Emmett PoV
He helped Bella up into the Jeep, because after watching her getting into it at school, he became aware that she was small and couldn't leap up like a vampire. He'd never had a human in his Jeep before and he didn't want her getting hurt getting in or out.
"I had a lot of fun." Bella told him as he started the car and that had Emmett smiling. This had been epic, he'd brought home a human friend and everyone loved her. Well, Edward wasn't there, but he was a bit of a dick about her anyhow.
"Me too." He was going to miss being able to have her over all the time after Edward got back, and he didn't have a good excuse to give her about that yet. "I kicked your butt though, you know it."
"I know." She smiled and shook her head. "But in my defense, I've never played those games."
"No excuse." He grinned and ignored the fact that Jasper was yelling at him that even the human would beat him given a little training. Thankfully the human couldn't hear him.
Driving her home was fast, and he waved to the window when he noticed Bella's dad looking out the window, before walking around the Jeep to help Bella get out. "I don't know how I feel about sharing you with my family. Now we can't hang out for a few days because you have plans with Alice and Esme."
"Don't worry, you're my first friend. I won't forget about you." Bella rested her hot hand on his for a moment, before moving to close the Jeep door. "We'll figure out something to do on Spring Break." She promised even as she made her way toward her front door.
"Your friend is looking a little friendly Bells." He could hear Charlie's voice from inside the house, and liked the nickname Bells.
"His girlfriend told him I might fall out of the Jeep if he didn't help me." Bella Bear said, and Emmett grinned at hearing the little liar, before starting his Jeep up again. He was a gentleman all on his own, thank you very much. Little Bella didn't want Papa Bear to think they were dating. It was almost worth it to tease the hell out of her, but Rosalie might decide to punish him for that game.
By the time he got back to the house, he expected everyone to be in the main room. It didn't take long to discover that Jasper and Alice were missing. When he opened the front door and slipped into the main room he didn't even wait to see the others before asking. "Where'd Jasper and Alice go?" He had wanted to gloat a little about his Bella Bear and how he'd picked a great human BFF, but so many people were missing.
"They went hunting, and then Jasper agreed to deliver the scarf with Bella's scent to Edward." Esme was sitting at the piano, facing the room, as if trying to evaluate the decorating again. "Alice said she had a vision that Edward would take the news that Bella moved here a little better if Jasper told him about it and showed him how we feel about the girl."
"A little better meaning he'll pitch a diva fit and still yell and scream, but he won't even think of hurting my Bella Bear, right?" Emmett spoke slowly, his smile wiped away. Living with Edward when he was on one of his depressions about being a monster was never fun, but if he actually went after Bella Emmett would have to stop him and then Bella would see two vampires wrestling. That was not a good thing at all.
Esme usually defended Edward's diva fits, but this time she just agreed. Not long after Esme made her way back up to her office, and Emmett thought she heard her mutter something about 'dresser desks'. It made him smile. After so many years with just this family, or occasionally the Denalis, it was nice to have someone new around, and apparently most of the people around here appreciated it.
"Alice doesn't think that Edward will scare Bella away." Rosalie told him quietly as he sat down beside her and tugged her a little so she was leaning up against him while she read. "I don't want him to scare her at all." Emmett hugged her to him and kissed her head.
"She likes you too Rose, even a little bit much." Emmett teased softly, and got a light slap on his leg for it.
"Don't tease her so much about that." Rosalie sounded fond of her. "It's got to be confusing for the girl, and she's trying so hard not to stare."
"And you're helping her by not giving her soft little smiles." Emmett teased his wife. She scowled a lot at school to keep the boys away, but she wasn't scowling at Emmett's Bella Bear.
"Well, she is trying not to stare. I can't let her get away with that." Rose joked back.
…
Bella packed a lunch today, and it was sitting on the counter waiting for them to leave for school. She decided, when she woke up, that she just did not want to deal with teenagers today. Since she couldn't sit with the Cullen's she planned to get a little work done in the library during lunch.
"So schools good right?" Charlie asked her while finishing up his breakfast.
"Better than ever." She smiled. "I have friends in three of my classes." It made taking high school over again a bit more bearable. "Oh, and Alice begged me to go shopping with her." She gave Charlie a little bit of an evil smile.
"Oh, be gentle on her Bells." He said, but Bella thought she could see some relief in him that he didn't have to take her. "When you two going?"
"I told her Wednesday." Bella sighed. She would have preferred to do it today, but she needed to get homework to a level that she could afford another fun day. "I have to catch up with classes."
"Yeah, moving in the middle of a semester can't be fun." Charlie's voice was more serious, and Bella could see his jaw clench a little. "Lot of extra work I bet."
"Nothing I can't handle." Bella reassured him, but if things weren't going so well with the Cullens she'd be pretty irritated today with her work load. Luckily she was fast at high school homework, but she didn't like actually having to take it home to do.
"I thought you were going to take Emmett's girlfriend shopping with you." Charlie asked, and something in his eyes made it a more serious question.
Bella sighed. "She isn't as into shopping as Alice." Her eyes traveled to the window and the car they needed to be getting into soon. "I'm not sure what we have in common yet. She's really into cars, but I just know how to drive them, she's a mechanic."
"Wouldn't hurt to have a friendly mechanic when you get a car Bells." Charlie smiled at her, but she could still see some tension in his eyes.
"Well, that's a little ways off." Bella sighed. "I'll figure something out." Something that helped Bella not stare at the blonde vampire would be nice. She didn't want to seem like a creep. Perhaps movies? But that was too much like dating, asking Rosalie to a movie. Bella did want to have some connection to Rosalie too, since she had games with Emmett, and shopping with Alice, and interior design with Esme.
As Charlie was driving her, and why he always chose to do this while driving, she didn't know. "Any boys you're interested in at school Bells?"
"God no." She said while staring out the side window. Charlie didn't seem to know what to say to that response.
Bella got out of the patrol car right in front of the school, and she could tell people noticed her there. She didn't let the attention bother her, since she was going to have to get used to this or walk. When Alice sidled up to her on her way to English, those looks were for walking with a Cullen, Bella was pretty sure, but Alice was worth the odd stares.
"The Great Gatsby" The teacher started the class and Bella sighed and turned her attention to the front of the class. She'd rather continue to talk about art class with Alice, but no, it was time to talk about a 'Great American Novel.'
It took work to bite her tongue as the class started to discuss the themes of love in that novel. Love didn't exist in that novel, more than any other novel Bella had ever read. She could see the teacher steering the conversation, trying to pull out the connections between love and money in the book. Bella hated this book, but she'd read it before and she'd reviewed the thing yesterday.
"Bella, what do you think?" The teacher asked, making the sad novel Bella's problem. Bella noticed that yet again she had more heads swiveling to see her than the others in the back row had.
Bella knew the teacher wanted someone to say that it was the love of money that was the problem, the materialism of the 1920's. Bella agreed with that much as well, but she sighed and looked the teacher in the eye, fully aware of the vampire sitting next to her that was from the time period in question and in her shopping addiction was a little bit too connected to this book in Bella's opinion. In fact Alice was dressed in beyond average finery now. "The author showed that every relationship was based on money, not love, but in a time when women were just being allowed the right to vote, and it was probably met with some violence in some houses, in a time when women were suddenly realized to be people too, people with a brain, how much respect was in any of the relationships of the time?" She wanted to stop there, but the teacher was starting to smile and motioned for her to continue.
"When a group of people have all the positives, power of any kind, money, the right to give their opinion, and the ability to ignore another groups opinions because they don't have the same powers and can't even hope to get anything like it unless they ally themselves with the people who aren't respecting them, well, is it any surprise the relationships aren't working?"
"That is a good point Bella." The teacher finally moved on and Bella let out a deep breath.
"When did you have time to read the book?" Alice whispered.
"I read it before." Bella told her quietly.
"No wonder you were so disappointed that it was in this class, you had it already this year." Alice smiled at her and Bella couldn't correct her. She did notice that Alice was giving her measuring looks for a little while after Bella spoke up in class.
Bella was more comfortable with the class after that though, in spite of Alice's eyes on her, because she'd turned the conversation to respect and not the 1920's materialism that was alive and well today, in the girl next to her. She didn't want people talking badly of Alice, even abstractly like this.
That being said, maybe she'd point it out to Alice, that she's a bit of a Gatsby if Alice went too crazy shopping. She'd do it gently of course.
Many students were zoning out in this discussion, so Alice's blank expression wasn't odd here, but the brief glare Bella got before Alice covered it up was enough to remind Bella to refrain from making decisions about what to tell Alice. It was the same as telling Alice.
Alice was just a little distant for the remainder of the class, but she did smile at Bella when they split up, so hopefully her feelings weren't too hurt. Bella couldn't even apologize because she didn't say it.
While she was in her History class, Bella focused hard on deciding to ask Alice what all she did for fun, to tell her she wanted to spend more time with her, but shopping wasn't something she did often, because she just didn't replace things until they really needed it. Bella decided to tell Alice she liked her and wanted to be her friend. It was the best non-verbal apology she could give the psychic and keep her own secrets.
She went to her next few classes and did as much work as she could while in them, but in Algebra that proved very hard to do. Jessica wouldn't stop with the questions, even when Bella didn't answer them.
"Look, I just met you yesterday." Bella whispered back to Jessica, finally unable to ignore her anymore. "I don't know why an hour in class and a lunch together makes you think you're entitled to my life story, but you aren't." She could see Jessica's face start to redden. "I don't know you, you're not my best friend, but even if you were, you shouldn't interrogate a friend like this. It alienates people." There was no way she was invited to sit at Jessica's lunch table again, but Bella didn't care. "Wait for people to offer to tell you things, maybe then they wouldn't want to avoid you."
Once class got out Jessica dragged Mike away, sending Bella a glare as she did it. Bella just smirked and turned to walk up to the teacher in the front of the class. "I don't know if you ever do this, but Jessica won't shut up during your lectures, even when I ask nicely and I can't concentrate. Can you move me?"
The teacher looked a little surprised. "See me before the next class and I'll see what I can do."
"Um Mike Newton is stalking me and doesn't understand English when I tell him I won't date him. If I have to choose between Jessica and him, I'll stay where I am." Bella grimaced and the teacher's nod showed she was understood, before Bella turned to make it toward art class.
Even behind schedule, because she had waited for all the students to leave the room before talking to the teacher, Alice slid up next to her halfway to the art class. It was almost startling when the little vampire latched on to Bella's arm again and smiled up at her radiantly. "So, ready for art?" All was clearly forgiven.
When it was time to draw your partner, Alice draped another scarf over Bella's neck, tucking it into her shirt just a little. "Makes it more challenging." Alice told her but it was like Bella suddenly got it. Someone needed to practice with her scent to be okay around her. That was what the sneaky little vampire was up to with these scarves. Bella blushed a little as she considered that with the way Alice sniffed at her once in a while, perhaps Alice just wanted her scarves to smell like Bella. Alice 'forgot' to take the scarf back after class, and Bella found herself choosing to wear it until someone took it back from her, just in case they actually needed her scent like that. She tucked it into her shirt a bit more, to get more skin contact.
Bella snuck off after art to eat in the library and work, but she go so into her assignment, and trying to catch up, that it was the bell that had her looking up and realizing she had to rush to Biology. The teacher gave her a hard look, and since she had to walk passed the teacher desk she whispered to him on her way by. "I'm sorry, I was in the library working on my homework and didn't notice the time."
"Don't make it a habit." He told her and Bella nodded, but she didn't like that this one teacher, once again, thought she was a flake. When Emmett chuckled as she sat down, she whispered one word.
"Ass."
It was lab day and the table was set up for it. "You weren't at lunch." Rosalie's voice was softer and she moved so that she could see Bella around Emmett. "Oh, this isn't going to work, trade seats with me." She tugged on his arm and Bella lost her huge male shield as Rosalie moved to sit beside her as the teacher was handing out some more supplies.
"Why weren't you at lunch?" Rosalie asked once she'd settled down. Bella was watching her expression, and the concern was obvious. It was also hard to not pay attention to how Rosalie's yellow eyes bore into her.
"I wasn't in the mood to deal with it." Bella whispered, and then nodded to the teacher when he dropped off some supplies, grateful for something to pull her away from staring into Rosalie's eyes so much she was sure it was creepy. Her eyes stayed on the supplies as she organized them and slide them over to Rosalie. "And I'm trying to get caught up. Anything to shorten my marathon of homework tonight."
"So you aren't avoiding Mike?" She asked, her voice deepening just a little.
Bella smiled just a little and had to look back at the vampire in the seat next to her. "I'll deal with him if he continues to be a problem. I just wasn't in the mood today to deal with teenage drama."
"Okay class, the instructions for the lab are on page 128 of your lab book, that's lab book." The instructor spoke up and Bella moved to pull her book out of the backpack, when a cool white hand rested on hers for a moment.
She looked up to see Rosalie shaking her head gently. "We'll just use my book. I can share."
They started up the lab and struggled a little with how to work as a trio, when obviously the couple was used to just working with each other. They took a little longer than some of the other students, but they weren't the last done with the lab.
The real victory was that Bella didn't stammer or stutter, when talking with Rosalie. It was hard, she had to think harder about what she said and where she looked, but she left that class feeling a little bit better about her ability to treat Rosalie like a normal person. She was the hardest vampire to treat that way.
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