My Suspension
The yelling is like nothing I've ever heard before. There's too many people in this small room and the screaming coming from Mrs Parker is completely unnecessary considering how confined we are.
I find it strange that it's not Chelsea she's mad at. It's Mrs O'Hare.
"My daughter did nothing wrong! She simply defended herself!" she's screeching.
"Mrs Parker, please understand that this is the school policy. All three girls are suspended for two days, and that is final," Mrs O'Hare stands her ground.
The ice pack is starting to make my face numb and I pull it away, wincing as the air hits it. Angela looks up from her lap and gives me an apologetic look. I shake my head to let her know that I don't blame her at all. In fact I want to know where she learnt her moves. She had Chelsea on the ground in seconds. I reach over and hold my kick ass friend's hand. She smiles at me and we both turn to Mrs O'Hare, when she speaks again.
"Mrs Swan, Mr Weber as I was saying," she gives Mrs Parker a stern look, silently asking her to not interrupt again, "if you want to take this matter further –"
"I would like a private meeting with you to discuss my daughter's future and safety here, if you don't mind," my mother interrupts.
Mrs O'Hare nods in understanding and purses her lips. "Of course." She sighs and closes the book in front of her and looks up at all three of us girls. "I want you all to take this time to think about your actions, okay, girls?"
We all mumble a reply and then she dismisses us, except for my mother. My mum asks me to wait in the hall and says she'll see me in five. I pull up stumps just across from the office door.
"Mr Weber?" I call, before he walks off with his daughter in tow.
"Yes?" he stops just in front of me.
I pause as I watch Chelsea and her mother walk past. Both of them stare me down and I see now why Chelsea is such a bitch; the apple didn't fall far from the tree.
"Um, I'm sorry for getting Angela into trouble. It's my fault. She was just sticking up for me. Please don't punish her," I beg.
He smiles at me kindly. "That's very nice of you, Isabella, but Angela is responsible for her own actions. I promise she won't be punished harshly, but I hope you understand that you won't see or hear from her over the weekend as she will have her phone and internet privileges taken away."
I nod and look past him at Angela sympathetically. She doesn't say anything, but I can tell that she's not happy with this news. I remember that Jasper is meant to be asking her dad for his permission to date her later today and I'm suddenly wracked with guilt.
"Sorry," I mouth to her as they walk off.
She shrugs and looks at the floor, defeated.
I pull out my phone and text Edward quickly.
Angela grounded and phone taken from her. Tell Jasper I'm sorry, it's my fault!
? Is texted back almost immediately.
Will explain later. Just tell Jasper, please. I decide stalling's the best idea right now. If I tell Edward that I got into a fight with Chelsea, there's no saying what he'll do. He's sure to find out by the end of the day anyway.
Mum doesn't say a word to me on the way home, but I know I'm in for a talking to when we get home. We are just in the door when I try to explain myself and get in before she starts her lecture.
"Sorry, Mum. I know this isn't like me. I just got so angry and –"
"You snapped," Mum interrupts. She sits at the kitchen table and motions for me to sit. "I'm not saying I'm proud of you, because what you did was childish and you could have got seriously hurt, but I am … happy that you stuck up for yourself in Mrs O'Hare's office and told the truth."
We're both silent for a moment and I can't think of the right words to say.
"Was that the full story? Did you really start on her first?" I nod and look down at my hands on the table. "What made you so angry? Did she say something to you earlier in the day?" I shake my head, no. "Then what, Izzy? What's going on with you?"
"Edward," I give in after a moment's contemplation. "I don't know what it is about him, but sometimes he just makes me really angry."
Mum surprises me by laughing. "Your dad used to grind on my nerves, too, when I was pregnant with you girls. I think it's a hormone thing."
"Yeah, but sometimes he just says really stupid things, too," I point out, and then I tell her everything that happened leading up to the fight.
"Oh, Izzy, you silly girl! He's just trying to have some fun. I'm sure he's just as panicked as you are about this whole ordeal, he's just trying to make you feel more at ease."
"Well I don't feel at ease," I bite back. I'm suddenly annoyed again and I wish I knew how to stop it.
Mum sighs and reaches over to grab my hand. "You need to stop holding it all in and talk to him. Guys aren't mind readers! In fact guys are pretty useless at reading women, period. The only way you can get a boy to notice that something is wrong, is to tell him."
"Okay, but how do I stop it?"
"Stop what?" she asks, confused.
"This emotional rollercoaster. One minute I'm feeling fine, the next I want to punch Edward in the throat and the next I want to hug him for being all protective and superhero like." Tears wet my cheeks and I chuckle. "See!"
Mum gets up and stands behind my chair to hug me from behind. I hold onto her forearms and squeeze her in return.
"I don't think you can, honey, you just have to ride the rollercoaster," she mumbles into my hair and kisses my head before walking into the kitchen. "Orange juice?"
"Yes please!" I call out, suddenly excited to be feeding my craving.
I am upstairs with my iPod in my ears, listening to some music to calm me, when I hear a knock at my door.
"Come in," I call out casually.
Edward walks in and I pull the plugs from my ears and sit up in my bed.
"Oh, hey," I say cautiously.
He looks a mixture of angry and concerned and I'm wondering which one is going to win out.
"What happened to fighting with your wit?" he smiles, diffusing the tension inside me.
"Ha, yeah, well, I got a bit carried away," I admit.
He sits on the edge of my bed and looks closely at my cheek. "Looks sore," he notes.
I shrug nonchalantly. "You should see the other chick," I joke.
He laughs and the sound of it makes my heart flutter. Damn these hormones.
"So your first suspension, huh?"
"Yep and it's all your fault," I point out. He's obviously confused about this so I take my mother's advice and explain to him why I went a little crazy.
"But I know you didn't mean to make light of our situation, at least now I don't. It's just, at the time I felt like maybe you did, and it made me really annoyed for some reason. I don't know what's wrong with me lately, it's like one minute I'm happy and the next I kind of want to kill you," I finish.
He raises his eyebrows in surprise and I chuckle.
"Not literally … well, maybe," I joke. "It's just I'm really, really … scared," I add seriously as tears start to well.
"Well, first off, I'd love it if you didn't kill me," he smiles kindly at me and I can't help but smile back. "Secondly," he grabs my hand and looks me in the eyes, "I'm scared, too," he whispers.
There's a connection. A shared moment of understanding and he pulls me gently until I'm snuggled, rather awkwardly, into his chest. I can hear his rapid heart beat, which speeds up seconds before I feel him sigh.
"Bella?"
"Hmm?" I reply and move to look up at him.
"Don't look at me," he begs and then puts his hand on my head, encouraging me to stay where I am. "I can't say what I want to say if you're looking at me," he explains.
"Okay," I mumble. Anxiousness bubbles inside of me and I get a strange sense of foreboding.
"I've been thinking about this for a while now, and I've been trying to find the right way to tell you …" he stops for a moment to collect himself. When he speaks again I'm balled over by the emotion in his voice. "I don't think I can do this."
With my heart in my throat, I try to pull away from him, but he holds me tight.
"I'm not finished. Sorry, I'm just trying to find the right words to say." He sighs heavily and continues, this time with more conviction. "I can't have my little girl out there and not know who she is. I don't want to watch someone else raise my child. Bella, I don't want to go through with the adoption."
Dun dun dun! Well as suspenseful as this story is likely to get LOL But you probably all saw that coming.
Well the weekend is here and mine is packed out to the absolute max, so I will catch all you lovely people next week.
Thank you all, sincerely from the bottom of my heart for being so amazing. I apologise for the lack of review replies, I figured getting you a new chapter would be more important xx
In the next chapter we might skip ahead a little and we'll also find out what got into Angela.