A/N: For anyone on the east coast, I hope this brightens your day from the cold and the rain. Anyone on the west coast or in the south, I hope this gives you a nice chill.
This would be the climax of the story, so if you don't have a hat, buy one, and hold onto that shit.
"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," I muttered over and over again.
"Relax—please," Edward sighed.
"How can I relax? I over slept!" My legs continued to jump up and down, making the car shake at the red light we were stopped at.
Run it!
"Yeah, and that's fine," Edward said like it made any sense.
"How is it fine? I missed homeroom and history is half way through!"
"I'll write you a note." He rolled his eyes. "I'm over twenty one, and right now, I'm your official guardian, I have a copy of the apartment deed with me, and your name is registered right at the top."
"Why do you have the apartment deed?" I raised an eyebrow.
"A copy, for such an incidence as this my dear. Get me a pen and paper."
"You still need to come in," I muttered unenthusiastically.
His eyebrows pulled together. "Why?"
"They don't have you registered. I can't afford a cut, Edward. My history teacher hates me as it is, and I'm completely positive that if I'm marked as a cut in her class she'll bite my head off for the rest of the year."
"Alright, alright, I have no problem with it." He rolled his eyes again and my knuckles twitched. "Hey, I've got good news."
The tension lifted from my bones and I melted into the grey leather. Good news. Good news was always good when it came from Edward.
"Yeah?" I watched a cop car sitting by the road and I smiled thinking of my father.
"I got an internship at the hospital."
"No way!" I exclaimed. "That's great!"
"I know, and it pays more than the diner. The hours are tricky, but I think I can deal with it, there's a shortage of staff in the morning which is perfect for me."
"Congratulations!" the grin spread across my face at the sight of his. Just like that we were both laughing and joking again.
Edward pulled into the high school lot moments later and we took off into the building. The office was bustling with kids who had passes for being late. I saw Tyler Crowley waiting in line in front of me and I held my breath.
If you don't move, he won't notice you.
Edward let out a low whistle at the art on the wall. "Are these depictions of satanic dances?"
I rolled my eyes despite myself. "It's modern art… or it's supposed to be."
"Hmm," he went back to looking around the office, unaware of my stiff posture beside him. My eyes were focused on the back of Tyler's neck, chanting in my head for him to keep his eyes forward.
It was one thing to deal with him on my own, but with Edward here? No. No, that couldn't happen. He was a loose cannon when it came to safety and protection, the last thing I needed was my father coming down here to pick him up. Especially after they'd come to a civil relationship.
My truck was still at his complex and I hadn't had the chance to grab it yet. I hadn't set my alarm clock either. The exhaustion just kind of took over me and without Edward to set it no one else would.
I closed my hand around his and he squeezed back. My heart still clambered in my chest, which was unusual around Edward. My nerves would settle down whenever he was near me. I tried to shake the bad feeling from my gut, tried being the operative word.
Mrs. Cope was just about done with Tyler, she handed him his pass, he turned to the left, right in front of me, and I stopped breathing.
Just go, please, just go.
His peripheral must have caught me because he turned his head and a brief recollection touched his eyes before he smiled at me and not a friendly smile either.
Edward's tug on my arm made me flinch. I looked at Edward, but he was looking at Tyler, and his stare wasn't a friendly stare.
Tyler's eyes left me to look at Edward, and at that, his brow furrowed. The next second Tyler was walking out the doors, Edward's eyes on his back the entire way.
"That one of them?" he asked while pulling out the apartment deed. Mrs. Cope grabbed onto it and tapped some information in before handing the deed back to Edward and me a bright yellow pass.
"Yeah, it's nothing to worry about, though." I answered as we walked out.
"Yeah, sure," he wasn't convinced.
He kissed me briefly on the sidewalk outside, and I watched him for a second while he went to his car. And then I sighed under the pressured knowledge that I wouldn't see him for hours.
Great.
Halfway across to quad to the history building someone tapped on my shoulder. Of course. Of-fucking-course this had to happen. I couldn't have just one day—
Tyler interrupted my thoughts with his Lauren-like sneer. "Boyfriend?"
"Huh?" I asked lamely.
"Boyfriend, was that your boyfriend?" he repeated slowly.
"Oh, yeah," I turned and began to walk off again, really not in mood to act cordial with anyone.
"He looks like he's thirty." Tyler said following me.
"He's not."
"How old is he?"
"None of your business."
"Is he that old?"
"No."
"Then how old is he?"
I whipped around. "Leave me alone."
He smiled, amused. "No."
I breathed in deeply through my nose. Don't! Don't let him get to you! I let the feeling of annoyance pressurize in my temples so I wouldn't accidently lash out with my fists.
"What do you want, Tyler?" I asked as cold as I could manage.
"Oh, not much," he rocked back on his heels.
"Good, I'm glad we had this conversation, bye." I turned around and stalked off faster to my class.
"You know," Tyler said right on my heels. "You really should act more grateful."
I stopped again.
Fuck no.
This stupid, arrogant, idiotic, childish little boy wanted me to act grateful. I turned, slowly this time, because one more stupid word out of his over salivated metal lined mouth and I wouldn't even try to stop the impulse to punch him.
"I'd rather cut off my eyelids than even breath the same air as you." I hissed. "You're fucking pathetic."
His eyes narrowed and he stepped forward, trying to intimidate me by dwarfing my size. No, I was feeling way too bold and way too pissed to back down from this toad.
"What did you say?" before I had time to answer he started speaking again. "You know what, Bella? Things have been pretty tame, and even though you left all your friends and all your family for some college frat douche—" my eye twitched, "some people still defended you. Well guess what? No one wants you around anymore."
"You honestly think I care?" I snapped. "I got a pretty open vibe about that over the past couple of months."
"Wow, Lauren was right, you are a bitch." My fist curled in on itself. "Guess your boyfriend is into beastial—"
His sentence was cut off by his tongue sliding between his braced teeth, caused by my fist dislodging his jaw.
I went off.
Just… lost all control of my muscles and let my brain take over every function while I watched behind horror and adrenaline pulsing eyes. I saw the blood on my knuckle and realized that Tyler bit his tongue. I realized that I jumped on him and just started to punch with all my might and that he could have punched me back but was in too much shock at the moment.
My mind roared with fury and rage, pain and regret but I just focused all of that into my skin connecting with flesh and blood, tears pouring down my face the entire time.
My subconscious was screaming for me to keep going, this was revenge, this was my time to hurt him as badly as he hurt me. All of his stupid friends, all of the stupid plots and pranks.
The responsible side was horrified, but pleasantly indulged, because there was nothing about me that could really hold back. Every person needs to lash out when a full year of taunting and months of picking at every flaw had been concealed for the better.
Tyler pushed me off of him, his hands grabbing onto my shoulders and pushing me back until I was pinned to the ground. A small crowd had formed around us, jeering was all around me but it was all boxed out. I gladly handed over my sense of sound to focus all my energy on my flailing limbs.
My legs bent upwards and kneed Tyler in the chest. He released a hand from my shoulder to rub at the spot and I pushed him back again.
Right when I had my nails stuck into his arm I was roughly jerked back.
The strangest thing happened in that moment. My hearing came back, although bells were ringing in my ears, I could finally listen to the panic and cheering that came around me.
My legs dropped to the ground and my arms dropped to my side. The tears started to come harder, much harder than I'd ever felt before. Giant globs of tears streamed down my face and hit the ground so hard that I could hear them smash into the gravel.
"Bella, Christ, Bella," Edward was the person behind me, the only person who thought to grab my enraged form off of that stupid idiot on the floor, bewildered and pissed.
And when my legs gave out, Edward caught me, just like he always did.
I felt like reality was slipping from me. I wasn't light headed so I concluded I wasn't going to pass out, but it was like I was dreaming. I knew I wasn't, so I forced myself to focus my tunnel vision on the campus security that was helping up Tyler and ushering him back to the office. And then they turned to me with a less than friendly look and pointed me the same way.
"Can you walk?" Edward asked.
I liked my lips and swallowed but I still couldn't speak. I nodded my head and slowly, he let go of the hold he had on my waist.
The office was warmer than when I left, or it could have been the icicles running through my veins now that I had actually… realized what I'd done. But I didn't feel the speckle of regret resting in my upper stomach.
Mrs. Cope was standing by Tyler, who looked like he just woke up from a deep sleep, and when his eyes came upon me, his glare turned lethal.
Edward stepped in front of me, blocking Tyler from my view, but I saw the look on his face. Even if I did something I wasn't supposed to do, he'd still defend me.
"I'll get the nurse to see you, come on." Mrs. Cope turned to me. "Just… sit down until your father can be contacted."
My face drained of blood.
"Wait! There's no need to contact chief Swan," Edward said quickly. "I'm her legal guardian right now."
Mrs. Cope turned her authoritative eyes to Edward. "Charlie Swan is the registered guardian and it would take a month or so to change that information, sir."
Edward's fists clenched and unclenched until Mrs. Cope walked towards the back to the nurse's room. When she was out of sight, Edward sat down in a green plastic chair. I idled close by, not sure whether or not he would want me near him.
He glanced up at me under his eyelashes, frowning. "Sit."
I sat immediately and tucked my hands neatly on my lap. Edward's eyes darted down to where I knew there was pink stained across my knuckles.
"I'm sorry, Edward—"
"Don't, you shouldn't be apologizing to me." He sighed. "Violence, Bella? You couldn't hurt a fly, and here I am, backing out of the school, when I look into my rearview mirror and what do I see? Oh, not much, just my girlfriend straddling some guy's waist punching the shit out him. And that reminds me, what the hell were doing with your thumb tucked into your fist? That is not how you throw a punch, that's how you break your hand."
I put my head in my hands, not able to take the disappointment in his eyes any longer.
And like things couldn't get worse from this point, Charlie came through the door looking like he would shoot someone.
Please, just shoot me and get this whole thing over with.
Edward fidgeted beside me a little, but didn't move from his spot, meeting direct eye contact with Charlie. Tension filled the room, consuming me and my stupidity, and when Mrs. Cope came in she lingered at the doorway looking from Edward to Charlie.
"Chief Swan?" she asked in her quiet mousy voice.
Charlie snapped out of the staring match he had with Edward. "Yeah, I'm here now, so tell me exactly what's going on."
"Bella got in a fight," Mrs. Cope answered quickly. I would have been nervous under his glare, too. Charlie turned to me, and I was right in my assumptions.
"A fight? I fight, Bella?" I nodded dumbly. His eyes darted to Edward. "With who?"
"A classmate," Edward answered.
"Tyler Crowley," Mrs. Cope corrected.
"Why? Why did you get in a fight with him? He's two heads taller than you and a boy!" Charlie ran a hand through his hand through his hair. "Give your side of the story before I blow up."
I didn't waste my opportunity. "He was harassing me." Charlie's eyes twitched and Edward's shoulders became rigid against my arm. "He saw Edward when we were in the office this morning and he came up to me asking all these questions about him, and when I didn't answer he kept insulting Edward."
"Christ, Bella," Edward leaned against the wall and blew out a big breath.
"Edward's a grown man; if he wants to he can fight his own battles. You don't need to be rushing into fights with people who could severely hurt you."
My head hung. "I know,"
"Can I speak with Tyler?" Charlie asked Mrs. Cope. She nodded and they paced down the crème hallway.
Edward turned his body towards me, his expression purely pissed. "You fucking punched him because he was saying stupid shit about me? Bella, that's just ridiculous."
"I couldn't take it anymore, Edward! I was just thinking about all the stupid things he and his friends put me through and then he started to bad mouth me and I didn't act out so he started talking about you, and—and—"
"Aw, fuck, Bella, don't cry, please don't cry." He pulled me out of my chair and onto his lap. "It's okay, it's okay," he crooned in my ear.
"I'm sorry," I sobbed.
"I know, baby. You just can't go doing stupid things like that. You know that now this will only give them more leverage."
I sniffled and rubbed my face against his chest. "I know."
"Only three more months of this and you never have to see any of them again." His lips touched the top of my head softly. "Three more months and everything will get better."
While we waited, I let myself think about three months ahead. It would be summer; I'd probably be applying to colleges and relaxing. Edward would be interning at the hospital, I could go and visit him, we could go to the beach, and we could be a normal couple.
Charlie came out, his face drawn tight. He hiked his thumb in the direction of the parking lot, not at all happy with where I was seated.
Edward followed me out behind my dad. Kids were scattered along the sidewalk and actually stopped to stare at us walking by. Two freshman girls started giggling and when Edward's head turned in their direction they made girly sounds.
And then Edward wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
It was little, it was nothing, it was everything to me. Maybe I'd been too scared to show everyone, but he wasn't. I had nothing more to hide; I wasn't going to let everything get to me.
I was going to be happy, and I was going to be in love.
Charlie opened the cruiser door and I hesitated. "Get in," he growled.
I squeezed Edward's hand tightly in my own before sitting in the passenger side. Charlie turned to Edward after my door was closed, and even though they spoke in low murmurs, the window was cracked enough for me to hear.
"All this BS about legal guardians is taken care of. I'm her legal guardian, and Renee is her legal guardian, you're not."
Edward's face hardened. "I respect you Charlie, but you gave up that right when you kicked her out of your house."
I gasped and so did Charlie. His face turned red.
"The only reason I'm putting up this whole thing is for her! She may like you, but I sure as hell don't." Charlie poked a finger at his chest. "She doesn't live with you anymore; she lives in her home, with her father. You don't have any title, you're a boyfriend."
Edward's eyes flashed. "I know that. And I hold the title of her boyfriend very proudly."
"Well good," Charlie spat. "Because if I have it my way you won't be anything more than a boyfriend."
Edward nodded and didn't fight against my father anymore. When Charlie saw that his lips were sealed he walked over to the driver's side of the car and yanked open the door.
I looked at Edward who was waiting at his car, watching me in the cruiser. I smiled weakly in his direction and he smiled back, mouthing 'love you'.
When he was out of sight I felt my heart rip in half, and it only ripped more when Charlie started to speak.
"I don't know who the hell he thinks he is!" Charlie fumed. "Legal guardian my ass, it was only a few months!"
"I'm eighteen, a legal adult; I don't need a legal guardian so drop it!" I snapped.
Charlie glared at me from the corner of his eye but didn't say another word. I leaned my head against the glass, wondering when this whole thing would get better.
A/N: So, she finally figured it out. Doesn't matter what everyone thinks, you love who you love. I need a tissue.
Voting for the Age of Edward Contest ended. The top eleven are posted on the profile page. Because of a tie we have one more entry than previously expected. http://www(DOT)fanfiction(DOT)net/~theageofedward Go check them out! Judges have a tough decision.
I'm taking advantage of the massive puddles outside, enjoy them before the heat comes back east coast!
Don't forget to review!