Chapter Twelve
Blood and Biology
Bella groaned when her radio alarm sounded off at half past six in the morning. A particularly loud and obnoxious commercial that was advertising used cars made her quickly turn over and hit the off switch. She shifted back on her side, giving herself a moment to ease into wakefulness before rising from bed.
She felt a rush of excitement when she remembered that Alice was coming over to pick her up for school. This meant that she was due to arrive within an hour, so Bella pulled off the covers and got out of bed. She showered and went through her usual morning rituals in the bathroom before returning to her room to get dressed. Since the days have been steadily getting chillier she put on a pull over sweater on top of her shirt and a pair of cargo pants. She put on her favorite pair of converse sneakers before going downstairs.
"Morning Charlie", she smiled as she poured cereal into a bowl for her breakfast. She grabbed some orange juice from the refrigerator before sitting down across from him at the table.
"Morning Bella. You seem to be in a better than usual mood this morning. Sleep well I take it?" he spoke between sips of coffee.
"Yeah I did."
"Glad you seem to have recovered from whatever made you sick yesterday."
"I'm feeling better and um...Alice is coming over to pick me up for school today."
"Oh, that's nice of her."
Bella nodded as she munched on her cereal. They continued their breakfast in comfortable silence for a few minutes. It was a routine they established, both enjoyed quieter company in the mornings. Bella heard the sound of Alice's car and quickly got up to put her dishes in the sink. She felt her heart start to beat faster when she heard the car door shut and knew Alice was approaching their front door. She quickly put her dishes in the sink and walked to the living room in time to hear the doorbell ring.
That tingling sensation that was a combination of nervous excitement and anticipation ran through Bella's body as she approached the door. When she opened the door and she saw Alice standing in front of her smiling in that cheery, almost impish way of hers, her own smile grew.
"Good morning Bella", Alice chimed.
"Good morning Alice", Bella wondered if it was just her imagination, but the pixie's eyes seem to shine with added sparkle and there was an extra spring in her step as she gracefully slipped inside.
"Good morning Charlie!" Alice called out when she saw him step into the living room.
"Well, top o' the morning to you too Alice. It's sweet of you to come over and take Bella to school with you today."
"Oh it's my pleasure."
He smiled at her lively manner. She seemed to light up the room with her natural perkiness. "You want some coffee before you all head off for school?"
"Oh, no thank you. Heard that stuff stunts your growth."
"Well I wouldn't want to get in the way of that miraculous growth spurt that's bound to happen any day now."
"Are you teasing me about my height?", Alice tilted her head as she regarded him with feigned offense.
"Oh...um…"
Alice started to giggle. He seemed to blush almost as easily as Bella. Maybe that's where she inherited the habit. "It's okay Charlie, I don't mind really. I'm used to it."
"Well just for the record, I think your height is just perfect."
"Why thank you, that's the nicest compliment I've received all day."
"And the day is just beginning", Bella said.
"True. So there's plenty of time for you to surpass Charlie then."
Charlie couldn't help but notice the blush that grew on Bella's cheeks just then. In fact he couldn't help but notice the gleam in both girls' eyes whenever they looked at one another. He wasn't entirely sure, but had a pretty good idea of what it all meant. It wasn't something he was prepared to deal with at the moment though.
"Well uh...you two girls have a good day at school now. I need to get to work and get a head start on all that paperwork waiting for me on my desk. Bella, don't forget to lock up before you leave." He made quick work of grabbing his jacket and holster before heading out the door.
"Bye Charlie", both girls said simultaneously as he left them alone.
Both girls looked at one another in silence for a moment, conscious of finally finding themselves alone together. Bella was momentarily speechless as she regarded the enormously delighted expression on Alice's face. Her smile was wide and full of delight, amplified by a pair of gorgeous dimples. Her large eyes sparkled with puckish delight, as if relishing a newly found secret. Bella was entranced by the exquisite beauty of her face, while curious as to the cause of her gleeful expression. Suddenly, fragments of a dream played back in her mind. A spectrum of evanescent images fueled by naked desire and all-pervading passion danced across her mind's eye. The unexpected memory of it made her blush tomato red.
"All you alright?" Alice asked bemusedly as she took in the flush of the girl's cheeks.
Bella barely registered the question. For a moment she was lost in her reverie with a faraway dreamy look in her eyes as she gazed at Alice.
"Bella?" Alice raised an eyebrow as she looked inquiringly into her dazed looking eyes.
Bella mentally shook herself out of her semi-dream state and pulled attention back to the present. The questioning look on Alice's face was cue enough for her to form some kind of a response.
She quickly licked her lips as she spoke, "Um…Sh-should we get going now?"
"We have a few minutes yet. Or are you really in such a hurry to get to school?" Alice smiled at Bella's sudden nervousness.
"Uh no…no hurry really. You want some juice or anything before we go?"
Alice took a step closer to Bella, both feeling the invisible pull between them. "Thank you, but there's only one thing I want from you at this moment."
"Oh…what's that?" Bella's voice took on a lower octave as she now spoke barely above a whisper.
Alice closed the short distance between them, reaching up with small pale hands to gently grasp her shoulders. Bella felt tingles where her cool hands rested. Bella wrapped her hands around the smaller girl's hips, her chocolate brown eyes focused on Alice's inviting lips.
"What do you think?" Alice softly breathed out. The seductive quality of her voice was beyond enticing, surpassing the most alluring of any siren's song. It was more than a physical appeal, it tugged at the core essence of one's being. Bella felt her heart racing as Alice's porcelain face came even closer.
Bella could think of no better response then to lean down, bringing her lips closer to hers until they met in a kiss. She vaguely detected the taste of cherry on Alice's lips, probably from the lip gloss she was using. It made the kiss even sweeter and Bella savored the delicious taste and slippery sensation of their lips pressing and gliding against each other. A moan escaped Bella's mouth and she tightened her hold on Alice's waist. Her tongue slid out eager to take in more of the sweetness as she brushed past Alice's parting lips. Alice allowed her access and took a minute to enjoy the sensation of her warm tongue twirling and dancing with her own. The kiss lasted for a full minute before either one was willing to part from it.
Bella still had her eyes closed as Alice slowly eased away from her lips.
"Mmm…Alice…" she sighed out dreamily.
Alice wrapped her arms around her waist as she leaned her head against her chest while she spoke. "I'm tempted to spend the whole day just doing this. But I've gotten you into enough trouble already. I suppose we should get going now, don't want to be late for schools now do we?"
Bella slowly opened her eyes and sighed. She inhaled the sweet scent of Alice's hair as a few spikey strands tickled her neck. She ran her fingers through her soft, short hair as she relished this moment of being alone with her. She wanted it to last forever, or at least for the day. She could think of more fun things to be doing with Alice than heading off for school. But Alice was right, school first and hopefully later she can continue with more fun activities with Alice.
"Yeah, I guess we should get going", she said with such sadness which made Alice giggle.
"Oh it's only school. How bad can it be?"
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When they both arrived at their biology classroom they were dismayed to see Edward was already seated in his usual place at the table he shared with Bella. Alice had seen him wavering in his decision whether to attend school today or not, but wasn't surprised to find him there since they saw his car parked outside before they entered the building.
Edward gave Bella a wry smile as he tilted his head in her direction. "Good morning Bella."
"Hi Edward", Bella offered him a quick glance before taking her seat. She hoped things weren't going to be too awkward with him. She couldn't avoid him entirely, she sat next to him in biology, and there was that familial connection he had with Alice.
Alice only glanced at him silently in passing. Edward had avoided looking directly at her as she took her seat behind them. There had been an uncomfortable silence between them since the previous days fight. There was a discussion among family members whether Edward should take time away from the family, maybe have him visit the Denali coven. Since Edward was away and wasn't in attendance during this meeting, they decided to wait and see whether Edward would come to this decision on his own. Everyone agreed that if Edward were to get physically violent with Alice again he would then not be given a choice in this matter. He would be shipped off whether he liked it or not, and wouldn't be allowed to come back until he had plenty of time to cool off and come back to his senses. Alice could only hope that he would eventually accept her relationship with Bella, but took it as a bad sign that he even bothered to show up for school that day.
The other students had all taken their seat when their teacher, Mr. Molina arrived to start the class.
Bella was dismayed when she discovered they were to dissect frogs for that day. In Phoenix they surpassed such primitive methods for learning about the internal organs of the animals, using computer generated methods to learn about the placement of their internal organs instead. But here in this small town school some of the teachers still used old school methods, and she was faced with having to go through this unpleasant lesson the old fashion way.
"Now I know some of you may find this unpleasant. But I believe there's nothing like using the standard hands on method of learning the external and internal structures of frog anatomy. Remember, they are already dead, you're not actually harming the creatures", Mr. Molina spoke.
Yeah, they're dead now…killed off just for a stupid high school biology class…" Bella sadly thought. Since it was a relatively small class with less than twenty students, each student had the luxury of having their own lifeless frog to work with. Bella stared at hers with a mixture of pity and disgust.
Bella briefly considered sitting this one out. The stench of the preservatives used on the frogs permeated the room and filled her nostrils. It was already enough to make her want to throw up. But she didn't want Charlie to get yet another call from school, this time informing him that his daughter refused to participate in class. It was not likely they would call the Chief of Police for such a thing, but she didn't want to take the chance of it getting back to him somehow. She decided she would just suck it up, and try to get through it best as possible.
She looked down at the dead creature, laying belly up on the dissection tray. She wondered where they got these frogs from. Did this frog once live in a pond or do they grow these in batches at some kind of frog farm? She preferred to think this poor creature whose life was cut short at least had a natural one. It was easier to imagine this frog sitting on a lily pad in some a lovely pond, where it could enjoy the sunshine and fresh air, before being snatched away by the frog killers. For the first time since she became involved with Alice she silently cursed being stuck in a small town, with their outdated way of teaching biology.
"A nice clean incision down the center starting at the pharynx, then down the frog's cloaca, located between the hind legs", Mr. Molina directed the class as he walked to and fro between rows in order to inspect the students' progress.
Bella tried to steal herself as she picked up the shiny scalpel on the side of the tray. I'm sorry….she silently thought to the frog as she pointed the scalpel at the frog's throat. Her hand started to shake as she was just about to cut into the skin.
"Bella stop!" Alice cried out. Bella jumped and dropped the scalpel where it landed on the floor and rolled under the table. She was startled by the sudden alarm in Alice's voice. Everyone in class had stopped what they were doing and were now staring at both of them. Bella turned to look at Alice with a look of confusion.
"Alice...Bella is there a problem?" Mr. Molina asked with mild irritation.
Alice now had to think of something to say. She had just foreseen the events that would take place once the queasy brunette cut into the frog. Bella, overcome by the stench and sight of the exposed frog innards causing her to faint, and during that fall her head would have hit hard against the lab table. The end result being her having to be carried out of class with a mild concussion. She wanted to prevent the pain and embarrassment it would cause her and instinctively called out to her.
Just as she was about to come up with some excuse, she saw Bella bending over, trying to locate the lost scalpel. "Bella wait…"
Bella had to stretch to grab the lost scalpel that rolled under the table. It was just beyond her reach and she strained to get hold of it. Her fingers felt the touch of cold steel. Just when she started to get a handle on it she fumbled at the sound of Alice's voice. The razor sharp end sliced across the tip of her finger. She winced as she pulled herself back up and looked at her finger where blood started to seep from the small cut.
The scent of her blood hit Edward like a bolt of lightning and sent all his senses reeling. His skin prickled all over and his nostrils flared at the overwhelming scent…it was intoxicating. His eyes shot down to Bella's hand. It took all his willpower not to jump her then and there and drain every last ounce of her blood. A desperate sounding whine escaped his lips which caused Bella to spin her head towards him. She was horrified by what she saw. His face was contorted in a look of pure agony. His widened eyes were savage looking and pitch black. They were intensely focused on her bleeding finger. He covered his mouth and nostrils with a hand and bolted out of the classroom without a word.
"Edward! What is the problem?" Mr. Molina called out when he saw him quickly departing, but the boy said nothing and was gone.
Bella turned to look behind her where Alice stood. Her surprise escalated further when she saw an identical look in Alice's eyes. Large black orbs with that frighteningly feral quality about them. It made Bella feel extremely uneasy. Alice was trembling and also looked in pain. Her eyes were sharply focused on the bleeding finger before she seemed to jerk her head to the side as if to tear herself away from the sight. She heard of people reacting badly to the sight of blood, but nothing like this. It was a relatively minor cut. It wasn't like she cut off a finger or something. What the hell was wrong with them?
With shaking voice Alice finally spoke. "Mm-Mr. Molina, Edward…doesn't do well with blood. M-may I be excused to go and look after him?"
"Yes Alice, you may be excused. Go and make sure your brother is all right."
Alice quickly gathered her books shoving them into her bag and hurried out of the class room before Mr. Molina finished writing up a hall pass. He sighed while dropping the note back down on his desk. He glanced over at Bella who was standing motionless as she stared with a confused expression at the small cut on her finger that was oozing blood.
"Oh Bella, you better go to the nurse's office and get a band aid for that cut."
"Uh…Mr. Molina…can I be excused too? I-I'm not feeling well…" Mike moaned out weakly. His puffy face had turned into a sickly shade of green. Since cutting into his frog a feeling of nausea overcame him. "I think I'm gonna be si-", he quickly heaved over to the side of the table and proceeded to vomit his breakfast onto the classroom floor.
Various cries of "Ewww!" and "Gross!" permeated throughout the classroom. The sight of Mike throwing up combined with the mixed stench of puke and dead frogs was enough to send other stomachs churning. Before the period was over several more students had to be excused from the room.
Mr. Molina held his head in his hands and groaned. What should have been a routine class on the anatomy of frogs had turned into a nightmare. Next year he was going to insist this lesson be taught with computer simulations. Or even plastic replicas…anything but real frogs. He rubbed his temples and wondered if the school nurse had anything strong enough to quell the migraine that threatened to ruin the rest of his day.
Alice took a few deep breaths of fresh air when she reached outside the building. She knew Edward had already taken off. She just needed to get out of that classroom…away from Bella's blood. For a few seconds after Bella started to bleed she was frightened out of her mind. Struggling with her own blood lust was bad enough, but for terrifying moment she thought she would have to prevent Edward from attacking Bella. Those few seconds of uncertainty were the most terrifying moments she ever experienced, as far as she could remember.
She was glad when he had the sense to run out of class. If she had to she would have thrown herself in front of Bella to stop Edward any way she could. She was just relieved it hadn't come to that. Preventing one accident from happening had nearly incited a disastrous event, one that could have resulted in death. She decided she couldn't go back into the building until she calmed herself further. It was necessary to get away for a while at least, so she got into her car and went for a drive.
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When lunch time came Bella went to her usual table. She sat next to Angela and Ben and they were shortly joined by Jessica.
"So, I hear you cut off a finger or something in biology today Bella", Jessica piped up as soon as she sat down.
Bella held up both hands. A bandage was wrapped around the tip of her index finger. "Still have all ten of them", Bella replied.
"It's a wonder you haven't lost a limb yet with how klutzy you are", Jessica giggled. She continued, "I also heard that that Edward went all spazz when he saw you squirting blood and Alice went chasing after him."
"Uh huh", was Bella's noncommittal response. She put a forkful of the school's insipid version of mac and cheese in her mouth.
"And Mike puked all over the dead frogs nearly causing a chain reaction."
"Gross. Can you please not talk about blood, puke and dead frogs while we're eating?" Angela scowled at Jessica.
"I heard the nurse let him go home", Ben added.
Jessica shrugged. She looked keenly at Bella as she continued. "Well yesterday we were all so surprised when we saw you sitting with Edward during lunch. I mean, he usually acts like he's too good for everybody at this school. So what's going on with you two are you like dating or something?"
"No we're not dating." Bella continued to eat her lunch. She didn't like all the attention Jessica kept shifting towards her.
Bella glanced at the table where the Cullens usually sat. There was only Rosalie and Emmett. It was a little unsettling how both simultaneously looked back at her when she looked at them. She quickly turned back to her lunch. It seemed strange not to see Alice and Edward sitting there with them. It worried her that Alice never returned after leaving during class. Was she not coming back at all today? Before she sat down for lunch she had thought about going over to them and asking about Alice, but her usual shyness prevented her from being that forward. She's yet to speak to either of those two Cullens, and it just seemed too awkward to just go up to them and question them about Alice.
Jessica's eyes followed in the direction where Bella's gaze had been. "You should be careful about hanging around them. There's something weird about those Cullens. Besides, they usually keep to themselves. Like they think they're above everybody else."
Bella narrowed her eyes at Jessica. Usually she ignored her gossiping nature, but it was starting to irritate her. She disliked how some people were quick to form critical opinions about others, especially if they were just simply different.
"Alice isn't like that, she's quite nice."
Jessica leaned forward and spoke in hushed tones. "Well since you brought her up...I mean I didn't want to be the one to tell you this, but you really should be careful about being seen with Alice especially."
"Oh, why is that?" Bella asked as she looked into her eyes. She didn't like where this was going but couldn't see herself evading this conversation entirely.
"Well everybody here knows that she bats for the team of alternative lifestyle."
"Excuse me?"
Jessica rolled her eyes. How dense can this girl be anyway?
"She's into girls. You know, like in a GAY way."
"And I should have a problem with that?"
"I'm just saying…you should be careful if you don't want to get a queer reputation too."
"Well I'm not overly concerned with getting a reputation. In fact I don't mind if I do play on the same team as Alice. At least she doesn't try and get into other people's business." Bella got up from her seat. "Excuse me, I think I've had enough lunch for today." She went to empty her tray and left the cafeteria.
Angela quietly chuckled at the look of shock on Jessica's face.
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Alice pulled her car into the school's parking lot. She just returned from spending a good part of the day driving around some of the more scenic areas around Forks. She also took the time to hunt to ease the ache she felt ever since the scent of Bella's blood inflamed her hunger. She still felt the pull of her blood, its scent the most enticing she ever encountered. The memory of being that close to it was powerful enough to alarm the beast inside her. It was only after spending several hours out in the forests where she felt most at peace that she could realign herself, get a firmer handle on her more rational side. She had also spent the time to monitor Edward's whereabouts and found that he was currently at home listening to music in his room, trying to relax. He was also struggling with his vampire's instincts right now and wouldn't have been able to return to school right away without endangering others, Bella especially. She hoped that he would stay away from school for at least a day or two, but could see no definite decision on his part for the moment. By now Bella must have visited the school nurse and had her finger cleaned and bandaged. Alice felt like she could now handle being near enough to Bella to at least give her a ride home.
Bella was surprised and relieved when she saw Alice waiting for her in the parking lot. Alice smiled at her as she leaned against the front of her Porsche. She picked up her pace and walked quickly toward her.
"Hi. I wasn't sure I'd see you again today", Bella looked pleased to see her again, even if she found the whole incident more than a little bizarre.
"Well I brought you to school. The least I could do is make sure I return you home." Alice opened the door for her and waited for Bella to get inside before closing it and going around the car to the driver's side.
As soon as Alice sat inside Bella asked, "So is Edward okay?"
"Yes, he's fine now. You know he just hasn't been himself lately. It's probably one of those bugs going around that I hear about." She started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot.
"Oh…okay. And you Alice…are you alright?"
"Yes, why shouldn't I be?" Alice spoke with easy casualness as she increased her driving speed when they hit the main road in the direction of Bella's house.
"Well you seemed shaken too. I mean…I could have sworn I saw your eyes turn black when I accidently cut myself in class. And why did you try to stop me from cutting the frog anyway? Not that I really wanted to in the first place but…" Bella became quiet and waited for Alice to respond.
"Well I could tell that it was something you really didn't want to do. And you shouldn't be forced to do something like that if it bothered you so much."
Bella regarded Alice for a moment.
"Your eyes…."
Alice turned to look at Bella for a second before returning her eyes back on the road. She said nothing as she continued to drive.
"Alice your eyes are light again. Why were they black before?"
"It must be the lighting they use in school", Alice knew it sounded weak even as she heard herself say it.
She moved her foot from the accelerator to the brake to slow the car to a crawling pace. Just then a deer bounded from one side of the road in front of them and quickly darted to the other side.
Alice moved back on the accelerator and resumed her previous speed.
"Okay Alice…what was that?" There was a note of anxiety in Bella's voice as she stared in bewilderment at Alice.
"I think that was a blacktail deer."
"No! I mean…of course that was a deer, but how did you know when to slow down like that?"
"I saw the deer on the side of the road. Wouldn't want it to meet a bad end against the front of my Porsche now would we?"
"I didn't see that deer until it darted out in front of us."
"Good thing I'm the one driving then isn't it?"
"Alice!"
"What?"
"There's no way you could have known that deer was coming so soon…"
Alice thought a moment. She made a decision in her mind and saw an acceptable response.
"Well I have this ability to sometimes see things before they happen…"
"So you're saying you're psychic?"
"I guess you could say that. I get these visions of future events, but it's subjective. It's not always accurate. Things can change depending on the decisions the people involved make."
"Wow…that's really….amazing Alice", Bella responded sounding impressed but fairly calm about this revelation. Then a thought occurred to her.
"S-so is that the reason you wanted me to stop during class today?"
"Yes. I saw you having a fainting spell and hitting your head against the table. I'm sorry if I startled you, it was a last minute vision and I guess I panicked. I didn't want to see you get hurt. As it turned out you ended up getting hurt anyway when you cut yourself."
"It's alright Alice, you were just trying to look out for me…I appreciate that. And the cut wasn't really that serious."
If you only knew how serious it really was… Alice silently mused.
They arrived in front of Bella's house. Alice parked the car in the driveway. They sat in silence for a moment then Alice reached out for Bella's uninjured hand.
"I don't ever want to see you get hurt Bella", Alice quietly spoke.
Bella reached out and cupped her cheek in her hand. She used the same hand with the cut finger and felt Alice shiver at her touch.
"Alice…", Bella breathed out softly as she gazed intently at her face. A face that was divinely beautiful, almost inhuman in its flawless perfection. She looked into large amber colored eyes and could sense a withholding of something…she wished she knew what. She wanted to hold Alice and ease whatever it was that seemed to trouble her.
"Will you come inside?"
Alice hesitated. "I'd like to Bella, but right now isn't a good time."
Bella was disappointed and sighed. She really hoped to spend more time alone with her. She nodded then leaned towards her and kissed her gently on the lips. They both said goodbye before Bella got out of the car. She stood in the driveway and waved at Alice as she pulled away.
To Be Continued...
A/N:
As always, reviews are appreciated.