How is everyone? I have the next chapter for you, right here!
So here's the deal: there will probably one more chapter after this, and then the epilouge. I know, sad day, right? Well, to me, it feel like this story is coming to it's natural end. But I'm glad that you guys have enjoyed it this far.
Edward may be a little OOC in this chapter, depending on how you see him. Thanks for everyone's reviews. This is me everytime I read them: "SQUEEEEEEEE!!!" Obviously, I only read them when I'm alone, lol.
Thanks so much for reading!
~MissSingItAll
Disclaimer: I really can't think of any creative ways to say that I don't own Twilight.
BPOV:
I don't even know how long I sat there, trying to comprehend his words. He loved me?! He certainly looked very honest when he said it. My mind seemed to go blank, and then sped up quickly into overdrive.
I couldn't deny, no matter what else happened, that I loved Edward. It did become more apparent to me when I had seen him at the hospital, but I always knew that I would forever love him, no matter how he felt towards me. Never did I even dream that he could feel the exact same as me, and here he was, telling me so.
I looked up to him, locking eyes. His expression was so serious and honest, but I could also see a kind of vulnerability hiding within the depths of his green eyes. He had given me power; whether I used it to break him or make him whole was completely up to me.
"I..." The word slipped out, holding his attention. He looked so anxious, I could see the muscles in his neck and shoulders tense tightly. I couldn't hold him up in suspense like this; I had to let him know how I felt.
"I love you, too," I whispered, feeling my eyes fill with tears. Edward's eyes widened, and then he was beaming, his smile stretching all the way across his face. I grinned back, a lone tear falling down my cheek as I blinked.
"Bella," he breathed, reaching up to brush the tear away. His hand cupped my cheek, and he leaned in to touch his lips to mine, gently. He took my top lip in between his, tugging softly. My hands wound themselves into his messy hair, pulling him closer to me. His other hand gripped my side, holding me to him. Our breathing picked up as his tongue swept across the line of my lips. I parted mine and tasted him, just as his tongue reached to caress my mouth. He held me tighter, leaning farther back into the couch and pulling me along so that I was sitting on his lap.
The only sound in the room was the low volume of the tv and our gasps as the kisses grew more and more passionate. Both of Edward's hands were dragging up and down my sides, making my shirt ride up. I couldn't help but moan into his mouth as I felt his calloused fingers brush against the sliver of skin between my jeans and my shirt. His lips moved away from mine, trailing down to my neck. I gasped as I felt him sucking and nipping at my pulse point.
"Edward," I whispered, my hands gripping him tighter. I ran one of my hands down his chest, clawing at his shirt. He groaned into my neck, his hot breath tickling my skin.
"Bella, I love you so much," his lips moved against my skin. I moved my head down to place a kiss on his forehead. I leaned against him as he straightened back, putting his forehead against mine. We sat there quietly, holding each other. I couldn't remember ever feeling such love and happiness before this moment. It was as if we were meant to be here, we were meant to be paired together. He was my saving grace; he helped me feel things that I never thought were possible. Suddenly I couldn't ever imagine being without him. I wanted to be with him wherever he went, including college. My place was by his side.
"Edward, could you help me with this?" I asked, nodding over to the dining table covered with food. It was a surprisingly sunny day in late March, and I had invited everyone over for a picnic lunch out in front of the house.
"Sure," Edward said, reaching over to grab two large plates filled with food. His leg had pretty much healed with weeks of rest, and now he was able to stay on his feet for lengths at a time without getting tired. Still, I always kept a watchful eye and made sure that he rested whenever his leg started bothering him again. He followed me out onto the porch, where several blankets had been spread out. Placing the dishes I was holding down on one blanket, I moved over to the top step.
After Edward and I had declared our love for each other, the dynamic of our relationship changed into something much more intimate and supportive. Edward helped to coax me to move down the stairs once again, but I had to do it without holding him since he couldn't exactly walk himself. We worked on it as much as we could, and eventually I got to the point where I could make it to the last step before the gravel pathway all by myself. At rare times, I would actually go all the way down to the gravel, but it wouldn't last long. It wasn't perfect, and there were still days when I would refuse to move from my perch on the top step, but I had definitely made more progress than before.
I gripped the railing and walked down to the last step, looking out across the yard as I saw Emmett pull up with the rest of the gang and park right behind Edward's Volvo. They hopped out of the car, and Alice bounded up to me, throwing her arms around me in an enthusiastic hug. I laughed as she pulled away.
"Bella! You look adorable! Finally listening to my advice, eh?" she nudged me playfully. I rolled my eyes as I looked back down at my outfit for the day.
Alice had taken to dressing me up whenever she felt the urge. She continuously brought me clothes that had tags that I knew indicated designer brands. I constantly asked her not to spend money on me, but she pretended to not listen and would come back with something more spectacular and expensive the next day. I didn't have the heart to tell her no, though; her eyes seemed to light up whenever she was decorating me, and who was I to deny her when she had no female siblings to bond with?
Today I was wearing one of her "approved" outfits. I had on a short-sleeve, cream-colored tunic that draped down and stopped past my thighs but before the knees. It had a lace-like neckline and hem that decorated the sleeves as well. I paired this with black leggings and light-brown ballet flats, looking every bit the girl from the dry deserts of Phoenix. My hair was down and pushed back with a matching cream headband.
"Sure, Alice," I smiled, leading her up to the porch were Edward was finished setting up. Jasper and Emmett walked over, carrying a large water cooler between the two of them. Rosalie was behind them, a large pair of designer sunglasses resting on her face.
"You can set that by the door," I nodded to the boys, who put the cooler down. Emmett plopped down onto a blanket, looking up at all of us.
"Well?" he asked, crossing him arms. "Let's eat! I'm starving!"
We all laughed and settled down to eat. Every couple grouped together and listened as Emmett talked about his plans for next year. He got accepted to the University of Washington, and this summer he was going to move down there early to check out the area. Rosalie looked slightly crestfallen at this, and Emmett kept his arm around her, rubbing her shoulders to comfort her.
"Don't worry, babe," he said soothingly, "I'll visit every weekend, it's not that far from home."
"You better," she tried to warn, but it only ended up sounding like a plea instead of a threat. Emmett only kissed her on the forehead and chuckled.
Alice sipped on a bottle of water and cleared her throat, leaning up against Jasper.
"Alright, enough of that. Let's talk prom!" she said cheerily. I'm pretty sure that all of the boys rolled their eyes.
"Isn't prom like, a month and a half away?" Jasper asked, tossing a few chips into his mouth.
"Yes, and we need to plan! And Bella, don't think I'm leaving you out of this," she replied, nodding in my direction. I looked down at my lap.
"How am I going to be involved in all this?" I asked. Edward's hand laced onto my own. "I don't do dances, Alice." Not even before all my issues with my agoraphobia. I just wasn't into those social kind of things.
"We'll work something out," she said positively. "I will not let you miss out on this. Right, Edward?"
"Sure, whatever, Alice," he replied, then leaned closer to me. "We'll do whatever you want to do, Bella," he told me quietly. I nodded, giving him a small smile.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, prom and all that, but let's talk about something that is actually important," Emmett grumbled. He stretched out so that his large legs were crossed in front of him. "How are we gonna deal with Lauren and Jessica?"
Since school had started back up, the Cullens and the Hales had taken more measures to avoid those girls. After hearing about what those girls had done with the water, everyone wanted to see them pay. Edward had told me that Lauren and Jessica weren't remorseful at all for what they had done to me, and I wasn't surprised. Edward said he was perfectly content with never speaking to them again, but the others wanted revenge. They had been coming up with a way to try to humiliate Lauren and Jessica, and I completely disagreed with them. While it might feel good to make them feel like I did, I didn't want my pathetic self to be the cause of lost friendships for the Cullens.
"Guys, really. You don't have to do anything," I sighed. Alice shook her head.
"Bella, it's okay. If anything, we already have more than enough reason to get back at them. I mean, freshman year Lauren spilled strawberry smoothie all over the side of my car. My car!" Rosalie exclaimed.
"Yeah, Bella. They're total bitches, and someone needs to put them in their place," Alice agreed. I sighed again, shaking my head to myself. I really wished that they would just drop this. Alice's eyes darted over to me.
"So Rose, I'll text you tonight if I come up with anything," Alice said, eyeing me sympathetically.
"But why can't we talk about it now? I'm ready for some sweet revenge," Emmett whined, and was cut off by Alice's warning look. I smiled gratefully at Alice. It seemed like we were so in tune with each other now. She really had become a true best friend for me, and it was this thought that allowed me to look past some of our differences.
"As long as it isn't too drastic, I guess a little wake-up call wouldn't hurt," I joked quietly. Emmett fist-pumped and Alice laughed. Edward looked down at me.
"Are you sure, Bella? Because if you don't want us to, we won't do anything," he said. I nodded, relaxing into him arms.
"Great, now that that's settled, can we please talk about something not related to school? I really need to distract myself from the epic fail that was my Spanish test," Jasper said curtly, and Alice simply giggled and nuzzled into his side.
We spent the rest of the afternoon laughing and joking (a lot of the time at Emmett's expense), watching as the sun began to make its descent and feeling the air grow considerably colder. The boys helped pack up the blankets and the water cooler while the girls brought in the leftover food. And as everyone said goodbye, Edward pulled me close, planting a wet kiss on my lips. "I love you," he said tenderly, and Alice cheered obnoxiously. Everyone seemed to congratulate us then, triggering a warm blush from me and a proud smile from Edward.
It was times like these when I realized how far I had come and how lucky I truly was. I had found a group that accepted me, something that I thought would be impossible. I also had found someone who loved me and had my heart completely. Never did I think that this would ever happen to me. But Edward had proven me wrong, and through his love and patience I felt like I could try anything I wanted to.
EPOV:
I know that saying this is cheesy, but I felt like I was floating on air ever since the day that Bella told me that she loved me back. Everything seemed lighter for me, and I ignored Emmett's smirks and Alice's coy looks whenever I left the house to head over to Bella's.
Bella was, without a doubt, the best part of my life. I couldn't wait until next year, and after that, for college. I had already decided that I was going to ask Bella to move in with me. It seemed like the natural thing to do, the next step.
Today was just a slow Wednesday, and I was sitting at lunch with Emmett and Jasper, waiting for the other girls to sit with us. Emmett was tearing up a gum wrapper into tiny pieces, and Jasper was tapping his hand on the table to the beat of a song that he was listening to on his iPod. We were all pretty quiet, until Alice came bounding up with Rosalie in tow.
"Guess what?" Alice squealed, knocking into Jasper as she sat down. She yanked the earbud out of his ear. Before any of us could ask, though, she answered. "Rose and I have found the perfect opportunity to get Lauren and Jessica!"
"Hell yeah!" Emmett cheered, brushing the shredded pieces of paper off of the table. "That's what I'm talking about! What's the deal?"
"Mike's birthday party is on Friday," Rosalie said, peeling back the top of her yogurt cup. "We know for a fact that they'll be there, since Jessica practically worships the ground he walks on."
"And wherever Jessica is, Lauren is," Alice joined in. "So, all we need to do is find some way to embarrass the two of them at the party, preferably in front of Mike and Tyler."
"Okay, well that'll be easy. Just pretend that one of them has an STD and casually mention it in front of Mike," Emmett suggested. Alice shook her head and I rolled my eyes.
"One, that's stupid. Two, we need something bigger and more publicly visual than that to really get them," she said, crossing her hands in front of her and resting her chin on them.
"How about the good ol' tar-and-feather prank? Except we won't use tar, I'm pretty sure that's illegal or something," Jasper quipped. The whole table glanced at him, surprised.
"That just might work," Alice said, grinning. "Even better, we could use hair dye, and they won't realize it until after it's done its job!"
"Yeah!" Rosalie exclaimed. "I've said for the longest time how fake and crappy Lauren's bleach job is. Now we can change all that!"
"Awesome! I'm up for a little change in color," Emmett said. "Electric blue, anyone?"
"Alright, so we somewhat have a plan," I said, "but what about how we will pull it off?"
"Well, that's where you and Jasper come in," Alice declared. "You two will find out as many details about the party as you can."
"Aw, come on, Alice! You know I'm not good at spying or anything like that," Jasper complained.
"That's why you'll have Edward with you, so you won't look too suspicious at practice today," she explained patiently. Although Alice had roped me into this without my permission, I was doing it for Bella, and that thought helped me go through with it. I was actually sort of proud that my whole group had teamed up for Bella; it showed that they truly cared for her and accepted her, just like I did.
Now that baseball season had started up, Jasper and I had been going to practice everyday. Of course, when it first started I was still in my cast and there wasn't much I could really do except for helping the other guys practice their pitches. But now that I was able to walk around, I had to rebuild my strength and skills slowly, only sometimes working out with the rest of the team. For the majority of the practices I rarely played, instead serving as one of the team managers.
After setting the rest of the details of our plan, Jasper and I went to practice with our ears open for any info about the party. Luckily, it didn't take long; we stumbled upon Mike himself, talking animatedly to Eric and some of the other guys in the locker room.
"Yeah man, it'll be great," Mike was saying as we entered the room and walked to our lockers. "My parents are leaving in the afternoon, and they aren't coming back until morning for my actual birthday. We'll have the house to ourselves."
Jasper and I tried to look like we weren't listening as we changed. Mike went on, uninterrupted.
"I think I'm just gonna keep everyone in the basement. Less clean up," he said, shrugging into his shirt. "But it'll be the usual setup, and I'm pretty sure someone's bringing a cake or something."
For the rest of practice Jasper and I didn't say a word about anything, and at the end we both were personally invited by Mike, who wanted as many people to come as humanly possible. We gave this information to the girls, and began to plot out the details.
Friday afternoon, I was sitting in Bella's living room after school. She was looking down at me as she stood across from me behind the coffee table. A look of uncertainty and anxiety was twisting her features.
"I don't know if I like this, Edward," she said. I tried to smile reassuringly.
"Don't worry, Bella," I coaxed, "it'll be fine. Alice and Rosalie have been longing for this ever since Jessica called Rosalie a two-cent hooker and Lauren ripped Alice's homecoming gown on purpose."
"They really are terrible, huh?" she stated, walking over to sit next to me. I nodded, grabbing her soft hand.
"What they did to you wasn't right," I said quietly. "They deserve some kind of punishment."
"But are you guys the ones to give it to them?" she rebutted, looking at me pointedly. I sighed.
"Well, I don't know. Please, Bella, it'll be harmless," I stopped, chewing the inside of my cheek. "For the most part, anyway."
She rolled her eyes at me, seeing that I really wasn't worried about tonight. We both stood, my hand still grasping hers.
"Well then, have fun, I guess," she reached up to kiss my lips. I gave her a couple of chaste, quick kisses that made her giggle.
"I'll talk to you later," I said, making my way towards the front door. It was time to get back at them.
Jasper and I were standing outside of the Newton's house, waiting for the others. People were pulling up and dropping off groups of people at a rapid pace, and everyone mostly went down into the basement, just as Mike had said. Emmett and the girls finally pulled up, parking and carrying several bags as they walked up to us.
"Since everyone will be in the basement, we can get everything ready in the kitchen without anyone seeing," Alice said. We headed into the house and stopped in the kitchen.
Rosalie and Alice set to work getting the dye ready. They used up three boxes of bright blue dye, and there was a large bag of feathers that they had bought from a craft store. They poured the dye into two large bowls and opened the bag of feathers.
"Jasper, go down and see what everyone is doing," Alice commanded. Jasper left quickly and returned within a few moments.
"Lauren and Jessica have a cake for Mike. I heard them talking about it when I was walking down the stairs," he said. "If we put the bowls and the feathers right on the top railing, we should be able to get them when they bring him the cake."
"Perfect," Rosalie said. "I can't wait! Those bitches have got it coming."
I leaned out into the main hallway. It looked like all the guests had stopped arriving. I motioned to the others. "Come on, let's get ready."
Each girl held a bowl while Emmett grabbed the bag of feathers. They stopped at the staircase and stood by the railing. From their spot they were able to get a good view of the party, but no one noticed them unless they looked up.
Jasper and I decided to go down into the actual crowd and signal the others when Jessica and Lauren got into their field of vision. We tried to remain inconspicuous, only talking to a few people and sticking together. Eventually, I noticed among the dancing and half-drunk bodies that Lauren and Jessica were making their way to the far end by the staircase, where a large cake was waiting on a small table. It was right under Emmett, Alice, and Rosalie. Jasper and I gave them the signal, and they got into position.
"Oh, Mike! Birthday Boy!" Jessica crooned loudly, capturing the room's attention. She and Lauren lifted the cake together. Mike walked to the center of the room and laughed as everyone cheered around him. They all started singing a somewhat slurred version of "Happy Birthday," led by the girls. Jasper and I were looking only at the bowls of dye that Rosalie and Alice had in their hands.
"Happy Birthday to yoooooooouuuuuuuu!" Lauren squeaked, and everyone cheered, clapping Mike on the back. Rosalie and Alice gave each other one final look, and then, with a flick of their wrists, they turned the bowls upside down.
It was like that scene straight out of Carrie. The dye seemed to fall in a thick sheet, almost in slow motion. It landed on the girls' heads with a loud smack. Their heads were coated with bright blue, and they dropped the cake to the ground as the whole room gasped. Emmett quickly dumped the feathers down, making sure to cover each of them evenly.
The first laughs came from several of the drunken people on the sides of the room, and then eventually, everyone joined in, including Mike. Jasper and I laughed too, encouraged by the look of shock on their faces. I could hear Alice and Rosalie dying with laughter from the stairs, and Emmett's booming laugh echoed down to us.
"Hahaha, that's awesome!" someone said from next to me, and when I turned to look I saw that it was Tyler. Lauren was the first to snap out of her shock, and with a furious snarl she ran from the scene, only to slip on the forgotten cake and fall flat on her face. Jessica ran over to help her, falling down as well. The whole room laughed even harder. I could see Alice wiping tears from her eyes. People were pulling out their cell phones, snapping pictures and video. Lauren and Jessica looked like a mess of bright blue goo and feathers, and they both hastily ran up the stairs, pushing past Emmett, Alice, and Rosalie on the way. It was probably one of the funniest things anyone had seen in a while.
The party resumed then, but now people were snickering, still laughing at the remnants of the blue-spattered cake on the floor. Mike had a smile on his face, but still looked a little confused, and he grabbed a few people to help him clean up the mess before anything set in. I sighed contentedly, rubbing my sides that were aching from the laughter. Jasper and I made our way back up the stair and joined the others, who were still caught up in giggles.
"Did you see the look on Lauren's face? Priceless," Rosalie chortled, holding on to Emmett.
"The cake made everything ten times better," Emmett nodded, wiping his brow. "And I caught it all on my phone!"
"Lucky for them, the dye is only temporary," Alice said, wrapping her arm around Jasper. "It'll wash out...in two weeks."
We all fell into laughter again, nearly collapsing onto the floor. After trying to calm down, we decided to leave, having had enough entertainment for the evening. I couldn't wait to talk to Bella and tell her how well everything went. I wanted to describe the looks of pure horror that the girls had on their faces, and how everyone, people that they had considered friends, had turned around and laughed at them. I realized then that the next time that I would see those girls would be at school, and they still - as far as I know - hadn't realized that it was dye that was sinking into their strands of hair. They probably won't realize it until they try to wash it later tonight.
I snickered to myself as I tried to picture their reactions. For the very first time, I couldn't wait to see Lauren and Jessica again.
A/N: What do you think? Too mean, not mean enough, or just what they deserved?
I hope the time leap wasn't too confusing. Also, I finally got the link for Bella's bracelet up on my profile! Head over there if you want to take a look, and if it doesn't work just let me know.
Review and let me know if you liked it!