On Tuesday, I was getting ready for school, but when I opened the door, Edward Cullen. "Ew, what is he doing here?" I thought to myself, I rolled my eyes at him. He laughed to himself before he began to speak.
"I'm going to drive Bella and you to school today."
"What?" Asked Charlie, looking up from case files. He furrowed his eyebrows.
"Charlie, it's fine." Bella quickly said to Charlie before stepping out the door. "Come on, Lizzy, let's go." Bella yanked my arm and forced me into the backseat of Edward's volvo. I put in my earbuds and listened to my music as Edward and Bella talked to each other on the ride to school.
That's when I realized something about Bella changed. She was always taking the truck out
"Bella's been going out a lot." I said, as Charlie and I both saw the red truck pull out into the street on Friday.
"Good, she needs to spend more time with people." Charlie said, then he looked at me. "You know, you need to hang out with your friends, too."
"I know, but Tala just got into the musical, Maria is spending all her free time on the costumes, and Siobhan has been doing extra softball practice." I said with a shrug.
"What about Leah, you know from the get-together. She seemed really excited to see you." Charlie said as he took a sip of his beer.
"Yeah, I was, too." I said, my face fell. "She told me she can't see me right now, that there's a lot going on." Why was I so devastated to be reminded that Leah wasn't with me? "Also, Bella is probably with Edward." I said, I walked out of the room before I could see Charlie's reaction, but his silence was indicative of some surprise.
Angela: Lizzy the softball and audition pieces were great, going in the yearbook for sure. Could you please report and photograph the prom? I'm going with Eric!
Me: Of course and thank you!
Angela: Also, your sister has been hanging out with Edward Cullen a lot, are they dating?
Me: I think so, he's sort of weird.
I was mostly home alone on Saturday. Edward came to our place to drop Bella off, they must've been hanging out again, I saw them through the window. Then, I saw the Blacks' pickup truck coming down the street. I saw Edward quickly climb into his car and drive away. The three of them talked outside for a few minutes.
My father was holding a few cases of beer and Jacob pushed his father into our house. Billy and Jacob waved at me. I was sitting on the living room couch, the debate team won regionals, Angela took the pictures, all I had to do was write a "very informative 300-word vignette" about their success.
"So you're alive after all." I looked up at the sound of Jacob's voice.
"Ah, Lizzy glad to see you're feeling better." Billy Black said as he was rolled over to the couch. I smiled at both of them.
"Thanks. Um, what's going on?" I asked as I closed up my notepad.
"First Mariners game of the season and this house has the best flat screen in the area." Billy said, looking at Charlie with a smile.
"I'm gonna go upstairs." Bella said, gesturing to the staircase. Jacob looked at her, wanting to say something, but she was already up the stairs. Jacob sighed and sat next to me. I sat on the furthest right end on the couch, Charlie on the furthest left, and Billy was in his wheelchair on the outside of the couch.
"You wanted to talk to Bella?" I asked with a smirk, Jacob blushed and rolled his eyes.
"Yeah…" He admitted quietly, looking at the ground. Then he looked at me. "Also, I have a hunch that Leah likes you." Charlie and Billy were too busy cheering at the game to hear our conversation.
"Really?" I asked, a shot of adrenaline rushed through my system. Oh no, Lizzy stop being weird you've known her for a day, you're going to freak Jacob out. However, I saw Mr. Black shoot a stern look. "She's been avoiding me." I said, looking down at my feet.
"Well, you don't live on the rez, and you know, Harry's been in recovery, she just needs time." Jacob said with a smile. I blushed, but I turned my head away to make sure Jacob couldn't see me.
The next day, Edward picked up Bella again.
"Hello, Mr. Swan, I'm here to pick up your daughter." Edward said as he opened the door. Bella took his hand and tried to walk out the door.
"Don't be out too late. Bells, remember that pepper spray I gave you." Charlie said, looking into Edward's eyes.
"Charlie, stop!" Bella quietly said to him.
"No, Bella, Charlie has the right idea." I thought to myself, I scoffed silently to myself. Edward looked at me and chuckled.
"I don't think your sister likes me very much." Edward said with a small smile, but Bella was yanking him out the door. I was upstairs in my room when I heard Bella come home a few hours later.
Things became strange on Sunday. I remember I was in the living room doing my homework, it was storming outside, Charlie was doing maintenance on his rifle, and Bella gave him a new beer. I tuned out most of their conversation.
"Yeah, he wants to meet you… officially." I heard Bella say, now that caught my attention. I turned to the door to see the pale, awkward boy standing outside.
"Oh, come on!" I thought to myself as I rolled my eyes.
"Alright, bring him in." Charlie said as he cocked the gun.
"Could you be nice? Please… he is important." Bella said before walking over to open the door.
"Well, I should hope not." I heard the three of them talking. I tried not to pay attention. That is until one word caught my attention. "Baseball." I looked up from my math problems and began to laugh.
"So you're telling me Bella's gonna play baseball?" I asked, half joking. Then I heard a quiet rumble of thunder. "In this weather?"
"Um, I live further away, it's not so bad." Edward said before Bella began to force him out the door.
"I hope you don't give me nearly this much boy trouble." Charlie said before taking a giant swig of the beer he was handed by Bella.
"Don't worry about me." I said as I continued my math problems.
It's always the same routine. Bella would be picked up by Edward, they would disappear for a few hours, you'd never hear a word from them, only for Bella to come right back home, nothing more. Tonight, I heard a door slam. Bella was shouting something from downstairs, but it was unintelligible from my room. I got out of my bed. I heard Bella and Charlie talking about something. I couldn't hear anything until I got to the foot of the stairs.
"I can change that… we can… do more stuff together." I heard Charlie say, Bella was frantic, rushing around, she appeared to be walking out of the door, but she turned around. Oh no, this was not going to be good.
"Like what?" Bella began to say. "Like watching baseball on the flat screen? Eat at the diner every night? Steak and cobbler, Dad, that's you that's not me. Tell Lizzy I'm sorry."
"Bella, come on, I just… I just got both of you back." Charlie said, my eyes widened with shock. This was definitely not good.
"Yeah, and you know if I don't go out now… I'm just going to be stuck here like mom." Bella said before slamming the door behind her. I gasped, now that it was cold. Charlie turned around and looked at me, there were small tears glistening in his eyes. My eyes darted to a deck of cards lying on a coffee table in the living room.
"Um, Dad… sorry, is it ok if I call you that… anyways, do you want to play poker?" I asked, I knew that if we both distracted ourselves long enough we'd get good news eventually. He wiped the tears out of his eyes.
"Sure thing, Lizzy, but you have to deal." The corner of his mouth curled into a small smile. I walked down the stairs, and grabbed the deck. We both sat on the couch and I divided the deck. "You don't have to go tomorrow, I think it's best if we both wait here." Charlie said as he watched me bridge the deck.
"Thank you." I said, a rush of anxiety was coursing through my body. My hands began to shake as I picked up my hand. Charlie's eyes began to glisten again. Charlie wanted to trade out one card, I traded out two.
"I'll raise you twenty five cents." I said dropping two dimes and a nickel on the cushion between us. Then, a notification from my phone. "Sorry, give me a minute." I picked up my phone as Charlie fumbled around his pockets for change.
Leah: Are you ok?
That's really good timing, uncanny really. All of my nerves and anxiety melted away, I even smiled. Did she know what happened or did she just guess? With most people I would think this was strange, but for some reason it felt normal.
Me: I'm fine, but Bella has disappeared.
Leah: Is she ok? Do you know where she is?
Me: I think so, she went to the Cullens' to play baseball and when she came back she took the car, said she was going to our mom's house.
Me: Honestly, I'm worried.
Leah: Please, don't worry everything will be ok. Contact me or anyone else in my family if you ever need anything.
Me: Thank you, Leah, I will.
"I raised you five cents." Charlie said, I rolled my eyes and dumped five pennies on the small pile of change. I added one extra penny, and Charlie anted up. "Three of a kind." Charlie said, facing his cards up to reveal three sevens.
"Ugh. I have two pairs." I said showing my two fives and two jacks. The game continued, hand after hand, I was ahead, then he was ahead, but one hand I tried to bluff, and failed miserably. Charlie was winning, I had twenty cents left, he had eighty. That's when I had a full house, three nines and two queens. I raised him twenty.
"Let's make things interesting, the winner takes the whole pot." Charlie said, putting eighty cents in the pile. I nodded and Charlie flipped his cards face up. Flush of spades, not enough. "No! I was so close!"
"Sorry, Dad, that's just poker for you." I said picking up each coin one by one. There was a pause, I saw Charlie frown and look down. Bella was on his mind again. "Again!" I said dividing the coins in half.
Hours began to pass, as each round passed we both began to feel more numb. Phoenix is a 24 hour drive away. Bella left sometime in the early night, right after sunset. When the sun began to rise, and I saw the sky melt from a navy blue to a gray blue, I knew she must be almost halfway there.
"Lizzy, thanks for staying up with me, but you need some sleep." Charlie said as he began to pick the cards. We both had dark circles under our eyes. He patted me in the shoulder. I nodded and began to walk back upstairs. That was definitely double-digit hours of poker. I knocked out the second my head hit the pillow. I woke up again at three thirty in the afternoon, I missed school that day.
Me: What are the assignments I missed?
Tala: Are you sick again? The first two chapters of Fahrenheit 451. I'll find out the rest of them from others in your class.
Me: You're a lifesaver, also not sick, just a family emergency.
On Tuesday I had to pretend that everything was normal. Tala and my friends didn't ask any questions, thankfully, but what I thought was strange was that all of the Cullens were out of school as well. I really hope that was just a coincidence, why would my sister be that fully involved with them? Wednesday night, I was doing schoolwork on my bed, I got a call from my mom.
"Mom!" I exclaimed. "Is Bella with you? What's going on? She just left us, is she ok?"
"Your sister is in the hospital?" Mom said, her voice breaking slightly.
"What?! Does Charlie know what's wrong?"
"Bella checked into a hotel, but she slipped down two flights of stairs, when through a window. Luckily, Edward Cullen was there and got her to the hospital."
"Edward was there?"
"Don't worry, she has a broken leg, but he's putting her on a plane tomorrow, and she'll be ready to go to the prom on Saturday. I already called Charlie, but I have to go because he's waking up. I love you."
"I love you, too, Mom." I said, then she hung up the phone.
On Thursday, a taxi dropped Bella off at our house. I rushed to the door when I heard her knock on the door. I embraced her the second I opened the door. She had a large walking cast on her right foot, and a bandage wrapped around her right arm.
"Don't you ever disappear like that again!" Charlie sternly said to her.
"Did he do this to you?" I asked Bella when we were alone in her room. Bella looked up from unpacking her suitcase. "You are safe, you can tell me."
"What, no!" Bella said, shaking her head, stuttering a bit. "In fact we're going to the prom together on Saturday."
"Joy!" I exclaimed sarcastically, throwing my arms in the air. I turned around and walked out of the room to give her some time alone.
Saturday, prom night, I had to open the door for Edward because Bella was taking her sweet time getting ready. Charlie folded his arms when he walked through the door, and the two of them sat at a small table waiting for Bella. I looked up when I heard her walking down the stairs.
"Um… Alice lent me the dress, um… the cast is…" Bella tried to form a coherent sentence.
"Perfect." Edward said.
"Brown nose." I thought to myself as I walked out the door. I waited for a short moment outside before Bella pulled Edward outside.
Edward drove us there, I tried to ignore the two of them talking in the front seat. When we pulled up to the venue, I found a bench where I could wait until I was ready to take pictures. I looked through my camera to make sure it was working, and I saw Jacob, talking to Bella. The only thing I noted was that Edward and Jacob glared at each other.
"Jacob?" I asked, surprised to see him at the prom. He waved at me and began to walk in my direction. I put my camera on the bench.
"Reporting on the prom?" He asked.
"Yeah, what are you doing here?" I asked with a friendly smirk.
"Um, my dad paid me twenty bucks to talk to you and your sister. He wants Bella to break up with her boyfriend…"
"I do too." I interrupted, he laughed before continuing his sentence.
"And he wanted me to talk to you about Leah." Jacob said, putting his hands in the pockets of his dress pants. I felt my skin prickle, and I blushed. "My point exactly. They're just worried about you, and your sister."
"Who is? Your dad or Leah?" I asked.
"Both, everyone is." Jacob said, my eyes widened with light surprise. "You'll find out everything in due time, but for now, you need to stay in the dark." He awkwardly broke my gaze and began to walk away before I could say anything.
Ummmm… what?
Whatever, I began to take pictures of the couples filing through the entrance, that's when Bella and Edward disappeared into the building. Angela gave me a thumbs up when she and Eric walked through the door.
I moved inside, too. A small, poorly lit, dance floor with colorful light effects bouncing around the walls, a table with homemade baked goods, and tacky party decorations. Now this was a prom. I began to snap some more pictures of the students and a few of the decorations. I began to look around for Bella and Edward.
When I turned my head, I saw Bella and Edward slow dancing on the gazebo. I took a break from the other groups and couples on the dance floor and used the zoom lense to take a picture of the two of them. I was inside so I didn't get a very good angle, but I thought it would be fun just to have. "Those crazy kids deserve each other." I thought to myself as I heard the camera lens open and close.
