9
Bella and I groaned as we climbed into the backseat of Esme's car, ducking down as low as we could. Having your sister, who also happens to be the principal at your school, drive you to school is embarrassing enough but having your sister do it because you are in trouble is even worse.
"Meet me here after school and I will take you both to the gym," instructed Esme as she parked the car.
"Whatever," we both muttered.
Bella and I climbed out of the car and headed into school, leaving Esme laughing at us. My sister could be truly evil sometimes. She acted all sweet and innocent but I knew the real Esme Masen. A few people stopped and stared at us as we made our way down to our lockers. I wasn't sure if it was because of what happened at lunch yesterday or the fact that we were walking down the hall together. Perhaps, it was a little of both.
I had just pulled my books for my morning classes out of my locker when Garrett, Kate, Angela, and Ben stopped in front of us. They seemed highly amused by both Bella and I, which I really didn't get why we were so fascinating to them.
"Well, look who it is," snickered Angela. "Bonnie and Clyde, returning to the scene of the crime."
"Angela, shut the fuck up," muttered Bella.
"Aw, come on, Bella," laughed Kate. "We heard that the two of you were robbing gas stations all over town to pay for your abortion."
"Hmm, did you hear that, Pretty boy, you already knocked me up," smirked Bella, rolling her eyes.
"You would think I would remember the sex but I guess it wasn't that memorable," I mused.
"Apparently," snickered Bella as the warning bell rang. "Well, I guess I'm off to pretend to learn something."
"Have fun, Honey," I smiled.
Bella just rolled her eyes and flipped me off. I laughed as I headed down to my first period class, leaving Garrett, Kate, Ben, and Angela watching us. Slowly, I made my way down the hall to my English class, dreading having to sit next to Jessica for the next hour. Maybe I would get lucky and she would hate me. Or maybe not since as soon as I walked in her face broke up in her creepiest smile yet.
"Hey, Edward," she squealed as I took my seat.
"Jessica," I merely said.
"So how was your afternoon with Bella?" she asked, eagerly. That's when it hit me. She was being nice to me to get information from me.
"Why do you want to know?" I asked. "Planning on spreading anymore rumors about me or her?"
"No," she gasped, pretending to be hurt. "As your friend, Edward, I'm just curious about the way you spend your time."
"My friend, huh?" I mused.
"Yes," she smiled, placing her hand on my arm. "I can be a very good friend to you, Edward."
"You know what, Jessica?" I asked, pushing her hand off of me. "I don't really think I need a friend like you."
"You would rather be friends with Bella," hissed Jessica, turning to the dark side in a matter of a second. "Well, you should know that she's certifiably crazy. Not only did she murder her parents, Edward, but she spent a year in the loony bin."
Mrs. Owens came in and started her class so Jessica turned back in her seat with a triumphant smirk on her face. I tried to focus on the lesson. Ok, so I tried to pretend to focus on the lesson but all I could think about was Jessica's words. Had Bella spent time in a mental hospital? Her brothers had threatened to send her back somewhere. Was that where they were wanting to send her?
"Think about what I said, Edward," said Jessica, after the bell rang. "I would hate for you to get hurt trying to be the rebel."
Jessica turned and walked out of the room. I stood up and gathered my stuff and headed off to my next class. I walked in and took my seat next to Ben.
"So," he said, looking over at me.
"What?" I asked.
"You and Bella together or something?" he asked.
"Careful there, Ben, you almost sound like one of those stepford bitches-"
"Language, Mr. Mason," sighed Mr. Taylor. "How hard is it to not curse?"
"-with all your questions," I continued, ignoring Mr. Taylor.
"Ouch," flinched Ben. "That hurts, Eddie."
"Edward," I reminded him. "And Bella and I are friends."
"Bella doesn't have friends," stated Ben.
"Well, now she does," I said. "You guys seemed to be her friends this morning."
"We are friendly with her but Bella reminds us frequently that we aren't friends," shrugged Ben.
"Yeah, she's tried that with me too," I sighed.
Mr. Taylor decided that would be a good time to start his lesson. As usual I was bored to tears in this class. We were about half way through our discussion on the benefits of the Vietnam War when we heard someone scream very loudly from out in the hall. So naturally, we all bolted out into the hallway where we found Lauren standing in the middle of the hall with her locker wide open and covered in what looked like tomato sauce.
"What happened here?" asked Esme, coming down the hallway. I saw Bella standing on the other end of the hallway. She had her iPod on and looked bored but somehow, I knew this was her doing.
"I just opened my locker when I was sprayed with tomato sauce," cried Lauren.
It was dripping all over the floor and down her white pants and white shirt. Esme looked around at everyone, her eyes landing on me for a split second. I shook my head to make it clear I had nothing to do with this.
"Who did this?" asked Esme. Nobody said anything, even though I could hear a few people laughing. "Let me make myself clear, I will not put up with this type of behavior in my school. Am I clear?"
"Yes," muttered most of the students.
"Get back to class," ordered Esme. We all turned to go back into our classrooms. "Not you, Edward."
I sighed as I turned back to her. She sent Lauren down to the locker room to get cleaned up. Esme waited until everyone had headed into their classrooms before she turned on me. The look on her face would have been scary if I didn't know her better. She thought this was funny, even if she wouldn't admit it.
"I'm only going to ask you this once, Edward," said Esme. "Did you have any part of this?"
"No," I said, honestly.
"Do you know who did do it?" she asked. I nearly rolled my eyes at her.
"No," I said again. "I don't know who did it but it was damn funny. Don't even pretend that you aren't laughing your ass off inside, Esme, because I know you are."
"Ok, I'll admit that it was pretty funny but I can't have you and Bella starting a war with Lauren and her little gang of do gooders," whispered Esme, smiling.
"I'm not," I whispered back. "But I won't stop Bella for getting her revenge on that bitch either, Esme."
"I know, Edward," whispered Esme. "Just be careful with Bella, ok? That girl is on the edge and I don't want you getting hurt."
"Don't worry about me," I snapped. "I can handle myself."
I turned and threw open the door to my classroom. I slammed it behind me before I went over and took my seat next to Ben. He looked over at me but didn't say anything. I understood that Esme was worried about me. I'm her little brother and now she has to be responsible for me but Bella is the only friend I've ever had. I'm getting really tired of people telling me to leave her alone.
"You ok, man?" asked Ben when the bell rang. I stood up and threw my books in my bag.
"Fucking great," I muttered,
"Language, Mr. Masen!" yelled Mr. Taylor as I stormed out of the room.
I rolled my eyes and made my way down to my trig class. I took my seat in the back and ignored everyone as they came in. I wasn't in the mood to hear about how dangerous Bella was, how I needed to be careful around her, how she was going to end up going crazy and hurting me. I'll be the first to admit that there is something going on with Bella, but right now, she needs a friend and so do I. Besides, none of these people know what it feels like to be lonely all the time.
By the time the bell rang for lunch, I was tired of thinking. I threw my stuff in my locker before I headed down the hallway toward the cafeteria. I was about halfway there when Mike, Tyler, and Eric stepped in my way. I really wasn't in the mood to deal with these asses.
"Masen, fucking stay away from Lauren and Jessica," snapped Mike.
"Maybe you should be telling them to stay away from me," I snorted. "They are the ones rubbing on me all the time."
"Just because they feel sorry for you, doesn't mean that they want your scrawny ass," sneered Mike.
"Don't be jealous, Newton," I snapped. "Besides, I'm not really into skanky whores."
"Yet, you are friends with Bella," smirked Mike. "We all know that little bitch spreads her legs for anyone."
"Except for you obviously," I snapped "Let me guess, you asked her to go steady and she said she doesn't go with momma's boys. It's ok, Mike, one day you will grow a dick. In the mean time, you can keep sucking on your boys here."
"You son of a bitch," snapped Mike, swinging at me.
His fist connected the left side of my face. I stumbled back as I brought my right fist up and caught him in the gut. He fell back as I countered with my left to the side of his head. Suddenly, Tyler and Eric had my arms behind my back. Mike threw his fist into my gut before bringing his other fist to the left side of my face. I stomped on Tyler's foot and head butted Eric, causing them both to let go of my arms. I threw my fist into Mike's face again. Tyler tried to grab me again but I turned and punched him several times.
"BREAK IT UP," screamed Esme, running down the hall as Mike kicked me in the back sending me into the wall. "I said break it up."
"I'll fucking kill you, Newton," I growled, lunging for him. I felt someone pulling me back but didn't look at who it was. "Do you hear me?"
"Edward, stop," snapped Bella. That was when I realized who was pulling me back. "He's not fucking worth it."
"I would like to know what happened here," snapped Esme, looking around at us all.
"It doesn't matter," I muttered. "Same shit at every school."
I shrugged Bella's arms off of me and headed outside to the quad. I found a bench under some trees and sat down. I felt someone sit down next to me but I didn't look over. I knew it was Bella. Esme would be too busy trying to keep her school together and all I was doing was making it harder for her.
"You want to talk out it?" asked Bella, after a moment.
"Not really," I muttered. She reached over and pulled my hand to her. "It's fine."
"No, it's not. It's going to bruise and hurt like a son of a bitch," sighed Bella. "Although, they look worse. I think you broke Newton's nose."
"Good," I muttered. "He deserves worse."
"What did he say?" asked Bella. I turned and looked up at her.
"It doesn't matter," I said. "It's just been a long day already."
"Getting shit already for being my friend, huh?" she asked. "Suppose I'm not surprised."
"I can handle it," I said. Bella sighed and let go of my hand. "Bella, I can handle it. I won't let…rumors or jealous pathetic girls stop me from being friends with you."
"You shouldn't be friends with me, Edward," muttered Bella.
"Why not?" I asked. Bella frowned and looked away from me.
"Because I'm not a good person," she said. "I'm fucked up and a little crazy, remember?"
"So crazy that you spent time in a mental hospital?" I asked. Bella looked over at me with wide eyes.
"I see they wasted no time in telling you about me," she whispered.
"So it's true?" I asked.
"Yeah," muttered Bella.
"Bella, what happened with your parents?" I asked. Bella just looked at me for several minutes before she said anything.
"I killed them."
