Wow, you guys are seriously impressive! And my ego is being inflated more and more by the chapter-review load... aww. By the by, sorry if I've been a little snappish in my author's notes for the past three or so chapters, I was having a fairly sleep-deprived time. Fun... not.
Anyhoo, the reviewers are:
margaritama, jake.n.ash.n.edward, Ghosts in the Snow, neatospeedo, ForeverWasteAway, PowerSurge365, HarvestEclipse31, Vampires-Rock4eva, sweet333249, Intoxicated By His Presence, laibballfan, 4theluvofMary, maryellen, musicormisery4105, bedwardforever, LookAfterMyHeart, edwardsfavouriteflavour, twilightismylife140, Esaria, sunshine4047, books and bojangles, Music ADD, joellen818, jacob is the new black, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, StarryNightT, Rhiannon Summer, In The Life Of Sara's, smile for the paparazzi, twilightaddict26, Sbieleski, Michelle62092, lily, Luckybugg, FrEvrNvrLasts, LivforLove, x-aly-x, okiegirlforever, DestanyRose, halokat, 143twilighter, Bethany Knight, FutureMrs.Cullen, babygirljen6, sprinter1, Fanpire, VampyChick95, Jade.
Special Mentions:
Ghosts in the Snow: Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I don't know how I missed putting your name up in the reviewer's list! I went back and added them in just after I read your review. Sorry again, hope you still love me :-)
ForeverWasteAway: Hahaha, fruit baskets. That's gold! Thanks for your compliments about the whole Jasper/Alice dynamic - that was the storyline that came into my head firstly with this story, then the Edward/Bella thing developed around it... as weird as that sounds. :-)
PowerSurge365: Oh, thankyou for your compliments! And thanks for reviewing too :-D
HarvestEclipse31: Lol, this story is tre dramatic, isn't it? I hope I haven't overdone it though. Let me know if I have? Thanks. Emmett and Sam pretty much gave Mike what he deserved... but Edward was the one who did the real damage... you'll find that little delicious piece of information out a little later on though!
twilightismylife140: Woo! I'm so glad that you're on the same page as I am with the whole cliche getting-together thing with Alice and Jasper. Cos Alice is far too hot-headed to just fall for him like that -snaps fingers-. Hell, she hesitated twice! And about the parents thing - I don't think there'll be much more to do with either of their parents. But perhaps in the sequal, if there is a sequal.
Esaria: Ahh!! An observant one! You're one of only two people who actually picked up on that little accidental tid-bit. I was reading through my final chapters for this story to make sure I didn't leave any loose ends and somehow that part of the next chapter came out. Accidentally. I'm dreadfully sorry if I ruined anything for you for this chapter. But well done on picking up on it!
sunshine4047: Yeah, I wasn't too pleased when I was writing the Mike/Bella thing in the last chapter. Sickened, actually. But it was necessary for the storyline. Bella's not going to tell Alice about the whole accidental spying-on-her thing, she'll just pretend she didn't know. But that part isn't directly dealt with in the story anyway - what would have occured conversationally was so obvious that it didn't need to be said.
books and bojangles: Ah yes, the oleander. I read a book called 'White Oleander'. Brilliant stuff. And then it was mentioned in a book I had to read for school like a week later... isn't it weird how that happens? Anyway. I like that fate for Mike! And with the Alice/Jasper thing; it had been coming for a while. But there were almost invisible signs pointing in that direction - remember the bit in the Carnival chapter? With the Athletics Day, and Jasper was hitting on Alice and Leah - but he copped a slap across the face? And the comment Jacob made was something like, "he's never going to get anywhere with dodgy pickup lines". But I knew you guys were expecting it at some point. I loved Alice's dress in that too... sigh. I'm rambling. Sorry.
joellen818: That's a good idea - The Makeover - but I think it's a little overdone in fanfics. I'll leave it for another time, yeah? But thanks for the suggestion! :-D
StarryNightT: Hahahahahahahahahahahahah... your review was awesome! I was laughing for ages after that... hahaha. Great work! You'd be a fabulous comedy Beta/writer!
Rhiannon Summer: AHHH!! I'm so excited... BREAKING DAWN!! WOOO!!
smile for the paparazzi: ...or, will there be letters at all?
okiegirlforever: Ahh!! An observant one! You're one of only two people who actually picked up on that little accidental tid-bit. I was reading through my final chapters for this story to make sure I didn't leave any loose ends and somehow that part of the next chapter came out. Accidentally. I'm dreadfully sorry if I ruined anything for you for this chapter. But well done on picking up on it!
Fanpire: Aww, thanks sweetie... that was such an ego-inflating review lol but I love you for it! Love your pen name, by the way :-D
Jade: JADE! DARLING!! Where have you been, man? Your reviews are the sunshine of my life... the cheese to a pizza... the fizz to a Coke! My gosh! Haha. See you tomorrow darl ;-)
Chapter Twenty-Six: Plans
Monday had rolled around again, annoyingly quickly. Alice was sitting beside me in gym, and on her other side was the most recent addition to my tight-knit life. He was sitting still but had a smile on his face which grew every time he took a glance from the corner of his eye at the girl beside him. One of Alice's hands was fiddling with the necklace around her neck – the one which hadn't left her immediate vicinity since Saturday night.
"So I hope you've all made a start on your assignments…" Coach Clapp said jovially from the floor of the gym.
I had tuned out well over twenty-five minutes ago; and the words that leaked into my ears so far were repetitive ones of an assignment that we as a class had already handed up. Coach Clapp was so easily distracted.
Currently my mind was overflowing with memories and thoughts – almost all of them to do with my weekend. I thought back to the garden, where I'd witnessed Alice and Jasper's incredible unison.
Once I was sure the two of them weren't going to reappear from around the side of the house, I'd revealed myself from my hiding place and dashed through the shadows around the border of the house. Eventually I saw something I recognised. The path Alice and I had made our entrance by was just ahead of me, and this was the only way I knew of to get to the parking lot. Choosing to abandon any possible sneaky side-stepping options, I hitched up my now filthy dress and made a sprint for the stairs. I only fell once, and when I did, the security guard closest to me had reactions quick enough to stop my face meeting the ground.
I'd mumbled my thanks, and he'd grunted his reply. I kept my head down and tried to be subtle as I headed up the stairs and then saw Alice's Porsche. I headed to the passenger side and yanked at the handle, but it was locked. I looked around to see if Alice was anywhere to be seen; but no suck luck ever impeded my dark moments. Thinking that I was going to freeze, I spun on my heel to see if anyone I knew was in the parking lot and willing to give me a ride home.
Just then, I heard the sound of a car door opening. I darted around the front of the yellow bonnet and was nearly blinded by the bright interior light a few cars back. I didn't recognise the vehicle, but recognised the tall Indian frame that was leaning inside it.
"Jacob," I said, trying to sound calm as I approached him.
Jake turned around, ducking his head from smacking it on the top of the four wheeled drive he was in. His initial expression was curiosity as to who had called his name, but it immediately changed to shock when he took in my appearance. I guessed that I was now the one who looked like a dead, runaway bride, not Alice.
"Jesus Bella, what happened?" He stood up straight and stepped forward to put his arm around my waist. I hoped that this damsel in distress thing wasn't everlasting.
I sniffed and wiped my nose on the back of my hand as Jacob helped me into the passenger seat of his car. "I've had a bad night," I said, and allowed him to stuff the trailing side of my dress in beside me before he closed the door. He could tell that I wasn't keen on staying at the party any longer.
He got in the driver seat and started up the engine. "I'll tell Alice you felt sick when I get back. But you can't stay here; you'll catch cold and then probably end up like an ice block before midnight."
At mention of the time, my eyes searched the dash for the digital numbers. They were there, announcing the near-exact time of my demise. 11:37pm. I sighed and looked at the rest of the dash, my eyes searching for the heating controls. It was a moment before I realised Jake's hand was flashing expertly around the dials and little buttons, doing all the work for me. I felt a light gush of warm air from the nearest vent, and I instinctively held up my hand to it. It felt nice on my wintry fingers.
"New car?" I asked, wondering where his Rabbit was.
He looked across at me. "It's Jasper's. I'm borrowing it right now."
We were both silent for a minute.
"Thanks," I finally said. He knew what I meant.
He looked over and smiled at me. "What are friends for?"
I sniffed and smiled. My hand was wiping across my nose again in an instant. It was becoming difficult to find dry places along my wrist.
Jake pulled out from the paddock style parking lot and followed the waving's of the glow in the dark rods before we were heading down the bitumen toward Charlie's. We didn't say anything along the way, but I think Jake had a fairly good idea of what had happened. He was just smarter than most, and knew not to ask me about it. For that I was grateful.
Soon Jake shut off the driving gear and let the car rumble while I gathered myself in the passenger seat. I wiped my eyes again, and took the tissues he offered. We were silent as we got out into the chilly air, and stayed wordless while we walked up the path to my house. Beside me I knew Jake was still there; both because of the sound of his car idling behind us and because I could feel his caring arm around my shoulders, warming me. If I were to trip on my way to the door, I knew he would be there to help me up before I could say his name.
But I got to my porch safely unscathed, and I hugged Jake before he left. I trusted him to inform Alice of my apparent 'sickness' when he got back to the party – not that she was going to have her head filled with worries for me tonight. There were plenty of other things, and people, that would be occupying her time.
--
My mind was sharply jerked back into the reality of gym class when Alice stood beside me. I looked up at her, wondering why she was standing, and then realised that everyone else was also making their way down to their next classes. I blinked twice, feeling dazed; before getting up and following the couple in front out to morning break.
I snapped out of it and the next thing I knew, I was sitting at a table in the cafeteria. Angela and Ben were on one side of me (they had apparently gotten together over the weekend too, but I hadn't been vocal enough to ask how yet), and Alice and Jasper were on my left. On the other side of the table was Rosalie and Emmett with Ally and Tyler beside them.
I felt like a girl completely surrounded.
Across the cafeteria were Jacob and James, both of them looking bored. Tanya and Lauren were tittering stupidly about something behind their hands, throwing someone across the room an amused look between giggles. I rolled my eyes. Victoria and Jessica were engaged in a conversation which looked more serious. Jessica was looking across the room at someone too, but Victoria's eyes rotated between staring at Jessica, staring at her tray with a drink on it, and staring at her boyfriend beside her. Jacob had folded his arms and had leaned his head backwards, the lump in his throat sticking out like he was five years older. The sleeves of his jumper bunched up around his biceps and I could see that his hands were balled into frustrated fists.
I looked back down at what was in front of me and started spinning the lid of my drink between my hands. It was getting horribly tedious by the time the first bell rang, and I happily sprung to my feet. No one seemed to notice my hasty departure. Each engaged in their own conversations, they seemed entirely unaware of the others around them let alone the ding-dinging bell overhead.
Third lesson on a Monday was… History. I could afford a little bludging time during History, I knew, so I decided to be unreasonably optimistic and pay a visit to the front office. Once I was out of the cafeteria doors, I took a turn to the right instead of one to the left. Conventional thoughts told me to go left – but I knew that I'd have to bow my head through the sheeting rain if I went the student's way. This way would take me through a small hallway between teacher's offices and into the dry reception area.
A minute later, I was there, eyeing the slightly swaying plastic plants in the corner with distaste. I hated fake things.
Mrs Cope was again alone behind her desk. I approached her and was nervous because for the first time in weeks, I genuinely didn't know whether there was going to be a letter waiting for me.
"Mrs Cope?" I asked timidly, laying my folded hands on the arm-pit high greeting desk. The bustling woman looked up from her computer and squinted over the top of her reading glasses, her eyes adjusting and then calculating me.
"Hello, dear!" She jumped up and waddled forward to greet me like I was especially important. "You're here for your letter?"
Why is everyone in a mood a million times better than me today?
"Yes, please." My throat constricted very slightly as my sentence came out, but I was quite sure she hadn't heard it. I'd barely even heard it.
She beamed at me. "I'll be right back."
It only took her a short moment to disappear through the doorway and into the short hall. I could hear her footsteps along the hall, and heard keys jangling along with a drawer sliding open. A moment later her steps repeated in reverse and she was standing in front of me, a wad of letters in her hands bound by black string.
She fiddled with the bundle once, flipping through the letters to find my name. Her brow furrowed when she got to the end without success. My stomach fell to my feet and I swallowed dryly to try and hold down the impeding choke. She pursed her lips when she got to the end of her second search of the letters. This time, she pulled a letter opener from a drawer and split open the bundle, keeping the wad stacked together with her big, manicured hands. She seemed to admit defeat when she finished her third search, looking up at me with an expression which passed for both confused and annoyed.
"I can't seem to find it," she said apologetically.
I just nodded and gave an offhand wave of my palm before walking away silently. I realised only once my hand was on the doorhandle that perhaps I had exited a little too quickly. The only emotion I emitted before disappearing through the heavy glass door was a dry sniff, but I covered it quickly by feigning a sneeze and dramatically wiping my sleeve across my face.
Tuesday passed without a letter being received. Mrs Cope gave me an even more pitiful look when I came back and asked for the second day in a row, and I didn't hear what she said in response to my request because her face had already told the answer.
My Wednesday flew by in a fuzz of sound. The blocked out feeling reminded me of having my ears stuffed with cotton balls. Loud noises felt like someone was twisting the cotton around in my ear canal.
My hope was well dried up by Wednesday evening. I didn't return to the front office on Thursday to post my reply, because there was none to be given. I'd taken Edward's silence as an additional rejection and couldn't bear to have my heart trampled again. I knew there would be no reply next Monday. It was easier to avoid thinking about him if I didn't have to write his name – not that I didn't think about him anyway. He was a constant sore spot in my thoughts.
"Bella? Bella! Snap out of it! You're up!"
Alice was standing in front of me, an arm raised and her hand shaking my shoulder. I blinked a few times.
"What?"
"It's your turn to serve!"
"What?"
"Just hit it."
She pushed me forward and shoved something round into my hands. It was a volley ball. Fantastic.
I looked down at the round ammunition, then to the team on the other side of the tall net. My team mates ahead of me were cowering openly – but even those to my sides had their hands half-raised in case my soon-to-be serve went completely off target. I chose to be quick in my injury of an undeserving team mate and punched the ball like I'd seen countless others do. My movement was accompanied by the unreasonable anger that'd been building in my chest for the past week, and somehow it sailed over the net.
The two people that it fell between were so shocked by the fact that the ball was coming toward them that neither of them made a move toward it. I smiled slightly when I realised that I'd just won a point for my team. I stepped to the side and expected someone else to fill my server's position, but no one did. Alice stepped over and gently pushed me back.
"Your serve again," she clarified, bending to pick up the returned volley ball before handing it to me. I looked around to my team mates to see if someone was going to save me by intervening. No one did.
So I swung my hand back and hit the ball with as much force as I had the first time. But of course, my luck didn't hold. I cringed in anticipation as it sailed toward a swinging blonde ponytail in front of me.
This unsuspecting girl had unwisely turned away at the last second and was now flying toward the ground as my angry hit slammed her in the back of the head. Someone caught her before she hit the floor, however, and I was immediately beet-red to see Lauren Mallory getting up.
She turned back and sneered at me. "Nice shot," she snapped. She didn't seem too angry with me, but I could see from the malice behind her eyes that she knew she didn't need to be verbally abusive to make me feel useless and unwanted. I looked down at my feet and shuffled from side to side, glad that I was now going to be out of the spotlight.
But I'd not been forgotten by my best friend. "It was a good shot, Bella," she said kindly to me, patting my shoulder. She raised her head and said a little louder in Lauren's direction; "It's just unlucky Lauren wasn't facing you. Then she might have been hit in her mug of a face and gotten a free nose job. God knows she needs it."
Intensely mortified, I kept my eyes down. I could sense Lauren's evil stare on me but tried to ignore it. Coach Clapp cleared his throat loudly to distract from the brewing argument.
"Who's serving next for the red team?" There was a trace of demand in his voice. I was grateful for the focus being shifted away from me, and jerked my head up to give Alice a 'thankyou' look. She nodded her silent reply of 'no problem' then turned to watch the game in case the ball came flying toward either of us.
--
Alice loyally stayed by my side for the rest of the day. The most interaction I saw between her and Jasper was a quick goodbye peck on the cheek – supplied by Alice – then she was gone from him and striding along beside me as I headed to my car. I noticed for the first time that the class spilling from the final lesson of the day didn't include a certain ex-boyfriend.
I turned to Alice. "Where's Mike?" I tried to sound disinterested; but Alice must have heard the nervous tone to my voice because she answered me more calmly than I'd have thought.
"I think he had a small mishap. His leg might have been accidentally broken when he… uh… fell. It happened some time on the weekend." She shifted her bag over her shoulder uncomfortably.
Normally I would have protested greatly to such an injury being almost certainly inflicted by two of my best friends, but I chose not to. I just felt too tired and besides, Mike kind of deserved it. And as an added bonus, I wasn't going to have to deal with him for at least another month. By the tone of Alice's voice, his broken leg wasn't the only thing leaving him hospital-bed bound.
"Okay," I answered. My voice sounded strangely disinterested, like I'd deliberately detached my emotions from my mouth. Alice didn't comment, however, and I was glad to have the silence held when we reached my car.
Alice waited with me while I dug around in my jacket pocket for my keys. I finally felt the coldness of the metal and heard them jangle as I pulled them out. I was just twisting them roughly in the lock of my door when Alice cleared her throat.
I turned to her, expectant, hand frozen on the rusty truck door.
"Bella, I think you need a weekend with me and Angela again," she said warily, and I could tell she was bracing herself for any kind of reaction I might choose to come out with. She shifted from foot to foot, and I wondered why until my brain caught up with my thoughts and I realised I'd been silent for at least five heartbeats too long.
"I think that's a good idea," I agreed. A smile split over her face, but it didn't quite cover the worry her eyes held.
She patted my now sodden hand and smiled properly. I could tell her mind had just come across a delicious list of movies we could devour over the weekend, and probably an extensive shopping list containing many sugary and fattening snacks. Her smile was contagious.
"See you tomorrow, Bella!" She sounded considerably happier, and as I watched her dance off across the parking lot I noticed that her Porsche was no where to be seen. Instead, she disappeared into the passenger seat of a dark car I recognised from Saturday night.
I ignored the rain dripping down my collar as I watched Alice grinning from ear to ear, her excited face dripping water onto her jacket. She glanced from Jasper beside her to me before giving me a corny thumbs-up and shaking her head like a wet dog. Jasper cringed beside her and I realised she was getting water all over his expensive-looking car interior.
I felt amused by her cheekiness, but the greater part of me was still settled in the pit of my chest where the darkness seemed to live in varying degrees. Every bad thing listed off in my head as I climbed into my truck, and the temporary smile that Alice had inflicted upon me was gone by the time I turned onto the highway.
Something I would really appreciate from you guys if you have the spare minutes, is to please read the final chapter of a story called 'Getting The Advantage' that I wrote. The link's in my profile (obviously, it's my story...). Please review it? I know this'll sound cocky or whatever, but I think it's some of my best writing - and I'd like to know if I'm sorely mistaken or not. Thanks so much! And make sure you read the author's note at the beginning - if you don't plan on reading the whole story. If you do plan on reading it all, don't read the author's note :-)
Review?
-Shaps