Hello again! Glad to see that most of you enjoyed the beginning of this one... but I do need to clarify a few things.
One, I'm pretty new at third person, so I'll slip up on occasion. I apologize in advance.
Two (and this is important), when I first published the first chapter, I accidentally referred to Jasper as Alice's boyfriend. Please note that, in this story, this is NOT the case - it's a holdover from an earlier draft. JASPER AND ALICE ARE NOT IN A ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP.I'm sure that my fellow authors will know the feeling of publishing something only to look at it six hours later and realized you screwed up. The error has since been fixed. The reason why Jasper and Alice can't be dating will be made clear in chapter three :)
Three... this whole story really needs to come with a TRIGGER WARNING. Not yet - the first trigger will appear around chapter six - but if you don't want to read a story that may disturb you, stop now. You'll be given an immediate warning in the chapters with triggers, of course.
Chapter Two
Bella was really glad that she had the distraction of school setup to occupy her for the next two weeks. She didn't want to think about Chris, which she knew wasn't the most mature way of dealing with the problem. She didn't care. Ninety-five percent of her life was spent being mature. A break was nice once in a while.
She had been awake and dressed for all of five minutes the next morning, still with a headache from crying herself to sleep, when Alice burst into the house and ordered her to get her guitar. Bella wasn't worried about her waking Renee up, because she'll probably sleep through the Apocalypse if it happens after one of her late nights. Still, Bella raised her eyebrows at Alice. "Um …."
"We're late," she replied. "Marcus wants us there in fifteen minutes."
Bella almost choked on her coffee. "We have rehearsal today?"
"What, didn't we tell you?" Alice stared at Bella, then shrugged. "Oh, well. Let's get moving."
Marcus lived two blocks away, and on the way over Bella didn't talk to Alice, pretending to be irritated with her for neglecting to mention this yesterday. The latter's excuse – that she'd had something more important to tell about – had Bella glaring at her when they got out of the car in Marcus's driveway, Bella with her guitar and Alice with her bass, walking towards their shed.
'Shed' was actually too modest a word for it – Marcus's family had money, and for his fifteenth birthday his parents had turned the extra one-car garage in their backyard into as near a studio as the band was likely to get. It was soundproofed, and the interior walls were painted bright yellow with the name of the band – And See, She Flies – stenciled in purple over the door. In a circle was a full setup – Jasper's drum set, plug-ins for the keyboard, synchronizer, two electric guitars, a bass, and four microphones. There was a screen for the LCD monitor that was hooked up to one of the three computers, which were used mostly for mixing our audio and managing the website. Opposite that was a table containing a mini-refrigerator, a microwave, and a coffee maker, beside a lumpy god-awful futon. A couple of stools were scattered around for good measure.
The band was really Marcus's baby; he and Nick, the guitarist, had started it up halfway through their freshman year as a vehicle to get college money, the reasoning being that this way their parents wouldn't be solely responsible for their tuition, so they could major in whatever they wanted. Jasper, Alice, and Bella had been in eighth grade at the time, and Marcus had gotten them to join after staking out the middle school's band room for a week.
Shortly thereafter, they had started recording and writing our own music, with the aid of Apple's GarageBand software, and had spent the next couple of years getting themselves hired out to a few of the under-twenty-one clubs in the city and suburbs, as well as a couple private parties. It had been at one of these that a representative for a local alternative rock radio station had heard them, and three months into Bella's sophomore year they had been getting regular radio airplay in the Phoenix area.
It was at that point that the website had been born; people wanted news about the band and its activities, and they also wanted to start buying the songs (most of which were copyrighted, thanks to Marcus's father, who was a lawyer and their unofficial manager). So they set up a news wall, got blogs, and put up an iTunes-esque online store where they sold their songs for ninety-five cents a pop. Half the earnings – from the radio, shows, and website – went back into the band while the other half was split evenly between the five of the members. All they had to do was get their work permits renewed regularly.
Jasper, who was crouching down behind an amplifier picking through some of the wires, looked up when the girls entered and smiled carefully at Bella, like he was trying to figure out her mood. She rolled her eyes at him, and he laughed as he stood up. At six foot four, he was taller than the rest of the members, which was, they joked, the reason he was on drums. He had to sit down on stage.
Nick and Marcus came over and hugged Bella hello while Alice took her bass over to her setup. Even though Bella could tell that Marcus was happy to see her, she could also see that he was just itching to start rehearsal. After their quick hug, he glanced at Jasper and said, "Those ads you ordered showed up." He jerked his head towards a box in the corner, and Jasper nodded, pulled an Exacto-knife from a drawer in the beat-up old dresser, and split the box open. But just as he started to go through the flyers, Marcus said to the room at large, "Come on, people, warm-up. We got a show in two weeks."
Once everyone had shuffled over to his or her respective station, Marcus looked up. "Bella?" he asked. "You wanna pick?"
She smiled and closed her eyes, tossing around some titles in her head before saying, "Daisy."
"Awesome," said Nick. Jasper counted off with his drumsticks, and they began.
Once warm-up ended, the five of them started going through the set list Marcus had put up on the whiteboard, running it into the ground. Rehearsal went on and on, for more than three hours, before they were reasonably satisfied that they had something worth performing at their next shows. Marcus had them run through the set list one more time, and by then Bella was sure that her throat was about to give out.
"I don't know how we got here and I don't know where we'll go next…" she slowed her words with the change in dynamic that signaled the end of the song. "But I don't care, so long as you're there, and you will stay with me."
Marcus took the strap of his guitar and looped it up and over his neck and shoulder, glancing at the clock. "Okay, guys, that'll do it."
"Whew," Bella breathed, taking off her own guitar and heading to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. She sat down on the futon and Alice flopped next to her as Jasper sat on the floor beside them. Alice moved her legs to the side to give him room to lean back. Nick dragged a stool over to join them, but Marcus went over to the desk where the computers were and picked up a piece of paper. "Is that the show schedule?" Bella called.
"Yep." He picked up his own stool, set it in front of the other four, and began reading off the events. "September: club gigs on the fourth, seventh, sixteenth, and twenty-fifth. Private parties on the eleventh and nineteenth. A wedding on–" He was interrupted by a chorus of groans.
"Marcus, you know we hate stupid friggin' weddings." Nick glared.
"I hate weddings too," Marcus retorted. "But it's three hours at four hundred per. Also known as a lot of money."
"Did they give us a playlist?" Alice asked.
"No, just a couple of requests: first dance, father dance, last dance." He glanced down the list. "The only one we don't know is the father one… 'Easy Silence,' by the Dixie Chicks."
"I know that one," Bella interrupted. "Vocals and guitar."
"You know I meant that we as a band don't have the arrangement memorized. I'm sorry I booked us kind of full for the first month of school, but… it's college money, right?" He waited for the others to agree before adding, "And if Bella's got something for leadership or whatever going on, we can adjust. Jasper, you still up for stand-in vocals?"
"Sure."
"Cool. Well, I guess that's everything."
It may have been everything for them, but it was just the start of Bella's end-of-summer chaos. The next morning she had to be at school at seven, along with the rest of the leadership class, so they could start setting up for orientation week.
The campus of Santa Inez High School isn't all that big; it's designed to serve less than two thousand students, but although they'd hit overflow enrollment last year, it never felt crowded. It had been built in the sixties and you could tell; every single one of the buildings on the outdoor campus was a different shape. Bella sighed as she pulled into the parking lot the next morning, feeling a weird sense of homecoming. This school had given her something to focus on, a ticket to getting out of Phoenix and disappearing to college. She got out of her car and locked it before walking onto campus, her coffee in hand.
Alice said Bella had a caffeine addiction, but she just didn't understand.
She met up with the rest of the leadership staff in the student center (sans the freshman class officers, who wouldn't be elected until the end of September) and the activities director fired off their to-do list. All of the textbooks had to be stacked according to subject in the library; locker assignments had to be ready; doughnuts had to be ordered for the two staff in-service days before the students' first day; the Hello Dance had to be planned; and it had to take place within the space of a week and a half.
All of this meant that Bella didn't have a chance to talk to Chris, not that she tried very hard to find one. She had always been nonconfrontational by nature, and she just didn't know how to break up with someone. When she came home late for the fifth time in a row that Friday night, wanting nothing more than to take a shower and then fall into bed, Alice was waiting for her in her room. Bella groaned.
"Well, that's one way to greet your best friend, I guess," Alice said with a raised eyebrow, and then pointed to Bella's desk chair. Bella sat, but avoided Alice's eyes.
"Break up with him." It was a command, issued in the way that only a true friend could get away with.
Bella sighed. "Alice, I don't have time to go see him right now."
"So pick up the damn phone and call him," she huffed. "It's not that hard."
"You're the one who's always saying that it's tacky to break up over the phone."
Alice picked up a pillow and threw it at Bella. "It's even more tacky to cheat on your girlfriend because, at the age of sixteen, she won't put out! God! He doesn't deserve consideration."
Bella hugged the pillow to her chest. He had called three times, and each of his voicemails was asking her when they could get together, because he missed her. Coward that she was, she hadn't responded to any of them, and she'd stayed off Facebook for that same reason. "Alice, I don't know how to do it," she whispered, looking past her out the window. "I've never… this is my first relationship, and I don't know how to break up with someone because I've never been broken up with."
Alice harrumphed again before standing and digging through Bella's bag, turfing out a bottle of water, a pair of sunglasses, and a tampon before she came up with a cell phone. She handed it to Bella, glaring sternly. "Call him. Do it now."
"Alice…"
"Look," she said, softening, "if it makes you feel any better, I'll stay right here. Okay?"
"That's not the problem."
"Then what is?" she demanded. "Oh, God, please tell me you don't still have feelings for him. He's a dirty rotten cheating lying bastard, and if you tell me you still have feelings for him–"
"I don't," Bella cut her off. "At least, I don't think I do. We weren't together for very long anyway."
"Five months sure as hell ain't bad for sophomores in high school," Alice pointed out, fairly.
"What side, exactly, are you working for?"
Alice smiled, but still proffered the phone. Bella stared at it for a moment, then took it. "You'll stay here?" She was afraid, suddenly. Not of angering him, but of hurting him. Even after how he'd hurt her.
"Sure." Alice kneeled next to the chair and took her hand. Bella took a deep breath and dialed.
Don't pick up don't pick up don't pick – click. Damn.
"Bella!" It didn't really help that he actually sounded happy to talk to her.
"Hi, Chris. Um–"
"Hey, I was just about to call you. Can I come over? We could–"
Alice grimaced and Bella said, "Actually, I need to talk to you." She felt herself faltering.
"Sure! About what?" he asked, just a little to fast.
Bella felt Alice's nails dig into the skin of her hand, and she plunged ahead, "About a party that Jenny Miller had while I was out of town."
"Oh."
That was it. Bella didn't know what she'd been expecting, but it certainly wasn't just one syllable. For him to defend himself, maybe, or deny it. To apologize. But she got nothing.
"Chris… why?" Bella took her hand back from Alice and lowered her face into it. "Why?"
"Because you're never around, Bella," he snapped, abruptly angry; she felt herself recoil. "You're so busy being everybody's best friend that you don't ever have time for me. And when I ask you to show me that you love me–"
"But I don't!" she said, shocked into interrupting. "I've never told you that–"
"I've noticed. So whatever, Bella. I mean, God, you're so busy that we gotta do this over the phone instead of in person. Screw you."
Alice muttered something that sounded like, "you wish" under her breath, too low for the phone to pick up on.
But Bella had finally found her anger. "Then you should have told me that, Chris, instead of going behind my back. I deserve at least that much respect. We're done."
"Just as well." And he hung up on her.
Bella slowly lowered the phone to her lap and stared at it. She pushed the red button and felt a tear slip down her cheek, her fury gone as quickly as it had come.
"Oh, Bee." Alice wrapped her arms around Bella and pulled her down next to her on the floor. "He's not worth it, and you know that. Douchebag. I mean, God, did you hear him try to make it your fault that he cheated on you? Who does that?"
"Yeah. I know." Bella wiped her eyes and straightened her spine. "I just… I knew it was going to end anyway, but I just didn't want to think it would be like this."
Alice shrugged, and Bella felt her arm move around her shoulders. "So you treat this as a learning experience. You take it with you, you grow up, and you pick better next time. I know you. You'll internalize this lesson."
"That makes it sound so clinical." Bella sniffled, but the tears had stopped. "But it's over now, right? I can stop thinking about it."
"Right." Alice smiled at her and brushed her hair back from her face. "And anyway, if having sex is anything like putting in a tampon, they can keep it." She waited for Bella to laugh before continuing, "You want to know what I think?"
"What do you think?"
"I think that this is your year. I think you're gonna find someone–"
Bella sighed. "Alice, you really don't need to make me feel better." She stood up. "Come on. Help me get dinner started?"
"Sure." Alice let Bella pull her up, and then she followed her down the hall into the kitchen.
Setup week passed in a blur, and before anyone could really catch their breath, it was Junior Registration Day, and Bella had to go be class president.
She left the house at 6:27 that morning, because she'd promised Matt, her vice president, that she'd give him a ride and he lived on the other side of town from her. When he plopped himself down into her passenger seat, still bleary-eyed, she asked, "Have you had any coffee?"
"Mmm… nope." He scrubbed at his forehead with his hand. "Is it that obvious?"
"Yep. If you've got money on you, we'll make a Starbucks run."
"Have I told you lately that I love you?"
Bella laughed but didn't answer, and he perked up slightly after getting a venti black coffee. They attracted a couple of bemused glances in Starbucks, given that they were wearing matching polo shirts. They were red, had the school's logo in the upper left corner, and the students' names and positions embroidered underneath in white, along with the school year. Bella's itched.
They, along with the class treasurer, secretary, and historian gathered in the Student Center, with the ASB president, vice president, and the rest of the cabinet. The senior and sophomore class officers only had to show up at their respective registration days, but They all had to be there for the freshmen.
"Okay, people, here's what's gonna happen," said their Activities Director, Mr. Whittier, his loud coach's voice preceding him into the room. "Bella and Sean, walk the lines, introducing yourselves to people, et cetera. Sean, let Bella do most of the talking. We know you're ASB president, but she's class president, so she'll have more to do with them.
"Vice presidents, both class and ASB," he continued, pointing at Matt and Trish, "at the front of the line directing traffic. Jake, Beki, Traci, and John in the library for textbook checkout. Brittany and Victor at ID photos. Jon and Cathy selling Hello Dance tickets. Jesse supervising the clubs, and Erin and Will outside the counseling office. Theoretically, we should end at twelve-thirty, but we probably won't get done until an hour after that. First people through the line at eight. Any questions?"
"Yes," said Trish, her hand shooting up. "Shouldn't I be walking the lines too?"
Whittier glared at her. "No, you and the class vice president are to sit at the front of the line, Trish. Like I just got done saying."
Trish scowled and Cathy leaned over to Bella and whispered, "Is this what we're in for? A year-long rivalry between the president and the veep?"
Bella raised her eyebrows and sighed as they all dispersed, with her, Matt, and Trish following Sean out to the front of the school. The red rope lines were already set up from yesterday, but no incoming juniors had arrived yet.
As was her habit whenever she was surrounded by people, Trish flipped her hair over her shoulder and immediately began to gossip – mainly talking about stuff Bella had missed while in Michigan. She tuned out her chatter, laughing when appropriate, groaning when required, but mostly not paying attention.
Slowly, three lines began to form: one for those who had morning sports practice (the priority line, since they had to get back to practice), one for the first half of the alphabet, and one for the second. Sean and Bella stood up from the table where Matt and Trish were sitting, and began to make their ways down the lines, saying hi to everyone, making small talk, whatever. That is, until Bella was ambushed by a bear in the center line.
"Oh my God," Bella gasped as she was seized around the waist from behind and swung around in the air. She heard a familiar roar of laugher from beneath her and shouted, "Emmett! Put me down!"
He was still laughing as he set her on her feet. She squinted as she looked up at his face; he was over a foot taller than she was. She punched him in the gut, knowing that she would hurt her hand more than she could ever hurt him. "I hate you, Emmett Cullen."
"Nah, you don't." He smiled and hugged her. He looked different from the last time she'd seen him, at an end-of-summer party their AP Psychology class had in mid-August, right before Renee and Bella had left. Now, his brown hair was buzzed for football season, and if it was possible, he'd filled out even more.
"Emmett, are you on steroids?" Bella asked him, and Alice, who was standing beside him with her softball glove still on her left hand, choked on a laugh.
"Yep," he replied cheerfully. "They're yummy. You should give 'em a shot."
"No, thank you," Bella replied, and turned to Alice. "Hey. Where's the rest of your team?"
"Back there somewhere," she motioned vaguely over her shoulder with the glove. "Emmett's more interesting to hang out with, though. And Jasper apparently hasn't been released from basketball yet."
Sean tapped Bella's arm. "I'm gonna go keep working the line, okay?"
"Sure. Thanks." Bella turned back to Emmett and asked, "How's Rosalie?" She knew that Emmett's girlfriend had been made captain of Varsity cheer, thus fulfilling the Prophecy of Mandatory High School Perfection after Emmett had been made a team captain for Varsity football. But Bella liked them both, despite any stereotypes they may have been reenacting. Rosalie and Bella had been friends ever since an AP Art History class Bella's freshman and Rosalie's sophomore year.
He smiled like he always did when her name came up – it was so cute. "She's good. Still having issues with her mom about where she's going to apply to college, though."
Bella shook her head. "That's too bad. Where she goes next year should be her choice." That reminded her. "How come you're here, anyway?" She looked from Emmett to Alice, who smiled a little. "Senior registration was yesterday."
"I've got a new little brother to show around. Dude, stop hiding," he added to someone over his shoulder, and Bella turned to see him drawing forward another guy. A tall, pale, slightly-more-than-a-little-beautiful guy with a reserved, almost wary, expression. "Bella, this is my new foster brother, Edward Masen. Edward, this is my friend Bella Swan, junior class president, as you can tell from the snazzy polo shirt."
"Hi!" Bella smiled and held out her hand toward Edward, trying to force down the blush that she could feel rising in her cheeks. Goodness. "Nice to meet you."
He nodded briefly and shook her hand once. "And you." His voice was deep but quiet.
"So…" She searched her mind frantically, looking for something to say. "So what do you play? I mean, you're in this line, so I guess you've got practice…." She shut herself up before she could start babbling.
"Cross country." He was looking at her straight on, which she tried not to find uncomfortable.
Alice interrupted. "Emmett said he dragged him to tryouts against his will, and Coach Brown let him on Varsity as a walk-on. How often does that happen?"
"Wow." Bella was impressed. She'd had that coach as her AP European History teacher sophomore year, and she knew him to be someone who took no prisoners. But (oh, Lord) she couldn't think of anything else to say.
Emmett could feel an awkward situation coming on, and tried to dispel it. Unfortunately, he picked the wrong topic. "So, Bella, how's Chris?"
Alice hissed and stood on his toe, and Bella flinched. He looked between the girls, his brow furrowing. "Did I just say something wrong?" he asked, confused.
Oh, no, Emmett would tell Rosalie, and then God and everyone would know that Bella's boyfriend had cheated on her. Well, she supposed it was going to come out anyway. "We broke up," she said by way of a quick explanation, and waved off his apology. "No big deal. Listen, I need to get going."
"Sure. Hey, we should do something this weekend," Emmett hurried to cover as she walked off, trying to be unaffected by the social awkwardness. "One last pool party of the summer. A kickback. I told Alice to tell Jasper, and I'll send out invites on Facebook."
"Sure." Bella waved and went to find Sean, introducing herself to people as she went. It was her job, after all, to represent something bigger than herself. She'd be damned if she let a bitter reminder get in the way of that.
"Emmett," groaned Alice as Bella disappeared down the line.
"What?" he asked. "I didn't know." Alice glared at him.
"You were at that party, and so was Rosalie," she snapped. "We all knew he cheated on her."
Emmett frowned, and Edward saw he was getting red in the face. "Oh. Yeah. But in my defense, Bella's really forgiving. She might've taken him back."
"True," Alice nodded, making a face. "I almost thought she would, too."
So that's what happened. Edward folded his arms across his chest and looked towards the front of the line, thinking about her. Small frame, straight dark brown hair, deep brown eyes… cute. Her jeans were too long, but that might've been on purpose so she could hide how she was wearing high heels so she could be taller. She was pretty, in a fresh sort of way, and nice too, Edward guessed, and she'd managed to keep her cool when Emmett had brought up what was clearly a sore subject. And kind enough to Edward himself, but she hadn't looked at him after asking him about sports.
He didn't know why it surprised him that his foster brother had friends outside his girlfriend. Edward stepped up to the front of the line and gave his name to the preppy guy sitting behind the table. The guy smiled, checked Edward's name against some list, and then pointed to another table, saying, "Have your emergency card and medical information ready there."
"Thanks," Edward muttered before following Alice, but he was still thinking about Bella. Why would anyone cheat on her? She was really pretty – she had a sweet smile, and he remembered way that one brown strand that had come loose from her ponytail had hung down to her barely-exposed collarbone.
Jesus. Who was he, and where was Tony? He shook his head in disgust.
"What's up with you?" Emmett asked him, dropping behind Alice.
"Nothing."
Emmett nodded once in understanding. "Bella?"
Edward shrugged. Was he really that easy to read?
"Bella Swan's that one girl that almost every guy falls in love with at least twice in high school," Emmett told Edward. "And she's never been aware of it. Chris was her first relationship, and they made it a really long time."
"Were you ever interested in her?" Edward asked automatically, then wanted to flinch. Wasn't his damn business.
"Nah. Well, maybe. Once. I had Rosalie, though. But Bella's always been a really good friend to me." He paused, and then his tone became serious. "She doesn't judge, Edward."
Edward shook him off. "It doesn't matter. I don't date."
Emmett regarded his new brother. "Although," he said slowly, like Edward hadn't said anything, "I don't think she's the only one you're worried about being judgmental, is she?"
Edward didn't say anything.
It would be easy to stereotype Bella as that girl we all knew in high school - the sickeningly sweet one who was secretly a bitch. Hopefully you can see that's not the case here. It would also be easy to stereotype Edward as an asshole, but come on - he's really not.
In case anyone's curious, Jacob will not be making an appearance in this story, mostly because I think that Book Jacob is a sexual harassment charge waiting to happen. And while I appreciate the movies, they're not canon.
I hope I'm doing this story justice... review for me?