I learned that it wasn't quite clear yet to some so- Yes, Morticia's original Smith family is dead.
Chapter 4 Intrigue
Bella's Pov
Bella wasn't sure what to think of the things that transpired today. It had started much the same as these past couple of months. She'd wake up feeling exhausted and unwilling to get out of the house. Then she'd go to school feeling very much like she was on autopilot- she honestly couldn't even remember driving here today… She'd sit through her classes and avoided any and all social interaction if possible, and then… Her lunch break was supposed to be quiet, but that hadn't been the case today. She was supposed to sit alone, at their table and move her food around until the bell signaled the end of the fifth period. Then she'd go back to being on autopilot for the remaining school hours. But not today. Today was different. She felt like her encounter with the rude little girl- regardless of how short their first interaction had been- had shaken her enough to timely wake her from her stupor. It was as if- for just a split second- she was alive again. She was just so so angry at the girl- so enraged with the other girl's insolence that she just had to put her in her place. Bella never thought she could actually get that angry. It was kind of scary and exciting and-
She couldn't shake that flashing gold from her memory. It seemed to haunt her now. Every single time she closed her eyes her mind betrayed her and she saw golden swirls- but they had dimmed. Her memory simply couldn't produce the pure allure of it- couldn't bring her the same warmth that it used to bring. But Bella had seen it- had felt it when she talked to the new girl. And she didn't understand why that was. All she really knew was that in that moment- in that short glorious moment- he was standing right next to her again and she desperately needed that back.
Morticia's pov
"What?" Morticia demanded steely. That girl which she'd punched- Bella Swan, was it? Whatever- had been staring at her for the better part of 10 minutes and it was starting to creep her out. What was her problem? Honestly, had she been glaring at her then Morticia could have easily disregarded her- she was more than used to ignore those particular stares when it was directed at her. But this look- it was as if the other girl was analyzing her or something. Refusing to look away but thankfully still blinking so what regularly otherwise it would have been really fucking creepy.
Bella seemed startled for a moment- What? Did she actually think that I wouldn't notice?-and went quiet for a bit before opening her mouth. "I-I'm sorry for slapping you."
Morticia sent her a droll look and allowed herself to sink a little further into the uncomfortable cushion of the bench, "I'm not sorry for punching you." she replied flatly.
Bella frowned and finally- finally looked away from Morticia's person to stare down at the floor in front of her. Bella shifted a little awkwardly in her seat. She seemed a little irritated to Morticia, a little angry, but not nearly as mad as she had been earlier that day. Morticia imagine that some of the teachers must have enlightened the dumb girl on the rumours flying around town- which must be why she felt the need to apologize now… Morticia huffed in annoyance. Human were always just looking out for themselves, weren't they?
"I'm sorry about what happened to your family." Bella seemed to try again and Morticia considered giving her a matching set of black eyes. That would probably shut her up… it would shut her eyes too. Solving two problems in one go- but Morticia knew that she was already pushing her luck and she didn't really feel like being transferred anytime soon. She literally just got here. And all of her hard work- and all the putting up with Jerry's whining- would be put to waste if they were forced to move again…
"I don't care."
"…About what happened to your family?" Bella asked in bewildered disbelief.
"About you feeling sorry about it." Morticia corrected Bella drolly, "I think I've already made it quite clear that I don't respect you much as a person."
"Wha-" Bella exclaimed in surprise, apparently not having expected such a blunt answer from Morticia. She then rounded on the smaller girl and glared so what fiercely at her after lowering the ice bag from her right side of her face. A large patch of blue-ish purple covered Bella's right eye and even a bit of her cheek bone, it was a harsh contrast to Bella's pasty skin tone and the fact that her eye was nearly swollen shut made her face look almost comical.
"You don't even know me!" Bella exclaimed like the angsty teenager she was and Morticia groaned out her disgruntlement. Then she noticed Bella giving her an attempt at a stink eye and Morticia easily countered it with an icy look of her own.
"I know that you have developed an unhealthy attachment- or better yet, have grown completely co-dependent on some stupid boy and are now experiencing the after effects of that moronic decision."
"M-moronic?! I loved h-!"
"Oh fuck off! Love is just a chemical reaction that compels animals to breed. Don't be so naïve and get your life back together. Go talk to a therapist or something. But leave me out of it."
That seemed to knock the air right out of the idiot girl, good god…
"This- this wasn't like that! He- he isn't…" Bella stuttered out before falling ultimately silence. She was still upset; Morticia could tell by how she set her jaw and wrinkled her brow but she did her best to further ignore the girl next to her. She didn't understand why the dumb girl would even care to explain herself or whatever her relationship was like to Morticia. It wasn't like she cared or even really knew the girl. So at the moment it felt more like Bella was simply just saying whatever to make others pity her and-… Oh. Oh, for fuck sakes she's a Jerry. Fucking fuck. One of them was already too much and now this bullshit? Nah, Morticia wasn't having it. She was not putting up with this. She was okay ignoring her dad at home since she was used to it but she refused to have to deal with the same thing at school too. Bella Swan could wallow in her woos all she wanted but Morticia wasn't going to budge and play to her whims just because she was making herself miserable. Fuck that.
Jerry's insufferability had reached new levels after that first day of school and Morticia was more than sick of it. For days now, he'd been sprouting nonsense, always changing the story ever so slightly to better fit this idolized version of a conversation that didn't actually taken place in the principal's office. Jerry said officer Swan had begged on his knees for his forgiveness- Morticia would have called bullshit if she'd actually cared to listen to whatever bull he was word vomiting out of his mouth.
Still though, having to hear the near constant tattling of her father's ego in the background was starting grate on her nerves. So when an opportunity to stay out of the house- and thus away from Jerry- presented itself, she hadn't needed much convincing. The extracurricular programs that Forks High offered were all… lacking in one way or another. But that wasn't of importance to Morticia. She just needed the excuse to be left alone so she could do her own thing. So she needed said extracurricular not to inconvenience her or make her commit to anything unnecessarily- she didn't care about working with a team or getting sucked into some kind of dumb rivalry.
The arts program fit the bill nicely.
"Most kids who join do so to work on their separate portfolio's- sketching, paintings the like… We even have two boys who are working on their own comic book together but it's all mostly just for fun. The school doesn't really have the funds to support proper artists, you see." Mr. Stephens, the French / art teacher explained to her as he led her around the relatively neat studio. The place was empty for the time being- what kind of maniac would actually be in school at seven in the morning?
"You're really selling it teach." Morticia told him.
The man snorted, "Can't make it any prettier than it is. We do have some nice examples from a former student who got admitted into an arts course in university. So if this is something you really wish to get into then you can always get started with that. There are also a handful of art contest that you can sign up for- the majority of those focus on the visual arts. Paintings, sculpting, woodcarving, photography… They're all hosted in Port Angeles either right at the end of the school year or during the Summer."
"And we can just use whatever medium we want?" Morticia pointed at the bottles of acrylic paint stacked inside the metal cabinet. "We can just take these?"
"Those are here for the introductorial Freshmen classes. I don't mind you using them if you run out but if you become wasteful then you're expected to pay back whatever you used."
"So either we work with the bare minimum we're kindly offered by the school or we pay for our own expanses."
"Sucks, doesn't it?"
"Expected really," Morticia shrugged her shoulders, "I'd still like to join. Though I will probably end up bringing my own stuff later on, that good?"
"Perfectly fine." Mr. Stephens replied back just as uncaring and Morticia knew instantly that she was making the right decision. "This room is usually left locked up before and during school hours so-"
"Oh, that's no problem, I can just pick the lock if I-… And I'll lock up behind myself?" Morticia trailed off after noticing the look the man next to her was sending her.
Mr. Stephens sighed, "Just don't make it a hanging spot for unruly teenagers… This is probably one of the only places left at the school where it's actually quiet during the day."
"Sir, I swear on my life that I wouldn't let it come to that."
"You really don't have to go that far, kid."
Bella's pov:
Mrs. Goff's brow furrowed up in a frown as she looked over Bella's test sheet before handed in over- an awkward moment passed between them as Bella couldn't be bothered to move and take it from her teacher's hands. Eventually, the woman simply placed it on her desk instead. Bella pushed it aside and continued doodling nonsense shapes in her notebook- or well, doodlebook might be a better description of the thing by now… She didn't bother to look at the paper- couldn't even bring herself to care about the glaring red failing grade she knew was written on the top left corner.
She had failed to approach the infuriating girl- Morticia Smith, as Bella had since learned was the girl's name- this morning. The same way she'd failed the day before and the one before that… She was sure that the little junior was actively avoiding her at this point.
Bella's hand twitched harshly to the right and she sucked in sharply when the lead tip of her pencil snapped under the pressure. She let the pencil roll out of her hand with exasperation and clenched her hand into a tight fist- a twinge of pain in her fingers reminded her of the night before when she'd unconsciously and accidentally gnawed her nails a little too short. Ignoring the dull pulse, she expelled a tense breathe of air from her longs... It had been a little over a week since she'd last seen the glimpse of gold.
She'd been keeping an eye on the girl in the hopes of seeing it again- in the hopes that it wasn't just a fluke or her mind playing a cruel game but… Staring at Morticia Smith from a distance just didn't- she just needed to get closer. The girl had been right in Bella's face when it appeared. And Bella just could test out her hypothesis correctly if she couldn't get physically closer to Morticia.
But it was as if the girl had a sixth sense for when Bella was approaching- and all Bella managed to catch of her these past few days was the back of her head as Morticia left the room of which Bella just entered. She couldn't keep up with the smaller brunette when she caught a glimpse of the girl's black winter coat in the herd of students. The only time Bella actually saw her whole person was when she went and skipped out on AP biology and searched the school- Bella learned that the girl was in a year below her that day when she caught her scribbling away at a desk in a World History class taught to Juniors.
Bella had been busy working out the girl's schedule ever since so she could 'accidently' bump into her. But it had been slow going as she hadn't been able to skip any more classes after that first one. A scowl found its way onto her face as she recalled Charlie's unduly reaction when he learned about her doing that.
She couldn't believe he actually threatened to send her to mom in Jacksonville. He couldn't do that to her. She couldn't- just couldn't even begin to imagine trying to life somewhere that didn't hold any memories of him. It would surely kill whatever was left of her-
She couldn't let it come to that. Couldn't leave when all that ever mattered to her remained in the meadow, in the high school, in the now empty shell of a home which was once theirs… No, she couldn't possible leave. The thought of it alone gave her trouble breathing.
Bella would much rather be cold and frozen in this empty and lifeless state then be forced to forget.
She'd much rather stay forever under this miserable town's endless rain…
Morticia quoted Rick here on the 'love = hormones' bit… There might be more quotes as such while Morticia is trying to figure herself out.
