[chapter_8]
Master Culler was right - cultivating and protecting a strong reputation is something that can't be shaken, not even by the most notoriously flighty supporters.
Bella had thought other gamers would take offense to what happened with Hive, assuming most would have the same abject condemnation as Cherry Lane. But according to Janeway, the entire server is supportive. Hive had it coming, they say. And Hive continues to be dismissive in the forum, saying it was all very dignified and that he learned his lesson. The lesson he learned - and one he seems eager to pass on to other scrap-pickers - is to go for weaker targets.
Bella can only sit back and witness it all happening, feeling oddly detached. Her thoughts lock onto how well Master Culler read the situation. He hadn't been worried at all about a possible backlash, not the way she was - and he'd predicted that Swansong's overall reputation would soar after it was all over.
He was right, she admits, privately in awe. But honestly, he was more than right. With this one incident, it's like all the doubt about Swansong that emerged after her split with Relentless has been swept under the rug. The overall consensus is that Master Culler and Swansong make an ultimate duo, and that it was kind of waste that Swansong had ever been matched with anyone other than Master Culler.
Did he predict that, too? She has no idea. Master Culler's ability to play the game four steps ahead of anyone else is not like anything she's ever seen. Remarkable. Intimidating. Thrilling. That she's caught up in the middle of it all is an endless source of excitement.
What other surprises does Master Culler have up his sleeve? How will he enthrall her next?
She doesn't know, but she wants to find out. Especially because - and this is equally absurd and enticing - Master Culler seems intent to treat her with the highest courtesy. It seems like everything he does is tailored to benefit her somehow. He's protective, but not controlling; he leads, but let's her take the reins; he's supportive, but gently critical, too. Each of their interactions leaves her with a sense of something she can't quite put her finger on.
All she knows is that when she logs out of the game, she wishes she didn't have to.
Bella Swan ʘthelittlecygnet
This is bad for my health #finals #prayforme
Rose Hale ʘbyanyothername
2 more tests to go! #almostdone #yayme
Bella Swan ʘthelittlecygnet
I hate you ʘbyanyothername
L Clearwater ʘClearlyFlimingThis
Same
Rose Hale ʘbyanyothername
I guess I won't buy dinner then? ʘthelittlecygnet ʘClearlyFlimingThis
Bella Swan ʘthelittlecygnet
Sorry my hand slipped! ʘbyanyothername is the best person to ever exist, we are all #blessed to breathe the same air
L Clearwater ʘClearlyFlimingThis
Why are you like this ʘthelittlecygnet
Bella Swan ʘthelittlecygnet
ʘClearlyFlimingThis Let me live
Ty-Liar ʘnumber1rosefan
Hey ʘbyanyothername can I come too?
The day of the internship interview with Denali is set right between two of Bella's more challenging final exams - she can only hope to replicate her performance on Monday's exam with the exam on Wednesday. The interview for the internship, while necessary, also takes away from the last bit of cram studying time she has left. As a matter of necessity, Bella transfers all of her study materials onto the cloud storage connected to her phone. She resolves to skim through all her notes at every available opportunity.
Being so preoccupied with her study needs, it escapes Bella's notice until the last possible second that Alice had not listened to her advice at all. Bella shuffles into the common room, looks up, and blinks. In fact, it seems like Alice did the exact opposite of listening to her advice - standing proudly in the common room is Alice, happily showing off her geek girl outfit and explaining her thought process for each article of clothing she wears. Neither Leah or Rose seem to be listening too intently, and Bella, for her part, has her eyes fixated on one particular accessory.
"Are those my glasses?"
Perched on the bridge of Alice's button nose are indeed Bella's blue-light blocking glasses. The thin, squareish frames are a touch too big for Alice's face, giving her a bug-eyed appearance that meshes oddly with the way she has slicked back all the kinks from her pixie-short hair so that it lays back flat away from her forehead. Alice smiles brightly, adjusting the frames from where they have slid down her nose. "I think they complete the look, right?"
Alice is certainly wearing a look. It seems that she has fully committed to every cringe-worthy stereotype of what it means to be a geek - there is a tartan green skirt swishing around her knees, held up by black suspenders, a navy blue Minecraft t-shirt tucked loosely into the skirt, and ankle-length white socks with Mary-Jane shoes. She has even managed to find about a dozen nerd-themed buttons to pin to the suspenders. Paired with the glasses and the hair, it looks like Alice walked right out of a 1990s movie set, when the best approximation of geeky girl was "no coherent fashion sense".
Heeding that Alice is asking for an honest opinion, Bella can only suck her teeth and not say anything. It's the polite thing to do. Clearly, Alice has gone through a lot of trouble to dress like this. She won't even say anything about the glasses - it isn't as if blue-light blocking requires a prescription, so Alice borrowing them isn't that big of a deal.
Yes, in this case, it really is best to say absolutely nothing.
Leah, of course, has no such compunction. She has that sly smile on her face, one that never fails to make Bella weary. Leah circles around Alice, tapping her chin. "Hey, didn't you model this after Bella? Is this how you think our Bella dresses?" Leah feigns a shocked gasp. "Wow, Bells, did you know this is what you look like?"
Alice might be more innocent than most, but even she is not dense enough to miss the obvious sarcasm in Leah's voice. Alice drops her eyes, tugging at her skirt with a frown. "Does it look bad? It wasn't supposed to look bad."
Sometimes - only sometimes - Bella really despairs of Leah's sharp tongue. Even Leah does, because now she's biting her lip and shooting Bella a look that is silently screaming to fix this, please, I didn't mean to be mean!
Bella hastens to reassure her friend. "No! No, it doesn't look bad, exactly!"
When Alice doesn't look convinced, Bella turns a pointed look to Rose who, while as barb-tongued as Leah, can somehow manage to soften her tone into something that is soothing enough for Alice to believe. "It just looks a little stereotypical, Ali. Not in a campy way, but…"
Indecision wars plainly on Alice's face. "Do you really think so? Should I change?"
A resounding chorus of yes gives Alice her answer. She retreats to her room with Rose, and when she emerges she has only switched Bella's shirt for a plain white tee. Bella doesn't know whether she should be offended that, out of everything Alice is wearing, it's somehow her shirt that was the problem all along.
Bella looks down at her clothes - a blush pink striped hoodie under a light-wash denim overall dress and white canvas tennis shoes - wondering if she's wearing anything obviously wrong. Her clothes are simple, nothing that draws too much attention. Normal clothes a normal college student would wear and nothing at all like the kitsch Alice was trying to pull off.
Bella rolls her eyes, shakes her head. She's being silly. She looks fine. It's just an interview for an internship, nothing to be too stressed about it. Unlike Alice, she shares the opinion of her other roommates - the likelihood of any of them actually getting the internship is scarce. All college kids know that internships, while frustratingly necessary, are precious commodities that only very few of them ever actually get. For Bella, she is regarding this entire experience as a learning moment. She didn't have a job in high school that wasn't related to tutoring or babysitting so, technically, this is her first interview for anything. It's good practice for the future.
"Are we ready to go or what?" Leah asks impatiently.
"We're ready, we're ready!" Alice says quickly.
Palming their room keys and slipping them into a knit cross-body bag, Bella shoos her friends out the door, locking the dorm behind her. "Lead the way, Leah."
In the face of a challenge - the challenge being the interview, naturally - the driven side of Leah's personality has emerged. She has that look on her face, the one of stony determination, and it's edging into her mood, making her harder than normal. It will pass, Bella knows, once the pressure of presenting herself in a certain light has eased off - but she does pity her roommates, who did not experience three solid months of Determined Leah when they were applying for college a few years back. Leah and stress are not the best match. For Bella, this Leah is one that is easiest to navigate with permissiveness and a clear directive, which is why Leah is the one who fast-walks them through campus short cuts to get to the nearest bus stop heading to the business district as soon as possible.
They cluster together on the bus, the four of them pressed into a square of seats. Bella sits by the window, her mind wandering as she watches the view of the street pass by; Rose and Alice chat behind her, Alice eagerly going over the interview tips she Googled at the last minute; and Leah sits beside Bella, jiggling her knee and tapping her foot, double checking when they should get off the bus on the ride planner she has pulled up on her phone. Bella nudges her agitated sister with her knee, shooting Leah a wink that has Leah's shoulders relaxing, just a little bit.
Bella breathes a bit easier once they have reached their destination. Denali Corp. has its own glass-fronted building settled between lawyer offices and a bustling café. It isn't the tallest building in the cramped space of Concord's business district, but it's probably the most intimidating. There are actual security guards who are guiding the teeming mass of students applying for the few coveted internship positions into the building. An edge of nerves hooks under her navel, persistent even as they are allowed entrance into the building and directed through the registration process.
Is this what interviews are like? Unmitigated chaos? It's so loud she can hardly think, let alone fill out this little form. Her handwriting on her nametag isn't the best. Will that matter? Probably not. It's not like she can fix it - there are three dozen more students jostling to do the same thing, so she has to move out of the way.
Their group is lucky enough to find a seat in the crowded lobby of the building. All the whispering voices echo off the cold marble walls and floors, everything twice as loud as it normally would be. Bella breathes in deep, lets out a slow breath. She's getting tense for no reason.
She looks at Leah, who seems to be managing as poorly as she had on the bus, and Rose, who genuinely doesn't seem to care, busy scrolling through her Instagram feed. Alice is more jittery than expected. It's strange, she thinks, the way people respond to stress, even stress they have literally signed up for.
Not ten minutes after they arrive, Alice pops up from her seat, hands on her hips as she declares, "I want to know what's happening!"
Bella watches Alice pace back and forth, her round eyes pinned on the hallway where people seem to be emerging. Seeing that neither Rose or Leah are keen to intervene, Bella says, "You'll know soon enough. Stop pacing, okay?"
Alice isn't listening. Instead, Alice has pounced on the nearest possible source of information, stepping directly in front of a meek-looking boy who is trying to pass through the crowd after stepping into the room from the hallway. "Hi! Excuse me!" Alice says brightly as she cuts him off mid-step. "Could you tell me what kind of questions they're asking? What was it like?"
The boy startles. "Uh….normal stuff, I guess?" He coughs when he sees Alice's expectant expression. "Colleges, classes, career goals…that sort of thing."
"That does sound very normal," Alice admits with a puzzled frown. "There wasn't anything else?"
"Oh, uh. Well, they're also asking about our handles. Like, our gaming handles? Apparently they're looking for interns for their game development department too, so. Like. I guess have your handles ready?"
Alice's smile goes noticeably brittle. "Oh," she says thinly, taking a step back. "Thank you for letting us know."
When Alice returns to the group, Bella is baffled to see the panic threading through Alice's expression. Her eyes are wide enough behind her borrowed glasses that the whites are completely visible and her complexion, already fair, has blanched. Alice quicksteps to hover over them, wringing her hands.
"Did you hear that?" she whispers sharply. "He said gaming handles! Oh no, what are we going to do? I don't have any handles! It didn't say anything about this on the application!"
Leah freezes, shooting Alice a frosty stare. Rose continues to look unperturbed.
Bella steps in quickly, ready to deescalate the budding tension between Leah and Alice. "Calm down. This isn't a big deal," she says, tone smooth and gentle. She catches their eyes. "You guys can easily use one of my sub accounts."
Bella, like any player worth their salt, has several sub accounts that she uses for various purposes. While Swansong is her main account and Swanning is her sub account that gets the most play, she does have a few others that can be loaned out to her friends. The sub accounts are in good standing, so they'll hold up well to any probing, making them the perfect choice for something like this.
"Here, give me your hands," she says after digging a pen out of her bag. In purple ink she writes the names of her sub accounts - Swansway, Swannson, and Swansea - onto the palms of her friends hands. "Remember, these are all on the NorCal server, okay?"
Rose lifts a brow. "Don't these names all sound too familar?"
Bella tucks her pen away, waves her hand carelessly. "No worries. Lots of handles have similar names," she explains, thinking of the hundreds of rather inventive spellings for account names she has seen as a gamer. "If they ask, just say you play with roommates. It's common for close friends to share similar account names."
Alice has stars in her eyes, clutching her hand to her chest. "Wow, Bella! You're so...so cool under pressure!"
"It's the only time she's cool," Leah says, seeming to have recovered her normal sass now that her level of stress is easing off.
"Rude," Bella chastises.
Leah shrugs, unapologetic. "I am what I am."
Bella sighs.
Taking the opportunity, she pulls out her phone and calls up the app where she has organized all her notes. She scrolls through what the professor had indicated would be on the final exam. There's enough cross over between the exam she took yesterday and the one she will take tomorrow that she isn't too concerned that her studying time is being interrupted by this. Judging by her grades all semester, she is reasonably confident that she will pass this exam. Bella is so engrossed in recommitting her notes to memory that she doesn't realize her name has been called until Alice is tugging her up from her seat. Bella trails along with Alice and a handful of other random students part of their group, and she doesn't say anything when Alice shifts her grip to squeeze at Bella's hand.
Oddly, she's much more at ease knowing that someone else is far more nervous. She's always been that way, like another person's anxiety puts her own in perspective.
Bella squeezes Alice's hand back, a silent support, and does not let go until Alice is called away. Bella watches Alice disappear into the small conference room just off the lobby that is being used for the interviews, and starts scrolling through her notes again as she settles in to wait.
It takes maybe ten minutes at most before Alice is at her side again, latching onto her arm with wide eyes and a frankly concerning amount of panic. Bella sits up straight from her slouch on the comfortable grey chair, staring up at Alice as she catches her hands.
"Alice, what? What is it?"
"Bella, Bella, Bella," Alice chants, shaking her head rapidly back and forth. "I panicked! Oh, I so panicked! See - they asked for my handle and I blanked - totally blanked - and then the ink on my hand was smudged - and the only name I could remember was yours, so I said Swansong! And now they think I'm Swansong, when I'm really, really not!"
"Ah…" Well, no, this isn't an ideal situation. Bella freely acknowledges that, even as she works to shush Alice before her jittery nervousness draws any more attention to them than it already has. Bella turns the problem over in her head. Alice used Swansong, which means that Bella can't. No great, but also not the total disaster Alice thinks it is. "Shh, it's okay," she soothes. "I have another handle I can use. I'm Swanning, too. I'll just use that."
Swanning, at least, has a public face. If Denali Corp. really does go and verify user handles, then Swanning is without a doubt an account that can only be Bella. Anyone who spends more than five minutes on Twitch or Google will be able to verify that. Maybe it's better that Bella will have to use Swanning rather than Swansong? Easier, somehow?
It is what it is.
At hearing Bella's plan, Alice droops forward in blatant, bald relief. "Really? Oh, thank God. I was so worried! I-"
"Swansong?"
Alice meeps, high-pitched and stock still, and Bella looks up reflexively when she hears one of her names being called. But at realizing this, Bella swiftly taps Alice's ankle with the toe of her shoe until understanding dawns on Alice's face and she turns with a sheepish expression, shoulders drawn up to her ears.
Around Alice's side, Bella peers up at the man who has called for Swansong. He's handsome in a fierce, hawkish kind of way, all sharp eyes and nose, dark blond hair gelled off his face and dressed in a black vest with the sleeves of his navy button-up folded back. He stares at Alice - who he obviously thinks is Swansong - with a type of intensity that makes Bella a little uncomfortable.
"Swansong? Yes," Alice says quickly, the fib on her tongue flimsy and clumsy. "Do you know her - uh, I mean me?"
The man continues to stare at Alice. He can only be a few years older than them, maybe in his mid-twenties, but he holds himself with such condescension that he seems much older than he is. The way he looks at Alice, running his eyes over her with a bald-face judgment, silently weighing her worth, makes something protective bubble beneath Bella's skin. She finds herself standing, arm hooked around Alice's elbow, with a terse expression aimed right at him before she can think twice about it.
"Is there something you need?" she asks with a pleasant, if cold, smile.
The man's gaze slips over to her, and he does the same obnoxious assessment as before, though this time his upper lip curls, something like a sneering smile marling his handsome features. "No. No, I'm good. I have everything I need," he says, a somewhat confusing taunt as he turns around and saunters off.
Bella and Alice watch as he disappears into another hallway, and then exchange equally bewildered looks. "What was that about?"
Alice shrugs helplessly. "I don't know. He was in the room when they interviewed me…" Alice gasps. "Do you think he knows I lied? Do you - I mean, does Swansong know him?"
"Hard to say," Bella says truthfully. After all, Swansong is a well-known handle on the NorCal server, so the likelihood of someone involved in a gaming company knowing the name isn't that shocking. But this guy - the way he looked at Alice, the judgment, as if he was comparing Alice to what he thought of Swansong - well, it all strikes Bella as uncomfortable and odd. Even if he recognized the Swansong handle, to follow Alice out after the interview and confront her in such a rude - and oblique - way is just…weird.
Really weird, actually.
Alice is frowning, totally crumbled. "I really botched this whole thing up," she says woefully, leaning her head on Bella's shoulder. "I'm probably not going to get the internship, am I? Rose was right…"
Bella pats Alice's head and keeps her silence. She isn't sure what to say or how to sound encouraging at the moment, and sometimes a companionable silence is better than any false words of affirmation.
They stay like that until it is Bella's turn, and then Alice takes her seat while Bella goes to be interviewed. There are three interviewers and they really do ask all the standard questions, which Bella finds somewhat mollifying - she had no reason to be so anxious earlier, especially since it seems like her interview was much more normal than Alice's. When they ask about her gaming handle and she tells them Swanning, there isn't even a flicker of recognition, so she figures that the guy who sat in on Alice's interview was one huge, unfortunate coincidence.
By the time Bella and Alice have reunited with Leah and Rose in the lobby, she's already written the whole thing off. She does, however, make a conscious effort to steer Alice's attention off from the interview by dogging Rose on what kind of dinner she'll be buying.
"I want Sichuan," Bella declares.
Predictably, Alice cringes, Leah groans, and Rose wrinkles her nose. "If I'm footing the bill, then I'm paying for food I can actually eat," Rose counters.
"What's inedible about Sichuan?" Bella wonders.
"The spice!" Leah says with a laugh. "The spice is what makes it inedible!"
"It's just a little chili pepper," Bella argues lightly.
"I'm still not paying for it," Rose says.
When Alice laughs, delighted by the spirited debate over the most palatable Chinese cuisine, Bella considers her duty as a friend well-done. Alice is the type to really agonize over things like bad interviews, mistakes, and judgmental men, so the quicker she is distracted the better as far as Bella is concerned. She doesn't like it when her friends are distressed.
Seeing that Rose and Leah are now arguing over chicken and pork eggrolls when shrimp are obviously the best, Bella goes to give her own in-put - but she stops, feeling eyes on her back.
She turns, expecting to see that hawkish man from before, but only sees the rather crowded lobby. Through the crush of chattering bodies, Bella thinks she sees a broad back in pale grey walking in the exact opposite direction toward the doors, but her view is obstructed as more students are called to be interviewed, Rose and Leah included.
Bella bites her lip, thoughtful. Something about that retreating back feels awfully familiar, like déjà vu.
She shakes the thought off. It's been a strange day.
2 Girls + 1 Baby (Group Chat)
Baby Bro
Mom wants to know when your flight is coming in
The Sweet One
I emailed the info t you
The Salty One
Yeah she emailed you
Baby Bro
K I'll check
The Salty One
While your being useful for once
Tell dad not to bring the cruiser
The Sweet One
Please
Baby Bro
What you don't want to feel like a criminal?
Cowards
The Sweet One
You know he likes to use the lights
Its embarrassing
The Salty One
On second thought
Can mom pick us up instead?
Baby Bro
They're both working
They're sending jake
The Sweet One
Omg no
Are you kidding?
The Salty One
We're gonna die
Baby Bro
He's getting better
The Sweet One
He is not
Don't lie
The Salty One
We've seen his IG story
We know the disasters
We saw what happened to that mailbox
And the creepy gnome
And the trash can
Baby Bro
Okay fair
But that was like last week
He's better now
The Sweet One
I cant even
The Salty One
Yep we're gonna die
Baby Bro
I'll pray for you
The Salty One
Goodbye cruel world
Baby Bro
Rip sis and sis
I'll miss one of you
The Salty One
Which one
Hey which one?
Seth!
The Sweet One
Lol
Bella is part of the crush of victorious students who crowd the center courtyard of the Huang Center after the last final exam is complete. She tips her head back and casts her eyes upward, shielding her eyes from the early summer sun, feeling the warmth of sunlight sinking into her skin through the thin cotton of her sweatshirt. She smiles, free and unrestrained. It feels like she can breathe for the first time in nearly two weeks.
She's done. No more tests this stressful for at least another 10 weeks. Even knowing she has her summer courses looming in the near future, she cannot be swayed from the sure knowledge that these difficult tests are not ones that she will ever have to take again. Her course load this semester was really something - she vows to be more mindful of the recommendations from her academic counselor, who had cautioned Bella last fall for this very reason.
But it doesn't matter now - finals are done. She joins a few of her classmates in shouting a cheer to the sky, spends a few moments catching up with peers who she wouldn't be seeing again for several months, and then extracts herself from the crowd.
It's the last Friday before she has to leave for campus, and she still has tons to do. She and Leah have a flight on Monday morning and neither of them have packed anything. That will be fun, Bella internally despairs. The exams might be over, but the work isn't done yet. There is always, always more to do. Aside from the packing, she also has the last roommate lunch this weekend, and a guild meeting, and she has to figure out what to do with her cactus…
But first, a nap. She's earned it.
Bella makes a beeline for the fastest route to her residency hall and doesn't notice she has caught a barnacle until a tall body catches up to her stride. She looks up, startled, and blinks as she tries to place the familiar face.
"Hey, Bella," he says, a shy tilt of the mouth.
Dark eyes, glasses, curly blond hair - ah. Jasper Whitlock, the bold freshman from the Anthropology department. He's found her again. Persistent or too forward? She doesn't know.
Her good mood takes a slight downward turn, not quite a nosedive but definitely a dip. Even still, she musters up a practiced placid smile. "Hello again, Jasper. How can I help you?"
Please be asking for advice. Please want to know where the best vending machines are. Please ask for the best study room in the library.
Pink crawls up Jasper's cheeks, his eyes beseeching, and Bella's stomach sinks a notch lower.
"Well, I thought - since it's summer break and all - that maybe, if you wanted, we could grab a bite? My treat, of course!"
Jasper produces a winning smile that, unfortunately, has no effect on Bella. She's again struck by how sweet and earnest this boy is, but it once more is not enough to make her bend. He seems like a nice guy, but she isn't interested.
"Oh. Uh…" Bella struggles to find a response. She thought he got the message last time, but apparently not if he's asking her out a second time. She needs something better than a polite turn-down, but what? Think. There has to be something. What could possibly deter a persistent boy?
Out of the depths of her high school memories comes the one and only time Mike Newton ever backed down. It had been a ploy dreamed up by Leah and Jake had gleefully played his part even though both he and Bella had been internally squicked by the whole thing. Jake had been itching to do something about Mike Newton and had jumped on the first opportunity. The entire completely mortifying memory had involved a milkshake, sweaty hand-holding, and Jake pressing an obnoxiously loud kiss on her cheek all to send Mike Newton a message.
Bella had learned a lesson then. Boys back down when other boys send the message. It's stupid and totally sexist and the exact embodiment of patriarchal culture that she detests - but it does work. And she is willing to use a version of it now just to make sure Jasper Whitlock gets the message.
Bella slows her walk until she stops in place. "Actually, Jasper…I already have someone I'm interested in…" she hints.
Jasper frowns. "Oh."
"Yeah."
"But they're not your boyfriend? Or girlfriend?" Jasper clarifies.
The hope in his voice throws Bella for a loop, and her wrong-footedness is the only explanation for why she blurts out, "As if Masen Cullen would be my boyfriend! He doesn't even know I exist!"
There is a beat of silence, and then Bella's cheeks flare red. She slaps her hands over her cheeks, eyes wide. Oh, my God. Did I say that? I can't believe I just said that, out loud and to another person not related to me!
"Masen Cullen?" Jasper seems to mull the name over. "That guy…isn't he graduating?"
"…he is."
Jasper brightens. "Well, if he's graduating then you won't be seeing him anymore, right? So, why not give me a chance?"
Dumbfounded, Bella can only stare. Is this guy serious? She just - and now he's -
Unbelievable.
Bella rallies, scraping some semblance of pride together. "I've liked him for a long time," she tells Jasper honestly. She shakes her head. "I really don't think I'm going to be moving on anytime soon. Look, Jasper, I'm sorry but I need you to understand that I'm not interested in dating you, okay?"
Maybe if she speaks bluntly, he'll get it. Right?
And maybe he does, because Jasper bows his head and takes a step back. "Okay. Alright, I get it. Sorry to - well, you know…" He trails off, then glances at her shyly. "I'll see you around campus, then?"
"Sure," Bella says, and then watches Jasper walk off. She waits until he's out of sight before she sags forward with a sigh.
What an embarrassing encounter, she laments. She taps her mouth in censure, still disbelieving that she'd said that about Masen Cullen to a basic stranger. Good thing Leah wasn't around to witness or record this - she'd have a field day and Bella would never hear the end of it!
Now Bella really needs a nap.
Piping Hot Tea (Group Chat)
Thorny
So who else got the rejection email?
Paparazzi
Me
Sleep Talker
Me too
Thorny
I knew it
Short Cake
Wait
You guys were all rejected?
Paparazzi
You mean you WEREN'T?
What the fuck
Sleep Talker
Did you get the internship Ali?
Short Cake
Yeah I did
Sleep Talker
That's great!
Thorny
Congrats!
Paparazzi
Yeah same I guess
Sleep Talker
Really Leah?
Paparazzi
Sorry I'm just shocked
Not that Ali doesn't deserve it
But didn't she you know
Bomb the interview?
Short Cake
She's right
I did bomb it
Thorny
Apparently not
Sleep Talker
So when does it start?
Short Cake
Right around summer quarter
Omg
I only have 3 weeks to prepare?
Thorny
Chill out girl
Paparazzi
Lol good luck
The dining hall is uncharacteristically loud. It's understandable, given the fact that most students are saying good-bye and parting ways. Like their schoolmates, Bella and her roommates are treating this as their final meal before the split off for the next few weeks or months. Bella casts her eyes around the dining hall and feels a twinge of nostalgia.
She's leaving, but she's also coming back soon. It doesn't make it any less emotional.
The entire night before and this morning has seen their dorm suit go through a torrential shift as everything is tidied or stuffed into suitcases. They're lucky that their dorm housing application was approved for next year because it means the only things leaving their dorm are either clothes or important personal belongings. Bella, knowing she is returning for the summer quarter, has opted for a single carry-on hard-backed suitcase, half of which is dedicated to the delicate transport of her computer. Her suitcase sits alongside Leah's, which is decidedly not carry-on sized, at the end of the table, because as soon as this lunch is over they really need to head to the airport.
Bella drags her eyes away from the jovial students around them when she hears the shutter-sound of a camera. She turns, less than surprised to see Leah holding her phone at perfect selfie angle. Still, seeing that the camera lens is definitely pointed in her direction, she wrinkles her nose. "What are you doing?"
"Capturing a moment," Leah explains. She taps her phone again, this time capturing the skeptical quirk of Bella's brow and her own relaxed smile.
"Is this really a moment?" Bella wonders. She peers at the phone screen, looks right at the half-eaten evidence of her lunch and the background blur of some guy running through the dining hall without a shirt.
"It's the last lunch of our sophomore year, you peasant," Leah sniffs. "Of course it's a moment."
"Wow."
Leah shoots her a look in response to her deadpan tone and expression. "What?"
Bella rolls her shoulders, nonchalant. "Nothing. You're just getting sentimental in your old age - Ow!"
"Take it back!" Leah demands, twisting at the flesh of Bella's arm, which is trapped mercilessly between two of her blunt fingers.
Bella flinches when the pressure increases. "Stop pinching me!"
"Say I'm not sentimental!" Leah counters heatedly. She releases Bella only to pinch at another bit of skin.
Bella bats at Leah's grip. "Fine! Fine, I take it back!" she squeals. "You're a cold-blooded killer! You're a - a preying mantis, because God knows you pinch like one!"
Leah lets up with a self-satisfied air, a smug lift to her chin. "That's much better."
Bella scowls at her sister, rubs at her arm, and scoots a fraction away. "You're a vicious woman."
"I know," Leah says proudly.
"It wasn't a compliment!"
"I know," Leah says again, still proud.
Bella, exasperated, only shakes her head and shovels more food into her mouth. She won't be able to eat this pretzel-bun sandwich for almost a month, a thought that is almost untenable. It isn't like the food is bad at home, but with her dad's dietary needs she knows all of her favorite junk food guilty pleasures are going to be off the table unless she spends all of her time down in La Push. This is quite literally her last bites of nutritional freedom and she plans to savor it.
Across the table, Rose and Alice finally return with their own plates. Rose is gazing at them, unimpressed at having witnessed their childish bickering, and sits down with a haughty air. "Now that you two are done with that," she begins, before shifting her eyes to the center of the table. "Can we talk about this?"
This being the stack of books Bella had collected from the bookshelf in the dorm and scattered through the common room. It's a sizeable collection, worthy of being acknowledged. Between the four of them, however, Bella has been the one guilty of keeping books checked out for too long.
"These are my library books," Bella explains needlessly. They aren't all hers, of course. One or two probably belong to Alice.
Rose takes a bite of her salad. "And…are you taking them?"
"No. I'll be gone for three weeks. I can't keep books for that long." Returning the library books is, of course, her last thing to do before she leaves campus. Bella pauses. "Actually, I don't think I can even take them off campus…"
Rose nods noncommittally, then stabs her fork at the small pot perched on top of book pile. "But you're taking that," she states, both derisive and uncomprehending.
Bella widens her eyes and Alice, who is watching the exchange, giggles into her hand. "Rose," Bella says in faux shock. "I'll be gone for weeks."
"It's a cactus," Rose returns doubtfully.
"It needs me," Bella declares. She doesn't care what anyone says. She has been nurturing this tiny golden barrel cactus since freshman year and she has committed to taking it everywhere she goes. The only reason she hasn't packed it away into its soft foam-cased box in her suitcase is because she wanted it to have a last bit of sunlight before the flight.
Leah rolls her eyes. "You need help."
Bella sticks her tongue out, much to the amusement of her friends. The rest of their shared lunch is peppered with wistfulness. It's the last time they'll be seeing each other in person for a while - and after two years they have grown especially close. Rose and Alice are like family. Bella will miss them a lot, even if reaching out is as easy as Facetime or a text message. At almost 20, she knows its rare to find people that can become lifelong friends and companions.
She cherishes her friends - these amazing, unique women - as much as she can.
Leah isn't the only one getting sentimental, she muses as they all exchange hugs after lunch, gathered just outside the dining hall to final-final farewells. Bella's ribs hurt from how much she is being squeezed by each hug. It's a good kind of hurt.
"I'll miss you."
"No, I'll miss you!"
"Won't you be too busy with the beach and sun to miss us?"
"No, shut up."
"Well, don't miss me too much!"
"Impossible!"
There are thankfully no tears, but it's a close call for Alice, who volunteers to return the books to the library and clutches the books to her chest as if they are extensions of Bella. Another round of hugs and then a reminder on Bella's phone tings, letting her know it's time to get to the airport or risk missing the plane.
After detangling, Bella turns and reaches back for her pale watercolor luggage - and it's nothing more than an accident when her eyes flick up, snagged on a pair of classic Converse that are completely still. Her eyes float up - straight-fit jeans, white shirt, unbuttoned charcoal cardigan - and up some more - tapered waist, broad shoulders, just barely sun-kissed skin - and settled on an unmistakable face. A remarkable face, in fact. Peerless grey-green eyes, a steady gaze in an impassive face, seem to be looking at her. Or in her direction.
Bella, struck still, feels the blood rush to her cheeks when the barest hint of a smirk tilts on that impassive face - and then her heart thumps heavily when his smirk widens with a wink, right before he turns around and moseys back to a group of boys who are calling his name.
Dimly, Bella hears her own name being called, feels Leah's hand on her elbow to drag her in the direction where their Lyft is picking them up, but it all seems strangely disconnected. Heart galloping in her chest, Bella can only dizzily wonder one thing -
Did Masen Cullen just wink at me?
A/N: Maybe he did wink, or maybe he spontaneously developed a tic that makes only one eye twitch? Who knows? Not Bella, that's who!
Updates for the List of Handles:
Bella Swan is…
Swansong
thelittlecygnet
Sleep Talker
The Sweet One
Leah Clearwater is…
ClarityIsClear
ClearlyFilmingThis
Paparazzi
The Salty One
Seth Clearwater is…
changethisquil
Cleareth
Baby Bro
Alice Brandon is…
aliceseesyou
Short Cake
Rose Hale is…
byanyothername
Thorny
Now for an important message from the author! While I'm sure some of us are under quarantine or self-isolation and that means that our work has changed, I implore readers to have patience with authors! Some authors, like me, already work from home and our workload has not changed; other authors are struggling with work and family adjustments, taking care of ailing people, or work in other essential jobs. If you find yourself searching for reading material to cope, I suggest trying out a new fandom or exercising some patience! Updates will happen when they happen.
To that end, this is a secondary message for all you lovely readers - we are in a difficult time as a society. Fighting an invisible enemy is stressful, so I encourage self-care and kindness to the self. You might be sleeping more or taking up old coping mechanisms - this is a natural response to trauma and stress, so forgive yourself a little. And also extend some of that kindness to strangers, particularly those who are keeping our society running during this (no better word for it) plague. It costs nothing to treat each other with kindness.
Alright, that's it for now. Hang in there everyone. As always, be brutally honest. I can take it.
~Rae