Hey!
So I hope that this is a little better than the very short first chapter.
And I hope you don't hate it.
Bella and this still unidentified person had been sitting there on the side of the road for a while. Initially she tried to count the time, but she was giving herself a headache after she got to about two minutes.
When she calmed down and her body isn't being rocked completely by sobs, she peeked through her arms at the mysterious stranger. Surprisingly he looks incredibly familiar. Focusing all her energy on forgetting the past like two hours the sobs slowed even more and finally stopped as the tears slowed as well. As she wiped a decent amount of the tears away, trying not to think about how puffy and red her eyes might be, she looks up into the eyes of the stranger.
With only her first glance through tear blurred eyes she still hasn't placed who exactly he is. She is so close, his crazy deep green eyes and his perfectly messy bronze hair is so familiar.
She just stared at him, forgetting manners, trying to pull him from her memory. He just stared back, curiosity completely prevalent on his face, but it seemed to her that he wasn't trying to place her. It was almost as if he already knows who she is.
As she suddenly realizes she has been staring for an unhealthy amount of time she bows her head embarrassed. Out of the corner of her eye she sees his hand hesitantly move from it's resting place on the ground. His hand paused momentarily in mid-air before he proceeded to move the hair, she had let fall in her face, back behind her ear. At the same time his hand crosses her face he whispered, as not to scare her, "Hi."
The moment she hears his voice she knows exactly who he is and she can't believe she didn't figure it out sooner. As happy as she is at this moment that he is sitting next to her she is completely dumbfounded as to why he is sitting next to her, on the side of an almost abandoned road, here.
As she finally built up the courage, she quietly said, "Hi."
After the brief formalities they sat on the side of the road not talking for hours. The only thing that Bella could think about for the whole time they were sitting there was all the time she had spent in the last year actually living, it was such a change from how she spent her time before she had met any of them.
"Mom, why do I have to go to a new school? Isn't there any thing I can do just so that I can stay? I mean seriously it's my senior year."
"Look, Bella, I really wish there was something we could do but we just can't afford it this year." And with that, Renee, walked away.
Bella paused for a second. "UGGGG this isn't fair."
And then her step dad decided he needed a say in the matter. "Look Bella, we already have to pay for your sister's college tuition and now that she might have to go for another year that's what we have to focus on. You're going to the local public school for this year. Deal with it." He paused for a moment and then started in on a new topic, a topic that stung a little more than the idea of changing schools, although Bella would never admit that anything that her parents spewed at her got through her clearly defined walls.
"You're so selfish. You're mother just lost her job, she's having a hard time dealing and all you can think about is having to switch schools. You're always complaining about everything, never thinking about anybody but yourself. Another thing, you're constantly talking about college and going on visits but do you have a job to pay for tuition?" Bella gave him one of those, 'you're kidding right' looks. He just laughed and continued.
"You don't actually think that you're mother and I are going to spend our hard earned money to pay for your college tuition. We wouldn't even consider it, especially not now. You haven't told us anything about where you're looking or what colleges. You aren't trying very hard to be at the top of the lists to get into the good colleges. The college process isn't really supposed to be about you, it's about what we want for you, but you'll probably just end up at a community college at the rate you're going. Plus we're paying for Liza's tuition and we just shelled out 200 dollars toward that 3,000 dollar study abroad trip, don't think we'll cover your expenses anymore than that." Phil continued to go on and on insulting Bella and pointing out how inadequate she is and how she's a failure. The whole time he was talking she wasn't looking at him, she was looking at her mother, she couldn't believe her eyes. It shouldn't have been a shock, but with the details that Phil was spewing she thought her mom might say something. Renee just stood there, occasionally looking at Phil with an unidentifiable look or looking at the ground. That's how she always was. She never opened her mouth in Bella's defense. Bella just stood there, as always trying to deflect everything that Phil was spewing at her.
"..with your grades this semester, I mean come on, a B, you won't be doing anything this summer. You'll be spending all summer with a full time job. And that includes not going on that trip with your 'friends.'" He pulled her ticket out of his back pocket and ripped it up. The ticket cost her 800 dollars and was unrefundable; she had been saving for that ticket for more than a year.
Bella walked away after that. As much trouble as walking away would get her in, the response building in her head would do much more damage. Phil yelled a few choice statements down the hallway after her, but she was headed for her room and she was trying with all her might not to let anything he said stop her. It was these points in the 'conversations' that the topic moved from what was relevant to criticizing whatever came into her step dad's mind.
This episode was bad, and they were only getting worse. Things had been escalating lately and she couldn't exactly place why. They finally tipped over the line that they had been teetering on lately, and they moved into unacceptable.
After listening to Phil spew more insults about Bella to Renee, Bella does the only thing she knows how to do when her room doesn't provide enough shelter – she runs. As she leaves the house and her feet hit the pavement they start to move uncontrollably. Her feet are pounding the pavement in a hypnotically and her thoughts are starting to sync with the rhythm and the tears start streaming so out of control that she can't see where she is going. She has run this path so many times though she doesn't really need to see. She returns to her thoughts and lets her legs pound out the pain.
Some of the thoughts running through her mind are how she has been seriously craving getting out, especially for the last few months but at some points she doesn't know if she will be able to make it through the whole next year and a half. How out of control the whole situation has become, and how she has nowhere to turn, and no way to really deal with it. All these thoughts spun through her head and she was getting dizzy from the adrenaline.
She managed to slow her legs and when she came out of the haze she was exactly where she always felt at home – the soccer field. She walked to the middle circle and just collapsed. She imagined the coming season, the highlight of every year and just looked at the sky. The bright blue and the untainted white, the sky was so perfect, unlike herself who was so damaged she could hardly see the pieces that were right. She was so wrapped up in the dizzying thoughts that she didn't really take in her surroundings until somebody tripped over her and came dangerously close to landing on top of her.
Once she actually realized she wasn't alone she looks at what exactly is lying so dangerously close to her. She looks to her left and there is a very large, cute, burly guy lying next to her, legs tangled, giving her a friendly but annoyed glare. Her mouth functions before her brain like usual. "I take it, it isn't usually that easy to get you on your ass!" Somebody out of her sight starts laughing and she realizes she said that out loud. She immediately slaps her hand over her mouth and turns bright red.
The guy starts to get up and she sits up still embarrassed that that had actually come out of her mouth. She finally looks up at the girl she heard laughing and comes eye to lens with a short pixie girl holding a video camera laughing so hard she is about to join Bella on the ground.
It takes Bella a moment to register that the girl is holding a video camera, and a few more seconds for the fact that that little moment was caught on tape to sink in. After she recovers from that small shock, Bella looks back towards the guy. He is on his feet and holding out a hand, offering to help her up. This whole moment feels so out of place with what happened less than an hour ago.
She hesitates, but finally reaches up and takes his hand, it is warm and big and it is crazy but she suddenly feels safe, and sort of like she belongs here in this moment with these two strangers.
"Hi, I'm Bella." It is simple and boring but it does the trick. All of a sudden the girl starts talking a mile a minute, Bella can just barely make out what she is saying.
"Whoa Alice calm down, we're still recovering from our little encounter here, you think maybe you could bring it down a notch or two." The way the boy says it, it seems as if this must happen often and she rarely calms her mouth. He then turns to address Bella.
"Sorry about that she gets excited when we're filming and even more so when she meets knew people." Bella nods along as he speaks, instantly curious as to what they are filming for.
"I'm Emmett by the way, and that crazy one who still hasn't stopped talking is my sister Alice." Emmett looks at her and smiles, Bella doesn't know how to respond. She wants to know about the camera and if Alice is always like this but she doesn't want to seem rude or any other personality that she might come off as if she opens her mouth.
"...OMG Edward is going to love this segment, I think I'll call it...well I don't know yet but it will be great." Bella catches the last half of Alice's statement to nobody and is curious again as to who Edward is and why he will be seeing this unfortunate episode on this very strange tape. Bella decides to just take the plunge and ask the questions.
"Okay, why are you filming this and who is Edward and why is he going to see it?
"We are..." Emmett tries, but Alice is louder and faster. She begins the whole story of Edward and their idea to try and keep him connected while he is gone.
"So Edward is...?"
"Our Cousin." Alice then decides to go on and describe more of their crazy mixed up history, and includes quite a few details about their cousin Edward as well. I don't know if it was just me but it seems that every time Alice said Edward's name she gives me one of those looks.
Review - hate it, like it, love it - I'd love to know.
I want you to want to read this, so I want to make it as good as possible.
Plus if you find any grammar stuff or anything like that let me know, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Thanks for reading.
3 K
