So it's my birthday. Yippee. Not. I mean I like birthdays, but just not when everyone is telling you happy birthday every five seconds. So no happy birthdays please. Only if you give me like fifty reviews. So in other words no thanks.
This chapter isn't complete, I'm only putting it up because I want to give something back. :D Enjoy.
Edward's POV
It had been a few hours since the explosion, since I was saved. Why did they save me? My mind gave me no answer, which frustrated me beyond anything I have ever felt. The flames were not as intense before, with water being sprayed all over them. But still they raged and burnt all of the gas from the pumps.
My mother and father, Esme and Carlisle had joined us along with Emmett and Rosalie. It's not everyday the only gas station in town sets on fire. We've been here for a couple years now and there hasn't ever been a fire. One of the two fire engines came from a neighbouring town, why would Forks need anything more?
Half the town was here, enjoying the spectacle. Some of them in their pajamas, like Jasper, who does look very fetching in that shirt. He sure does love Alice, especially if she gets him to wear that sort of clothing. Then again, Alice was a very pushy person and didn't take no for an answer.
It was nearly 3AM when Chief Swan approached me. He asked me if I was here before it happened and then told me he would question me after school. He had to question the shop assistant who apparently was in a state of shock. Poor guy. I agreed and he told us to head on home. The Chief had already cleared a few spectators away and many started to leave on their own accord as well. They had seen enough and the weather was too cold for people to last much longer any way.
I drove the Volvo back with Esme, Carlisle, Jasper and Alice had taken the Mercedes that Jasper and Alice originally took to drive there, and Rosalie and Emmett drove back in the convertible which the others took to get the gas station.
Esme questioned me about what happened and why I was there in the first place, I replied vaguely saying I didn't get any sleep. I was certain that the seating arrangements were for my parents to interrogate us.
I wasn't up for answering her questions, the adenaline had worn off hours ago, leaving me drained and weak. Alice would of probably told Carlisle everything, she wasn't good at keeping secrets. Not that any of this was a secret. My parents knew of Alice's ability of seeing visions of the future. They did not shun her like usual parents, who would have sent her to an asylum. My parents knew the truth. However strange it was.
As soon as I had arrived back home and entered my bedroom, I fell on the bed and forced my eyes shut. But all I could see was the mask that my savoir wore. How cliche. Sometimes there was no other was to describe things. They had saved me for reasons that would never be known. Maybe, somehow, I could thank them. Who ever they were. What ever they were.
Bella's POV
I woke up in the recovery position, which was what I needed. Recovery. I slowly got out of bed, trying to put as little pressure on my right thigh as possible. Fuck it hurt. Thankfully the cut was at the back of my thigh and not on the side, which would of hurt if I slept on it all night. Charlie wasn't in, he must still be at the gas station. At least there was something exciting going on in this boring old town. Even if that meant Port Angeles trips to get gas.
I took a few more painkillers before taking a long cold shower. I scrapped of the dried blood on my leg and examined my arms.
They were red and had swollen slightly, but were no more than a second-degree burn.
I smiled, knowing that I didn't need to be hospitalized. There were a few blisters suggesting partial thickness burns which could take up to three weeks to heal.
Lovely.
My leg would need to be re-stitched in a couple of days, but so far, it looked very good. I got out of the shower and got changed for school. Crap. School. I had to go in today, I mean wouldn't it be a little suspicious if I didn't go?
I put on the usual, black hoodie, boots, gloves and a blue Apocalyptica t-shirt. I also put some wet cloth over my arms, and tied them around my arm, they still felt really hot. My reflection from the mirror was well, pretty bad, I had horrible black circles under my eyes and my hair was a mess. Fuck it, I thought.
I emptied out the heavy black bag from last night onto my bed. I put all of the vodka bottles in my closet, except for one which I started drinking. Mmm, I looked at the label, Jack Daniels. At least I got the good stuff, I thought to myself.
That was me, Bella, always an optimist. I then started counting the bundles of dollar notes, 100, 200... 1000. Okay one grand, four to go. 100, 200... 1000. Two grand, three left. After the next grand, there were hardly any notes left. 100, 200...589 dollars. I took another swig of the Jack Daniels, I only had 3589 dollars, I needed 1411 more fucking dollars.
I searched through my closet for my own money that I had accumulated through the last couple of years. 100, 200... 1000. 411 dollars left. 100, 200, 300, 400, 411. Yes! Thank fuck! But I had less than 100 dollars left. Let's hope I don't need money. I tied the five grand with a spare hairband, stuffing it a small black leather bag and put it in the bottom of my school bag.
It's nearly over. All I had to do was give him the money and he would be gone.
I hoped.
How hope was such a fault in our human make-up. I packed the rest of my school books and made my way out of my bedroom. I stopped at the door, hovering for a moment. Something could go wrong today. When has it ever gone right? I answered myself. I moved towards the closet, hesitating again as I opened the door. I pulled out the black case before I could change my mind and headed down the stairs.
The clock told me school had started five minutes ago. Oh well. What does school matter when you are trying to save people's lives? I knew Kyle to well. I knew what he do if he didn't get what he wanted. My hands were tied, I had to do the right thing even if it meant blowing up a gas station in the process. I locked the door and got into the Audi, noting that my leg wasn't as painful as I thought it was going to be, even with the painkillers.
I drove to school, full speed of course, listening to From the Red by Destroy the Runner. I mouthed along with the beautiful lyrics not up to screaming.
I saw the future in a tree outside.
There was your heart, and there was mine.
This love, torn apart by every word.
Is hopeless love all we have?
Is this what we dreamed?
I cannot go.
Take this heart let it die slow.
Tear away from the pain.
Tear away from the red.
Are we trading in our hearts for emptiness?
Is this love or human condition?
I close my eyes to see you.
Hope is in your name.
Where you are I cannot go.
Take, this heart and let it go
How I wish I could tear away from the pain, from the past. Only death was the option, and I couldn't die now, I had people to save. Hope is in your name? And who are you?
Edward.
I was surprised when something inside of my mind just thought his name. Maybe he was my hope. I didn't know.
I made it to school by the end of the song and parked my car in the usual spot. I smiled as I saw Edward's Volvo, what happened to it yesterday anyway? It was drizzling slightly and the grey clouds had returned, unlike yesterday where they were absent.
I walked quickly through the corridors, trying to avoid any teachers patrolling them. I was about to turn right but a large group of student swept their way in front of me. They had their bags with them and copies of Romeo and Juliet held in their hands. I recognized a few of them and I tagged along assuming they were in my Literature class.
We ended up in the auditorium, which was tiny, I had never seen one so small. Then again there weren't even four hundred students here, in this small town high school. Something caught my eye near the front seats, Alice was waving at me. I waved back, with less than a quarter of Alice's enthusiam. She was one quirky little pixie I must say. She gestured for me to come sit next to her and I shyly obliged. It's better than sitting on my own, I prayed.
"Hey Bella!" she greeted me and patted the chair next to her. We were about five rows from the front, most of the students were in front of us.
"Hey," I tried to match her enthusiam, but I didn't think anyone ever could. I sat down noticing Edward sitting next to her with his face in one of his hands. He looked troubled. Sorry again about your cell phone.
"OMG! What happened to your lip?" Alice said
Edward still hadn't looked at me, what if he knew I did it?
"Oh nothing, just bit down on it accidently," I lied, Alice didn't press it any further, for which I was glad. My lying capabilities were worse than a five year old.
Finally Edward looked up and gave me a small smile. This was reassuring, I doubt that he would smile at a thief and a blowing of gas station person. That really didn't make sense, but I knew what I was going on about. Oh and a shooter, almost forgot THAT one.
"What are you guys doing here?" Why was everyone here in fact? Was this a normal Thursday Literature get together?
"Our Literature teacher couldn't make it in today, so they jointed the first period's classes together! Isn't that great!?" I nodded in response.
"What happened to your teacher?"
"Apparently her son works, well worked, at the gas station and he seems pretty messed up so she's looking after him," I tried to hid a laugh at the thought of the guy's horrified face. I knew it wasn't right to laugh but I can remember the look on his face, it wasn't funny at the time but looking back on it now... I was so fucked up. "You heard about the gas station, right?"
"Err, yeah, it blew up or something..." I said trying to be as vague as possible. I wasn't the best at lying, well maybe the worst.
"It didn't just blow up by itself, someone robbed the place before they set fire to it. Edward here was stupid enough to be there at the time," Our gazes met Edward who looked at Alice before looking at me. He looked away not realising that Alice clearly wanted him to tell me what happened.
"Tell her what happened then!" Alice said, smacking his arm gently at his stupidity.
"Oh right, well someone robbed the place before blowing it up,"
"Little more detail, Edward,"
"Erm, well, I got out of there and the guy didn't see me. He started setting the place on fire and I couldn't help but stare, the flammes were so beautiful..." he trailed off looking into space. It took a long moment for him to snap out of it. "They saved me." he laughed slightly before a smile swept across his face.
What the hell?
"Are you okay, Edward?" Alice asked. Before Edward could reply, my Literature teacher hushed everyone in the small auditorium.
"Everyone settle down please. Thank you. As most of you know, Mrs. Carter, the other class's teacher, is unable attend school today. So we will be having an open debate on Shakespearian sonets," Murmuring erupted throughtout the hall, some of them sighs, others sounds of excitement.
"We will be comparing Sonnet 18, "Shall I Compare Thee?" and Sonnet 130, "My Mistress's eyes". We will look at how each of them portray love, and the similarities and differences between them," he began handing out sheets with the two sonnets on them. He told us to read them both in our heads, analysing the language and looking for differences and similarities.
"Shall I Compare Thee?" - Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
"My Mistress' eyes" - Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare
I read them quickly and took out a pen, writing things on the page. I made some notes on both of them in case I was asked. Other than that I zoned out.
Edward liked fire? He thought the flammes were beautiful, just as I did? How strange. And then he smiles! Smiles when he remembers me knocking him to the ground as the gas station explodes. I was sure he didn't know it was me. I mean guys can make high-pitched noises when they are hurt, right?
Alice was leaning forward as she read and wrote down notes so I stole the chance of looking at Edward. He was gorgeous. There was no doubt about that. No wonder why every girl wanted him. I snapped out of it, noticing a few girls staring at Edward, giggling and pouting. I rolled my eyes, could they be any more obvious? Did they even know what subtely was?
When everyone finished, the teacher talked to us about what each of them meant. He opened the debate, asking us which one we prefer and why. All of their girls said they would want Sonnet 18, "Shall I Compare Thee?" told be to them, as it described how beautiful they were. I huffed in disagreement and the teacher seemed to notice this.
"Miss Sparrow, would you care to tell us your opinion," I blushed slightly before the uncomfort came. Everyone was looking at me. I spoke quickly, wanting out of the spotlight.
"Sonnet 18 clearly exaggerates the woman's beauty. Shakespeare mentions nothing of love for her, only admiration. At the end he complements himself by saying that her beauty will last for as "long as men can breathe" and forever in his words. The other sonnet is truthful and honest, and he tells us that he loves his mistress no matter how pale or ugly she is. He is saying that he will love her no matter how unperfect she is, no matter how human she is and not a beautiful goddess who doesn't walk on the ground. Only with imperfections can there be true love," Everyone was looking at me, even the few people behind me, I could feel their stares. I looked down to the floor trying to rid myself of the unwelcome eyes. Finally the teacher responded.
"Well, that was...very good, Miss Sparrow," I cringed at his words. Please, let this be over quickly. "You have analysed the sonnets very well indeed, I'm impressed. I must say," Finally. He moved on to other students who voiced their own opinions. I looked up after a minute or so when I thought the stares were removed from me.
"What is with everyone and the looks?" I said to Alice, I turned to her and found myself again being stared at by both Edward and Alice. Their mouths hung open, speechless, what the hell is up with them?
"What?" I asked, finally them closed their mouths and Edward turned away as Alice talked.
"Nothing, it's just, that was AMAZING Bella!"
"Erm, okay?" I moved myself slightly away from Alice, not wondering what sort of disease I would catch off of her. Amazing? Was she serious?
The rest of the class was uneventful, except for me peering at Edward now and again. He was one weird guy, with the whole let's smile when you get knocked down by robbers blowing up the place.
Alice, Edward and myself walked out of the auditorium together. We dropped Edward off and Alice and myself walked to our next classes. She finally finished babbling about the English debate and turned to me as she asked me her question that nearly exploded out of her.
"So, you and that guy, huh?"
"What guy?"
"Yesterday, guy on the bike, afterschool,"
"Oh right. Him,"
"So, you're going out with him?"
"Fuck no!" I immediately said back, more like shout. "No, I mean, we're not," I looked away from her curious eyes.
"I, erm, better get to class, Alice," Things were getting a little too personally for my liking. I liked this girl, but I'd rather not talk about bastards from my past, like Kyle. Actually anything from my past I'd like to keep behind me, done, finished, unchangable, in the past.
"Oh yeah, sit with us at lunch?"
"Yeah, sure," she beamed as I answered, then scurried off to her next class. I opened the door to my Spanish class and took my seat the back. I gained a few stares, but it was better than the whole class. A girl in all black sat down next to me, invading my personal space. Her name was Jessica, the annoying girl from the other day. It seemed weeks ago that I came here to Forks, but it had been only a few days.
She put her hoodie up and turned to me. My mouth dropped as I saw a lip ring and overly-thick black eyeliner over her eyes. She was a complete replica of me.
Jess's POV
I put the clip-on lip ring on my lip and added some extra black eyeliner around my eyes. Perfect.
I decided to go with the whole evil look, and the all black. The new student, Isabella Sparrow, had been here three days and had already gotten in with the Cullens!
I was here before the Cullens were even here!! So why does she get to sit with them!! They never let anyone into their circle, so this Isabella girl must of bribed them or something.
I mean, like, I was so much prettier than her and I knew that with this look, Edward will be begging me for a date.
I sat down next to her in Spanish and prepared myself for conversation. I put up my hoodie, showing I meant business. I was gonna ask her questions about what sort of things she was into, like music and books, so then I'll totally be like her and then Edward will go out with me.
What an excellent plan! I was sooooooooo clever. Like MEGA-CLEVA and O-M-G that rhymed.
Bella's POV
"Hey, Isabella!"
"Bella," I snapped. How dare she copy me and then call me Isabella. She never wore black clothes, only mini shirts and pink tops. What the hell was wrong with her? Why was she copying me? Apparently imitation is meant to be the finest form of flattery. Mmmhum. What a load of crap that is.
"Like right, Bella,"
"So, you're into like emo music aren't you, I mean I like all that kinda music. MCR are my fav and I love 30 Seconds to Mars-"
"Excuse me?" I interrupted.
"You're into like emo, right?"
"God no, I hate that fucking music,"
"But your clothes..."
"Wearing black makes me an emo, makes me listen to emo music? What the fuck is wrong with you?"
"Con permiso?" my spanish teacher Senora Garza said, in English it meant excuse me, I looked round and saw her by our table with her hands on her hips.
"Lo siento, senora, pero ella es un payaso," I replied, I said I'm sorry, Miss, but she is a clown. I didn't want to get too rude, I would of said puta, which meant whore or bitch.
"Presta atención, senorita," she turned around and strolled to front of the class. I got off easy there, normally it would of been a detention if I interrupted and swore in a class like that. Maybe I was beginning to like Forks after all.
I watched Jessica in the corner of my eye removing a clearly fake lip-ring from her lips. Urgh. Why can't she just be herself? After the incident at the beginning of the class, spanish, thankfully, went by quickly and I was surprised to find Alice waiting outside for me.
"Hey, Bella!" she beamed again. I smiled at her as we began to walk down the busy corridors.
"So, about that guy, how do you know him?" why was she pressing this? Why did she want to know? I stared at the passing floor wondering what to say. Alice seemed nice, but then so did Jacob. A stab of pain impaled my heart and I stopped walking clutching my chest.
"Are you okay?"
"Fine," I lied, I took a deep breath and continued walking. Just ignore, just forget. I don't need to tell her everything. Just the bits that were meaningless.
"He was my boyfriend," I said with my teeth pressed together. Anger swam around my veins, that was good, a relief. Rage is better than sorrow. Rage can be controlled better than your sorrow.
"Oh," she simply replied.
"He's a fucking bastard, so don't go anywhere near him," I was pleased when I said this, I had a valid reason to keep her away from danger.
"Okay," we were silent for a few moments. But I guess Alice couldn't last the silence any longer.
"You still coming round ours after the party?"
"Yeah, sure,"
"It's going to be so much fun..." she continued to talk about the party again. It was nice to listen to her, then I didn't have to speak. I prefered to listen anyway.
Math and Philosophy literally passed in a second and before I knew it I was in the cafeteria with Alice again lining up to buy some food. I motioned to grab an apple, but then remembered my leg, which required lots of protein to help the tissue growth faster.
Today's special were cheeseburgers. Perfect. They were covered in greese, but other than that they looked pretty good, better than the cardboard pizza. I picked two up and covered them in ketchup, if they did taste bad, all I would taste will be the tomato sauce.
Alice had chosen a simple caesar salad and looked at my burgers in, well, horror. Although she had a terrified look on her face as she took in the greese, she didn't mention anything as we paid for our food.
We sat down at our usual table and greeted the others. They eyed my food with surprise, Emmett, however, gave me a large smile.
"They look tasty, Bella," Was he being serious?
"Yeah, I'm just a bit bored of apples," I said, trying to be indifferent, I took one of the burgers and shoved it in my mouth. Urgh. Hold on, mmm. At first they tasted disgusting, but then the ketchup came. After finishing the first burger without a breath, I noticed the others staring at me. Rosalie looked as if she was about to throw up, the same as Alice, Emmett had a large grin plastered on his face and Jasper was half way between the two expressions. Edward was staring at my mouth without much emotion, the little there seemed to be contentment of some sorts.
"What?" I asked. Alice took out a bit of tissue from her bag and wiped off some ketchup that had found a home on my nose. Well that was embarrassing.
Thankfully, the conversation picked up again, and I didn't realize that it had been silent during my scoffing. The second burger, I ate more slowly, trying the avoid any ketchup from finding homes on my face.
"I heard that the fire has finally been put out," Rosalie said drinking some water, "It took them long enough."
"With bigger gas stations, they often take days to be extinguished," Emmett replied. At least they weren't talking about the robbery. I couldn't forget my inability to lie.
"Who do you think did it, Edward?" Rosalie asked, putting the empty water bottle on the table. So much, for not talking about the robbery. See how crappy my luck is.
"I don't know," he replied simply. His eyes blazed green like an unearthly fire, how lost you could get in them. I fixed my eyes to the remains of my burger.
"They got hurt though," my heart flipped halfway before I calmed myself down. This wasn't good.
"What do you mean?" Alice said, I kept my head down. I wanted no attention to be brought on me.
"When it," he paused, "exploded. Something hit the back of their leg."
"What did?"
"I don't know, metal or something. But it hit them pretty bad,"
"Serves them right," I tried to hid my laugh. That's what everyone assumes, that they wanted to rob the place, not because they had to.
"It's my fault though,"
"What do you mean?"
"If I wasn't there, they wouldn't have gotten hurt. That person saved my life, I can't ignore that,"
"That is a good question. If they blew the place and stole all the cash, why did they save you?" I couldn't take anymore of this.
I picked up my plate, taking my bag with me, and headed over to the back of the cafeteria where you dump your plates and trays. I couldn't let my bag go wondering off anywhere, what with all the money.
The bathroom seemed a good place to go, so I locked myself in a cubicle a lit a fag. My first one today. That was strange, a few weeks ago, I was on about thirty a day, now one?
I took a nice long drag before taking out some vodka. This is me. A packet of cigarettes and a vodka bottle. Seemed about right.
The door creaked open and I recognised an annoying voice that was the last thing I wanted to hear.
"I tried, Lauren, I really did! That fake lip-ring hurt so much, I think I have permanent bruising! And like Edward didn't ask me out on a date!" I smiled as she said this. Least he has sense. I threw the fag into the toilet, glad that Edward had intelligence not to go out with an idiot like Jessica.
"I hate that Isatrella! I mean Isagella, Isabella! God! Why does she have such an ANNOYING name!" I covered my ears when she said annoying. I think I could go deaf soon.
"Look Jess, I need to tell you something," Lauren spoke at last. I thought she had a more annoying voice, but then I heard Jessita, I mean Jessiga, Jessica! God how stupid can you get?
"Is there anyone there?" Lauren asked, I put my feet up when she said this. Curiousity was not a sin, I reminded myself.
"Check under the doors," I heard movement and russling. I wonder what she would say. Probably another rumour or the latest gossip but I had a feeling it was about Lauren and myself's little encounter. Well, when I threatened to kill her, I laughed in my head.
"It's about Isabella Sparrow. You can't tell anyone but the other day she kinda pushed me in here and-" I interrupted and flung open the door.
"What was that Mallory?" Fear drowned her eyes as she backed away slightly. I stepped forward again, thinking whether I should wield the knife or not. Maybe not. Let Lauren be the crazy one, Jessica was crazy enough as it is. Lauren suddenly ran out of the bathroom at full speed, nearly tripping over her three inch heels.
Jessica had seen Lauren's fear and seemed to be confused, but then again, isn't she always.
I stepped forward again leaving about a foot between us, I looked directly through her depthless eyes. She watched me as I examined her face, covered in make-up, smudged eyeliner, no bruising of the lips I might add. I laughed, what a fake.
"Maybe you should try being yourself sometime," I left the bathroom without looking back, I wonder where Lauren had gone to?
I knew where I was going, back to the cafeteria where hope seemed to lie.
REVIEW - That's all I want for my birthday people. (No happy birthdays - don't forget - i prefer HAPPY TWILIGHT TUESDAY!! lol)
Liked it? Meh. It will get so much better, trust me.
Now I have to do three bits of coursework which are in for tomorrow! I know I leave things to the last minute, can't help it.
I didn't really have time to edit this chapter properly, so I apologise for any mistakes.