"I don't think I'm ever going to be able to eat again." Rose mentioned, while patting her food baby.
"Me either, I haven't eaten that much pizza in such a long time." Bella reminisced.
"Are you guys full?" Rose asked the other members of the group.
"Nope!" Riley confirmed, stuffing his face with another slice.
"I apologise for him." Victoria laughed, "the only excuse I have is that he's an athlete, and they eat a lot!"
The girls giggled, as Riley chowed down on his fourteenth slice of pizza.
"With how he pitched today he deserves all the pizza in the world!"
"Don't say that I'll be finding pizza crusts in our bed!" Victoria exclaimed.
"Oh, you had to bring that up! It was only one time, Vic." Riley shot back.
"Puts a whole new meaning, to bringing food into the bedroom department." Rose teased.
"I don't even want to talk about it." Victoria said crossing her arms, in a stubborn manner.
Bella looked at her best friend, and her new friend. "You guys are into some weird shit!"
"It's not weird. We just have an adventurous sex life." Rose explained with a wink.
"Rose!"
"What? I didn't realise I needed to keep it as a secret."
"I really don't want to know about my best friends sex life." Bella defended her decision, with a look of disgust upon her face. "And on that note, I think I'm going to head home, if that's okay with you guys?"
"Yeah, I'll head back too, I'm severely bloated." Rose whined.
"And that's your own fault." Bella hitched her brow at her friend, "That will learn you to have an eating competition with a growing athlete."
"Whatever, Mom! I didn't come here for a lecture." Rose teased.
"You two are hilarious." Victoria laughed out, "You remind me both of a married couple."
"Well, Bella is my wifey for lifey!"
"Don't let Emmett hear you say that!" Bella warned.
"Oh, Hun I won't be saying much when he returns next week! If you get my drift." She smirked.
"Rose!" Bella whined.
"Oh, don't be such a prude!"
"I bet your excited for his return?" Victoria asked, "I couldn't imagine Riley and I being apart for more then a couple of days. I need him like I need air to breath, we're totally inseparable!"
"Oh, Bella can sympathise with that feeling alright." Rose added.
"Rose, don't!" She warned her friend.
"You're being ridiculous."
"I'm not listening to your bull-crap right now!"
Riley began to awkwardly fake cough to ease the tension, "Well… This took a turn for the worse, I think we better go, Vic." He suggested.
"Oh, right. Well, it was nice to meet you both! Hopefully, we can meet again!" Victoria said with a wave goodbye.
As the couple walked away, "What was that all about?" Victoria asked her boyfriend.
"From what I've heard off members of the team Bella and Edward used to be close…" Riley explained as they left the Pizzeria.
"Great! Even they know about me and Edward!" Bella cried out.
"It's not like you kept it a secret!"
"Maybe I should have, I don't like being the talk of the mill…"
…
"So, I hear Emmett's moving back." Carlisle mentions, trying to break the silence.
"What? Since when?" Esme asked in shock.
"He applied for a job, and he should be officially back home within the next week, I believe."
"Are you serious?! And he doesn't have the own decency to tell his mother!"
"I wonder why that is?" Edward chimed in with a sarcastic manner.
"Don't you start again; I've already had enough of your antics tonight." Esme scolded, "Both of you boys, just love to ignore me, it's no wonder I act the way I do, I feel unloved by you all!"
"So, dramatic…" Edward muttered with an eyeroll.
"I'm quite excited for Emmett's return, I think it will do him good being around his family more." Carlisle pondered.
"Or it will be a toxic experience for him…" Edward muttered once more.
"Speak up, boy. I can hardly hear a word your saying?" Carlisle asked his son.
"Oh, um… I said I think it will be a terrific experience!" Edward lied.
"I'm sure he's just moving back to be closer to his girlfriend!" Alice said crossing her arms in a stern manner.
"And what's wrong with that?" Edward questioned, "I'm sure when you get a significate other, you would want to spend every amount of time with them, that you could get."
"I'm sure I would, but if it meant losing family members, I would drop them in a heartbeat!"
"Why would you lose family members…"
"Just drop it, Edward." Alice sighed.
"Our Ali is too good for these boys in Forks, she needs to focus on building up her career, and then meet a man with money and power!" Esme explained to her family.
Esme had huge expectations for her only daughter. While on the other hand Alice was starting to feel the huge pressure, from her mother's expectations… Unfortunately for her she would do as she was told to keep in Esme's good books, as if she deceived her mother it would be a huge risk, that she couldn't bear to face.
"Are you alright?" Edward asked his twin.
"I'm fine…" She said with a frown.
"You don't look it."
"God damn it, Esme! Can't you just give her a break and let her do what she wants with her own life!" Carlisle argued, "You don't have to control every aspect of our children's lives." He added, as he downed his scotch.
"You disgust me!" She spat at her husband.
"Same goes, darling."
"Right! I've had it!" Edward says standing from his seat. "I tried, Dad. I can't say that this family meal has been lovely because it really hasn't. Mother I would advise not to organise anymore!"
And with that Edward left his family and left the restaurant. He couldn't handle the constant hatred towards one another… It never used to be like that.
"Buzz, Buzz."
One new message - Emmett.
E: Getting in earlier than expected. Don't tell Mom or Alice, I don't want to see them any earlier then I have too.
"What the hell did they do to you?" Edward wondered out loud, heading to his car.
…
The campus grounds, the following morning.
"Skipping I see?" Seth asked, as he approached the two girls.
"Yup!" Rose confirmed.
"Speak for yourself… I don't skip." Bella spoke up.
"Oh, yeah? So, if you aren't skipping, then what are you doing?" Seth challenged.
"Class was getting a bit stuffy… So, I simply stepped outside for fresh air."
"Totally believable." He said rolling his eyes. "We live in Forks, may I remind you nowhere would get stuffy with this weather, it ain't the desert, it's the wettest place in the continental US."
"He does have a valid point, Bella."
"Oh, shut up the both of you!"
They all laughed at Bella's outburst.
"So, Seth. What are your plans for after graduation?" Rose asked.
"I don't know, my friend Jake is heading off to California, I might tag alone, see where it takes me?"
"Sometimes you just have to go with the flow, and hope for the best… Like me with the baseball team."
"Are you still bitching about that!" Rose groaned.
"Yes, Rosalie. It's a perfectly valid example!"
"If you say so…"
"How is that going?" Seth asked, "I've heard from some of the players, that you're doing an excellent job."
"It's going well, I really enjoy what I do. But it's the awkwardness of being around Edward and my old friends that are putting me off, sticking it through all the way." Bella admitted to her friends.
"You never told me they were making it awkward, for you. Do I need to knock anyone out, I don't mind even if it's my own brother." Rose said, raising her fists in the air.
"No, nobody needs to get hurt! Maybe it's just me thinking it's awkward… They've been kind even Jasper! He was a bit stand offish at first, but I've known him since before all this shit happened and we were never on bad terms beforehand so, we are still good… At least it seems…" She sighed. "But I can't blame them for picking Edward, they're probably clueless to what he did."
"Bella, I think it's time you told me… I can't keep acting like he's the bad one if I don't actually know what he did." Rose explained. "Hey Seth, do you think you could just give us girls a chance to talk."
"Certainly, I'll just head to my next class early. Catch you later." Seth bid farewell to his friends.
"C'mon, Bella. Tell me what happened? I'm over you keeping it to yourself, It's driving me insane, and it can't be good for you keeping it all bottled up inside. Don't you trust me?"
"Of course, I do… It just hurts… to remember back to that time in my life…" She sighed, "When my Dad passed, obviously I was depressed. But I knew I could get through it, because Edward was there for me… until he wasn't. One morning when I was home, I received a message from him saying I was being over dramatic over the passing of my Dad's death. He understood, but I was stressing him out and he didn't have time for that, when he had to focus on baseball. I was devastated so the natural thing for me to do was to stop talking to him.
"What an absolute Jerk!"
"And bizarrely, he claims I did something to him, which is absurd. That same day I received a voice mail from him… I listened to it over and over again, it ripped my heart out… he was giving up on me…"
"Oh, sweetie. Come here." Rose said pulling Bella into her arms, "When I next talk to Emmett, I'm going to get him to knock his jerk of a brother out… Nobody hurts my friend when they're already down."
"Good luck with that, they have a bond that can't be broken…"
…
Later that day, at the Swan residence. We find Rose and Renee having a very revealing conversation.
"He did what?!" Renee asked in shock.
"That's what Bella, has just told me and I don't see her blowing it out of proportion though, and I can't see him doing that to her either, he adored her."
"Me either, it really just doesn't make sense. I remember when her fish died, he didn't go to any of his baseball games for a week! He stayed by her side all that time, they both thought it was the most traumatic times of their young lives." Esme said with a giggle, reminiscing about the good old times.
"I can just imagine it." Rose laughed, "I'm going to have a word with Emmett later to see if he has any idea on what happened. If he does he hasn't said anything to me before, since he doesn't get along with Esme and Alice, but maybe he's heard something."
"I think that's a good idea, the small few times I've spoke to Esme, after Charlie's death. She hasn't had a clue apparently what went on between Edward and Bella… The only person I haven't talked to was Alice. I just don't feel good about approaching her, so that's why I would always talk to Esme."
"I totally understand. After I've talked to Emmett, I'll see if it's imperative to talk to her… Her and Bella aren't that close anymore, so I don't really want to conversate with her. In case it upsets Bella even more."
"Wait, Bella and Alice fell out as well!" Renee felt absolutely gobsmacked, that she didn't know this.
"Oh, did Bella not tell you?"
Renee shook her head, "Did they fall out the same time, that Bella and Edward fell out?"
"No, about a month or two before hand, from what I gathered Alice was getting a bit jealous that Edward was giving all his attention to Bella, and vice versa."
"Oh, that's unfortunate."
"It couldn't be helped; Bella and Edward had their own little world when it was just the two of them."
"True, I was dead set that they would end up together. Even from a young age, I could just tell."
"I bet they could still… if we can solve out how to fix this mess."
"Earlier you said that Bella apparently did something to Edward. Any idea what that could be? It might bring us closer to finding out how to resolve things between the two of them." Renee suggested.
"I have no clue…" Rose admitted, "And neither does Bella."
"I really do think you should talk to Emmett and keep me updated!"
"Will do!"
"Rose, I'm really glad she still has you, especially after all that's happened in the past three years."
"I'm not going anywhere, Mama Swan. I'm afraid she's stuck with me for life!"
…
A few days later. At the Cullen household.
"Fun day at work?" Alice said as she approached her father.
"Tiresome." Carlisle yawned, "It's hard work but someone has to pay the bills in this household."
"And you're the best at it!" Alice laughed.
"I do my best! So, what can I do for you Ali-cat?" Carlisle asked his daughter.
"Oh, nothing. I'm just fretting about Emmett, returning."
"Why?"
"Well in case you haven't noticed, Dad. He isn't exactly speaking to me or Mom." She sighed.
Carlisle folded his arms across his chest in a disapproving mater. "I don't know why your Mother has brought you into her mess, and quite frankly I don't have a clue what's happening. But if Emmett's involved in all this then I know it can't be good."
"You'd still love me… right?"
"Of course, I would. Nothing could ever change how I feel for my little girl." He promised, "Why do you ask?"
"Just doing a lot of reflecting lately… Trying to figure out who I am in this world of ours."
"And?"
"I don't want to follow you into law, Daddy."
"Well, what would you like to do instead?"
"I thought about finishing law school so I would have my degree for the future, but I want to travel! Embrace and explore the world, while I'm still young… I know it's not what was envisioned for me, and I'm sure Mom would freak, but I just want to do something for me."
"I think you should do it!"
"What if she disowns me?" Alice says unsurely
"Well, that's her problem, but you'll still have me no matter what! And I'm sure Edward will always be there for you, and maybe Emmett if you stopped being your Mothers minion. Though things don't look great at the moment, they still love you Alice, but you have to meet them half-way." Carlisle explains.
…
Later that day at the Spartans baseball game.
"Okay, I checked on all the players and they feel all loose and set to play!" Bella informed, James.
"Sounds great! Just letting you know Coach Clapp is requesting to speak to you."
"Oh, is everything okay?"
"I assume so, he didn't give me any details just that he would like to speak to you."
"Oh, okay. Well, this doesn't make me feel wary whatsoever." Bella said with a frown.
"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." James tried to reassure his trainee. "He's just over there, I think now would be a great chance to catch up with him, with no players about."
Bella nodded, and made her way over to the coach. "Hey Coach, James said you wanted to speak to me?"
"Just a simple check in." He said with his face showing no emotion. "How are you feeling, about working on this team?"
"I enjoy it, everyone Is so pleasant." Bella said confidently, trying not to show her true feelings.
"So, Swan. I'm just going to cut right to the chase." He told her, "As much as girls like to gossip, so do boys as well. And your name and Edward's has been mentioned in that locker room quite a lot, from what I understand you and he have history? Now when I ask you this I want you to be hundred percent truthful with me, do I make myself clear!?"
"Yes, Coach." Bella says trying to avoid eye contact with him.
"Is there something going on between the two of you, that I should be concerned about?"
"Um, we used to be super close, but there's nothing to worry about now…"
"I see."
"But don't worry, I won't let that effect my work!"
"That's what I like to hear. You have a lot of potential not only with our team, but any other jobs you potentially go into in the future. I want you to know that I don't just wish the best for my players, but for you too Bella. I want to make sure your getting everything out of this job experience."
"I fully intend to do that, sir."
"Good! Now will you be able to go see Jasper he's in the locker room, still complaining about his face. He's like a broken record that kid."
"No problem!"
…
"Jasper?!" Bella called out, as she entered the locker room.
"In the back, it's just me! You can come in." He replied back.
Bella followed the sound of his voice, to find his location.
"I don't know how you girls do this?" He winced as he was applying foundation to his bruise.
"We aren't normally covering up painful badass bruises, like yours."
"It's no longer badass, it's just something that the guys tease me about daily…"
"Do I need to give them matching ones?"
"No, I just need help covering this welt on my face."
"Well first off this colour is not your shade." Bella said looking at the bottle of foundation. "Where did you get it?"
"It's Alice's… She still has her own drawer at mine, from the time we used to date."
"That long ago… I'm not even too sure if you should be putting this on your face?" Bella questioned, with a disgusted look upon her face.
Bella began to rummage through her bag.
"What are you doing?" Jasper asked.
"I'm looking for Rose foundation, she keeps it in my bag as she always carries clutch bags, that can never fit anything in!"
"Oh…"
"Found it! Now sit down and let the magic happen!" Bella ordered with a giggle.
Bella began to gently applying the makeup to Jaspers face. "I really appreciate you doing this for me, Bella."
"It no biggie!"
Jasper sat still as Bella did her best trying to cover the bruise. But the silence was getting a far bit too much for Jasper, he had a burden, and he wanted an answer.
"So…" He began.
"So, What?"
"Edward finally told me what happened between you two…"
"Did he now? I doubt it was the truth…"
"C'mon Bella, don't push me into a corner like this. I must admit some of the things he said that you done, didn't sound like something you would do… But don't you think it's a bit ridiculous how long you've held this grudge against him?"
"No, I don't! I don't have to stand here and listen to why you agree with him, that it was okay to abandon me for another girl." She sighed, "I literally heard him move on!"
"For another girl? Edward is not like that." Jasper defended his friend.
"Don't do that, don't try to protect the snake that he is. I heard them, Jasper."
"You heard what?"
"Edward left me and voicemail of him sleeping with another girl! He left me and his excuse was he needed to focus on baseball, and I was stressing him out with basically my grief! But instead, he went and fucked a girl. So, screw him Jasper!" Bella screamed her anger out. "You mark my words he can play the victim, but he's not the victim in this!"
And with that Bella stormed out of the locker room, leaving a very shocked Jasper…
…
A/N: I'm so excited to hear the response from you all!
So first off I'm going to touch on Rose and Renee's relationship, I just love it! Specially that they're both playing detective.
Bella finally opened up to both of the Hale siblings… I think it's left our Jasper a bit stunned, I wonder what he'll do with this newfound information? Now continuing on with the Hale's some of you have questioned about why the siblings are estranged. I want to try and fit it into the storyline, but if I can't I'll let you know in the authors notes.
And the last thing I'm going to talk about is the J word, he is coming and it's going to be a whirlwind! I have big plans. Because we can't have a twilight fanfiction without him.
Are you Team Edward or Team Jacob?
I'm Team Edward!
Alright, that's all for now!
I'll see you all soon.
Becca x