Chapter 4 - shake it off
A/N: Anything Twilight related belongs to SM. Thanks for the reviews, faves and follows, I read each review and love your comments. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
"Thanks for breakfast Esme. I am stuffed," Bee said as she rubbed her tummy and marvelled at how she'd managed to eat four of Esme's delicious choc chip pancakes in the one sitting.
She was feeling pretty special given she'd had her hair done in a salon for the first time. The previous day while on their shopping outing in Port Angeles, Esme had insisted they go to the spa to have their hair done as well as having manicures, pedicures and facials.
Bee had never been to a spa before and despite it being what she considered a ridiculous extravagance she had to admit both to herself and to Esme that she genuinely loved it.
She went to her room, grabbed her new satchel stuffed with what she needed for school and then headed back down to the kitchen. She placed her bag on the counter and took a seat on a kitchen stool as she waiting for the boys who were stuffing down the rest of the pancakes.
Emmett's size freaked Bee out as she hadn't really been around someone as big as him since her mom's ex and Bee had been terrified of him; so Emmett made her a little nervous.
At school Bee always kept away from the jocks who had a tendency to be large. She remembered Jake grabbing her and pushing her against her locker before kissing her and a shiver ran up her spine. What a dog! She really hated men like that ... well, he was a boy really, but she hated him anyway.
"You look good Busy...I mean, Bee. Did you do something with your hair?" Emmett was trying to make small talk. He'd decided that if Bee was going to be living with them he'd do his best to be friendly. He felt pretty bad for her after having heard some of her story from his Dad. He also felt a little guilty that he hadn't befriended Bee when she started at the school or even stood up for her when others teased her. He generally did stand up for the little guys at school since he had a loathing for bullies. Looking at Bee and thinking back on things, he realised that he and his twin had both been pretty shitty to Bee in the past and he for one was going to try to fix things with her.
"Isabella and I went to the spa yesterday. Her hair looks lovely doesn't it?" Esme shot a wink at Bee and went back to loading the dishwasher.
Emmett nodded and sidled up to his mother to tease her: "Yours looks great too mom. Maybe I should go with you to the spa next time, my hair is so limp and I can't do a thing with it. "
Bee laughed as Esme smacked Emmett's arm: "Careful or I'll take you with us when we're going to get ourselves waxed. I'm sure you'd enjoy hot wax ripping the hairs from the soft parts of your body!"
"Eww, mom, too much information."
She shoo'ed him out of the kitchen: "Go and get your brother or you're going to be late."
Edward had bolted upstairs to get his bag from his room as soon as he scoffed the last of the pancakes. He was still embarrassed after his run in with Bee the morning before when she was barely wearing that slinky wrap thing. He wondered what the hell his Mom was thinking putting Bee in that thing anyway? He was having trouble being in the same room as her, not that he wanted to be in the same room as her anyway.
"ED-WARD, MOM SAYS HURRY UP OR WE'LL BE LATE!" Emmett shouted from the bottom of the stairs.
Esme scolded him: "Emmett, I could've done that. I asked you to GO and get your brother not shout loud enough for the neighbours down the road to hear our business."
Esme turned to Isabella: "The boys will bring you home after Emmett finishes his gym training session. Edward usually hangs out in the library and does his homework there while he waits, so you can wait with him if you like. Have a great day, sweet girl."
"Thanks Esme... for everything," Bee said shyly.
"Oh shush, no need for thanks. I am so happy to have you here. By the way, I put some lunch in your satchel, but if you'd prefer something from the cafeteria just let the boys know, they have plenty of cash on them. I'll make sure you have some cash too tomorrow, okay?"
Bee just stood staring at Esme. A small tear rolled down her cheek, she was so overwhelmed by the woman's gentle kindness. She ran her hand over her satchel wondering how Esme had snuck the food in there without her noticing, as she whispered: "Really Esme, thank you."
Emmett smiled to himself, pleased that he'd shared with his mother their theory that Bee was going to the library at lunch to avoid being around everyone else eating as she didn't have food or money to buy any. "C'mon Bee," he said. "Ed will be down in a minute, it's his turn to drive today so we'll go in his car. I'll even let you call shotgun since it's your first ride with us."
She chuckled and followed him to the garage to stand by Edward's shiny Volvo: "Thanks Emmett but I don't think you'd fit in the back of this car." She slipped in the back seat and waited for Mister Fancy Pants to turn up.
Edward arrived, settled into the driver's seat and without a word to either Emmett or Bee he drove out of the garage heading to school. As soon as they were on the road Emmett and Edward playfully argued over the music and kept it up most of the way to school, so Bee just leaned back into the comfortable seat enjoying the entertainment.
She was also a little relieved that Edward was pretty much ignoring her since she was a little embarrassed by their run in the morning before when she had unbelievably spilled coffee on him... again. Sitting in the back of the car she shook her head at the embarrassment of being such a klutz.
When they arrived at school, Emmett jumped out of the car and made his way over to Rosalie who was waiting for him rather impatiently. She was pissed since Jasper and Alice were going at it in the back seat of her car and she was basically relegated to standing guard for them.
Emmett ran up and kissed her passionately leaning her back on the hood of the car. It was then that he caught sight of the action in the back seat. He thumped the roof of her car: "C'mon you two, it's seven-thirty in the morning for fuck's sake. You're like rabbits!"
He slung his arm around Rosalie's shoulders and the two of them headed into the school building leaving Jasper and Alice unguarded though oblivious to the rest of the world anyway.
Edward sneered when he saw the two dishevelled love birds climbed out of the car. He walked over to meet up with Mike, Eric and Tyler who were all looking over his shoulder at something so he turned to see what had their attention thinking it would be Jasper's and Alice's sexual antics but they were already half way into the school building.
"Excuse me, can I get through please?" Bee tapped Edward on the shoulder. He realised she was trapped behind him and couldn't get to the stairs.
"Whatever," he muttered and stepped back so she could get past. She grunted in frustration and then charged towards the stairs leading into school. Mike, Eric and Tyler followed her movements and more specifically they were clearly watching her ass. It was then that Edward woke up to the fact that it was Bee they were staring at.
Mike elbowed Eric as all three gaped at Bee as she made her way into the building: "Shit, what the fuck happened to Busy Bee, she looks almost normal."
"Better than normal, did you see the way those jeans were clinging to her ass, damn bro'," Eric said as he slapped Tyler on the shoulder.
Edward also watched her walk away before he snapped out of it and growled at his friends: "C'mon guys, let's go or Principal Gray will be out here soon and we'll get detention."
"Okay, grumpy. Didn't you get your wheaties this morning?" Mike teased him as they shuffled into the building.
The morning went along as normal with Edward and Bee working on their Advance Program work in each of their classes.
When they got to English Edward grimaced as he realised their usual teacher was away and the substitute teacher had no idea what to do with the two geniuses for the class. In the end she sat Edward and Bee in the back of the classroom and asked them to work on a critical review of an American poet of their choosing.
Edward sighed as they sat facing each other just far enough away from the rest of the class to be able to talk quietly with each other. The teacher had given the class some simple comprehension task to do which was hardly going to take them the whole hour but they all set to completing the task while Edward and Bee set to arguing with each other.
"Well Isabella, if you don't want to do 'Genius' by Mark Twain what is your choice then?"
"Do NOT call me that! YOU do not get to call me that," she whisper-shouted at him.
"Well I have to call you something Isa-bella. That is your name, isn't it? We do live together now so what do you want me to call you? Sweetheart?" he sneered at her.
"Yes, oh yes, you would think that is what I want. You call me sweetheart and I'll call you snookie," she grinned evilly at him.
Edward threw his hands up in the air: "Fuck, living with you is going to be such a treat."
Bee blew him a kiss: "I love you too Mister Fancy Pants."
"Ugh! I'll see in you in the library after school so we can work on our Project, but until then ... stay... away... from... me. We can do this poem task separately." He stood and took a seat on the other side of the room, and began madly writing an analysis of the Mark Twain poem.
"Fine," she whisper-shouted again. She also began working on her poem, Dorothy Parker's 'A dream lies dead'.
By the time the bell rang they each had become so caught up in their writing they didn't even bother to glance each other's way. They had to stay behind to explain to the teacher that they couldn't decide on a single poem and so decided to work separately. The teacher thought about punishing them for not doing the task as assigned but as she read through the two papers she realised they were both better than anything she could have written herself, so she let it go and sent them on their way.
Outside the classroom Edward turned to Bee and ran his hand through his hair nervously: "Look ... Bee. I'm sorry I was a prick in there. I don't know… you just bring out the worst in me. I'm not usually so easily riled, I'm usually a good guy. It's only you that does it to me."
Bee stood staring at him, could he really be this much of a prick. Her eyebrows scrunched together as she tried to work him out.
"What?" he asked. "I'm trying to apologise. The least you could do is accept my apology and maybe even apologise yourself."
Was he kidding? She couldn't decide if he was pulling a prank or if he genuinely thought insulting her was in some way an apology.
Her hands went on her hips and she stepped closer, turning her face up to his because he was so much taller than her: "Are you an idiot? No, I know you're not stupid. So explain to me why the fuck I should apologise to you? First of all you were a complete shithead in class, then you apologise by insulting me and saying it's somehow my fault that You. Are. An. Asshole?"
His eyes bugged out of his head with surprise but even as he thought about it he couldn't fathom what her problem was: "What? That's not what I said, I said I was sorry. Forget it. You don't know anything; I knew I was wasting my time."
He stormed off heading to the cafeteria. Other students seemed to be staring at him more than usual but he was used to ignoring the watchful eyes of the other students, especially the girls who seemed fascinated with him for some reason Edward couldn't grasp.
He lined up to get food and realised that people really were staring at him. He glared at a few of them and they turned away but then Mike came up and punched him in the arm.
"Ow, shithead. What was that for?" Edward flinched and rubbed his arm where Mike had punched him.
Mike waggled his eyebrows: "So Edward Cullen, the man who refuses any and all pussy thrown his way. Now I know why. You have live-in pussy. Why didn't you tell us you were fucking Busy Bee? I bet she's fucking excellent in the sack."
Edward couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had wondered what people's reaction would be to finding out that Bee was living at his house but never in a million years did he think people would think she and he were sleeping together.
"What the fuck are you on about Mike?"
"So the rumours aren't true? Bee isn't living with you?"
"Well yeah she is..." Edward tried to explain but Mike was too excited to listen once he heard Edward confirm the rumour.
He shouted to Tyler who was sitting with Victoria, Jessica, Lauren and Eric: "It's true!"
Victoria nodded and looked smugly around the group. She had overhead Bee and Edward talking ... well fighting... in English and she had told Jessica what she heard. Jessica then told Eric, who told Tyler, who told Lauren when they were making out in the janitor's closet and Lauren told Mike when they were making out in the music room, but she didn't say that Tyler told her. She told him that Jessica told her. Anyway. Victoria was very pleased that Edward had confirmed what she'd told them. She loved being the first to know anything.
Edward tried to explain to Mike that they weren't living together, that Bee was just living at their house but it was pointless; gossip this sweet doesn't come along very often in a school like Forks High and no one wanted the truth since that was nowhere near as salacious.
Edward gave up and headed over to sit with Emmett who was laughing so hard he'd gone purple.
"What's so fucking funny?" Edward starting picking at his pizza, his appetite disappearing fast.
Emmett couldn't answer, he just kept spluttering and laughing. Finally Rosalie took pity on them both and answered for him, she was giggling but no where near the hysterics her boyfriend was in: "The whole school seems to have found out that Bee is living at your place but the kicker is that they think Bee's been getting busy in your fancy pants."
At that little play on words, Jasper and Emmett broke out in hysterics again while Alice just gave Edward a smug grin.
Edward looked around the cafeteria and realised that everyone was looking at him and talking about him: "Oh to hell with it. What the fuck do I care what they think!"
Emmett had partially composed himself by this point and patted his brother's back: "That's right Bro', you tell 'em. Fuck them all, and fuck you if you can't take a joke. But seriously man, this is the funniest shit to happen around here in ages!"
Edward playfully shrugged his brother's arm off his shoulder: "You're just jealous that the sexy rumour is about me and not about you ... for once!"
Rose leaned over and kissed Emmett's cheek: "That's because he is in an exclusive, monogamous, one partner only or I'll cut a bitch, relationship. Isn't that right Emmy?"
Emmett grinned and waggled his eyebrows at Rosalie, he loved it when she got possessive: "That's right baby. What do I need with a little Bee when I have plenty of honey right here." He grabbed Rose dipping her low and kissing her deep.
When he stood her up again she giggled and Edward groaned: "We're trying to eat here, do you mind?"
"No bro', I don't mind at all."
Bee had disappeared to the library at lunchtime, taking up her usual spot in the back behind the last set of bookshelves. Thanks to Esme's kindness, this time she had sandwiches, a juice box, an apple, and an apricot danish. She smiled as she looked at her spread and cherished every bite of food as though she expected it to be her last.
When lunch was over she headed to class feeling satisfied and calm, although she grew more and more concerned as she noticed the other students staring at her and whispering behind their hands. She knew she looked different today in her new clothes and her haircut but she figured she would still be invisible to most of the student body.
When she got to her locker to change her books, Victoria who had the locker next to hers, spoke to her. This wouldn't seem an unusual thing for anyone else however Bee could honestly never remember Victoria ever speaking to her before. Ever.
"I don't know what you did to get him girl, but whatever mojo you got going on you better keep it up or you're going to lose him and there's plenty of us who'd be very willing to satisfy that boy's needs. That's all I'm saying." She closed her locker and walked away with Lauren scampering along behind her.
Bee didn't say a word, she couldn't. She was too confused to put words together. She looked behind her to make sure Victoria wasn't actually talking to someone else, only to realise she was alone and that the strange words were indeed meant for her.
Bee shrugged, changed her books and closed her locker before heading off to class. She sat on one side of the classroom, opposite to Edward who spread his books over his table ensuring no one sat next to him. Bee got started on her work but noticed that once again her fellow students were staring and whispering. She realised they were looking from Edward to her and she wondered if he had said something about her and that was why everyone was staring. She actually started to panic as she considered that he may have told people about her 'situation'.
Bee really didn't care what her fellow high school students thought of her. From her observation most of her peers seemed obsessed with trivialities and gossip. She had nothing but was more focussed than her cohort who had every advantage. Bee really didn't understand them.
Though she didn't care what they thought of her she was very uncomfortable with the idea of everyone knowing her business. It wasn't safe. She needed to keep as low a profile as possible and being the subject of gossip was the exact opposite of a low profile.
Mr Banister walked into the room already talking as he did everyday: "Okay class, everyone's attention up here please." The students all sat up and paid attention except for Edward who went on with his independent study.
"Everyone includes you Mr Cullen."
A few people snickered but Edward just looked up with a bored expression.
Mr Banister dropped a pile of papers on his desk: "All books on the floor because you will be very pleased to hear that today we are doing a Pop Quiz!"
The class groaned and began dropping books and belongings on the floor. Edward made a big noise of packing up all his books clearly quite put out to have to participate with the rest of the class. Bee was also annoyed, she'd much rather be working on her independent studies but every now and again the teachers would insist on dragging her and Edward into the normal class routine.
Handing Lauren a pile of papers Mr Banister barked out instructions: "Lauren will place the paper on your desk. You may peruse the paper but and I can't stress this enough - Do. Not. Start. Until. I. Say. So. I am watching you Mr Newton."
Lauren walked up and down the aisle handing out the papers. She gave her hips a little extra swing when she went to Edward's desk and leaned low to bend down to place the paper on his desk, hovering until she had his attention. Finally, he looked up giving her a questioning look. He found the relentless attempts of girls like Lauren to get his attention confusing and tiresome.
She leaned lower giving him the chance to really check out her cleavage and whispered: "When you get tired of the little Busy Bee give me a call and I'll make sure you get what you need."
She licked her lips and then strolled away swinging her hips even more as she placed the test papers on the other students' desks. She looked over her shoulder giving him her best sexy look. Edward gave his head a shake to break his thoughts away from Lauren's strange invitation. He was about to look over the Quiz when he noticed that Bee was blushing furiously as she stared intensely at her paper and he realised she must have heard what Lauren had said about her. He was contemplating leaning over and explaining things to Bee but she was sitting too far away and then Mr Banister interrupted.
"Okay, class you have 45 minutes to complete the test. Remember as Seniors every test is critical to your final grade. Talk during the test and I will kick you out of the classroom. Cheat and I will kick you out of school. Now get on with it."
Both Edward and Bee completed the quiz in half the allotted time. Mr Banister collected their papers and instructed them to go back to their independent studies but to work quietly while the rest of the class finished the test. So Bee and Edward went back to working on their individual projects in silence while the rest of the class struggled with the quiz.
On the way to her final class Bee relaxed about all the talk surrounding her when she realised that the airheads had got it all so very wrong. The girls seemed intrigued by how she could have caught THE Edward Cullen, with the general consensus of the girls being that Bee must be very good at all elements of sexual performance. This made her smile to herself since she had absolutely ZERO experience of any sexual act having avoided the unwanted desires of boys and men.
The boys seemed to feel that having ignored everyone in the school since her arrival and since she punched Jacob for just kissing her, that if she was 'putting out' for Cullen it must be because he was so rich. She was quite offended by that idea but as she didn't give two hoots for high school nonsense she decided to just shake it off.
After school she headed for the library knowing Esme had wanted her to meet Edward there while Emmett was at football practice.
Bee joined Edward at a work table in the library. He gave her a curt nod as his only acknowledgement after which he kept silent and Bee was honestly grateful. It had been a weird day and she was ready for it to be over.
Once they had completed their set homework they agreed to work on their major joint project. Working together they went into automatic - they were good at this - they agreed their approach, split the tasks, set deadlines and word counts, and then sat in silence as they dove into the work. Occasionally they'd share an observation from their separate research but otherwise they were silent.
They'd been working for a couple of hours when Edward's phone pinged with a message from Emmett to say he was ready. They packed up their books and headed towards the car when Edward pulled Bee's arm gently to get her attention: "Look, Isa... Bee. There's some weird rumour going around about us. I think it's because of that argument we had in class this morning."
Bee shrugged: "Yeah, it's pretty funny actually. Don't worry, I don't listen to gossip anyway."
"Good. I mean what they are saying is ridiculous, completely absurd, but I wanted to be sure you knew I had nothing to do with it," he said and then turned to walk towards his car.
Once again Bella was amazed at how self-centred Edward could be and once again she shook it off reminding herself that living in the same house with Edward was the only drawback to staying with Cullens and that she should be very grateful. But she really couldn't stand his arrogance.
Emmett was already waiting by the Volvo when they left the school building: "Hurry up you two love birds, I want to get home - I. Am. Star-ving."
Several members of the football team were still in the car park and laughed at Emmett's exaggerated behaviour.
Edward growled at his brother: "For fuck's sake Emmett, seriously, do you have to shout that shit all over the school. As if it isn't embarrassing enough."
"Embarrassing?" Bee couldn't help but react to his insult. She was mildly annoyed by the rumours but 'embarrassed'? Was it so awful to be associated with her?
She stepped up close to him, once again her hands were on her hips and was once again she was about to tell him just what she thought of him, when she noticed a large group of footballers as well as members of the cheer squad were standing within ear shot. She grinned evilly and decided to take another course.
She pranced past Edward to wait at the back door of the car, speaking loud enough to be heard by the others in the carpark: "No Edward, I'm sorry but it is over. You can stop begging, I just think we should go our separate ways. I need a man who can give me what I need and I'm sorry but you just don't SATISFY. It's over. Get over it."
The large group standing nearby reacted with a mixture of shocked gasps and laughing. Edward turned a shade of purple. Emmett's eyes bugged out of his head and sat in the car quietly, not wanting to laugh at his brother's expense in front of the others.
Edward didn't move for a few minutes but when he heard someone say, "Man that was cold." He recovered himself, walked around to the driver's side and got in the car. He glared at Bee in the rear view mirror and muttered 'Bitch' to himself as he started the car and peeled out of the car park.
When they arrived home Edward stormed through the kitchen and headed upstairs to his room with barely more than a hello for his mother. Esme watched him storm past her followed by a barely restrained Emmett.
She turned to her new daughter with a questioningly look on her face: "How was your day Isabella?"
Bee dropped her backpack on the counter and sat one of the stools: "Well, let's see I aced a spot quiz in Mr Banister's class; I had a really delicious lunch ... thanks Esme, that was really sweet of you; the whole school thinks I am sleeping with Edward and that we are living in sin here under your roof; we got a really got a start on our project while in the library; and then I dumped Edward in front of most of the football team and the cheer squad. So all in all it was a pretty awesome day!"
Esme giggled: "That sounds great dear but can we go back to that bit about you sleeping with my son."
A/N: Oh Edward, just keeps putting his foot in his mouth. I think Bee handled it well though don't you. How sweet is Esme! I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Exciting news at my end, my other story Sweet Temptations has been nominated for fic of the month for December - if you've read the story and liked it perhaps you'd consider going to and voting for it. That would be awesome... it is such an honour to be in the running. Anyway, take care lovelies and see you soon.
Below are the poems Fancy Pants and Busy Bee were fighting over. Enjoy.
Poetry references:
Genius by Mark Twain
Genius, like gold and precious stones,
is chiefly prized because of its rarity.
Geniuses are people who dash of weird, wild,
incomprehensible poems with astonishing facility,
and get booming drunk and sleep in the gutter.
Genius elevates its possessor to ineffable spheres
far above the vulgar world and fills his soul
with regal contempt for the gross and sordid things of earth.
It is probably on account of this
that people who have genius
do not pay their board, as a general thing.
Geniuses are very singular.
If you see a young man who has frowsy hair
and distraught look, and affects eccentricity in dress,
you may set him down for a genius.
If he sings about the degeneracy of a world
which courts vulgar opulence
and neglects brains,
he is undoubtedly a genius.
If he is too proud to accept assistance,
and spurns it with a lordly air
at the very same time
that he knows he can't make a living to save his life,
he is most certainly a genius.
If he hangs on and sticks to poetry,
notwithstanding sawing wood comes handier to him,
he is a true genius.
If he throws away every opportunity in life
and crushes the affection and the patience of his friends
and then protests in sickly rhymes of his hard lot,
and finally persists,
in spite of the sound advice of persons who have got sense
but not any genius,
persists in going up some infamous back alley
dying in rags and dirt,
he is beyond all question a genius.
But above all things,
to deftly throw the incoherent ravings of insanity into verse
and then rush off and get booming drunk,
is the surest of all the different signs
of genius.
A Dream Lies Dead by Dorothy Parker
A dream lies dead here. May you softly go
Before this place, and turn away your eyes,
Nor seek to know the look of that which dies
Importuning Life for life. Walk not in woe,
But, for a little, let your step be slow.
And, of your mercy, be not sweetly wise
With words of hope and Spring and tenderer skies.
A dream lies dead; and this all mourners know:
Whenever one drifted petal leaves the tree-
Though white of bloom as it had been before
And proudly waitful of fecundity-
One little loveliness can be no more;
And so must Beauty bow her imperfect head
Because a dream has joined the wistful dead!