Bella was quick to notice Rosalie's absence the next day. It upset her, strangely enough. She had spent most of the night thinking of things to say to the blonde goddess. Though, she still had the privilege of sitting next to Edward in Biology. He started with a curt "hello" which gave way to Bella's burning question.
"Where's your sister?"
Edward, whose head had been turned down at their desk, was quick to face her, an unreadable expression on his face. He muttered something Bella couldn't hear, then said, "She took a vacation. Went to visit our cousins in Alaska."
Of course that wasn't enough for the curious human. "Why now? And why didn't any of you go with her?"
The immortal cursed himself, he was never one for lying, particularly because he wasn't good at it. It took three years before he could finally tell their cover story without sounding suspicious. "We actually went over winter break, Rose stayed here to help at the youth center. They're all very close so she was very upset when she couldn't go. Yesterday my parents surprised her with tickets to go see them."
It wasn't the truth, Bella knew. She wanted to know what he was hiding, and why. The way he looked at her, she knew he was trying to convince her that he was telling the truth. Is that how the Cullens got by with so much? Their charm? She was unknowingly glaring at her lab partner, which confused him.
He would give anything to know what Bella Swan was thinking. With everyone else in Forks, it was so easy to live. They all knew what their supernatural good looks did for people, it blurred their cognitive thinking, which allowed the Cullens to live a peaceful life. Edward knew that, he knew how he affected everyone. Everyone, except Bella, whose glare made him worry that she didn't believe him. He had no choice but to try to convince Rosalie to stay away from her. It was for the sake of the family, and for the Chief's daughter.
Edward knew Rosalie would hate herself if she did something to hurt Bella. He could hear how the human was all his sister could think about, which scared him. They had done so well in Forks, they could probably drag four more years out of the small town. Rosalie was being selfish, he knew that much. Even though she hadn't done anything, he had to prevent her from doing anything that could jeopardize the stability they had in the town.
Bella knew that the family's reputation in the town was built on a lie. Just like the one Edward had told her. They were small enough to start, but they must have built up in the past two years. She knew that these lies had to have a connection. That was the big question, what did these lies hide? What was big enough that none of the Cullens could tell anyone?
Maybe Rosalie didn't like her. That was the only explanation Bella could produce. Two days had passed and Rosalie still wasn't back. She sat at her lunch table, Jessica and Angela on either side of her, the group engaged in a conversation about something Bella didn't really care about.
"What do you think, Arizona?" Eric asked, and Bella didn't stop herself from playfully rolling her eyes.
"About what?"
"Prom! I came up with the theme myself," the raven haired boy boasted.
Jessica scoffed, "You absolutely did not! Alice did more than any of us for the theme, idiot!" She smacked him on the head to accentuate her point.
"Geez, fine! I helped with the theme: Monte Carlo, baby!"
"Monte Carlo, huh? Wait, I thought prom wasn't until May?" Bella asked, suddenly invested.
"Oh, it's not. Alice suggested that we come up with a theme in advance so that we don't stress about it," Jessica explained.
"How does she have control over that?"
Angela answered, "She's a representative in the student council. Has been since freshman year."
Bella's eyebrows furrowed, the Cullens kept getting stranger with every piece of information she heard. They seemed like the perfect family, but no one acknowledged the things that separated them from that ideal. Jessica had made a comment about them being together, but that was the end. What kind of spell did the Cullens have over the people of Forks?
"Bella, did you wanna hang out with me and Jess this weekend? It's supposed to be sunny so we were gonna have a picnic in the park and then watch movies in Jess' backyard." She almost considered saying no, but then Bella considered that she would only have one chance to experience high school, she might as well enjoy it.
"That sounds fun, Ang, sure!" Bella replied enthusiastically.
"Great, we'll be at your house at...mmm 11:45 tomorrow morning?" Jessica suggested.
Bella nodded, the idea of having friends suddenly becoming much more realistic in her mind.
At 11:45 the next morning, Angela and Jessica were there, on the dot. Charlie was happy that his daughter would not be reclusive as he had been since Renèe left. Bella bid him goodbye, then walked out to Jessica's silver Toyota, a recently purchased car by her parents.
Angela had packed sandwiches as well as mini snack trays and juice boxes. She explained that it was one of the only drinks they had in her house because of her brothers. Neither Bella or Jessica minded, instead, they happily drank apple juice from the mini boxes. They talked and laughed as they basked in the rare Forks sun, snacking on apple and orange slices. When they finished their sandwiches, Angela took out a tray of brownies that her mom had made for the girls. Bella couldn't stop herself from letting out an obnoxious laugh when Jessica moaned after tasting one of the brownies.
"She got the recipe from Mrs. Cullen," Angela disclosed, "apparently she doesn't give it out often."
Even though she felt a strong urge to bring up how strange the family was, Bella refrained. She knew it would probably turn into a witch hunt if she disrespected the precious Cullens. Instead, she forced herself to forget about the pale family, for today at least.
When the sun began to fade, the clouds taking back their spot in the Washington sky, the girls packed up their things and filed into Jessica's car once more. It soon began pouring, as it always did. The rain disappointed everyone, the plans of watching movies outside, ruined.
"Hey, why don't we just, I don't know, build a fort inside and watch movies there?" Bella suggested, not quite ready to leave her new friends.
"That's a great idea, Bella!" Jessica exclaimed, and the group quickly got to work on building the largest blanket fort they possibly could.
In the middle of Dirty Dancing, the blankets fell and the girls consorted in laughter. Rather than taking the time to fix it, they simply wrapped themselves in the blankets, occasionally taking popcorn from the large bowl.
Charlie was curious to know if his daughter had a good time. Bella enthused about her time with her friends. She hadn't realized how tired she was until she almost fell asleep in the shower. Once her pajamas were on and she lay in bed, she found herself wondering if this was the experience other teenagers had. The thought then ventured into wondering if this was the life that Rosalie led. Maybe they would do things like that one day, Bella hoped.
