Chapter Two
Introductions at the Dance
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"This is never going to work," Seth shouted, trying hard to be heard over the music. "No-one is going to buy it."
I swatted at his shoulder, and leaned forward to rest my head back on it.
"Why are you being a negative Nancy for?" I hollered.
"You're leaving so much gap between us, a cruise liner could dock in it."
"Why don't you shut up," I yelled back.
"Time out." Seth drew back looking harassed. "Meet you back here in five minutes." He shook his head at me, before he turned and his tall form shouldered through the throng, before he was swallowed up and I was left jostling between eager couples who couldn't keep their hands off each other. Since I'd come to a standstill, falling out of rhythm to the music and only weighed about 120lb, I was being buffeted into people's arms or backs and it wasn't a forgiving environment.
"Excuse me!" I shouted, time and time again, as I fought my way to the edge.
Seth was nowhere to be seen, so I decided to take a toilet break.
In the washroom, I stared at my reflection in the mirror, wondering if my false eyelashes were going to fall off. Turning my head side to side, I looked at my profile and wondered if I looked my age. I got mistaken for being thirteen the other day, and when you're nearly seventeen, that's borderline offensive.
To combat this, I was wearing make-up and a sleeveless black number that fell about mid-thigh. This outfit was already pushing my comfort zone so I didn't need comments like I was being too stiff or that a cruise liner could dock in the gap I was leaving between me and my dance partner.
Pushing my ass into someone's groin wasn't my prerogative of asking Seth to this dance. It had been a full week since I'd agreed to this scheme, and we'd met once at a mall and once at a movie theater. When we met at the mall, I didn't realize it was Seth trying to fish out my blood group, how my kidneys looked on the inside and every detail between.
I'd never felt so guilty about being a good girl.
"So let me get this straight." Seth had sipped on his banana milkshake five days ago, while I poked a straw through my lemonade feeling miserable. "Your curfew is at ten, but you're often home by six?"
"Yeah," I said defensively.
"Why?"
"Well, I've got homework to do."
"And?"
"Well, I like to be in bed by ten-thirty."
Seth wiped his upper lip free of a milk moustache and shook his head at me.
"Swan, I can't introduce you to my friends like this."
Feeling slighted, no matter who it was, always got my back up. "I'm not sure I want to meet them if they're such a judgemental lot." I sniffed. "Not everyone on this planet is designed to be a party animal, you know. There's a beauty in being different."
"Yeah." He looked around, like he was checking nobody knew us. "We have a lot of work to do. First of all, that stupid curfew of yours."
"Ten o'clock is not stupid!"
"No, I'm talking about your self-imposed one at six." He leaned forwards. "You know there's a problem when your parents are cooler than you are. We need to break a habit of a lifetime and make you live a little."
"There are times when I've stayed out till ten," I said scornfully.
"Yeah, like when?"
I crossed a leg, crossed my arms and didn't say anything, pouting out of the window. Sure, I could count those times on both hands but what was so special about being a child of the night? Staying out late was overrated, and most places I wanted to go to, was shut by then. I could understand Seth's concern about fitting in with his crowd, but this was taking the cake.
"Fine, prove it to me." He changed tack. "Let's go for a late night movie."
"Whatever." I shrugged, trying to show how unbothered I was.
"Thursday night, 7:30."
"You better pick me up," I said, not very happy about it.
Thursday night, I got home twenty-five minutes past curfew. I don't know if Seth did that on purpose, but I didn't appreciate the sentiment. Not that my parents put down the law, although they were all ears when I came back, but because I knew what he was trying to do.
He was trying to make me become a mini rule-breaker, and someone that would look believable when he showed me off at parties. Because somehow having a girlfriend who was goody-two-shoes would ruin the whole vibe?
What did he want from me?
God, he was the most demanding non-boyfriend boyfriend I could think of.
And I was starting to think if it was worth all the hassle.
Stepping back outside, I was struck by how successful the Sadie Hawkins dance was. It was being held at our school gymnasium at Forks High, and when the bleachers were folded away, it gave a large floor space to work with. In the corner was a chocolate fountain, and spiked fruit punch and in another, a flower wall for Instagram opportunities. I wasn't in charge of the music thankfully, but there was more slut drops being done on the floor than I could count.
The few teachers that were in charge were too busy letting their hair down to smell the bongs being inhaled out in the courtyard.
A hand closed around my upper arm.
I looked up to see Seth, who'd clearly been looking for me.
"Come on!" he shouted. "Let me introduce you to my friends!"
"Why don't you just tell them you're gay?!" I offered to the back of his head.
He didn't hear me, which is just as well, because I was definitely going to repeat that question in private when it was just the two of us. So far, I hadn't had all the privileges having a boyfriend bought, and we weren't there for each other like I'd hoped - so really, was there any need for this charade to continue if neither of us seemed fully committed.
Seth came to a stop and I nearly bumped into the back of him. Peeking over his shoulder, I saw a group of four or five people sitting around a table, looking bored with how stunning they looked and not even cracking a smile when Seth joined them. The tables were arranged in two rows, with five tables in each row and they'd claimed the one nearest to the green glow of the fire exit sign above a side door.
"Hey guys," Seth greeted, drawing me out to his side and under his arm. A bit of hair fell into my face and I had to shake it back, noticing that drew a look of disdain from the icy blonde. "This is my date for the dance."
"She asked you?" The girl turned up her nose.
I answered for Seth, because honestly it was starting to piss me off. Their whole attitude stunk. From the moment Seth reached them to now. "Well yeah. That's the whole point of this dance."
Ignoring me, she shot a cool look at the boy sitting next to her, who easily had the most brawn and muscle of the entire table and didn't look too pleased himself. What was going on there? My eyes darted to the next pair. I recognised the girl as Jessica Stanley, a short girl with blue eyes and quick temper, sitting on the lap of a boy who was watching me like new meat as he drunk a glass of something that looked stronger than fruit punch. He paused halfway, and fed the remainder of the drink to Jessica who gulped it down, while holding onto his wrist.
He swapped his laser focus to her.
Seth motioned to the blonde girl.
"That's Rosalie," he introduced. "She likes to sunbathe nude and often travels to Monaco where her family has a villa."
Honestly? Was Seth going to introduce all of them like this?
"The bruiser is Emmett. He's her man."
What a qualifier.
"The girl on Edward's lap is Jessica, and the guy on the end is Jasper. He's the fastest linebacker on this pitch and a master of CoD."
I turned to look at the CoD guy who had dark blond hair and who was thoughtfully looking back at me. He was leaner than Emmett but certainly possessed some upper body strength of his own. I recognised him straightway. He was a fellow junior that somehow belonged better with the seniors. We shared a few classes together, like AP English, Calculus II and World Geography.
Not that I was counting.
"Hey," I acknowledged.
"Hey," he replied back with no hint of irony.
"Seth, should we go back and dance?" I begged, wanting to escape.
"In a moment," he said, taken off guard because he hadn't introduced me properly yet.
Thinking on my feet, I said, "I need to go say hi to someone!" louder than necessary for just him to hear and turned my back on his entire group of friends. Fixing on a random face in the crowd who remarkably looked like Angela but wasn't, I powerwalked towards them and thankfully spotted a few faces that I did know standing near the chocolate fountain. Changing course, I went and talked to them until Seth saw sense and found me again fifteen minutes later.
He tapped me on the shoulder and I excused myself from the two girls who let me go with wide-eyed looks.
"What do you think of them?" He leaned forward to speak in my ear. The music wasn't loud, but we'd all gotten used to the loud music from earlier so were still acting as such.
"Your friends?"
Seth nodded fervently.
"Honestly?"
He nodded again.
"I get why you don't want to tell them. But if they are your real friends, you wouldn't have to hide it."
"I'm not doing it because of them." He scowled.
"Fine," I placated. "Who are you doing it for?"
"Never you mind." He switched the topic. "What have you got so against them?"
I gave him a really look. Then I looked at my phone and realised it was 9:15, and I needed to organise a ride home. Seth was still busy defending his friends' honor and I was half listening by this point.
He insisted, "No, you just caught them at the wrong time. Rosalie and Emmett had a big fight on the way here, that's why everyone seemed off and nobody was talking. They're not normally like that."
"Okay, say I believe you," I began.
"They all loved you!"
I rolled my eyes.
"Seth, I want to go home."
"Oh." He looked at the time himself on his own phone. "Now?"
"You owe me," I said. "Or do I have to book myself an uber?"
"You have to go right now?"
I gave a nod. Seth cursed and unlocked his phone. He went through his recent contacts and pressed dial. Whoever he was calling, answered after several seconds. "Hey man, are you still in the area?" Pause. "You are? Great." Another pause. "Listen, I need you to come to school and pick up a girl. You won't miss her. She's got a tight little number on, all in black. Petite, brown hair, big eyes, totally your type. She goes by the name Bella." Normal pause. "I don't want her walking to the parking lot by herself man, come to the side of the gym." Longer pause. "Yeah, she has her phone on her. I'll text you her number, text her directly when you're out front." Pause. "See ya later bro. Bye."
"Who was that?" I asked, alarmed, when he got off the phone.
"Jacob," he said. "You know Jacob, right? He's not some stranger."
I half screamed. "Call him off!"
Seth held his phone out of the way while I jumped up for it. Feeling my dress get compromised, I pulled it down and stopped jumping. This dress wasn't meant for jumping up and down.
"You can't do this, I refuse to go with him."
"Bella, he's on his way. That guy is even more responsible than me. I won't send you off unless I absolutely trusted him with my life. He's already on his bike, I can't call him off now. Please don't make his trip a wasted journey, and go with him."
"I can't go on the back of a bike with this dress!"
"Sure you can," Seth put his hands on my shoulders and guided me towards the fire exit, that was near to where Rosalie, Emmett, Jessica, Edward and Jasper had originally been sitting. Now there was only three of them, but I was too embarrassed to see who was there and who wasn't. It didn't help that Seth lifted his gold sleeved, maroon football jacket with the number 88 emblazoned on it from where it had been over the back of a chair, and draped it over my shoulders. He walked off, leaving me to face the exit door and I rubbed my arms up and down, because I could feel the drop in temperature.
"Are you cold?" a masculine voice asked.
"No, I'm fine," I answered without thinking, looking over my shoulder and blushing when my eyes met Edward's. He raised an eyebrow but didn't comment further.
"Are you waiting for someone?" another voice asked.
My eyes turned to Jasper.
And because I couldn't help it, I looked at the third musketeer and realised it was Emmett. I was so surprised I was in the company of the three boys, I blurted out, "Where's Jessica and Rosalie?"
"Restroom," Emmett grunted.
"Oh."
I went back to staring down at my phone. Now, I was actively looking forward to being on Jacob's bike speeding away from here.
"So, will you be coming to the game?" Edward picked up the conversation from where it should've died.
"Game?" I squeaked.
"Yeah, we're playing next Friday. Didn't Seth tell you?"
I looked at him. Looked away.
Went back to staring at my phone.
"It's not really my thing," I said weakly, and decided fuck it. It would be better waiting outside than in here. Trying the metal bar, the door opened with ease and I stepped outside. As I did so, I heard the deep rumble of a motorbike turning into the parking lot and I waited for the sound to come towards me. The fire door closed and I waited patiently. Eventually, the bike purred around the corner and came to a stop beside me, as hot Nuda took of his helmet and shook his hair, before fixing me with a dark gaze.
"Bella?"
"That's me!" I said with no shame. "Wow, cool bike."
The bit under the seat had red panelling.
"It's a Husqvarna Nuda 900R. There's not many around. It has a 900cc engine, a maximum torque of about 100 newton-metres and the rear suspension with a Öhlins shock absorber. Look." He revved the engine, by pulling the throttle and increasing the engine speed revolution and chuckled when I jumped.
"That's a common response. It's just vacuum pressure created by sucking in more air. Nothing scary."
"I knew that," I said, trying to regain my cool.
The only reason I knew he rode a Nuda, was because I heard a bunch of people discussing it on the first day of school. So everything he said just now, went flying over my head. I watched as he removed the spare helmet from where it was strapped to the backrest.
"Where am I taking you?" he proposed.
"Home." I gave my address.
"I'm not familiar with that road, could you give me the intersection closest to it?"
"Sure, it's near the stoplight between Forks Avenue and Division Street."
"Got it." He offered the helmet as I pulled my arms through the sleeves of Seth's jacket so I could zip it up. "I know La Push really well, and the area around Sol Duc and Calawah rivers but I've yet to work my way through the rest of Washington."
I hesitated. "Where were you before you came here?"
"Oh, I'm a La Push boy, but we moved out to Arizona for dad's work before coming back."
I nodded shyly and accepted his helmet.
When I got on the back of his bike, I was glad he was already on it and facing forward, because I was pretty sure I flashed my safety shorts as my leg swung over. My groin was centimeters from the curve of his ass, so I scooted back and tried to keep a big gap between us. He urged me to get closer, and my palpitations increased when the milky white of my thighs wrapped around his denim clad legs and his butt was cradled into my quivering core.
To add to my excitement, his abdomen clenched under my touch when I looped my arms around his waist.
He cleared his throat. "Ready?"
"Don't go too fast," I called. "It's my first time."
"I'll go ten miles under the speed limit," he promised.
True to his word, he pulled gently out and we weaved our way through the roads of Forks, Washington making me feel secure to be with him but also enjoy the thrill of air rushing against my body and giving the sweet rush of epinephrine. He reached the intersection I was talking about within eight minutes, and I felt disappointment that our ride was nearly over but keen to repeat the experience again. If Jacob wasn't around, then I would still get on the back of a motorbike somehow.
He killed the engine once we reached the outside of my house, after I shouted "Left" and "Right" a few times, guiding him.
"Thank you," I said, unstrapping my helmet.
"You're welcome," he responded, holding still as I held onto his shoulders to climb off. He accepted his helmet back and stared at me with warmth.
"Well, I better get in."
"Sure, I'll wait."
Turning, I ran towards my door and turned to wave. Once I got in, his engine didn't start up again until a few minutes later when the light in my bedroom window switched on. I don't know how he knew I was in my bedroom but maybe he figured it out, because all the other lights were switched off in the first floor except that one.
"Bella! You home, bubs?" My mom called from downstairs.
"Yeah," I confirmed.
"Did you have a good night?"
"It was a really good one, mom."
"Maybe you can invite in that nice boy next time."
"Mom, have you been spying on me?"
She deliberately ignored my question meaning she had. "Lastly you'll be happy to hear, your curfew's been changed to eleven. We'll review that when you turn eighteen and about to go college."
Ugh, Seth would love to hear about this.
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AN: Thanks to Hstevens being my first reviewer. "Backfire" is an apt term lol