CHAPTER FIVE

I wasn't able to return to Horizons for a couple of days. Unfortunately between the dirt, blood and black mascara, my bright ass yellow shirt was anything but bright ass. I had to send it to the cleaners and I decided right then that if the cleaners couldn't get the stains out then I would take it as a sign to not return to the soup kitchen.

"Great. Just fucking perfect." I shook my head, "You got all the damn stains out."

I huffed irritated while inspecting the shirt. I slammed my money down on the counter and grabbed the shirt, "Thanks for nothing." I grumbled to the cleaner lady.

Now there were no more excuses.

Once again I found myself sitting in my car in front of that heinous yellow building. It was nearly one p.m. when I arrived and I did that on purpose. The plan was to get in the serving line, don't look at anyone, just do my job and get out. Easy peasy, as Alice would say.

I went through the back exit since I didn't want to disrupt the line already forming outside.

"Bella!" Alice gasped. "Uh…I didn't think you were coming back."

"Oh…well…I never said that. I just…forgot to say goodbye last time. I had an emergency come up and I had to…go…and…do…that." Was I like the world's worst liar? Even I wanted to call bull shit on my bull shit.

"Oh…well great! I could really use you today. I had a whole group cancel on me at the last-minute so it's just going to be the three of us."

"Three of us?" I asked hoping she wouldn't say homeless dude's name.

"Yeah, you me and Emilio will take the serving line. So I hope you don't mind covering two stations."

"NO! GREAT!" I startled her with a scream. "I am just…way pumped to do this."

Alice took a step back from me and looked me over once again, probably checking if she could see any sign of drug use to explain my sudden upper.

"Okay…great!" She shook her head and walked toward the kitchen. I went to the lockers and locked up my things before going to join her. I kept telling myself over and over to just chillax but I didn't know what my nerves were for. It's not like I didn't know what to expect.

I walked through the swinging door and there was Edward. Never mind I'll take the long way around. I literally walked in and then did a wide circle to walk back out the door I came from.

"Bella."

He doesn't exist. Don't engage.

I went all the way down the hall and back out toward the cafeteria to the serving line. I grabbed my apron and started putting it on.

"Bella, you came back."

You're not there. Homeless dude doesn't exist. He is just a figment of your imagination. Concentrate on tying your damn apron strings.

"Is everything okay?" He pressed.

I turned and walked toward the serving area.

"Really? You're silence treatmenting me?"

I stared ahead not responding.

"Have I done something wrong? Did I…breathe in your personal air space?" he walked closer. "Did I…hold you up from a sale at Barney's or something?"

YES YOU DID!

I felt my hands squeeze tight thinking back to those gorgeous heels that fell out of my grasp.

"Ugh…I can't keep up with you. You are something else, Swan." He sighed.

"Hey! How did you know my name?" I instantly thawed.

"What? Is someone speaking to me now? It sounded like a noise but…that can't be right." He mocked.

"Edward, how did you know my name?" I demanded.

He stood there with his arms folded over his chest and tightened his lips together. He gave me an all-knowing superior look and then turned on his heel to walk away.

Oooo that homeless dude really burns me up.

"Who is this, hottie?" I heard a voice from behind me. I turned and was greeted with a new vial creature, liking his lips and practically wiggling his eyebrows at me.

"Ugh." I turned back to my station not even bothering with that.

"I'm Emilio…what did you do baby to end up here?"

"End up here?" I asked peeved. "I didn't do anything. I'm not homeless. I am not a baby and I am just here to volunteer. I don't want to talk to you so I suggest you step back, homeboy."

This was so not my day.

Edward walked through the kitchen door carrying a large heavy tray.

"You are saucy. How bouts you and me go and get a drink after this." Emilio pushed.

Edward dropped the tray down on the table right in front of me and my apron was splashed with the days special.

"Dude, what the fuck!" I screamed.

"Sorry." He shrugged and started walking back toward the kitchen.

"All righty people. I'm going to open the doors. Are you ready?" Alice chirped.

Let's just get this over with.

I did what I had planned. I didn't make eye contact with anyone this time. With my right hand I just dropped a roll onto their plates with my tongs and served up the spaghetti slop with my left. I could hear Emilio making kissy noises at me from nearby but I never responded. Alice was all over the place. She was on waitress duty or something. If she thought we were going to have more of a certain item, she would go out with a tray and serve leftovers. Thank god, I didn't have to do that.

The line was finally dying down and I hadn't seen or heard any more from Edward until it came to closing time. He came out to start collecting the dirty pans to bring them back to the kitchen.

I felt a hand on my ass and it didn't take me two guess on whose it was.

"Emilio." Edward shouted but I already went into action.

I shoved Emilio straight up against the wall with my forearm as hard as I could.

"I have had a very bad fucking day, you touch me again and I will shove your hands so far up your ass, you will be able to tickle your lungs. " I let him go and stepped back my eyes glaring.

"What the fuck, bitch!"

Edward grabbed Emilio by the back of the neck and walked him toward the exit.

"Edward! What's going on?" Alice gasped when she came in from locking the doors.

"This asshole got handsy with Bella. I'm kicking him out." He barked.

"Oh…uh…Emilio! You know I'm not going to sign off on your hours now. Now get going before I call your parole officer." I was surprised the little sprite had it in her to be so gruff.

Alice walked over to me, "Are you okay? I am so sorry."

I shook it off, "I'm fine. It's cool." I pulled my apron off and started to go and hang it on the wall.

"I hope you won't quit again. I could really use the help." She pleaded.

"Quit?"

"Well, Edward…told me that he…lost his temper with you and that's why you left last time. Edward is a really great guy, I want you to know that but he gets passionate about the things he loves and he didn't mean to hurt you."

"He didn't hurt me. You have to care about someone for them to hurt you and I don't even know him so…I don't care what he has to say to me."

"I made sure he was off property." Edward announced as he walked back into the cafeteria.

"Thank you, Edward. I better go and call his parole officer and inform him that he is no longer working here." Alice sighed.

I however had pots and pans to wash.

"Are you okay, Bella? I mean I know you…handled yourself which I have to say was pretty incredible but are you okay?" Edward asked sincerely.

"Yep. Fine." I turned and walked toward the door to get started on pots and pans.

"Well when you leave tonight, I'll walk you to your car. Emilio is part of a street gang and I wouldn't want him to try to retaliate." Edward followed me.

"Don't sweat it. My father has more money than his silly little street gang. He wouldn't dare." I replied putting my gloves on.

"That's…just ignorant." Edward remarked.

I felt my back stiffen but I kept my cool, "Fine, I'm ignorant."

I squirt the soap into the basin of the sink and forged onward.

"Bella, did I…do something to upset you? Can you at least help me out over here?"

I used my sponge and grime in the pans to take my anger out on.

"You are really pissed off at me…I don't know what I did but I am sincerely apologizing for…doing whatever it is…if I have wronged you in any way…."

"I just want to be left alone. I'm here for three more days work and then I can finally leave and put this whole…nightmare behind me." I lashed out.

"Three days?" Edward questioned.

I didn't respond.

He slowly nodded his head, "All right…I'll leave you alone."

He sighed and then turned back to his stove to start cleaning up the mess there. I was still trying to get the disgusting grease or whatever the hell I had my arms elbow deep in, clean as well. I didn't want to be a bitch to him but I just needed him to keep his distance from me.

Edward had that annoying ability to make my head hurt with…thoughts and refection. If my grandfather wanted me to spend four days here before he would help me out then that is what I was going to do but I wasn't here to make friends. Besides what kind of friends could Edward and I really be? He was…well wherever he was in his life, sleeping around town under park benches or whatever the fuck and I was completely opposite. Being friends with him would just make me feel guilty all the time. I could quite literally let him stay in one of the wings to my home and never actually have to see him but why would I allow a complete stranger to stay at my house. And that is what Edward was; a complete stranger.

I could tell that he was watching me even though my back was turned slightly to him.

"How's it going in here, guys?" Alice's perky voice was for once a welcome relief.

"I'm all done but maybe I should help Bella out on dishes…she's only been able to get the one pan done." Edward remarked.

"Hey, I'm working as fast and efficient as I can. I don't want to serve these people on dirty gross dishes. Is that a problem for you, Edward?"

He looked taken aback by my tone but then I saw the change in his eyes. Just like before when he threw my hamburger away.

"It's not a problem for me Miss Swan; I guess I just wanted to make sure that us lowly people get a bite to eat tonight but seeing how much soap you're using, I don't even think the food will be edible."

"Like you would know what clean is?" I sniped.

"Okay. Enough!" Alice intervened. "What is going on here?"

"Didn't you hear, Alice…this is Bella's sink. Bella's pots and pans. Bella's soup kitchen. Or that's what she's claiming."

My mouth dropped open in shock as he brought up our conversation from the other day.

"You lying manipulative bastard. That is not what I said. You're the one who alluded to that." I yelled.

"You act so damn high and mighty…"

"EDWARD!" Alice scolded. "Go! Right now…just go out back and cool down."

Alice pointed toward the back exit and even though she was small, she certainly was mighty. Edward threw down his sponge and ripped off his apron before storming out of the kitchen. I turned back to the sink and stared down at the pot I had been working on. Edward was right, it was perfectly clean and if I kept going at this pace, no one would eat tonight and it would be all my fault.

"I'm…going to ask my husband to come in and help you…is that okay?" Alice approached with caution.

"I'd appreciate it." I replied softly.

Alice left to go and get Jasper. She talked a lot about him on that tour but I had yet to meet him. I was surprised when he walked through the door. I swear he seemed ten feet tall next to tiny Alice. He was super thin but disproportionate with his clear muscled arms. Glasses that made him look like a nerd but that could just be due to poor styling choices.

"This is my honey Jasper. Jasper this is Bella…she's new…" Alice looked confused as to what she should say in my introduction.

I gave him a polite smile and nod as Alice left to probably go and deal with Edward.

"So, the dreaded dishes. I told Alice when we agreed to start this program that dishes were something we would definitely have issues with. Even at home we argue over who has to do them." Jasper started off.

Great, just what I needed, another chatterbox. I stared straight at the sink and kept on scrubbing.

"Edward's a really great guy…it's just that he sometimes gets really…involved. He cares a lot about other people and he is a great cook…"

"What are you like…his pimp. I don't care about Edward, all I wanted to do was come here and help out for a little bit but suddenly things get complicated and he doesn't want to understand that I just want to be left alone. I'm sorry I'm a bitch but I just didn't know that volunteering my time would mean that I had to become friends with everyone."

I knew I was being rude but I didn't understand why this was becoming so hard. Why was everyone so obsessed with me?

"Well if there is something I have learned in this world, it would be that you can never have too many friends." Jasper replied.

I didn't respond.

"And I don't think you're a bitch."

I was totally PMS-ing. That was the only way I could explain why hearing those words come out of Jasper's mouth would cause me tear up.

"Haven't you heard? I'm Richie bitch…I mean you said yourself what a stand up guy Edward is…so if he say's it, it must be true." Great, now my tears were brimming and I did everything I could to keep them from falling into my sink basin. "I'm sorry…I…I…just can't do this."

I pulled off my gloves quickly, "I'm sorry."

"Bella, wait."

I hated crying in front of people. It made me feel weak. Something was terribly wrong with me. And just like before I tore open my locker and fled to my car. I collapsed into a full blown panic slash crying jag. I couldn't even start my car up because I could barely see through my tears to find the ignition.

Everything in my life was perfect until that stupid Jacob Black bet. It was ruining my life and I had no choice but to forge on because there was no way my father was ever going to lend me his yacht. I was so incredibly screwed and there was no solution in sight.

A knock on my driver's side window brought me back into reality. I didn't want to see who it was. My hand trembled as I put the key into the ignition and started the car. My door suddenly opened and I gasped to see Edward standing there in his dirty plaid shirt.

"You're in no condition to drive. Turn the car off." He ordered.

For a second I felt something foreign but that feeling quickly vanished and turned into anger.

"Would you leave me the fuck alone?" I screamed as I got out of the car and advanced on him, "Ever since I met you, ever since I came to this…this…place, my life has just gotten worse and worse. I used to be happy. I used to be able to shop without even thinking about how many days Edward would have to work to earn enough for this bill. And I know that all you want is for me to feel shitty about myself and my life so congradu-fuckin-lations, you a regular miracle worker; I do. Pat yourself on the back asshole and for the last fucking time, LEAVE ME ALONE!"

My chest heaved with the breaths I was trying to catch. Once again my bright ass yellow shirt had stains of black upon it. Edward just stared at me and I at him. I had asked him to leave but he wasn't moving. He wasn't saying anything or arguing with me. He was just there…standing. But I wasn't leaving either. I could just turn around now and get back into my car but I couldn't move. The only thing that seemed to be working on me at that moment was my damned tear ducts.

"Isabella Swan…Swan…what an appropriate name." Edward said softly.

"What are you babbling about?" I asked exasperated.

"It's just…you remind me of the fairy tale. You know about the ugly duckling that…" he sighed, "thinks she's ugly because she doesn't fit in anywhere and all the other birds keep telling her she is ugly and then finally finds where she is supposed to be and it turns out she wasn't an ugly duckling after all, she was a swan."

How the hell was I supposed to respond to that? Was he calling me ugly? No…I think it was a compliment.

"Can I show you something?" he asked pulling me out of my reverie.

I took a step back, "uh…no…I…" I shook my head.

"Look, I promise if you just let me show you something then I will leave you alone after that, if that is what you wish."

I sighed, "I can't…I'm all blotchy."

Ever so slowly Edward walked a couple of paces forward and gradually extended his hands out to me. He took his thumbs and placed them right beneath my eyes and wiped my black eye liner away.

"There. All better."

There was that feeling again. What was it? It was so incredibly foreign that it took all my brain power to work it out. What was I feeling toward Edward?

Trust.

Something I hadn't known in years.

"Can I show you now?"

Like a mute I just responded with a slow shaky head nod. Edward walked over to my car and stopped the engine when he turned and pulled out my key. He locked the car and then handed me the keys. He didn't walk back toward Horizons; instead he walked away from it.

I followed him confused as to where we were going. Normally I wouldn't follow a complete stranger to an unknown place down in the bad parts of Los Angeles but there was that foreign feeling welling up in my chest that pushed my legs forward.

We came to this park and I was surprised how peaceful and beautiful it was. We walked through a fence and there were all these food trucks lined up on one side.

"You must be hungry. Do you want Mexican? Gourmet grilled cheese? My treat." Edward explained holding his hand out toward the trucks.

"Uh…" I walked forward a little perplexed. "No offense but shouldn't I pay. I wouldn't feel right taking money from a homeless…"

"Can you just not see me for one minute as a homeless person? There's more to me then my lack of zip code, Bella. I…upset you and I just want to buy you some lunch to make up for it."

"Fine…a grilled cheese but I highly doubt there's anything gourmet about it." I rolled my eyes.

We walked over to the truck and I couldn't fathom the menu. So many different ways to make a grilled cheese and all of them made my mouth water. Edward ordered for us and pulled out his money clip from his pocket to pay. The stack was small and looked mostly of ones and fives but what I couldn't get over was the money clip. Gold with some initials embossed into it. It looked like it could be worth a pretty penny.

"There are some tables over there or if you are really interested in an adventure the ground underneath those trees are really nice…" He offered.

I looked around at my surroundings and felt like the needle in a very urban haystack.

"Grass is fine." I muttered. Edward looked surprised. "What? I can rough it sometimes."

"All right, Miss Swan." He picked up our plates and proceeded toward the grassy shady area.

"You never told me how you knew my name."

"Let's just say I have friends in low places." He smiled over to me and I stopped walking, folding my arms over my chest as I gave him an indignant look.

He sighed and dropped down to the ground, "You're going to make me give away all my secrets?"

He held up my plate for me to take it but I held on strong.

"I have a friend who works at the police department. I gave him your license plate number and he ran it. Geez, will you eat now?"

I took the plate and sat down, "Why would you care what my last name was?"

"Well, I didn't think you were just going to give it to me and after you left so hurriedly the last time, I figured if I needed to track you down to give you an apology then that would be the best way to do it. I didn't want to have to sit outside Barney's waiting for your AMEX to strike again. Plus the people over there never give me money so…I would be without an income."

I didn't know how I felt about his little confession. Why would anyone go through so much trouble just to apologize?

"So what did you want to show me?" I asked plunging into my grilled cheese with caramelized onions.

"That." He said pointing toward the food trucks.

"Food truck?" I asked confused.

"I've been thinking…I feel like I found my calling. The past couple of weeks I have been really reflecting on my life. How I want to leave this world and know that I contributed something to it. I have you to thank for that and I came to this realization that a food truck is what I wanted to pursue. I want to start up a food truck for the homeless. A meals on wheels which would be donation operated and a place where people could go and get a really good meal."

"Why would you want to tell me this?"

"Because like I said, you helped inspire me."

"Inspire you…to not want to be someone like me…someone who hasn't contributed anything to this world." I swallowed harshly never prouder of myself.

"I don't believe that at all. I don't think you're as bad as you think you are. I'm sorry for ever making you feel that way. It was wrong of me to judge you when I didn't even know you." He said sincerely.

"Why? I judged you. I still judge you…all the time."

"But that's because you still don't know me."

I bit my nail, my gourmet sandwich long forgotten.

"So what do you think about my food truck idea?" He asked timidly.

"It's…going to be really expensive. Especially if you keep giving your money away to Horizons."

"I was actually thinking of bringing Horizon's in on it and having this be a mobile version…"

"You think that banana queen Alice is going to fund your truck?"

"Well no not all but like I said it will be donation funded…"

"Donation funded? That would have to be an awful lot of donations. With your talent wouldn't you be able to help more people if you just got a job and donated some of your income to a charity?"

"I've always believed that donating my time is worth more than just donating money. I think a lot of people donate their money because let's face it, time is worth more than money and the majority of people don't want to waste their time. They throw money at charities without ever doing research on them and have no clue how little their money really helps."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, you know that when you donate money to charities that a lot of them only give a percentage of every dollar." He explained.

"A percentage? What kind of percentage?"

"Some of the biggest offenders are the American Breast Cancer foundation, they only give five cents for every dollar a person donates. The Children's Cancer Fund of America also give five cents. The Kids Wish foundation, 2 cents for every donated dollar." He listed off.

My jaw dropped, "What do they spend all the other money on then?"

"Overhead costs." He stated with parentheses fingers. "Some of the organizations presidents get paid over a half a million dollars and the majority of the offenders use quite a tidy sum to pay for professional solicitors to go out and collect their "donations." People think they're doing great by donating to such a worthy cause and their money hardly touches the people who really need it."

"That's like stealing. How is this even legal?"

"Anytime they call up and give their spiel if you ask and only if you ask then they have to disclosure how much of your donation will actually go to the children or cancer research…whatever charity they are calling for. That's how it's legal."

I sat there in disbelief. "They are stealing money from children with cancer? That's worst then the Kardashians."

"Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of great charities out there that give nearly all their money to the cause if not one hundred percent. St. Jude's Children's hospital. The Make a Wish foundation. But people should at least ask before blindly giving."

I just shook my head in disbelief trying to comprehend this new-found information. How many times did I receive calls at my house for this charity or that charity? It really shed a whole new light on things.

"So…the food truck…do you think it's a bad idea?" he asked cautiously.

"No…I just don't know how you're going to afford something like that…if you made a hundred dollars a day even tax-free, it would take a really long time to come up with funds."

"It doesn't have to be done tomorrow, as long as I have a goal and strive toward it then it will happen…eventually. I just want to know that at the end of it all, I did something right."

I nodded, "Then…I think that it's a good idea."

"What did you mean earlier when you said you only had three more days at Horizons?" He then asked completely off the topic.

I crinkled my nose and focused back on my sandwich. After all our talks I would feel like an uber bitch for complaining about charity work like it was a prison sentence.

I sighed, "It's nothing."

"You're only going to stay three more days? What about Jacob Black and your bet?" he pressed.

I swallowed another bite of the sandwich he paid for and finally looked at him. "My grandfather…has been helping me on this whole bet. He said he wouldn't help me anymore unless I gave him four honest day's work at Horizons. He seems to think that this is my best bet for winning my…bet. But I explained to him that I just don't belong in a place like Horizons. I've only served on two meals and each time I come here it's…I'm a walking disaster."

"Stop it! Right now! I'm not going to sit here and pat you on the back while you cry and complain about how hard it is to work at Horizons. You're not a disaster and your better than this. So what if you've had a bumpy start. You can't expect to excel at everything right away that you start out on. You grandfather sounds like a good man and I'm sure he just wanted you to spend time at Horizons to help you gain a little perspective. He's not trying to punish you, he wants to help you. You have a dilemma with your bet and Horizons is the sure fired way you will win it but you have just got to remove that stick out of your ass and just let your hair down…relax and allow yourself to enjoy the experience."

Stick out of my ass? I wanted to be mad but another part of me…that weird feeling I have been experiencing this afternoon crept up again and made me take in his words.

"You can get upset with me again or feel offended but I'm just trying to help you and it would be really nice if for once you weren't so damn stubborn." He added.

I looked down at my plate and saw that my sandwich was gone. I slowly got up from the grass and stood for a second. "Thank's for the grilled cheese."

I turned and started to walk in the direction of where we had entered. I could hear Edward as he let out a great sigh. I turned back toward him and saw him still sitting on the ground looking defeated.

"Shouldn't we get going? We waste any more time and we will have a lot of hungry people on our hands."

Edward's jaw dropped slightly and then was replaced quickly with a smile. He jumped up from the ground and hurried on over, "You're right. Let's get going. Lead the way, Miss Swan."

"Ugh." I jokingly sighed, "Why do I have to do everything?"

"Because you have everything." He quipped.

"I don't have everything…in fact I can think of two gorgeous pair of heels that I don't have because of you."

"Do tell all about your first world problems. I'm dying to hear of my involvement with your shopping woes." He mocked.

"Don't make me kick your ass."

He smiled knowingly, "Like I said…we are going to be great friends, you and I."

"We're not friends!"

"Just wait."

"Nope."

"Yep."

And it continued all the way back to my purgatory. Horizons looked like it was getting one highly dedicated volunteer for the next two months. I'm sure they would come to regret it.

AN: I am so incredibly excited and motivated by all your wonderful reviews and adds that I decided to not wait for posting this chapter. I am happy to hear that you enjoy the story. I hope your feelings will continue. Thank you again for reading and reviewing!