Hi gang, finally an update! Hope you all enjoy.
Chapter 5
She was surprised to see Edward and Rosalie back in school on Monday, clearly something was wrong as the family was there in multiple cars, the Volvo from last week and a red BMW. But that wasn't the giveaway, Rosalie and Edward were glaring daggers at each other, if someone didn't know better you'd think they were ready to murder each other. The day progressed as usual, seeing the usual people at lunch. The Cullens weren't sitting together and there was a lot of chatter about that, Edward was sitting by himself and they all looked tired almost. Ignoring the Cullens she joined the conversation at her table, fortunately even though she was still the shiny new toy according to Jessica, the attention she received wasn't at the same level as her first week. So when she could she snuck in little peaks at Rosalie, every time she saw the blonde she had an odd feeling, almost like something fell into place. But when the blonde glared back at her the pieces fell apart again. After lunch she made her way to the biology, Edward was already sitting at their table.
"Hello I'm Edward Cullen, My apologies for not introducing myself last week, I wasn't feeling too well." He said gently, looking like he'd dazzle anyone else but Bella.
"Bella Swan, nice to meet you. Glad to see you are better." She replied to the strange boy with bronze hair.
There wasn't much time for conversation as Mr. Banner started the class, they had to study onion root cells, a class she had fortunately already had. Forks high seemed to be behind in most topics. They took turns analyzing the slides, Edward wrote them down in a neat curly handwriting, it made Bella wonder if the Cullens had gotten calligraphy classes for their adopted children at an early age, regardless she didn't dare ruin the paper with her chicken scratching's. She was very consciously using the zoom on the microscope, she didn't need to dial it up all the way to 40X. They finished early even after Mr. Banner had chided Edward for not letting Bella do any of the work, which Edward refuted, it was dropped when Bella admitted to having had the class before.
"Hey did you get contacts or something, last week your eyes were nearly black?" Bella asked.
"It's probably the fluorescents playing tricks on you." He said pointing up at the lights in the classroom, it set off Bella's built in lie detector.
They continued making small talk until the class resumed. When it was over Edward again made a beeline for the door after a quick goodbye. She made her way to Spanish, reveling the entire time in Rosalie's presence. They both caught each other staring at the other several times, ultimately Bella focused on the class, at least until she stopped blushing. Far too soon Spanish was over and she made her way over to history. Jasper looked happy to see her, his painful grimace was replaced with a small smile as she entered the classroom. There wasn't time for small talk as she had arrived somewhat late. When the class was finished Jasper reminded her of their assignment.
"Oh yeah we definitely should get to that, perhaps you can drop by after school if you want?" Bella said.
"Well it would be easier for me if you came over to my place, that way I won't have to bother anyone for a ride afterwards." Jasper drawled.
"No problem, I'll swing by my house to drop a few things off and then come over, where do you live?" She asked.
"Oh I figured you'd drive behind us. The house can be difficult to find, I'll write down directions." Jasper drawled as he got out a notebook.
Directions in hand they walked to the parking lot, she noticed the silver Volvo was already gone, the remaining Cullen siblings were waiting for Jasper in the red BMW driven by a angrily glaring Rosalie waiting for Jasper. She slipped into her Porsche and drove off, stopped by the house to drop off her backpack, going to her bathroom to freshen up she discovered one of her windows was open.
"Perhaps Charlie was home earlier and opened it up to air out my room." She thought and shrugged it off while closing it and latching it shut.
Once freshened up, she grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl to eat along the way. Jasper hadn't lied, the house was hard to find, no human would have spotted the turnoff on the highway on their first attempt, even with Jasper's excellent directions. Not to mention the long driveway that could easily make you think you made a mistake. Eventually the dense forest she was driving through started thinning and ended in a meadow, a large white brick mansion with large balconies was by far the most dominant feature. It looked old, but had either been extraordinarily well maintained over the years or was expertly renovated, it was impossible to tell, the addition to the side was more recent though. After parking the Porsche where she figured it would be out of the way, she went to the red front door and rang the doorbell. Perhaps not entirely surprising it was Esme Cullen who opened the door.
"How lovely to see you again Bella, Jasper said you would be dropping by. How are you?" Esme said as she let Bella inside the hallway.
"It's nice to see you again as well Esme, I've been well, how have you been?" Bella asked.
"I can't complain." The elder woman said with a sigh.
They continued talking while Esme escorted her into the house. The grand staircase in the hall had been impressive but the rest of the house was much more modern, the whole house was on the inside. Clearly a lot of walls had been knocked down to create a large open living space, with the back wall of the house having been replaced by glass, showing off the large terrace behind the house and part of the garden. Emmett was watching a sports game on the huge tv and promptly got told by Esme to turn it down. Alice was reading a fashion magazine and gave Bella a small smile which she promptly returned. Esme led her to the semi closed off kitchen where Jasper was already waiting for her sitting at the table. She sat down and exchanged pleasantries while pulling out her MacBook.
They quickly got to work, Esme put some cookies and water on the table. It seemed Jasper wasn't hungry though as she gobbled up most of them. After perhaps five minutes of work Edward had come into the kitchen for the first time. Soon he started hovering around them. It started to get on her nerves, something about him just felt off. He constantly went in and out of the kitchen, sometimes staying for a little bit pretending to be busy with something. It seemed to get on Jaspers nerves again and even earned him a stern look from Esme when she had come back in the kitchen to start on dinner.
"Will you be staying for dinner Bella?" Esme asked.
"I can't, gotta go cook for Charlie otherwise he'll get takeout and ruin the diet I put him on." Bella said with a smile causing Esme and Jasper to chuckle.
She took her leave shortly after, now that they had their assignment worked out they could mostly work on it separately, only having to get together occasionally. After saying her goodbye's she was let out by Jasper only to find Rosalie standing by her Porsche.
"You like the car don't you?" She hesitantly asked the usually hostile blonde.
"It's not just a car." The blonde replied still not facing Bella, though it made Bella's heart beat faster.
"I know, it's a highly customized piece of art." Bella said a little bolder.
"Glad you realize that, I should let you leave." Rosalie said while walking away, never having looked at Bella.
It hurt to watch Rosalie walk away, she couldn't figure out what the effect was that the blonde had on her and why. It hurt driving home, part of her wanted to reengage conversation with Rosalie. She got home and started on dinner, baked sweet potatoes with chicken filet.
When Rosalie eventually got back inside Edward was seething.
"How dare you talk to my mate!" he growled.
"She's my mate, you're just obsessed with her." Rosalie growled back.
"Enough! Both of you get out of the house, go your own directions and don't come back until you've cooled off!" Esme shouted.
Despite both of them being furious they didn't dare challenging Esme, so they left in separate directions. Ignoring the by now filled up living room. Rosalie went for a hunt to cool off while Edward ran to Bella's house, observing her from a distance.
Bella took out the baked sweet potatoes as Charlie came home and loaded them with guacamole, sour cream, corn and kidney beans, serving it with some grilled chicken to avoid Charlie from complaining it was a vegetarian meal. Charlie was in the middle of saying it was good when they heard a noise outside. They went to investigate, Charlie in the lead of course with his gunbelt on. All they found was a bunch of wood shavings where a tree used to be.
"Strange, I never heard of a tree disintegrating like this." Charlie said while inspecting the wood shavings.
"Dad let's just forget about it, dinner is getting cold." Bella said pulling him back towards the house.
They went back inside and finished dinner, it seemed Charlie would let it go as he went to watch a game after loading the dishwasher. Bella went to take a bath and then hung out on the couch reading a book. The week passed much like the one before did, she got closer to a few people in school, hung out with a few after school. Volunteered at the shelter a couple of times, meeting the lovely Esme Cullen once again there, who kept looking tired. Edward continued making conversation, she had a feeling that she would have to find a way to let him down easy sooner rather than later. But worst of all, Rosalie had gone back to giving her a cold shoulder. Finally though on Friday during lunch she found out why Mike had been so angry the whole time. A circle of shouting students had formed, in any school it could only mean one thing, a fight. Not wanting anyone to get hurt she barged through the circle and got between Mike and a senior she had seen around that was one of the football jocks.
"Enough both of you!" she shouted once the two were separated. "What is the reason for this?" she demanded.
They both tried to get past her but she easily held them separated.
"Mike what is the reason for this fight?" she asked him directly remembering what Charlie had said a week earlier.
"He got my sister pregnant." Mike hissed.
"Is this true?" She asked the jock.
"No it's not, I didn't get his sister pregnant I swear." The jock lied.
"Tell me the truth, tell me what you really want to say." She said to the jock looking him straight in the eyes using her gift.
"I.. I got her pregnant. I'm so scared, I don't know what to do. My dad left us when I was a kid, I don't know how to be a dad." The jock said as bewitched as Renee had been the last time Bella used this particular gift.
"It's ok to be scared, but you're not your father. You can be like him or you can get involved in your child's life, even if things don't work out between you and the mother, you can still be there and be a positive influence. Don't be afraid to ask for help, there's plenty of dads out there who would be more than willing to give you advice." Bella said to the jock.
"And you Mike, no more fighting." She said to Mike before letting them both go. "Use your brains next time." Bella said glaring at the two of them while walking away.
Breaking up the fight the way she had, was met with mixed reviews, there was the camp that would have rather had the fight and the camp who was glad it was resolved in a mostly non violent way. Especially the people at her table were glad it was resolved, at least for the time being. After lunch she went into biology Edward wasn't looking very happy.
"You shouldn't put yourself in danger like that." He said as soon as she sat down.
"I wasn't in any danger." Bella said self confidently.
"Bella you don't understand they could have easily hurt you. Promise me that you will never do something like that again, please." Edward insisted.
"I don't see any reason why I have to promise you anything Edward." Bella said coldly.
It seemed Edward had received the signal to mind his own business and left her alone for the remainder of the class. She looked more forward to Spanish, even though she knew Rosalie would most likely give her a cold shoulder it was still comforting being near her. So she hurried over to the Spanish classroom once the bell rang, sitting down next to Rosalie who was already there.
"I'm glad you came out of that unscathed." Rosalie said without looking at Bella.
"Thanks, I'm glad too." Bella said once the shock had settled a little.
It had been the beginning and end of their conversation at the same time, Rosalie had gone back to giving her the cold shoulder. She had better luck with Jasper in her last class of the week, though he still gave her a odd look here or there it was easy to hold a conversation with him. Especially when you talked about history which seemed to be one of his favorite topics, no wonder he was in the advanced placement history class. Finally it was weekend and time for a little celebration Charlie had insisted on having. She had talked him out of making too big of a deal out of it, her birthday, finally seventeen, though somehow she felt that she was older, much older.
He had organized it on Saturday noon on the rez in Billy Black's house knowing Bella didn't want a big event, she dressed fairly casual because of it and mainly saw it as a chance to get to hang out with Jake a little more. There were some other reintroductions, Seth Clearwater and his sister Leah, a girl she had also been friends with when she was much younger, who she mainly tried talking to since Jake wasn't in the greatest of moods. Leah was clearly in a lot of pain, something had happened to her and nobody wanted to talk about it. Eventually they managed to get away from the older folks and hung out in the garage behind the house, while Jake worked on the red Chevy truck while he was complaining.
"Jake you complain even more than all those old farts do put together." Bella sighed as he went off on yet another rant.
"Sorry, it's just that I hate being stuck with this old rustbucket, my dad doesn't want to sell it." He sighed and put his wrench down.
"What's wrong with it? It has potential. I thought these old trucks are cool?" Bella asked.
"The engine is barely running, some trucks might be but this one is seriously uncool." Jake sighed with a pout.
"Oh ye of little faith." Bella said as she got up and walked outside Iphone in hand.
She made a few calls before going back in the garage.
"You may start taking the engine out Mopey McMopeface. A new LS3 is going to be delivered along with a new transmission and a bunch of other stuff next week." She teased Jake as she sat down next to Leah.
"Yeah right, in my dreams. Since when do you know what an LS3 engine is anyway?"
"Oh ye of truly little faith, I just ordered the engine and parts Jake, consider it a early/late birthday present. And I know what an LS3 is, come on mopey, have you seen what I drive? Not to mention the Shelby I have on order, it looks so evil." Bella said to an absolutely stunned Jake.
"Leah did I break him?" Bella asked the girl when there still came no reply from Jake.
"He's always been broken." Leah said finally showing something else than the mixture of anger and sadness.
"Let's you and I go for a walk, while Mopey here gets his marbles back together. I have a feeling you and I have a lot to talk about." Bella said as she stood up and pulled the girl up with her.
Doing so made her notice that there was something special about the girl, Leah possessed an energy that normally people didn't have. Still she didn't let it get in the way of what had to be done and led the stewing girl down the beach not letting go of her until they reached a private area clearly set up as a sitting area due to the large driftwood logs and the fire pit set up. She made Leah sit down and threw some of the smaller twigs and logs in the pit lighting them with the lighter she often carried. It took a couple of tries but eventually there was a fire going.
"You smoke?" Leah asked.
"No, not really." Bella answered.
"Then why do you carry a lighter?" Leah wondered.
"You never know when you need to light a fire pit for a beautiful girl that's in need of a talk and some comfort." Bella replied as she sat down next to Leah.
"Who told you?" Leah growled.
"Nobody, I wanted to hear from you what happened." Bella said calmly.
It took some time to convince the Native American girl, who turned out to be a little older at 19. She started telling her story of how her boyfriend of 4 years to whom she had become engaged and for whom she had turned down scholarship offers, choosing the community college in Port Angeles instead. Had first disappeared for several weeks and when he had turned up again refused to talk about it. For some time he had even been avoiding her, it all recently had come to a halt as it came out he had started cheating on her, with her own cousin of all people. When Leah had finished telling her story with tears in her eyes, Bella pulled her into a hug, rubbing comforting circles on the girls back while Leah let it all out.
"I'm so sorry you're having to feel all this right now. How can I help?" Bella asked.
"I don't know I just wish I could get out of here sometimes." Leah sighed.
"Your wish has been granted." Bella said pulling the girl up.
"What do you mean?" Leah asked as she was being pulled around La Push again.
"We're going to Seattle for the rest of the weekend, girl time." Bella said. "Unless you don't want to, in which case I totally understand." Bella added when she stopped to look at the girl.
"I want to but it's your birthday party." Leah added.
"Well if it's my party than I get to leave, besides I didn't want anything, Charlie did this birthday lunch party thing behind my back anyway." Bella said as they got back to the Black residence.
The two of them went inside to grab their stuff, Bella thanked Charlie and everybody for the well wishes before announcing that she was taking Leah to Seattle for the weekend.
"No you're not. Leah you have to stay here, you know that." Sue, Leah's mother said as she stood up.
"Why does she have to stay?" Bella asked.
"Because I'm her mother and I say so." Sue said after some time, having tried to think of an answer.
"Leah is an adult, she needs a weekend away and wants it. You should let her make her own choices as an adult." Bella said, defending Leah who had started getting angry again.
"Charlie why don't you say something, you're not going to let your daughter just take off to Seattle." Sue said having turned to Charlie looking for support.
"Bella's right, they are both adults and can make their own choices, we can only hope for better or worse that they make good ones." Charlie said "Bella is emancipated, legally she's already an adult. They'll both be fine Sue, Bella will never let anything happen to Leah." Charlie added seeing that everybody, especially Sue was confused.
"It's not a bad idea for Leah to get away for the weekend, Sue. Be careful you both, big cities are dangerous." Billy spoke up.
After Charlie and Billy had thrown in their two cents it had taken the fight out of Sue it seemed. So they got in the Porsche leaving behind Seth who had wanted to come along, he couldn't help it, due to his age he didn't understand and Jake who was too confused to realize they left. Leah didn't mind that Bella broke the speed limit, so an hour and a half later they drove into a underground parking garage where Bella parked and they took the elevator up to her penthouse.
They had been talking all the way to Seattle but now Leah had fallen silent, more due to amazement of the large penthouse. Bella pulled her onto the couch and asked if she was ok with pizza, Leah was and promptly a couple of pizzas were ordered. With a little encouragement the conversation turned from light hearted small talk to a deep one again with Leah opening up more and more, she kept talking about her ex fiancé Sam and Bella kept showing compassion and acknowledging Leah's feelings. It wasn't about talking shit about Sam, Leah needed somebody to be there for her. They ended up spending the weekend in the penthouse, having only left it on Sunday to go for an early dinner before driving back home.
"So how do you have access to a pad like that?" Leah asked as they were halfway home.
"Well I own it, you could say I'm well off." Bella replied.
"Don't pull that joke on me. You must have a sugar daddy or something." Leah sighed, Bella could sense Leah felt she was being lied to.
"Eeew I don't have a sugar daddy, that's gross Leah. I swear I own it, you're the first person that has been there beside me." Bella said nearly gagging at the idea of having a sugar Daddy.
"So what am I then? Charity?" Leah nearly growled, her mood having changed.
"No, you're an old friend who's in need of a friend. I can't say I've ever been in your place but I've had times where I really needed a friend to talk to. So if you want I'm here for you, I'm not promising that I'll be available day or night but I will always get back to you as soon as possible." Bella honestly promised.
"I'm sorry, but I'd appreciate it. Thank you." Leah said once she cooled off.
"You don't have to thank me, this is what friends are for." Bella said while squeezing Leah's shoulder, it wasn't a hug but it was the best she could do given she was driving.
"When you say you haven't been in my place do you mean that nobody ever broke up with you?" Leah asked as they were in Forks headed for the rez.
"Yes well, there has never been anyone to break up with me." Bella said, honestly admitting she had never been with anyone.
"So you never had a boyfriend?" Leah asked.
"No, there were a few dates, but I guess they were mostly from guys who wanted to find out if I really was crazy, no serious dates." Bella said.
"So any luck in Forks?" Leah asked.
"More like an 18 karat run of bad luck here, there's this one guy whose like obsessed with me, most likely not in a good way and I'm totally not into him. There's a girl though, ironically his sister, but she gives me one hell of a cold shoulder." Bella sighed.
"You're gay? And who are they?" Leah asked curiously.
"I don't know if I am, it's just she makes me feel things I haven't felt before. Edward Cullen and Rosalie Hale." Bella replied to Leah's slight shock.
"Oh, you'd best not mention that to anyone from the rez, at least not when any of the elders can hear you." Leah replied.
"Yeah I kinda figured when Jake told me his dad and Charlie had a falling out when I bought that house for Charlie." Bella said.
Following Leah's directions Bella parked out front the Clearwater house. They both giggled when they saw Sue peeking out the window.
"Sheesh, is she a control freak?" Bella asked.
"Yeah it's been worse since my dad died and you know with what happened recently." Leah said "Hey what did you mean with those guys dating you to see if you really were crazy?" Leah followed up with clearly wanting to change the subject.
"You didn't miss that part did ya?" Bella asked with a sigh. "I didn't have a easy time growing up, we moved around a lot and well I've been in psychiatric hospitals during a good chunk of my childhood. Renee also made me change schools, a lot. So I didn't have any friends in school and friends outside of school was highly discouraged to say the least. But it was just one of those things that always came out, when I was in a school long enough." Bella added.
"I can see why you've had times where you could have used a friend too." Leah said clearly shocked.
"It's ok, things are way better now." Bella said.
After talking a while longer, they got out and shared a hug, having already exchanged phone numbers Bella made Leah promise to text or call if she needed to talk. As she drove home there was a strange thing happening in the woods lining the road, almost as if something was running alongside her car even though she was driving well over the speed limit. She eventually got home and was welcomed by Charlie. He seemed to have an understanding of how Leah wasn't in a good place and was proud of her for helping out the girl. She ran a bath and got caught up with her remaining homework afterwards. She had another strange dream that night, once again featuring Rosalie, but it also featured Edward. Rosalie warned her to run while trying to stop Edward but failing, she was awakened by trees rustling outside. It was a vague sound that nobody else could probably hear. Taking advantage of the early wake up, she got started on a decent breakfast for her and Charlie. Eventually it was once again time for school.
The week had started off much like the previous week, Rosalie gave her a cold shoulder, which frankly was starting to hurt. She just couldn't find a way to get Rosalie to talk to her. Edward on the other hand didn't stop talking, it was entertaining for the most part but she grew increasingly tired of it and distrustful of him. He came across as very intense and controlling, always asking Bella to not do certain things. In a way she was glad it was Friday so that she wouldn't have to deal with him anymore for the weekend. She had spent a couple of evenings down at the rez with Leah when Leah had felt the need for some support, so she knew parts had started arriving at Jake's house and Billy wasn't happy about it. When she got home from school on Friday the cruiser was already in the driveway, she did her homework and was about to start on dinner when the doorbell rang. There was once again a rustling sound outside the house. Charlie had opened the door and Jake and Billy came inside prompting her to go into the living room to find out if they would be staying for dinner. Billy didn't look like a happy camper at all.
"Bella you have to take it all back, we can't afford those parts." Billy said.
"You don't have to afford them, they are already paid for. Now will you two be staying for dinner?" Bella asked him.
A back and forth started that took some time with Billy eventually able to swallow his pride and accept all the parts for the truck.
"Now that that's settled, will you be staying for dinner?" Bella asked.
"Is it a demand or do we have a choice?" Billy asked still a little grumpy about having lost the discussion.
After some more back and forth Billy finally completely caved and said him and Jake would stay for dinner, she went in and out of the kitchen and handed both him and Charlie a beer relegating them to the tv so they would be out of the way. Jake helped her making dinner.
"I still can't believe you were serious about having bought parts. Not even as they started arriving. Thank you, I don't know how I'll ever pay you back but thank you." Jake said pulling Bella into a hug making her notice he too possessed a strange energy just like Leah has.
"You're welcome Jake, I just hated seeing you down like that and not seeing that truck's potential. Repay me by letting that truck bring you happiness once it's done. Now if you could let go of me before Charlie barges in and starts getting ideas I'd appreciate it." She said ending with a joke.
In no time they had the panko crusted pork chops with a herb dressing and the broccoli casserole ready. When they were finished eating and were about to start dessert, they heard a large truck stop outside. Bella heard somebody walk up to the door and ring the bell. It was then that it hit her that today was when the Shelby was supposed to be delivered. Charlie was about to get up when she got up too.
"It's probably for me, kinda slipped my mind that my other car was going to be delivered today." Bella said.
"Ah the car that is the reason why I'm not even allowed to put any fishing gear in my own garage." Charlie muttered.
It turned out to indeed be Bella's Shelby, after moving the cruiser it was unloaded and put into the garage to be played with at a later time. They went back inside to finish dessert. Afterwards it was a sports game for Billy and Charlie and movie time for Bella and Jake up in her room. Jake ended up spending the night, on the floor though at Charlie's insistence, with her bedroom door open of course. She took Jake home to the rez in the morning so he could get started on the truck now that Billy had accepted the parts.
"You got everything you needed right?" Bella asked as Jake strapped himself into the passenger seat of the Porsche while vibrating with excitement.
"Not sure, dad wouldn't let me open anything. How am I ever going to pay you back?" Jake asked.
"You'll never have to, I just want the people I care about to be happy. Now hold on for dear life." Bella said as she started the Porsche.
Jake was looking a little pale by the time they got to the rez, a lot quicker than the usual 20 minute drive. She spent the rest of her weekend at the rez, hanging with Jake and Leah. Every time she went home though there was a sudden rustling in the trees once she was closer to Forks than the rez. She got up on Monday to find it was the typical Forks day, summer was already over, but now since it was October the Olympic peninsula most likely wouldn't see any decent sun anymore, it was only a minor drizzle. When she arrived to school on Monday she noticed Edward was looking anxious standing under a covered part of the school out of the rain. It was good to see Rosalie again as she walked to her locker, she couldn't place it but it was like pieces fell into place again. The day progressed as usual, eventually having lunch with her school friends. She felt Edwards piercing gaze on her the entire time and wasn't looking forward to biology. It was still early when she got to biology, something was up with Edward and it was time for it to stop.
"How was your weekend?" Edward asked with fake curiosity when he sat down.
"Good spent it with friends down at the rez, but I think we need to talk Edward." Bella replied seriously.
"I'm glad you say that, would you like to go out with me? I promise I'm better company than your friends down at the rez." Edward asked.
"This is what we need to talk about Edward, I'm really sorry but you're not my type at all." Bella replied making Edwards eyes get visibly darker.
"Perhaps you need some more time." Edward nearly hissed when the class was about to start.
To say that biology was uncomfortable was an understatement. She was glad the class was over and made her way to Spanish, when she entered the classroom Rosalie was already sitting in her spot with a actual smile on her face. But there wasn't even a point in having tried to talk to her, Rosalie kept giving her the cold shoulder. The week mostly progressed as usual, though with the fall dance coming up there was increasingly being talked about it. Some boys even asked her out despite it being girl's choice. She always gave the same answer that she'd be in Seattle that Friday, which was true but not everybody accepted it. Fortunately turning them down had worked wonders in having Jessica talk to her again.
On Friday she had been invited to the Cullen mansion again by Jasper to work on their project. She texted Jake and Leah she wouldn't be going to the rez that evening to hang out.
*There's a bonfire tonight, do you think you can make it around nine?* Jake texted in the group chat.
*It would be awesome if you could come, it's with the elders so it's pretty much mandatory for us to be there. He'll be there.* Leah texted, clearly in need of a friend to act as a buffer since it was obvious who she was referring to.
*I'll do my best to be there but I'm not making any promises. Gotta hustle if I'm gonna make it.* Bella texted back as she got into the Porsche.
She quickly strapped in and quickly left the schools parking lot. She went to do the grocery shopping and called Jasper to let him know she'd be a little later than planned. She did a good chunk of her homework while making dinner and waiting for Charlie to get home. As soon as he came in dinner was served and she then went to quickly take a shower. Coming downstairs she was dressed nice but still casual.
"What are you hurrying up for like that?" Charlie asked.
"Gotta hustle pops, heading over to the Cullens for homework with Jasper and then to the rez for a bonfire."
"Jasper, which one is he? Not the big one I hope?" Charlie asked.
"He's the blonde one, the big one is Emmett." Bella replied guessing where this conversation was going to go.
"So are you and Jasper- well you know?" Charlie mumbled.
"Nope, just my history partner. Besides, I'm pretty sure his girlfriend Alice would not be okay with it. Bye pops." Bella said with a laugh as she grabbed her backpack and left.
In her effort to hustle she was speeding towards the Cullen mansion and drove pretty fast on their long driveway. She quickly parked and went to the front door. It opened before she even had the chance to ring the bell and revealed Edward in the doorway, his eyes looked significantly darker than usual.
"Bella I have to insist you drive slower next time, it is far too dangerous. You shouldn't even drive such a dangerous car." Edward said gently.
"You got no right to insist on anything, Ward. Now move it I'm in a hurry." Bella said, not in the mood to deal with Edwards bullshit.
When he didn't move she simply shoved past him. Edward was harder than he looked, almost stone like. Before he had the chance to catch up she had already stormed into the living room where Esme came out of the kitchen to meet her.
"Good evening dear, Jasper should be coming down any minute now, can I get you something?" Esme asked.
"Good evening Esme, I'll just go up to his room, can you show me the way?" Bella said stubbornly. "Relax I know that he probably doesn't have one of his own and it doesn't matter to me, as long as they are both happy right." Bella added seeing that Esme had doubts.
The Cullen matriarch reluctantly showed Bella the way. Bella could feel Edward's gaze on her the entire time they were in view. Esme knocked on a door which was subsequently opened by Alice. Bella quickly made her way into the room, not wanting to get delayed too much and sat down at the desk while Jasper was in the sitting area.
"Do you want me to leave?" Alice asked.
"It's your house Alice, you don't have to go anywhere." Bella said giving the pixie a smile.
She and Jasper who had relocated to the desk quickly got to work. Half an hour in there was a knock on the door, Alice put down her fashion magazine and went to open the door, causing Edward to barge in.
"Esme wanted to know if you guys needed anything." He said with black eyes.
"Yeah I need you to leave me alone so that we can get our work done. Perhaps you need some more time to process that." Bella replied without even looking up.
She would swear she could hear Edward hiss before he was pushed out of the room by Alice.
"You don't seem too fond of my youngest brother?" Jasper asked.
"He's a pain in my ass, who the hell does he think he is anyway? God's gift to women?" Bella retorted causing both Jasper and Alice to laugh.
"We can try to keep a lid on him if you want?" Jasper asked once recovered from his laughing spell.
"I'd appreciate it, not so fond of people who want to control how I live my life." Bella replied.
They finished their work by eight thirty pm, leaving plenty of time for Bella to get to the rez. Jasper escorted her to the front door. Something Edward of course saw as a chance to talk to her again.
"Bella can we please talk for a moment." He stated.
"I don't have any time, got somewhere to be. And if it's about me saying no to you asking me out that isn't going to change Ward." She said before walking out the door.
She quickly got into her car not wanting to give him another chance to talk and left for the rez. She could swear she heard noises in the woods nearly all the way to the rez. She parked near the beach and walked towards the bonfire that seemed to be in a familiar spot. Just as she got there a couple of big shirtless dudes got up and left. Leah jumped up and gave Bella a hug.
"So glad you made it." Leah said.
"Had to hustle but here I am." Bella said noticing the strange energy the girl possessed had increased.
After some introductions it was clear the elders of the tribe were present as well. There were some other people she knew such as Leah's kid brother, Jake and some friends of Jake. There was also a Native American girl present that Leah absolutely refused to look at, it wasn't hard to guess who she was.
Back in Forks the Cullen residence was recovering from Bella's visit, Edward had stormed out and chased Bella as far as he could.
"Esme, he is really not her mate, we got to do something. The things I've felt indicate it." Jasper drawled to his adoptive mother.
"I have to agree with Jazz, she's downright dismissive of him. And we did find out that humans would at least feel the pull." Alice said.
Before Esme could reply Carlisle came out of his study and joined them.
"I'm having doubts too, but we'll need to look out for Bella, given our nature we can be very dangerous. I will go find Edward and talk to him." Carlisle said to his family members.
Esme nodded and went upstairs and knocked on Rosalie's door. When there was no response she knocked a second time. When there still was no response she let herself in. She saw her oldest daughter sitting on the floor near the patio door. Esme sat down next to her.
"Rose –" Esme started.
"I heard everything, can we leave now?" Rosalie asked.
"No, we're not going anywhere Rose." Esme replied.
"Esme please if you even love me a little bit then we will leave." Rosalie nearly begged.
"Rosalie I love you as much as I love your brothers and sister, it's because of that that we are going to stay. We stayed so we could let things play out, but you have hardly even talked to Bella." Esme replied.
"I don't want to talk to her, I want to leave so she has a long and happy life, grow old with someone she loves and have children. Please we need to leave so she can have her life." Rosalie said with pain in her voice.
"Rose that's your dream, you don't know if that is what Bella wants. You need to talk to her, get to know her. Stop hating what we are so much and let yourself be happy." Esme said while gently touching Rose.
"Fine you stay then, I'll leave on my own." Rosalie hissed.
Rosalie got up, opened the patio door and leapt out. Esme sighed and went back downstairs to see her other children being together in the living room playing video games.
"She'll be back on Sunday." Alice said.
The bonfire was a lot of fun in a way, the elders told some of the legends of the tribe. But at some point Bella and Leah did sneak away with an excuse and ended up mainly spending some time together. It wasn't exactly kind to Leah but Bella was happy to get the Edward problem off her chest.
"I'm sorry I know you have your own problems." Bella sighed once done with her rant about Edward.
"It's ok, he does sound like a creep. Like no is no."
"He doesn't seem to get that, who does he even think he is that he can say what I can and can't do?" Bella asked.
"Hmm well you may be right that he thinks he's God's gift to women. So any progress with Rosalie?" Leah asked.
"None whatsoever, it's like I do exist to her but she barely admits it." Bella sighed.
"Her loss." Leah shrugged.
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