A/N: I'm sure you've noticed, but I thought I should mention that I do take liberties with the town of Forks.
Word Prompt: Limit
A single word meant to inspire immediate thought. Write what your imagination dictates.
Something True
Limit
Last Winter
After the break it was a new semester. Bella no longer had English class with Mr. Biers but she was signed up to TA for him, this time for credit. He told her to take it seriously because what she was doing was directly affecting the students' education. So she did take it seriously, and she liked it. It made her think she wanted to be an English teacher.
She helped with the syllabus, the grading, and even tutored some students one at a time in the back of the class. It's really hard for some people to understand how to find themes in a novel, and an argument to write about. She guessed it was similar to the way that while memorizing the Periodic Table of Elements and what the letters represented was easy for others, it was difficult for her.
With Paul, though, it made Bella wonder if he'd done the reading at all. When she asked him to come up with a theme, he spouted out something random he couldn't offer examples of.
Bella's meetings with Mr. Biers were now limited to twice a week after school—Mondays and Fridays. When they finished on Friday, he took her coat off the hook and held it up for Bella to slip her arms through. Rain was pounding against the window. He offered to share his umbrella. She pulled her hood up too, because whenever the person you shared an umbrella with was taller, it didn't really work that well for the shorter one, especially when wind was involved.
"Where's your car?" he asked as they approached the empty student lot. He'd shaved his beard over the holiday, and while he wasn't completely clean shaven, it did make him look younger.
"I don't have one."
"How do you get home?"
"Friends, sometimes. On days I stay late I usually walk. Or call my dad if he's off."
Mr. Biers looked ahead, looked at Bella, looked ahead again. He sighed. "Come on. I'll give you a ride."
They walked to the teacher lot. His car, the red Jeep Cherokee, was the last one there. He cleared papers and books off his passenger seat and tossed them into the back. Bella slid in, kicking old water bottles out of her way.
"I think it's a rule that English teachers have to be disorganized. Or a curse." With a hand at the back of Bella's seat, head turned over his shoulder, he pulled out of his parking space.
"That's why you have me," Bella said, and he glanced over at her as he drove out of the parking lot.
Eyes back on the road, he nodded. "That's why I have you."
...
The sleepovers were Rosalie's idea. Each weekend one girl in their group would have the rest of the girls sleep over. They'd alternate every week. This weekend they were at Lauren's house, and she was complaining to Jessica.
"You can't just leave with him," she said, as Jessica pulled on her jeans. "That ruins the whole point of just girls."
"I'm not leaving," Jessica said, buttoning her pants. "I mean, I'll be back. And one point of girlfriends is to cover for each other, right? With my parents, when else will me and Mike get any alone time?"
That made Alice fall back on Lauren's bed and laugh. "Sex, Jess. Call it what it is." She poked Rose's side. "Or for some people, maybe making love. Have you and Royce yet?"
"None of your business," Rose said.
"That means no. What are you waiting for?"
"She's not ready," said Bella. "Leave her alone."
"You're just afraid you'll be the last virgin."
"Alice!" Jessica said, just as Bella said, "Yeah, that keeps me up at night. All night long I pray that Rose won't have sex so that I won't be the only virgin."
Lauren threw a pillow at Alice. "You're the type of friend our parents warn us against."
"Thank you," Alice said, situating the pillow behind her head and closing her eyes. "You know I love you, don't you?" With her eyes still closed, she put her hand on Bella's knee. Bella picked up her hand and linked their fingers.
"In your own way," Bella said, which made Alice laugh so hard she rolled to her side.
…
The Peninsula Daily News did a write up on Mr. Biers' trust exercise. The reporter didn't come to the school, Mr. Biers just explained to her what we did. A photographer came out for a photo that was supposed to look spontaneous but was actually set up. Mike and Jessica got their picture in the paper.
Mr. Biers had everyone partner up; one person would be blindfolded and the other person would be the guide all over campus. Nobody really knew what this had to do with English, but it was something Mr. Biers did every year, and nobody complained about it because it got them out of class. In fact, Juniors always looked forward to it.
"I'll be your partner," Mr. Biers said, coming up to Bella with a blindfold. He covered her eyes with it and tied it behind her head.
At first she stumbled along slowly. "Don't worry. I won't let you fall or run into anything."
No light came through the blindfold at all. Bella knew she was being led outside when she felt the icy wind on her face. The breeze blew at her hair, some strands getting caught in her lipstick. She pushed the strands aside and scraped her teeth against her itchy bottom lip.
"Where are we?" Bella asked.
"Here." He had her step to the right—grass. "The quad."
She could imagine they were at the beginning of it, near the flag, but when she listened she couldn't hear it flapping. They must have been on the opposite side.
"Near the gym?"
"Yes, exactly, good. Keep going straight. There's nothing near you. You're wide open."
A few yards later he told her there were some stairs to her right, to turn and walk up them. He took her hand and placed it on the metal handrail. As she walked up the steps, he placed his hand against her hair and coat between her shoulder blades, bracing her in case she lost her balance.
"One more step," he said, pressing her back.
Bella thought it was strange that while she knew he'd shaved, when she pictured him with her blindfold on, he still had his beard.