BPOV
I told the nurse I had a headache and she bought it. Emmett showed up at the end of last period leaning in the doorway.
"Come on I called your Gram at Newton's and asked her if it was okay if I brought you home."
"Oh okay," I nodded grabbing my bag.
"Here I got it," he said slinging my bag on his shoulder.
I noticed Emmett was holding his hoodie instead of wearing it. Now he was just wearing a navy polo and jeans.
"Are you using that?" I nodded at his hoodie.
"No."
"Can I borrow it?"
"But you have a jacket?" he said glancing at Edward's jacket that I was now holding.
"I know but it's Edward's and I really don't want it," I explained.
"No problem, here," he smiled helping me put it on.
If I was swimming in Edward's jacket, I was now drowning in Emmett's Polo hoodie. I put the hood up on my head and followed Emmett out to his car. His car was actually a monster Jeep. I stopped when I saw Edward leaning on the car puffing on a cigarette. Didn't he get that it wasn't even legal for him to smoke?
I charged towards him noticing his frown when I threw his jacket at him. The hippie and Wednesday Adams burst out laughing and Edward glared grabbing my wrist. I tried pulling away, but he wasn't easing up his eyes boring into mine. It was Emmett who pushed his chest slightly causing Edward to drop his hand to his side.
Rosalie was now glaring at me and I saw Emmett raise an eyebrow as if he were challenging her. I spun around on my heel marching to Emmett's Jeep. I wasn't a dramatic person I swear I wasn't, but Edward was slowly making my life more hectic than it needed to be.
"Hey Bella, slow down I'll need to help you up in the machine," Emmett said from behind me.
I grumbled, but let Emmett lift me into it. He was gentle and nice as he got me situated.
"You want to talk about it?"
"A lot has happened the past few weeks and it's starting to suffocate me. I really miss my dad like really miss him," I started to whimper. "And then we move here and I understand why we had to, but I miss my house and the beach. I didn't ask for Edward and his rudeness…"
I just cried feeling overwhelmed by absolutely everything. Emmett pulled me in for a big bear hug and I noticed we hadn't left the school parking lot. Rose and Edward were glaring at us not to mention all of the school staring through the windshield.
"Can you just take me home?" I sighed carefully wiping at my eyes.
"Sure thing, Smalls," he smiled patting my head.
I pulled out my phone to see if Mom had left me a message. She went somewhere with Esme and wouldn't be home until later. Gram was stuck covering a shift at Newton's.
"No one home?"
"Seems so," I frowned.
"Do you want to come hang at my house?" he asked. "It's just me and my Pops. He probably already ordered a pizza for dinner."
"I don't want to bother you or anything," I mumbled looking back out the window.
"You're my friend it's no bother, hell my Pops probably will love having you there. With the guys, we run out of pizzas fast. I doubt you eat more than two slices of pie."
I snorted. "Maybe I can eat a whole pizza."
"Yeah right, Smalls," he scoffed.
We were on my street and a thought hit me.
"Can we stop at my Gram's first?" I asked.
"Yeah, no problem."
Once he parked the car, I kind of jumped out of the Jeep almost falling. I ran up the porch stairs, pulling my key out to unlock the door. I didn't wait for Emmett; he could have still been in the Jeep for all I knew. I hurried into my room grabbing the scissors, cutting one of the moving boxes so I had a huge piece of cardboard. I grabbed my Sharpie off my desk, writing Not Welcomed in big letters. I taped it to the bottom half of my window.
"Now that's just wrong," Emmett said shaking his head as he leaned in the doorway.
"You know what's wrong? Everything he has done to me in the past two days," I huffed brushing past him out of the room.
I stomped down the stairs out to Emmett's Jeep noticing Rose's car coming down the street. I did my best to climb in almost planting my face into the seat and center console a few times.
Emmett got in not too long after pulling out as Rose pulled in. I saw Emmett wince as she looked at us and Edward flew out of the car trying to approach us.
"I live down the street there's a good chance your boy might follow us."
"He's not my anything," I gritted out trying to burrow further into the hoodie.
Emmett pulled into the driveway. His house was nice and a little bigger than most of the houses on our street. A truck was sitting in the garage reading McCarty Construction on the side of it.
"My Pops is home," he informed getting out of his Jeep and then came around my side to help me out.
I followed Emmett in through his garage he stopped in the kitchen looking around until he picked up the cordless phone on the counter.
"Yo Pops, I'm home," he bellowed as he dialed the phone.
A tall man much taller than Emmett came in. He definitely wasn't as massive as Emmett was. He did have the same curly hair though it was more a sandy blonde and his eyes were the same blue.
"Inside voices, Em," he said ruffling Emmett's hair. "And who do we have here?"
"Bella," Emmett shrugged before turning his attention to the person on the phone.
"Hey Bella, I'm Phil," he smiled holding his hand out to me.
"Nice to meet you, sir," I mumbled.
"So polite," he smiled nudging my shoulder. "But you don't have to call me sir. Makes me feel old."
"You are old," Emmett shrugged placing the phone back.
"Har, har," Phil said. "So Bella, staying to grub out with us?"
"You know it Pops," he grinned fist-bumping his father. "Want to watch TV until the pizza comes?"
"Uh…sure," I nodded following him.
As we walked through the hallway, I noticed all the pictures hanging on the walls. A lot of them were of a younger Emmett and who I guessed was his Mom. She was beautiful with chestnut hair cropped into a bob and her eyes were really blue.
"That was taken when I was nine," Emmett said standing next to me.
"Your Mom?"
"Yeah she died about a year after that was taken," he murmured.
"I'm sorry," I offered feeling a pain in my chest reminding me about losing dad.
"Thank you," he smiled sadly. "You know if you ever need to talk I'm here."
"Thanks," I said. "I feel like it hasn't really registered with me that he's gone."
"I know the feeling."
"Does it ever get better? The pain, does it go away?" I asked quietly.
I had Mom to go through this with, but I didn't want her to know I hurt like she did. I had to stay strong for her. She needed someone to lean on.
"It's weird because there are times when I'm over it and then there are times when I just wish to talk to her again. She was sick for so long… she's not in pain anymore."
I cried because I knew when my dad left he was in much more pain than he ever deserved. It was a freak accident, but I knew Daddy suffered.
"You guys…" Phil stopped looking at me and then Emmett.
"Sorry," I mumbled.
Then Emmett's dad pulled me into a bear hug. He was very careful not to hurt my nose.
"You don't ever need to apologize, kiddo," he smiled sadly much like Emmett. "If you want to cry over here you can cry as much as you want."
I nodded.
"I drove your Gram to the airport the night you called from the hospital. She couldn't think of anything but you. She wanted to make sure you weren't alone," he sighed. "If you or your Mom ever need anything don't hesitate to ask, okay?"
For just meeting him, I could see Emmett's dad genuinely cared and it made me feel slightly better.
There was a knock at the door and Phil let me go ruffling my hair as he passed. Emmett swung his arm around me guiding me to the couch.
"See Pops love you," he grinned as I shrugged.
Phil grabbed us some plates and brought the pizza in. He turned on Sports Center and it reminded me so much of Charlie.
"So where's Ro…"
"Hey," Emmett said kind of loud cutting whatever his dad wanted to say. "I was thinking maybe you can ride to school with me."
"Really? I don't want to inconvenience you…" I rambled.
"I saw your Gram pick you up this morning it would be easier if we carpooled so she doesn't have to leave Newton's."
"Look at this my son the problem solver," Phil teased digging into his pizza.
Hanging out with Emmett and his dad was actually really fun. I laughed more than I had in a long time.
"Ready to head back, Smalls?"
"Yeah," I nodded.
I said bye to Phil and thanked him for the pizza. He gave me another hug and told me to come back and visit.
Emmett helped me out of his Jeep when we pulled into my driveway and reminded me he would be by to pick me up in the morning.
I went around the back to go in because I really didn't want to face my Mom and Gram yet and I saw them through the window when we pulled in. I just wanted a little more time to myself. I pulled Emmett's hoodie around me more and tugged on the strings of the hood on my head. I let my eyes close taking a deep breath.
Next thing I knew Edward was charging at me thrusting his jacket at me. He started to unzip the hoodie and I smacked at his hands. He stopped looking at me and I shook my head. I stood to go in because he was being ridiculous. That's when his hands reached for me. His eyes were pleading with me.
He leaned in and his lips pressed against mine. I felt the pain hit my nose and winced pushing him away. Edward's hands gripped his hair and he let out this pained growl. This was a mess. I was crying, I wasn't sure if it was from the pain or because he stole my first kiss from me. I didn't even have a choice or anything.
I left him there on the swing and went straight up to my room. I got ready for bed and saw Edward peeking in from his window over the cardboard. I shut my curtains.
After that, I shut off my light and crawled into the bed hoping sleep would find me. I tossed and turned until Mom came in. She laid on her side of the bed and cuddled up to me.
"I haven't seen you all day," she said kissing my hair.
"I went to a friend's house," I mumbled.
"Emmett's," she said. "His Dad called to talk to me, he seems nice."
"He is. They both are."
"Edward came over earlier."
"Edward sucks," I replied turning around in her arms.
"What's been going on, B? It's like I blink and all these boys are after you."
"Hardly," I said dryly. "Emmett is just a friend like my own personal bodyguard after what happened the other day. Edward… he's frustrating and doesn't know how to act around humans."
Mom smiled sadly, brushing my hair behind my ear.
"I remember when I met Daddy he was rough around the edges, I almost didn't give him the time of day."
"Mom I'm like freshly sixteen I'm not going to meet my soulmate yet," I sighed rolling my eyes.
"So stubborn just like your Daddy," she said hugging me close.
"I cried today," I whispered, "at Emmett's seeing him with his Dad. His Dad likes Sports Center and we watched it, he likes baseball. I was a little sad."
"It's okay to be sad, B," she murmured. "Every day we're going to get better. We'll have our bad days and good ones. I want you to tell me how you feel, always."
I nodded.
"So Emmett's picking you up in the morning," she said.
"Yeah."
"I get to meet him?"
"Sure," I shrugged feeling my eyes get heavy.
"I love you, B."
"Love you too," I mumbled.
A/N: Teenagers are so angsty… SMH! Tell me what you think a lot of you have left… Beta'd as always by Dolphin62598!