BPOV
"And he built you a new hard drive?" Angela asked me, completely shocked.
Believe me, I was as shocked as she was when I watched Edward the night before as he took apart my computer and reassemble all the techy stuff he had brought with him.
"I swear, he's like some Steve Jobs prodigy Ang," I sighed, shaking my head as we made our way through the lunch line.
"I don't want this to come out the wrong way because now that I know Edward, I know how great he is," she started, pushing up her glasses. "It just seems really weird that he did that. You know, he isn't in deaf education classes that are state required for someone with his need. He's in special ed."
"What?" I glared at her.
"I'm not making fun of him," she hurriedly reassured. "You've been dating him this whole time and didn't notice him going to Mrs. Cope's room for class?"
Thinking about it, I only paid attention to Edward approaching me at various parts of the day and sitting with me at lunch. I knew he had classes on the other side of the building, but I really didn't pay attention to where he went when he walked away from me.
"Really?" I asked stunned.
"I used to volunteer in there and Edward always seemed to have difficulty," she frowned.
"But he's a prodigy," I mumbled.
Edward even checked my trig homework. None of this made sense. We walked to our table and I frowned at my very happy boyfriend as he pulled me down so I could sit on his lap. With a loud smack of his lips on my cheek, he gratefully dug into the pizza I got us.
"Bells, we hitting the gym tonight?" Em asked before downing his Coke.
"My mom doesn't have class tonight so I'm going to say no."
"So, does that mean Ed is still coming or what?"
I looked over my shoulder. Edward's left arm hung loosely around my waist as he used his right hand to feed his face. He was totally checked out of the conversation. I gave him a little nudge, his green eyes meeting mine.
"Are you going with Em later? To the gym?" I asked while I signed.
He glanced at Emmett before nodding.
"There you have your answer," I smiled at Em before digging in to my food.
Halfway through my slice of pizza, Rosalie Hale plopped down in the seat next to us. Even though it was winter, she didn't dress weather appropriate. Her tattered flannel button down had been cut to bare her midriff and her jeans had gaping holes that started from the top of her thighs to her knees. What's the point of even wearing pants?
"This is oh so cozy," she said lazily, flicking her eyes over Edward and I.
Rosalie's voice was a lot like her I guess you could say; soft, feminine, and just all around beautiful. If she didn't have the dreads, I couldn't imagine the impact she would have on the Forks male population. I mean all the guys looked at her, but they tried to act like they didn't.
"Why are you here?" Em asked flatly.
"Silly Emmett, I wasn't asking you that when you slipped inside last night," she cooed.
Angela and I both spit our drinks out at that and Edward finally became aware of our new lunch mate.
"Oh, I forgot Rosalie Hale has to be scandalous. If you're going to be starting shit and talking like that in front of these girls, you're not welcome here," Em said, waving his hand.
"I forgot you sit with the God worshiping Reverend Weber's daughter and little Miss Virgin," she snorted. "Wait, are you still technically a virgin when your boyfriend goes down on you? I mean, I know how thorough Masen can be with his tongue."
I was frozen with her words and just stared at her. Edward lifted me off his lap, sitting me in his now vacant seat. He grabbed her arm and wrenched her from our table. I watched him drag her out of the cafeteria as Emmett came over and kneeled beside me. I didn't even realize I was crying until Em started wiping my tears away. Everyone was whispering and staring at our table. Angela moved over to my other side, wrapping her arm comfortingly around me.
"Rosalie is a bitch, Bells. She was just trying to stir shit up. Her brother is coming home and that means she won't be able to do her own thing anymore," Emmett soothed, rubbing my back.
"How does she know about Edward?" I choked out.
Emmett glanced at Angela, biting his lip.
"I'm not leaving her Emmett, so whatever needs to be said you can say it in front of me," Angela said with determination while squeezing my hand.
"Yeah, but this is between her and Masen," Em sighed.
"Well you obviously know," I glared. "I'll tell Angela anyway, so you might as well spit it out."
"I guess her and Masen like practiced and stuff on one another," he said uncomfortably.
"Ew…" Angela murmured.
"But you said Alice and Edward didn't 'put the plug in the socket,'" I mocked, quoting Emmett from months ago.
"Listen Bella, I only know what Rosie has told me. She and Edward fooled around before her and I started our thing. I told her I wasn't into messing around with girls who were dicking around with other guys. Masen seemed fine ending whatever in the hell they were doing when I started to hang around her last year," Em shrugged.
So it was okay that Edward and Rosalie fooled around? She obviously told Emmett. They were honest with each other and they just snuck around! Edward claimed to love me, but neglected to tell me how intimate he and Rosalie had been. I mean, I should have been a little clued in because he was excellent at making me feel great.
"I need to… I'm leaving," I stood suddenly.
"I'll drive," Angela said, reaching over to pick up her stuff.
"Yeah, okay," I nodded as I grabbed my bag.
"We still have school," Emmett sighed.
"Right now I don't really care," I snapped, hooking my arm through Angela's.
As we walked through the doors I spotted Edward and Rosalie signing furiously at one another. Edward's fist punched the locker by Rose's head. She didn't even flinch, like it was an everyday occurrence. We really had no choice but to pass them.
"Bella," Edward said, grabbing my arm to stop me.
I glared and he let go like my arm was on fire.
"You're not leaving," he said.
"I am," I frowned, continuing past them with Angela by my side.
"Bella," Edward roared.
"See you can teach a dog new tricks, but who says he doesn't go back to the old ones?" Rosalie called.
"Bella, let's just go back to your house," Angela said softly.
"Okay," I mumbled.
I hated this. Rosalie had kept her distance for the past couple of months. Edward would hangout with her and Alice from time to time, but I had my friends and he had his, which I was cool with. The school had been all abuzz about the infamous triad breaking up. I also knew Emmett had been kind of seeing her again. He wouldn't talk about it, though I would see random pieces of tattered cloth around his room. Never underwear or anything like that because I'm pretty sure she didn't believe in bras.
"Bella?" Angela asked once we got to her car.
"Yeah?"
"Uh, do you want to talk about what Rosalie said?" she asked nervously.
"I've never slept with him," I admitted quietly.
"You know, um… Ben and I do stuff, but we don't do stuff," she whispered.
I let out a breath, not really comfortable talking about what I do and don't do, but I guess it would be nice to have someone to talk to about this kind of stuff.
"Are we really going to talk about this?" I asked cautiously.
"I'm here if you need to talk," she shrugged. "I've spent the last two years hearing Jessica and Lauren go on about their escapades. Nothing can shock me."
"I don't know about escapades. We don't do a lot just…" I paused. "Sometimes we shower together if no one is around and we touch and stuff, but don't go past that."
"Oh me and Ben too, but we don't shower together," she blushed, pushing her glasses up.
"I should have known Edward had practice or whatever because he like knows…" I started and could feel the heat rise to my face.
"Ben fumbles a lot," she frowned.
"That sucks." Edward never, and I mean never, fumbles.
He goes for the gold or whatever.
"Are you okay? I mean, I see the way Edward looks at you and you can see how much he loves you."
"He should have maybe told me about Rosalie. I kind of figured as much with the stunt they pulled a couple months back. I guess it just hurts. He's my first everything, you know?"
"Yeah, I get it. Ben for me too. If he had been with other girls I think I would have liked to know."
I nodded while thinking about a lot of things. Did Edward have any ounce of feelings for her when he did those things? Did he compare us? Taste, technique, scent, what have you.
"Um, are you waiting for marriage?" I asked suddenly.
"I know my dad's a minister and all, but to contrary belief I have my own views on marriage and sex before marriage," she said, rolling her big brown eyes.
"Which are?" I prompted.
"I know Ben loves me and appreciates me. He's in my youth group and he hears the same things I do about sex. None of it's really encouraging, but I think we're waiting for different reasons than them. We want to wait until we're older, maybe senior year or at least before college. I mean we're in eleventh grade for goodness sake. Sex just seems like a major step and you have no idea how many pregnancy scares I've heard in the bathrooms."
"I think I agree with you. I'm not quite ready yet. For me it is a when it happens, it will happen sort of thing. He's the first guy to show any interest in me, so it's kind of overwhelming at times," I admitted.
"You should never let anyone pressure you, Bella. Do what you feel is right," she encouraged.
"Thanks, for listening, Ang," I smiled, reaching over to hug her.
"No problem. I'm here for you anytime," she grinned.
With that we pulled out of the parking lot and journeyed to my house. Phil's truck was parked outside, which was weird, and I wasn't sure why he would be here in the middle of the day.
"Phil seems to be here." I said confused.
"Emmett's dad?"
"Yeah."
"I can go back to school if you want. My parents might not like that I'm skipping," she offered.
"It's okay. I should probably go in by myself since those two have been really close lately," I said, waggling my eyebrows.
"Do you think they're dating?"
"One thing at a time for me to deal with today. I like Phil, but I don't think Renee is even there yet. My dad's only been gone for about four months. It's still too fresh."
"I understand," she smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
"For sure."
Getting out of Angela's car, I was slightly nervous as to what I was walking into. It was clear to all of us that Phil adored my mom and he had quickly become her rock. I knew dad wouldn't have wanted her to be alone and sad.
I opened the door and heard voices in the kitchen and I definitely heard mom's giggle. I made my way into the kitchen where Phil was under the sink and mom was handing him tools.
"What are you doing home?" she frowned.
"I had a migraine," I lied.
She knew I got them from time to time so it was my go to lie when I didn't want to deal with things that bothered me.
"How did you get home?" she asked suspiciously.
"Angela Webber."
"Jeez Nee, you should get a job down at the station, " Phil teased, sitting up. "How goes it, kiddo?"
"It goes as good as a migraine goes," I replied.
"Those are pretty nasty. I used to get them all the time."
"So, the sink's broke?" I asked, peeking around them.
Mom's face looked heartbroken and Phil stood to squeeze her hand in his. Even though I heard the giggles before coming in, I just noticed she had been crying.
"My ring fell off while I was doing the dishes this morning," she rasped, using her other hand to hold Phil's hand in both of hers.
"Did you get it out?" I croaked, the lump in my throat growing.
Phil shook his head sadly and Mom looked like she was on a verge of a breakdown. Phil pulled her into his arms, squeezing her a bit.
"It's okay, you tried," she whimpered into his shoulder.
"Get over here," he mouthed to me.
I listened and wrapped my arms around my mother. Phil pulled out of the hug, messing up my hair.
"I'm going to make some tea," he declared, going to the kettle on the stove.
For the rest of the afternoon, I balanced helping Phil take care of mom and pretending I needed to lie down. Around three o'clock my phone buzzed.
Emmett.
I kidnapped Masen. Asshole even tried punching me. We're going to the gym and the good doctor is meeting us there so he shall behave… I hope. All good in the hood? ~ Em
I'm really confused. ~ B
Well either be pissed at him or not. Rosie was being a bitch, she wanted you pissed at him. Don't give her what she wants. The boy's got it bad for you, yo! ~ Em
Tell him I'm home for the rest of the evening, that is all. ~B
Real cryptic, Smalls. ~Em
I laid on my bed, trying to figure out all of my emotions. I wasn't really lying about the migraine because I was pretty sure I was definitely experiencing one now. If only an idea of how to deal with the all the new information I had learned about Edward and Rosalie's relationship would come on as strongly, I would be in business.
A/N: This should clear up some questions… As always I'd love to know what your thinking so leave me a review! The awesome Dolphin62598 and rainydays23 beta'd this! Huge thanks to them!