"How are you going to tell your parents?" - Angela asked, biting her lip anxiously.
"I'll just tell them," Bella said with a twitch of her chin.
They walked together from school through the wet, tar-scented, pine-scented forest. Even though spring had only officially begun a week and a half ago, instead of beautiful fluffy snow, cold downpours had already fallen on Forks.
"They're going to kill you!" - Angela exclaimed.
"I don't care. I can't take it anymore, Angie. They scream every day. And they keep trying to drag me into it," Bella sniffed her nose, remembering last night's family scandal-the most powerful one she'd had in months. - "Charlie promised to buy me a car if I told him I hated Phil and stayed with him. And Renee promises me a trip to Europe if I move in with Phil. I hate them already. Both of them".
"Bells, it happens. It'll get better," her friend patted her on the shoulder. - "You just wait a year, and then we'll go off to college together. Take your time".
"I don't want to wait. I want to get out of here right now!" - Bella stubbornly declared.
They were already outside Bella's house, with Charlie's car and Renee's car parked next to it. So they were both home. It was time to tell them everything.
Whatever happens, that's what happens.
"I'm going, Angie," Bella said, struggling to move her trembling legs. - "Wish me luck".
"Maybe you'll change your mind. - Angela looked at her hopefully. - "You passed the tests. But you haven't signed the contract yet".
"I'll tell them I did. I've made up my mind, Angie," Bella said firmly. - "I'm going to be stronger. And everyone will respect me. I'm tired of being a mouse and a weapon in my parents' war".
"Good luck, Bella," Angela said with tears in her eyes, and Bella pushed the door open, breathing in her chest.
She heard Renee's loud voice immediately.
"Bella's coming to live with us, Charlie. That's what she wants. What will she doing in the middle of nowhere?"
"In this backwater, Renee, all her friends and her beloved father!" - Charlie shouted equally loudly. "And, by the way, she said your Phil is looking at her like she wasn't his daughter!"
"Swan, are you out of your mind?" - Renee practically squealed. - "You've lost your shame! "
"Have I lost my shame? You brought your lover here, and you almost fuck him in front of all of Forks! And you're still my wife!" - Charlie declared, frowning. - "And all in front of our daughter!"
Bella wiped her muddy boots on the old rug and slammed the door so loudly that the glass in the wall cabinet rattled, and my parents turned around.
"Bella, you're home from school now..." Renee muttered confusedly.
Charlie coughed as if his throat were constipated, and sat down on the couch in front of the TV so he wouldn't get up again until late at night.
"Wait, Dad," Bella said in a hushed voice. - There's something I have to tell you both. I won't... I won't live with either of you".
"What?" Renee exclaimed in amazement.
"What do you mean, neither of us?" - Charlie was taken aback.
"I'm leaving," Bella said. - "In three days".
Renee and Charlie looked at each other, trying to figure out which one of them had made Bella say that stupid thing.
"To "Parris Island," Bella said.
"Parris Island? What kind of place is that, and why would you go there?" - Renee wondered, and her father's face pulled up. He knew the name, of course.
"It's the Marine Corps Recruit Depot," said Bella. - "I wasn't on a tour two weeks ago. I was taking my enlistment tests and signing my contract".
There was silence in the living room of the Swan home, and Bella could even hear a fly buzzing across the TV screen.
"Bella, this is a joke, right?" - Renee asked with a strange smile.
"No, it's not a joke," Bella replied, and suddenly she felt her shoulders loosen and her temples were free of dull pain for the first time in five months.
She looked up at her parents' long faces, and quickly went up to her room.
As she closed the door, she heard Renee scream:
"Swan, because of you my daughter may be sent to war! I hate you!"
Closing the door on the inside, Bella fell face down on the bed and pulled out her phone and called Angela.
"I told them, Angie".
"And what did they?"
"They don't care. Now they're blaming it on each other," Bella said, listening to the screams coming from downstairs.
"Are you really going to do this?" - Angela asked quietly.
"Yes, Angie," Bella smiled bitterly, and tears ran down her cheeks. - "I guess I'd be better off at war than with my own parents... "
The Forks High School concert hall hummed like a swarm of wild bees.
Bella and Angela walked together to the third row and sat apart from the others.
"And they didn't try to talk you out of it?" - Angela asked.
"Of course they did. Charlie promised me a new game console if I turned it down, and Renee promised me a $300 prom dress. They didn't even realize that that was part of the reason I was leaving. I can't stand their eternal bargaining. I feel like an item that's being auctioned off".
Mr. Green, the principal, came on stage and clapped his hands, calling for silence.
Bella, who had never been interested in social life, was immediately absorbed in her cell phone, and only a sharp push on her shoulder from Angela snapped her out of her game battles.
"Bells..." Angela whispered.
"What?" hissed Bella, who'd missed the opportunity to make an awesome shot at the virtual bowling alley because of Angela.
"Listen," her friend said, and Bella listened reluctantly to the director's chatter.
"As you already know, Marine Corps recruiters came to our school two weeks ago," Principal Green said solemnly. - "And four of our students have chosen to serve in the United States Marine Corps, which is an honorable and sacred path. Right now, the entire world is fighting the most serious threat in the history of mankind - global terrorism. On September 11th, terrorism came into the home of every American family. And we must show our enemies that we are not afraid, that we are willing to defend our homes, our loved ones, our values, and a peaceful future for all mankind. As I said, four of our students have signed up to be recruits. And in order to arrive at the recruiting station on time, our heroes are forced to complete their training in advance and miss graduation. So I would like to invite them to the stage now so that we can wish them to serve their country with dignity, hand them their graduation certificates and tell them how much we admire their choice, their courage and their love for their country!"
"Oh, shit," Bella muttered, her head cocked to her shoulders. - "I thought he was just going to give me my diploma in his office".
Bella didn't want to go on stage in front of the whole school right now.
"Let's all welcome our heroes together," Principal Green exclaimed, and first called out the names of three of Bella's classmates, the main starters of the baseball team. Bella hoped she was lucky to be forgotten, but the headmaster puffed up his chest and blurted out: - "Isabella Swan!"
"Oh, shit," Bella said, as she felt everyone around her begin to look for her in their ranks.
The three baseball players, smiling proudly with the cheers of the audience, were already on the stage. Bella smiled nervously at Angela and followed them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the look of incredible amazement on the face of the school's head queen, Jessica Stanley, who had loved to pick on Bella in high school until Charlie had had a serious talk with her parents.
Climbing onto the stage, Bella looked out into the audience. Hundreds of pairs of eyes stared at her with burning curiosity. Half of the Forks High School students staring at her now probably heard for the first time today that one Isabella Swan was studying with them, who suddenly found herself in the spotlight along with the most handsome and popular boys in the school.
"Now in the front row are your parents, whom I personally want to thank for raising real Americans, real patriots," Principal Green exaltedly continued his speech. - "Please come up on the stage to your children".
The parents of the baseball players immediately came up to them and stood beside their sons. Only Bella stood in front of the principal, not at all proudly alone.
Thinking that getting her diploma would be a mere formality, Bella ignored the principal's request and called neither Charlie nor Renee to school today.
"Where are your parents, Miss Swan?" - Principal Green asked in a whistling whisper.
"They're... very busy," Bella lied, embarrassed.
The headmaster snorted unhappily that Bella had ruined his holiday scenario, but immediately, like a professional official, returned the solemn smile to his face.
"You've made the most important choice of your lives," he said with pathos, shaking hands with the four of them. - "I am sure you will bring glory to our Forks. You're the best of the best, and we're all proud of you!"
Bella looked at the three guys, who were a head taller than her, flashing white-toothed smiles and looking like real wrestlers, and her inner voice immediately screamed hysterically: "Isabella Swan, you're out of your mind!"
"Angie, it's my fault you're going to miss the whole year," Bella sighed as she tucked her diploma into her bag.
They walked down the corridor, and everyone they met looked at them with curious glances, and some even tried to shake Bella's hand and wish her good luck.
Bella Swan had never received so much attention in her life, which she was unaccustomed to, and wanted to get rid of as quickly as possible. She even had to answer the questions of some media correspondent, and the journalist, as it turned out, came specially for that from Seattle.
"Because while you were talking me into going to college together, you missed out on all the grants," Bella said guiltily.
"It's okay," she brushed her friend off. - "I'll be helping my parents, babysitting the twins and the neighborhood kids. I like being a nanny. I'll qualify for a scholarship next year".
Instead of going home, Bella decided to go to Angie's house. Her cozy little cottage was always quiet and peaceful, not like the war zone that Bella's house had become lately.
Once they'd climbed into Angela's room and closed the door, the girls flopped down on the couch, and Bella spoke:
"Angie, your father has a hair clipper, doesn't he?"
"Well, yes, he does," replied her friend with surprise. - "It was Grandpa's. He never went to a hairdresser, as a matter of principle. Why do you need it?"
"I want to get a haircut," said Bella, and Angie stared at her in amazement.
"Bella, why? You have such beautiful hair!" - Angela exclaimed.
Beautiful? Bella glanced in the mirror on the closet door. The wind had tangled her brown locks below her shoulders, making her already young face look childish. Bella picked up her hair and made a ponytail out of it.
Now instead of an elementary schoolgirl, she was looking at a middle schoolgirl.
Yeah, no one would take a Marine like that seriously...
"You've seen G.I. Jane, haven't you?" - Bella asked.
"No. I don't like action movies, you know that," Angela said.
Yeah, you couldn't imagine a more peaceful person than Angie.
"But you saw the main character, didn't you? She's played by Demi Moore," Bella reminded her. "She cut her hair to show that she's a real Navy SEAL".
"You want to shave your hair?" - Angie looked at her friend with horror.
"Not zero, but about two inches, like your father's," Bella said enthusiastically. - "I want to change my life. And in order to do that, I have to change, too. You know how to use this machine, don't you?"
"I do," Angela answered, confused. - "But I don't like the idea, Bells".
"I know what I'm doing, Angie," said Bella.
Angela cut her hair very carefully. And before she started, she asked Bella ten times if she was sure of her decision. But Bella was adamant. She wanted to be different. Because the Bella Swan she was now, it was as if she didn't exist at all. Even the school bullies, who thought they were queens, hadn't been picking on her in recent years - she was so boring and inconspicuous.
"Done," Angela said, and Bella thought her friend was going to cry.
Bella purposely didn't look in the mirror during the haircut to see the effect at once. When she opened her eyes, she even stiffened. In the mirror was not her, but some boy.
A frightened, confused boy with round brown eyes. Just as insecure as Bella Swan.
Great. She went from being a girl-loser to a boy-loser...
"God, Bells, what have we done," Angela muttered in horror.
"It's okay, Angie," Bella said nonchalantly, trying to get used to the unfamiliar reflection she saw in front of her. - It was my decision. And I alone will be responsible for it.
"You sound like a real Marine," Angela laughed.
"So I got what I wanted," Bella laughed with her.
Bella came home two hours later, slamming the door loudly. The new haircut suddenly gave her determination. Though she guessed the new look wouldn't make her parents happy, she didn't care anymore.
Charlie rose from the couch toward her, muffling the sounds of the baseball game. He grunted when he saw her new haircut and wanted to yell at first, but he suddenly held back.
"Bella, I see you've taken this job seriously, but I think you're making a mistake," he said with the restraint of a fatherly sternness in his voice. - "It's not a job for a young girl. And certainly not for a girl who's been reading books since childhood, not running through the woods with a rifle, like Leah Clearwater. I can imagine her in the Marines... You stopped going hunting with them because you was sick of the dirt and Harry's vulgar jokes. And it gets worse out there," he paused, then suddenly asked: - "Is this about your mother and me getting divorced?"
Bella looked at him in surprise. For Charlie, such insight was a clear breakthrough. But she decided not to say anything and listened to what he had to offer first.
"Renee and I will try to work something out," Charlie said, but suddenly a disheveled Renee jumped out of the room and blurted out:
"Bella, you're not going into the Marines! I talked to a lawyer. You can't sign a contract yourself if you're under eighteen. And I didn't give my consent! "
With that tirade, Renee looked at her daughter triumphantly. Bella sighed and spoke:
"I'm eighteen now".
"What?" Renee's eyes widened.
"Just because you weren't at my birthday party doesn't mean it didn't happen," Bella said.
Renee shook her head and turned to Charlie:
"You didn't even bother to call me!"
"What kind of mother are you if you can't remember when your daughter's birthday is! " - Charlie retorted.
"Maybe I don't remember it, but I spent my whole life taking care of Bella all by myself while you drank at the bar with the guys and played poker with them," Renee said. - "You didn't do anything for your own daughter!"
"And you did? You ran off with your lover and left her. You know how they looked at her at school because her mother acted like a real whore!"
"I'm a whore? And who are you, Swan? You think I don't know where you always disappeared on Saturdays!"
"I was earning money for our family!"
"Yeah? Between Amanda Stevens' legs?!" - Renee squealed.
Bella realized that her parents were oblivious to her presence, as they had hundreds of times before, and quickly went up to her room.
Five minutes later she heard a knock on the door.
When she opened it, she saw Charlie.
"You mean you're going to reconcile?" - Bella grinned incredulously.
"No," Charlie said, his eyes downcast. - "I mean, I'm sorry".