Chapter Ten - Whispers
Juliet's POV
I poked at my breakfast the next morning. Everyone else was eating normally besides me. Esme noticed, coming to wrap an arm around my shoulders.
"Are you nervous about today, sweetheart?" Esme squeezed me. I nodded, pushing the fork into my eggs and letting them fall back onto the plate.
"Go see Alice, she'll whip up something that'll make you feel real special," she winked, walking back to the sink. I hopped off my chair and smiled at her. As I suspected, Alice was already in my room rooting through my closet.
"Take these," Alice tossed several items onto my bed. "Get changed, I'll do your makeup in a sec!"
She bustled out again, probably looking for someone else to dress up. I wandered over to the bed and got dressed.
Alice had outfitted me in casually distressed skinny jeans, a black spaghetti strap, rather tight fitting tank top, a tight fitted women's leather jacket with a hood, complete with lace-up, studded platform heels.
The heels weren't that high but I was not a girl who wore heels.
"Alice!" I whined, loping into the bathroom where she was waiting with a kit of makeup. "Really?!"
"Heels make every girl feel special and confident," she snapped playfully before patting the counter. "Sit up, I'm doing your makeup."
After brushing out my chest-length hair and letting it hang loose, Alice went with a simple sweep of eyeliner and mascara. She gave me a nice nude lip color that was barely detectable, swept a little highlighter on my cheekbones and deemed me presentable. I walked downstairs feeling a little more assured than I had when I walked up.
"My favorite part of the morning," Renesmee chirped, joining me by the front door. "Where we decide who to ride with."
"I don't care, so long as I'm next to you," I took her hand. "I'm scared, Nessie."
She squeezed mine affectionately. "If anyone has the balls to give you trouble - we'll give them hell."
Renesmee POV
We rode with Alice and Jasper in the BMW. Juliet's leg was shaking the entire way to school. I mentally fumed - Juliet had a hard enough life, why were people so intent on making it worse? Harper felt victimized by her. Amber felt, what, threatened? It was no secret that Juliet was attractive.
At school, people stared. We made our way quickly to the socials room, flanked by Seth and Jake. Seth was hovering protectively over Juliet the whole time. I shut out the whispers as best as possible, but some got through. Apparently Amber had been busy over the weekend, spreading falsified text messages and images to everyone in school.
"Looking good, Juliet," some random kid walked up to us, despite the fire in our eyes. "Although, I like you better with your clothes off."
"Go to hell, you creep," I snapped, stepping forward. Jake grabbed my arm, trying to pull me away. "Anything that Amber slut spread around is fake. You're an idiot for believing it!"
"Pictures don't lie," the boy wiggled his eyebrows, sauntering down the hallway. Juliet's face burned, tears threatening to come to the surface. I grabbed her hand and led our group into the Socials room as the late bell rang.
We took our seats and I clenched my jaw as people whispered. Didn't they have anything better to do than gossip? I glared at several people who dared to raise their voice higher than a whisper. Juliet barely focused through the entire class. Seth sat silently fuming behind us, threatening to explode at any moment.
I shared an uneasy look with Jake. Something bad was going to happen - we hadn't seen Amber yet today and I was terrified about what would happen in Juliet's math class next period. Alice was in that class so I pulled out my phone under the desk and texted her.
Me: Alice, emergency. Jules is alone in math with HARPER! Need u to sit with her and use the scary eyes. Can u?
Alice: Of course, was going to anyway now that we're sisters! Nobody's messing with our girl.
Me: You rock!
Alice: I know.
I rested easier knowing that Juliet would be under the protection of a scary little vampire next class. When we walked her to math, I reluctantly hugged her goodbye. Seth, however, was a wreck all through English.
At lunch, Juliet sat with us and shared what had happened in math. She sat next to Alice, did her work and tried not to meet Harper's angry eyes. During lunch, he kept turning around to give us violent glares. Unfortunately, he was dealing with vampires. Comfortable in the knowledge that any one of us could snap his neck in a second, we sat and only met his eyes with coldness.
"It's best to approach this situation as cavalierly as possible," Edward said softly. "Renesmee, Seth, as much as I love you, the two of you need to control your emotions at school. We have to act like this doesn't bother us."
"But it does, and for good reason!" Seth hissed, gripping the table. He couldn't even reach out and touch Juliet - they decided any physical affection at school was going to add gas to an already burning fire.
"Giving an emotional reaction will only give them a reason to continue," Rosalie pointed out. "I hate to admit it but Edward is right."
I shook my head. I knew they were right, but all I wanted to do was kill Amber and kill Harper.
In Art class, Harper had the good sense not to sit with us. We talked and chatted just like we had back at the waterfall. After a while, we found ourselves laughing. It felt so good to laugh the tension away.
The drama teacher wanted to try some "meditation" exercise. We sat together, cross legged on the floor and tried not to laugh. Every time a giggle would slip out, the drama teacher would open one eye and glare at us. We only laughed more. That was better than any silent reflection.
Juliet POV
I'd survived one day as public enemy number one. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all. In any case, I had the right people around me.
"Juliet, can we talk?" Seth knocked on the open door. I nodded, beckoning him in.
"What's up?" I asked as he joined me in the room, sitting on the floor against the bed.
"I just thought we could talk privately, get to know each other better," he smiled nervously. "Is that weird?"
"Not weird," I grinned. Over the last little while, we'd already talked a lot, asking each other questions. Any excuse, though, to spend time next to him was good enough for me.
"Can I ask what your family was like?" Seth asked. My stomach turned. Oh, this was why he wanted to talk. That was why he was so nervous. I sighed inwardly. I'd guessed we'd have to have this conversation eventually, I just didn't expect it to be so soon.
"I think I ought to tell Nessie, first," I told him. "Is that alright?"
"Whenever you're ready," he leaned over and pressed his lips to my temple. "I'll be ready to listen."
Seth's cell phone chimed from his pocket. He pulled it out quickly but his face fell when he looked at the caller ID.
"Hi, Mom," Seth said into the phone. "I'm fine, how are you? Mom, calm down. What?!"
I peered at him, eyes wide. His face took on horror, and then anger.
"SHE DID WHAT?!" Seth bellowed. "I'll kill her! Mom, I'll kill her! Listen, Mom, call Karen. Have her take care of you, can you do that for me? Okay. I'll call you later. I love you, too. Bye."
"Seth, what's going on?" I asked, wrapping my arms around my knees.
"My sister, Leah, is angry that I imprinted on what we call a 'vamp chick'," Seth rolled his eyes. "So she went to Charlie and told him all about vampires. He already knew about werewolves, but now he knows that his daughter, son-in-law and their family are a bunch of the undead!"
"Isn't he getting married to Sue? Won't that make him a council member?" I asked, scrunching my nose. Supernatural politics were so hard to follow.
"That's the charming part," Seth gritted his teeth. "Leah knew that Charlie would choose Bella. She made it out that my mom would make him choose, vampires or werewolves. The engagement is off."
"No!" I gasped. Even a human could figure out what that meant. Charlie's marriage to Sue was the only thing protecting him from the Volturi - without that tie to the Quileutes and their legends, Charlie was left vulnerable. We all knew they had spies in Forks, it was painfully obvious. If they found out… Charlie would be killed.