Chapter 16: Punch Line

BPOV

It was time again to go back to the monotony of school and start a new semester. I, as usual, was rushing around trying to get everything I needed to bring to school with me and that way I didn't have to rush home to get anything. I left my bedroom giving the painting Edward gave me one last glance with a smile on my face. I hurried down the stairs and missed the last two landing on my butt with a resounding smack. I felt the blush around my face as soon as Charlie appeared before me with a grin.

"Uh… you okay there, kiddo?"

"Yes, Charlie. I missed falling down the stairs so much…"

"You're being sarcastic, huh…"

"It's the best thing for my ego…" I said as I accepted his hand to help me up again. I dusted myself off and went to the kitchen to get a bagel before I had to leave "Dad, remember to go grocery shopping today… or if you can't then let me know and I will"

"Sure thing, kiddo. I think it's safe if I left the money here for you to go. Just in case I can't leave work early enough to do it" I nodded with the coffee maker prepared my coffee just as I liked it "Will your boy be there with you today at school?"

"I don't know. Carlisle was going to evaluate him this morning to see if it was okay for him to go. I sure hope he's going to school with us because that would mean he's okay at least for now… you know?" Charlie nodded with a smile "Even if it's school and it's boring as hell"

"Well, kiddo, I hope you have a great day but I must leave now for the station" Charlie said giving me a pat on the shoulder. I smiled behind my coffee mug "If you need me…"

"…I'll give you a call immediately. I know, Dad." He smiled again and got his jacket from the chair "Be safe"

"Always am"

He left me there in the kitchen eating my bagel. I was actually wondering if Edward was okay enough to be at school. I knew he was worried he was losing so much work at school that he might fall behind but I preferred to give him his work at home if he wasn't feeling good enough. A horn blared outside my house and I frowned thinking Charlie maybe forgot something and needed me to get it quick.

My grin almost broke my face when I saw a silver Volvo outside my house with the person I wanted to see the most behind the wheel. I barely registered Alice and Jasper waving from the backseat of the car when Edward got out and I ran to his side giving him the biggest hug I could while kissing him all over the face and he laughed.

"Hello to you too, love" he said while laughing.

"What are you doing here? And driving your car…" He smiled at me "Carlisle knows about this, right?"

He laughed at that "Of course he does. I asked him if I could drive my car to school and he said I could… on the condition that, if I felt poorly during school hours, I wouldn't be difficult and attend to my needs"

"Are you okay to drive and to be at school?" I asked, worried about him. He just smiled and gave me a peck on the lips.

"Don't worry… I'm okay. Do you really think Esme would've let me leave the house if I wasn't okay to be at school?" I shook my head no "Exactly. So, you want a ride to school? I came to pick up my girlfriend but she seems to be running a little late"

I grinned "Your girlfriend is crazy and never gets to school early because she never knows where her stuff is" he laughed "I'll go get my stuff real quick, okay?" I kissed him and went to the house but then I remembered something "Did you get breakfast? Lunch?" I prepared lasagna the night before and thought of bringing some to school for lunch.

"Breakfast yes… lunch, well, I didn't gave Esme enough time to give me any" he blushed a little and I marveled at how better he looked right now. He didn't even have the cannula on his face.

"Then leave it to me. I have the best lunch ever for today. Give me two minutes" I said giving him a kiss and walking backwards and yelping when my back collided with the open door. I hear Alice's laughter from the car and saw Edward shaking his head.

"If you could go faster, Bumping Car, I have a Math test on first period and I can't be late!" Jasper shouted from the back of Edward's car. I gave him the finger and ran into the house for my stuff.

It didn't take more than five minutes and I was on the inside of my boyfriend's car. I was so excited to be able to sit by his side and hold his hand while he drove. Alice was chatting excitedly on the backseat and Jasper was trying to keep up with her while Edward laughed quietly and I stole glances at him.

At the parking lot, Edward went to park the car next to Rosalie's BMW where we could see Emmett waiting and grinning. We went to him and Rosalie, who was waiting inside the car.

"Took you long enough, little bro" Emmett went and lightly punched Edward in the arm "We've been waiting for like 10 minutes!"

"So long…" mocked Rosalie and everyone laughed.

"It was Bumping Car's fault! Christmas Tree was on time but she kept bumping against everything and trying to find her stuff around the house!" Jasper explained and I blushed "I swear, besides being clumsy, you're the most disorganized person ever!"

"Wait until Edward's OCD tendencies rub on her. She'll be organized soon enough" added Alice with a smile.

"I'm not OCD! I just like things in order"

"You ARE OCD! I once moved one of your pencil cases from its original place and you couldn't sleep until you found it and put it back where you said it belonged!"

"True! Remember when I replaced all the book covers from his bookcase? Dad grounded me for a week because Edward cried and tried to reorganize everything the way he liked it!" Emmett and Alice were having a blast at Edward's expense.

"Hey! Stop mocking my boo! If he likes order, then leave him alone! You bullies!" I said and they shrugged without pity while Edward hugged me from behind "And you, Jasper Hale!" he cowered behind Alice "Stop calling me Bumping Car just because of that mishap this morning! It's not cool!"

"You're wasting your time, honey. He won't stop anytime soon. And the more you fight him, the worst the nicknames get. Believe me, I know!" Edward said and Jasper smirked my way.

"You should listen to your boo! He has tried and still doesn't succeed!" the bell rang and Jasper cursed "Fuck, I have a test. Gotta go!"

We all laughed at his running form and started our way to our classes. I still shared Homeroom with Alice and Edward so, the three of us went straight to Mr. Banner's class. He was at the door greeting the students and he stopped and looked at Edward with a proud smile on his face.

"Mr. and Ms. Cullen! Ms. Swan! Welcome back. I hope you had a nice break"

"It was… interesting" I said while shrugging. Edward said nothing and Alice just made a sound agreeing with what I said.

"I heard what happened during the break and, I just wanted to make sure Mr. Cullen is okay and that you can count on me if any of you need anything at all" Mr. Banner said while looking at Edward.

"Thank you, Mr. Banner. We know. And thank you for worrying about me and calling to know about my health. My dad told me and I wanted to thank you personally. It was really nice to know that…"

"You're one of my best students. I know Miss Sue was also worried but didn't want to bother your family. Since I've known Carlisle for a while I took the chance"

"Thanks for being worried about my brother" Alice added and smiled.

"Well, I won't hold you here any longer… come on in, and as I said, welcome back"

We were at lunch trying to make sense to Jasper's ramblings about his exam. He was talking animatedly and making everything in his power to make us understand why his exam sucked and his teacher, Mr. Vernon, was the worst kind of human being ever. I realized I left the lunch bag in Edward's car.

"Baby, I have to go get the lunch I prepared. I left it in your car" he smiled.

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"Nah, I'll be right back" he gave me the keys and I kissed him quickly before leaving the cafeteria.

I light-jogged to the car trying not to trip in the process. When I was closing the car to go back a hand closed the door for me and I turned around to see Mike freaking Newton standing in my way.

"Well, hello there, Bella"

"Get out of my way, Mike"

"You see, I'm trying to be nice here, Swan. Really, you should stop treating people like this, you know? Your dad wouldn't be proud…"

I took a deep breath and tried to control my temper "Can you please move out of my way, Mike?"

"That was better, but no. I want to talk to you"

"I don't have time for that, I have to go back to…"

"Cullen. Yeah, I saw you guys all over each other. You like to play with fire huh?"

"Stop it, Mike. Stop messing with Edward. You are being ridiculous and unfair"

"I just don't get it. I mean, if it was Emmett I would probably understand. But it's Edward…" he shuddered "He has all kinds of bullshit to deal with! And the fire thing! I bet he stays away from the kitchen all the time or he'll freak out on everyone! And he's sick!" I was fuming on the inside but he didn't seem to notice or care "I heard he was in the hospital for Christmas. I mean, how awful is that? And you probably were there with him too. Do you want that for your future? Because he won't probably get better anytime soon"

"That's any of your business! It's my life and I'll live it how I want to! So, stop messing with MY boyfriend and get the hell away from me!"

He backed away with his hands raised and a mockery look on his face. I looked him up and down and decided he wasn't worth it and went to return to the cafeteria. But of course, Mike had to open his big fat mouth again.

"Just had to warn you… remember this: he's a freak and he'll freak out on you and snap anytime now! I just hope you aren't in the line of fire!"

I ignored him and jogged inside. At the table everyone was laughing with Jasper and Emmett. Edward looked at my face and arched an eyebrow "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I tried to come up with something so he wouldn't ask anything else "I tripped so many times. I'm angry at myself for being so clumsy"

He laughed softly and nuzzled his nose in my neck. I relaxed a little and gave him the portion of lasagna I brought for him trying to forget the stupid face of Mike Newton.

We were in Biology when Mr. Banner said we had to do some experiments with burners. I looked at Edward's face and saw him take a deep breath to steady himself.

"Are you okay? We can leave and go to the nurse's office if you want to skip this"

"I can't always run away from fire stuff. As long as it's contained it doesn't matter" he tried to convince himself with that statement.

"I'll be here for you" I stroked his leg under the desk and he gave my hand a squeeze.

Mr. Banner asked for help distributing the materials and I was concentrated on making Edward feel safe. I started the burner like Mr. Banner was asking to and put the stuff we already had on our desk close to it so we could finish this as soon as possible.

Suddenly our burner tipped over and everything – even my notebook – caught fire. Edward jumped away from the desk but the amazing thing was that he put me behind him and away from the fire. A laugh caught my attention and I saw the face of Mike Newton lurking beside us.

"Owww, Cullen, are you going to go all crazy on us again? Go ahead so Bella can see how much of a freak you are and she stops hanging around you, Firecracker!" he stage-whispered to us and I wanted to jump on his neck and murder him.

One minute, Mike was laughing after what he said and the second he was on the floor holding his nose while blood ran from it. I saw Edward shaking his right hand and cursing softly before the fire detectors started to douse us with cold water and put the fire out.

Edward got closer to Mike and I tried to pull him back but he managed to whisper "You can mock me and treat me like dirt all you want. But stay away from Bella!" I was shocked when he turned around and took my face in his hands "Are you okay, Bella?"

I nodded and Mr. Banner with Mr. Greene came closer to us. "Mr. Cullen, Mr. Newton and Ms. Swan, you need to accompany me" Mr. Greene said and I nodded again. Edward didn't even say anything and grabbed my hand following Mr. Greene and Mike to the principal's office.

Oh, man! I'm sure my dad isn't going to be happy I'm called to the Principal's Office… and I didn't even got to punch Mike!

AN: I can't believe I went so long without updating this story. My inspiration went out of the window and didn't want to come back until recently. I also had a plot bunny in my head that was begging to be at least outlined so I've been working on that.
As you guys can see, Edward is growing up and taking control of his life. I don't think there will be much more of this story. I have the general idea where I want this to go. I just have to put it into words. I'll be working on that...
If anyone wants to be a pre-reader of my new prospect of a story, let me know with a DM.

AYEN!