We're back to Bella's PoV. Thanks for the faves and alerts!
"The attempt and not the deed confounds us." – William Shakespeare
Wednesday was the exact same as Monday. But, this time, people were staring at me because I had hit Edward. Fairly hard, too, if I do say so myself.
Edward looked like shit. His lip was swollen and there was a cut where my grad ring caught. His left eyes was swollen, blood shot, and purple. It looked like he got into a pretty intense fight.
"You look like shit, Edward," Rosalie announced with a snort in homeroom.
"You should see the other guy," he retorted with a crooked smirk. He looked at me and winked with his right eye.
I looked away quickly, disgusted. As if he was being flirtatious with me now. And that apology yesterday...ugh. He made me sick.
There was no doubt in my mind that he was thinking up some humiliating plan to make me wish I had never been born. I humiliated him pretty horribly yesterday, and I had a feeling I was going to regret it.
I skipped the cafeteria with Emmett. I couldn't afford to lose my temper again. There was no way in hell I was going to re-do my senior year somewhere else.
We went and sat in Emmett's jeep, which was stacked full of snacks, as usual. I grabbed a pack of Mini Oreos and ripped them open, popping one in my mouth. Emmett grabbed a bag of Sweet Chilli Heat Doritos and dug in.
I played with Emmett's iPod, finding a good song to blare through the speakers. I finally decided on You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet by Bachman Turner Overdrive. An old song, but still a good song, even though it sounded like the singer had a terrible stutter. B-b-b-baby, you ain't seen n-n-nothin' yet...
I was about to turn up the music, but Emmett swatter my hand away.
"You still haven't told Alice or I what your punishment is," he mumbled, his mouth full. "So spill."
I exhaled, blowing my bangs out of my glasses. "Well, we're tutoring each other every day for the rest of the school year and I have to participate in the fall play."
Emmett snorted and then started laughing. I glared at him until he calmed down.
"Dude, as if you have to be in the fall play!" Emmett exclaimed, finding my shitty situation hilarious. "Do you know what the play is? I hope it's something good, like The Notebook or something. Fuck, wouldn't that be funny?"
I rolled my eyes. "Dude," I mocked. "Stop being an ass. This fucking sucks. No, I don't know what the play is, and I'm pretty sure that it won't be The Notebook, even though that's your favourite story in the whole world, you homo. It's too graphic."
Emmett chuckled again, amused by my temper. "Well, doesn't this get you all hot and bothered? I saw Cullen wink at you this morning, you guys bangin' on the side?"
I knew he was just teasing, but my fuse was extremely short today.
I blushed something horrible and Emmett's jaw bobbed open.
"Holy balls! I'm right aren't I? I knew–"
"No, Emmett!" I cut in, mortified. "God, no! It's just that – well, Cullen's been acting kind of weird since yesterday. He apologized, Em. Sincerely apologized to me about the text he sent."
Anger flashed across Emmett's face. "The mother fucker should be sorry."
"Maybe Esme had something to do with it," I mumbled under my breath.
"You talk to Esme?" Emmett asked, surprised.
"Yeah, she picked me up after Edward drove through the puddles beside me and got me soaking wet," I explained quickly. "She's...nice."
"I know," Emmett replied. "I don't know how someone like Edward came out of a lady like her. She's, like, the complete opposite of him.
I shook my head. "He's exactly like his dad. Charlie said he was the biggest prick during high school. Self-righteous as hell. Dad was pretty surprised when Esme married him. Apparently she hated him during high school."
Emmett raised his eyebrows. "Really? That's weird."
I sighed. "Well, at least Esme rubbed off on Desirae. I help her out at the playschool on Friday's. She always tells me I'm her best friend and how pretty I am." I shook my head and smiled fondly. "Hopefully she stays away from Edward's personality traits."
Emmett chuckled. "Des is pretty fuckin' cute. She came to all of our basketball games last year with Esme."
"Speaking of basketball, are you going to take that scholarship to that university in Montana?" I asked. Emmett definitely had his choice of sports scholarships.
"Nah," Emmett answered dismissively. "I think I'm gunna go to the University of Washington. I'll be getting a good football scholarship there probably. That's where you're going, right?"
I rolled my eyes. "Emmett, you've known that I've been planning to go there since freshman year."
Emmett grinned. "Just making sure." Then his face became solemn. "Bella, there's something I've been meaning to ask you..."
My brow furrowed and my body froze. Emmett was never serious.
"Would it be alright if we got a place together in Seattle? I mean, it'd be cool to live on campus, but I'd much rather live with someone I know, and you're going to need someone to protect you, and–"
"Yes," I interrupted, relief flooding my body. "Of course I'll live with you, Em. It'll be perfect. We're practically brother and sister anyway."
Emmett grinned. "Thanks, Bella."
The clock showed that our lunch period was half over. My meeting with Ms Wallace and Cullen would be starting soon.
"I'd better get going," I mumbled, opening the door. "I've got a meeting with the devil and Ms Wallace."
Emmett chuckled. "Okay, check ya later, Bella."
I closed the door and trudged into the school. I went directly to the theatre where the other two were already waiting.
"Hello, Bella," Ms Wallace greeted warmly.
"Hello," I muttered back, pulling my hood off my head and running my fingers through my hair, straightening it out.
"Well," Ms Wallace began, clapping her hands with a smile. "The fall play this year is Romeo and Juliet. Tryouts start tomorrow and the cast will be chosen by Friday. But, you two lucky duckies already have your parts chosen."
Don't get me wrong, I loved Romeo and Juliet. It was my favourite play to date. But, so help me God, if Edward and I were Romeo and Juliet, I would scream.
"Mister Allan and I decided that since your punishment is to get you two to be civil with each other, we should give you parts that require you to interact with each other. So, Edward, you are Romeo and, Bella, you're Juliet."
My jaw hit the floor. Was this a fucking joke? Was I being Punk'd? Did they decide to punk regular people now?
No, no. This was all a nightmare. I let out a hysterical laugh and covered my mouth. Yes, that's what this was, a horrible, horrible nightmare.
"Bella?" Ms Wallace asked in a worried voice.
Then the reality of it all sank in. Edward and I were going to have to be "lovers" until November. Fuck. My. Life.
"Sorry," I breathed. "I just had a minor mental breakdown."
Edward and Ms Wallace looked at me apprehensively.
I rolled my eyes. "Is that all? Is our meeting over?"
"Oh, no," Ms Wallace continued, looking away from me. "You will have to get me to sign your hour's sheet every time you come to drama practice, and your parents will have to sign them every time you practice on your own time."
I stifled a groan. I would be spending more time with Cullen than my own father, for Christ's sake!
"That is all," Ms Wallace stated, smiling. "See you two tomorrow after school. The tryouts won't be over until five, so your tutoring will have to be at someone's house tomorrow."
We walked away together, not acknowledging the other's presence.
When we were out of earshot, I muttered, "Fuck."
"I agree," Cullen murmured.
I sighed. "This might be the death of me."
Cullen snorted. "You're telling me?"
We went our separate ways when we reached the end of the hallway we were on.
That was the first civil conversation we'd ever had.
--
"For God's sake, Edward!" I exclaimed. "It's pretty damn simple, if you think about it. Just, I don't know...write what you feel about the subject."
Edward stared at me like I was stupid. "Bella, I can't just write."
"You can so," I argued, putting my hands on the table and giving him my best annoyed tutor glare. "Anyone can write."
Edward grumbled under his breath and picked up his pencil. He ran a hand through his already tangled hair, twirling the pencil between his pale, spider-like fingers.
I sat down across from him and conjured a quick poem on one of the writing prompts we could choose from. Edward had a stanza by the time I was don.
"What writing prompt did you pick?" I asked, watching as he struggled to continue.
"Immortal," he grunted.
"Let's see," I murmured, holding my hand out. He put the paper in my hand.
I read the stanza slowly.
your ghostly white figure
approaches me, making my
body freeze with many emotions
anticipation, fear, shock.
[mostly anticipation, though. it's been too long.]
My brow furrowed as I read the words over and over.
"This is really good, Edward," I finally said, still looking at the paper. "How did you come up with this?"
"I just wrote, like you told me to," he replied honestly.
"There were no images running through your mind or anything?" I asked, setting the paper down.
"Well, yeah, I guess," he admitted, running his hand through his hair again. "It kind of felt like I was seeing everything through the narrator's eyes."
"Just keep telling the story, then," I told him. "You can look at my example for ideas for line breaks and punctuation, if you want."
I pushed my paper to him. He picked it up and I saw his eyes look over it quickly.
"'I patiently wait for tomorrow to come, for tomorrow is when you promised to come back to me'," he read quietly. "I suppose you're talking about that Jacob guy, aren't you? He's quite the prick, isn't he?"
"You don't know what you're talking about," I growled. It was one thing for me to be civil towards Edward, and that was as far as I would go. I didn't need to listen to this shit. "And you definitely shouldn't be talking about being a prick. You're the biggest prick I know."
"That's true," he agreed with a hurt smile. "But at least I said sorry."
"How do you know Jacob isn't sorry?" I snapped. "He told me what you did to get the picture from his phone, and when you got it, for that matter. What were you doing with a naked picture of me for two months, anyway, you sick fuck?"
I picked up my books and my hour's sheet.
"I think we should meet at your house until my dad gets used to the situation," I stated curtly. "Your parents seem to accept this better than mine."
He nodded and sighed, leaning back in his chair.
"See you tomorrow, Bella," he mumbled. "Don't forget your Biology stuff. Mister Banner showed me your marks. You're gunna need all the help you can get with that."
I gritted my teeth. How dare he.
"You'd better have that poem ready by tomorrow," I replied in a tense voice. "And it better be good. I have a tutoring rep to keep."
I walked out of the library without another word or glance towards Edward Cullen.
I got my sheet signed by Coach Clapp who was "supervising" us from his office.
"Bella!" Cullen called as I walked towards my truck. "Hang on a sec!"
I stopped in my tracks and clenched my fists.
"What do you want, Cullen?" I snapped, turning around.
He chuckled. "Well, I'd appreciate it if you called me Edward since I'm calling you Bella." What a pompous bastard. "And, here's my poem. I finished it on the back of your paper. Let me know how it looks tomorrow at my house."
He turned and walked to his silver Volvo, reeking of smugness. Why couldn't he have just finished it an hour ago?
I unfolded my paper and began scrutinizing his poem, but it was actually decent. Much better than my example poem about tomorrow.
your ghostly white figure
approaches me, making my
body freeze with many emotions.
anticipation, fear, shock.
[most anticipation, though. it's been too long.]
your eyes are a dead black
but it doesn't scare me away
although I liked your old eyes better.
green with gold and blue flecks.
[they were just like a mixture of prairie summers.]
your smile is sadistic but
that doesn't scare me either
because it hasn't changed.
a grin with evil lines.
[it sent shivers down my spine.]
your skin is bleached marble
perfection, but still sad because
your tan used to give off an aura.
golden sunlight seeping into your pores.
[the sun always made you more approachable.]
your clothes cling to your body
like a cocoon to a butterfly
making your body become distorted.
obtuse shapes that I've never seen before.
[your body used to fit mine perfectly.]
you're finally near enough to
touch me and I tense, waiting
for your cool dead fingers to
feel me, calm me.
[you used to get my blood pumping.]
your fingers feel like
whispers as they brush
against my tear-covered cheek
wiping them away, as usual.
[they're tears of despair, not joy.]
your disappearance doesn't
surprise me, it never has. i
always knew you could never
be with me, stay with me.
[i've come to accept my insanity.]
i sigh as i think about
how much i could tell
someone about you, but i
can't, won't, never will.
[i'm the only one that can see you.]
i know that you're only
immortal to me.
"Wow," I breathed. It was so deep and intriguing and...unlike Edward. It was real poetry instead of the shit that jocks usually came up with.
I knew I should be proud of myself for getting a piece like this out of a jock, but my feelings were mixed on this one. The anger was definitely still dominate, and the hatred was always present. At the same time, I was happy to know that my coaxing got this out of Edward's head.
I shook my head. God, I couldn't wait until the end of the year. No more Cullen after that.
The poem took up a little more than a page, haha. It definitely increased my page count, thankfully. I like poems without any caps.
Well, this chapter was sort of weird. They were actually...civil for a few moments. I didn't think it'd work out like that, but it did.
Oh! And, you guys remember the "big secret" that Emmett and Alice were talking about after Emmett's party? That was it. Emmett wanted to live with Bella, but he wasn't sure if she'd want to. Haha, poor guy...
The play, the play, the play. Yes, it's Romeo and Juliet. Classy, eh? I'll be having fun with it, haha. Uhh. More will be explained either in the next chapter or the chapter after. I think I'll do Alice's PoV next, and maybe some more Edward. I don't know if I'll ever do Jasper or Rosalie. They don't have super big parts in this fanfic.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed it!
Review!
