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After we got home from school, I managed to pry what was wrong out of Bella. Let me tell you that wasn't an easy feat, after she explained what happened in Biology II and in the front office, I didn't know if I should be confused or angry at Cullen for the way he treated Bella.
"I'm sorry you had to experience that Bells, I'm not going to sit here and try to come up with some bullshit excuse as to why he acted like that."
She didn't respond. Instead she went upstairs to do her homework. Dinner was silent that night. Bella's head was wrapped around Edward's behavior and she won't move on until she found out why?
The next morning was better and unfortunately worse. Better because the rain decided to take a break, better because Mr. Varner tried to catch me unprepared and I shocked his ass; better because we moved on the volleyball in gym and I was team captain back in Phoenix and I was kicking ass. Last but not least, better because Emmett and I started talking more in Government class.
Worse because his fuckface brother wasn't in school and Bella was upset about it. I knew she wanted to confront him and demand to know what his problem was, but she makes the Cowardly Lion from the Wiz look like the Terminator. When we finally left for home, I drove past the Cullens and their shiny Volvo and noticed that their clothes obviously had designer origins. Beautiful people like that who dress like that would be accepted everywhere but not here. Unless the isolation is what they desire. If that's the case, well then wish granted.
As I was doing my homework, I looked across the hall at Bella and saw she was on her computer. Probably responding to Renee's three emails. I'll bet my mustang that the very last email Renee sent she called Bella by her full name and threatened to call the Chief if she didn't respond. Bella and Renee are similar and still so different. I decided to check my email. I grabbed my laptop and fired it up. I had two emails from Renee and four from Johnny my parents friend. Bella already responded to Renee so no need for a repeat. Johnny's first email said
"Penny, did you and Bella make it, how's the weather? What's school like? Is Jesse okay?"
I snorted a laugh at his last question. Of course Jesse is fine, I rebuilt him. He's in mint condition. All the other emails are the same. Asking about school, the weather, if Charlie is being hospitable, if I'm behaving myself or if I made any friends. Blah Blah Blah. His last email literally cracked me up.
"Penelope Cecelia Rosas, if you don't respond by 7 p.m., I'm booking the first flight out there and I'll bring and post your awkward puberty photos all throughout your new school."
After I finished laughing, I wrote him a sickly sweet, cheerful email telling him that blackmailing me with my childhood photos isn't going to work. Everyone had a fucking awkward puberty stage. I powered down my computer and went downstairs to see if a game was on. I decided to make grilled steaks with baked potatoes and a fresh salad.
After about 2 hours I heard the cruiser pull up. Bella already set the table and I was placing everything on it. He walked in the door and put his gun holster on the coat rack. He doesn't remove the bullets anymore like he did when Bella and I were younger. I guess he decided that we weren't that clumsy to accidental shoot ourselves or that depressed enough to shoot ourselves on purpose. I don't know why he'd think that. I wouldn't kill myself, I haven't raised enough hell...yet.
"Welcome Home Chief."
"Thanks Penny, what's for dinner?" He's probably remembering Renee's uneatable creations. I'm surprised he remembered that far back. "Steak, baked potatoes and a side salad."
"Okay, great."
"It'll be ready in ten minutes." He left to catch up on ESPN. It's like sports games are genetically coded into men's DNA. It's something I love as well, that's why I'm so close to Charlie.
"Bella." She looked over at me
"Huh?"
"You should learn up on some sports so you can watch the games with Charlie."
"I don't think so."
I narrowed my eyes at her. "Heifer, that wasn't an optional request. You're going to learn about sports so you can bond with your father. For Christ sake, spend some time with him before you leave for college." She rolled her eyes at me and I threw some lettuce at her. She laughed threw some back. We had a food fight for a good five minutes then she caved like I knew she would.
"Okay, I'll read up on baseball."
"Thanks babe, after all you only get one father." She knows how I feel about quality time with the parents. We cleaned up the lettuce and I called Charlie in and we sat down to eat.
"Looks good girls."
"Thanks" we both said.
We sat in silence for a few minutes. It wasn't uncomfortable which is a good thing. We were well suited for living together.
"So how did you like school? Have you made any friends?" he asked while taking seconds. Bella chose to reply.
"Well, I have a few classes with a girl named Jessica." I snorted when she said that. "I sit with her and her friends at lunch. There's this boy, Mike, who is very friendly. Everybody seems pretty nice." I wanted to gag and laugh. There was one outstanding exception.
"That must be Mike Newton. Nice kid-nice family. His dad owns the sporting goods store just outside of town. He makes a good living off all the backpackers who come through here."
"Do you know the Cullen family?" She asked hesitantly. I wondered where she was going with this.
"Dr. Cullen's family? Sure. Dr. Cullen's a great man." I looked at her. What the hell is she doing?
"They...the kids...are a little different. They don't seem to fit in very well at school." I looked to Charlie, he shocked the fuck out of me by getting all red in the face and looking angry.
"People in this town, he muttered. "Dr. Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could probably work at any hospital in the world, make ten times the salary he gets here," he continued, getting louder. "We're lucky to have him, lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all those kids are well behaved and polite. I had my doubts, when they first moved in, with all those adopted teenagers. I thought we might have some problems with them. But they're all very mature, I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them. That's more than I can say for the children of some folks who have lived in this town for generation. And they stick together they way a family should, camping trips every other weekend...Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk."
I was stunned into silence it was the longest, most passionate speech I've ever heard from the Chief for as long as I've known him.
"Alright Chief Swan, high-five."
I reached across the table and we high-fived each other. Bella backpedaled a little.
"They seem nice enough to me. I just noticed they keep to themselves. They're all very attractive." she added, trying to be more complimentary..
"You should see the doctor," Charlie said, laughing. "It's a good thing he's happily married. A lot of the nurses at the hospital have a hard time concentrating on their work with him around."
I started laughing hysterically. Charlie and Bella looked at me like I had lost it.
"What, like him being happily married is going to stop those nurses from making passes at him or flirting with him. Hell, I'm pretty sure some of them don't even care that he's married. They'll just consider that a challenge. The bitch who killed my parents didn't give a single fuck that my father was happily married, or at least I thought he was. You both know how that ended." I decided to change the subject when I looked at them and saw that they were uncomfortable.
"How's everything down at the station Chief?"
"It's slow a few vandalism cases but nothing major."
We lapsed into another comfortable silence as we finished eating. Charlie cleared the table as Bella did the dishes. I went back to my room.
'I smell a tradition in the making? Ha!'
It was actually a quiet night. I slept peacefully.
The rest of the week was eventful. I was use to the routine of my classes. Emmett and I talked every time in Government class and even exchanged cell phone numbers. I was able to name and recognize everyone in this small ass school. Mallory tried my patience once again and I shut that ass down again. I loved having P.E. again because I excelled in gym and all sports. It was fun and I get to accidentally on purpose hit people with balls. Fuckward Cullen didn't come back to school and Bella was bugging me to ask Emmett why he wasn't in school. I wasn't about to bug him about his pain in the ass brother.
My second weekend in Forks was a quiet one. Emmett and I texted and talked a lot over the weekend. We stayed up until 5:30 Saturday morning talking about everything and nothing. We had so much in common. We both love to play video games, sports, wrestling, playing pranks and whatever is on our mind we speak it. We both bore so easily at the same time are easily entertained. The pulling sensation would lessen when I'm with him. It hurts so fucken bad to be away from him. I can barely sleep. He told me all about his siblings and how much Rose and I had in common and that she likes me. He so beautiful and I just want to bite that bottom lip. "You can't do this to yourself Penny, remember Paul?" I rolled my eyes at my conscience. "Bitch" I muttered. Deep down I know my conscience is right and I should keep my distance. Why the fuck do I feel like that's not going to last one got damn second?
I woke up Monday morning and remembered it's Bella's turn to drive her monster. We arrived at school with everyone looking at her truck. The morning passed with a blur, I had to tell people that since we both own cars we're taking turns carpooling. They dropped after that but I can tell they prefer to see my car than Bella's rust bucket. When we walked out of class it was snowing. "Awesome snow." I bent over a patted a snowball together and threw it at Mallory. It caught her dead in the face. Everyone within a three foot radius of her laughed their asses off. She was fuming looking frantically around for the culprit. I looked over and saw Emmett, my beating heart stilled for a minute. He was even more gorgeous than in my dreams. I scraped together another snowball and threw it at his head. It hit him on the side of his face. His siblings laughed at him. He looked at me and I decided to mess with him by giving him the bird and sticking my tongue out. He laughed that beautiful laugh, and gave me a thumbs up then the bird.
After Trig class I walked out talking to a girl named Chelsea. She gasped and was staring at something or someone behind me. I knew who it was before I turned around as I was electrically aware of his presence. The pulling sensation was non-existent. I honestly don't know if I can keep my distance. The pain is too much to bear. 'remember Paul' fucking conscience. I bid Chelsea a farewell and I turned toward Mr. Cullen. He smiled a beautiful smile.
'GOD! Those dimples!'
"What's up?"
He replied in a alluring spellbound voice "My sisters wanted to know if you'd join us for lunch?" My heart sank a little.
"Just your sisters?"
"No I wanted you all to myself but my sisters can be very persuasive." My heart soared. He wanted me to himself.
'Get a grip, don't fall for him. Remember what happened the last time you gave a guy your heart?'
"Fuck you" I screamed internally to my conscience.
"Sure, lunch no problem." We walked to lunch just discussing random topics. He stood in line with me to get my lunch. I walked next to him with my head held high but I still feel the burning stares in my back. I knew Bella was looking too.
"You've already met my siblings."
"Yea I remember, Eddie almost turned me into roadkill." Emmett laughed out loud while the rest of his siblings chuckled.
"It's Edward."
"Edward, Eddie, Fuckward, Fuckface, I really don't care." His siblings were laughing hysterically "What I want you to know is this...whatever problem you had/have with Bella.. I suggest you solve it. Immediately?"
"I'll try."
"You better. If I see one tear rolling down her face because of something you did or said... I'll rip your nuts off, set them on fire then shove them down your throat. Capiche?"
He looked at me wide-eyed before nodding. I started to eat my lunch, I noticed that they hardly touched their lunches so I started picking off each of their trays.
"What's up you all on a special diet or something?"
Rosalie spoke up "Something like that."
I looked to all of them and noticed that their eyes are golden a far cry from the pitch black last week. I decided not to say anything. Hell if they're wearing contacts, they're really rocking them. Especially Rosalie and Jasper with their beautiful golden and honey blonde hair. Alice whispered something to her siblings, something I didn't quite catch but next thing I realized Alice threw what looked like snow in Emmett's face and he stood up and shook his hair in every direction. Rosalie and Alice were leaning away from him.
"Eww Emmett, watch my hair." Rosalie stated.
I looked over and saw Bella staring. I waved and she returned it.
We chatted about just more random topics then Alice brung up my car in the conversation. "Did something happen to your mustang?" They all looked at me. I had just took a swig of my iced tea.
"No, Charlie bought the pile of scrap metal as a homecoming gift for Bella and we came up with the arrangement that we would alternate driving each week. This is her week. She loves that monster, won't even let me restore it like I did Jesse."
Edward said "Jesse?"
"Yea, I named my mustang Jesse, like you didn't name that Volvo you drive."
"No" he replied!
"LIES!." He looked at me bewildered and his siblings laughed again. Rosalie turned toward me.
"You restored your mustang?" she asked
"Yea, it was a hunk of junk when my father's friend Johnathan first got him, it took us almost two years because of school and him working. Johnny also had to find another adult, who knew how to operate a blowtorch, supervise me with it while he was at work." Rosalie looked at me with astonishment in her eyes. For the remainder of lunch me and Rosalie where talking car parts, paint jobs, customizing the interior. I noticed the passion in her eyes like I'm sure she noticed in mine.
She said, "It's refreshing to meet another woman that's just as passionate about cars as me."
"I think you'll find I'm not like all these other bitches."
"I'm starting to see that." she replied. I smiled at her and she smiled back. By the end of lunch I believe I found a new best friend.
Jasper asked, "Why Jesse though?"
I looked at him. "Because of Rick Springfield's song."
"You listen to Rock music." Jasper and Edward asked. Edward looked completely surprised.
"Yes, I love 80's rock music well, all 80's music it's less violent and materialistic than today's music." Edward was next to speak up. "Thank You, it's nice to know that someone shares my views on today's music."
The bell rang signaling the end of lunch. I jumped on Emmett's back. He looked over his shoulder at me. "What? I don't feel like walking." He just laughed
"Giddy Up. Government Ho!" Rosalie, Emmett and myself headed to class. Rose's class was across the hall from ours. He walked in class and some of our classmates that were already there. They stared at us as we made our way to our seats. He dropped me in my chair and sat down.
"Oww! You could've been a little gentle, you ass."
"I didn't offer you a ride so therefore I don't have to be gentle." I stuck my tongue out at him. He just laughed and patted my head.
"Hey! Watch the hair."
He reached over and ruffled my hair even worse. I glared at him and he returned my glare with a wink. Our classmates decided to be nosey little shits and stare at Emmett and me during class. Instead of talking, we passed notes. I brung up his eye color and he wrote down that they weren't contacts. I was a little confused. He then wrote that in time he'll explain everything to me including his diet. The bell rang and he walked me to my last class.
After school I stood by Bella's truck. She came a few seconds later. The rain had calmed down to a mist. Once inside the dry cab she got the heat going. I pulled my hood down and air-dry fluffed my wet hair. She checked to make sure it was clear and threw her beast into reverse. She looked to the left and I followed her line of vision. Of course, it was Edward leaning against his Volvo, three cars down staring back at her. She backed out almost destroying a rusty Corolla.
"Dammit Bells watch it will you, you know the Chief will not be happy if he finds out his daughter got into an accident because she wasn't focused on the road but a boy." I taunted her. She blushed those fifty shades of red again.
"Shut up." she muttered. After she double checked her blind spots she eased out of the spot with success. She kept her eyes forward but I looked at Edward as she passed the Volvo and he was laughing. For some strange reason, I had a gut feeling that's why he was standing outside his car. Emmett told me that Edward is always in his car ready to go before any of them are out of the building. He waiting to see her reaction to the almost accident. It's like he heard and saw everything.
"Could it be that he likes her? It's obvious that he finds her interesting, otherwise he wouldn't be watching her and her reactions to him. Well that's a creppy thought."