Author's Note: Hey guys, so a lot of people have been asking for more, which apparently got me writing more; a lot more. So here's a bit of a longer chapter than most, and I hope you all enjoy it. Of course, like always, I want to know what you think, so please tell me. It helps me write more and add details that I might have forgotten about. Thanks!
Chapter 7
Tanya now understood why Alice had been so insistent that Tanya not just keep Bella to herself for the day. After having spent the night with a sleeping Bella––who had given no real answers, especially when asked why Bella had kissed her––watching Bella leave for school was one of the hardest things Tanya had ever had to do. It was only the agreement that Tanya would pick Bella up after school ended that allowed Tanya to let Bella go to school without Tanya being there to shadow her every move.
It was a complicated feeling to watch Emmett and Rosalie pick Bella up for the day, as it was hard to have her human mate around other vampires. Yet at the same time, Tanya would know that Bella would be better protected with two vampires around.
The second Bella was down the street, Tanya got a text from Alice, saying that Tanya should answer everything, including how she met Bella, when Tanya had Bella at the house with her later. Tanya only had a moment to wonder why Alice would send her the text, only for another text, this time from Irina, to show up on her phone. She frowned when she read that Irina had no idea what was going on with Tanya save for the fact that she found her mate. The list of questions Irina had added to the text, all for Tanya and revolving around her and her new human mate, was staggering. Tanya simply texted back, See what Alice texted me. I'm going to go hunt, before closing her phone and taking off for a nearby forest.
"Damn it Irina," Tanya grumbled, turning off her phone for good when texts kept on coming through, scaring away some of the nearby game. Of course, Irina would be beyond nosey about this particular subject, so Tanya couldn't really blame her. Still, people would think, for a thousand year old vampire, that Irina would have enough patience to last until the afternoon. Not that Tanya was one to talk…
"Hunt. Just hunt, and then I need to visit the Cullens, and then I'll pick up Bella," Tanya murmured, getting her future events in order. She did need to at least say greet the Cullens first, it was one of the duties of a coven leader. Even with her world turned upside down by her strange little mate.
Letting out a soft sigh and shaking herself out of the stupor thinking about Bella had put her in, Tanya once again focused on the task at hand. She had work to do.
Bella was bored; incredibly, incredibly bored.
Since she had met Tanya, Bella's ordinary world had seemed so exciting and fun, especially since Tanya had agreed to sleepover after Bella hadn't let go of Tanya's pants and nearly accidentally pulled them down. However, leaving Tanya had been hard, and had felt completely wrong. That's why it took Emmett and Rosalie to pry Bella off of Tanya––Emmett said he could have done it himself, but he was worried about hurting Bella––so they could stuff Bella in the car and go to school. It was only Tanya promising to pick Bella up after school ended that stopped Bella from attempting to climb out through the window.
School. Today, despite all the caffeine Bella drank, she didn't even bother to stay awake. She had been woken up and yelled at so many times, that by the time lunch rolled around, even the teachers had given up and just let her sleep.
During lunch, she had bought her "large" amount of food, walked over to the Cullens' table, and plopped down on Emmett's lap, stretching out so her legs were on both Jasper's and a little pixie person's.
"I'm really tired today; feed me," Bella said, opening her mouth for the oncoming food.
"Damn, Bells, talk about lazy," Emmett said with a chuckle. He picked up a slice of pizza off the tray just for kicks and shoved it in Bella's mouth. To his surprise, Bella managed to eat the thing at a quick, albeit messy, pace.
"Thanks," Bella said, and opened her mouth to receive her next offering.
"You really are a funny one, aren't you?" a bell-like voice asked, and Bella blinked in confusion as the pixie girl smiled at her and fed her a large chunk of banana. "Hi, nice to officially meet you. I'm Alice."
"Yes," Bella said with a nod, her voice muffled due to the food.
"You're supposed to reply with your own name, Bells," Emmett said, chuckling as he fed her some more food.
"Oh." Bella opened her mouth to ask if she still needed to give her name, only to be side tracked when more food was put in by Alice.
"Jazz, this is actually really fun. You should try it," Alice said, picking up some kind of meat on a fork before offering the fork to Jasper.
"If you say so," Jasper said, hesitantly delivering the food to Bella's mouth.
"This is just so weird," Edward muttered, shaking his head as he rested it in his hands. However, soon he also found himself feeding Bella random bits of food, finding it strangely fascinating to watch the girl eat everything, much to the rest of the students' confusion. What was she, a bottomless pit? Or, given her position, possibly a baby bird.
That actually worried him, as baby birds were known to keep eating food even after they were full, and could even die from eating too much. However, this didn't seem to be the case for Bella, who kept on eating more and more, and whose stomach even growled in complaint every once in awhile when they stopped. For once, Edward even found people's thoughts strangely quiet, as no one knew what to make of the scene. And Bella's mind, as always, was completely blank.
"Oh, for the love of...everybody, stop," Rosalie said at one point, and everyone paused. Even Alice, who had a fork poised almost in Bella's mouth. Bella, of course, lifted her head to steal the food, chewing happily.
Rosalie got up, and Bella looked at her in confusion. She started to open her mouth, hoping for more food, but instead got a faceful of napkin. Bella couldn't get a protest out of her mouth as Rosalie started rubbing furiously, complaining about how messy Bella had gotten. While the Cullens were all deeply amused by Rosalie's behavior, the entire cafeteria was stunned. What had happened to the ice queen?
After a moment, Rosalie realized what she was doing and pulled away, clearly embarrassed. "She was just dirty, okay? Her face was covered in food." She sat back down and dropped the napkin on one of the trays, not looking at anyone.
"So," Bella started before a silence could grow at the table. "You're Dream Girl's cousin, huh?"
There were several looks of confusion, but it was quickly cleared up when they realized there was only one person Bella could be talking about.
"Yup. And she told us all about what happened," Emmett said with a wiggle of his eyebrows, trying to trick Bella into telling him something, as the only thing he actually knew was that Tanya had met Bella and stayed over.
"Yeah," Bella said with a frown. "Weird, isn't it?" Then she settled back against Emmett's large chest and opened her mouth, waiting for the delivery of more food. However, the bell rang then, much to Bella's annoyance. "Noooo...lunch doesn't need to end, right? What is school?"
"Now, now, Bella Bear, we all have to go to classes," Emmett said as he stood up, picking up Bella with her. "Think someone else can grab our trays?"
"Emmett, be careful with her," Rosalie hissed as Emmett swung Bella around for a moment, making Bella throw out her hands and bend backwards so she could catch the wind he created.
"Sorry, Rosie," Emmett said, straightening Bella up.
"Yeah. Sorry, Rosie," Bella echoed, wrapping her arms around Emmett's neck so she could peer at the Cullens, Rosalie included, over his shoulder. "Your boyfriend's big."
Rosalie's lips quirked up in a half smile, but she quickly controlled it. "I've noticed. Now, let's get you to class, okay?"
"Nooooooooooo," Bella moaned, letting her head drop hard enough onto Emmett's shoulder that even Emmett winced at the sound it made. "Class is so boring. Bring me to the library so I can sleep."
"Sorry Bella, but no can do, Bella. You can't just disappear for the rest of the day," Alice said. When Emmett hesitated, Alice quickly whispered, "I see her sleeping on top of a bookshelf by the end of the day. I can't even see which one, and there's a fifty percent chance she's going to get caught by a teacher and given detention." Louder, she said, "I can't wait for you to see our house! It's going to be so much fun getting to know you better."
"No. No it won't," Bella said, clearly pouting as Emmett started to carry her away.
Now Alice had to restrain a smile as she got a good glimpse of the future, and just how much the brunette was going to cling to Tanya once they saw each other again. Bella could have met Tanya right there in school, and even then, she would have been as happy as any of the other vampires had seen her. However, she couldn't help but get into bantering with Bella, and this was going to be a particularly easy win. "We'll have food for you."
Bella visibly perked up. "I retract my earlier statement. Yes. Yes we will."
"Em, take her to class, before she remembers where she's going again," Alice said, then flitted off to her own class.
"She didn't really forget, did she?" Emmett mumbled.
It turned out that, so focused on the promise of more food, Bella had actually done just that. And she was not pleased when she came out of her excited food daze to realize she was once again in a boring class.
But I know this stuff already… Sulking once more, Bella put her head on her arms. It would be good to sleep, after all. It would prepare her for staying awake that afternoon. Yeah, that was a good excuse.
Of course, Bella eventually woke up...in the nurse's office, with a sticky note on her forehead that explained she couldn't be woken up, so a student had stopped by to pick her up and take her to the nurse's office where she would "be safe." Bella could tell it was Emmett just by catching his scent on her clothes, so she looked around the room, half expecting the grinning boy or one of the other Cullens to appear. However, they didn't––in fact, no one did, but Bella did notice the clock. It was past three thirty, and school ended in fifteen minutes.
Ah. Dream Girl should be waiting for her. Bella quickly got up, glanced around the nurse's office to make sure no one was waiting to catch her in the act, and took out her phone. Then she called the number that Tanya had put into her phone, after Bella had shoved that very phone into her stomach the night before and stared at Tanya expectantly. It had taken longer than Bella had thought for Tanya to understand.
It only took two rings for someone to pick up the phone.
"Are you here?" Bella asked before someone could even say "Hello?"
"School's not going to be out for another fifteen minutes, Bella," Tanya's voice said with a fond exasperation. "But yes, I'll be there soon, I'm actually on my way now. I just need to pull out of here first."
"Pull out? But you don't have a dick," Bella said, once again mystified. "Do you?" And who would Tanya be pulling out of, anyways? Bella wasn't there with her.
Did Tanya just choke? "No, I do not. I meant I have to pull my car out of the driveway," Tanya said, her voice sounding tightly controlled. Bella thought she heard some laughter in the background that didn't sound like Tanya, but she couldn't be sure.
"Ooohhhhh," Bella said as she realized what Tanya was talking about. "I understand. But if you have a dick, that's okay too." Dream Girl was Dream Girl, after all. And Bella had never really wondered about what she would be attracted to until said Dream Girl came along.
"Bella, I'm a little worried about how your mind always seems to be in the gutter. But I guarantee you, I'm a woman, with all woman parts," Tanya replied.
"Huh," Bella said, cocking her head to the side as she put her phone in her other hand––holding a phone at this angle was tiring. "I guess that means you can use a much larger variety of toys then."
Did something just crack? Before she could ask if Tanya hit her head on something like Bella often did, Tanya answered in a very restrained voice, "For my sanity, I'm going to pretend you meant children's toys."
What? That wasn't what Bella was talking about. "But why would I need––"
"Children's toys," Tanya quickly interrupted. "And please, Bella, if you care about me at all, stop talking about sex. I won't be able to control myself for much longer otherwise."
Control? Why would Tanya need control? Did she need to go to the bathroom? "Well take your time. I'll just be outside."
"But isn't school still––"
"Nope," Bella lied, thinking Tanya would come sooner that way. "Outside."
"Then I'll be there soon," Tanya said, but didn't even get all of her words out before Bella hung up. After all, the sooner Bella hung up, the sooner Tanya would drive, which meant the sooner Tanya would get there.
Fifteen minutes later, Tanya was pulling into the parking lot, just as school was getting out. That little liar, Tanya thought, but she couldn't help but smile. Then she realized that, while kids were quickly flooding the parking lot, Bella was not one of them. Her enhanced vision should have picked the girl out quickly, and quite easily, but Bella just wasn't there.
Tanya got out of the car, and just like that, all eyes were on her. Students and a few faculty couldn't even seem to help themselves, it was like they had to drool over this new, never before seen blonde. However, Tanya was too focused on Bella to care.
"Alice!" Tanya called, catching sight of her cousins heading towards their own cars just a few spots down. She walked over to them when she got their attention before asking, "Where's Bella?"
Everyone looked at Emmett first, who just shrugged and said, "I left her in the nurse's office a few hours ago."
"Could she still be sleeping?" Edward asked.
Sleeping? Wasn't the whole point of going to school learning? Bella had sounded sleepy when they had spoken on the phone, but she always did. Tanya was about to say that Bella couldn't still be sleeping, as she had talked to Tanya only fifteen minutes ago, but then remembered––this was Bella, her strange girl. The girl who could fall asleep in a heartbeat without a thought.
"Let me see where she is," Alice said, and quickly fell into a vision. She let out a soft, disbelieving sigh and said, "She's lost."
"Wait, what? Like lost, in school?" Emmett asked with a perplexed frown, wondering how that could even be possible.
"Of course not, I'm sure she at least got outside––" Edward started, but then Alice spoke.
"Yes, in school." Alice shook her head. "I don't even know how that's possible." Maybe it would have been better to just let Bella sleep on top of a bookshelf. Of course, if she had been caught, that would have been tough. But this situation was a bit worse since Alice couldn't see where Bella was going, as the girl was just choosing directions at random.
"Oh, for crying out loud, I'll––" Rosalie started, but Tanya was already heading into the school, kids parting for her like Moses and the red sea.
"I'll see you guys at the house!" Tanya called over her shoulder, and then she was inside the building.
Bella, however, no longer was. She glanced around in confusion, trying to figure out how that happened. How did I get on the roof? Well, this was outside, so she technically had been correct in telling Tanya where she would be, but how was Bella going to get down? She considered jumping over the edge and landing on the ground below, but realized if she did that, she'd probably die. And she didn't think Tanya would be happy with her dead. But she didn't want to go back into the school, so what other choice did she have?
"There you are!" Tanya's voice said with relief, and then arms were wrapping around Bella from behind. "Seriously, I was worried about you."
"I told you I would be outside," Bella said, looking up at Tanya with a small smile.
"Yes, but this wasn't exactly what I thought you meant." Tanya let out a low laugh, nuzzling into Bella's neck with relief. Sure, she knew it was incredibly rare for something to happen in school that would actually be considered dangerous, but this was Bella. A human that it seemed anything could happen to. Knowing her girl, Bella could have fallen asleep, fallen over, rolled along the roof, and right off the edge into oblivion. "I have to say, there's never a calm moment with you, is there?"
Bella turned around in Tanya's arms so they were now front to front. She looked so serious that Tanya's unnecessary breath caught, and her eyes darkened immensely when Bella took Tanya's face in her hands. "Tanya…" Bella said so seriously, and the sound of her name on those lips made Tanya shiver with desire. She went in for a kiss, needing to feel Bella's mouth on hers once again. "I got lost."
And just like that, Bella pulled away, pleased with herself for admitting what happened. She started to walk towards the roof's door, sure that she'd escape the cursed place as long as Tanya was by her side. However, she hadn't even gone back inside when she realized Tanya wasn't following her. In fact, Tanya stood frozen, right where Bella had left her.
"Are you coming?" Bella asked, a little puzzled as to why Tanya was standing there.
Tanya took a deep breath, collected herself, and nodded. "Yes, Bella. I'm coming." She caught up with Bella quickly enough, and the girl led her back into the school with surprising confidence for someone who had somehow gone up without realizing it.
As Tanya passed through the roof's door, closing it behind her, she paused and checked the keyhole. Wait a second, wasn't this supposed to be locked for safety reasons? Yet the door handle was broken, and the lock itself was just a gaping hole. However, the damage done looked and even smelled recent.
She glanced back over at her mate, who was leaning against a wall with her hands in her pockets, sleepy brown eyes on Tanya, waiting patiently for whatever Tanya was looking at.
Oh, little one. Just what did you do? How did you even get up here? Tanya wondered as she caught her mate's gaze.
And, more importantly, did Bella even know how she did it?
