-Chapter 21-
"I've got this. You help them." Isabella shot back, as she moved inexorably to the table, standing and glaring down at Kevin who was still in his seat.
Eliza sighed and stepped aside as Isabella passed, quickly joining the now mortified girls, who were still on their hands and knees. They were attempting to salvage and clean the mess the trays had made after Kevin tripped them. Eliza crouched down to help with the last few bits before offering the two a hand up.
Hailey accepted the help though she seemed surprised; the goth girl looked back and forth between Eliza's hand and her face several times as if trying to determine whether she was being tricked again. Finally she tentatively accepted the proffered help and let Eliza help her up. "No one should live in fear of random cruelty," Eliza thought, "but then, people are by far the cruelest of animals."
Eliza guided both girls to a table a safe distance from the brewing confrontation, and muttered "Stay here for a minute." before turning and heading back to where Isabella stood. Knowing her Mother's mind and thinking process so intimately, Eliza likened it to an approaching storm, the feeling was quite similar, that resigned conviction of knowing the best you could hope for was the storm left something besides devastation in it's wake.
Isabella glared down at Kevin, silently demanding an explanation. Kevin looked up at her with an insolent and unapologetic grin. "What do you want new girl? I slipped." He said, his voice sounded sarcastic without a hint of sincerity.
Isabella continued to stare daggers at him. In point of fact if looks could kill, he'd have been reduced to a puddle of curdled milk. A few seconds later he still hadn't shown any sign of remorse. "What? Oops. It was an accident." He said with a roll of his eyes, Isabella's stare making him feel the need to verbally puff his feathers.
Isabella scowled for another few seconds before she bent over. For a moment it looked like she was going to pick up one of the items the girls had spilled in the fall. Instead Isabella suddenly grabbed one of the legs of Kevin's chair and jerked it out from under him, flashing a grim smile as he toppled backwards. Isabella straightened up as he looked up in shock, but she wasn't finished. Isabella bent her arm at the elbow to lay her forearm on the table and then swept it forward, dumping the contents of Kevin's' tray upon him, covering him in his own lunch; drink and all.
There were several gasps from all around the room since the entire sequence of events took about five seconds. Silence descended as the entire student body gave up any pretense of ignoring the events. Isabella stood up straight and looked him in the eyes, and in the silence everyone heard her say "I guess I fucking slipped too."
It took Kevin several seconds to recover from the shock, but then he scrambled to his feet, stuttering "You.. you...! "
Isabella mimicked the same unapologetic and insolent grin he had shown her a few moments earlier. "What? Oops. It was an accident." She said mocking him deliberately, to be sure even someone of his obviously limited intellect understood.
He stepped forward, using his height and size advantage in an attempt to intimidate the smaller Isabella "You little bitch..."
Instead of being intimidated though, Isabella actually grinned up at him. "Taste of your own medicine not so pleasant?" she taunted him.
At this point his friends finally seemed to feel it was imperative they protect the honor of their leader. They scrambled to their feet to stand behind him in support.
"Mother..." Eliza's voice warned in Isabella's head. Eliza wasn't particularly concerned with causing a scene and she certainly wasn't worried about her mother's safety. She was more concerned that in the heat of the moment, her mother would forget that they were just humans and end up putting a fist through someone's chest.
"If they jump in, feel free to help. You know I'm in no danger, but it might be a bit suspicious if I beat them all senseless single-handedly. But otherwise, don't interfere." Isabella's voice responded flat and emotionless in Eliza's thoughts.
"I'm going to make you pay for this you fucking bitch." Kevin said.
"How?" Isabella challenged him and then she stepped forward, actually forcing Kevin to back up. "I'm not afraid of you. You're a pathetic coward."
As so often happened with him when thought failed to yield up any answers, an enraged Kevin resorted to violence.
Isabella saw the punch coming from a mile away. She hadn't really expected him to go this far when the confrontation began, so it was a surprise. But to someone with vampire reflexes, it was as if he'd phoned in his intentions. His fist swung forward, aiming for her jaw. For a vampire it was like watching a movie in slow motion, and Isabella idly counted to a thousand in her mind before she was forced to act. Isabella waited until just as she felt the fist begin to connect, to spin her head and upper body to the side. To Kevin and any non-vampire in the cafeteria, it looked all the world like he had just punched her in the face and the force had spun her around.
The cafeteria was absolutely still in silence. Occasionally a confrontation occurred in class or at lunch, but it was almost always just a heated exchange of words. Rarely did it devolve into outright blows. This was something altogether different.
Isabella slowly turned back, to face Kevin, her hand up on her jaw and she said, her voice ice cold. "Oh, I'm so glad you did that." And she swung her fist up into his stomach, not enough to permanently hurt him, but enough to knock the wind out of him.
Kevin doubled over with a gasp for a few seconds and then charged forward in an attempt to tackle her. Isabella had no room to maneuver out of the way so she rolled with his charge, twisting as he forced her to the floor and punching him in the left side, rewarded by the soft crack of a rib snapping. A sound she'd heard before, a sound which made her almost as happy as Kevin's ensuing, high pitched, scream did.
He rolled to one side, so Isabella rolled to the other side and got back to her feet; her arms down at her sides, clearly making no attempt to continue the confrontation. Kevin held his side grimacing in pain. Finally he looked to his friends. "What are you doing? Get her!"
Cameron and Jay each took a step forward, clearly intent on helping their leader. Neither of them got farther than a single step.
Jay gasped in surprise as his arm was grasped then twisted around and up behind his back. It was an iron grip he couldn't break and the more he struggled the more the arm twisted until he felt it was going to break. Turning his head he found himself looking down into the face of Eliza, who was scowling furiously. "I think it's better if you sit this one out." She said coldly.
Cameron was brought up just as sharply, as he suddenly felt a large muscular arm wrapped around his neck from behind in a simple and effective choke hold. Cameron's hands went up in a futile attempt to dislodge the arm from his throat, after several useless attempts, he turned his head and nearly swallowed his tongue.
He was being held by the only person in the school who was bigger than Kevin. Emmett Cullen's scowling face glared back at him, his top lip quivering in a sneer. Cameron immediately gave up all pretense of fighting back.
Isabella quickly glanced around the cafeteria and was stunned to see Rosalie staring at her with… something which looked a lot like approval. She dismissed her surprise as trivial and returned her attention to the matter at hand.
Seeing his two friends otherwise occupied, Kevin once more to charge Isabella. This time she stepped to the side at the last moment, grabbed his arm and flipped him in the air; in the same motion. It was the same move Eliza had used with Edward previously; albeit more slowly and with less force. The result was the same, Kevin ended up flat on his back, gasping.
Isabella knelt forward positioning her knee on his chest, just above his throat, pinning him easily. When she spoke her voice was clear and loud for everyone to hear. "You're nothing but a bully. Like all bullies, you're mostly talk. You've just been beaten up by a girl. Everyone here saw it. It ends now. You continue to try and bully anyone aside from me and everyone will know that you're doing it because you can't take me. If you pick on anyone else here ever again, then you will answer to me. You'll have to live as the boy who had his ass handed to him, over and over… by a girl."
When she received acknowledgement in Kevin's eyes, she slowly stood up. She turned to Eliza and nodded her head slightly. Eliza released Jay's arm, prompting a relieved gasp, followed by Emmett, who released Cameron a few seconds later with a scowl.
The two boys went to help their fallen comrade when Emmett spoke up. "Just to be clear. You mess with her, you mess with me." Kevin flinched hearing that, as he was helped gingerly to his feet, still holding his side.
The three of them left the lunch room, which remained in shocked silence. The sound of the ice machine next to the fountain drinks making a loud grinding noise as a freshman boy tried to get some ice sounded like a thunderclap in the room. All heads in the room turned to look in the direction of the sound. The boy blushed a bright red as if he'd just committed some great faux pas. Isabella rolled her eyes and shook her head. She completely ignored Emmett as she walked over to the table where Eliza had left Hailey and the goth girl.
Eliza hesitated a few moments and then smiled at Emmett pleasantly. "Thank you for the help. We... well I… appreciate it." She hesitated a moment before holding out her hand in an offer to shake.
Emmett smiled, caught off guard but pleased and reached out to take her hand. "No problem. I wasn't going to let her have all the fun." He said, glancing over at Isabella as Eliza shook his hand.
Eliza looked as if she were about to say more, but shook her head slightly, though her smile was still in place as she turned away to join Isabella at the table. Isabella hadn't said anything so Eliza broke the ice. "Hey Hailey, do you mind if we join you?"
Hailey looked at Eliza and blinked as if suddenly realizing where she was and then she shook her head and pointed at the seats across from her. "No no, please join us."
Eliza pulled out a chair and slid down in it, while Isabella pulled out another chair, spun it backwards and straddled it, crossing her arms and resting them on the back. Eliza smiled, "Hailey, you haven't met Isabella yet. Isabella, this is Hailey… and I'm sorry but we haven't been introduced." Eliza said to the ash blond girl, in black.
"It's nice to meet you." Hailey smiled and shook Isabella's outstretched hand before nudging her friend to do the same.
"Sorry, I'm Madison." the girl said quietly and glanced down, her eyes on her hands.
Hailey glanced over at the table where Jennifer, Brittanee and Jessica remained, glaring daggers at Isabella. "You know you didn't have to do that for us right?"
Isabella shrugged as if she didn't have a care in the world, "I don't like bullies. He's a bully. It would have happened sooner or later, I just figured it was better to address it immediately than let something like that pass. I'm sorry you two were the catalyst. Was it normal for him to pick on you or did you just happen to be a target of opportunity?"
Hailey frowned, her eyes sad and then looked down at the table a moment. "It's easy to pick on people that are different." She shrugged slowly, as if trying to indicate that it wasn't a big deal. "That was pretty normal for us. Madison stepped over his leg without breaking stride, but I wasn't thinking and he managed to trip me. Usually I'm better about avoiding it. We tend to be pretty popular targets."
Eliza and Isabella both tilted their heads curiously, though it was Eliza that spoke up. "What do you mean?"
Hailey took a breath and glanced around at the cafeteria. The buzz of chatter had finally started to pick up again, though it was all soft murmurs about what had just happened. Hailey swallowed, "I'm surprised no one has told you yet."
Isabella was tossing an apple back and forth between her hands, "What's the big secret? Are you two like… voodoo witches or something?" She winked as if they were all delighted co-conspirators.
Both Madison and Hailey blinked in surprise and stared at Isabella speechless before Eliza spoke up, rolling her eyes "She's kidding."
Hailey finally reached over and grabbed Madison's hand, intertwining their fingers together. "We're gay. And we're together, and if you want to save yourself from being social pariahs then it's generally best not to be associated with us."
Isabella and Eliza blinked, looked at each other, and then Eliza threw her head back and laughed while the more taciturn Isabella merely smirked. Hailey and Madison both looked at them as if they'd both sprouted a second head.
Eliza was the first to recover her composure though her response was broken up by giggles. "Isabella just beat up one of the 'cool kids'. I think becoming social pariahs is inevitable; I'm not sure the meter has been invented which could measure just how little we care.
Hailey glanced around before grinning at Isabella, "That was pretty awesome."
"As for the whole gay thing; let's just say you're not the only one with interests in that area." Eliza chuckled softly, looking somewhat self-conscious, though both Hailey and Madison raised their eyebrows to look at the pair of them.
"So if you're okay with company, we can totally be pariahs together." Isabella said, without the slightest bit of humor in her voice.
The rest of the table burst out in laughter at her earnest statement; laughter; uncaring of the attention they were getting.
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Isabella left the lunchroom amused; she'd spent the rest of lunch getting to know Hailey and Madison, and had to admit they were fun to talk to. Madison seemed much more stand-offish than Hailey did, but by the end of lunch even she had loosened up a little bit.
It wasn't until she was to her next class that she realized that, aside from a cursory glance at Rosalie, during the confrontation and following conversation she hadn't once thought about the reaction of the Cullen family to her presence. She had been surprised but inwardly pleased when Emmett had intervened in the fight to help her. She hadn't needed the help but his intervention made things a lot simpler. She simply didn't care about their reactions and to her that represented major improvement.
Isabella hurried slightly to the class she was most looking forward to, Art class. She entered the class room and handed the art teacher her slip. The teacher was a younger guy, probably just a year or two out of college who smiled pleasantly at Isabella and then gestured for her to take a seat.
Isabella sighed as she moved toward the back of the room. The room was set up with tables, two people to a table. "Of course there's only one table left to sit down at, and of course it has to have a Cullen."
"You'll be fine mother. Just keep your temper in check. Emmett wasn't so bad at lunch." Eliza's voice replied, more seriously than normal.
Isabella didn't bother replying as she moved toward the empty space next to Alice Cullen.
Isabella didn't say anything to Alice as she approached, and only glanced at her out of the corner of her eyes. She looked as good as always. She wore a dark vest over a white button up shirt, to go along with a grey skirt, her dark hair still in the stylish, spiked cut she'd always favored.
Isabella remembered the acute, albeit mixed, feelings of envy and admiration she'd once felt about Alice's sense of style, composure and zest for life. That truly was another life she thought. It may even have been a better life, but it was gone now. Isabella took a deep breath. Her senses were more acute now. But Alice even smelled the same. The scent of cinnamon with a hint of lilacs When Isabella was human, she had never gotten up the courage to ask her whether it was a perfume or something else
Unlike Isabella, Alice had no compunction at all about watching every movement Isabella made. Alice openly stared as Isabella walked to the only vacant seat. Her expression of absolute attention even made Isabella feel a little self conscious, enough to cause her to shift in her seat.
After Isabella took her seat, the teacher handed out sketchbooks to the entire class, and Alice took one mechanically, her eyes never leaving Isabella.
Isabella took the sketch pad that was given to her and set it in front of her as the teacher explained they'd be attempting to sketch the fruit in the bowl. A rather simple exercise but one intended to kick off the next few weeks of art lessons. Alice didn't even bother to turn to and look at the bowl.
There were low murmurs around the class as people began talking quietly and drew. The teacher obviously didn't object. Isabella tried to focus on the fruit in front of her, and began to sketch light lines. She had intended just to ignore Alice, but finally couldn't take the prolonged stare any more. She turned and looked Alice full in the face, her dark brown eyes meeting Alice's amber ones.
"You could always take a picture they last longer." Isabella murmured, her voice, which had been filled with sarcasm, was softer than she intended as her eyes locked with Alice's.
"You're really here." Alice said, almost reverently. Her eyes met Isabella's, and she seemed confused by her eye color. She had brown eyes. But Alice could easily tell that Isabella wasn't wearing contacts and she didn't understand how it was possible. The question seemed irrelevant as she reveled in the proof that Isabella was alive.
Isabella opened her mouth to speak and memories resurfaced unbidden. Alice wrapping her arms around Isabella's waist and settling in under the crook of her arm. Alice tugging her along by her hand from store to store in the shopping mall, Isabella being dragged behind her, protesting half-heartedly. Alice talking to her. never watching the road as she drove, trusting her visions to warn her of any danger. Alice's laughter each time she managed to convince Bella to do something social or outlandish.
Those were just a few of a hundred memories that ran involuntarily her mind when she met Alice's eyes, along with unexpected emotions. The trust, the camaraderie, the feeling Isabella had felt, as if she had found someone closer than a sister. There was a time Isabella would have laid down her life without hesitation for any member of the Cullen family. Then the rush of hurt and betrayal that followed at being abandoned and the memories of what happened since. The conflicting emotions stunned Isabella. For nearly a century the only thing she'd felt towards any of the Cullens was hurt and anguish, then an icy rage, a cold hatred which had never gone away. It was akin to the small static shock one sometimes feels after walking upon carpet, a slight jolt which is impossible to ignore.
Alice's own memories flashed through her mind, as she looked at Isabella's face. A face which had haunted her thoughts. The face she thought lost to her forever. Alice remembered how often she'd watched that face from afar, wanting nothing more than to walk over and kiss her lips. But forcing herself to be content with being her best friend.
Alice's mind turned over and over just how many time their eyes had met and how often this simple, innocent act would make Bella to smile or grin, which in turn would make Alice smile. She looked for any hint of a smile on Bella's face. Any hope some these memories were shared. But Isabella's expression didn't even flicker. She waited for the expected frown of anger or sneer that might conceal injured feelings. Or the biting of a bottom lip that would mean she was hiding hurt. But Isabella's face showed nothing like that. Alice frowned in confusion, the expression that stayed on Bella's face was one of… boredom?
"Yes, I'm really here." She said blandly. She managed to keep her voice relatively uninterested and calm despite the storm of emotions raging through her as her eyes remained locked with Alice's, unwilling or unable to look away. She wasn't sure which. "I must say your entire family seems to have an amazingly firm grasp on the obvious." Isabella continued her voice almost thoughtful. One didn't get as far as Isabella had within the Machiavellian structure of the Volturi without a good poker face.
Alice flinched backward slightly at the utter indifference in Isabella's tone. Since she had found out Isabella was alive she expected many things. Alice expected Isabella to be angry, or hurt. She'd prepared herself for accusations, recriminations, or righteous indignation. What she wasn't prepared for was Isabella to sound apathetic, utterly without feeling for her. Alice didn't know how to react so she turned back to face the bowl of fruit. She stared at the bowl of fruit blinking regularly in an attempt to keep tears she couldn't even shed at bay.
Alice wondered if all of the years she'd spent missing Bella, all the years she pined for her, and hidden behind a smile, kept thinking happy thoughts, just to make things seem normal… was all a waste. She hadn't expected Isabella to just run to her and resume their old friendship. But… Alice had expected some sort of emotional reaction. Some sort of signal their relationship had meant something to the girl. Unless Bella's acting skills had improved by leaps and bounds over the years… it seemed like Isabella was utterly apathetic to Alice's presence. Nothing Isabella could have done at that moment could have hurt Alice more.
Isabella almost winced at the expression of naked hurt on Alice's face. She just thought of all the other things she had thought of saying in a moment like this, then truly wondered what someone would say in a moment like this or there had ever been a moment like this. Nothing seemed right. Isabella couldn't think of anything to say, especially since she had this… inexplicable urge to comfort Alice. Isabella worked half heartedly on her own drawing for a few minutes before she spoke up again.
"I noticed your family has a new member." She said, keeping her voice to a low murmur.
Alice hesitated and then nodded slowly. "That's Adara. She's... she's Jasper's mate." She said her voice dropping to a low whisper.
Isabella was genuinely surprised, enough for her to frown in confusion and turn to look back at Alice. "I thought he was your mate."
Alice hung her head and shook it lightly, not turning to meet Isabella's eyes. "No..." Alice hesitated before continuing, "We were always friends. We were lovers but we knew we weren't mates. Jasper found Adara about 50 or 60 years ago. They were practically made for each other."
Isabella frowned further, still confused. She had seen with her own eyes the closeness Adara had with Jasper but Jasper not being with Alice really threw her off and somehow pleased her in a way she dismissed as vindictiveness "So... you and he... broke up and you were okay with it?"
Alice shrugged as her hands halfheartedly sketched the fruit bowl. "Like I said, we were always friends. I wasn't going to try and stand between him and his mate. And Adara may be a bit sarcastic at times but she is sweet and they're a perfect match."
Before Isabella could stop the words from escaping her mouth she asked, "What about you?"
Alice shrugged again, this time the indifference about herself was genuine. "What about me? Jasper and I are still friends. We still care for one another; but he's with the right person now."
Isabella's brow furrowed even further, an inexplicable dread settling in her stomach, "No, I mean who are you with?"
Alice's lips turned up in a smile that was utterly without humor and reminded Isabella of something, though she couldn't quite put her finger on what, "No one, I don't have a mate. I gave up on that years before I lost Jasper."
Again with that strange static shock type feeling. Bella had been around very few humans and only the Volturi or vampires she intended to kill in the last 90 years, she decided she must be suffering a bit from acclimating all the new conditions which surrounded her now.
Isabella turned back to her sketch. Something about the entire conversation bothered her on a level that she hadn't thought possible. To Isabella there was something inherently wrong with Alice being alone. The Alice that Isabella remembered practically lived to please other people, she practically glowed around a happy environment. She took more enjoyment out of doing things for others and just being with others than she did in doing anything for her own gratification. That Alice was happy and sparkling and laughing all the time, any time.
Isabella wondered what happened. This Alice was so completely different. This Alice was depressed and withdrawn. Isabella was certain of one thing, she was hurting, the type of hurt that takes years to fester and grow. The old Alice seemed to embrace life with an energy and excitement that was unparalleled and hard not to take part in. This Alice barely seemed to care. What was also shocking to her, a bolt from nowhere, for just an instant, just a millisecond was Isabella wondering what could be done about it, before she forcibly thrust that thought from her mind. But it was Alice's eyes that struck Isabella the most. There was something off, and hauntingly familiar about them.
Isabella chewed on her bottom lip as she considered, trying to put her finger on what it was that bothered her so much about it all, before she realized that she had seen Alice's utterly apathetic, resigned expression only two times before in her life. When it clicked in her head, she was shocked she hadn't realized it earlier. She saw that same expression in the eyes of Marcus Volturi, though it extended to his face and voice as well. She mentally speculated whether Marcus had been that way before his wife, Didyme, was murdered.
Before Isabella could say anything, if indeed she had anything to say, the bell rang. Alice darted out of her seat, turning in her sketchbook without bothering to look or speak to the teacher, and was out the door before Isabella had a chance to say anything, her mind still racing.
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Author's notes-
So. In what i'm sure no one was waiting for... Alice and Bella meet.
*sarcasm* ^_^
Once again, massive thanks to my Co-Author DarkBella! She keeps this rolling!
1) Firstly. I hate bullies. These are people who are cruel and belittle others and do their best to make their lives hell because it makes them feel a little bit better about their own miserable existences. Karma is a bitch. (Shout out to Ems724 on this one! You're not alone. *hugs* )
2) I really really hope this didn't disappoint any of you for a first meeting. There's 100 years of history there it can't be resolved in one meeting or one interaction. I put alot of thought into this. . I PROMISE you won't have to wait another 20 chapters for another interaction. Alice's role is going to grow in this story, but... I hope and pray you all think I captured the emotions correctly.
3) I've had a few pm's asking me questions. Most of which have been very flattering. The most oft repeated is how I get such a handle on people's reactions. (or why i spend so much time on them) What I try and do is put my head into each character. I literally sit there and try and put my head into Bella's, how the character as I've established her would handle certain things, how she'd react. And then I do it again and again. for every character. Even the minor ones. It helps keep the feeling and the mood of a story consistent.
4) DarkBella's author's notes: "Kathryn wasn't supposed to mention the part about me spanking or whipping the story in her last chapters author's notes."
5) Psh. I'm just jealous of the story.
6) Please read and review! I know this initial meeting has been building up for so long. I really want to know how you felt about it! How did we do? Did you like it/hate it/ambivalent? Let us know!
Next chapter: Someone's a slow learner.
