A Bad Deal?

A Demonic Device

"I still can't believe that you managed to steal Rosalie's phone like that. It's wicked cool," Eric whistled appreciatively. He was holding it in his hand, examining it.

"I...it was luck. I had a lot of luck on my side," Bella said vaguely. She didn't want to explain that she had kissed the blonde in order to get the phone. She didn't want her friends to think her queer for that. But she had told them she had slapped Rosalie. Hard.

"Bella's just on a roll today." Angela said this cheerily as she pulled Bella closer to her in a shoulder hug. Right now the trio were in Eric's bedroom. It was after school hours.

"She may be, but Rosalie won't let her continue like this," Eric said soberly. "You should quit while you're ahead. Both of you."

"Hell no. I'm not just going to let Rosalie bully Bella like this!" Angela jerked her thumb at herself angrily.

"Bella's not the first and last person to have issues with Rosalie. No one's been able to stand up to her and those rich kid assholes, so what makes the two of you think that this time will be different?"

"Eric, stop being such a Debbie Downer. Hurry up and just hack the phone like we told you too."

After the events of that fateful lunch, Bella had informed Angela quickly of what had happened. The girl had recommended in getting the phone hacked, saying she knew a guy. That's why the two girls were in Eric's room right now, hoping he would hack the phone for them and find some juicy details for them to use.

"Fine, fine," he sighed, putting up his hands. "I'm just concerned for you two. And for myself. I don't want her coming after me when she finds out what I did with her phone."

"We're not snitches," Bella reassured. She was close to getting some dirt on Rosalie, so the repercussions of pissing off the blonde meant squat to her right now. "And we appreciate you doing this."

Eric nodded his head and plugged the phone into the computer, booting up the hacking program. "This might take a while."

"It's a good thing we brought school work," Angela waggled the folder she pulled out of her book bag. "We'll be downstairs working."

The two girls worked diligently or at least Bella tried to. But her leg shook with impatience. She wondered if anything good could be gained from the phone or if the whole thing would be a bust. She chewed on her pencil absently, her thoughts far removed from the math she was supposed to be working on.

A soft hand on her shoulder had her stop her chewing and look up into Angela's amused eyes. "Calm down Bella. You're anxiety is rubbing off on me."

"Sorry," Bella muttered. "I'm just...impatient to see what Eric comes up with. What if there's nothing there? Then my whole plan will go to shit." Bella had only let Angela in on some of the details of her plan. She didn't want Angela to become too involved and get hurt. She couldn't stand to let that happen.

"Let's talk about something to get your mind off of it then," Angela suggested and Bella was grateful to her friend. The two talked about movies, books, and the new line of drinks that were coming out. Bella almost all but forgot about the phone until Eric called down to them.

"Guys come up. It's done."

Bella nearly bolted out of her chair but had to remind herself to walk calmly. When they got up to Eric's room they noticed he had an odd look on his face. "So, let me give you a quick run down. Most of Rosalie's phone is clean. I couldn't find anything in her photos, or in her notes, or search history, or even her text messages. It's all typical teen stuff."

"But..." Angela edged.

"But, then I went to her deleted files...and well," at this Eric gulped deeply. "I found a bunch of weird shit."

He moved aside to let the girl gaze upon his screen. Bella's hand immediately went up to her mouth and she gasped, while Angela let out a disbelieving laugh. "This shit is golden."

On the screen were rows and rows of pictures of Rosalie making out with a girl. Both were clearly inebriated and unaware of the person who had taken these photos. Rosalie's gay? Bella couldn't wrap her mind around it. Is that why...why she kept me around her for so long? Because she was in the closet and I was in the closet?

And there were some text messages attached to it, all from Alice, trending on the topic of blackmail. And holy shit, Alice was blackmailing Rosalie about this? Is that why Rosalie did the same to me? Was she looking for an outlet to her pain? This opened up so much. It gave Bella a better angle to work with.

"What are you gonna do now Bella?" Angela asked softly and Bella had to tear her eyes away from the screen. Those pictures were sort of dangerous...they made Bella entertain weird thoughts. So what if she's gay that doesn't mean she'll be into you. She's only keeping you around because of what Alice did to her. So stop fantasizing about her.

Yet there was hope in Bella's chest, no matter how hard she tried to squash it down. Hope that Rosalie would now be drawn to her.

"Put this stuff on a flash drive, and delete the rest off of your phone," Bella said and proffered up the item in question.

"You want me to delete the photos? Why?"

"Just delete them. That way she won't ever have a trace of them on her phone." This was all part of Bella's plan.

"Ok-ay," Eric said hesitantly and looking at Bella as if she had a screw loose.

"And then I'm going to put her phone in the lost and found. And after that..." Bella chewed on the pad of her thumb. "After that, I'm going to talk to her."

"Isn't that a bad idea? Do you really think she'll listen to you?" Eric posed as he plugged the flash drive in and transferred the files in one click, wiping the rest of the phone clean of the incriminating photos with another.

"Don't worry guys," Bella shook her head. "I know what I'm doing." She outstretched her hand, grasping the file. Eric didn't let go of it yet. "I hope so," he said and then let go. Bella pocketed the device and bid him a quick thanks before she left to go back home. Tomorrow would be the showdown.


Bella dropped off Rosalie's phone in the lost and found first thing in the morning. When she came by second period, she found it was gone, which meant that Rosalie had her phone back. Bella quickly texted the other, asking her to meet her outside during lunch.

And why should I, after the stunt you pulled?

Because I have something you might want, Bella had mysteriously responded with. She knew the temptation would be too strong with that, and it was proved true when Rosalie texted her fine.

Even though Bella had the upper hand, she was still nervous, torn between wanting it be over and wanting time to run slower. She had planned out for scenario after scenario but there was no telling which one would be the accurate one. So she could only suppose that it would end the way she wanted it to.

Lunch came and with a thumbs up from Angela and a supportive look from Eric, she left to go meet Rosalie. The blonde was sitting on a bench away from everyone else, sipping on some soda. She looked bored and confident, which made Bella want to exhume that sort of confidence too, so she squared her shoulders back and walked towards Rosalie with purposeful steps.

"So you were the one who took my phone," Rosalie arched a brow as Bella sat down in front of her. "I must say I never expected you to do all that. Caught me off guard. But you won't next time. That's a promise."

"I only took it to help you out. I had my friend clean your phone for you. It turns out you had some photos on there that could be bad for reputation if they ever get leaked."

At this Rosalie's nostrils flared and anger flashed in her eyes but she pretended she didn't know what Bella was talking about. "What photos? I don't have anything that could damage my reputation there. Stop making shit up. And I should report you for looking through my personal stuff. That's a violation of my privacy."

"As was your declaration of my sexual preference," Bella hissed but took a breath to calm herself down. It would do her no good to get riled up. "But I digress. I'm not here to tell you about that. I'm here to give you this." She slid the flash drive out.

"A useless piece of plastic? Is this the thing you were talking about?"

"No. It's what's on it that I want you to have. You see, I was going to get back at you for what you did to me, and what better way then to use what I had found on your phone than to do it." Bella pulled out her laptop next and plugged the USB in. Pictures appeared on the screen, full size, of Rosalie in compromising poses.

Rosalie's eyes widened at this and her hand snaked out to grab the laptop, but Bella slapped it close and took it out of reach of the other.

"You-" Rosalie hissed, a combination of fear and anger on her face. Her hand flexed on her soda can.

"It's okay. I can understand that you wouldn't want anyone to see these photos. It's tough being gay in a small town."

"I'm not GAY!" Rosalie snarled out, flinging her soda can violently to the side. "I was framed. I was-"

"I don't care if that's true or not. I'm not here to debate sexuality with you." Bella cut her off and Rosalie silenced, but she stayed on edge, tapping her fingers angrily into the wood.

"I was going to blackmail you, just like you did to me. But I decided against it. Because then I wouldn't be any better than you. So, as a sign of good will, I'm giving you the flash drive." Bella pulled the piece of plastic out and slide it across the table to Rosalie. The blonde looked to be at a loss of words over this.

"That is the only copy of the photos that I have. Do what you will with it. Just know that I'm not going to come after you, and I hope you'll consider doing the same with me. That this makes us even."

Then with that Bella got up and left a flabbergasted Rosalie still sitting at the table.