CHAPTER 6: SOMETHING LEFT TO GIVE
It's not that difficult when you've got a luck of this kind
We've got to take advantage; we've got such limited time
Oh I wonder, oh I wonder
How long will it take me to die?
Oh it's not that interesting
But I'd like to keep it a secret
So I'll have something left to give
Something Left To Give – The Starting Line
I woke up laughing before I even opened my eyes. Not just giggling, full on guffawing. I think I'd been dreaming about dancing with Rose and Alice, being tackled by Jasper onto the floor of Club P, and then decking one Sir Prissward Cullen right in his moneymaker. I swear, sometimes I think I don't even need friends; my own imagination is enough to entertain me.
"Do you usually wake up laughing after you faint, or is it just after you break someone's nose?" a stuffed up voice broke through my hysterics. My eyes snapped open and I sat straight up all at once. Creepy institutional white. Hospital. Painpainpain in my right hand –
"Owfuckfuck!" I cried as I saw my puffy hand. Wait – what was that? I leaned closer and squinted at my hand.
"It's a piece of bone," the stuffy voice continued. I finally looked at the paper-covered bed next to me. Edward was sitting there, jean-clad legs dangling, holding an ice pack to his face. He moved the ice pack and I saw the remnants of dried blood on his chin and felt my stomach flip. His eyes were already starting to blacken.
"Jesus fucking Christ on a bicycle, Edward, you got NOSE BONE in my hand?" I hollered as I clenched my eyes closed. "I thought I'd just broken it or something, but no, nose bone. Perfect."
"I didn't head butt you in the fist, Bella, I'm pretty sure you punched me, so how am I getting blamed here?"
I ground my teeth, refusing to get pulled into one of his typical merry-go-round conversations. I looked around for my phone. Phil needed to come get me, stat… even more, now that I'm making medical jokes.
"I didn't know you were packing heat like that, Bells," he continued, seemingly unfazed by my lack of response.
"Cheerfully shut the fuck up, Edward," I growled as I scooted to the end of my bed, the paper rustling noisily beneath me.
"Bella-" he began.
"HELLO!" I yelled towards the door. "Nose bone in my hand! Can we get this taken care of so I can get out of here?"
"Are you drunk?" he hissed, clearly embarrassed by my outburst.
"No, I didn't get a chance to indulge in that lovely display of mindfuckery back there, sorry Eddie," I snapped. "What was that even about, huh?"
Silence. Paper crinkling. I sighed.
"I… I just wanted to do something to make you smile, for a change," he practically whispered. I opened my mouth – to say what, I'm not entirely sure – just as two doctors came in and began addressing our various wounds. I became entranced by the doctor pulling shards of bone out of my knuckles for a second or two before I became lightheaded again and squeezed my eyes closed for the duration. When I opened them again, my doctor and I were alone in the room.
The doctor bandaged me up and put my hand in some sort of air cast to keep it safe and clean. I looked like a Storm Trooper. I walked towards the waiting room and saw my friends and brother waiting for me. I promptly did the robot to break the tension. Everyone laughed, but I could see flickers of concern on their faces.
"No Charlie and Renee?" I asked Phil, as he ushered me towards the car.
"Bar brawl on your first night home, not a top selling point for 'daughter-of-the-year'. I didn't bother. I knew you only fainted from the blood that was GUSHING out of that fucker's face. I almost fainted myself, out of jealousy. Dude, it was so sick! It was like a fountain. BOOM and the bitch went down!" Phil yelled, shadow boxing with himself.
"I have to admit, Bella, that's not how I thought your first encounter with him would go down," Alice remarked as she scampered behind me.
"Didn't expect me to take a page out of the 'Alice Brandon Guide to Make Friends'?" I asked. She snorted.
"I wonder if he'll sue you," Emmett mused. I stopped short.
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, you did assault him, and his looks technically are his livelihood…"
"Emmett, is it possible for you to stop playing devil's advocate until I get my mangled sister home?" Phil asked, grimacing. He put his arm gently around me and steered me towards the car. We were closing in on Emmett's Jeep, when a figure leapt out of the shadows.
"YOU!" it screeched. I screamed bloody murder. I thought it was a bat or an axe murderer. If only…
"You fucking bitch!" the figure continued. A French manicured finger was being thrust in my face.
"Huh?" I asked, eloquently.
"You're fucking pathetic," the figure sneered. I heard a yell from across the parking lot.
"Uhh…" I continued to have a firm grasp of the English language.
"Who the fuck are you?" Rose finally said, elbowing her way in front of me.
"Oh, please, you know who I am," the figure retorted. I saw fake blonde hair in the low lights of the parking lot. Another figure was approaching us.
"Tanya, let's go," the approaching figure said. I recognized Edward's voice. Ah, so this was Tanning Tanya.
"Are you kidding, Edward? This psycho just cost you the Abercrombie shoot next week!" Tanya yelled. Oops…
"Stop it," Edward demanded, putting a hand on the small of her back to guide her away.
"And she stole your dog!" Tanya cried. "You hate her!"
What. The. Fuck.
"I'm fairly certain that cheating relinquishes all canine custodial rights," Alice spat at Tanya, glaring at Edward the whole time. Rose was standing next to her, arms crossed, looking intimidating. Emmett was staring a hole through the pavement, unsure of what to do. Jasper was silent, as usual, just standing near enough to Alice that he could back her up if need be.
"Maybe he wouldn't have cheated if your friend wasn't such a fugly bitch!" Did she really just say 'fugly' in public?
"Okay, ENOUGH!" Phil bellowed. Everyone froze. Phil was clenching his fists and trying hard to keep calm. "Edward, I think my sister did enough damage for one day, so I suggest you keep your bitch on a leash and get the fuck out of here. And stay the hell away from Bella. And Jake, for that matter. I don't want to see you near my family again."
"Phil," Edward began. He had a pained look in his eyes that I could see past the swollen face.
"I mean it, Edward. Or you'll be losing more than just an Abercrombie shoot." I could feel my eyes bugging out of my head. Phil was terrifying in that too-calm Mafia way. He was more like Charlie than I thought possible. Edward's shoulders slumped and he just nodded once and led Tanya, who was shrilly complaining about being 'kept on a leash', back to the car. All the money in the world, and he's still driving a silver Volvo. I smiled to myself. Some things never change.
"So," Jasper said, breaking the silence as we watch Edward's taillights fade into the distance. "Welcome home, Bells."
The next morning was the first day of camp. I was so excited, the second my alarm clock buzzed, I sat right up and screamed. Renee was sitting on the edge of my bed, petting Jake, and staring at me.
"MOM!" I cried, startled.
"Morning," she answered calmly.
"You're so creepy," I muttered, pulling the covers over my head and causing a sharp surge of pain through my right hand. I stared at my air cast, remembering the events of last night.
"Phil told Dad what happened last night," Renee stated, scratching behind Jake's ear. I looked at her, puzzled as to when this could have occurred. "Phil was up, watching some zombie movie at six in the morning when Dad left for work."
"Naturally." I answered, waiting for her to reprimand me. Renee taught preschool, I figured she would want her grown daughter to be better at using her words, not her fists.
"He said you really socked Edward good," she continued.
"I guess…"
"Good for you, sweetie." Renee kissed my forehead and headed out of my room. I lay still, confused. "Come on, Bells, you don't want to be late on your first day!" she called from the hallway. Jake curled up and nuzzled into my comforter. He loved staying in my warm bed and watching me run around in the mornings while he continued to sleep. Obnoxious dog. I threw on a pair of grey cotton shorts and my blue South Pines Day Camp staff shirt, slipped my feet into my perfectly worn in sneakers, awkwardly tied a bright pink bandanna around my Fraggled head and grabbed some cheap lime green sunglasses. I loved getting dressed for camp. Why can't you dress like this for every job? Suits and ties and heels baffle me, when you could be comfortable in elastic-waist shorts and silly, too-bright accessories. I sighed, looking at my cast. This was going to be fun to explain to everyone at work.
I arrived at camp, armed with two iced coffees. I juggled the tray in my good hand, grumbling. I saw Rosalie on the steps of the main house and gave her one of the coffees.
"Three Equal and skim milk," I said, holding it out to her. She grinned and took it from me.
"How's the bone collector?" she asked as she sipped her coffee and sat next to me, nodding at the cast, which was beginning to look obscenely bright in the morning sun.
"Oh, you know, hoping it will only collect penis bones from now on," I answered, rolling my eyes. Our division leader, Angela, walked by and handed us our clipboards.
"Already, Bella?" Angela asked, staring at my arm. I grinned. Rose and I had worked under Angela for almost four years now. As her two head counselors, she knew she could count on us to keep our groups running smoothly. She also knew my reputation as a walking disaster. After all, two summers ago, I had broken my ankle and had to sit out of swim for the whole summer. She had wanted to kill me for that one, especially since I had broken myself playing laser tag.
"Ah, Angela, you should have seen the other guy," I answered, winking. She laughed and shook her head. Rose snorted.
"Yeah, I bet. Okay, your junior counselors are going to meet you at line up in ten minutes, and the kids should be here in about an hour. Perfect first day, lets do it," she said, waving and walking into the main house.
South Pines was made of five divisions – kids two to five years old, first and second graders, third and fourth graders, fifth and sixth graders and teens. Since many kids started going to sleep away camp around fourth grade, the fifth and sixth grade division was the smallest. Rose ran the fifth grade girls group and I ran the sixth grade girls group. Paul and Sam were the head boys' counselors in our division, and Angela and Ben were our division leaders. Each group had two junior counselors as well. Juniors only meant less experienced, not always younger. I flipped through my paperwork, looking for my staff list. I hoped I had good juniors this year. Being a camp counselor wasn't hard, but without a good team, it becomes far more difficult. Luckily, since our division was so small, Rose and I wound up merging our two groups and doing a lot of activities together.
"Let's go meet our juniors," Rose said, picking up my clipboard for me.
"Thanks," I said, taking a big sip of my coffee.
"Whatever, gimpy. I know you're possessive of your clipboard, but maybe you should let a junior carry it this year." I stared at her, shocked. She laughed. "Or maybe just until you get the cast off in two weeks." I shook my head at her absurd notions as we approached our line up spot. Ben, Paul and Sam were there with their juniors – I recognized Embry and Seth from past summers. There were two new boys standing and talking with the four girls. I rolled my eyes. I better not have to deal with too much counselor flirting this year.
"Hey, Bella, I'm with you this year!" one of the girls called out, waving as Rose and I approached. I smiled, relieved. Leah was a great counselor, and I knew we'd work well together. She and her brother, Seth, had actually been campers at South Pines when I'd started, so I knew them well.
"Damn, I wanted Leah this year," Rose muttered to me. She pulled out the staff list.
"Snap, yo," I answered, looking over her shoulder. "Look, though, you've got Emily."
"Yeah, Emily's cool, that's true." We both kept skimming the page. "I guess we have two newbies too." We went to sit down on our usual bench.
"Hey Rose, hey Bella," Sam said as he sat down, followed by the rest of the guys. We all said our hellos, and were introduced to the two new boys, Jared and Quil. I could see Jared giving Rose the once-over. He'd learn quickly enough to rein that in. I heard Emily and Leah walking over with Angela and the new girls and looked up, shielding my eyes against the now-blinding sun.
"Great, everyone is here, let's get started," Angela began. "The fifth grade group, Stanford, will be led by Rosalie, and the counselors will be Emily and Irina." Irina stepped forward, smiling. Rose smiled back. Angela continued. "The sixth grade group, Radcliff, will be led by Bella, and the counselors will be Leah and Tanya." Behind Irina I could see fake blonde hair and a too-tight staff shirt. Oh, no way in hell –
"You've got to be joking me," she said, her nasal voice dripping with disdain. I could see her looking me up and down even behind her Dior sunglasses.
"Excuse me?" Angela said, raising her eyebrows. She looked at me for an explanation.
"I'm not working with her," she continued before I could say anything. My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe how immature she was acting, on her first day of work for that matter. And no one wears Dior at camp, get real.
"It's fine, Angela, she's kidding," I said quickly. The kids were going to be here in less than an hour, I knew they weren't going to fire her for essentially sucking at life. I had to find a way to salvage my group, and fast. I loved my job, and I wasn't going to have this awful girl ruin it for me.
"I am not kidding!" she insisted. Good grief. I felt like bashing my head into a wall. Angela kept looking back and forth between us. I couldn't think of something to say fast enough.
"Bella, Tanya, can you come help me with the kids' cubbies?" Leah called. I knew Leah could label some cubbies by herself, so I shot her a thankful look. Tanya looked like she was about to say something else, so I grabbed her elbow with my good hand and dragged her into the locker room, the door swinging behind me.
"Get off of me, you white trash, bar fighting piece of shit!" Tanya exclaimed, wrenching her arm out of my grip. Great, I'll have to deal with a potty mouth in front of thirty eleven-year-old girls, even better. Rose, Emily and Irina walked into the room, a little quicker than normal.
"I can't believe you work here," I groaned.
"Actually…" Irina began. I looked up. She hadn't said a word yet today. She gave me a weird half smile. "Our father owns the camp."
"Your last name is Denali?" Rose asked. Irina nodded. "And she is your sister?" she pointed at the pouting Tanya. Irina nodded again. Facepalm.
I rubbed my eyes vigorously, trying to make Tanya disappear, but only making myself see spots when I stopped. I sighed. Leah and Emily had crept off to do the cubbies, whispering furiously between themselves. Thank God for them.
"Daddy told me I'd be working with a girl named Isabella, not Bella," Tanya was hissing to Irina. Rose stared at me, wide-eyed, as if to ask if this was really happening. "He also said she was next in line to be a division leader and was practically the head of the South Pines social scene. This is clearly not the right person." If I'd had any reservations about keeping things professional before, after hearing that I was being considered for leadership at the job I loved, I was even more determined to do well this summer.
"Bella is short for Isabella, if you were wondering," Leah called from across the room. Tanya glared at her, and Leah smiled a syrupy sweet grin right back.
"I'm going to talk to Daddy," Tanya declared, before spinning around and stalking to the door. She paused. "Let's go, Irina!" Irina jumped and followed her, the door swinging shut behind them. There was a moment of silence.
"Bar fighting?" Emily asked, her mouth twitching. Leah looked at me, curiously. I sighed. So much for a perfect first day.