Disclaimer: Twilight does not belong to me, unfortunately it all belongs to Stephenie Meyer and I'm only borrowing her characters. Huge thanks to my Beta Has a rubber soul for her patient and for correcting all my nonsensical grammars (trust me she's a star). Also thank you all for adding the story to your favourite list and for following it, you made me so happy!
Opening the car door, I looked around my surroundings. I take it all in, then I smile because this is the beginning of my new life. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I didn't have my freedom before but here I am finally alone. I have bills I suddenly have to pay and not rely on my parents to pay for me so, yes, for me this is the beginning.
Suddenly, I feel a sense of guilt wash over me. I looked at my mother and I saw her glance around as well; then she suddenly looked down and started fussing with her bag. Anyone who knows Renee knows that she doesn't fuss, she carries herself with grace and does not show any weakness and fussing is a sign of weakness. When she looked back up at me I saw the tears in her eyes and I knew that while I was happy to leave she was sad to see me go.
"Your father said that he is almost here and that he's sorry he couldn't make the journey with us," she said, rubbing her eyes and trying to pretend that what I saw in there was not real. "Where are Alice and her brother? They need to get out here so we can start moving all this stuff. Bella, did you say that you have your room number already? But doesn't that mean you have to go get your room key so we can open the door?"
Now she's rambling. This is the mother that has been there for me all my life. She birthed me and breathed life into me, yet I am so happy to leave her. I walk towards her and hugged her – that was when the strongest woman I knew broke down and started crying. The same woman that held her ground when the principal of my secondary school told her they didn't think it was advisable for me to study science. She held her ground and told him that if that's what I want to pick then that's what I should pick.
The same woman that when my dad started coming home late at night, packed my bag and her bag and moved us to my auntie's house and told him that unless he starts making more time for his family then he is definitely prepared to lose us; and the same woman that made a plan to become the principal of her secondary school and two years after teaching there executed that plan.
I rub her back as she cries just like she used to when I was younger, and I don't know how long we were there for – me just holding her while she cries. A car horn jolts us out of our embrace and forces us into the real world. Looking at the cause of the intrusion suddenly brought tears to my eyes – it was my father. Growing up, there was one title that I have always accepted and used to describe myself countless times, and that was Daddy's Girl. My father is my life and the love of my life, the first man that I ever fell in love with. He was the first man to ever show me how princesses should be treated and showered me with affection. As he got out of his car I couldn't keep my tears in anymore. I ran straight for him and jumped on him the way I used to when I was small and he came back home from work and he held me tight just like he used to.
We were there for a few minutes until I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket and my dad said, "Don't you think you should check that, kiddo? I kind of need to breathe, you're way too strong for your old man."
Of course he must crack jokes. I took out my phone to check who was calling me: Alice.
"Bella, you told me you've gone past the sign board over 15 minutes ago and yet you haven't called to let me know that you're outside," she rapidly fires at me, "Is everything okay?"
"You can calm down, we are downstairs and my dad just joined us, mum and I were hugging him," I reply – she doesn't need to know that I was the only one actually doing all the hugging. "Can you please come down now with the assh- I mean your brother?"
A little slip.
Immediately Alice came down, and we both went to the student centre to get my key card and we were also given printed copies of rules and guidelines that we must abide by while living in halls. It was on our way back that Alice finally got the courage to ask me what I know has been on her mind since. "Umm... Bella, I honestly hope that you're not mad at me, I really didn't mean to keep pushing your button."
If I know Alice as well as I do, I know she's definitely not done so I wait for her to gather her thoughts and tell me what she's cooking up.
"If I'm honest with you, I didn't really think you'd get that angry or react the way you did. I was just joking with you and you totally flipped up at me," she said, rolling and twisting the hair at the nape of her head.
"First of all, I am sorry that I shouted at you, but you and I both know you weren't joking. Alice, you know I love you and you know if I weren't as deeply into men I'd totally do you," I say, which makes us laugh out loud and she nods her head, maybe due to the countless time we've joked about it,
"...loving you also means knowing you and, babe, sometimes I actually feel like you don't know me."
I know I should tell her why I'm actually angry, but no matter how much I hate Fuckward the relationship between him and his sister is very special to me and I really don't want it destroyed. So yeah, I'd rather lie to her and make her think it's something else than have her get angry with her brother. Anyway, this is between Edward and me – we have an unspoken rule that we do not involve Alice in any of out paybacks, nor would we jeopardise our relationship with her.
"Oh my god, Bells, do you really feel that way about our friendship? How come you've never said anything? Babe you know I love you so much, like a sister I never had, I don't want you to feel or think you're less than that."
I looked down sadly whilst kicking some rocks to thicken her guilt so that she will forget what started this conversation to begin with.
"Bells, I am truly sorry if I've ever made you feel any less than that. I know I'm hard to get along with because I have an affinity to be in control of everything and everyone but I assure you it's from a place of love," she continued. I stopped the unintentional forward and backward swing of my leg when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Then, without warning, Alice's small body collided with mine and so did the guilt of manipulating my best friend.
We stood in our embrace for a few seconds and then, like everyone today, she too pointed out the fact that I stunk, and that just made me suddenly want to have a hot bath.
"Umm, Alice," I started, but she suddenly covered my mouth with her hand and told me to shush for a few seconds.
"Alice I love you and all but this is starting to feel a teensy bit weird, and I really need a bath because I feel tired. Your big hair is also all over my face and while I always tell you that it smells nice I'm just not too sure I want some in my mouth."
I used my hand to push her away a bit to get my point across. Once her head was no longer resting on my shoulder I turned towards her and I finally noticed that I had actually hurt her way more that I thought.
"Alice, remember that time when we were in year 10 and I had that burst of anger when everyone refused to shut up in class? Well, I think that's what happened today. First of all, I'm sorry that I screamed at you and cut off the phone, that was rude but I'm glad that you realise that it's not good for you to keep controlling everyone around you."
The love I felt for her suddenly overwhelmed me to the point that I pulled her towards me and hugged her again. Sometimes I do wonder why I truly love her. No matter what her Dumbo of a brother may do to me I still love her and never once considered not being her friend, because that would break my heart.
When we finally got back to my accommodation, I noticed that my dad and mum were not outside in the parking lot anymore and my stuff was not in the car. Alice said that Edward probably took everything to my floor and that my parents were probably waiting in the kitchen for us. As we began our ascent up the stairs, I began to prepare myself for the encounter I'm about to have with the devil, and appeal to God to grant me strength to not lash out in anger or sucker punch Edward. Amen.
...And that's it everyone. Please don't forget to Review and share the story.
Sorry that I haven't updated the story in weeks but RL can be unpredictable some times. As always a big Thank you to Has a Rubber soul for being the amazing star that she truly is, without you all this poor soul will probably be crying from my grammatical error.
Happy new year to you all, a new year is a time to start afresh, to set your mind afresh and look at life with a different perspective. I truly hope you all make good use of it, I'm definitely trying to. The link to my social media is on my profile so lets be friends!
