This is me trying
Marieorsomething
Chapter Four
The next morning Bella woke up feeling invigorated, as if she'd crammed 48 hours straight of sleep into one night. She was practically humming with energy as she got ready and even Charlie noticed when he woke up to the smell of her making breakfast on a school day. It seemed that she had woken up earlier than usual and it left her enough time to get ready and make food for them both. Two bacon, ham, and sausage omelets were on the table when Charlie came down and Bella was taking tater tots out of the air fryer.
"Morning Bells, it smells great. Anything I can do to help?" He asked as he gave her a kiss on the top of her head.
"You can grab something for us to drink but the food is done!" Bella chirped.
Charlie grabbed two glasses and poured some apple juice for them both.
They had a quick breakfast before they headed their separate ways. Bella sped off to school and was turning into her spot just as Jessica parked right next to her. They'd taken to parking together towards the back of the lot. Bella shut off the car and grabbed her backpack from the passenger seat before putting her keys into the front pocket and stepping out. She locked the car from the door panel and shut it behind her as Jess got herself situated and got out as well.
"Hey Jess!" She sang as she walked over to her friend.
"Hey Bella, you're hyper this morning." Jess looked at her questioningly while they linked arms and began to walk across the parking lot to the main entrance.
"I know, I just slept super well. Even got up early and had enough time to eat breakfast for once. Kind of weird actually, you know I hate getting up early." Bella giggled.
Jessica laughed as she remembered the moment as well. They'd had a sleep over the weekend after the bonfire and the next morning Angela had tried to wake them up. Bella had accidentally kicked her in the gut which had sent her flying off the bed with a loud thwack. Thankfully, she'd been okay, but they had died laughing together for an hour or so after it happened.
The day passed quickly and with another incident of classroom stalking from Edward Cullen that she and Angela had taken note of. The girls decided to pull into Jessica's car since she lived close to school and could drive them back later. Jessica's parents weren't home from work yet when they got there so they spread out in the living room with a bunch of junk food and their books. They all had a statistics test tomorrow, and the teacher was known for giving ridiculously hard tests.
They had been studying for two hours when Mrs. Stanley came home, followed shortly by Mr. Stanley. They continued to study while she made meatloaf and potatoes, and all sat down together for dinner before packing up their stuff.
It was past seven and already dark out by the time they loaded back into Jessica's car, and she dropped them off at the school. Angela hurried off as her parents had told her to be home by 8 since it was a school night. Bella had just turned on her car when Angela peeled off with a wave. She took the time to respond to a few texts that she hadn't had the time for earlier today and as she was pressing send, she felt something tickle the edge of her awareness. Her head snapped up from her phone and she scanned the tree line. Whatever it was felt…hungry. That was the only way to explain it.
"You're not in Phoenix anymore, Bella." She whispered to herself as her instincts told her to put the car into drive.
As she was beginning to pull out of the spot, the instinct roared louder. Something was coming and if she didn't get of there now, she wouldn't live to see another day. Bella hit the gas hard and spun out of the spot before throwing the car into drive. The car swerved recklessly as she sped toward the exit and still, she pressed harder on the gas. She swung the sharp left out of the lot and careened toward the forest before she was able to straighten herself out.
She wasn't in the clear yet. Charlie's neighborhood was a fifteen-minute drive of highways and foliage, and the rest of the town was in the opposite direction. If something were going to happen, whatever was out there still had time.
She didn't know how to explain it, but Bella knew that it was no animal. Whatever was out there was smart- maybe as smart as she was if not smarter and it was fast. She could feel it keeping up with and watching her from the forest.
"Come on, faster, faster." She muttered to herself. The EOS topped off at 144 mph and still she felt whatever it was.
Bella released a growl of frustration and startled, losing some speed as her body jerked.
The sound had been animalistic and like instinct, it hadn't sounded anything like her usual sounds of frustration. In fact, it hadn't sounded human. As she went to speed up again, she realized that whatever had been chasing her had stopped abruptly. She kept going at top speed in case it changed its mind but had a growing awareness that she had confused it when she growled. Whatever it was expected that it was chasing prey and when she had made that sound it was no longer sure whether or not it was chasing prey…or a predator. When she hit the first light and houses on their side of town, she slowed. No need for her to get pulled over for going 99 mph over the limit. Bella continued to the house and for once she pulled the car into the drive beside her father's. No way in hell was she going to park up by the street and give whatever it was a chance to grab her before she got inside.
The floodlights had activated as soon as she parked, and she saw the curtain pull open, so Charlie knew she was home. If she disappeared, he would see it. She quickly grabbed her bag and locked the car before all but sprinting for the door. Thankfully, Charlie had left it unlocked since she was out. She threw it open and shut and then locked it forcefully before leaning against it.
Charlie came around the corner to see what all the fuss was about and found his daughter leaning against the door panting. Her eyes were wild and darting this way and that, not to mention they were glowing violet and her iris had turned silver.
He was instantly on alert "Bella, what's wrong?"
Bella sucked in a deep breath to calm herself "It's going to sound crazy, dad."
"Try me, kid." He went over and pulled her into a hug as she was still worked up. He whispered soothing words to her and ran his hand over her hair until she was breathing normally. "Let's go into the kitchen and I'll make some tea."
Bella followed him into the kitchen and sat at the table as he set the kettle to boil and made them some chamomile tea.
When he placed her mug in front of her, she spoke.
"Jessica had just dropped us off at school and Angela had to leave pretty quickly because she had curfew. I sat inside my car to answer some texts when I felt something. I don't know how to describe it, but I knew it was watching me and that it wanted me. It felt hungry, dad. So, I tore out of there like a bat out of hell. It stopped chasing me at some point, but I didn't slow down until I hit the houses on this side of town." She got up midway through and started pacing and waving her hands around.
Charlie sat there in shock. Of course, he believed her, he knew too much not to believe her. What he didn't understand was how Bella had become active. He hadn't taught her the ways, hadn't raised her. Still, he approached it with caution.
"Bella, why did it stop chasing you?
"What, what do you mean?"
"You said that this thing stopped chasing you at some point, but you weren't near people yet. Did something happen to make it stop?" He was being careful in his phrasing, but he needed to know every detail.
"I was frustrated so I went to voice it, you know like "ughh" but instead I growled. Like an animal dad, I scared myself." She whispered and hugged herself.
"Bella…there's something I have to tell you."
End scene. I know, I know a cliffhanger. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and it was actually done pretty quickly. I think the key is that I'm no longer telling myself that they have to be super long to be worth posting. I'll write until I feel comfortable closing the chapter and that's it. Anyway, back to Bella, so last chapter we saw her release a tidal wave. Now she's sensing things she shouldn't be and being chased by some nameless creature in the woods. And she's growling! Stay tuned for the next chapter ;) -Marieorsomething