A/N: I don't own Twilight or Death Proof or anything else that sounds familiar in this story.

This is chapter 58 of Static. Writing it has made me feel a lot better, honestly. There's kind of a lot going on, but try to stick with it. It has some stuff to tug at the heart maybe, a nod to the 2008-2012 madness that was Twilight culture (RIP), a scene that is NSFW, some drama, and a little bit more. Writing it has just made me feel alright, for many reasons. Hopefully, you'll feel a little bit of what I felt.

Also, thank you thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU for the follows, favorites, and reviews that have been coming in. They all make my heart flutter. Truly.

Enjoy.

LVIII.

didn't they tell you that i was a savage?

In the winter, especially the worst of it in February, Sunshine Childcare was anything but sunny. Most of the children didn't have weather-appropriate clothes, anyway, but by this point, every child had a cold. They all had to stay inside, so everyone remained sick, too. And these kids would never get better at home. Bella found them to be a lost, sad cause, but she sometimes found herself feeling as helpless as they were.

There was this one little girl, Bella Murphy, who found herself attached to Bella Swan. Sometimes they referred to each other as twins, even though the little girl was only six. The other kids just called her Bell. Little Bell had long blonde hair and big gray eyes and a ratty purple coat that had sleeves so short that her skinny wrists were always exposed. She wore that coat and bright blue leggings with dirt at the knees every single day. Bell was a quiet girl who flinched at loud noises and sudden movements, and she frequently apologized for things that weren't her fault.

Bell, of all the children, made Bella feel the most hopeless.

About a week after Bella and Kim had broken up, Bella had found herself much more immersed in her job. She had never really left it, but she seemed to pay more attention. Bell began to talk to her, and it was the only time she talked to anyone. The little girl had always been shut as a seashell, but in the attention of Bella, she opened up, just a little more.

It was a cold day outside, but the classroom, which had too many kids for the number of teachers available, was burning up. The kids, sniffles and all, ran around the room, but Bell remained in the reading corner, a carpeted area stocked with chapter books and picture books alike.

Bella approached her and squatted down to her level. Bella was the only person the six-year-old didn't back away from on sight, but she was still on alert.

"Hey, twinsie," Bella said gently. "Why aren't you playing with the other kids?"

Bell's eyes were down in a picture book. "I like reading," she replied.

"Once you're done reading, would you want to play with the other kids?"

She was missing her two front teeth, so she spoke with a lisp. "I just like reading, that's all."

"I'll tell you what," Bella said. "If you go out and play with the others, I'll read with you. We'll read three books together. How's that sound?"

Little Bell looked up and began to smile her rare grin. "Okay," she said.

Bella was then swamped by three kids all tugging at her legs and crying, "Miss Bella, Miss Bella." She directed her attention towards them and fulfilled their requests, which really meant tying their shoes. The next time she looked up, Little Bell was gone.

Bella and the two other teachers in the classroom, Lauren and Angela, ran around tending to the children. Someone had hit someone else. Someone needed a tissue. Someone lost a communal toy. And so on, and so on. It was as hectic as any ordinary day until Bella suddenly heard a chorus of, "Eww." That always meant something bad.

A majority of the kids were crowded around someone or something near the front of the room, and when Bella got over there, she saw that Little Bell was in the middle. She had wet herself, and she wasn't even crying. Her face was blank.

The other kids taunted and pointed at and laughed at her, but she didn't express any emotion and it was the scariest thing Bella had seen. Bella took her away from the group as Lauren and Angela tried to calm the other kids down.

Bella brought her to the back room, and she once again squatted to the little girl's level. "Let's get you cleaned up."

"I'm sorry," Little Bell said. "I'm so sorry, Miss Bella, I'm so, so sorry."

"It's okay, sweetie. Accidents happen. Are you okay?"

"I don't know."

"You're gonna be okay," Bella promised. "We can call your mom in a little bit, but for now, we need to get you into some dry pants."

"No," the little girl uttered. "No. No." She just kept shaking her head and saying, "No."

"No to calling your mom or no to getting you new pants?" Bella asked.

"Both," the little girl said.

That day turned out to be Little Bell's last day at Sunshine. Her mother was called, and when she finally showed up, clearly cracked out, she screamed at Bella and then proceeded to scream at Bella's boss. She snatched Little Bell away by her skinny wrist and the girl couldn't even wave goodbye.

Bella sat in her truck and immediately called Paul after work. She tried not to get emotionally attached to any of the kids at work, seeing as that probably wasn't allowed and they weren't even her kids, but she was feeling very emotional and she didn't want to go home. She didn't want to sleep or eat knowing that the kids she cared for on a daily basis could barely sleep and could barely eat.

"Hello?" he finally answered, just before she was about to give up.

"Hey, Paul, it's Bella. I need your time real quick."

"You know where to go."

Their special place wasn't even that special. It was literally just the coffee shop outside town. They'd both been there with different people in the past, but somehow, it was theirs. Embry Call still worked there. It was the same damn coffee shop that Paul had taken Leah after Prom. Then Leah and Bella had busted it up in order to pay for the Venice trip. That little coffee shop was everything, but it was brand new to Bella and Paul.

"Order what you want," he told her. "I got time."

"Thanks," she said.

"So how have you been?" he asked. "You look like you had a rough-ass day."

"I did," she assured him.

"More daycare shit?"

She nodded. "Plenty. This one girl named Bella pissed herself today and is now never coming back as if that's our fault. Her mom's some crackhead and it's so fucking clear that she neglects her daughter. That bitch tried to yell at me for apparently getting in their business when I'm literally a teacher there. Like, that is my business. The fact that her kid has been so neglected and abused that she says sorry for everything and is scared of everyone becomes my business when I see it at my job. God, Paul, and if you saw the girl, you could totally tell she's been sexually abused, too. She shows all the signs. Her mom's killing her. She's fucking killing her, and… and..." Bella didn't even know she was crying until the frustrated tears began to run down her face.

"Hey, it's alright," Paul said. "You can't save every little kid."

"That's the problem," she cried. "I can't save every little kid when so many of them need to be saved. God, I hate that daycare. It's so hopeless. I just wanna help them grow up to be good people, but I can't have even a little impact when their parents are killing them, breaking down everything I've tried to build up. I feel so damn useless."

Paul grabbed her hand across the table. "Look, it's okay," he told her. "You're doing your job. Shit, you're doing more than your job. So many assholes could easily just clock in and sit on their ass for their whole shift, get the paycheck, and move the fuck on. But you're trying. That's what matters. You can't adopt every kid and care for them, but I wish every parent in the world was a lot more like you. The world would be a hell of a happier place."

She wiped tears from her face with her other hands. She sniffled. "If I ever have a daughter, I don't want her to be afraid of the people who love her. The world will be hard enough on her as it is, but I want her to feel safe at home, where she's allowed it. That's all I want."

"You're doing good, Bella," he assured her. "You've got good ideas, and you're doing good. I think you'd be a great mom."

She took a deep breath and then exhaled. She felt a little better. "Thanks."

"Wait, the little girl's name is Bella?"

"Yeah. We have, like, three Bellas and four Jacobs. They were all born in 2008 and 2009—you know how that goes. Anyway, how have you been since the last time I saw you?"

"Well, I broke up with my side piece. She wasn't that mad, though. She could tell I was distracted."

"I know the feeling," Bella replied. "Except mine was kind of jealous. She knew I was distracted, too."

"You still live with her?"

"Yeah. Whether or not I'm having sex with her has nothing to do with the fact that I pay my bills on time. I mean, shit, I'm just a roommate. I'm a good roommate."

"Was it messy?" he wondered. "The breakup?"

She nodded. "She was really jealous of us."

"Shit, we're just friends."

"I know, but she didn't believe that. But, I mean, I was her first. Like, ever."

"Oh," he said. "I gotcha."

"Also, I guess I'm sort of known as a bridge burner."

"I don't listen to what people say about you," he said.

"People always say that you're full of shit," she replied, "so I don't know whether or not to believe you."

"Believe me, Bella." Her name rolled off his tongue like water. "People just like to talk shit. I'm not that bad of a guy."

"I don't even know you that well," she admitted.

"But?"

She smiled. "But I think I'd like to."

He gave her that mischievous grin, and that was it. "Let's get outta here, then, baby girl."

When they pulled up to the condo complex, Bella noticed the empty parking spot next to where she usually kept her truck. It was nearly seven o'clock, pitch black outside, and Kim wasn't home yet.

She parked, and then rolled down her window. "You can park in Kim's spot," she told Paul.

"You sure she won't be mad?"

"If she's not home now, she won't be for a while. She probably went to get dinner with Leah or something."

Paul parked his car, the busted little blue one, and got out. Bella took his hand and led him up to the fourth floor. She unlocked the front door but didn't open it. Instead, she turned around.

"We're just friends, okay?" she asked, even though she knew neither of them were seeing anyone at the moment. Still, she wanted to avoid as much pain as possible.

"'Course."

Then she opened the door. She pulled him in and was taken aback when he kissed her hard on the mouth like he missed her or something. He almost knocked her out with that kiss.

They stumbled back to her bedroom, and clumsily landed on Kim's bed. Paul tried to play it cool.

Bella broke away. "Wrong bed," she said, and she pulled him across the room to her own bed.

He set her on her back and began to kiss at her throat. He kissed her hard, with passion. He knew just where to put his hands and mouth, and Bella found it kind of unfair that he was so good at this. He couldn't fake his skill here. She had thought that she was good at sex, but he was something else.

Paul Lahote was a challenge in the best way possible.

He didn't hesitate to get them both naked, and he swiftly pulled out a condom from his wallet. He put it on and Bella just kept her mouth busy against his strong, sturdy jawline and her hands along his torso.

"You ready?" he whispered.

"Yeah," she murmured.

"Promise me one thing?"

"Sure."

"Let me know if you like it." Then he entered her, and she immediately moaned into his skin. He shuddered but tried to play it off cool, as if Bella wasn't that alright herself.

For such a hothead, he really liked to take his time. And even though he and Bella were just friends, he acted like he was making love to her. For someone who was commonly referred to by other parties as an asshole, he was really a sweetheart, too. He went steady and slow at first, getting her used to him. She had never been with anyone like him. He was a combination of the other men she had been with, but also something else entirely.

They had been going slow for a while now, probably to last as long as possible, but Bella was slowly reaching the edge. She wasn't into that slow shit; she appreciated Paul's effort and skill but her goal was to finish, preferably before her roommate got home.

He was consistent, though. Even better, they were compatible with each other. He flexed and she responded accordingly. He grunted softly, and it only turned her on more. It was a challenge—a game, really—and they both played fair, all in the name of platonic friendship.

He broke away for a moment, and before she could protest, he turned her around so that she was on her hands and knees on the mattress.

"Bella?" he whispered in her ear. He had one hand in her hair and the other between her legs.

She arched her back, eagerly pushing up against him. "Yeah?"

"You're my best fucking friend."

The rest of the week passed by in a strange blur. Bella kept getting to know Paul in the presumed safety of the condo, and Kim stayed out of the way. She didn't even know they were having sex in her bedroom.

Kim kept herself busy by spending most of her nights that week with Leah and Emily, who still didn't know what had happened between her and Bella. As far as they knew, Bella was always working and Kim just missed them. Those parts were true, but Kim didn't want Leah to know that Bella and Paul were talking at all—the extent of their relationship, as far as Leah knew, was that they had drunkenly hooked up at the New Year's Eve party, almost died in a car crash a little while later, and decided to carry on with their lives.

Kim didn't like lying. It just complicated everything. She just didn't want to come out yet to the people she thought of as her best friends, either.

Jacob had invited everyone to his house Friday evening for a movie night, but it had been Embry's idea. It was really an excuse for them to get back in the loop since their lives were dull at the moment, but things were always interesting when the ten of them got together. It was true that each individual only really knew nine other people, but maybe that was what they needed.

By Friday morning, Kim knew that Bella was going to go to Jacob's house that night. She could only imagine that it was because Paul would be there, but Kim still wanted to take a chance and believe that they were just friends. Good friends. Despite their breakup, Bella was easy to live with. She paid bills and cleaned up after herself, and honestly, Kim shouldn't have expected much more out of her.

She really shouldn't have.

When Kim was leaving for school Friday morning, Tanya caught her in just the right moment. She was in her pajamas still, but she looked stressed.

"Hey, Kim," she said. "Do you have a minute?"

Kim checked her watch. She had exactly one minute. "Yeah, sure."

"I know this is kind of embarrassing, but I never get to see Bella so I can't really address her about it without turning it into a confrontation."

Kim suddenly became wary. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine, but this might come off as shocking if you two are still together."

"We're not together anymore," Kim clarified. "What is it?"

"I can frequently hear Bella and some guy having sex—it's annoying. I don't care who she's with or what she does in the privacy of her own place, but I do care once it starts interrupting my privacy in my own place."

Suddenly, it didn't matter that Bella had totally invalidated Kim's feelings for her. It didn't matter that to Bella, what she and Kim had shared hadn't been all that special. At least she had been honest then because Kim shouldn't have expected a straight girl to really get how she was feeling, anyway.

It was the lying that got to Kim. It was the fact that Bella had lied to her face about cheating. It was the fact that Bella had lied to her face about being just friends with Paul.

Kim felt so fucking stupid.

She had believed her the entire time.

"I'm sorry," Tanya said. "I wouldn't have said anything, mostly because I thought you were aware, but I've heard them four times now."

Kim just kept shaking her head. "No. Don't be sorry. I'm actually glad you told me. It's not like we're together anymore, so it's fine. I'll talk to her."

Tanya gave a sad smile. "Thank you, Kim. Let me know if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks."

That Friday night was freezing. It had started to snow by the time everyone had arrived at Jacob's house, armed with sleeping bags, junk food, and plenty of beer. The snow was predicted to be really bad tonight, so maybe it was fate that they would all be stuck together. In some ways, it was planned; in others, it wasn't.

"Since this is all just some big slumber party," Paul said to Jacob as he sat on a sleeping bag with Bella, a beer in both of their hands, "are we gonna make s'mores? Play board games?"

"Quit it with that cheesy shit," Jacob said. "And besides—you play enough games."

"Ha, ha."

Emily and Sam shared a quilt as they lounged on the couch. She rested her head on his shoulder comfortably, and from the kitchen, Embry tried not to pay attention to them. He knew why Emily had gone to her same old safe bet. It was the same. It was safe. They had history, no matter how bad it was, and he couldn't crack that no matter how hard he tried to wow her with his movie taste and technology skills. Embry wasn't pushy, though; he didn't mind waiting forever. He just preferred not to.

"So what's first, Jake?" Emily asked.

"I forgot," Jake said, "but Embry knows. He came up with the movies. I just said I'd buy pizza."

Leah came to the living room with a paper plate of pizza. Kim followed. "Thanks, Jake," Leah said. "For the pizza."

He shrugged. "Everyone likes pizza. Hey, Kim."

Kim, still a bit on edge, nodded in his direction. "Hi."

"What the fuck is Death Proof?" Quil practically yelled from the kitchen.

"Chill, man," Seth said. "It's good."

Quil held the DVD in his hands, flipping from the front cover to the back over and over again. "It's a chick flick?"

"It stars mainly girls," Embry clarified, "but it's not a chick flick."

"But are there titties?"

"The fuck you mean, are there titties? We're watching a movie, not a porno."

"There better be some titties, Embry."

"Man, shut up."

"Chill out," Emily called. "It really is a good movie."

"Thanks, Emily," Quil said sarcastically.

The rest of the group made their way to the living room. Embry put in the Death Proof DVD. He and Jacob joined Sam and Emily on the couch in the middle of the room. Kim and Leah went to the loveseat to the right of the couch. Seth and Quil sat on the floor across the room from Bella and Paul, in front of Kim and Leah.

Embry saw Emily's face light up at the title screen for the movie. Happy birthday, Em, he thought.

When the ten of them got together, nothing was quiet. Jokes were thrown at the television screen (in special thanks to Quil and Paul), and side conversations bloomed (in special thanks to alcohol).

"How've you been, Bambi?" Leah asked Kim. "How's the new place?"

"I've been kind of stressed, honestly," Kim replied, and in her peripherals, she could catch Bella's stare.

"I heard Bella's rooming with you. How's that going?" Leah knew just where she was getting at and she didn't even know the story.

"Well, that's not gonna last long," Kim said loud enough that Bella could hear it. "Since all she seems to do in it is have sex with Paul."

"Don't be a fuckin' liar, now," Bella said from across the room. "When has that gotten you anywhere?"

"Like you're one to talk," Kim replied. "You've been lying to me the entire time you've been living with me."

"Embry, there are no titties in this movie," Quil said. "All I'm seeing is feet. What the fuck is up with this Tarantino guy?"

"The man likes feet," Embry said. "And if you guys—Kim, Bella—wanna fight, take it outside."

"No, actually," Bella said, leaning forward. "Kim wants to make it problem so bad. Now I guess it's a problem. Let's just address it."

Kim could feel herself shaking already. "Bella, you're a problem. You're an awful person."

"Wait, did I miss something?" Leah asked Kim. "Besides the fact that she and Paul are fucking?"

"Oh, please," Bella replied to Kim. "I didn't do shit to you. You just take everything so fucking personal."

"It's pretty hard to take the fact that I had a neighbor complain to me about you and Paul having sex in my condo—four times."

"Okay, we get it—you're jealous of me and Paul. I don't care about that, Kim. Just leave him out of it. You still can't even say what I did to you because I've done nothing to you."

"You know what you did, Bella," Kim said. "See, that's what I hate about you the most. You act like it's never your fault. You fucking hurt me and now you decided you didn't. You can't fucking do that. And even then, you're as stupid as everyone says you are."

"You know what, Kim?" Bella said, her voice louder. "You're just like everyone else—you're a fucking shark, and I hate you for it."

"Okay, but that's not what you were saying when your head was between my legs!"

The movie was paused. Everyone was silent. Paul was completely unfazed.

Kim hadn't meant to turn Emily's pseudo-birthday party into her own coming out party.

"Did I miss something?" Leah asked again.

Quil was smiling into his phone as he recorded this confrontation. "This is way better than titties."

Seth hit him in the shoulder. "Do not do it for the Vine," he said.

Kim wasn't entirely regretful, however. As an afterthought, she told Bella, "You gave really good head, though. I'll miss that." Then she stood up and got all her things together, preparing to leave.

"We're snowed in," Jacob protested. "It's not that safe to drive right now."

"I'll be fine," she assured him. She waved goodbye to her actual friends and left. The coldness stayed in the living room.

Quil, who had already put his phone down, slowly turned to look at Bella. "Wait," he said slowly. "You fucked Kim?"

Bella just nodded. "I fucked Kim."

"Paul," Leah said. "You're fucking Bella?"

He just rolled his eyes back. "We're just friends, but yeah."

"I thought Kim was lying when she told me she was gay," Jacob said.

"Jake, you're so dumb," Emily said.

"So who's actually gay?" Sam asked.

"It doesn't even matter," Bella said, "but Kim is."

"Well, congratulations, Bella," Leah said. "You've fucked the most people out of a group of nine within a year. How do you feel?"

"I feel like I'm missing my prize," she said sarcastically.

"Don't worry—it's on the way."

Bella gave her the finger and a dumb facial expression. Leah gave it back.

"So if this petty party is all done," Emily said, "I'd love to get back to the movie. It's my birthday, you know."

"You're birthday's tomorrow," Sam said, "but nice try. For real, though, let's put the movie back on." And they did. The group, down to nine, kept drinking and eating and laughing and talking as they watched a handful of movies through the night.

Every hour, Leah kept hoping Kim would come back, but she never did. That was a whole person, a whole ten percent, of the group gone. She wasn't happy about it, but she wasn't sad, either. It meant that Kim was through with giving chances to those who didn't deserve.

It meant that Kim was done with being nice, and nobody in the world needed to go through that more than she had.

Leah was damn proud of her.

A/N: Up next is some Leah x Kim, naturally.

Thanks as always and of course, tell me how you feel,

HS