I managed to hold my tongue for a grand total of 5 minutes. Which is pretty damn impressive if you ask me.
"So why can't I come with you tomorrow night?" I asked stubbornly.
"Bella." Charlie's voice was a stern warning telling me I was on thin ice.
"Just – wait, I'm not arguing with you that I should go, I just wanna know why I can't." I quickly clarified as I watched Charlie's face harden with cold anger.
Charlie sighed, a weary sort of sound. It was as if all his centuries were finally catching up to him and the load was simply too much to bear. "Why do you want to come?" He countered, his eyes never leaving the road as he turned the car around a tight bend.
"I wanna help." I answered immediately, "I want to be useful. Besides, I've killed two vampires now, it's not like I'm defenceless."
Charlie's mouth formed a tight line, "Can you honestly tell me that you survived either of those encounters based on skill alone?" Charlie paused for a beat but continued before I could answer, "It was luck, Bella. Pure and simple."
"So that's why I can't come, then?" I asked.
"In part." Charlie nodded once.
"And the other part." I whined.
Charlie pulled the cruiser into our driveway, yanked hard on the handbrake and turned the car off. He ran a tired hand over his beard as he twisted to face me, "There will be plenty of time for you to get your hands bloody, Bella. Believe me." He reached across the centre console and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. His calloused fingertips barely grazed my cheek as he pulled away, his eyes held a haunted look that I couldn't fully comprehend. "I know that you are no longer a child, but Bella for as long as you live you will always be my child. You only have a few weeks of school left, just… focus on that, okay? You've got your exams coming up, and then senior prom… Just take this time to enjoy yourself before the horrors of the world force themselves into your life."
The look of sad defeat in my father's eye stopped me from arguing further. "Okay, sure thing, Dad."
XxXx
"So you're telling me that you just… gave up. You?" Edward teased as he pulled his car into the school lot.
I playfully whacked his shoulder and he laughed loudly, "You didn't see his face, alright? He was so sad and stuff," I grumbled as I got out of the car, we were both immediately distracted from our playful banter when we heard Jessica shouting on the other side of the lot.
"Why can't you just be happy for me!?"
"You want me to be happy that you're leaving to go live on the other side of the fucking country?!" Mike screamed back at her, taking a step forward until he towered over the smaller girl. Jessica looked like she was on the brink of tears as she cowered away from him.
Edward and I shared a worried look, and without any further discussion we both hurried over to the other side of the lot to put an end to the fight.
"It's Princeton, Mike. What do you want me to say?" Jessica whimpered.
"I want you to say that you love me enough to stay here in Forks! What's wrong with Seattle University?" Mike demanded, still invading Jess' personal space. As Edward and I got closer to the pair I could scent Mike's anger and Jessica's distress.
Mike's anger wasn't the sort of harmless, benign anger I would have expected from him. It wasn't anger born of heartache and a sense of being left behind, rather it was a burning righteous fury. It was a possessive, dangerous anger that made my hair stand on end and sent off alarm bells in my head. A quick look at Edward's face told me that Mike's thoughts weren't any better than the emotions he was giving off and I subtly increased my speed to get to Jessica's side faster.
I came to Jessica's side and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Are you okay?" I murmured softly, turning slightly towards her as to put myself between her and Mike.
Jess sniffled as she nodded her head. She pressed her lips into a tight line in an attempt to stubbornly hold back her tears, "I'm fine, Bella." Jess mumbled.
I turned my head to look at Mike, his face was red and his nostrils flared angrily as he breathed, "Mike, why don't you take a step back and calm down, yeah?" I suggested lightly. I had to fight desperately to keep my tone even and friendly, when all I really wanted to do was scream at him for upsetting my friend.
"I am calm." He muttered indignantly.
I instinctively knew that arguing with him on that front would get me nowhere, so I changed tactics and turned to face him completely, placing Jess at my back. "Okay, well it looks like Jess needs a breather, how about you give us some space? I'll talk to her, calm her down." I gave him a knowing smile, a smile that tells him that we are on the same side, a smile that gets Mike to huff angrily and give a jerky nod before stalking away.
As I turned around I could see that a number of the student body were trying to watch without looking like they were actually watching, and I sent a bitter glare in their direction that sent them scurrying.
"Bella, I'm sorry." Jess whispered, her voice hoarse from the effort it was taking her to hold her tears at bay. Jessica Stanley was an incredibly proud individual, from the way she meticulously styled her hair to the way she always matched the polish on her toes to the polish on her fingernails, even if no one could see her toes. She was the type of person who could come across as arrogant, or egotistical, if you didn't know her. But I did know her, and I knew that the only reason she wasn't crying her eyes out right now was because there were too many people around, and she was simply too proud to show that kind of weakness in front of a crowd.
"Stop that." I admonished and pulled her into a tight hug that she only reciprocated lightly before she reluctantly pulled herself away. "You don't have anything to be sorry about. Mike was the one being an ass."
Jess released a watery chuckle, "Yeah?"
I smiled bashfully, "Well, I only heard the tail end of the argument, but I'm pretty sure he was being an ass."
"He was." Edward suddenly spoke up from beside us, keeping a respectful distance but still hovering close by. "Being an ass, that is." Edward offered Jess a reassuring smile and I was grateful for his help when Jessica giggled.
"Oh well that settles it then." I nod with mock seriousness, "If Edward says that Mike was being an ass, then it must be true." This pulls another watery giggle from Jessica and slowly her eyes cleared of her almost-shed tears. "So… Princeton, huh? Congratulations!" I raved joyfully, hoping to pull the mood around quickly and cheer Jess up before her first class.
Jess' face lights up, a wide smile breaking out over her face. "Yes! I got the letter this morning! Can you believe it!? Me! Princeton!"
"Of course I can believe it." I said flippantly as I linked my arm with hers and began to walk towards the school building, "They would be mad not to want you at their school."
For the moment, the crisis that was Jessica and Mike's relationship was averted and peace was restored.
And then the shit really hit the fan at lunch time.
The moment Jess and I sat down with our lunch trays Mike was right back at it.
"Have you made a decision yet?" He blurted.
Jess tensed, clenched her teeth and said, "I already told you my decision this morning."
"Jess, if you go off to live in New York, that's it for us. I'm not gonna do that long distance relationship bullshit." Mike said in warning, narrowing his eyes dangerously.
"Okay." Jess sniffed indifferently.
"What?" Mike recoiled in shock.
"I said okay." Jess repeated as she pulled herself up, forcing herself to appear more confident than she actually was. "In fact, why wait? May as well call it quits now." She shrugged.
"What are you talking about?" Mike had gone from angry to confused in a matter of seconds.
"I'm not going to spend the next few months being badgered by you attempting to change my mind about this. I'm going to Princeton in the fall, I'm moving to New York and if I never come back to this godforsaken town again, it will be too soon." Jessica quietly seethed, seeming to unintentionally rise up out of her chair, a physical manifestation of her rising anger and resentment.
"And what is wrong with Forks? Huh?" Mike spat bitterly, "What do you have against it?"
Jess scoffed and rolled her eyes, the movement filled with acidic malice. "Oh gosh, I don't know, Mike." She sneered sarcastically, "I guess I'm not like you. I'm not content in spending my entire fucking life in this backwater sinkhole. I have plans, aspirations that amount to more than working in my parent's store for the rest of my life!" Jess snapped loudly and I could tell we were garnering some attention from the nearby tables.
Mike's face flushed red in anger, making his brown freckles stand out significantly. "Fuck. You." He spat.
"You wish." Jessica sneered before she snatched her lunch tray and stormed away to sit at an empty table on the other side of the cafeteria.
There was a beat of silence before I quickly grabbed my lunch and hurried off after her, Edward and Alice followed my lead without hesitation. I threw a look over my shoulder just in time to see Angela whisper a hushed "sorry," to Mike before she grabbed her tray as well and joined the procession towards the table Jessica had chosen.
Just like that, the battle lines had been drawn, and sides taken in the upcoming war that was Jess and Mike's breakup. If the choice was between Jess and Mike, well… for me it was no choice. Jess was the first friend I had ever made, and I would remain loyal to her. It was a little bit frightening just how faithful I found myself feeling towards my friendship with the strange human girl who was just a little too loud and who played the ditzy girly-girl with such effectiveness that most of the other students couldn't believe she had been made valedictorian. I was certain that if Jess came to my door in the middle of the night, covered in blood and asking for my help to hide a body, that I would help her. No questions asked. I trusted her enough to know that if she killed someone, she probably had a good reason.
I placed my tray down on the table next to Jessica's and sat down, "You good?" I asked.
Jessica looked like she was quickly coming down from the adrenaline high of the fight, "I don't have a date to senior prom anymore." She sighed mournfully.
"Why don't we go together?" Alice spoke up, "Jasper is away at college and isn't sure if he can make it back in time," She lied effortlessly.
Jessica looked over at Alice and narrowed her eyes slightly as if she were trying to figure out what Alice's motives were, "What colour is your dress? Because I already have mine, and we can't be wearing clashing colours."
"I haven't got a dress yet." Alice answered.
Jess blinked, "I thought you guys went to Seattle over the weekend?"
"Yeah we did, but I got food poisoning so we had to come home early." I interrupted swiftly, the lie fell easily from my tongue and I tried not to feel badly about it.
Jess screwed up her face in a unique mix of disgust and sympathy, "That sucks. So neither of you have dresses yet?"
"No," Alice sighed, "But I have been thinking about just making our dresses myself," She shrugged.
Jess frowned doubtfully at her. "You have less than two weeks," She warned.
Alice waved her hand dismissively, "Plenty of time, besides Esme will help."
I began to tune them out once they began to debate whether Jessica's dress was raspberry pink or watermelon pink. Not because I found the topic boring but because both shades of pink looked pretty much the same, but I knew better than to say that to either of them lest I be subjected to a lecture on colour theory by the pair for the rest of the lunch hour.
A/N: Thanks for reading! I know this is a little short but I hope you guys enjoyed it anyway. I finally got around to finding a Beta Reader, so big thanks to glowingivy from Ao3!