Chapter 15: Not so different after all
I was surprised when next day at school nothing was different. I guess my time with Edward made me think that if I ever became something supernatural everything would be different in a blink of an eye. It wasn't. I woke up as usual, picked a cup of coffee from the grill, and drove to school, hid in Tyler's arms earning snickers from our very different social groups but not caring. Actually I'm wrong; the only difference was at lunch. I seemed to be eating as much as Tyler does, and that means a lot. We each had taken a panini from the lunch lady and went back for seconds.
"Bella, something you'd like to tell us?"
"Yeah why do you eat so much?"
"I guess I'm hungry, I didn't eat dinner last night"
"That's where he hickey came from then?"
Joy asked with gleaming eyes making me blush instantly. I thought about acting innocently but I had pulled my hair in a ponytail and suddenly the sly glances, whispers and giggles made perfect sense. I'll kill him!
"uh huh"
"tell us"
'Not with Ty listening in I won't'
"I'm working tonight, why don't we go out tomorrow and I'll tell you all about it?"
They nodded enthusiastically and i sent a glare to my boyfriend who was pretending to pick between water and water while grinning like the Cheshire cat.
"Why do I eat so much?"
I asked him later on our way to class
"The effect of the full moon actually lasts for three days and it affects our appetite and emotions. It's strong enough to make us transform only on one night though"
"Right I knew that, my mom went through a phase where she would study the moon"
I rolled my eyes but the thought of Renee brought a bang to my stomach. Now that I am with Tyler and have found people that actually understand me (even though it's a weird group of two vampires, a werewolf boyfriend and a few humans) I found myself silently thanking Renée and Charlie for acting like they did. I decided to write again and give them my address; maybe it wasn't too late to repair the broken bridges.
I kissed Tyler goodbye when he headed to precise and I drove to Damon's, I owed an apology. He was in his study pouring over books for more information about this curse.
"Can I come in?"
He nodded
"I'm not dangerous, I promise"
He nodded again swallowing a chuckle but my new superheating ability let me hear it and I jumped in his arms. He hugged me back
"What the hell happened little girl?
He sat in the leather armchair placing me in his lap. There was nothing sexual in our position, I felt just like I did when I was little and Charlie took me to the station.
"My blood, his saliva. When he licked the wound on my neck last month, he changed me."
"They can change others?"
"No"
"Then how?"
Stefan asked coming into the room
"they change only their soul mates. Carol isn't Richard's soul mate and she hasn't changed all these years. I have"
"for what it's worth, you don't stink"
"I beg your pardon?"
"don't beg, it's beneath you"
Damon quipped and I smacked his arm and he faked pain
"Werewolves kind of stink. They have an earthy smell, too earthy. You on the other hand smell a little woodsy but not in a bad way. Almost like a sandalwood with roses"
"maybe because I'm not an actual werewolf myself, according to the mayor I'm a beta while the lock woods themselves are alphas. I'm smaller than Tyler too"
"Does that mean he's big?"
Damon asked waggling his eyebrows. Two can play that game. I leaned in and said in a sultry voice
"Too big. Feeling a little insecure Demi?"
Stefan laughed
"nice hickey"
"just as nice as yours is"
it was mine and Damon's turn to laugh and just like that whatever animosity I was afraid would exist between us was gone. Frankly I wasn't joking. They didn't smell that bad either. According to Richard vampires smelled sickly sweet to a werewolf. Stefan and Damon smelled a little sugary to me but that was all. I only had to talk to Lexi now.
"Erm guys"
"yeah"
"The Mayor doesn't know about you two. Can I tell Tyler? I really can't lie to him and by can't, I mean it, I'm unable to lie to him and vice versa. It's a wolf thing"
"I was thinking about this actually"
"you were?"
"yes Damon I was. According to the legend in order to break this curse Klaus will need werewolves as well. We may as well tell them first and see if we can work together."
"a treaty"
Fully knowing I was breaking the Cullens' trust, but frankly who cares right now?, I told Stefan and Damon the story Jacob told me about the treaty his great grand father formed with the Cullens. I'm not sure whether it is an actual legend or if it it's true but it is a basis. They thought it over and decided to tell the mayor themselves. I agreed and left for work as I'd end up being late. Thankfully I wasn't and I didn't even get a ticket. Work went by fast and before long I was getting ready for bed while writing to my parents. Since I had decided to put on my big girl panties I told them about the plane making an emergency landing, spending my summer in Georgia and gave them my current address glossing only over the part where I had a boyfriend and would/could double as a house pet.
Next day on my way to school I stopped at the post office to mail them and crossed my fingers. Hopefully I'd get a reply this time. It was Wednesday when after school I found myself at a coffeehouse at the mall. My outing with the girls was great, since Lexi moved back to Georgia I hadn't had a decent girls' night and, even though I was lying through my teeth, it was enjoyable. Tyler was busy with his family as he and his dad had made an uneasy truce, both with the local vampires as well as with each other.
I was surprised that after sleeping together neither Tyler nor I felt that sickly cold feeling when we were away from each other, of course the bite marks we left on each other probably helped.
Joy and Amber lapped on the fairytale of me and Tyler like starving cats and I couldn't help but joining in with the aww's. I have to admit the story on how Tyler transformed from a bully to a loving boyfriend was Hollywood worthy. We were shopping at a vintage stores as the pageant was going to be held next weekend. It was something like a cotigion and the local girls 'of age would be presented to the town', officially. Unofficially it was nothing but a beauty contest that would determine who would be the face of the founder's day parade that would take place the next day. Mrs. Lockwood had announced the names of the runner-ups. Caroline Forbes and Elena Gilbert as the only female descendants of the founder families, Amber Bradley as a front to cover the predetermined winner and myself in an effort to explain why an outsider like me would be with Tyler Lockwood the only male descendant of the founder families, Stefan and Damon really don't count.
So here we were. Joy was loading us with dressers and amber and I would try them on, what on earth do you wear in a beauty contest? The only unspoken rule was 'do not wear the same color' and we were given our colors the other day. Elena had blue, Caroline had green, Amber was yellow and I was the red. Not finding any long red dress that I actually liked and not look like a hit and run victim, I decided to ignore the rule and get a silverish white one.
After shopping and fueling our bodies with enough coffee to rival the Energizer Bunny, Amber and I were off to the mayor's house where Carol would teach us the dance we were supposed to perform on the contest. Somehow in spite of all the dance lessons I had taken in the past this one had the feeling of a bunch of toddlers squabbling around. Elena and Stefan were flirting about only one of them being around when the dance was invented, Caroline looked murderous at her step-in dancer partner as Matt couldn't take time off at the Grill and Amber looked at her best gay friend murderous because he had decided to date her brother and thought dancing was the best time to tell her and Tyler and I were doing our best not to jump each other right there and then with only Stefan's 'big brother' dry cough stopping us. I think it's efficient to say we did not learn anything.
Two hours later Carol had enough and dismissed us telling us to come back the next day for our interviews. My cell phone rang but I missed the call. Seeing however it had a Forks area code I was fast to redial it.
"Forks General"
"Hello, someone just call me. I'm Bella swan"
"Oh yes, miss Swan. I'll connect you with Dr. Gerardy right away"
As the stupid song played I felt the air going out. I sat at the hood of my car trying to calm my erratic heartbeat but with all the vampires and werewolf around it was in vain.
"Miss Swan?"
"Hello doctor. What is going on?"
"I'm afraid I have some bad news"
