Once they finally got started, it was amazingly easy to fall into a friendship with Rosalie. Now that they were on speaking terms, they walked to each class together, bantering their way through halls as they playfully argued over whatever topic came to mind. Jasper and Emmett joined them when they were all together and Bella had joined the Cullens at their lunch table three separate times, invited by Rosalie for the last two and Edward for the first. It was refreshing, exciting, this process of getting to know someone again. Rosalie was as charming as she was beautiful; she had quickly become Bella's favorite person to be around.
Of course, Bella's rather obvious desire to spend every moment with Rosalie that she could have not gone unnoticed by either half of her now extended friend group.
The Cullens are slightly more bearable in their teasing of Bella, but only because they spend half of the time that they are together teasing Rosalie as well. Despite the fact that they were all adopted - and that Jasper and Alice are dating, which Bella has not commented on because she assumes the Cullens already know about the rumors surrounding them and she doesn't want to add to that - they tease and poke fun at each other just like siblings do. Rosalie seems oddly immune to showing any of her embarrassment on her face other than a slight tightening of her expression, but Bella can see the effect that the teasing has on the blonde girl. Her voice changes slightly, her eyes harden, and a growl comes into her voice that is honestly unfairly attractive.
Bella's friends, unlike the Cullens, are far too scared to make any teasing comments towards Rosalie but hold absolutely nothing back when it comes to Bella herself. Bella is pretty certain that it's the goal of Mike, Jessica, and Eric to add a permanent blush to her cheeks with their side comments and innuendos. Not that Rosalie is actually of any help when she catches the comments, sending Bella sly smirk more often than not. Even when they aren't sitting together, Bella swears that Rosalie can hear everything her friends say - the teasing is always worse when Rosalie isn't there and her friends lose their filters - and she always manages to make eye contact with Bella when she's trying to avoid her friend's all too knowing eyes.
"Take a picture, it'll last longer." Jessica says, flicking Bella on the arm to draw her attention away from where she was watching Rosalie walk to the Cullens table during lunch. Rosalie had just dumped her half-eaten tray and Bella had been looking for an excuse to leave her table and join her before she made it back to her siblings before she'd gotten distracted by the way Rosalie's hair seemed to shine even in the dim, artificial light of the school cafeteria.
"What? I wasn't staring."
"Sure, and Angela doesn't have a crush on Eric." Jessica rolled her eyes.
"Hey!" Angela protested from Bella's other side. "Why am I getting dragged into this?"
"To prove a point, you didn't deny that you do have a crush," Jessica grinned, victorious as Angela blushed and looked down at her empty tray. "And that Bella was totally staring at her new bff."
"They're not that close." Lauren cut in, glaring at a spot over Bella's shoulder. Jessica's grin seemed to grow at the same speed that Bella's dread set in. Lauren was not happy about the blossoming friendship between Bella and Rosalie and she had not been quiet about making that fact known.
Before Bella could respond, she once again heard the faint growling noise from across the cafeteria. It was significantly louder this time, a second growl that was just a second off from the first like an echo through a canyon. Bella turned her head slightly to look for the source and then stopped short, a surprised grin on her face when she turned and found herself looking at the shirt Rosalie had worn to school that day, quickly looking up to meet her eyes.
Rosalie's eyes looked different today. They were darker than normal, a muted shade of gold rather than their normal shimmering hue, and they held more emotion than usual as well. Annoyance for sure, but also a hint of jealousy and outright anger. At least, they did until Rosalie turned her focus to Bella herself and Bella watched as her eyes grew brighter and softer in the span of one heartbeat.
"Hey, Rose." Bella greeted, smiling warmly. She'd never used the nickname before now and she was partially expecting to be told to never call Rosalie that again.
"Hey," Rosalie gestured to Bella's empty tray. "Are you done eating? I thought we could get a head start to class."
"Sure," Bella stood up quickly, throwing her backpack over her shoulder and pushing in her chair. While she did that, Rosalie reached down and picked up Bella's tray from the table. "Oh, you don't have to carry that."
"I've got it." Rosalie assured. She nodded curtly to Bella's friends, the same anger as before flashing in her eyes as she glanced at Lauren, and then led Bella from the table. "I don't know how you can be friends with her."
"Jessica's a gossip but she's not that bad." Bella shrugged, walking beside Rosalie as they detoured around the cafeteria.
"Not her." Rosalie's tone was clipped. Bella grinned slightly.
"Well, I don't know how anyone can hate Angela, so I'll go out on a limb here and say…"
"Mallory."
"Geez, you must really not like Lauren if you're calling her by her last name." Bella nudged her shoulder against Rosalie's. Rosalie sent a half-hearted glare, setting the tray that had held Bella's food down hard enough that it made a cracking sound as it met the rest of the stack.
"I assure you, the feeling is mutual."
"Do you know her at all?"
"I don't need to know her." Rosalie's voice is nearly a growl. "I see the way she looks at you."
"How's that?"
"Like you're hers." Rosalie turned suddenly, holding the cafeteria door open for Bella despite the obvious annoyance in her tone and the way she held herself. "Possessive, needy, fawning all over you."
"I didn't know you cared that much." Bella rubs the back of her neck with one hand, feeling the flush rise on her cheeks. Sure, she knows that Lauren had been acting weird around her especially since Bella and Rosalie had become friends, just like she knows that Lauren isn't over the semi-relationship that they'd been in the year before. Bella's done her best to make it known that she only wants to be friends with Lauren, and her crush on Rosalie isn't something that she's made a very big effort to hide, even from Rosalie herself. Rosalie isn't the first person to mention Lauren's attitude towards Bella, though she is the most surprising.
"Bella," Rosalie stops walking, turning to face Bella in the empty hallway. Her hand moves forward slightly, like she wants to reach out and touch Bella, but she holds herself back. She breathes in deeply through her nose, her brow smoothing at the gesture and she takes one small, barely there step towards Bella. "How could I not care?"
Bella shrugs, unsure if Rosalie is expecting any kind of answer from her at all. It seems that she isn't though as she shakes her head and continues on.
"You're important to me, Bella. I can tell that way Lauren acts with you makes you uncomfortable and that bothers me more than anything else."
"You're important to me too, Rose." Bella's voice has dropped down to a whisper and she moves her head so she can make eye contact with Rosalie again. Rosalie is rather tall, Bella notes, tall enough that Bella would have seemed tiny in comparison before she started the Shift but after her growth spurt, Bella is about a half inch taller. Tall enough that when Rosalie surprises them both by reaching out and wrapping her arms around Bella's shoulders, neither of them half too bend uncomfortably to hug properly. Rosalie's chin lands on Bella's shoulder and she holds tight for one infinitely long moment.
Bella's arms wrap around Rosalie's waist automatically and she holds her close. Bella's head falls to the side, resting against Rosalie's. She can smell Rosalie's shampoo and her perfume, a soothing combination of jasmine and vanilla that has Bella dizzy. She feels Rosalie's shoulders rise again as she takes another deep breath. Rosalie's body is cool against her and for the first time in the month and a half that has passed since Bella has discovered her inner tiger, she doesn't feel the restless energy buzzing beneath her skin.
The moment ends far too soon, inevitably interrupted by the cafeteria doors opening.
"Well, this is awkward."
Rosalie pulls away as though she'd been burned at the sound of her brother's voice, turning an enraged glare to Emmett.
"It wasn't until you got here." Rosalie's voice was as cold and sharp as ice. Bella would be lying if she said it wasn't at least a little bit attractive, especially when it wasn't directed at her.
"Would you rather me, or the entire student body of Forks High?"
Rosalie continued to glare. Bella laughed.
"C'mon, Rose." Bella reached for her arm, placing her hand in the crook of Rosalie's elbow to pull her along. Rosalie's folded arms uncrossed and Bella ran her palm down Rosalie's arm until their fingers met, lifting Rosalie's hand and placing it on the fold of her own arm. The motion left them posed like an old fashioned couple walking down the street, Bella acting as a barrier between Rosalie and the rest of the world.
Rosalie's expression softens as she looks back to Bella, sighing and allowing Bella to escort her to their next class. Bella does her best to let their close proximity not affect her but she's helpless to the way her heart seems to skip a beat when Rosalie presses just a bit closer. Behind them, the doors to the cafeteria opens and Bella has the distinct impression that it was the Cullens who had been waiting just on the other side of the door and had sent Emmett out as the sacrificial lamb.
"Well?" She hears Emmett ask.
"They both feel it, that's for sure." Jasper says. "Rose's jealousy might give us away before anything else does."
"No, I don't see that happening." Alice spoke with certainty that left no room for argument, not that the others seemed inclined to argue anyway.
"I don't know what Rosalie was talking about though," Edward commented. "I haven't noticed anything different about her."
"Which is saying something because you pay almost as much attention to Bella as Rosalie does." Emmett laughed softly. Bella could hear their footsteps moving in the other direction and the sound of Edward's protest faded away before Bella could make anything of their conversation.
"I always thought having a brother would be fun." Bella commented lightly, bumping Rosalie's side with her arm.
"Take one of mine for a day and I promise you'll change your mind."
"They're not that bad." Bella laughed lightly. "Besides, you know he's right. You would have hated it if the rest of the school saw us hugging."
"Well, maybe not if Mallory did." Rosalie shrugged. She grew quite then, looking up at Bella through her perfect eyelashes with the most serious expression Bella had seen on her face as of yet. "But that makes it sound like I would be embarrassed to hug you. I'm not."
"I know." Bella smiled, pressing Rosalie closer to her with a smile. "But you're a private person and I know you know how they talk about you already. I'd hate to add any more ridicule to your family."
"I think we'd be adding it to you, not the other way around," Rosalie reluctantly let go of Bella's arm as they approached the classroom. "But thank you."
"Any time."
Seeing Bella with any combination of the Cullens became increasingly less rare, though seeing them mingle with any other students was still enough of a surprise to make the rest of the student body pay attention and Bella, to be perfectly honest, was getting tired of it.
She was in a bad mood and she knew it just as well as her friends did. Jessica kept her teasing comments to a minimum, Lauren had sent Bella more than one concerned glance which was annoying in it's own right - Lauren had never pretended to care that much about Bella's emotions before but apparently having Rose around changed things - and Angela had been acting as buffer between Bella and the rest of their friends all day. All except for Rosalie.
Rosalie was aware of Bella's bad mood as well, though she seemed pretty unfazed by it.
"You can be pissed off all you want." Rosalie told her when Bella asked why she wasn't being given a wide berth like everyone else was. "Doesn't mean we aren't friends today. If anyone can take your wrath, it's me."
Bella was still pretty pissed off, but having Rosalie around was like a balm to her anger. It didn't take much for Rosalie to bring Bella back into the moment. A hand on her arm, a glance from across the room, a soothing murmur in her ear. Bella longed for more contact, for another hug from Rosalie that left her feeling like she was finally okay again. She didn't ask for one though. Despite Rosalie's friendly affection for her, Bella didn't want to push her limits. She'd learned already that it was incredibly rare for Rosalie to let anyone get close to her. Bella didn't want to take advantage of the privilege.
She was getting to Shifting now, Bella was sure of it. The idea was as terrifying as it was exciting.
"So, Bella," Mike asked, pulling the brooding girl's gaze to her. "Turning the big one-seven tomorrow. Got plans?"
"Uh, basketball practice?" Bella shrugged. She'd never been a big fan of birthday parties for herself. It was just another day, even if she was now a year older.
"C'mon, you're seriously not going to do anything?"
"Do I ever?"
"Fair point." Mike shrugged. He glanced to Bella's left where Rosalie was sitting, taking in her expression with curiosity. "You didn't know about Bella's birthday, Rosalie?"
Mike had called Rosalie 'Rose' exactly one time. The glare alone was enough to make Mike avoid eye contact for three days plus the weekend. Rosalie argued that the success of a single look should raise her Resting Bitch Face scale by one point. Bella was inclined to agree.
"No, I didn't." Rosalie was looking at Bella. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I don't celebrate it," Bella shrugged. Her left hand moved from the table to rest against Rosalie's arm, a motion that everyone else at the table was immediately aware of and reacted to in varying degrees of annoyance and relief. "My dad has always had to work on the day and I don't really like parties. Plus, with basketball practice starting this week, I wouldn't be able to do anything until after six anyway. Doesn't seem worth it."
"Still, you should do something. A dinner, at least." Rosalie looked up sharply at the sound of approaching footsteps, Alice popping behind her out of almost nowhere with a grinning Jasper tagging along. Seeing Jasper grin was always a little disconcerting to the others. There was something about his eyes that made it look like his smiles were fake.
"Did I hear a birthday dinner being planned?" Alice beamed at Bella. "Please? I've been trying to convince you to celebrate all week!"
"Wait, Alice knew that your birthday was tomorrow before I did?" Rosalie seemed downright insulted.
"She doesn't have to tell you everything, Cullen." Lauren cut in harshly, glaring at Rosalie. It was her usual expression during the lunches where Rosalie and Bella sat with Bella's friends. "She's not your girlfriend."
Bella swears the entire cafeteria had frozen solid. No one moved. Everyone at the school knew that there was something brewing between Rosalie and Bella. Bella wasn't subtle about her affection and Bella was also quite literally the only person that Rosalie ever talked to outside of her siblings. It didn't take much to put two and two together. Of course, Lauren had put two and two together and then added her unresolved feelings for Bella in as well and the result was a disaster waiting to happen.
Rosalie turned to Lauren, her eyes hard. Bella's hand slipped from Rosalie's arm to her thigh as Rosalie shifted in her seat. Bella had expected her to lean forward, rising to the challenge Lauren presented, but instead Rosalie leaned back. The arm that Bella had been holding rose and then moved in an arc to rest on the back of Bella's chair. Bella was certain she heard someone gasp. A low growl sounded and Bella saw Alice reach out and pinch her sister. The growl abruptly stopped.
Bella blinked in surprise. Was Rosalie the source of that sound?
"She's not yours either." Rosalie said. She smiled then, but it was nothing like the smile that Bella had come to know. There was no softness in the stretch of her lips. Rosalie's smile was all teeth, all malice. The tiger in Bella's chest purred at the display. "Though, just between the two of us, I think I've got a pretty good chance."
If looks could kill, Rosalie would have been dead ten times over, but the girl seemed unaffected by the harsh glare coming from Lauren. She turned to Bella, the arm she had on the back of Bella's chair allowing them to lean in close together as Rosalie spoke directly to her.
"My mother is always looking for an excuse to bake a cake and I know she and Carlise would love to meet you. They've heard so much about you from me and the others." Rosalie's free hand comes to hold Bella's, their fingers tangling together as though they'd done it a million times before despite the fact that it was the first time they'd ever really held hands. "Would you like to come to our house for dinner tomorrow night? Not a birthday thing, necessarily. Just dinner."
"Yeah," Bella realized how hoarse she sounded and cleared her throat. Rosalie smiled at her. "Yeah, I'd love to."
"Great." Rosalie squeezed her hand leaning in close enough that for a moment, Bella was certain that she was going to have her first kiss with Rosalie right there in the cafeteria, but Rosalie just lowered her voice and spoke right against Bella's ear. "You don't have to do it if you don't want to. I just couldn't resist rubbing salt in the wound."
"Somehow I'm not surprised that you're just a little vindictive." Bella spoke just as softly, rewarded with a laugh from Rosalie that sent shivers down her spine. "Dinner does sound nice, really. Just no cake, if we can avoid it."
"I make no promises." Rosalie pulled back. "Alice will plan the menu, won't you?"
"Of course! You're going to love it, Bella, I promise."
"Don't go too crazy, Alice." Bella reminded her gently. The girl had a tendency to go overboard for everything or so Bella had been told by the rest of the Cullens. "Just dinner."
"Just dinner." Alice nodded seriously. "I can do that."
"I'll reign her in for ya' Bella." Jasper said with a comforting grin. Bella nodded thankfully at him.
"Thanks, Jazz."
"Well I have part-dinner! I have a dinner to plan! See you later, Bella." Alice bounced away, Jasper in tow. The rest of Bella's friends were looking around the table anxiously, waiting for someone to speak up. Lauren scoffed, slammed her chair backwards and stalked off without bothering to take her lunch tray with her.
"I guess I do have plans now." Bella shrugged, turning back to answer his original question. Mike, like the rest of the group assembled around the table, looked completely flabbergasted by the turn of the conversation. He kept looking towards Bella's back, where Rosalie's arm still was wrapped along the back of her seat, though her hand was now gently twisting in the ends of Bella's hair.
"That's, uh, that's great." Mike said the words like he wasn't sure if he meant them or not. Rosalie made a show of checking the time. Bella knew that they had a little less than half their lunch period left but she stood up anyway when Rosalie asked if she was ready to head to class.
Rosalie stacked their trays together and then reached across the table for the tray that Lauren had left, adding it to the bottom of the stack. Bella was sure that the cafeteria would be buzzing with gossip as soon as they left, but she didn't really care. Despite the absolute whirlwind that their lunch had been, Bella kept circling back to the way the growling had stopped when Alice pinched Rosalie.
It didn't make sense for the sound of a growling, angry animal to have come from the goddess who walked Bella to all of her classes and had even carried her books when Bella dropped them one day. Rosalie wasn't all sunshine and roses, ironic - given her name, but she wasn't a total bitch all the time either. She didn't seem like the kind of person who could sound like a monster.
Then again, Bella didn't seem like the kind of person who could turn into a massive tiger, so she figured she shouldn't really be making assumptions. Still, the question was puzzling enough that Bella was still mulling it over well into the evening and the next day. She only forced herself to stop thinking about it when basketball practice started. She didn't want to lose focus during practice and with her temper always sitting on the precipice of tipping over, Bella didn't want to take any chances.
Practice did serve as a great way to release some of the built up tension in Bella and when exited the locker room to meet Rosalie in the library so they could head out to the Cullen's house, Bella felt thankfully calm.
"You didn't have to wait for me." Bella reminded Rosalie for what had to have been the sixth time that day. Rosalie had told her during first period that she was going to hang around the school until after Bella's practice so they could ride to dinner together. Bella had been protesting it ever since. "The library can't be that exciting."
"I don't mind," Rosalie reached for Bella's hand and pulled her along as they made their way to the parking lot. Bella's truck wasn't the vehicle in the parking lot but there weren't many. It had started to drizzle, as was expected. Rosalie set a quick pace to the truck that Bella was happy to follow until Rosalie stopped suddenly. Bella realized why a second later.
A car came barreling into the parking lot, speeding across the pavement. The engine revved harshly and Rosalie's lips pulled back into a menacing growl. Bella didn't have enough time to recognize the sound that she made as an amplified version of the growl she'd been hearing for weeks before the tiger in her chest had pushed her into motion.
The car was coming straight for them.
And it wasn't slowing down.
Bella ripped her hand from Rosalie's and shoved her out of the way, back towards the school with a grunt. The car spun in Bella's direction. She had just enough time to notice that her teeth had elongated to the point that she could taste blood on her lips before the car was colliding with her.
The impact threw Bella to the ground across the parking lot, She felt her collarbone snap and the sound that ripped from Bella's throat was inhumane. Rosalie was by her side a second later, eyes wide and a berate already coming from her lips.
"Bella! What the hell is wrong with you? Why didn't you get out of the way?" Rosalie kneeled by her side, cold hands running over her arms. Absently, Bella wondered if she was bleeding. There was another snap as Bella's arm broke into pieces. "Bella?"
"Rose," Bella said, helpless against the tears that were streaming down her face. "Rose, get away. It's not safe."
Another snap, this time Bella's ankle. She could feel her muscles stretching taught and then going past that.
"I'm going to help you Bella, I promise." Rosalie's arms were wrapping around her, lifting her with surprising ease. They were moving then, faster than Bella had ever moved in her life. Faster than any human could run. There was fur sprouting all along Bella's body, rubbing against her clothes uncomfortably. The scents around her changed from the earthy smell of the woods to somewhere clean and warm.
"Carlisle!" Rosalie's voice wasn't any louder than normal but it didn't take more than a second for Bella to be aware of another presence with them. Bella couldn't breathe for long enough to say anything and she fought against Rosalie's hold. She'd never forgive herself if she hurt Rosalie during her first shift.
"Let her go, Rosalie." A soft, masculine voice said. Rosalie held Bella tighter. "She's a shifter Rosalie. She needs the space to shift."
"A shifter?" More voices. Bella couldn't focus. She needed to run, to move. Her jeans ripped as her legs expanded and twisted, her arms following moments later. Rosalie set her down gently and then backed away.
"You couldn't pick someone boring, could you Rose?"
"Shut up, Emmett!" Rosalie snapped. "Will she be okay?"
"She's in a lot of pain," Jasper said, Bella felt an uncomfortable pressure against her mind, something telling her to be at peace. She growled, the sound ripping from her throat as she twisted onto her hands and knees. Her spine changed shapes, elongating and sprouting fur as Bella lifted her head and roared.
"Holy shit." Emmett said, backing away. "She's a tiger?"
On the outside, she might have been. Bella really couldn't tell anymore. Her insides were still changing forms and the pain was nothing like Bella had ever felt before. She cried in distress, writhing against the floor until she felt cold hands on her.
"It's okay, Bella," the scent of jasmine and vanilla filled her nostrils at the same moment that Rosalie's voice reached her ears. "You're safe. I've got you. Let it happen."
Bella let herself press against Rosalie's soothing touch and finished the shift there. She didn't know how long it took for her new form to settle together, only that every inch of her body ached and that Rosalie had not moved from her side even once.
"Wow," Alice said softly from somewhere nearby. "She's even more beautiful than I saw she'd be."
"You saw this?" Rosalie asked. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"It wasn't concret, I didn't know when, why, or where it would happen. Warning you would have changed things."
"She's still hurting," Jasper said. "But the shift has stopped. Your touch helps her, Rose."
"Good." Rosalie's fingers resumed stroking Bella's fur. "Edward?"
"I still can't hear her," Edward said. "It's quite frustrating, really."
"I'll be sure to care about that later."
If Bella were human, she would have laughed at Rosalie's comment, but her tiger form just let out a grumbling sound. She shook her head, dislodging Rosalie's hands from her until she could stand up, stumbling slightly on her newly formed limbs. She turned around in the space she was in, realizing that she was outside some kind of house in the middle of the woods. She turned to the trees and took an unsteady step.
"Bella?" Rosalie called to her and Bella turned her massive head back to look at her. She looked back to the forest and then to Rose again. She needed to go, to run, finally. But she would be back.
"She needs to run," Jasper said. "But she'll be back, Rose. Let her go."
Rosalie kept her eyes on Bella for a long moment until finally she nodded and Bella turned to the forest again.
The last thing the Cullens saw was a beautiful, massive, white tiger bounding through the woods and Rosalie looking after her, waiting for her to come back.