A/N: Thanks so much for all your wonderful thoughts. Super late posting today. Sorry. Busy day. :)
Most characters belong to S. Meyer. The rest belong to me. All mistakes are mine as well.
Stages Ch. 5 – High School for both of us
High School Stage:
(aka HS Freshman Bella developed a crush, and I handled it just like a high school d*ck)
Bella stood at the edge of the pool, bent slightly at the waist, while her toes jutted slightly over the pool's rim. Party music wafted from the outdoor, blue-tooth system, but I could tell she was focused, and it made me smile. She extended her arms straight above her head, her upper arms hugging her ears, her hands laid flat against one another, with one palm just over the other.
I stood behind her. "Now, remember to bring your left foot back and leave your right foot forward. You lead with your right foot, but you balance your weight on both feet. And tuck in your chin. There you go."
While she pointed her hands toward the water, I placed one of my hands on her stomach and the other on her back, prepping her for her forward motion.
"Ready?"
She shivered in her wet bathing suit and nodded. "Ready!"
"Okay. Push off!"
With a deep breath, Bella pushed off with her right foot and dove into the deep end of the pool, head-first. Her dive only produced a mild splash, but that wasn't surprising. A month shy of fourteen, Bella couldn't have weighed more than a hundred pounds, while wearing her wet, red one-piece swimsuit and all.
What was surprising was how well she dove, keeping her body straight, her legs together, and her toes pointed. She knew she did well too, based on the smug smile she sported when she broke through the water and resurfaced.
"How was that?"
"That was good, Bella Marie, and you know it."
She chuckled impishly as she removed her goggles.
"Now, keep practicing, and I'm pretty sure you'll make it into the swim team."
And offering her a thumbs up, I headed back toward my group.
"Edward, wait, where are you going? You told me to keep practicing."
"Yeah, you need to keep practicing," I said, smiling at her as I re-claimed my pool chair, "not me."
When I turned my attention toward Tanya, my girlfriend, a different sort of smile spread across my face because Tanya looked...hot. She was lying against the pool chair in her pink, two-piece swimsuit, one leg bent at the knee, her blue eyes sparkling, and her smooth skin golden from the bit of sun Forks had managed to produce on that early...and fateful, August afternoon.
"Now can we finish sunbathing? It's not often we have days like this in Forks."
"'Course, Tanya. Hey, do you want another-"
"But I need you to spot me, Edward," Bella called out.
I clamped my mouth shut, mid-sentence, and clenched my jaw. Meanwhile, Tanya watched me and sighed.
"Bella, try a couple of dives on your own."
"I can't. I'm not ready yet."
Expelling a deep sigh of my own, I turned away from Tanya and back to Bella.
"You are ready."
"I'm not."
"Then, get Alice or Jasper to spot you, Bella. They're on the swim team already, and they'll be able to tell you better than me what the coach'll be looking for."
"But you-"
"Bella, I can spot you," Jasper offered.
"Jasper, thanks, but I need someone taller to-"
"Hey, baby sister, how 'bout your big brother spots you for a bit?" Emmett cut in. Offering his girlfriend, Kate, a quick kiss, he jumped up from his chair and strolled quickly toward Bella. "You won't have me around come this time next year, so you better take full advantage of me now, girl!"
"Yeah. Yeah, sure," Bella said before offering her brother a small smile. "Thanks, Em."
While Em spotted Bella, I turned back to Tanya, who was now watching me with a raised brow.
"Little Bella is certainly a demanding thing."
I snorted. "She's just used to having her way with Em and me."
"Mm," Tanya hummed.
A short while later, we sang an early 'happy birthday' to Bella in the backyard - my parents and hers, Emmett, the Denali twins, Alice, Jasper, and a few of Bella's other friends.
"Jesus, fourteen, kid," I said, ruffling her hair. "Now, blow out the candle!"
"Before we do it for you!" Emmett added.
"Yeah, I remember that," Bella smirked. "It was my third birthday, and you two couldn't resist being mean to me."
"I was saving the town from fire," I chuckled, "and there's no way you remember that. You were three."
"I remember, Edward," Bella insisted.
"No way you remember." I chuckled, turning to look at Tanya, who stood next to me. "No way she remembers."
"Mm," Tanya smiled. "No way."
This time, unlike then, when Bella blew hard on the candle, she managed to snuff it at once.
"What did you wish for this year, Bella?" Alice asked.
Bella shrugged. "Something that'll probably never happen," she shrugged, her eyes flashing up to me for a split-second before returning to Alice with a smile, "but I'll wish for it anyway."
"Those are the best birthday wishes," Mrs. Swan said with a gentle smile for her daughter, "the unlikely ones. Then, if it ever comes true, you'll be pleasantly surprised. But if it doesn't, you go on living your life to its fullest – without allowing unfulfilled wishes to hold you back." She wrapped an arm around Bella and kissed her temple. "Happy birthday, honey."
Later, Bella and her friends splashed and shrieked in the pool, while Emmett and Kate disappeared somewhere, probably snuck back to his house for a quick screw while our parents were distracted here in my parents' backyard supervising the kids in the pool. Meanwhile, Tanya and I returned to soaking up some weak, Forks rays. I laid back against the pool chair, resting my head on my hands and smiling as I watched the kids splashing around in the pool. At one point, when Bella looked up at caught me watching them, she smiled and waved me over.
"Edward, come on, let's practice my diving again!"
"Tan, wanna go in the pool?"
"Maybe later," Tanya replied with her eyes closed, face up to the sun.
"Maybe in a bit, Bella Marie, after we catch some sun."
"Okay."
"I never realized you were a diving expert," Tanya said after a few moments.
I shrugged. "I looked up some pointers, just to help her out a bit. She's got the swim team try-outs next week, before school starts, and I don't want her to feel overwhelmed. She's going to have enough on her plate this school year as a freshman."
Out of my periphery, I saw Tanya's hand reach toward me. When she placed it on my thigh, stroking me smoothly, her hand surreptitiously inched higher. My heart – as well as other parts of my anatomy – jumped, and based on the now wicked grin she offered me, Tanya knew exactly what she was doing.
"Edward, it's going to be a hard year for me too, watching you fill out those college applications and knowing you're also leaving me behind. And whereas Bella's just a little girl who'll miss having you and her brother to chase after, I'm a big girl, and I'm going to miss you for so much more." She finished in a whisper, her fingernails skimming my bare skin, just under my swim trunks.
Swallowing hard, I leaned in and brushed my lips against hers. "Tan..."
"Stay, Edward. Go to school locally," she pleaded in the voice she tended to use with me when she was trying to seduce me – a voice that worked nine out of ten times. But this…
College in Chicago...escaping this small town…they'd been my dreams my entire life.
"Tan…I-"
"Edward, did you see that one? No one even spotted me!"
Pulling away from Tanya's tempting mouth, I turned to Bella, hearing Tanya's annoyed sigh as she laid back again.
"No, I missed it, Bella. Sorry."
"It's okay. Watch me do it again."
"Alright."
"Boy, she sure does seek you out a lot this summer."
When I turned toward her, Tanya watched me with a raised brow.
"I told you. It's just a habit she's had since she was tiny – with Em and me."
"It's an interesting habit."
She switched up her position, pulling back the extended leg and extending the one she'd had bent. The movement distracted me because she had great legs. Toned and long, and because I was eighteen, all I could think about at that moment was how good it felt to have those legs wrapped around my hips whenever we were fu-
"The thing is, babe," Tanya continued, "it just seems to me like it's mainly your time and attention she demands."
Chuckling, I waved away her comment. "It's both of us. You should've seen her when we were little kids. She'd follow Em and me everywhere. Our names were her first words."
"Were they?"
"Yep. First 'Et,' and then 'Em.'"
"That's cute."
"The thing is, she knows that Emmett and I are going to be away in college come next year, and I guess…" I smiled wistfully and lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug, "I guess she's starting to feel it. What's more-"
"There's more?" she said, sitting up and reaching for the sunscreen on the small, cocktail table between us. "I didn't realize we were still on the subject of little Bella."
"I was just going to say that she's nervous about starting high school in a couple of weeks. But we can drop it now." I lifted my head to the sun again, suddenly feeling...uneasy and irritated.
"Edward, watch-"
"Oh, that's right. She's skipping the eighth grade. Edward, babe, can you do my shoulders, please?"
Smirking, I took the sunscreen and began spreading it across her bare shoulders. The feel of her smooth skin beneath my hands melted away my previous irritation. When I moved on to do her back, she arched like a bow, sticking her ass out, and she had all my attention.
"So, how come she's skipping eighth grade again?"
"I thought you wanted to drop the subject?"
"What? Oh. No, no. It's fine. Remind me again."
"Well, Bella's teachers have been monitoring her academic progress for a couple of years now, and after consultation with Mrs. Swan and my mom, they've all decided that skipping Bella Marie ahead a year would probably be for the best. She wasn't being challenged academically, and she was bored. With her being so advanced in other areas as well, they all decided that while it might take some adjustment, Bella would thrive better in the long run if she was challenged."
"That's interesting," Tanya said, sounding as if she found the topic anything but. But then, she turned and took me in over her shoulder. "She's not very advanced physically, though, is she?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, look at her. She's cute and all, but she doesn't even look thirteen, much less fourteen. Do you really think high school for her is a good idea?"
My hands froze across Tanya's back while I held her gaze evenly. "I don't know, Tanya," I replied, shaking my head and knowing that the edge in my tone conveyed the confusion bordering on irritation I was starting to feel again. "What's more, I don't notice those kinds of things on fourteen-year-old girls."
"Well, I should hope not," she chuckled, turning back around. "Or else there would be something wrong here. Anyway, it's a good thing Bella's friend Alice is set to start high school this year as well. Maybe if Bella has her best friend there, she won't follow you around so much, and people'll stop saying that-"
"People will stop saying what?" I hissed.
"Edward, don't get mad at me," she said defensively. "I'm just telling you what I've heard a couple of people say."
"You haven't told me a damn thing yet," I spat, raking a hand through my hair.
"Calm down, babe. Look, it's just…it's obvious that Bella has a huge crush on you, and-"
"What?"
"See? I knew you hadn't noticed. But other people in town have, and they've made stupid jokes-"
"Who the fuck has been saying this shit and making jokes?"
"Edward, calm down. I can't tell you."
"What the hell do you mean you can't tell me?" I hissed. "If someone is saying stupid shit about Bella and me-"
"No, Edward. They're not- what I mean is, of course, no one is saying you'd ever do anything with little Bella. They just think it's funny how she has such a crush on you-"
"Again, who the fuck are these people? Does Emmett know?"
"No. No, of course not. He'd get just as worked up as you. Kate doesn't know either. Look, don't worry about it, babe. I took care of it. I told them to quit it, that it wasn't funny, and that Bella is just a sweet little girl, and I wouldn't let anyone make any jokes about her crush. All us girls have been there, Edward, with crushes on older guys."
By this point, my chest was heaving. Again, I raked a hand through my hair. "And you're sure you took care of it?"
"Yeah, babe. Yeah. Of course. I wouldn't let anyone say shit like that about you or about little Bella. The only reason I'm even telling you, Edward…the only reason," she repeated in a gentle whisper, "is so that you'll be aware before school starts next week. Edward, baby, you know how kids are. I mean, we're seniors now, but you know how the younger kids just love to start rumors," she said, rolling her eyes. "And if little Bella follows you around in school half as much as she's followed you around town this summer…you know how immature high school kids are."
"Edward, did you see that one?"
"Just…just be careful with how much attention you pay her around school, babe. For her sake as a freshman, and for yours as a senior. That's all I'm saying."
"Edward?" Bella called.
For a few seconds, I held Tanya's gaze. And then…with a deep breath, I laid back down on the pool chair, lifted my face to the sun, shutting my eyes and shutting out Bella's calls.
OOOOO
So...yes, if you're thinking that I probably pulled away from her, you're right. Slowly but surely because God forbid…Jesus, God forbid rumors started in school. Let's be honest; not only are you ruled by your reputation in high school, but there was the fact that Bella was barely fourteen, still shy of it by a couple of weeks, for God's sake, while I was eighteen-years-old. In my mind, there was more than my reputation at stake here. Chief Swan would put a bullet in me if he ever got wind of these rumors. And my mom's career as principal of Forks High, Mrs. Swan's career as an elementary school teacher, my dad's career as a doctor...they'd all be jeopardized by a stupid, blasphemous rumor. The entire situation was, in my mind, a recipe for disaster.
And maybe…when I think back on it now…maybe there was more involved. Maybe...there was some guilt involved as well, in a secret corner of my mind, guilt whispered by a small voice inside me whispering that maybe…just maybe…I had paid Bella Marie Swan too much attention.
So, when the new school year started a couple of weeks later, Bella had no idea why she'd walk down the hallways and see me, and I'd barely offer her a nod in acknowledgment. She had no idea why, despite having previously agreed that the three of us would ride-share to school in the mornings in Emmett's truck, I suddenly "realized" that with daily football practice, it would be more convenient if I drove myself to and from school every day.
She had no idea why…
She had no idea why everything changed from one day to the next, or why, on the day when she ran down the school hallway with Alice, excitedly shrieking that she'd made it onto the freshman swim team, I held her at literal arm's length when she tried to hug me. Flustered, positive everyone in the hallway at that moment was staring at me and thinking to themselves that I was some sort of perv, I barely uttered a "congratulations," before practically sprinting away.
Jacob Black, a fellow senior, found me a few seconds later by my locker.
"What was that before, man?" he chuckled. "Emmett's little sister looked crushed when you walked away from her."
Squeezing my eyes shut, I slammed a hand against the locker door. "Just shut the hell up, Jake. I'm not in the mood."
"Bro, what the hell?" he snickered. "You've been in a shitty mood since school started. What the fuck did little Bella Swan do to you for you to-"
"She didn't do anything to me, man. She and I barely associate with one another, much less get along. She's just a pain in the ass," I hissed, "a pain in the ass who's been nothing but trouble in my life since the day I moved to Forks."
"Whoa, whoa, okay, man. I get it."
And when the class bell rang, and everyone scattered, I pulled out my books and slammed the locker door shut, for a few moments resting my forehead on the locker's cool metal. What the hell had I said? What the hell was I doing? With a deep breath, I straightened and stalked down the now empty halls.
A loud bang behind me startled me out of my misery. It sounded like someone punching their own locker. The sound reverberated for a few seconds, and when I turned around, the hallway was empty.
Wrapped up in myself and in all those activities which accompany your senior year of high school, it was years before I found out what…who made that noise, and what she'd heard me say.
A/N: Thoughts?
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