Toxic Rose Chapter Fourteen: Punishment and Crime
Bella awoke the next morning to the sound of a phone ringing. She picked up her head groggily off of her computer keyboard where she had fallen asleep the night before. She had stayed up late waiting for the man to email her with a response as to who he was but as the minutes ticked by and there was no response her eyes had gotten heavier and heavier until she had finally knocked out.
So she was a bit disoriented when she woke up, the imprint of the alphabet on her cheeks, and her neck sore from how she had held her head in the crooks of her arms. She rubbed her tired eyes and reached for the source of the noise, the phone that was sitting on the table end next to her desk.
Wait a second...since when do I have a phone? Bella thought. Hadn't her phone been destroyed? But her brain was too tired to continue on that particular train of thought, so she answered the call.
"Hullo?" She answered as she put the phone to her ear.
"Morning, princess." Bella froze up at that. Holy shit, this was Rosalie's voice. She opened her eyes wide in shock, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She was now wide awake.
"Uh, good morning," She croaked back and cleared her throat, hoping that she didn't sound too disgusting right now.
"I'm glad you're up now, as you're about to be late to school."
"What?" Bella craned her neck to look at her clock. Shit, she had twenty minutes to get to school! She had completely forgotten to set her alarm. She scrambled out of her chair, while continuing to hold the phone to her ear with her hand and ended up tripping over the cables of her laptop. She fell with a hard thud onto the ground and curled up into a little ball as she cradled her hurt knee until the pain subsided.
"What was that?" Rosalie asked on the other end.
"Nothing," Bella hastily replied, getting back up again. She threw open her closet, debating what she should wear and settled on a flannel and dark jeans. She put Rosalie on speaker as she dressed up so she could use two hands.
"Well when your done panicking and getting ready, come downstairs. I'm giving you a ride to school."
Bella stopped at this, her hands stilled on the last button of her flannel.
"You're...picking me up?"
"Did I stutter? Hurry up already and come downstairs. I'm not going to be late to school just because you are trying to be." Oh crude. Last time Bella had taken a car ride with Rosalie...it had not gone too well for her. Maybe the blonde had changed...maybe she wouldn't act the way she had previously?
Bella shook her head and finished buttoning up. It was too late to complain about it and the girl's quick driving would get them to school on time. "I'm almost done," she shot back to the phone and ran into the bathroom to brush her teeth and hair. Once she was done she grabbed the phone, noting that Rosalie had hung up by now and grabbed her things before bolting out the door.
Just as she had said, Rosalie was in the driveway of Bella's house, sitting inside her red Mustang. She was tapping away on her phone and when Bella approached the car and knocked on the window the blonde jerked her head, indicating for Bella to come sit in the passenger seat. Bella opened the door, grateful to be out of the cold. A light snow had fallen during the night time and she had not noticed it in her rush to get ready.
"Buckle up," Rosalie instructed and then reversed them out of the driveway as Bella did so.
Bella sat silently in the car, not sure what to do, so she began fiddling with her thumbs. The warm smells of a toasted bagel hit her nose and her stomach rumbled in reminder that she had not eaten breakfast. Rosalie heard the noise and let out a chuckle, which only made Bella duck her head in gangrene.
"Here," Rosalie said as she reached to the back seat of the chair and tossed Bella a brown paper bag. "I figured you'd be hungry, so I got you a snack this morning."
Bella's eyes opened wide and she looked at the blonde not sure she was understanding what she was seeing. The blonde was feeding her?
"Don't worry, it's not poisoned." The blonde cleared her throat, looking a bit uncomfortable now.
"Uh, thanks," Bella said, figuring she was being a bit creepy by staring at the blonde like this. She opened up the bag and began devouring the bagel inside, her stomach gurgling appreciatively.
"Also, I left the phone on your desk last night at your house. You're keeping it and that's final." Bella nodded her head as her mouth was too full to answer. It still didn't sit right with her what the blonde had done in the woods but she was too scared to bring it up now. Her phone had had her personal information on it and now it was gone, smashed to bits in the woods. Bella swallowed the food around the lump that had grown in her throat from remembrance of what the incident in the woods. Maybe when they were in a more public environment she could address this with the blonde, or maybe Bella could ask Alice for advice? But how would the girl react to this? How would she react to all the times Bella had gone behind her back to be with Rosalie. It wasn't much my choice in the beginning. It was all Rosalie.
They had arrived at the school and Bella crumpled up the remainder of the trash into her hand as Rosalie parked the car. The bell must have already rang because no one was in the parking lot, save for Bella and Rosalie. "Hurry up," Rosalie chided. "Unless you want to really be late." Bella hurriedly grabbed her things and unbuckled her belt as Rosalie sat behind the wheel of her idling car.
"You're not going?" Bella asked hesitantly, her hand on the door handle.
"You think I can go to school looking like I got hit by a brick to the face?" Rosalie sardonically asked, arching her brow. Bella was used to seeing Rosalie's bruised face, but other people might not be. After all the school population didn't know what happened yet. Rosalie had put massive amounts of concealer on her face but it didn't hide the black and blue bruises correctly, and her nose was still swollen. Her usual beautiful lips were split and Bella felt a urge of anger at Jake for ruining them. How dare he punch Rosalie when she didn't do anything wrong!
"Are you just gonna sit there and stare at me or are you going to class?" Rosalie huffed, pulling Bella out of her stupor. She had forgotten that she had been on her way to class, and that she was staring at the blonde unnervingly.
"Sorry!" Bella squeaked out and left the car, bolting across the snow covered parking lot, almost slipping twice in her rush. At the door of the school she looked back to see Rosalie pulling out of the lot, and stayed to watch until her car was a speck in the distance. The late bell rang and she cursed her stupidity for not setting her alarm as she ran into her class.
Thanksgiving break was arriving upon the student body tomorrow and as a result all the classes were in a state of barely controlled frenzy. Teachers tried to reign in and hammer some knowledge into the kids heads, but the students were not focused on the lessons, talk of what they would do on break circling around the classroom in excited whispers. Bella mainly tried to tune this out, in order to give her thoughts some peace and quiet. So some strange reason it felt weird to know that the blonde would not be at her usual table at lunch, that she wouldn't be sitting in front of Bella in one of the classrooms. Bella had gotten so used to seeing her visage that she expected it in her everyday high school life. Twirling her pencil absently in her fingers she tried to push aside the nagging sense of something missing out of her system. Instead she focused on the mysterious emails. Why hadn't the man responded to her? Usually it was five minutes the most that she had ever had to wait for a response for him? And now she had waited the whole night and nothing, absolutely nothing. Did he get scared off? Did he not want to reveal his identity just yet? Bella really wanted to know. Would Rosalie get excited to finally met her real father? Should she tell her about the mysterious man? Bella sat up in her seat straighter at this. Of course! Why hadn't she considered that before! This was something important that concerned Rosalie, why shouldn't she be told about it! But wait... Bella grimaced and began to chew on her bottom lip. Didn't the man request privacy for this matter until all was well and ready for his big reveal? Bella let out a groan. She didn't remember. She had to reread her emails with him to make sure.
The bell for the end of class rang and the kids bolted out of their seats for lunch, impatient to get the school day over with and to go home for the holidays. Bella packed her things and followed the throng of students on their way to meal time. "Hey guys," she greeted her friends as she sat down at her usual table next to Mike, Eric, Jessica, Lauren and Angela.
"Hello Bella," Angela greeted back, looking over the top of her newspaper to smile genuinely at the girl.
"Sup, cutie," Mike and Eric intoned at the same time, elbowing each other in some boy inside joke. Bella merely rolled her eyes at them. After three months of constantly getting hit on, she had more or less grown immune to their comments, and had even started coming up with savage shut downs when they got out of control.
"What are you doing for break Bella?" Jessica asked, swallowing down the piece of apple she had bit into.
"I haven't thought of that yet," Bella shrugged. "But I'm probably going to make dinner and spend it with Charlie."
"Not going anywhere?" Jessica asked almost condescendingly . Lauren snorted at this. "Not every one has money to go to the Bahamas every Thanksgiving break like you do Jessica."
"You're going to the Bahamas?" Bella echoed, thoroughly impressed. That sounded like a great break.
"Oh no Bella, don't get her started!" Lauren warned but it was too late, Jessica already starting onto a spiel of what her every day to day would look like there. Everyone at the table groaned, apparently having heard this too many times already, but Bella listened eagerly, genuinely interested to know what going to the Bahamas was like. She had only ever lived in Phoenix which was as boring as it was dry, and in Forks, where the weather was gloom, ninety percent of the time.
As lunch was beginning to wind down, the friends got up to go on to the last two classes of the day. "You haven't looked once at the Cullen table today," Eric noted. "Did you have a fight with one of them?"
Bella realized that Eric was right. She hadn't looked back at the table today and hadn't even noticed until he had pointed it out. It must have been that the blonde was missing, so she had no reason to look back.
"I think she had a fight with Alice. That girl has been staring holes into the back of your head the whole lunch period," Mike said, dumping his tray of unfinished food into the trash can.
"I didn't have a fight with them," Bella tried to explain. "I was just uh, really into our conversation."
"You're such a bad liar, Bella," Angela laughed, folding her newspaper under her arm after whacking Bella gently with it on the side of her head.
"Look, she's coming over to you now. Why don't you go talk to her?" Lauren suggested and Bella tensed up her shoulders when she felt two hands grab onto them from behind, making her jump in surprise.
"Bella!" Alice's high pitched voice pierced her ear drums as the girl shook her roughly from behind before swiveling her around and giving her a hug.
"See ya later!" Angela said as Bella's friends walked away to class, leaving Bella to face Alice and the rest of the Cullen family.
"Bella! Why don't you answer any of my texts! Or pick up any of my calls! I was worried about you!" Alice pouted, clutching onto the front of Bella's shirt. The cafeteria was slowly emptying out except for the Cullen's, who were standing behind Alice quietly as the girl ranted. "Are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong?"
"W-h-hat? No!" Bella insisted, overwhelmed by the rush of words coming at her. "I just-my phone. It broke and I have a new one," Bella hastily explained, procuring her new phone and waving it in front of Alice's face as proof.
"Oh!" the girl perked up at this. "Add my number than, will you." Bella nodded her head, fingers tapping in the new number as her mind worried. Would Rosalie get mad about this? She had said that Bella was not allowed to have anyone elses number in the phone except for the blondes. Wait a second, why was Bella concerned over this? Why was she about to follow an unfair and stupid rule?
"Now you have an iPhone, and can join the cool crowd," Alice joked, elbowing Bella as she put her phone back into her pocket. Bella gave her a wry smile. "I think we better go to class now Alice. We're about to be late." They were now the only ones in the cafeteria and Bella did not like the way the Cullen boys were standing silently behind Alice, arms crossed over their chest.
"Sure, Bella. But before we go I have a couple of questions to ask you," Alice smiled warmly as she said this but Bella felt nerves alight in her stomach, her palms starting to sweat. She just knew the questions were going to be about Rosalie.
"Bella were you there the night Rosalie got beat up?" Alice asked, her grip on Bella's open jacket front tightening. Bella swallowed the lump in her throat, feeling panic edge into her body.
What was the right answer to this? What was Alice trying to get at? She was quiet for a long time, feeling sweat trickle down her back as she stared at the pixie who stared back at her, eyes misleadingly warm and trusting. The bell for class rang and jolted Bella out from her trance. "Uh, yea," she croaked out at last, hating the way her throat felt so dry right now.
"How much do you know?" she ventured to ask, when the small girl didn't back away. The Cullen boys began to whisper to one another, but Bella couldn't hear them and she wished she could. Where they talking about her? It felt like a gang situation out of a movie right now, if Bella was to be honest. Bella was the victim who had been caught and was now being interrogated by the mob, whether she should live or die.
"Charlie called our house, yesterday night. He told us that Rosalie had gotten into a fight with Jacob and Leah from the Reserve. And that you had healed her." Alice paused at this, giving Bella an unreadable look. Bella feeling unnerved by it, felt compelled to speak. "Yea, I couldn't just leave her like that. She was in pain," Bella rubbed the back of her head uncomfortably.
"Jacob and Leah are your friends, correct?"
"Uh, yea. Well Jacob is. I've known him for a long time. From childhood. But last night was the first time I saw him in years. And I just meet Leah. So I wouldn't consider her a friend, yet." Bella mumbled out.
Alice mulled over this information, at last letting go of Bella's jacket. "Was there any provocation?"
"What do you mean?" the late bell rang and Bella cringed. Great, she would be late twice today.
"Did Rosalie do anything to provoke them? Was she on the reserve? Give me the full details. Rosalie won't say anything and Charlie was vague as well."
"Alice-can't this wait? We have class now." Bella jerked her thumb in the direction of her classroom.
"Bella, please tell me. We need to know now."
"I could text you," Bella offered but the look on Alice's face suggested that was not a good idea.
"Now, Bella." Confused as to why this was so urgent, Bella quickly recounted the events of last night. Alice listened solemnly and nodded her head at the end of the story. Turning to address the boys behind her she said, "it all adds up. We can't do anything about it. But if it continues we might have to take action." Alice smiled at Bella, turning back to her, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks Bella. And sorry for making you late to class, but this was very important, and it was essential that we got it figured out before the end of class." With that the Cullen's brushed past Bella and to their class, leaving the stunned girl behind. What a weird conversation. What was the whole point behind it? Had Alice and the others wanted to fight the Quiluetes for what they did to Rosalie? This made no sense.
Shrugging and trying to come up with a viable excuse for why she was late to math, she made her way to class.
It was four pm in the afternoon and Bella was in her room doing homework when Alice called her. Picking up the phone Bella was hastily greeted and asked if she wanted to go grab dinner downtown.
"Uh, I'm kind of doing homework right now, Alice," Bella said, not really feeling comfortable with being alone with the pixie after the way she had acted today.
"Oh don't be a party pooper, Bella. This is as an apology for the way I acted today. I didn't mean to make you late to class, or to freak you out."
Bella sighed. "Alice I don't think-"
There was a honking noise from outside. "I'm already here. Surely you can't turn me away?"
"Fine," Bella huffed in exasperation, putting her math book aside. She knew it was pointless to continue arguing with Alice if the girl was already here. "But only for an hour. I wanna get my homework done before break so that I can enjoy it."
"No problem!" Alice cheered. "I'll see you down in ten minutes. Dress up nice!" Hanging up, Bella did a quick search through her closet for a nice sweater and slacks before she made her way down.
"I'm going to dinner with Alice!" Bella yelled to her father who was watching a game with a cold beer in his hand. "Have fun you two," he called back to her, not taking his eyes off of the game. Alice was his favorite out of the Cullen's and he had absolutely no problem with letting Bella hang out with her.
Bella hopped into the cream colored beetle parked in her driving lot and Alice peeled out of the driveway, spraying gravel everywhere. "Whoa!" Bella cried, gripping the dashboard as the car rocketed forwards. "Do you have to drive like a mad woman? I didn't even buckle myself in!"
"You said we only have an hour, so I'm gunning the engine," Alice smirked, not at all kidding. The needle went up to seventy on a road that was meant for thirty miles per hour only. Bella quickly buckled herself in, clasping her hands together as she breathed in and out to calm her nerves. It was fine, Alice was a good driver. They'd make it in one piece, she tried to reassure herself.
Bella hadn't realized that her eyes had been closed during the duration of Alice swerving madly on the snow covered and twisty roads until the car stopped and she opened them.
"We're here!" Alice said, hopping out of the car, barely waiting for it to fully stop. Bella followed her out and to a small restaurant. It was an Italian restaurant that Bella had only eaten in once because it was expensive. Letting the host seat them next to a window seat, Alice immediately began to fiddle at her spot. She shot off an order for herself and for Bella without even looking at the menu. Then she turned to the brown haired girl, folding her hands in front of her and fixing her with a sweet smile. "I hope you don't mind, but I've eaten here a ton of times and I know your tastes by now, so I ordered for the both of us. And time constraints," Alice tapped on her Fossil watch to indicate that she was holding true to her word, which must have been a great effort for her, as the girl was prone to getting easily distracted and forgetting that the concept of time existed at times.
"I'm sorry about being weird today," she added not giving a pause between topic changes. "I'm just so impatient with things. When I found out Rosalie got hurt, I wanted to know right away everything that happened. I texted and called you and when I got no response I was about to drive over to your house at two in morning but Emmett stopped me, saying that was highly intrusive and rude." Alice shrugged to show she didn't think this was the case.
"It's alright," Bella smiled to let the girl know she understood. Sometimes she forgot that Alice had ADHD and could be all over the place. She took a drink from her complimentary glass of water as the small girl continued.
"Why was Rosalie even at your house?" Alice asked, causing Bella to spray out the water she had taken a sip of. Luckily she missed Alice's face.
"What?" the girl croaked out, wiping her chin. She had thought that they were done with this topic already.
Alice inclined her head, waiting for an answer. "Why was she there, Bella?"
Bella felt her earlier panic creep in and she sat the glass down on her table with shaking hands. "She was-uh, she was there for a project. A school project for our class," Bella muttered, in her panic going to the only excuse she had created.
"Don't give me that bullshit, Bella," Alice spat, surprising Bella with the venom in her voice. "I go to school with you. That excuse might work on your father but not on me."
Bella's mouth opened and closed like a fish, but she couldn't say anything. The waiter brought them their dishes, a simple pasta for Bella and a salmon for Alice. Alice had been right; Bella was a picky eater and would like the pasta since it wasn't something exotic, but now she couldn't find her appetite for the meal.
"So why was she there?" Alice asked, raising her brow as she stabbed a fork into her salmon. Bella suddenly felt a lot like the poor fish.
"I, I -it's really for a project," Bella said, her mind falling to come up with anything beneficial to getting her out of this situation.
"Stop with the bullshit," Alice hissed, leaving her fork sticking up from the side of the fish. "Why are you doing this Bella? Why are you going behind my back and hanging out with Rosalie? I told you to stay away from her!"
Bella felt her world darkened a bit. This was it, this was what she had feared would happen. That Alice would find out somehow about what she and Rosalie had been doing and be disappointed in her. "She's dangerous, Bella. You're not one of us, you're normal. Being around her will only bring you pain!"
"Alice-it's not like that," Bella mumbled, looking down at her lap, clenching her hands tightly together.
"Then explain to me, because I don't understand why you would go against my clear orders and hang out with her," Alice hissed as she leaned across the table, her eyes darkening.
Bella sucked in a huge breath, not sure how to explain this. "It's, there's so much to it Alice." Bella settled on that phrase at last, feeling like she would fall to pieces any moment. To anyone it made no sense why she would go back to someone that was abusive and insane but Bella hadn't willingly picked for this happen. Her heart was just stupid.
"So tell me," Alice sat back in her seat, prying the fork out of her fish and eating the huge chunk of meat attached to it. "We have a whole hour."
Bella twisted her hands under the table cloth and in a quiet voice began her story. "You said to stay away from her and I wanted to, but she would come after me. After she found out I was gay she came after me with more determination. I don't know why. Maybe because I was an easy target for bullying. She'd, she'd come and kiss me or..." Bella trailed off at this, too embarrassed to continue for a moment. Her cheeks flashed red with memories of exactly what they had been doing together. But Alice got the implication and her frown only deepened. "Eventually I couldn't get away from her and I gave in. And she was at my house last night because we were going to talk about what to do with where our situation is now. I don't think she wants to hurt me anymore. I think she wants to be friends with me," Bella finished lamely. She didn't want to show Rosalie in a bad light, or get her in trouble with her family. But how was she to get Alice to understand that Rosalie wasn't doing to bully Bella like she used to, without mentioning that they were dating. How would Alice take the fact that they were now in a relationship?
Alice sat back, and chewed on a mouthful of food thoughtfully, unnerving Bella with her silence. "She sexually harassed you?" she said at last, her voice dangerously quiet.
Bella didn't want to say yes or no, even though it was evident with what had happened. Bella had never been in control of the situations, always at the mercy of the blonde. She had never wanted to be touched the way she had been, only her body had, betraying her. There had been instances were Bella had actively sought out to kiss the blonde, but those were different, and now the sexual actions were consensual between them. So had she been harassed? In the beginning, yes. But now, no. Alice took Bella's silence as a yes. "And it's been going on since she found out you were gay?"
Bella nodded her head yes to this question, still afraid to look up at Alice, her food untouched. "God," Alice groaned, placing her head into her hands. "She's been doing this to you since Halloween." Another pause. "That bitch." Alice shot up from her chair, rattling the plates on the table. Throwing down some money onto the table, she told Bella, "get up. We're leaving." They left in a rush, taking Alice's Beetle. If Alice had driven haphazardly before, now was nothing compared to it. The girl cut street corners, narrowly missed pedestrians, ran red lights and pushed the gas to ninety miles per hour. Bella was too scared to speak. She held onto her car seat with a prayer on her tongue that the pixie wouldn't hurl them off a cliff. What was the other girl going to do now?
Alice screeched into Bella's driveway and unlocked the girls door. "Get out," she gritted through clenched teeth.
"Alice what are you going to do?" Bella asked, scared for her friend and for Rosalie.
"I said get out!"
Bella hurried out of the car, closing it softly behind her as the pixie backed out of the drive and drove off, leaving Bella in the dusk. Bella stood there, the cold seeping into her skin before at last she decided upon a decision. She ran into her house, got her truck keys and got into her truck. The car was slow to start, only fueling her irritation at being unable to get to the house faster. She was afraid of what was going to happen; would there be a fight? She hoped not. Forgetting that she was supposed to do her homework right now, she rushed off to stop the unfortunate events from unfolding.
When Bella got to the Cullen's mansion, she didn't even bother to turn off her truck in case she needed to quickly escape. The door to the house was wide open and Bella cautiously walked through it, sounds of violence greeting her ears.
"I told you to stop harassing Bella, you piece of shit. But you don't listen do you? You never do!" Alice's enraged cries rang down the halls and Bella followed after them, her heart leaping into her throat. Pained screams came after Alice's wild yells and Bella recognized the screams as Rosalie's. Oh god, what are they doing?
When Bella got into the living room, she saw Rosalie shaking on the ground, her head and legs jerking wildly as Edward crouched over her, holding a piece of plastic in her mouth so that she wouldn't bite her tongue, arm gentle on her shoulder. Alice was standing over her, chest heaving up and down in anger as she waited for the blonde to quit squirming. "Why would you do such a despicable thing? Did you not suffer enough at someone else hands? You should know how it feels to be brutalized over and over again. Why would you do it to someone else? Why? Why!" At this Alice lunged forward and Bella noticed the tiny black box in her hand. She pressed it to the blonde's thigh and she began shaking again. Oh my god, their electrocuting her! Bella felt fresh horror creep under her skin. Why were they doing something so terrible to her! No one deserved to be electrocuted!
"Stop it! Alice, and Edward!" Bella ran towards them and they all looked at her, noticing her for the first time. "Bella what are you doing here?" Alice asked, impatient.
"The better question is what are you doing? How could you hurt your sister like that. Why are you electrocuting her?" Bella cried out, tears streaming down her face. "This is inhumane!"
"Just because we opened up our past and our house to you, does not mean you know everything!" Alice screamed, the tendons in her neck standing out. "She needs to be punished accordingly for her crimes. And this is how we do it in the Cullen household. So you better leave, unless you want to see something else that you won't like." Bella almost didn't recognize her friend anymore. What had happened to the warm girl that lit up a room with her presence? Who made Bella feel safe in a way she hadn't before? She was behaving like a bully, no better than Rosalie.
With that statement Alice turned back to Rosalie, who had already calmed down from her previous shock and was breathing heavily through her nose as she lay there. She kept her eyes trained on Bella and even as they shocked her again she never drew her eyes away. They were empty and far gone, the blonde drawing into her inner world in order to ignore this pain. Bella couldn't handle this anymore. With a loud cry she shouted out, "well then I forgive her. I forgive her for everything she's done!" Alice stopped at this, a confused look on her face. "Just don't hurt her anymore." Bella whimpered, clasping her hands in front of her chest. Rosalie's empty eyes reminded her of herself, when she had been bullied, and had resigned herself to her fate. Those were the eyes of someone who was used to this kind of treatment and they shouldn't be.
"Bella," Edward started but stopped when he didn't know what to say. Everyone was quiet, staring uncomfortably at each other. Alice thumbed the taser in her hand before putting it back into her pocket with a sigh of resignation. Edward cleared his throat several times but didn't say anything, and Bella wrung her hands, worried what would happen next. Alice still didn't look to be her normal self. Rosalie took this chance spitting out the plastic in her mouth and in a voice laced with pain, said, "It was because of you." Everyone swiveled their eyes to Rosalie, who slowly sat up, groaning as her body protested these movements. Then with dead seriousness she added, "I hurt Bella because of you, Alice."