Sorry about the 1st chapter being there then not being there. My computer was being ridiculous. This is in Jessica's POV.
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"Yeah, Mom…everything's fine, Angela and Lauren are coming over in a few minutes. We're just gunna watch some movies, have some popcorn…ya know girly stuff." I tried to keep my tone bored while I was lying to my mom over the phone. My parents were in Seattle for the night having dinner at a fancy restaurant and spending a night at the Hilton. Fine with me, it made the perfect situation for a party. When you live in a town like Forks the only thing you have to look forward to are the parties. I twirled the phone cord around my fingers and thought about the night to come while I half listened to my mom reminding me not to stay up too late. Suddenly the door bell rang, and I quickly hung up with my mom.
"Ooo, that's a cute top!" Lauren cried as she shoved her way past me to get into the kitchen. Umm…rude much?! …Whatever, she better have brought the drinks.
"So, did your brother get you the stuff?" I was kind of pressing but I really wanted her brother to have got the drinks, I mean what's the use of having an older brother if you're not going to use him? She opened up the brown paper bag she brought and took out a few bags of chips. Underneath the chips were a few bottles. Yes! Ok, drinks: check, food: check, friends…where were they? Everyone was scheduled to show up in an hour or so, but Angela, Ben and Mike were supposed to be here by now. God, didn't people have any consideration for other people schedules? Lauren was in the kitchen putting chip dip in bowls, chattering about school, or whatever. I wasn't really paying attention. Mike and I had broken up, but you never know what might happen under the influence. I mean we pretended to be back together for Bella and Edward's wedding…neither of us wanted to go to that without a date. We had even made out in his car that night. He didn't answer my calls for like a week and a half after that…but whatever. The night was full of possibilities.
My phone rang, and my stomach was full of little butterflies when I saw Mike's name on the caller ID. Yay! I held up a finger to Lauren to shut her up, and answered the phone.
"Hello?" I tried to sound cute and flirty with just one word…difficult might I add.
"Hello? …Jess, where are you?" He sounded really urgent…Ooo, maybe he was eager to talk to me!
"I'm at my house, where you should be! You said you'd come to my party remember?" I didn't want to sound too whinny, but I couldn't help it.
"Look that's not important right now…When was the last time you heard anything about Bella and Edward?" Oh great… he's bringing up Bella again. I thought when she married Edward that he'd finally give it up, guess not.
"I don't know, my mom said that Dr. Cullen was telling everyone at the hospital that they were still trying to figure out what Bella had." Why is he asking me about this? Does he want to get me to stay away from him tonight, life is just so unfair.
"So as far as you know she's still in Flordia?" The urgent tone was back in his voice. Ok, now this was getting ridiculous.
"Yes, Mike what is going on? You're acting really weird. Why would it matter if Bella is still sick…it's old news." Now I was kind of annoyed. He and I were supposed to hook up tonight and all he could talk about was Bella Swan. Ugh! I mean Bella Cullen. I swear, she must have been sent to Forks just to ruin me!
"Ok, listen Jess, you're never going to believe this, but I think I just saw Bella leaving the Chief's house." He said it really fast and it took me a second after he spit the words out to grasp their meaning.
"Mike, Bella is in Atlanta with a (hopefully) incurable disease. There's no way that she could have been at Charlie's. He would have been screaming her arrival from the rooftop. You know how worried he's been. You probably just saw someone who looks like Bella." I was really annoyed by this point. Not only did he basically just tell me he's still pining over Bella but he's also driving by the chief's house hoping she would come back. Why can't he just be obsessed with me?!
"Jess, you don't get it. This chick was driving Edward's Volvo, she was with Bella's friend Jacob or whatever his name is, and she was hugging Charlie! I swear it was her. Only…she looked way different." …Jacob? …The Volvo? …whoa, he was right, this was weird, very weird.
"Different how?" Was all I could ask. My brain was still trying to figure out how she could have sneaked back here without anyone knowing. And why didn't she call me?! That wasn't very nice of her.
"She was…well, she was hot. And I don't mean like her normal self, she was just a babe. There's no other way to describe it. Actually come to think of it, she looks a lot like Edward and the rest of the Cullen's. Ya know…supermodel-ish…" My momentary fury that he was trying to describe to me how 'hott' Bella was, was overcast by my curiosity and suspicion. She looked like the rest of the Cullen's now? I was baffled for about 2 miliseconds when it hit me. Oh. My. God. She was away getting plastic surgery! I knew it! I knew he experimented on them! Oohhh, wait till everyone hears about this! How else could they all be so perfect? And of course they couldn't let her marry into the family without making her perfect too. I wonder if I could sell the story to 'The Insider' or like a tabloid or something? I can totally see me on TV and in the papers giving interviews, meeting celebrities! Ohmigod! I rushed to explain my theory to Mike, and of course he had to burst my little fantasy bubble.
"Jess, that's ridiculous, she wouldn't lie to the Chief about being deathly ill if she was getting plastic surgery. He would never buy it. There's definitely something else going on here. Is anyone else over yet?" He finished urgently. I had been so wrapped up in our little conversation I didn't realize that Angela, Ben and Tyler had joined Lauren in the kitchen and were all looking at me with curious expressions.
"Uh, yeah. Lauren, Ang, Ben, and Tyler…why?"
"Tell them to go home. And make sure nobody else shows up either. We gotta talk about this or check it out or something! I'm pulling up into the driveway now. What should our story be? Um, I'll tell em' that the Chief knows we're having a party and if we cancel it now he won't tell our parents…yeah! That'll work. Ok be right there." With that he hung up, and I could hear him out in the driveway. The little butterflies attacked my stomach again. Wait…he wanted me to send everyone home?! Um…no! I'm supposed to be throwing an amazing party! What will people say tomorrow?! I'll be the laughing stalk of the town. This might even follow me to college! There's no way I can do this. But before I could say anything Mike hurried in and told everyone the story he had concocted. Lauren gave me a look, and started packing up everything she brought. Tyler looked bummed but helped Lauren and then followed her out the door. Well…at least I'd be alone with Mike, who knows, maybe he'll still want to hook up later, after all this Bella nonsense was over with. But of course…I turned around to see Mike herding Ang and Ben into a corner of the kitchen.
"Angela, Ben, hold up…I think you guys ought to hear this too." And he retold the story he told me over the phone. After he was done he plopped down on one of the chair at the kitchen table and helped himself to chips. If he wasn't so adorable I'd be pissed at him.
"So…Bella is back? Why didn't she call us? This is all really weird." Angela looked hurt. See, I told you being all buddy buddy with Bella would end badly. I know it was mean to think it, but I couldn't help it. Ever since she moved here she just made my life harder than it needed to be, I couldn't help but feel bitter.
"I think we should just call Charlie and ask what's new with Bella. If he says she's back then we'll know she's back, but she thinks she's just too good to talk to us now. And if he lies…well then we'll know something up…and can investigate further." It seemed like the quickest way to get rid of this annoying problem. The others were way too concerned, and the sooner it was dealt with the sooner we could get back to the party. Everyone agreed that my plan was the best idea, of course, so I hit the speaker button on the phone, and dialed Bella's home number. After 4 rings the Chief answered.
"Hello, Billy?" He was obviously expecting a call.
"No, Chief, this is Jessica Stanley. I was just wondering how Bella's been. We're all really worried." My voice was dripping with just the right amount of caring, and worry. Who says I can't act.
"Oh, Hi Jessica…" He gave a big (overdramatic is you ask me) sigh. "She's still not doing too well. Mrs. Cullen called yesterday saying she was still in for a lot of tests, but that they hope she'll be on the mend soon." Was it just me or did he sound a little too scripted?
"Oh, (I let my voice fall a little bit) I'm so sorry to hear that. Next time you talk to Edward or Bella please pass along our hopes and prayers." Prayers? …yeah prayers that they never come back. He seemed a little too eager to get me off the line.
"Sure thing Jessica, Bella will love to know you guys are pulling for her. You kids have a good night." And with that Chief Swan hung up. I looked up and all three of them were staring at me. Our eyes met and we knew: something was definitely up. If you ask me, it's been way too long that everyone just sat around and swallowed the Cullen's stories. I wanted to prove they all had experimental plastic surgery…or something. There was some poking around to do…and sneaking is my middle name…well actually its Lynn but whatever...
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I didn't plan on updating this for at least a day or 2, but I'm an insomniac and I'd rather be writing this than doing homework and what not. Please review if you like it/have any comments. It's always nice to hear I'm not sure who the next chapter will be…probably Bella or one of the Cullens.