Chapter | Aberrations and Revelations | Eight
Despite acknowledging I quite possibly could have been wrong about Edward Cullen, I completely brushed him out of my mind when pulling into the two-story white house. It was mainly due to my increasing headache. And to the fact that now all of the drama and conflict has settled down, I was also feeling increasingly tired.
Charlie practically dragged me out of the police cruiser and into the house, carrying my school bag for me that Charlie explained some kind student grabbed from the icy parking lot pavement and give it to him at the hospital. Not wanting to be by myself (as if Charlie would let me with his death grip), I asked him to help me to the couch instead of my room, where I promptly laid down and pulled the afghan around me.
"Remember, Bells, you gotta stay awake for a while longer. Alright?"
I nodded. A second later my stomach began to rumble.
Charlie released a quiet chuckle, his serious expression finally beginning to fading away. "How about some soup?"
Smiling up at him, I attempted a sly look. "As long as it comes from a can."
Adorning a mock hurtful expression (that he definitely didn't succeed at, but made me want to laugh even more), Charlie stepped back and crossed his arms. "Hey, I've made it this far without poisoning myself. Have a little faith."
I laughed, immediately flinching from the sharp pain it gave me.
Charlie sobered. "I'll get you the Tylenol and a glass of water first."
As he disappeared in to the kitchen, I reached for the remote and turned the television on. After skimming the channels quickly, I settled on the History channel playing a documentary of the Civil War.
A few minutes after taking the Tylenol, my head was feeling much better. On the down side, I dosed off quite a few times, forcing Charlie to gently shake me awake. Luckily, dinner didn't take too long to finish and I now had a reason to sit up.
Charlie made a simple beef stew that was surprisingly very good. Apparently, his mother made it every Thursday night when he was younger, though her's contained more ingredients. Still, I was impressed after nearly two weeks of frozen meals or take-out.
I offered Charlie the remote while we ate in the living room, me still on the couch and him sitting in his recliner. I had to insist it was okay, as he refused the first time. Likely worried that I would go hide away up stairs, which wasn't true. I just couldn't find anything to watch after the documentary ended.
Surprisingly, Charlie didn't immediately put on sports. Instead he put it on a black and white channel running a marathon of The Three Stooges.
I smiled fondly at the screen, giggling at the pie fight the three lunatics started at a snobby, high society party.
"You like The Three Stooges?" Charlie asked after seeing my reaction to the show.
I nodded, eyes still glued to the TV. "Yeah, I used to watch it with Grams all the time."
"Huh, I didn't peg Marie as the type to watch comedy. She was always a stiff woman."
Marie? "What?" I looked at him in confusion.
Charlie suddenly looked guilty. "Er- I didn't mean it in a bad way. I just meant, uh, she was always kind of bitter and difficult. I mean- well, your grandmother wasn't the most supportive of your mother and I's marriage, I'm sure you heard. Not that I mean she was the reason for-"
Oh. Duh, Scarlette. He was taking about Bella's grandmother. Clarissa is just some old woman that lives down the street to him.
Maybe it's time to go to sleep before anything more spills out of my mouth...
"Don't worry about it, Charlie," I interrupted his babbling, not even knowing what he was talking about anymore.
He immediately stopped, appearing extremely awkward now for whatever reason. Great, now I would feel bad if I left him like this...
I let out a sigh, preparing myself to at least finish this episode.
"Have you seen this one before?" I inquired, hoping to steer a good conversation towards only the TV show.
The one episode somehow turned into five. It was now six o'clock and I was half hanging off the couch in exhaustion, about to pass out.
"Maybe it's time you get to bed, Bells," Charlie suggested, rising out of his recliner.
"Mhmm," I sounded out in agreement, eyes drooping shut.
"Bella?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you going to get up or do you need help?"
I blinked my eyes open tiredly. "Right, okay." Yawning, I slowly stood up from the couch, the afghan sliding off my shoulders and on to the floor.
Charlie followed behind me up the stairs with a glass of water and the Tylenol bottle, making sure I don't trip and fall. He set the stuff down on the bedside table as I rummaged through the dresser for sweatpants to change into.
"Goodnight, Bella."
"'Night," I replied, giving him a tired smile.
Just as he was about to the leave the room, he turned back around to look at me. "Are you alright, Bells?" Charlie questioned, concern and worry dominating his features again.
I sighed, going to sit on the bed.
Of course I wasn't alright. But Charlie didn't need to know how I was really feeling; he just needed to know that his daughter was alright.
"I'm fine. I'll feel better tomorrow," I answered as sincerely as possible.
Charlie was silent for moment and then he nodded. "Well, don't worry about school tomorrow; just get as much sleep as you can. I'll come home on my break to bring you some lunch, okay?"
I nodded. "Okay. Sounds good."
After saying goodnight to each other one more time, Charlie went to bed himself. I quickly changed my pants and slid under the comfort of the blankets.
Luckily, I was exhausted enough that no complex thoughts bounced around in my head. Instead, the last thing I thought before finally falling asleep was that it was a good thing I didn't bother wasting my time doing the homework due today. I wasn't able to turn it in on time anyway.
I woke up to the quiet pitter-patter of the rain hitting the roof. Rolling on to my back, I stretched my arms above my head, releasing a groan of pleasure at the action, and then promptly stuffed my face into the pillow. A short moment later, my new sleeping position wasn't working for me. I flopped onto my back again, then my left side, and finally my right before letting out a sigh of frustration. I soon realized trying to get comfortable again was proving so difficult because of the brace on my right wrist, I found when the rough fabric scratched against my forehead. This, in turn, reminded me of the other day's events.
The sound of squealing tires would not leave my mind either. The longer I lay in bed, the louder is seemed to get. I could feel my body twitching, as if the whole incident was happening all over again and I needed to prepare myself to sprint out of the way. Hastily, I threw the covers off me, far enough for them to land on the floor. Slight dizziness washed over me after standing up so abruptly, but I quickly brushed it off and went to retrieve the CD player from the desk.
Bella didn't have much music, just a few classical CD's and a little rock. I was surprised to find Linkin Park however, as it was the most diverse of her small collection. I settled on playing the CD, being the loudest and most likely to drown out all other noises.
As I lie back down and focus on the loud vocals and instrumentals, I was happy to find it slowly working. So much so that despite it blaring into my eardrums, I found myself dowsing off quite a few times, finally content. No bad dreams came to me, just nonsensical ones I immediately forgot after each wake up.
By the fifth time I woke up, I decided it was time to get out of bed, especially since I had reached the point of nausea from lack of food in my stomach.
It took a moment, but eventually I was able to push myself up into a sitting position. The red of the alarm clock alerted me it was now going on 2:16, only a few minutes until the high school students would be released from class.
I sighed, running a hand through my knotted bedhead. It wasn't like I minded missing a day of school, especially since it wasn't even my own education I was working on. But the reason I missed today… now that's what's getting to me. Almost wanting to go back to bed, I could feel myself about to fall back and slip under the covers again, but I hastily forced myself to stand. The hunger was too great to resist.
Walking down the stairs, I realized how sore my body actually was from yesterday's events. It wasn't enough to prevent me from moving around, but it wasn't exactly the type of soreness you get from a good workout either. It seems like a warm bath is needed in order to remedy this problem.
On the kitchen table was a single piece of paper. Upon further inspection, I noticed it was a note from Charlie. Apparently, he did show up during his break to bring me lunch, only to find I was still sleeping. He bought a Reuben sandwich from our usual diner and left it in the fridge for me to heat up later, before letting me know he would be home right after work.
Folding the paper up, I tossed it in the trash and immediately went to seek out the food, sending a silent thank you to Charlie for his thoughtfulness. After heating up the sandwich in the microwave, I settled on the couch with the afghan piled around my shoulders, eating and watching TV just as I had done the night before.
I had hoped to keep up this lazy attitude until Charlie finds me like this, but a knock at the front door ruined any chances of it. Unintentionally, my heart skipped a beat. I quickly scolded myself for such a weakness, not understanding where that came from at all. It was just a knock. Someone is simply at the door.
But then I realized it wouldn't be Charlie, for obvious reasons, and I really did not want anyone else around. Standing up abruptly, I winced in pain after accidentally using my right hand to push myself up. With a quiet hiss, I silently reminded myself to stop forgetting I had sprained wrist, and went in search of a window to peek at the intruder. Only, after three more knocks later, I found none of the windows overlooked the caved in porch except the one smack in the center of the front door. Which completely conflicts with my intention to peek at the stranger.
"Great..." I sighed, psyching myself up to answer the door after a very insistent fourth knock.
Letting out a long breath (seriously, what is wrong with me?), I slowly creaked the door open, only to be surprised to see who was standing there.
"Hello, Bella," Alice waved, a soft, cautioned smile gracing her pearl toned face. She stood a fair distance away, her heals almost hanging off the porch and over the very top step. Dressed in her typical impressive style, Alice adorned what I could identify as a black wool and leather Fendi coat. A near whopping three thousand dollar coat at that. To anyone else in Forks however, it most likely looked like a simple JC Penny bought coat. Thanks to my mother, I could see passed the appearance and directly towards the brand.
How the Cullens could be so loaded as to afford such an expensive coat, I have not a clue. I doubt the doctors here in Forks make that much money.
"Um, Bella...?"
I blinked, snapping out of my brief daze to look back up at her face. Alice didn't fidget, but I could see in the very miniscule dip of her eyebrows she was slightly uncomfortable with my staring. I couldn't comprehend why. People at school stare at them all the time and none of them seem to give any thought towards it whatsoever.
"Oh, uh, hi?" was my delayed answer, it suddenly coming back to me Alice was here for a reason. "What's up?" I asked, standing up straight and folding my arms for warmth from the cold breeze.
Seeing me back to my normal self, Alice's confidence seemed to pop back up.
"I brought you the homework for today. I know you don't want to do it, but I figured you wouldn't want to get behind." Alice gestured to her over-the-shoulder bag by tugging the strap up. I gave it a second, but Alice never actual moved to take out the papers. I held back a groan, understanding a second later she expected me to let her in.
"Would you like to come in, Alice...?" I asked awkwardly.
She perked up significantly at my invite. "I'd love to! I could help you with your homework, if you'd like?" she offered, gliding through the doorway and into the hall. Alice took off her shoes and jacket, hanging it on the hooks I gestured to. I shuffled into the kitchen as she followed behind me, both of us taking a seat at the table.
I really didn't intend to do homework today...
"How are you feeling today, Bella?" Alice finally asked before an uncomfortable silence settled between us, her wide golden eyes locked on the brace around my wrist, a very slight crease appearing between her brow.
I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could, expecting that was what her whole visit was about. Though I couldn't figure out why Alice was the one to show up and not Edward. Maybe he sent her to check on me, too coward to do it himself? Immediately, I internally flinched. Someone willing to jump in front of a moving vehicle to save another life was anything but a coward.
"Fine I suppose," I answered, lifting my arm to examine the brace nonchalantly. "I only woke up a half hour ago. Thought I might as well waste the day away sleeping since Charlie wasn't going to let me go to school."
"It's a good thing he did. The entire school has been talking nonstop about yesterday. You likely would have been the center of attention if you had gone," Alice divulged amusedly, teasing me over my dislike of being center of attention. A trait that, in all honesty, I don't believe she would have known about since we did stopped speaking after my second day of school. Nothing in my actions at school could really prove such a trait to be true either, not with how social I've been since hanging out with Jen.
I ignored it at the moment however, deciding to chalk it up to her simply assuming.
"Ugh.." I groaned, still unable to prevent a shiver at the thought of being surrounded by so many teenagers and their curiosity over what happened. I'm sure it will be a while before the chatter of the incident dies down. "I might have to convince Charlie to let me stay home another day then." I'm positive it won't take much to get him to say yes.
"If you do decided to stay home, I can bring you the homework for tomorrow as well, if you would like?" Alice offered, sincerity and care ringing in her voice.
"That'd be great," I smiled gratefully. I sat up straight then, folding my hands on the table. "So, what do I have today?"
She started pulling out a folder from her bag. "Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Banner were nice enough to let you off the assigned homework for tonight, but of course Varner wouldn't expend the same kindness. You've got chapter 13 and 14 homework questions. And Mr. Mason simply wants you to read the next chapter of Wuthering Heights, if you're up to it."
"What about Drawing?"
"Ms. Reid wants us to turn in our portfolio of facial features in Friday. I could model the rest for you, especially if you don't plan to go to school tomorrow?" Alice volunteered kindly.
"Yeah, I should probably take you up on that offer," I nodded. Might as well get the easiest homework out of the way first.
I stood up, about to get my sketchbook left by the couch in my backpack, when I turned back to Alice after a second thought.
"Do you want something to eat, or drink?"
The slight pause made me expect a "no", but then she spoke up, "Just water is fine."
"You sure? We have a lot of stuff to snack on-"
"That's alright, I'm good. Thanks anyway," Alice interjected politely.
"Well, in that case, glasses are in the left cupboard from the sink. Only have tap water I'm afraid," I explained before leaving her to it.
Entering the living room, I first went to the remote, turning off the TV playing a marathon of House I had hoped to watch the rest of the day. Oh well.
After rummaging through my bag forever looking for my sketchbook, I realized I should just bring the entire thing with me if I was going to do homework. God, I'm really slow today.
"Alrighty, ready to get started?" I asked, noticing the white ceramic mug half full of water in front of her. I wondered for a moment why she grabbed a mug when they were on the very top shelf out of her reach and not the closer glass cups, but then realized I was just being my usual nit-picky, overly observant self, and brushed it off.
"Whenever you are," Alice gestured across from her to my seat, before going into instant statue mode. I halted for a short second to marvel at her stillness, even more so than she had in class my second day. But then, after a moment too long of me staring, she shifted to cross her legs and rest her hands on her knees, blinking her lashes and twitching the corner of her mouth before taking a sip of water.
I shook my self out it and sat down, opening my sketchbook to a blank page.
The fact that Alice's skin was so pale and completely unblemished honestly had me slightly disappointed. There wasn't much challenge without the uneven skin-tone, acne, and wrinkles that made up the human face, all of which Alice, and even her siblings and father (likely mother, too), lacked. It was simply one smooth gradation to form the shades enveloping her face and enhancing her features. From her thin, dark eyebrow and wide, kohl-lined eyes, down to her petite button nose and thin, but pouty bottom lip, around to her high-cheekbones and then along her small and angular jawline, topped off with her short, pixie-cut hairstyle, Alice's portrait was soon finished. Only for me to remember I was supposed to finish doing individual features before the final full portrait.
Holding back a sigh so Alice wouldn't question me, I turned the page and began a simple, fast sketch of her mouth, scaling it to a bigger size. To my frustration, it was at this point where Alice no longer wanted to keep silent.
"So, how have you been liking Forks, Bella? Other than the obvious, of course," Alice inquired, in obvious need of conversation.
I shrugged, turning the page to do her nose now instead. "It started out pretty shitty I guess." I held back a pointed look, not wanting to place the blame on her and her brother after they've more than made amends for it. "People seem to actually wanna hang out with me though, and the classes are even easier. Charlie has been great, despite all the changes." I smiled almost melancholy at the last one, halting my pencil for a second. "He's a really great dad."
Alice smiled along with me. "Definitely different then Phoenix, huh?"
I grinned with a humorless laugh. "You can say that. It's almost like I became a completely new person after the move."
It was silent for a moment, where I quickly took the chance to work on her mouth again. After I finished up on it, I decided to start up the conversation again.
"I heard you and your family only recently moved here as well," I stated, leaving it up to Alice if she wanted to add on.
"Mhmm, Carlisle and Esme thought it best for us to finish school in a quiet town, and when Carlisle got hired at the hospital here, it was practically a done deal." Her reply sounded very routine to me. I didn't question it, deciding to back off the subject instead.
"How is your family doing, by the way?" I slipped in as casually as possible.
"Edward is absolutely fine, Bella," Alice grinned slyly.
I cringed slightly. "I just wanted to make sure. I couldn't really tell if he had gotten hurt himself or... And, well... I wasn't sure if I'd be seeing him later at school and what not..."
Alice brought her hand up on the table, as if she was going to rest it over my own, but at the last second settled her hand next to mine instead. "Edward would have came with me to check on you, but he had to-"
I stopped her, looking in her eyes. "Don't worry, Alice. I know he wasn't going to come. You don't have to make excuses. I don't blame him either. I don't expect Edward's attitude over me to change just because he saved me. It obviously stems from something deeper."
Alice looked surprise, but quickly hid it. "What do you mean "attitude"?"
I gave her a flat look. "The same "attitude", or what ever word you wanna give, that had you stop talking to me all week and caused your family to start giving me looks."
"I-"
"Don't worry. There's no reason to explain. It's none of my business. And after Edward saved me from being squished by a van, the least I can do for all of of you it to drop it and never bring it up again. Alright?"
It seems I had cornered Alice enough that all she could do was silently nod.
Just then the front door opened, gaining our attention, followed by the stomping of boots.
"Hey, Bella, who's car is that in the driveway? -Oh, hello.." Charlie shouted before halting at the sight of us.
Alice gracefully stood up, having immediately gone back into her cheerful, confident mode at his entrance. "I'm Alice Cullen. It's nice to meet you, Chief Swan."
Charlie was a little startled by the introduction, but started at her name. "A Cullen, huh? Well it's nice to meet you too, Alice." He glanced at the table with all the papers spread out over it.
Alice smiled. "I thought I'd check up on Bella here, and bring her the homework for today so she wouldn't get behind."
"That's nice of her, Bells," he said, to which I nodded. "Do you plan on staying for dinner, Alice?" Charlie asked, immediately going to the cupboards to see if he could put out on his offer.
"Oh, thank you, Chief Swan, but I'm sure Esme is expecting me home for dinner. In fact, it's about time I take my leave." She went to grab her bag off the kitchen table.
I rose out of my seat to follow her into the hall. "I'll walk you out."
"Drive safe," Charlie called out.
"I will! Good night, Chief Swan," Alice waved with another smile.
I leaned against the wall as Alice slid her coat and shoes on. "Thanks for staying to help me out, I really appreciate it."
"No worries. If I don't see you tomorrow at school, I'll be sure to bring you your homework again."
I smiled sheepishly. "If it's not any trouble."
"None at all!" Alice assured, smiling. "Good night, Bella."
I opened the door for her. "'Night, Alice."
I waited until she got in the Volvo and pulled out of the driveway before shutting the door from the chilly air, leaning my back against it.
I can truly say I was surprised at her visit. Honestly, I didn't expect anyone to come see me. I mean sure, plenty of students were concerned enough to follow the ambulance to the hospital. But in the end, their concern stemmed from a group mentality. If it comes down to the individual, well, they often lose the initial bout of concern and won't actually follow up.
Alice, though, I couldn't quite explain why she did. Was it for Edward, so he wouldn't have to face me himself? I'd imagine when saving someone, you'd want to make sure the effort didn't go to waste and that they're okay. I know I would feel that way. But maybe she really did it out of her own concern for me. I found myself unable to doubt the idea. Alice never came off as fake and distrustful. I just couldn't understand why it was so easy for her to suddenly stop talking to me last week.
I simply could not understand this family, the Cullens.
And due to my promise to Alice, if someone finally ever does, well, it certainly won't be me.
Pushing off the door, I supposed I should find out what Charlie has planned for dinner tonight. And ask him a little question.
"Hey, Dad," I called out to Charlie as I walked back to the kitchen. "So I was thinking I should take an extra day off from school..."
Yay! I finally hashed it out! I find that as much as I love writing scenes with Scar and Charlie, I absolutely hate having to write scenes while in their house. I feel so limited for some reason.
Ooo, it seems Scar isn't interested in figuring out the Cullens! How is she ever going to learn their secret and befriend them!? Well, you'll just have to wait and see... Mwahahaha... and stuff.
So it is the first time we see Scar one on one with a Cullen with no one else around distracting, and due to being an artist, Scar's detail-oriented mind keeps unintentionally picking up these little nuances about Alice. It would still take an awful lot for her to make the jump towards vampire though.
I definitely wanted to make this chapter a little more light-hearted after the earlier drama. Not to mention I wanted to show how 'easily' Scar was able to ignore all the emotions she felt the other day. She's definitely not the type to make things a big deal and mope over them, but she's also going to have to eventually learn to deal with them without ignoring or forgetting.
Anyway, thank you everyone for being so supportive of this fic and understanding of my long over-due updates, even though I know you really hate the wait. I do keep the progress of my stories on my profile and I try to keep it up to date, so if your ever worried about how long it's gonna be, just check there.
Would love to hear everyone's thoughts! Please Review!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And don't forget not to shop at Walmart!