Chapter 8: Punishment

B POV

Things went from bad to worse after I dominoed the other kids in line into Tanya. She proceeded to scream at me, then Edward, then hit Tyler Crowley with a cup of ravioli thus starting the only food fight I have been involved in, let alone helped to originate.

I entered into an accidental oath with Edward and was saluted to by Emmett and Jasper as though I was some respected General during my own personal walk of shame.

Detention I expected. However to be let off without having to clean up the mess was inexcusable. I was the reason the first bowl of pudding was thrown, it may not have left my hand, but it was because of my actions. I was not going to let myself off easy. I insisted on helping to clean, which also indirectly led to Tanya and Tyler being forced to clean as well.

As all four of us enter the cafeteria the smell of food and cleaning agent blasts our sense of smell. Edward reels back a tiny bit and Tanya full out plugs her nose and coughs. The janitors spot us, shake their heads and turn back to their mops and brooms. A few teachers who don't have fifth period classes are helping out too.

I take a breath and walk up to Frank, the janitor that had given us the towels in Mrs. Denali's office.

"What can I do to help?" I set my jaw.

"Well, I suppose you can help wipe up the walls seeing as how all the brooms and mops in the building are currently being used." He wipes his brow and smiles. "The buckets are in the kitchen towards the back, next to the sinks. Grab one and fill it about halfway with water. There is a large bottle of Pinesol, make sure you put a little of that in the bucket and grab a few rags. You two," he points to Edward and I, "can start on that wall over there." He moves his finger to a large wall that could have very well been an art mural made of food. There was grape juice, ravioli, applesauce, soda, pudding, what looked like split pea soup and who knows what else splattered all across the wall.

I nod my head and walk towards the kitchen door that had served as a shield for Edward and I. I make a bee line for the buckets and begin filling one up.

"You know," Edward muses, "you didn't have to volunteer to clean up."

"I know," I answer flatly. "But I already owe you for one thing, I don't want to owe you more than that." I flip my head in his direction and glare at him. He must think it's funny because he smiles and chortles a little.

"I'm not gonna let that go," he states.

My bucket is half full and I proceed to put a little Pinesol in it and grab a couple rags. I leave him to finish filling his bucket and head to the wall.

Tanya and Tyler are both wearing elbow length gloves. Tanya is holding a large garbage sack, her body arched as far as possible from the entrance of the bag as Tyler picks up styrofoam cups, boats, sporks, soda cans, juice boxes, ziploc bags and paper bags that have been discarded or used as weapons.

I stand in front of the wall and look from one end to the other. Well I guess the middle is just as good a place as any to start considering the whole wall is evenly covered. I soak my first towel, bend on my knees and start from the floor up.

Edward approaches, takes a spot about five feet away from me and begins scrubbing as well.

We work in silence for a bit until he clears his throat. I look over to see that he's staring at me.

"Yes?" I ask a bit unnerved.

"Well," he starts, "I wanted to speak to you about what I originally approached you about."

"Okay." I agree as I turn back to the wall. I can talk and work at the same time.

"Well," he begins again, "Alice told me that you have agreed to go to the game with her and Rose. I was wondering if that's true."

"Well now I'm not sure." I respond coolly. He stops working again and looks right at me.

"If this is still about the being bound thing..." he trails waiting for a response.

"No," I respond mildly. "This is about the fact that I now have detention for a week and that the principal is telling my father that exact same thing as we speak. I will probably be grounded."

"Oh," he gets back to work. "And if you aren't grounded?"

"Then I'll keep my word to Alice. She is quite effervescent and disarming isn't she? It was really hard to refuse her with all of her energy and...springiness." Is that even a word I muse to myself?

"Huh, yeah. You have no idea. When we were kids for some reason no matter how hard I tried I was never able to maintain dibs on shotgun. She always managed to beg, bribe or threaten her way into the front seat. With Emmett too. Pretty soon she realized she could do it to others and ever since if Alice says it's going to be done, it usually is."

I nod my head.

"It's probably why she's captain of the cheerleaders." He continues.

"She's captain?" I ask. "I thought Tanya was."

"Nope. Tanya is only a cheerleader," he paused to make sure Tanya was out of earshot then lowered his voice, "Because she has the connections. What with her dad being the mayor and her mom being the principal. Alice figured she would be a valuable asset despite the fact that she can't stand her half the time."

"Wow." I whisper.

How could I have misjudged that. After all, in my quick clique tour of Forks High School Angela never mentioned any rankings. Now that I had gotten a chance to talk to Alice, it made sense that she was captain. It seemed backwards though, at my old high school Tanya would have been the cheerleader simply because she had such high social connections. I made a mental note to reevaluate the political system of Forks High School. Maybe I could pick Edward's brain on the way to his house from the game tomorrow night, if I got the chance.

"Anyway," he interrupts my train of thought, "it's cool that you're going with Alice. You'll have a blast. I'll introduce you to Emmett and Jasper and Rose too."

"Okay," Crap, more people. I don't think I'd ever been this social at my high school in Phoenix. I might have to skip to the hyperventilating and passing out now.

"Are you staying after the game to help the girls pick up the whole crowd's mess too?" He scoffs.

"No," I stop scrubbing. "I was told you were going to give me a ride after the game ended." I look at him with the same look a deer has when it's stuck in the headlights of an oncoming car.

"Oh," he stops and looks up at me too. "Ok." Did Alice not tell him? What the hell Alice? She just earned herself a serious drop on my list of favorite people at this school.

"Unless of course you don't want to, or can't or have other plans..." I shoot out quickly.

"NO!" I jump at his sudden outburst along with the rest of the cafeteria cleaners. "I mean, no." He corrects more quietly this time. "It's fine."

"Are you sure?" I ask with just a hint of trepidation.

"I'd love to escort you to the party," he nods and then gives a slight bow, "my lady."

I giggle. He grins then begins scrubbing higher up the wall. I hadn't noticed until now, but we'd finished cleaning the bottom third of the wall. I look at the clock. Damn, it only took us ten minutes to do that, I guess we'd finish sooner than I thought, the lunch bell hadn't even rung yet.

"Umm." Edward muses. "I think we're going to need a ladder to get that stuff higher up. I'll be right back. I'm going to go talk to Frank."

I continue working on the wall from about waist height to just above my head. It was beginning to take more energy and rag rinsing. This seemed to be about the height most people were hitting at. I turn to rerinse the rag and jump back a step. Tanya is standing there.

"Now that you don't have your body guard," she hisses. "Listen up. Edward is mine. I don't know if anyone has told you yet but he and I are 'interested' in each other. I won't have the new girl come in and swipe him from me. If you want someone I'm sure Laurent, James' eternal tagalong is available." I gulp. "One more thing. If you value your invisibility and reputation, don't get on my bad side. I can and will tear you down if you so much as think of doing anything like that again." Her face lights up with a smile as I see Edward enter my peripheral.

"What's going on?" He edges into the conversation.

"Oh," Tanya giggles. "I was just saying to Bella that this whole thing was just a big misunderstanding. That we shouldn't let this ruin any chance we might have of becoming friends."

"Really?" Edward asks with more than a hint of doubt.

"Yep," she nods.

"Great!" Edward exclaims. "In that case. Tanya, can I speak to you over here for a second?"

"Of course Eddie!" Tanya coos as she grabs him around his arm and practically yanks him to her side.

They walk a short distance away. He disentangles himself from her arms and leans in closer to her. I turn away not wanting to witness whatever there is between them and begin washing the wall again.

Why should I care what's going on between Tanya and Edward? He would never be interested in me. I shouldn't be interested in him. He's...well he's damn near perfect except for the fact that I can't figure out what he wants from me, besides an oath. I sneak a peek, Tanya is nodding her head in agreement to something. Edward winks at her and begins walking back to me.

A clattering sound alerts me to the fact that Frank has arrived with the ladder in tow. Edward thanks him and sets it up.

"Spot me?" he asks me.

"Sure," I respond, "I'd hate to see you fall and break your neck before you get to cash in on the oath you tricked me into making."

"Well if I did break my neck," he says as he soaks a rag, "my demand would be for you to nurse me back to health."

"Oh I'm sure. You'd be the first food fight related injury in history ever." I laugh.

"Not true," he steps on to the first rung. "In 3rd grade a kid in my class got a spork to the nose during a small food fight. It wasn't pretty." He chuckles.

"Hardy-har," I mock.

"So," he huffs as he climbs the ladder, "Are you going to give Tanya a second chance?"

"I don't know yet. I don't know if she deserves one." I grimace.

"Well," he shrugs. That seems to be all he can say so he turns to work on the wall again.

We finish cleaning the wall in relative silence, except when I see a spot he missed. It takes us another twenty minutes to do the top part of the wall and working together on the middle portion it only takes us fifteen.

As we stand back and admire our work, Frank comes over, rests a hand on both our shoulders and beams. "Looks good!" He appraises. "Get back to class you two! There's about twenty minute left in fifth period."

"No more work?" I ask.

"Nope, everyone is finished up." He chuckles.

"Okay," Edward nods, "Let's go Bella."

The rest of the day went by fast. As I pull up to the house I notice Charlie's police cruiser is parked in the driveway. Uh-oh. I will myself to get out of the truck and walk the twenty yards to the front door. I let myself in and set my bag down.

"Dad?" I shout.

"In here." He calls from the kitchen. I walk in and see him sitting and reading the paper.

"Hey," I whisper anticipating the angry bear.

"Hey!" He greets amiable and upbeat. Maybe he didn't get the call? "How was your day?"

"It was fine," I answer grabbing a glass out of the cupboard.

"Anything interesting happen?" He muses as he peruses the sports section.

"Well," I sigh. "Lunch was...fun."

"Fun how?" he asks curiously.

"I had Jell-O." I state. Remembering I really need to take a shower even though I had somewhat cleaned my hair with a wet paper towel in the bathroom in between cleaning and fifth period. My cleavage however is still tinted pink and is sticky.

"Oh yeah?" he asks. "Does it make for a good conditioner?" He looks up at me with humor in his eyes and a smirk on his mouth.

I gape a little then catch myself. "The school did call you?" I ask guiltily.

"Uh-huh." He turns back to his paper. "They said you were the catalyst but not the person who started the war." I nod. "Edward was the one to throw the applesauce first and at Ms. Denali no less. What happened? Did you steal her "bio partner?" He snickers. I try my hand at burning a hole through him with laser vision.

"No," I snap, "I don't want to talk about it. I already had to live through it." I groan, he chuckles. "So what's my punishment?" I ask with a hint of amusement. This was a first for him, having to punish me.

"Well," he stretches, "I figure because you were just an accomplice and were the first to squeal," he smiles, here it comes, "you're being forced to come with me for dinner at Grandpa Charles' house."

My face drops. His smile gets even bigger if that were possible. Grandpa Charles was one of the most stern and humorless people I knew. Charlie might as well have given me capitol punishment. Goodbye cruel world.