A/N: I would like to recognize and thank the following people for their support and/or reviews. Especially the two people who reviewed, it means a lot:
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*Garden Sweet Pea
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Prologue
I've got other plans today, don't need permission anyway. Here we're standing after all, with my back against the wall, against the wall.—Tokio Hotel
Chapter Seven: Break Away
Bella's Point of View
Why, oh why, are they all staring at me like that? I wondered desperately. The boys at the other table, Edward's table, were all leering at me. And quite frankly, it was freaking me out. "H-hey, um, Damien, who are those guys?" I whispered in his ear, trying not to look like I was talking about them. He looked to where my gaze was fixed, and his jaw clenched.
"Stay away from them, Bella, they're all bad news. The one to the far left, with the long hair, is Jacob Black, he's from the Quileute reservation. And the people next to him are Sam, Embry, Quil, and, well, you probably know Edward Cullen and Jasper Whitlock. They're adoptive brothers, but they're both exactly the same. Stupid, and a total waste of time." Okay, then, possessive much? I thought to myself, nodding as he continued on to talk about some pop band I had never heard of.
Then it clicked. Wait, adoptive brothers? As in, Jasper's not related to Edward? And Edward never told me. What. An. Ass.
"Alright! I'm gonna hit the head!" Emmett's voice boomed throughout the whole entire diner, and we all stopped. I reached over and smacked him upside the head. "You idiot!" Damien chuckled lightly at our interaction, before pulling me down to sit next to him again. "That's Emmett for you," he whispered in my ear.
Right after Emmett left, I could've sworn I saw a figure get up from the other table out of the corner of my eye. My suspicions were confirmed when I saw Edward walking to the bathroom as well. That's when I realized something.
"Hey, um, guys, where are the two new girls?" Everyone froze, and I heard Mike reciting a slew of…colorful…words under his breath.
"That'd be us!" I turned around, and saw the most beautiful girl I'd ever met in my entire life. "Rosalie," the model thrust her hand out to introduce herself, and all the boys were no longer interested in their food anymore. They all shook her hand eagerly, too eagerly. She was a tall, slender girl with long blonde hair and the face of an angel. Everything about her absolutely screamed perfect.
Then, a very small girl stepped out from behind her; she had short, pixie-like hair that was jet-black and pointy. She was also beautiful, in her own way. When she stepped forward, it was as if she was gliding gracefully along the floor. Her whole appearance made her seem ethereal. That is, until she started to talk.
And wouldn't stop.
"Hey! I'm Alice! Well, my actual name is Mary Alice Brandon, but I will hurt you if you call me Mary, so just call me Alice. Sorry we're so late, there were some minor complications along the way, but it's all good now, OH! You're pretty! What's your name?" I just stood there in a daze, until someone pinched me and said, "Bella, she's talking to you." Shocked, I snapped out of it and introduced myself. "I'm Bella, Bella Swan." She took my hand eagerly and shook it firmly, and I moved onto the goddess next to her. Hmm, Alice Brandon and Rosalie Hale. They both seemed really nice, but I was kind've scared of Alice. I mean, it wasn't like I feared for my life or anything, but she looked like the kind of person that would go way overboard on anything and everything. Remind me not to tell her that my birthday is this weekend.
"Hey! What's the big crowd for?" Emmett was back apparently. We all laughed, and stepped back to introduce him to the two girls, and when we did, the look on his face was one I had never in my life seen before.
He looked awestruck, like he'd seen a— Oh. Yeah. Rosalie. Oh. Man, I'm never letting him live this down. I quickly took out my phone and snapped a picture. Unfortunately, my flash went off, snapping him out of it. "Why'd you do that?" He asked me, and I burst out laughing. "Your face was priceless. That's a Kodak moment right there!" Everyone started laughing hysterically.
The rest of the night was the best night I'd had in five years.
Edward's Point of View
Calm down, he'll listen…probably…not… I told my mind to shut up as I followed Emmett into the bathroom. The moment I entered, he whirled around.
Shit. He'd seen me coming.
Before I could even open my mouth, I found myself shoved against the wall, Emmett holding me by my throat. To say I was scared shitless would be the understatement of the century.
"You prick." He growled. I struggled, gasping for air desperately. But my struggling was futile, I only wasted more of what little oxygen I had remaining in my lungs.
So this is what it feels like. Shit. Ow. I managed to wheeze out, "Em—Bella—dangerous—" He let go of me immediately. "What?" I was doubled over, trying to catch my breath, as I gasped out, "Make. Sure. Bella—" I was cut off by my own coughing fit. Damn, Emmett was stronger than I originally thought. I mean, not that I didn't think he could beat the crap out of me…
Finally, breathing fairly normal, I started to talk again. "Look, make sure that Bella stays away from my group, please, I—" Emmett snorted. "What, so now she's not good enough for anyone?" I shook my head, holding my hands up in surrender. "No, I don't want her to be corrupted by my lot. She's too…" I almost gave myself away, but wait, what was to give away, right?
I really needed to stop fooling myself. Of course I cared. Apparently Emmett had just figured it out. Well, damn it to hell. Now I'm really screwed.
His face softened the tiniest bit, and he said in an almost mocking tone, "You still care about her, don't you?" I groaned, slamming my back against the wall and sliding down it, my head in my hands. "Yes," I whispered, feeling a horrible sense of despair and pain course through me. "Emmett, I screwed up," He laughed bitterly, reminding me of how much he hated my guts. "No shit Sherlock." I groaned again. "I'm sorry, for everything, I really am, I just don't know how to make things right," Now, Emmett groaned. "You idiot! You threw away whatever feelings she had for you man, well, any good feelings she had for you. I don't hate you, I just think you screwed up big time." I laughed humorlessly. "Really, so when you had me in a chokehold up against the wall, you really didn't hate me?" I looked up, and he sighed, "Alright, maybe I did a couple of minutes ago, but now I kind've see that you're not a total ass. Keyword being total."
I could hardly believe it. I was having a conversation with Emmett Swan, the ultimate overprotective brother, who had apparently 'seen the light,' in a morbidly weird way, and now was telling me about how Bella, his heartbroken little sister. Yeah, tonight was definitely one of the most unusual nights I'd ever had.
"Hey, Em, please, just make sure, if she won't stay away, that you make her, please. I couldn't bear to see her get hurt anymore than I already did. She must be—" Emmett snorted. "Must be what? Heartbroken? Crying her eyes out? Edward, she's better than ever without you around, no offense or anything," I looked up at him. "I know," I whispered, "I know. And that's the worst part. But it's what I had wanted, right? So why do I feel do horrible about it?" He laughed. "That, my friend, is what I would call being smitten by someone. You want her to miss you, to care about you, which is probably the reason why you screwed up so bad. That and the fact that while you're still not a total ass, you're pretty good at acting like one. And why did you have to choose them? That group, out of all people? I mean, you're really just torturing yourself here."
I sighed, getting annoyed. "I know, Emmett, why do you have to keep on pointing out everything I already know and have done wrong? I feel bad enough, what's the whole point of this?" He laughed again. " Because, it's fun, it's revenge, isn't it? I think that getting you back for what you did to her for over five years now is quite the blast, to be honest with you." He sighed, and then clapped his hands together, "Now, I'm hungry, you're depressed, and I'm going to go eat some food!" I was about to let him leave, and then I realized something. Jumping up, I tapped him on the shoulder, and said, "Friends?" I offered my hand to shake, but he merely looked at it, with a half-disgusted, half-amused expression on his face. "Oh no, we're not there yet, Eddie boy, but I wouldn't say I hate you either. So let's just call this the neutral ground between you and Bella. Got it? I'm neutral, neither side, I'm Switzerland, okay?" (A/N: Twilight saga reference! I love those!) I nodded, dropping my hand.
Okay, well, that's a start, I guess. Now, I have to think about how deal with the current situation. And I was about to, but Jacob and Sam, along with Embry and Quil, all came padding into the restroom, and I didn't really feel like sticking around to listen to them talk about Bella again. If I did, I'd probably end up starting a fight I couldn't finish. I mean, I'm strong, but I can't take on four monsters like them. They are huge!
Walking out of the restroom, I saw two newcomers to Emmett's group. One looked like a pixie, small and graceful, almost ethereal, while the other, while still graceful, looked to be the total opposite. She had long, flowing blonde hair, a slender, yet fully curved and proportioned body, and a beautiful face. Too bad I only had eyes for one girl. I would only ever have eyes for her. And she was not blonde, or tall, she was not supermodel pretty. If only she knew. But she never would. All because I had to be dumb.
Finally, though I thought it never would, our little get-together ended. We paid for the food, well, me and Jasper did; everyone else was way too far gone to care.
Remind me to never go out to eat with these, these animals, again. I thought to myself. Putting up a front around them and everyone else in school was hard enough, but outside, where I had more freedom, it was harder. Of course, the fact that they, too, also had freedom, really didn't help my cause all that much either. It was already downright torture, and I had to deal with the task of people-pleasing as well. God, please, just kill me now! How did Jasper deal with this every day? I would have to ask him sometime.
Bella's Point of View
The night went by way too fast for my liking. Then again, any night that entails hanging out with the guy of your dreams and awesome friends never do last quite so long enough, do they?
I sighed, thinking about Damien. He was the sweetest, cutest, most courteous boy I had ever met. And the fact that he was flirting with me, me of all people, made the night all the more enjoyable.
We paid for the food, most of which had been eaten by my bear of a brother within thirty seconds, and left in our respectable cars. I rode with Damien again, but now that there was actually something to talk about, and we had also become more comfortable around each other, made the awkwardness that had saturated the air in the previous car ride had dissipated, and we ended up laughing and flirting all the way to my house.
When we pulled in, no one had arrived yet.
Weird, I thought to myself, I could have sworn that we had left like five minutes after everyone. Oh well, nothing to stress over, right?
I turned to Damien, about to laugh and say, "Did the get lost or something?" But his beautiful face was closer than I originally thought to mine.
I drew in a sharp breath, and he looked down slowly at my lips.
"Bella." Damien breathed. His breath smelled like peppermint gum. He moved a millionth of an inch closer, our lips almost touching now, and then there was a booming knock and obnoxious laugh from outside. We jumped away from each other as fast as was humanly possible, and I looked to see who I had to absolutely pummel for ruining my almost-first kiss, even though I had a pretty good idea as to who the culprit was.
As I turned to look at the figure, my suspicions were confirmed; on the other side of the thin glass was a laughing Emmett. I glared at him, and he stopped. He knew that glare. It was the 'run, or you shall die a very slow, painful death' look. I heard his muffled, "Yu wouldn't dare," before turning back to Damien, and saying, "Oh, I would," and leaping from the car, miraculously not falling or tripping on air, to chase Emmett around our gravel driveway. (A/N: I know in the movie there was a regular paved one, but I think gravel fits the location better!) My brother ran fast, I will give him that, but when I'm mad, I become, as Emmett likes to put it, "Super Bella."
Which, in his mind, equals psycho-Bella. But whatever. When I got mad , I was graceful, oddly enough. But then, what about me is normal at all?
All of a sudden, he whirled around, and I gasped, staring like a deer in headlights at the evil little object in his hand. "You wouldn't! These are my only pair of Anthropologie jeans!" (A/N: Sorry, couldn't think of anything else.)
All of a sudden, Alice was right beside me. "Ruin them and die, Emmett!" she declared brightly. "Oh, I think I'll take my chances," he said evilly, and both Alice and me screamed. Now, normally, a little water wouldn't ruin a pair of jeans, no matter how expensive they may be. But this was no normal case. You see, our hose sometimes went spastic on us, and spewed out mud and dirt instead. This just happened to be one of those days, and Emmett was stupid enough to forget. Well, even if he had remembered, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that he would have chosen to spray us anyways.
Now, I'm scary when I'm mad. Even I have to admit that. But nothing, nothing in his entire life, could have ever prepared him for the wrath of Alice Brandon. She was downright terrifying. The bright look in her eyes had been replaced by a fiery gleam, and her size, instead of killing the whole menacing look, only enhanced it. I decided, right then and there, to do my best to stay on this little spitfire's good side.
Note to self: Never screw with Alice's clothes.
She growled, and pounced on Emmett, as his face turned from one of amusement to sheer horror.
"Jeez!" He exclaimed as she rammed into him full force, knocking him over completely. I couldn't help but laugh hysterically at them. And I guess I wasn't the only one. Apparently we had made quite the racket, because neighbors lights were starting to switch on. Our group was standing around the two, watching and laughing, until I saw my parents opening the door.
Crap. And many other colorful words. I tried to discreetly worn the two to stop fighting, as did the rest of us, but they were too distracted to notice anything but their own predicament.
Well, that is, until they heard Char—Dad's voice, along with his new sweetheart, Tiffany. Ugh. Her and I have been butting heads for the past five years.
Okay, let me explain. So, even before the Cullen's had moved, my mom had left. She had gone off to Arizona with some guy, Phil, I think his name was. I loved my mom, more than anything, and it had broken my heart to see her go. I couldn't speak to her after that; she had betrayed my dad and me and Emmett. So, long story short, she left us, and along came Tiffany. My dad fell in love from the second he lay eyes on her. And at first, she was the sweetest thing to everyone. Well, everyone but me. She had painted my room pink when they had come back from their little honeymoon. She had also replaced all of my furniture with girly things. I hated her. Still do. But the feeling's mutual, so we end up avoiding each other at all costs.
"What on earth is going on?" Charlie bellowed. That made them stop. I would have laughed, but I was afraid of getting into trouble as well. After all, I had kind of started it.
"What happened?" he gasped, taking in the three of us.
Me and Emmett looked at each other, and said in unison, "He started it."
Author's Note:
Guys, I need your help! Should I skip over time occasionally, like go a few weeks or so ahead every once in a while? Please review and tell me what I should do.
Oh, and when they both said, "He started it," I didn't screw up. They really both said "He started it." I thought it would be kind of funny, but I didn't know if you got it, so therefore, I am explaining. So, I've decided to do previews, but don't get too excited; it's just going to be at the end of each chapter, I will tell you what the song is for the next one, so you are given a clue as to what happens next (haha, get it? I know, not funny, but I just couldn't resist.) Oh, in case you didn't know, the name of each chapter is the name of the song, and I put the artists' names in the prologues, so, yeah. Please review, remember, I'm not updating on Miss Congeniality until I get at least ten reviews for What Happens Next, so clicky clicky on that little button! (I know, I'm evil.)
Peace!
Norah