A Bad Deal?

Instruments of Harm

Thankfully it seemed that Rosalie didn't remember much of what had happened at the party. So she couldn't bully Bella over anything. In fact, she had a wicked hangover the next day and had called Bella to come in to take care of her. The brunette had mixed feelings about this. She was elated because she was going to be able to spend time with her crush but worried because their interactions had been less than pleasant ever since Rosalie had gained that information as leverage over Bella. In the end she decided to go, as she might incur Rosalie's wrath by rejecting this. She knew it was going to be a long day, so she brought over her homework so she could do something while she listened to Rosalie groan and moan about how terribly she was feeling.

Bella did her best to make the girl feel better, by bringing her water to drink and giving her Tylenol as well as giving her crackers to help calm her stomach down. Still it was a while before Rosalie felt better and it was six pm at the time, which meant Rosalie was now hungry enough to want food after emptying the contents of her stomach several times.

"Cook me food," she demanded as she came downstairs. She had bags under her eyes and her hair was pulled into a tangled bun, her clothes consisting of sweats. Even sickly looking she still looked better than Bella on a good day.

"What do you want?" Bella asked, scribbling down the last words on her homework assignment.

"I don't know...soup or something," the blonde shrugged. "Just make sure it tastes good. You can cook, can't you?" she asked at the end as if realizing that perhaps that was an option.

"Yes. I can cook meals." Bella nodded her head. She was actually proud of her cooking skills. She made food for both her and Charlie. "But we need ingredients for a soup." When Bella had been looking for snacks for the blonde she found that the kitchen cabinets were lacking, as was the fridge. When was the last time anyone stocked the place?

"Right. I forgot I used up almost everything. Wait here and I'll grab some cash for you." Rosalie disappeared upstairs and came back with a thick wad of cash. She handed the roll over to Bella who marveled momentarily at it; felt the heaviness of the wadded paper in her hand. There must have been a lot of money there and Rosalie was trusting her with this much. "Buy anything you think should be bought."

"Right." Bella nodded her head slowly, shocked the other was giving her this much freedom. But the tired look on Rosalie's face as she plopped down onto the white sofa in the living room was an indication of why this was the case. "I'll be back."

With that Bella got into her car and drove to the nearest supermarket. Inside she found herself wondering where Rosalie's tastes lay in food and what she should get her. In the end she settled on some ingredients for soup and other healthy snacks that the blonde could eat. Then stocked up, she drove back and took to unpacking the groceries and putting them in the right place. Rosalie was still on the couch where she had last been. She was flipping through channels, bored, but she ignored Bella as the girl put the stuff in place, left the remaining money on the counter, and got to work on the soup.

The kitchen in this place was high tech and Bella loved using it. If she had a kitchen like this at her house she could easily make fancier dishes. It was a shame this kitchen here looked highly unused and unloved.

It wasn't until the smell from the soup was wafting up that Rosalie ventured into the kitchen. "That smells good," she commented. It was almost nice until she added: "I'm surprised. I thought it would smell like garbage. Like you do."

Bella's shoulders tensed at that but she didn't reply to that. She instead focused on stirring the soup more violently. Rosalie stood by the counter next to her, chin in hand, watching her every move and Bella felt herself blush under her scrutiny.

"Say, what happened last night?"

"Last night?" Why was Rosalie asking this now? "You went to a party."

"No. What happened after you picked me up? I remember you being in my house. Why was that? I didn't give you permission to do that."

"No...but you were drunk and I wanted to help you up the stairs."

"Hmm. Likely story. You probably wanted to make a move on me," Rosalie hummed.

Bella snapped her head at the blonde at this. "That is not true! Why do you keep insisting on this! How many more times must I explain that not all gay girls hit on any girl they see!" She could feel her face blushing from anger. Rosalie arched a brow and went over to grab a fresh apple from the fruit basket.

"Sure. You're just trying to cover things up," Rosalie kept her brow arched as she looked over the perfect green skin of the apple.

"I am not! You're the one that keeps insisting on it, then that means you must be the one who wants it to happen!" Bella blurted out, annoyed. This caused Rosalie's whole body to tense and she turned slowly on her heel to face Bella, a scary look in her eyes.

"Don't you dare accuse me of that," her voice was a hiss. "I'm not anything like you." Then with a loud crunch she bit into the apple and left the room.

Bella stared at the spot Rosalie had been at before the bubbling of the soup brought her attention back to dinner.


Dinner was over, the blonde having eaten the soup eagerly and looking more revitalized by it, before demanding Bella to wash the dishes. Bella did so only because the activity relaxed her.

But Rosalie's sudden appearance in the kitchen shocked her, almost making her drop a no doubt very expensive dish. "I need you to do something for me," she started, looking at something on her phone screen before looking up at Bella.

Of course you do, Bella groaned internally. Isn't it enough that I already stayed with your grumpy ass this whole day? But some part of Bella had enjoyed it. She liked spending time in such a nice house and despite Rosalie being sick most of the day, Bella took comfort in the fact she was spending time alone with her crush.

"This bitch has been talking shit about me, because I made out with her boyfriend last night. Supposedly." Rosalie made air quotes on this.

You did. It probably was that guy that Bella had saw but there was no telling for sure.

"So I'm going to give it to her, and her two friends before they can jump me outside the school. And I need you to get me a police baton so I can beat the crap out of them single handily." At this Bella did drop the cup she had been cleaning and it fell with a plop into the water.

"What? Why do you need that?"

"To beat them up," Rosalie rolled her eyes.

"And you want me to give you one?"

"Yes. Do I need to restate everything? Are you usually this slow?"

"How am I-"

"Your father is a cop. Don't seriously tell me you don't know how to get one," Rosalie scoffed, pointing at Bella.

"But I can't steal it from him-he would notice! I would get in trouble!" Bella protested. This was so wrong.

"I don't care," Rosalie shrugged. "You either get me the baton or your dad is about to find out something new and unpleasant about his daughter."

The threat hung in the air making it hard for Bella to breath. She grasped the sink edge with soaped up hands and took deep breathes as the water ran. How was she going to pull this off? It was insane!

"I need it by tomorrow. So come up with a way to get it." With that Rosalie left.


The whole rest of Sunday night Bella fretted over the issue of bringing a police baton to school. How the hell was she going to be able to do it? Her father wore it to work each day, she couldn't just take it. Could she ask him for one? No, that wouldn't go over well. He would want to know why she needed one. And then what would she say? She couldn't simply be like, I need one because this girl I'm crushing on asked me for one. No, that wouldn't go well at all.

Unless...she said it was for some school project or something. Hmm...could that possibly work? Well it wouldn't hurt to try.

"Dad?" Bella asked tentatively as she ventured into the living room where her dad was watching a football game, cold beer in hand.

"Hmm, what is it sweetie?" he asked, half his attention on the game.

"I, well, I was just wondering, if you could help me out with something," she stammered, wringing her hands nervously.

"With what?"

Bella took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. "Oh, you know. For a school project. Nothing serious."

"And what about it?"

"I...kinda," Bella took a pause here to draw in a breath. "I need your police baton for it."

There was a beat of silence, in which Bella chewed on her bottom lip out of nerves. She wasn't sure if Charlie had even heard her, but he slowly turned around in his chair, quizzical look on his eyes and full attention on her. "My baton?"

"Yes...it's you know, a parent day thing. You know, when you come into school and talk about what your parents do. That kinda stuff." Bella shook her head up and down vigorously to make her father more convinced with her words.

"Do high schools still do that?"

"Apparently so," Bella chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her head as she waited for him to say something else.

Charlie frowned, contemplating. Then: "I guess it's alright. It's not like I use it everyday. You only need for tomorrow right?"

"Yes. Yes. Definitely. And I'll take good care of it," Bella sighed out, feeling some tension leave her. She was almost there! She almost had his permission.

"You can take it on your way out to school tomorrow. But I want it back by tomorrow evening."

"Yes. You got it dad. Thanks. Thanks so much," Bella rushed over to hug her father. He had no idea how much he had helped Bella out by saying yes. He had essentially saved her reputation.

"No problem kid," Charlie chuckled as he patted her on the back.


But when Bella went to school with the police baton wrapped securely in a cloth in her bookbag, she felt dirty. Really dirty. Rosalie was going to use it to beat up some poor innocent girls- well, maybe not entirely innocent- and the idea didn't sit well with Bella. It was making her feel a bit queasy. Because Bella was going to support an act of violence.

The whole school day this rested heavily on her head. She couldn't concentrate on her school work because of this, and Angela noticed. She was always the first to notice if anything was wrong with Bella.

"Are you alright? You look pale. Paler than usual," she asked kindly, placing a hand on Bella's shoulder.

"I'm fine. Just tired," Bella muttered out, avoiding her friend's eyes before hurrying off and away. She couldn't tell any of her friends what was going on. It wouldn't be fair to get them involved. This was Bella's problem.

Lunch time Bella went out to get Rosalie's lunch as usual. But when she approached the picnic table that the popular kids always had lunch at, Rosalie wasn't there.

"She said to leave her lunch here and to meet her out back," Alice said as she watched Bella timidly approach them. "And to bring the thing she told you to bring."

"Oh, okay," the words felt difficult to say because of Bella's dry throat. She went back inside the school, moved to her locker with leaden legs, swinging open the locker with numb fingers. She grabbed her bag and rushed off, her palms sweating.

She found the pretty blonde out by the alley way behind the school, by the dumpsters. It was the unanimously decided upon spot for doing drugs, smoking, drinking, or for settling fights.

"Took you long enough," Rosalie growled out, eyeing the nervous brunette, who almost seemed scared to enter the alleyway. "What are you waiting for. Come here. I'm not going to be beating you up."

Bella nodded her head and walked up to Rosalie to give her the bag. The blonde checked what was inside and her smile spread. "Good. They'll never see it coming. You can go now," she dismissed Bella.

Bella nodded her head wordlessly and left the alleyway, the stench of rotting food and smoke clearing from her nose. She went into the lunch cafeteria where the chatter of loud student's filled her ears. Casually she tried to go about her day, buying some food and settling down with her friends at their lunch table.

"Nice to see you," Jessica said nastily. "Off busy doing something else, some other project of yours? Or still catering to Rosalie's-"

"Jessica, cut it out," Lauren reminded her, not in a gentle tone of voice.

"What? I'm just concerned for her."

"You don't have to be rude about it," Lauren pointed out, shooting the other girl a glare. "There's other ways to be nice."

Bella ignored the two of them, trying to force some food down her throat. But it didn't taste right, and the happy chatter of the student populace around her was so different from how she felt internally that it was irritating her. She needed to leave. Every minute that passed she imagined those three girls who had trash talked Rosalie getting more and more pummeled. She needed to stop Rosalie from using that baton. She couldn't allow the blonde to knowingly hurt someone, especially with a device Bella had brought.

"Bella?" Mike questioned as he saw the brunette get up.

"See, now you've made her leave," Lauren hissed at Jessica who only snorted.

"Bella, wait!" Angela made to grab for her wrist but Bella jerked free. "I need to go. I don't feel so well." Then she rushed out the cafeteria doors. Her feet carried her outside to the alleyway where she could hear grunts of pain.

Oh god, I hope I'm not too late, Bella prayed.

"And if I catch you talking shit about me once more, then I'll do way worse than this. Do I make myself clear?" Rosalie's voice was savage and full of unbridled rage. The blonde was standing over a fallen form. Two girls were huddled next to the fallen figure, consoling her. The baton in Rosalie's hand was coated in something sticky and Bella swallowed the bile that rose in her throat.

It looked like she was too late, but that didn't mean she still couldn't try.

"Rosalie, stop!" she cried out in panic as she watched the blonde raise the baton to swing it down once more. The blonde jerked her head in the brunette's direction. "Bella?"

"You've already taught them their lesson. You don't need to continue this. Their already scared of you," Bella pleaded as she approached the blonde, but wary for distance, not trying to get into striking range of the baton.

Rosalie snorted at this. "You don't get to tell me what to do."

"Someone needs to tell you when you go too far. If someone doesn't then one of these days you may find yourself taking it a step too far and then, then you'll be in real trouble." Bella's voice was a whisper at this. Rosalie merely rolled her eyes, clearly not thinking of the consequences that entailed if she let her anger go too far.

"Don't tell me what to do." Then Rosalie turned back to the three girls. Bella knew the blonde was still going to hit them. She had to stop it. She owned the girls this much for giving the blonde such a weapon.

"Stop!" Bella launched herself at the blonde's arm, using her full body weight to throw her off. Rosalie stumbled under the attack. "What are you doing?" she hissed. "Get off of me."

"No! I won't let you do this. I can't stand people getting hurt!" She struggled against the blonde. But Rosalie was stronger than her and she was quickly losing her grip. "Go!" Bella urged the three girls and they nodded their heads, picking up the injured girl and supporting her by the shoulders as they struggled away.

"You bitch!" Rosalie cried out, throwing Bella to the dirty concrete. "How could you fucking do this to me! Mind your fucking business!"

"I was doing this in your interest," Bella lied, the prevarication coming quickly to her now that she was alone and Rosalie had directed her anger on her.

"My interest?" she slide the baton under Bella's quivering chin, raising it up so their eyes could meet. Frightened brown against pissed off hazel.

"You could get in serious trouble. Batons can cause severe damage and if you had gone too far then-" Bella knew she was blabbering but she couldn't stop it.

"Maybe I should use this baton on you too, to make up for you cutting my fun short. It'd be funny, wouldn't it. You gave me the baton and now you'll get beaten up by it."

"Don't do it," Bella pleaded in a quiet voice. "I was only trying to help you." And those poor girls. Please, I have a crush on you. I don't want you to act despicably.

Bella really didn't want Rosalie to start physically bullying her. Then things would get complicated. If things remained the way they were now then perhaps Bella could live through the rest of her three years of high school. But once Rosalie punched Bella, things would be different.

"You did this to help me?" Rosalie's voice contained a trace of surprise in it. Her eyes clouded over momentarily. Whatever emotion that she was feeling was well guarded. Bella wished she could tell what was going through the blonde's head. Would she think Bella was lying, or mocking her? Why did she almost sound sad at the words Bella had uttered? Did she think Bella was pitying her?

Rosalie crouched down so she was on eye level with Bella. Her features were marred by cool anger and her jaw worked as she turned over thoughts in her head. "I suppose they did learn their lesson. They only tried to slander me, there were worse things they could do. But next time you interrupt me, it's your ass on the line." Then Rosalie got up and tossed the baton to the side. "I'm hungry. All that made me work up an appetite. You better have gotten all that I ordered you to." The blonde stretched as she walked away, hands over her head.

"I'm glad you can still eat," Bella breathed out bitterly. Her appetite was ruined for her now. She got up on shaky feet, feeling like she had just escaped a sound beating by the skin of her teeth, and brushed the dust off her jeans bottom. Then she grabbed the baton and quickly wiped at it with the papers she had in her bag. The marks came off as red and she swallowed down a lump that rose in her throat. Then done, she zipped the baton back in her bag and decided it was time to go home. She didn't think she could stand to go back to school and act like nothing had happened.

A/N: So finally, Bella is showing even more backbone when it comes to standing up to Rosalie. But will it be enough? Will she be able to change the notorious blonde's ways?