Chapter Two: Disappoint You
Carlisle's POV
"Do I get the master bedroom again?" Edward asked as we neared Pittsburgh.
"No." I laughed. "There's enough room for your real piano."
"I've missed that piano." He sighed. "Maybe this move isn't all bad."
"Yeah, maybe." I mused. It hadn't been a full day and I was already miserable about leaving Bella. I hated what the Dean made was making us do, but it was what I had to keep her in school. She just needed to graduate and we'd be okay. We'd be allowed to be together again, as long as she stayed single. She had grown a lot since I'd met her and more and more boy were looking at her.
"She's going to be waiting for you, dad." Edward assured to me. "She's completely in love with you."
"What do you know about love?" I laughed. He was thirteen.
"Apparently more than you." He told me. "If it were me, I'd be fighting to keep her."
"Edward, I told you. I had to do this so she'd stay in school." I sighed. "She has to finish school."
"What about me?" He asked. "You cared more about her finishing school than you did for me."
I had been so involved with how I was going to keep Bella in school, I hadn't really thought about me pulling Edward out of school. I was a terrible parent, but I loved Bella. For a while, my mind was on her and only her.
"I've been pretty crappy, huh?" I asked as we pulled into the city.
"A little." He admitted. "I get why we left, but it would have been better if we didn't have to at all."
"You said it." I laughed. "We're going to be up in New York a lot. Grandma and Pap are still there and we're going to see them."
"I guess that works." He sighed, slumping back down into his seat. After another twenty minutes in the car, we pulled up to a house right outside the city and sat in the car for a while. I figured a house would be better for him when having friends but this was different for us. I hadn't lived in a house for almost five years, and him three.
Five years.
It had been five years since I caught Esme in bed with Jason. Five years since I'd asked for a divorce and moved out. Edward was barely eight back then and it was hard to believe he was an official teenager. Time really had flown these last two years. Never in my life did I imagine Edward bouncing back the way he had or how close he would be with Bella.
"What do you think?" I asked as we walked through the garage and into the kitchen.
"I think the grand piano is going to fit nicely." He laughed. "We have an upstairs?"
"And a basement." I laughed. It was good to be in a house again. I showed Edward upstairs and let him pick which bedroom her wanted for himself and which one we could turn into a guest room.
"Can I redo my room, please?" He begged as we got into the car after a long day of packing to find a pizza place. "Because, it's plain grey right now and that's way boring."
"What were you thinking?" I asked.
"I don't know." He shrugged. "Just something with color."
"Yes we can redo it, but not right now." I told him. "Maybe we'll get to it next month. I just wanna get settled right now."
"Okay, but you promise?"
"Pinky promise." I laughed, holding out my pinky to him.
"Dad, I'm thirteen." He huffed. "Come on."
"Sorry, I forgot how big and bad you were."
"Dad!" He wined. I'd forgotten how tempermental teenagers were. We finally found a Pizza Hut and turned in. It was nice to just have Edward to talk to at dinner. It had been such a long time since we'd spent one on one time together. But, even though we were both enjoying it, I could tell how much he missed having Bella around to talk to. And he wasn't the only one.
Once we finished eating, we headed home for more unpacking. Once we'd unpacked our matresses, we decided to just camp out in the living room until we got our bedroom sets unpacked. He fell asleep immediately, but my bed was too empty for me to feel comfortable. There were a lot of days when Bella would stay on campus with Alice and I'd be alone, but this was different. Her side of the bed would be cold for the next seven and a half months. At the most.
After I'd finally fallen asleep, Edward was shaking me to wake up. We unpacked for a little bit before trying to find somewhere to eat breakfast. After we'd found a Bob Evans, we headed back for another exciting day of unpacking. We were able to get a lot done by dinner and we even had our rooms put together.
"When do you start work?" He asked as we ate at a nearby King's.
"Monday." I sighed. I really hated the fact that I had to start a new job at a new school. "Just like you."
"Are you sure I can't do cyber school?" He asked. He really was axious about starting a new school. "I mean I've already started a new school once, why make me do it again?"
"Because your thirteen and need to make friends." I explained. "You have band everyday where you get to play the piano for the school and I talked to the coach and he's going to give you a fair shot in soccer."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I'll make friends." He sighed. "It's different than when I changed schools when I was eleven. I was only in fifth grade."
"And you're only in seventh this time." I told him. "I know it's hard...believe me. Your grandparents dragged me all over the country for Pap's job. I was constantly forced to make new friends."
"You aren't making me feel better, dad."
"All I'm saying is, it was hard but I was able to do it." I told him. "I made a lot of friends at my new school until it was time to move again."
"Do you talk to any of them still?"
"Not much, but I do sometimes." I told him. "One of them was in your mothers and mines wedding."
"Which one?" He asked.
"I'll show you a picture when we get everything situated." I smiled. "But no you can't do cyber school. You're going to go to real school and be awkward and out of place on your first day. But, then you're going to meet that one nice student who's always nice to the new kids and he or she is going to ask if you wanna eat lunch with them. You're going to say yes and they're going to introduce you to their group of friends and if everything works out, you've got yourself a place to sit everyday."
"That's how it worked for you?"
"Every single time." I assured him, and I could see him relax a bit after hearing that. It was true. There was always that one person, normally a girl, who asked if you wanted to sit with them. I was so happy every time I met that girl when changing schools.
"You have everything you need?" I asked Monday morning as Edward and I sat at the kitchen table, eating toast.
"Yep." He sighed. He was getting jittery again and he was only nibbling at his toast.
"It's going to be fine, Edward." I smiled. "Trust me."
"I do, but that doesn't mean what you told me is going to happen will."
"You can't be negative." I warned. "Just put on a good face and don't get in anyones way. Let things fall into place."
"Easier said than done." He mumbled as I reached in my pocket and gave me a crisp twenty. "What's this for?"
"To put in your lunch account." I explained. "You don't have to pay for lunch day by day here."
"That's nice." He smiled. He finished eating and went to brush his teeth. I watched and made sure he made it on his bus on time before getting in my car and heading into the city. At least NYU was in a major city, or I'd be totally lost in Pittsburgh. I found my building and made my way to the head of the departments office. She showed me to my classroom and office and left me to it.
The professor before me had gotten fired for showing up to class drunk, and from what I heard was a complete ass. I wasn't too uneasy of the class not liking me as they began filing in. Once the room was full, I took a deep breath and went inside.
"Good morning." I greeted as happy as I could. "I am Dr. Cullen and I'm going to be replacing Professor Harris."
"Thank god." I head a student mumble. I warmed up to them instantly. The day went on just as any first day of school and I was pleasantly surprised by the classes reactions to having a new teacher.
But, there was one down side. When my Intro to Psychology filed in, I couldn't help the knot in my stomach from forming when I saw the student who sat down in the front row. It was the same seat Bella always sat in and to make matters worse, she had long brown hair and brown eyes to add insult to injury. I was somehow able to make it through the class without having a break down and was able to not throw up after they left.
"Knock knock." A womans voice rang from my office door. "Hi,"
"Hello." I greeted. I looked up and my breath caught. This woman had beautiful carmel hair with big brown eyes. She truly was breathtaking. And my age. I hadn't felt this way about a girl since I saw Bella for the first time. "Can I help you with anything?"
"I'm Dr. Masen." She introduced. "I'm right across the hall from you."
"That's good to know." I laughed. "I'm Dr. Cullen."
"I know," She blushed. "Everyone is taking about the guy who replaced that scum of a professor."
"I'm the big news?"
"Everything is big news when it comes to Professor Hill." She laughed.
"So, what do you teach exactly, Dr. Masen?"
"Developmental psychology." She smiled. "And please, call me Lizzie."
"Alright...Lizzie." I smiled.
"What about you?" She asked.
"Don't you already know since I took his place?"
"I never paid attention to him." She shrugged.
"Community psychology." I laughed. "How long have you been here at Pitt?"
"This is only my fifth year." She explained. "I was working on my doctorate forever. And until I was here, I was bouncing from place to place finding work while writing my dissertation."
"Sounds about right." I laughed.
"How long were you at NYU?" She asked and I gave her a questioning look. "I told you, you're the big news."
"I was at NYU for about ten years." I told her. "I was there before I got my doctorate as just Professor Cullen." I laughed.
"Is this your son?" She asked, pointing to Edward's sixth grade school photo on the bookshelf she was standing next to.
"Yeah, he just turned thirteen in August." I smiled.
"Good luck." She laughed. "Thirteen is a rough age."
"He's mature for his age." I smiled as I saw her look down at my left hand, looking for a wedding band. I quickly shoved my hands in my pockets. I wasn't in the mood to answer questions or get looks of pity.
"I didn't mean to pry." She whispered. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it." I shook my head. "It's a long story." I sighed as I looked at her left hand. There was a small white spot where a ring prevented the sun from tanning and I assumed she was recently divorced.
"Mine too." She smiled, putting her hands behind her back.
"Well, I should be going." I sighed, closing my laptop case. "My son is going to be home from practice any minute now and he's going to need to eat something."
"Right." She blushed. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yes you will." I laughed as she went back into her office and I headed towards the elevators.
Two weeks. It had been two weeks since leaving New York and Edward and I were gradually falling into a routine. Like I'd predicted, he'd made a good group of friends almost immediately after starting school. A pretty girl Tanya was the one who invited him to sit with her table and he'd quickly grown to like them. He was even starting to form a tight friendship with Garrett, a boy on the soccer team.
I was also starting to develop friends with my co-workers, especially Lizzie. She told me that the 'scum of a professor' who had my possition before was her husband. He'd gambled almost all of their money away and walked away with an huge bill for Lizzie to pay. She listened while I told her the tragic story of what happened with Esme, from the cheating to the funeral.
I hadn't told anyone about Esme cheating since Bella.
I was cleaning up around the house that Saturday when my phone began buzzing. I answered it excitedly when I saw Emmett's Caller ID pop up. It had been two weeks since I'd talked to him.
"Hey, Emmett." I answered.
"Did anyone else have access to those photo's?" He asked, his voice urgent.
"What photo's?" I asked, not understanding at all what he was talking about.
"The pictures of you and Bella!"
"I think Dean Gregory was the only one who had them." I sighed. "Him and whoever turned us in."
"Well, they're all over campus!" He screeched, completely panicked.
"What do you mean, all over campus?"
"I mean someone taped them all over the campus." He sighed. "On benches and street lights, and the sides of buildings. Everywhere."
"Damn," I sighed. I was hoping that when I resigned, my reputation would remain in tact, and same with Bella's. "Shit, Emmett!"
"What are you going to do?" He asked.
"There isn't anything I can do." I sighed, slumping down on the couch. "I'm in Pittsburgh, I can't do anything about it."
"You know this is going to make things really bad for Bella, right?"
"Yep." I sighed. There was so much that could go wrong with those pictures up and around campus. "But I can't protect her anymore, Emmett. Not until she graduates at least."
"I told you to stay away!" He yelled. He hadn't exactly expressed how angry he was when I left, and it was finally coming out now. I just sat back on the couch, preparing for my lecture.I deserved it anyway. "I told you it was a bad idea to get involved with a student! But you didn't listen! And now your in Pittsburgh and she's going to get...get a horrible reputation as a slut and she's going to be told you were sleeping together for her grade! Damnit, Carlisle!"
"Emmett,"
"And now you can't even do anything to help her because you fucking left!"
"I had to!"
"You broke her heart, Carlisle." He whispered, sounding like he was on the verge of tears. "You broke her!"
"I didn't have a choice!" I defended. "It was stay together and get both of us kicked out of NYU! I had to make sure she stayed in school and graduated!"
"You still broke her heart." He mumbled. "You didn't even warn her this was happening!"
"I didn't want her to worry."
"Yeah, well now she was left with a half asked goodbye." He said.
"Why do you care so much, Emmett?" I asked. "Ever since I got together with Bella she's been the devil girl who was going to get me fired. And she is technically the reason I had to leave."
"Because through this last year of you two coming over with Rosalie and I... I started to actually care about her." He sighed. "You loved her and I saw that and if you loved her so did I. Because you're my best friends and that's what best friends do. They care about the people they shouldn't."
"Emmett..."
"I gotta go." he sighed and hung up without even a goodbye. I tried to finish cleaning up the house, but I couldn't bring myself to focus. Edward was with the soccer team for the weekend, camping and I didn't have anyone to talk to or spend time with. I hopped in the shower and got dressed before heading out to a local bar.
"One beer, please." I sighed as I sat down on a bar stool. The bartender nodded as another put a bowel of peanuts in front of me.
"Well, well, well." I heard a familiar voice laugh. "Look who we have here."
"Hi, Lizzie." I smiled as she sat down next to me. I turned to look at her and nearly choked on the peanuts I was chewing. She was wearing a low cut shirt and a very short skirt. "Wow," I sighed like an idiot.
"What, I've gotta get back in the game somehow, right?" She laughed, ordering herself two shots. The bartender put them down in front of her and she slid one in front of me.
"I'm not really a shot kinda person." I sighed as I took a sip of beer.
"Come on." She nudged. "To new beginnings?" She questioned, holding up her shot glass as to make a toast. I gave in and picked mine up, clinking our glasses and tipping it to my lips.
"To new beginnings." I agreed, smiling at her.