone, but that didn't matter. Jessica saw us walk into lunch together, and she'd had a million questions. She'd started to interrogate me at lunch, but I didn't want anyone else to hear, so I kept avoiding the topic and giving her the big, wide, "shut up" eyes. So, she cornered me during gym. I still didn't really give her much info, at least not anything she was impressed with. All I'd told her, was that he was in a few of my classes. That we sat next to each other, and that he was nice.
I didn't tell her how I stupidly ran into him, and fell, after second period. I had been dreading someone mentioning it all day, but luckily, no one had brought it up. I had hoped it just went unnoticed. I also didn't tell her how he'd offered to walk me to lunch so I didn't fall again, or that I nearly did fall, and he was right there to help me. Lastly, I definitely didn't tell her about the strange energy between us that I couldn't explain, because I was sure that it was all in my head. There's no way someone as perfect as him would ever be interested in someone like me. I sat the drawing on my night stand and laid back on my bed, closing my eyes. The next thing I heard was the smoke alarm, and Charlie yelling.
"Bella? Bella! Oh thank God. Jesus Bells, you scared me half to death! You want to tell me why you were trying to burn the house down?!" Charlie said, as he rushed into my room. He'd grabbed his chest in relief when his eyes landed on me. I sprung out of bed, and instantly regretted it, letting out a yelp of pain and grabbing my shoulder. Shit. Now I was going to have to explain this to Charlie. "Jeez Bells, what the heck happened? Are you okay?!" He said walking over to me, helping me ease back into bed before taking a seat on the edge, awkwardly.
"Dad I'm so sorry, I - uh- got knocked over pretty hard in gym today. It was totally my fault though, I got in the way. I took a couple Ibuprofen when I got home and must've fell asleep. I'm sorry about dinner, and uh - almost burning the place down. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree huh?" I said, attempting to make light of the situation so he wouldn't ask anymore questions. It didn't work.
"What do you mean you got knocked over? Let me see your shoulder! Do we need to go to the doctor?" He said, panicked, waiting for me to let him inspect it.
"Dad, really, I'm fine. It's nothing I'm not used to." I said, pulling away. He straightened up, seeming a little embarrassed. It was odd seeing Charlie so worried and fatherly. I guess he never really got the chance to be, I felt a small pang of guilt at that thought. "I'll go and clean up down there. There's still a steak in the fridge I should wrap up." I said, slowly trying to get back up. He shook his head and motioned for me to sit back down.
"No Bella, you rest, and if you still feel bad in the morning, we're gonna go get it looked at. I'll clean up and order a pizza. Pepperoni and mushroom okay?" He asked, forcing a kind of awkward grin.
"That sounds great, thanks Dad." I said, lying back down. Charlie started to get up when something on my nightstand caught his eye. My stomach tightened and I started to get nervous. Of course, I had been stupid enough to leave the drawing out. I panicked, not wanting to have to stumble through a lie about where it came from.
"Hey, wow!" He said letting out a chuckle and picking up the piece of paper. "Who drew this? It's pretty good, they got your eyes just right Bells." he said impressed, and suddenly, I felt my ears begin to ring.