Iris needs a job...anyone hiring? XD

Ch. 17 Free Time

2:48 A.M. The alarm clock on my bedside table was taunting me. I couldn't sleep. I knew that today James's coven would cross paths with the Cullens, potentially changing everything. Alice swore up and down that she saw everything going smoothly, but that future could shift with even the smallest, most seemingly insignificant decision change.

2:49 A.M. It was very humbling to think that this may be my last night of safety. At least it had been an ok evening. After I awoke from my nap, Alice came over to sit with me until Charlie came home. The Cullens didn't trust leaving me alone for very long anymore after the Port Angeles incident. We watched a movie, worked on homework, and didn't talk about a certain Cullen male. Well, I didn't talk about him. Alice seemed to not be able to shut up about him. Apparently he was in a bad mood when he got home. She attributed it to anxiety over the meeting today. Knowing him and his self-blaming, brooding personality, he was probably finding some way to twist reality and fault himself for these nomads finding them and putting his family in danger.

I only half-way listened to her speak about him. I had one of Bella's Linkin Park CDs blaring into my headphones most of the time while I conjugated Spanish infinitives into the future perfect tense. I know Alice could tell I wasn't listening, but she must have been kind of pre-occupied herself since she didn't call me out on it.

2:53 A.M. No one was outside tonight. It was raining, and Alice said, just to be safe, none of them should go anywhere near the house for at least 18 hours to allow their scent to fade enough that the tracker wouldn't get suspicious and come investigate. She said it was just them being overly cautious, but I knew she had probably seen what would happen if they didn't avoid the area. I shuddered at the thought of poor Charlie getting caught up in my bullshit. I turned on the CD player again, and slipped the headphones back over my ears, quietly humming along. I tried so hard, and got so far, but in the end, it doesn't even matter...

4:47 A.M. I must have dozed off. Sleep was nice because you could just close your eyes and be totally unaware of how shitty your life was for awhile. Sleep was always my favorite activity when I was younger. Doctors would never have to worry about me getting my full nine hours of rest each day. Hell, I even threw in an extra two hours most nights for good measure. But not tonight.

6:31 A.M. I fell asleep again. I guess it was late enough to have my shower now. That would take at least twenty minutes, then I could dry my hair. That would take a little while too...

7:06 A.M. Well, now what? Charlie left for the day already. I told him I was going to be studying at a friend's house, and encouraged him to go eat over at Billy's house tonight.

7:18 A.M. I didn't feel like eating breakfast. It felt too much like a last meal. I wonder what Ed—No. You have to stop this, Iris. It's not healthy...Focus on something else...but what else is there? Oh that's shit. You know there is more to life than some guy. But he's not just some guy. He was everything.

•PTaT•

"She was my everything! She was my everything and now she's gone! What am I supposed to do? What should I do?" The pain in his voice was heart wrenching. It felt like someone was squeezing my trachea closed and punching my gut over and over as I stared hopelessly up at him.

"What should I do? What to do? Oh God. I can't believe this. What do I do? She is everything..."

•PTaT•

"Hello? Bella...are you in there?" I blinked a few times to a hand being waved in my face. Mike Newton. Look who decided to re-join my fan base. Hello again, old friend. I fought the urge to sigh.

"Mike?"

"Oh, so you are in there. I was pretty freaked out there for a minute." He smirked. Well, at least he was much more tolerable than McDouchey.

"Sorry, daydreaming." I offered lamely.

"Cool. So I was wondering if you were going to the dance on Saturday?" Oh my freaking shitballs. I thought we skipped this part of the story.

"I don't know..." I don't know why, maybe it was all the stress I was feeling or a hormonal imbalance, but I kind of wanted to see where this was going. No way was he going to do it...

"Well, Jessica came down with the stomach bug, and might not be up to going on Saturday with me, so I thought you'd make a great second." He smiled winningly. What? I couldn't help it. My face had a mind of its own, and it was clearly broken. I burst into a fit of laughter.

"You...what?" This was fucking hilarious. I couldn't take it.

Mike suddenly didn't look so sure of himself. "I just thought maybe you could be like a back-up in case Jessica couldn't go..."

"Oh my God...Mike...You can't..." I had to pause for air as I coughed from laughing so hard. "You can't just tell a girl that she's on-call for a dance." I was still gasping and wiping tears from my eyes.

"So is that a no or...?" Mike asked in a slightly annoyed tone. Almost like he wanted to say, "Can you just answer the question? I have six other girls to get to..."

Holy shit. "Oh my God..." I turned my back to him, still laughing and walked out of the cafeteria. I needed to cool off from nearly choking to death back there.

"Hey Bella!" Lauren Mallory? Well, this day was just full of surprises.

"Huh?" I stared at the blonde making her way toward me with purpose.

"I saw that back there. Jessica will be very interested to know that you made moves on her boyfriend."

"What?"

"Mike. I saw you two flirting back there."

"Ok." I'm not playing this game, Regina.

"You're not even going to deny it?"

Hmm...antagonize her or tell her the truth that she's not going to believe anyway...? Decisions...decisions..."No, I'm not going to deny it because you're right. I'm in love with him. Jessica will never be woman enough for Michael Leslie Newton." I made that middle name up. It sounded right in the moment. The devil on my shoulder won out this time. I told you that I have too much time on my hands...

"You, Bitch!" I heard her shriek and barely had a half of a second to think about what was happening before her hand flew toward my cheek, making contact with a SMACK. I knew there was a reason that I usually minded my own business. This is what happens when you try to have fun, Iris.

OOOH HELLLLL NAWW...

I recoiled from her hand in shock, taking a half a step back to calm myself, but the bitch wasn't going to control herself as well, and she jumped me. She actually jumped me with her scrawny ass! Holy Shit!!

Me, trying to be the adult that I was but didn't appear to be, I rolled up in a ball, resisting the urge to go all Mike Tyson on her and bite that pretty ear of hers off her face—which would take about 88-92 sutures to repair. It happened once in the ER—but she was relentless. She continued hitting me over and over and over as she straddled my center. I might have been concerned about head damage, except she was weak AF.

Well here goes my shot at being on student council next year...

"Ahhhhhh!!" I caught her around the center and body slammed all 94 pounds of her to the ground, rolling on top of her and pinning her to the ground.

"Don't mess with me, Bitch. You and Jessica can play your stupid games with Mike and McDickface for all I care."

Lauren's eyes grew wide, and for about 5 seconds I felt pretty smug. Hah! I showed you!

Then I heard him. "Miss Swan, my office, NOW!" Holy Fucking Shit. Are you kidding me? This crazy ish over here jumps me, beats the hell out of me while I let her, trying to not be a feral animal, I sucker punch her one time and defend myself and THAT's when the Principal decides to show up? Fuck Twilight.

"That was the grossest display of violence and vulgarity I've ever witnessed in my 42 years of working in education. I have never seen such a flagrant disregard for another human's well-being in my life!"

Has he never seen HBO? Or even that Gypsy show on TLC...? Maybe that's not out yet.

"Are you listening to me, Isabella? Your father, THE CHIEF OF POLICE—" Yeah I know what my dad's job is dude... "—is going to be so disappointed when I have to tell him that his only daughter assaulted another student on school property today. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"You missed the first five minutes of our disagreement where she attacked me, pinned me to the ground, and I controlled myself trying to wait for her to stop hitting me. You walked up on me actually defending myself from her."

"I've never had an issue with Miss Mallory. She's the founder of our 'Stand Tall Against Bullying' campaign." Stand Tall Against Bullying...S.T.A.B.? Whaaa?

"Is something funny about this to you?" I was trying my damndest to bite back a laugh.

"No, sir. But I think once I get a doctor to document the trauma Lauren did to my already injured skull, I might have enough for a lawsuit, and I doubt that my Police Chief Father is really going to stand back and let another student viciously attack his only daughter, especially when that student created a bogus group against bullying that really just meets every Wednesday afternoon to smoke pot behind the gym." I had seen Lauren with a couple of other guys and one other girl sneaking behind there two weeks back. I did see them smoking something, and couldn't be absolutely sure that was the group, but it sounded scandalous enough for this small-town to get me off the hook here.

"I..Uhh..." He looked flabbergasted at my claims for a second before he smoothed his face and cleared his throat, obviously trying to take back control of this situation. "Well, I will have to look into that accusation further using the appropriate channels, but it doesn't change the fact that I witnessed you partake in an aggressive verbal and physical attack against another student. You are suspended from school for one week. Pack up your things, go straight home, and I will call your father at the station."

Fan-fucking-tastic. I was never going to hear the end of this from the Cullens. One day out of their sight and I get in a fight and suspended. Let's hope they were fairing better with their enemies today than I was...

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