North Star

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. All recognisable characters, content, or locations belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Chapter Fifteen:

Bella

"Hi, Bella," Alice Cullen greets me brightly, and her good cheer is oddly jarring. As uncomfortable as she and her brother make me, I suppose I'd imagined more menace, less kindness, and the absence leaves me oddly flatfooted.

"Alice," I acknowledge her politely, and resist the urge to seek out the nearest exit. I'm already in the parking lot, and so I continue on towards my truck instead, and pray Tyler already awaits me there. It's drizzling, damp and cold, and I'd rather not linger outside any longer than necessary.

Especially not to speak with Alice Cullen.

"Was there something you wanted?"

"I wondered if you wanted to hang out with me this afternoon?" Alice asks, "You've been so busy, we haven't had much of an opportunity to."

"Sorry, Alice, I already have plans," I reply, and I'm not even lying. Admittedly, my plans consist of homework, a grocery run, and more crime dramas while Charlie isn't home, but semantics. I don't offer the possibility of a rain check, in any case - I'd sooner bathe in a vat of boiling oil than voluntarily submit myself to she and her creeptastic brother's company - and I bite my tongue on the desire to express as much.

My parents taught me better.

It's exceedingly tempting, however.

I reach my truck, lean against the driver's side door, and study the smallest Cullen with a frown. She's very pale - they all are - with elven features and a dainty figure. Her eyes are a peculiar colour - not quite brown, not quite gold, but somewhere in between - and the sight of them reminds me of something I can't quite put my finger on. It's puzzling, but I don't allow myself to get distracted by the mystery.

"Is there something else, Alice? I think your family is waiting."

Alice waves a dismissive hand. "They can wait a little bit longer."

I grimace, and cast my gaze around the parking lot in search of Tyler. He's deep in conversation with Mike, Ben, and Eric near the front building, and I sigh, long-suffering.

"Well, what is it?"

"Edward wanted me to give you this," Alice says. She stretches out her hand, in which is a folded piece of paper that seems to have been conjured out of nowhere. I stare at it with distaste, exceedingly reluctant to accept the note, but I figure, if it'll get her out of my hair sooner…

I take hold of it between two fingers, hopeful that my displeasure and reluctance to do so is obvious for all to see, and suppress the reflex to crush the meticulously folded paper in a white-knuckled fist.

That, at least, can wait until Alice is no longer watching me like a hawk.

"Well, I'll be seeing you, I'm sure," Alice trills. She waves, and flounces - somehow gracefully - off to her waiting siblings.

I don't watch her go, instead pile into my truck and contemplate the folded note. I'm a little intrigued to find out what Edward has said, but rather than indulge my curiosity, I scrunch up the lined paper, drop it into the footwell, and do my best to forget about it.

I wish I could toss aside Edward and Alice Cullen so easily.

While I wait for Tyler, I exchange texts with my mom, who asks me to pass on her love to the usual suspects. Apparently, she and Charlie are better friends than they ever were spouses - enough that Charlie even attended Renee's wedding to Phil - and I promise to do so with a fond smile. She quizzes me all the while, about my classes and friends and my pastimes outside of school hours. I bemoan the terrible dance class I'd attended - I won't attend another - and she suggests I learn the traditional dances from my relatives.

I'm intrigued by the prospect, but Tyler makes his appearance before I can express as much, and I promise to continue the discussion when I get home.

"You ready to go?" I ask him.

"Yeah," Tyler confirms, "Sorry to keep you waiting. Mike's thinking about asking Jess out. He wants to know if she'd be open to the idea."

"I'm not really sure how much more obvious she can get," I reply, resisting the urge to throw my arms up in celebration. It'd probably be too hasty, anyway, but the fact that he's even thinking about it? Progress. I'll have to tell Lauren and Angela. They'll be ecstatic, "But yes, she'd be very open to the idea. So open."

Tyler laughs at my enthusiasm, but he texts Mike with the news, and he and I spend the rest of the trip - short as it is - discussing my most recent encounter with Alice Cullen.

"I really think you should tell your dad," he says, "Things are getting kind of weird now. They should've gotten the hint already. It's been weeks."

"And tell him what? He hasn't actually done anything wrong."

"He'd be aware of the situation though," Tyler says, "And if things escalate-"

"Let them not, please God," I interject, and I'm only half joking.

"-Then at least it won't be a sudden thing, you know?"

I pull into my driveway with a sigh, but I see Tyler's logic, and I've grown really quite uncomfortable with the entire mess.

"I'll think about it."

"The Chief's one of the good ones, B," Tyler says quietly, "He won't dismiss your concerns."

"I know," I answer, and I mean it. I just can't shake the niggling concern that I'm being melodramatic, that actually, Edward Cullen is a socially awkward turtle with overzealous tendencies and an enabling sister, and actually, I really don't need to be worried about shit.

"Anyway," Tyler claps his hands on his thighs, "I'll get out of your hair. Lock your doors when you get inside, yeah?"

"Of course."

Tyler and I pile out on either side of the truck simultaneously, but while my friend walks down the driveway in order to make his way to his own home, I make my way up to the front porch, and into the house after fussing with the door. I shut and lock it behind me, make sure every other entry point is shut and locked for good measure, and then call my mom to continue our conversation. And also because talking to her makes me feel safer, but no one else needs to know that.