Chapter 20

"I can't believe you're making me do this." Isabella grumbled to her daughter through their mental link. She was on her motorcycle, following her daughter to school, having a conversation this way was far easier than shouting as they rode to high school.

The rest of the previous evening had gone well; rather there hadn't been any major issues. Isabella had spent most of the night in the Batcave with Henry checking news reports, searching for suspicious events locally and regionally.

Eliza had divided her time between visiting the two convalescing wolves, during the very brief spurts they were conscious and spending time with Leah on the couch talking and watching TV. When Rachel began to get tired, Eliza offered her a bed, but Rachel wanted to be close by if Paul regained consciousness again at any point in the night. That was a request that Eliza could hardly refuse, so they moved a mattress, blankets and pillows into the room right next to his bed.

Leah fell asleep on the couch shortly thereafter, not needing to be in the same room as her brother when he woke up, but still wanting to be close by. Once Leah had drifted off, Eliza spent the remainder of the night, and into the morning, pestering her mother about going to school with her.

What ultimately decided the matter was Eliza's almost offhand comment, that if Isabella hadn't gone to school the next day then, now that the Cullen's were aware of her, they would think she was too nervous to face them.

So it was that at 7:40, Isabella found herself following her daughter's dark purple motorcycle with her larger red one to the high school. After applying the eye drops to camouflage her red eyes, and turn them brown again; her daughter and she had spent half an hour arguing over clothing choices, before Isabella had largely prevailed wearing black jeans, a dark blue top with a slight v cut, a dark jacket and utility boots. Eliza's outfit was lighter, with blue jeans, though her top was black, with short sleeves and a slightly deeper v-neck cut. She also wore black utility boots and a dark jacket for riding in the cool weather, largely for appearances.

They also currently both sported black helmets and gloves when they pulled into the parking lot of school. It was a repeat of Eliza's first day for both of them; people's head's turning when they heard the heavy thrum of Isabella's motorcycle.

"Oh dear, here we go." Isabella sighed in her daughter's thoughts as they pulled into the parking lot.

"Oh please, if you didn't want to draw any attention to yourself we could have driven Henry's Toyota Corolla." Eliza mentally teased her mother.

"Meh, I don't much care about the students. I meant THEM." Isabella replied as they slowed pulling into the parking lot proper.

Eliza sighed, she saw the Cullen's all standing outside their jeep, in its normal place. Well, all but one. She saw Edward standing over where he had been two days prior. "Please remember Mother, no losing your cool."

"Don't worry. I've decided to do what will irritate them most. I'm going to ignore them. Nothing will piss them off more. Especially HIM." Isabella replied to her daughter keeping her snarl in check as she got close to Edward, her eyes taking him in 's eyes had narrowed slightly seeing the motorcycle but his smile was still a self-confident crooked grin as he stared at the rider.

"Please try and remember, no 'Mother" here, just Isabella." Isabella pulled her motorcycle up next to her daughter's and killed the engine.

"Yes, Isabella." Eliza's voice replied teasingly, as she took off her gloves and helmet, sliding off her bike. "As long as you remember… no public dismemberment. Though it might make us slightly more popular around here, high school being what it is, I doubt it would be a good thing in the long run."

Isabella took off her gloves and helmet, looking over at Eliza as she did, she genuinely laughed. "I think that's been more your territory than mine if I recall correctly." She didn't even spare Edward a glance as she dismounted her motorcycle then followed Eliza toward the school. Edward frowned slightly and took a step forward, as if he thought she might not have seen him, opening his arms slightly as if offering Isabella an embrace.

"That happened ONE time." Eliza retorted, her amusement as much about Edward's reaction as it was to the comment.

"It happened twice." Isabella said, not once glancing at Edward or the Cullens as she followed her daughter toward the school.

"I hope you don't mean Ibiza! That was in a club, and they all thought it was just a statue. It doesn't count." Eliza replied haughtily

"In front of 100 people, on stage, I don't think it gets much more public than that. You're just lucky everyone was plastered, and were more concerned with the band setting their instruments on fire. Otherwise there could have been trouble!" Isabella retorted, following her daughter into the school. As they approached the door, they both heard Edward call out "Bella!" when it sunk in that she wasn't coming to him; they both completely ignored it.

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Eliza led Isabella to the office, which was hardly necessary since it was in the same place that it had been nearly a century ago when she'd originally come to the school.

When they arrived the same secretary Eliza had met before greeted them with a pleasant smile, and she winked at Eliza. "This must be your sister, Isabella. Does she bite too?"

The secretary grinned as she slid a schedule across to Isabella, failing to notice Isabella's stunned expression before Eliza replied, "Oh yes, sometimes worse than I do!" Which made the secretary giggle before making sure Isabella had her schedule and sent her on her way.

When they left, Isabella glared at Eliza, and Eliza just grinned, guiding them to their lockers. Isabella's was right next to Eliza's which was convenient, and they deposited helmets, gloves then Eliza hung up her jacket. "Relax, it was just a joke, she told me to be careful but no one bites, and I said it was okay, sometimes I do. Now do you think you can find your way to your first class or do you need me to guide you?"

Isabella laughed, Eliza had given her mother replays of her school days the night before, so she was relatively familiar with the layout and the same people her daughter was. "I'm sure I'll be fine. My first class is English. So I'm on the second floor. If we don't have class together again until lunch, meet back here right before?"

"See you then!" Eliza nodded and then spun on her heels to head to her class, a little skip in her step.

Isabella watched her go for several long moments, well aware of the stares she was receiving from several students along the hallway. She was surprised that none of them had found the courage to approach her. When she turned around to head to the stairs, she found out why, as she came face to face with Edward Cullen.

He stepped too close, entering her personal space, and Isabella froze in shock. Edward seemed to misinterpret her reaction because he smiled that lopsided grin that had once made Isabella go weak in the knees. He murmured softly, "It really is you… My Bella," and reached his hand out to brush his fingers over her cheek.

Just before his fingers made contact with her cheek, Isabella recovered from her momentary shock, her hand snapped up and encircled Edward's wrist in a crushing grip, scowling at him. She half snarled, half hissed in a voice too low for anyone to overhear. "My name is Isabella. It's been a very long time since I was your anything. And if you ever think of touching me again, make sure it's with a body part you're willing to part with." She increased the strength of the grip on his wrist until he flinched and tugged his arm back instinctively. She waited just an extra second and then she released it.

Edward's reacted with utter shock, as he stared at first his arm and then at her, horror crossing his features. "Bella… Thi… this isn't you! What did the Volturi do to you?"

Isabella blinked, a look of pure amazement crossing her face before sneering at his sickeningly pretty visage. "You are a fool, sublimely arrogant in your ignorance. Life does not stop and start at your convenience you miserable bastard. I know pain; I know it so well it's become a part of me; my most faithful companion. Come near me again and I'll share my knowledge of it with… you. You won't like that… at all. I'll hurt you in ways you cannot even begin to imagine." Her eyes were black as night, despite her camouflage, hinting at the agonizing truth of her words.

She stepped around him brusquely, leaving him slack-jawed and stunned, standing in the middle of the hallway. She climbed the stairs and strode to her English class. There was something so … ridiculous about him trying to blame everything that happened on the Volturi, it took all her self control not to rip his arm off on the spot.

She arrived in front of class, taking a moment to compose herself before entering the classroom. The teacher looked up in surprise as Isabella handed her the slip the secretary had given her for the teachers to sign. "Oh, you're Isabella I…I…Irutlov? Did I say that right?"

Isabella nodded as she took the slip of paper back, along with the book the teacher handed her. "That's right."

"Well, go ahead and find a seat, you can take a couple days to get caught up with the readings." She glanced at the slightly weathered textbook then she turned to find a seat. She felt the eyes of every student in the room on her as she glanced around. Unfortunately the room was nearly full and there was only one seat available, near the back.

Isabella rolled her eyes slightly as she made her way back to the seat. "How apropos, my first class and the only seat available is next to Rosalie Cullen." She thought to her daughter who was on the other side of the school in another classroom.

"Well look at it this way, after you managed not to rip Edward into small chunks, Rosalie should be easy." Eliza's voice snickered back in her mind, as Isabella took a seat next to Rosalie, who glared at her as she came to sit down then turned her head away.

When Rosalie didn't speak up, the student ahead of Isabella turned in his seat and held out his hand, with a pleasant smile. "Hi there, I'm Samuel, welcome to Forks High."

Isabella hesitated only a second before smiling and shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you, I'm Isabella."

He nodded and looked slightly guilty. "I know, pretty much the entire school saw you and your sister get here this morning."

Isabella grinned and shrugged, "Well, we have to get to school somehow." Samuel grinned and laughed, but more conversation was cut off as the teacher stood up to begin to discussing the previous evening's reading material.

Isabella contented herself with idly doodling on a notebook, drawing little eyes in the margins. Finally the teacher spoke up and announced they would be partnering up to discuss the reading selection and its' themes. The professor looked at Isabella and smiled, "Miss… Irutlov you and Miss Rosalie Hale can work together. She knows this material very well, she ought to be able to help you along."

Isabella rolled her eyes and shifted her desk slightly closer to Rosalie's in an effort to make it look as if they were working together. Rosalie did the same, it wasn't until the teacher looked like he may walk over to investigate the lack of speech between the two that Rosalie finally spoke up, her voice a murmur too soft for anyone close enough to hear, she still managed to keep her voice haughty. "So Bella, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Isabella quirked an eyebrow up in challenge, and decided to feign ignorance. "The name is Isabella, and for what? You don't have to catch me up on the reading. Romeo and Juliet has been read and critiqued as much as any document in history, I seriously doubt that you and I are going to produce any earth shaking new insights."

"You know that's not what I mean; you're one of us now." Rosalie seemed blithely ignorant of Isabella's bon motte, her tone challenging.

"Your grasp of the obvious is truly awe inspiring." Isabella retorted dryly. "With a keen mind like that you might have a future as a meteorologist… so long as there's an open window nearby."

Rosalie blinked, caught off guard. She hadn't expected the sharp response, and her own response was off balance. "Okay, well... how did it happen?"

Isabella moved her lips up into something that wasn't quite a smile, but it was enough to make Rosalie shiver slightly. "A magical fairie appeared and covered me with magical dust then told me to think happy thoughts. Well I was an epic fail so far as happy thoughts went and when I actually did manage to get a few feet off the ground, the first thing I did was fly headfirst into a tree. She decided flying wasn't for me, so a little bippity, boppity, boo and here I am."

Rosalie scowled at Isabella, and sneered "I'm asking a genuine question, there's no need to be snotty about it."

Isabella looked up and met Rosalie's amber eyes with her own dark brown ones. "Well, you would certainly be the authority in regards to being snotty, wouldn't you? Actually, you always perplexed me Rosalie. Normally someone as narcissistic and self-absorbed as you tends to make up for it with something positive… like a sense of humor."

Rosalie blinked in surprise, this was not the Bella that Rosalie remembered, and she wasn't quite sure how to respond. There were several minutes of silence between the two. The bell was about to ring when Rosalie spoke again. "You've been in the area for several days, known we were here and weren't considerate enough think it merited a visit out of courtesy?" Rosalie's golden eyes narrowed and met Isabella's brown ones.

The bell signaling the end of class rang before she could reply. Isabella stood up and then leaned over Rosalie's desk, bringing them eye to eye, mere inches between their faces. "You're right of course! I should have treated you with the same consideration and courtesy that you've always treated me with Rosalie... oh wait... that's right... you've not been considerate or courteous to me since the day we met. I'm far too delicate to describe how you've always treated others Rosalie, but it rhymes with witch." Isabella's voice was filled with sarcasm as she smirked, spun on her heel and walked out of the classroom, a surprised Rosalie staring after her as she left.

"I have to admit, that was a little bit cathartic." Isabella replayed the conversation for her daughter as she entered the hallway, glancing at her schedule as she went to her next class. Her daughter laughed in her thoughts.

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"Carlisle Cullen! My good friend, how are you?" Aro's voice attempted to project warmth but seemed to cross the line into creepiness, even via phone.

Carlisle had called several times to speak to Aro and he had been otherwise occupied. Aro had finally returned the call the next day.

"Hello Aro, I seem to be faring well. How are you?" Carlisle replied reclining in his office chair. He desperately wanted to get right to his questions, but knew it was better to display proper courtesy and decorum. Conversations with the Volturi always remained polite, a careless word could be remembered for decades or longer until they chose the appropriate time to return the impertinence; usually at the most inopportune of moments.

"I am doing well my friend. We've been a bit busy of late, as I know you've heard. Eliza tells me that you're now aware of the situation in the area, and that you know to be on your guard. But my coven is doing well. How about your coven? How does your clan fare?" Aro replied

"We are well. As you no doubt know, we've just settled back in Forks for a bit. But your family is actually part of why I was calling. I ran into some of the… newer members of your coven today. I had no idea you'd expanded your family." Carlisle replied a faint note of disappointment in his voice

"Well, it has been so long since you've visited, we've hardly had time to catch up, and you almost never call just to chat or anything." Aro's voice held disappointment of his own.

"Jasper visited you some 25 years ago to introduce you to our newest family member; you mentioned nothing about it then." Carlisle countered lightly.

"Ah yes, dear Adara, quite the addition for your family and for Jasper. Yet another convert to your rather… esoteric dietary lifestyle. Ah well. Anyway it didn't come up in our conversations, and the two of them didn't stay long enough to enjoy our hospitality." Aro said, disappointment in his voice once again.

"You didn't think to bring up that one of the new members of your family had a history with my family? I'm sure that you knew of the history." Carlisle asked, careful to keep his voice placid and not accusatory.

"Of course of course. Though it was a story she was reluctant to share. Her gift confounded mine just as it does your Edward's." Aro chuckled in an amused tone.

"You didn't answer my question." Carlisle gently reminded him.

"Oh, quite right, You'll pardon me; you know how I get distracted sometimes. Well, in this case the new addition went unmentioned deliberately. She specifically requested her presence not be made known to your family. At that point she had already become one of us, and I saw no reason to deny this personal request. Besides, your Edward decided she wasn't good enough for him, and your family obviously agreed, clearly she was of negligible value to you." Aro said, his voice calm, with a faint trace of smugness.

"We didn't abandon her. After a run in with another vampire, my son decided it was better if she had a chance to live her own life rather than being in danger because of our presence. Our family agreed, albeit some of us reluctantly. So we left the area." Carlisle said with a frown on his face.

"Ah, well my friend, you know what they say about the best of intentions and regrets." Aro said, his voice filled with sympathy and compassion, Carlisle was certain it was feigned.

"Quite so. I'll admit that I'm quite curious how you discovered her? While I admit her abilities are unique, usually you spend years determining whether or not to convert a human who has interested you. I'm even more curious as to how Eliza comes into play in this." Carlisle asked, as close to bluntly as possible.

Aro's voice hesitated, and he was thoughtful as he replied. "Ah… I see. Well you're aware of Isabella's presence, however if my daughter hasn't chosen to share her own story with you, than I shall honor her privacy, except to say she is likely to be in the area for some time. I mentioned to Eliza that your assistance in the matter today should go a long way toward keeping relations cordial. She agreed, so you know how to get in contact with them."

Carlisle sighed inaudibly, he was aware he had run into a stone wall regarding his questioning so he tried a different tack, "I was surprised to find out that you had approved any sort of relationship with the Quileutes, much less an alliance with them. Circumstances must be unique indeed to warrant an alliance of that nature."

Aro coughed delicately "I will confess it came as a surprise to us too. Isabella chose to offer the alliance, which makes it her responsibility. It was unexpected, Isabella rarely makes rash decisions, and it's more something I would have expected from Eliza. Caius was most displeased with the idea. It took us several hours for us to get through the conversation without him snarling every thirty seconds. You know how he feels about wolves. However the alliance has been forged and we will honor it. It may come to pass the alliance will provide insight into these disruptive attacks in so many places."

Carlisle frowned, noting the implied dismissal, "As this directly effects my family, can I trust that we'll be kept apprised of any developments?" Carlisle asked.

There was a pause before Aro replied thoughtfully, "I will instruct Isabella and Eliza to make sure that you are kept up on any developments that could directly impact you."

"Thank you, Aro." Carlisle said, sighing audibly, knowing that was the best he was going to get.

"Anytime my friend. I hope that circumstances will allow me to see you again sometime in the near future. I have missed your company. Be well." Aro said his voice pleasant before he ended the call.

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The rest of Isabella's morning classes went smoothly. She attended class, miraculously avoiding any more Cullens in her schedule. She met Brittanee and Jessica in her second period class, the two of them introduced themselves with "Hey, I'm Jessica and this is Brittanee spelled with two e's" as if Isabella should know who they were. Isabella was polite, but the two of them proceeded to dominate the entire conversation, preventing anyone else in the class from making introductions as they monopolized her time. It took Isabella all of two minutes to decide she detested them.

"Eliza, if you plan on sitting with me at lunch; you may have to reconsider your choice of tables." Isabella thought to her daughter as the teacher put in a movie to watch.

"Not that I'm terribly disappointed; but why?" Eliza answered.

"I have just had the pleasure of meeting 'Jessica and Brittanee with two e's'" Isabella replied dryly.

Eliza's response was laughter in her thoughts, "That's nothing; you haven't met Jennifer or Kevin. Those two make the airhead brigade seem downright cerebral."

"I thought my biggest challenge coming to school with you would be not to go nuts and try and rip the Cullens to shreds. I'm doing really well in that regard, but I swear if I have to sit at a table with those two bimbos, I'm going to stab one of them in the throat with a plastic spork." Isabella replied, her daughter giggled. Isabella managed to escape them after class, thankful to be going a different direction.

Isabella was relieved three class periods later, leaning against her locker, putting the books she doubted she'd ever use again away; waiting for Eliza.

"Hey! How were your morning classes?" Eliza's bright voice asked.

Isabella sighed and rolled her eyes, "Pretty much what I expected. A lot of repeat stuff and you already know the interesting parts. A lot of people asked if we're twins or something."

Eliza rolled her eyes and nodded. "I know, I got that question about ten times. Kevin even decided it would be amusing to make a joke about a threesome." Eliza made an icky face.

Isabella sighed and shook her head, "Seems like you've picked some winners to hang out with." She said sarcastically.

Eliza leaned against the locker beside her mother. "I didn't pick them, they picked me. I'm okay getting our own table at lunch."

"Good, because I would not have been as restrained as you were about Kevin's suggestion." Isabella said seriously.

"How do you know how restrained I was?" Eliza asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well I didn't hear any desperate cries of fear, any shattering glass from a body being defenestrated, or ambulance sirens." Isabella replied, chuckling, showing she was exaggerating, if only slightly.

"Tempting, but I told you that dismemberment was not a good thing. I could hardly justify doing it myself. Besides he was just trying to get a reaction. C'mon, let's go to lunch." Eliza shrugged.

Isabella walked beside Eliza giving her a rundown of her classes and teachers, it turned out they had many of the same teachers, just teaching the same classes at different times. They both got in line and picked up trays to carry their food.

"I think these are the same trays they used when I was here the first time." Isabella thought to her daughter, who snickered audibly in response.

The two of them went through the line picking different foods at random, since they hadn't planned to eat them anyway. Isabella followed Eliza into the main cafeteria and several things happened at once.

Isabella was prepared for some staring at least from those who hadn't already gotten their first glance of them. Nearly everyone in the cafeteria turned to look at them. A new girl with a motorcycle was news.

All but one of the Cullen's looked at Bella with varying expressions. Rosalie frowned, rather than scowled as if she still couldn't quite figure Isabella out Adara's expression was curious, the girl provoked such strong reactions in so many of her family members. Emmett seemed pleased, he was happy to see Isabella again even if the rest of his family member's weren't as pleased about it. Jasper was the only member of the family who wasn't looking at them, he was watching the other members of his family carefully, most specifically Edward and Alice.

Edward's reaction was halfway between a scowl and a thoughtful smile as he looked at the pair. It was clear he was trying to figure out how to handle them, how to change his approach so he wouldn't be so casually and easily rebuffed. Alice's mood seemed conflicted, full of desperate relief and wonder, but combined with sorrow.

Both Eliza and Isabella saw all of this, but what drew their attention happened immediately after they entered, two female cries of shock followed by the smack of hands hitting the tile floor of the cafeteria.

Most everyone's attention was turned now to the table where Eliza usually sat, two girls sprawled headlong whom Eliza recognized as Hailey and an ash blond girl dressed up in gothic apparel. They had both been tripped by Kevin's purposefully outstretched leg. Their trays of food were partially on them and partially on the floor. Kevin and his entire table were laughing, which encouraged people at other tables to laugh.

Eliza felt the surge of anger in her mother as Isabella slowly walked toward the table. "Mother remember, no dismembering!"

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Author's notes.

1) Yay new chapter!

2) I admit I have a bias against names like "Brittanee" because alot of times it seems like parents named their kid that just so that they could feel special in telling people about their child. "Oh my child's name is Kattie. Spelled with TWO t's." or "Jessicka with a ck" (or worse Jessykha) And yes it's totally a personal bias. I get that there are names that are naturally spelled differently. Sara and Sarah for example. Both perfectly acceptable. Katherine or Catherine. Again acceptable. (My mom was a moron. So. I'm totally not excusing her for this.)

The worst I've ever seen. (and i swear i thought this was made up at the time.) "La-a" Now I'm deaf. but i admit i was curious how a name like that was actually pronounced. So I asked my boss, (I work at the college I go to so i get weird names regularly) and she wrote it out for me. "La-a" = "La-DASH-ah" that's how you pronounce it. Seriously.

/end rant

3) The beginnings of the interactions with the Cullens. I hope you enjoyed the first "skirmish" with Edward. There will be more. He doesn't strike me as a fast learner.

5) NEXT CHAPTER. I PROMISE. BELLICE INTERACTION. However temper your expectations. It will only be a small start. I did not write all this story just for them to be "hey haven't seen you in a century" "Yeah. I love you" "I love you too!"

6) Giving a shout out to two reviewers!

Apathicus- Who caught an error we'd made in a previous chapter. (Not a minor grammar or spelling error.) Eliza referred to Isabella as "Mom" in front of Jasper. That was a sooner reveal than I wanted. So I've corrected it in the previous chapter.

Samantha Minuet- Who remembered in the first twilight book during the initial cafeteria scene that Alice does indeed leave before the rest of the Cullens. A minor detail i was very proud of referencing and THRILLED someone recognized.

7) Lastly, thank you for reading and sticking with the story, I know it's slow in developing. I wanted something different and sometimes provide details that probably make people roll their eyes. But I'm very proud of this. I *MIGHT* be wrong. But i think we've set a record for longest time before Alice and Bella meet in story (at least in a bellice fic). 20 chapters 60k+ words

Please read and review. I do read them I do respond, and it makes me want to write more.

If every person following or favoriting this story took a few minutes to write a review. I'd probably double the amount of reviews i have, and would have some more ideas of what i'm doing well and what you want to see improved upon.