For Your Eyes Only
Chapter Nine - When There Was A Fight
I woke up quite early the next morning and the first thing I saw was Edward sitting cross legged on the floor by my side. Leaning against the pillow, I glanced down at him and smiled a little, genuinely happy to see him. The day ahead was going to be a long one and the comfort of him just being with me was wonderful.
"Morning," he said, sounding a little hoarse. "How are you feeling?"
"Pretty good," I lied, stretching my arms and cracking a few joints. He winced while I did this.
"Bella, please don't do that... the sound really goes through me!"
I wasn't sure whether he meant that literally, but just chuckled anyway. "Sorry, it's a really bad habit of mine." Sitting upright, I peeked at the clock. "Crumbs, I'd better get ready for school..."
He nodded and I quickly reached for my nightgown. "I just need a shower so..." I hesitated. "I dunno. Do whatever you like. Do you want me to put the TV on again?"
"I'll be alright, thanks. I'll just... stare at a wall."
"Are you being sarcastic?" I teased. "Seriously, what do you want me to do?"
"Don't worry. I'll... sit in the kitchen. You won't be long anyway, will you?"
I shook my head. "See you in a bit."
The shower gave me some time to think and, as the droplets of warm water hit my back, my muscles untensed and I sighed, feeling a bit more relaxed. After washing my hair and scrubbing over my body, I stepped out and dried myself, changing into my school clothes.
Stepping back into my room, I gathered the things I needed for my classes, then hurried downstairs to see Edward and get some breakfast. He looked up when I walked through the door and smiled crookedly, making my heart rate accelerate.
He tended to make that happen a lot.
"Nice shower?"
I frowned at his strange question but nodded, reaching for some cereal. "Yeah."
"How was it?"
His interest was strange. "It was... wet."
He snorted. "Clever, Bella."
"Why do you ask, anyway?" I asked, crunching on some cereal.
"Just curious," he replied, a little cagily.
"Alrighty then," I murmured slowly. "Are you still coming into school with me?"
He seemed to shudder and the way his eyes screwed up was strangely beautiful.
"That's a yes, then," I laughed. "But seriously, you don't have to if you don't like those kinds of places. I've been able to cope on my own for plenty of years now, so one more day won't make much of a difference."
His eyes seemed to soften. "I want to come."
There was a brief silence between us, before I murmured, "Thank you."
Before I could really realise, the time edged towards eight and we headed outside and into my truck. Surprisingly, there wasn't too much damage, and I guessed either the police or Rose had arranged to have it fixed. I smiled briefly to myself, but found that I felt a little anxious stepping back inside. The flashbacks were still very clear in my mind.
The situation was a lot different this time, though. On the previous occasion, I'd hardly known Edward and he had completely startled me. This time, we were closer and I... well, I kind of trusted him.
"Okay?" he asked while I put on my seatbelt. I nodded with a smile.
"Just don't scare me this time."
I started the engine and carefully drove down the road, being extra slow and precautious. I was probably irritating plenty of people behind us with my speed but I honestly couldn't really care.
The radio played some quiet music in the background and we soon found ourselves heading through the school entrance.
To my dismay, it was just as I expected.
"Oh great," I groaned.
Practically everyone who was in the parking lot was now staring in our direction. I could see huddles of people talking and pointing, and I nearly missed my space when I tried to park the truck.
"I knew it would be like this," I sighed.
The engine cut off and we sat in silence. Taking a deep breath, I reached for my bag and subtly looked at Edward. "Here goes nothing," I mouthed. He gave me an encouraging smile and we both stepped outside.
"Bella! Bella!"
I tried not to roll my eyes when some purple-haired girl that I didn't even know started taking up my personal space. "What happened? Are you alright?"
"Do you actually go to this school?" I asked, admittedly a little moodily.
She frowned. "Yeah..."
"Strange, I don't even recognise you."
I walked off then, and headed through the doors, trying my hardest to ignore the comments coming from behind me. I did feel a little smug, though; the look on that girl's face was enough to make me snicker.
As soon as we were both inside, I saw a familiar head of blonde hair and rushed over towards Rose, really happy to see her.
"Bella!" she smiled, hugging me tightly. When we pulled away, she frowned at me. "Hey, what happened to your nose?"
I heard Edward snort but Rose obviously heard nothing and her expression remained the same. "I basically walked into a door. A door that was supposed to open."
She snorted, too, clearly full of sympathy. "Oh dear, Bells. You've been having a bit of a rough time lately."
Her focus moved just over my shoulder and I noticed her face fall dramatically. I wondered for a moment if she'd seen Edward but, turning around, I realised that Jasper Whitlock was standing awkwardly in the doorway, seeming to deliberately avoid Rose's eyes.
"Hey, Bella," he smiled after an agonising few seconds. "How are you feeling?"
The air around us all was thick with tension and I could see Edward glancing at me in confusion from the corner of my eye. He clearly didn't know what had happened... maybe it was best that way. It wasn't like he'd want to get any more involved with my life.
"I'm good thanks, Jasper," I replied. "How was your weekend?"
He looked a little surprised but eventually cleared his throat and answered. "Yeah, it was... interesting." He looked up to meet Rose's eyes at that point and I could just imagine the horrified look on her face.
"Anyway, I'll see you later," he muttered suddenly, heading off down the corridor without another murmur. We waited until he was out of hearing distance before Rose and I started talking.
"That was... awkward," I mumbled, turning back to her.
"Yeah, just slightly," she sighed. "I just hope that Emmett never finds out about it all or Jasper will be in serious sh-"
"Emmett never finds out about all what?"
We both whipped around and there, standing in the doorway, was Emmett himself.
"Crumbs," I muttered. "Um... should we leave you two alone? I mean should I leave you alone?" I winced at my mistake and shared a small look with Edward. He rolled his eyes teasingly.
"Yes please," Rose whispered quietly, thankfully not noticing.
"Okay, see you later. Good luck," I added as an afterthought.
I headed slowly down the corridor to my first class and cringed at the loud voices coming from behind us.
"That doesn't sound too good," Edward commented.
"No."
It was going to be a long morning...
When lunch eventually came around, I ended up sitting on my own, mainly because Rose was nowhere to be seen. Technically speaking I wasn't really on my own, because Edward was by my side, but to everyone else in the canteen, it seemed like I was alone.
Using a technique I'd learnt before, I reached for my phone and dialled a random number. After a few moments, I spoke and Edward turned to face me.
"I wonder where Rose is..."
"She's probably with Emmett," he replied. "Why, I'm not boring you, am I?"
"Pfft, of course not."
"That's become a habit of yours, lately," he said thoughtfully.
I frowned. "What has?"
"Making strange noises. Yesterday you made that mmmph noise and now it's pfft." I laughed aloud at the sounds he made and the way his face contorted, and could instantly feel several pairs of eyes on me. "Is it some kind of secret language of yours?"
"No. I just... enjoy making meaningless noises."
He laughed this time; his whole face softening from the action. Again, it was kind of beautiful.
There was suddenly a loud noise from behind me and a rush of students filled into the room. "Hurry!" somebody shouted. "There's a fight outside! It's Emmett McCarty and Jasper Whitlock!"
My eyes bulged and I met Edward's gaze in horror. Snapping the phone shut, we both rushed out the doors, along with a large group of other people. This certainly wasn't good...
I was shocked to find out that Rose had actually admitted to Emmett about kissing Jasper during the lesson just before lunch, and that he had, naturally, exploded with anger. She kept telling him that it was a mistake but he took no notice.
The fight was pretty bad; Jasper ended up with a broken nose and countless bruises and cuts. Rose came to see me afterwards, hysterically crying, and I tried my best to comfort her, but there wasn't that much I could do. Emmett was sent to the hospital too because he had damaged his hands so much from the force, but we all knew deep down that he'd end up in the principal's office sometime this week.
"It's not your fault, Rose," I soothed, towards the end of the lunch hour. "Emmett's the one with the violent side."
"But I'm the one who kissed another guy!" she sobbed, losing her face in a tissue. I sighed, looking to Edward for help. He shrugged and I rolled my eyes at him. "Helpful," I mouthed.
Turning to Rose, I smiled a little. "At least you were being honest. Really, Rose, I'm sure it'll be alright in the end."
"That's not helping," she mumbled.
The bell rang then, and she groaned, wiping at her eyes.
"I think you should speak to Emmett and Jasper again at some point," I told her. "Get Emmett to apologise-" She opened her mouth to protest but I stopped her by holding up my hand. "I know it'll be hard, but he needs to. Show him that you're sorry and... things should be okay."
She smiled a little and sighed afterwards. "Thanks, Bella. Sorry to burden all this on you."
"It's alright. Just try to have a fairly uneventful afternoon, yeah?"
She nodded. It was a shame I couldn't do the same.
Walking into Biology later, I could feel myself beginning to become nervous. Not only did I detest this particular lesson, but it was the last class of the day, and that meant my police interview was fastly approaching.
I think Edward sensed my mood because he smiled a lot more often and constantly tried to change the subject to something light.
While Mr Banner was giving us a particularly long lecture and writing on the board, I heard Edward start talking to me, clearly with nobody else capable of hearing.
"This class seems pretty boring."
I glanced at him, grateful for being at the back of the room. Reaching for some paper, I wrote my reply.
Yeah - you should see what it's like on a bad day.
Edward scanned my reply and laughed. "You mean this isn't a bad day?" I smiled at him. "Don't you know anybody in the class?"
I was sat on my own and nodded carefully. Rose isn't in this class, I wrote. I vaguely wondered how she was feeling and how Jasper was...
"I'm sure she'll be alright," he said, scarily seeming as though he could read my thoughts. I just sighed in response.
We were silent for a little while and I started to listen to the teacher, but it wasn't long before Edward started talking again. My brain actually felt numb so I was glad for the distraction; I couldn't cope with anything more about photosynthesis today.
"Y'know, your teacher reminds me of Albert Einstein."
I spluttered a little loudly at his random comment, gaining some unwanted attention. Mr Banner actually eyed me carefully, before muttering something and turning back to the board. All the time, he shook his head in exasperation.
Albert Einstein? I wrote, smothering my laugh. Are you seeing the same person as me? In case you hadn't noticed, Mr Barner is bald!
I crazily underlined that last word for some emphasis and he smirked while reading my note. "Well, apart from that... he's just got that weird look about him. A hint of insanity."
Many people look weird but they don't all resemble old, crazy scientists!
He stared at me for a moment. "That's better. I've been waiting all day to see you smile properly, Bella."
I looked down at the table a little self consciously.
He didn't say much more for the rest of the lesson and I was completely surprised when the bell rang. My stomach felt light and I was full of nerves, but I shared a significant look with Edward and smiled weakly. I was determined to do this, even if it meant going back to the place that had haunted me for years.
Besides, I had my ghost with me and that was enough to get me through.