I don't own Twilight. What I own is my character's behavior, personality, background, and plot of the story.
Thanks to my Beta MadMooey18 for her constant support and help in making this story what it is today.
If there is anything Bella will learn about life it's that it goes on, and with its motion you move on. Now it's spring, three months since Jamie left Forks. Initially, Bella tried to keep in contact with him, but when two weeks passed by without Bella calling him, her mummy decided that Bella should wait for Jamie to call her this time since she is the one who always calls. It's been a month since then.
"Bella! Are you done? We need to leave now. Esme asked me to bring some things from the supermarket for her," her mummy calls from the bottom of the stairs. Bella stashes her journal under her pillow then leaves her room. It's a new thing she started two weeks ago and she loves it. Her therapist suggested using it to write her feelings in and since then, she has been obsessed. Plus, she doesn't know the spelling of everything, so now she has a reason to learn the spelling of new words.
"I'm ready," Bella yells exuberantly from the top of the stairs then makes a spin for her mummy to show her her outfit. She braided her hair in two French fish tails. Her mummy thinks it's a complicated hairstyle, but Bella is too obsessed with it to care. Her short sleeved red dress flares then hits right below her knees once she stops spinning. She is wearing a blue cardigan on top of it along side blue shoes, and both match the shade of flowers on her dress.
"You look amazing. Now let's go," her mummy tells her after appraising her outfit. Bella runs down the stairs. Yes, runs. She has been doing physical therapy for two months and now her leg is almost as good as new. She is even going back to ballet in two weeks. Bella's mummy wanted to initially send her back to school, but by the time she could walk, she was already studying grade two things so now she will finish this year at home then go to grade three next year instead of two.
All to say, Bella is very happy with herself. She looks pretty. She feels smart, and healthy. She couldn't be happier if she tried. For a moment she remembers that her daddy isn't here anymore, but she decides to think of something else instead. No point in making herself feel sad when she has a birthday party to attend, Edward's birthday party.
Bella follows her mummy to the car, but only after double checking to make sure that she didn't forget Edward's birthday. "Do you think Edward will like my painting?" Bella asks her mummy once they pull out of the driveway as she feels her fears bubbling to the surface. She spent a very long time working on it, but she is still worried that Edward won't like it. She even bought him a couple of books two days ago as she had she chickened out and decided that he won't like it. By pure chance, her mummy discovered her painting while helping her look for a skirt she lost. She persuaded her then to give it to Edward instead of the books.
Her mummy looks at her through the rearview mirror then asks her, "Would I ever make you look stupid?"
Bella shakes her head confused by how this is related to her question. "If I let you give it to him and it was bad then I would make you look stupid. If I tell you it looks great, then it looks amazing."
Bella returns to looking out the window still unsure if her painting looks amazing or not. The scared part of her thought that her mummy is trying to make her feel better, but the hopeful part of her remembers that her mummy criticizes a lot of things about her, and if the painting was bad, she would have told her.
Fifteen minutes and one supermarket stop later, they finally reach Edward's home. Bella smiles at the huge banner welcoming everyone to Edward's birthday party. It's Bella's idea.
"It looks amazing, doesn't it?" her mummy asks her as if she read her thoughts. She smiles down at Bella then takes her hand and they climb up the porch together. After ringing the doorbell, Bella gives the neighboring house a glance, but she doesn't get much time to dwell in her insecurities as the door is soon yanked open.
"Now, I am a year older than you!" Edward exclaims as soon as the door is open. Great! From now until her birthday in December, he will annoy her by telling her that he is older than her like he did last year.
"Maybe you are older than me, but you didn't grow up because you still act like you did last year," Bella claps back.
Edward huffs then opens the door wider for them to enter as he tells her, "It's my birthday. You aren't supposed to be rude to me."
Bella rolls her eyes as she carries her wrapped gift over to the gift table as she hears Edward greet her mummy before following her. "What did you get me?" Edward asks her.
"It's a surprise. You can't open it before it's time," Bella tells him, giving him her best glare hoping he won't sneak behind her and open it.
"But I hate surprises," Edward whines as he stomps his feet but follows her anyways as she goes to greet Mrs. Esme. She asks her if there is anything she can help with, and gets told that everything is set and she should go hang out with Edward in his room for the next thirty minutes until the party starts.
After an intense game of chess that Bella and Edward don't finish because the sounds of guests start trickling up to them, they climb down the stairs together and automatically, they get ambushed by two kids. A girl with black hair throws her arms around Edward and hugs him tightly. That takes Bella by surprise because Edward always tells her that he hates people hugging him.
"Happy birthday, Edward!" she exclaims gleefully pulling back and looking at him appraisingly then tells him, "I am glad that you wore the outfit I chose for you."
Now Bella is not just surprised, she is angry. On top of letting him hug her, she also picks his clothes? The one time she tried to tell him that his outfit was mismatched, he got angry at her and didn't talk to her during recess, but Alice picks his clothes?
But before Bella could even process her thoughts, that very same girl throws herself at Bella. "I am so happy to meet you! Edward told me so many things about you. We are going to be friends. I am Alice," She pulls back and beams at Bella and Bella finds herself beaming back despite her discomfort.
"I'm Bella," Bella automatically replies.
"I know. I also know that your outfit is so cute," Alice tells her as she stares at Bella's outfit. "Do you mind if we borrow clothes from each other?" Alice asks her quickly.
Being an only child, Bella doesn't like sharing things, but not wanting to be rude tells her, "I want to think about it."
"You will. You will," Alice tells her in a knowing tone and Bella looks at Edward in discomfort unsure of what to say and Edward takes that moment to change the subject and introduce her to the other twin. "This is Emmett. He and Alice are in our class."
"Hi," Bella tells him waving her hand in greeting but her hand drops as soon as she spots the hard look in his eyes.
They hear the sound of Mrs. Esme calling for Edward which makes Edward turn to Bella and tells her, "Please tell them where to put their gifts." Before Bella could answer him, Edward is already gone.
Bella turns to the twins ready to play nice even though she doesn't want to because Edward asked her to, but Emmett tells her, "Don't bother. We don't need help from someone stupid."
"I am not stupid," Bella mutters feeling hurt by his words. Why would he call her that? She is a very smart person. Mrs. Cooper made her do this IQ test and they told her she is very smart. She doesn't remember the number, but she remembers her mummy telling her that it makes her supper smart.
Emmett crosses his arms and tells her, "A lot of students say that you are stupid and never answer the teacher's question," Then he walks away from her dragging Alice with him who gives Bella an apologetic smile but follows her brother.
And just like that, Bella's entire day is destroyed. Bella feels tears pricking her eyes and blinks rapidly trying to get rid of them. She doesn't want to be humiliated in front of everyone. Suddenly, it feels like everyone is staring at her and Bella makes a dash to the bathroom.
She locks the door behind her and stares at herself in the mirror. She is not stupid, or is she?
"I am not stupid," Bella mutters to herself. She sits on the toilet seat unsure about what to do. She doesn't want to embarrass herself by staying when she isn't wanted, but she doesn't want to leave but most of all she doesn't want to be here. Edward is obviously happy without her. He is letting Alice do all of the things that he forbade her from doing. He left her with the twins like he doesn't care if they hurt her feelings. Edward knows that Emmett is a bully, but he didn't try to protect her from him. She protected Edward from Jamie even though Jamie was her friend first, but Edward didn't care.
Also Edward and Emmett are friends and Emmett heard that she is stupid. What if Edward was there when her classmates told Emmett that she is stupid and he didn't defend her? What if Edward is the one who told him that she is stupid?
It doesn't matter. Obviously, Edward is happy not being her friend and doesn't like her that much. He doesn't think she is his best friend and thinks the evil twins are his best friends. After much back and forth in her head, Bella decides to leave the bathroom before someone discovers her missing and a big deal is made. She makes a B line to her mummy and stands behind her waiting for her mummy to finish talking to the grown ups.
Finally, one of the older ladies notices her. "Bella, sweetie, I am so happy to see you up and moving!" She exclaims then she walks to her and hugs her. Bella hugs her back and does the game of smiles and shrugging. She calls it that, but adults refer to it as chit chatting. Bella calls it that because the nice but overbearing ladies will give her compliments she doesn't know how to reply to beyond smiling then ask her confusing questions that she never knows the answer to beyond shrugging.
As if she can read her daughter's mind, as soon as the ladies finish talking with her mummy, her mummy excuses herself then leads her daughter to the corner away from listening ears, and asks her, "What is wrong?"
"I wanna go home," Bella tells her immediately.
Bella's mummy stoops down to her daughter's level, and asks her, "What happened?"
Bella shakes her head then tells her, "I don't want to talk about it. I just want to leave."
Her mummy opens her mouth ready to argue with her, but she must have seen something in her eyes as she nods her head then tells her, "Okay, but how about we wait until we blow the candles and open the gifts then we will quickly leave."
"But that is gonna take time," Bella whines to her not wanting to stay a minute longer.
Renee shakes her head knowing that in retrospect Bella will feel guilty for abandoning Edward on his birthday, and tells her, "I will speak to Esme and make her do it now. I will tell her my knee hurts. Is that okay?"
Bella nods her head and tries to smile but it comes off as more of a frown. "Everything will be okay in the end. I promise," her mummy tells her then straightens up.
"But I don't want it to be the end," Bella whispers to no one once her mummy is gone.
Renee walks to Esme and finds her talking to Mary Brandon, her next door neighbor. "Excuse me, but I need to borrow Esme from you."
Renee doesn't let the glare Mary throws her way for her interruption deter her as she hooks her elbow with Esme's and drags her to the kitchen. "What the heck, Renee? That was rude," Esme tells her in a reprimanding tone.
"Please, you were literally begging to be saved. Holding an SOS sign would have been less obvious. I just did you a service. You are welcome," Renee replies not bothered in anyway by Esme's tone.
"What is it?" Esme asks her in an indifferent tone. Esme and Renee are good friends, to a certain extent. The friendship between their children has dictated that they talk a lot and spend long hours together. Neither one of them fancies herself as a psychic. However, both of them have realized that they will know each other for the rest of their lives and they have made peace with that despite the fact that Renee feels sorry for Esme and thinks Esme is wasting her potential by being a stay at home mum, and Esme thinks Renee is selfish by being as career driven as she is.
"Could you do the cake and gifts opening now? Bella and I need to leave," Renee tells her.
Immediately, Esme drops the bored look on her face and tells her in a worried tone, "Why? Did anything happen? Are either of you in pain? Do I need to call over Carlisle?" Almost as if hearing his wife call his name, Carlisle turns to look at his wife and frowns at the worried look on her face.
"No, no. We are both fine," Renee tells her and Esme shakes her head in a signal to her husband that everything is okay. "Physically, both of us are fine, but emotionally, Bella is distraught. She won't open up to me and just repeats that she wants to go home. I don't want poor Edward to be upset by Bella leaving early, so I am hoping if she is there for the cake and the gift, he will be okay with us leaving early."
"Was everything okay when you left?" Esme asks her looking behind Renee into the living room. Her eyes fall on the girl in a fancy dress and she feels something pull on her heart strings as she spots her with her back turned to the party and her arms hugging herself as she looks out of the window.
If there is anyone she loves almost as much as Edward; it's Bella. With her bold outfits, and a smile that is bigger than life, Esme's heart never really had a shot.
"Everything was fine. She was slightly nervous about Edward liking her gift, but other than that, she was extremely excited for him. I don't want to pressure her and risk her having a meltdown in the middle of the party," Renee tells her, her eyes following the path Esme's eyes have taken.
Esme nods her head then tells her, "Just let me know once you find out," then leaves the kitchen but not before Renee tells her their official excuse, and makes her promise to not let on that she knows the real reason.
Esme watches from beside Edward, Bella. She sings along with everyone and claps when everyone else does, but it's like someone flicked off a light switch above her head. Her motions are more similar to a robot than a human, and it looks as if a gust of wind would crumble her. Even when Edward unwrapped the gorgeous painting she made him and hugged her in thanks, she didn't hug him back. She simply patted his back in a mechanical motion.
She spots Bella and Renee leaving the house through the masses and shakes her head in disappointment. Edward doesn't notice as he is excitedly opening the next gift he got. Eventually, he finishes unwrapping the gifts and starts looking for Bella just when the kids run to their backyard to play on the jungle gym and other games they had set for Edward's birthday.
"Mummy, I can't find Bella," Edward grumbles to his mummy.
Esme calmly leads him away from the noise to the side of their yard and tells him what Renee told her to tell him. "Could you tell her mummy that you will drive Bella home once the party is over?" Edward demands angrily frustrated with Bella leaving. Now he is stuck playing with Emmett and Alice. Sure they are his friends, but Bella is his bestest friend and he doesn't want to play with them instead of her.
She pushes his hair away from his forehead and tells him, "I don't think she wanted to leave her mummy alone when she was tired."
"I want to call her," Edward tells her after a moment of thinking.
"And tell her what?" his mummy asks.
"That this party is no fun without her," Edward replies in a duh tone like it's obvious.
His mummy shakes her head then tells him, "Sweetie, Bella already feels sad that she left the party to make sure her mummy is okay. Don't make her feel guilty on top of that."
Edward gives his mummy a look as if trying to figure out if she is lying or not, but he decides to take her word for it and tries to have as much fun as he can without Bella. After a couple of hours of fun, and another hour of cleaning, Esme drops what she is doing when her husband tells her that Renee wants to talk to her.
"Give me. I wanna talk to Bella," Edward demands as soon as he hears his daddy.
His daddy shakes his head then tells him, "Hold your horses. Bella isn't going to vanish. Once your mummy is done talking to Mrs. Renee, you can speak with Bella."
Esme ruffles her son's hair and gives him an apologetic look as she takes the phone and walks up stairs to her bedroom for some privacy from Edward.
"Esme, I am this close to strangling that little shit. It took me two hours to persuade her that she isn't stupid. I had to involve her therapist and her private teacher. On top of that, I spent an extra thirty minutes reassuring her that Edward isn't the one who told Emmett that crap," finishes telling her.
"Of course he didn't," Esme whispers, still trying to wrap her head around what she was told. What sort of a child would say such evil things?
The answer is; Emmett and Mary Brandon's children.
"Those assholes!" Esme mutters angrily to herself too furious for words. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree after all.
Renee is quiet for a moment before she tells her, "I mean, I am angry too, but they are just stupid kids."
"Not them, their parents," Esme tells her rolling her eyes because of course Renee would be angry at someone and curse them, but the moment you join her, she will back track. She is all bark but no bite. It's no surprise that Bella is such a sweetheart.
"Tell me everything you know," Renee demands as she knows nothing about the Brandons. Up until Bella was born, Renee used to be the biggest social butterfly. She knew everyone, but between being a present mum and a career woman, she no longer has time for that. Add her accident to the mix, and you get one Renee who is more out of the loop than usual.
"The two parents are new money marrying new money. They are extremely ruthless who fancy themselves perfect at everything and think anyone who isn't as good as them in terms of finance is dirt under their shoes. I can totally imagine them teaching their kids that anyone who doesn't have perfect grades is stupid. Both kids are spoiled brats who have never been told no in their lives. Alice goes around bossing everyone around and irritating them until they do what she wants and Emmett bullies anyone who tells him no. You should hear the temper tantrums we have been privy to since we're neighbors."
Renee is quiet for a moment as she thinks over what Esme said. Right then and there, she seriously considers switching Bella to a school in Port Angeles. She already works there anyways, so while it might be a difficult transfer, it's not an impossible one. Those kind of kids will be a nightmare for her sensitive daughter to deal with.
But she doesn't want Bella to learn to run from challenges at such a young age, and she needs to teach her how that not everyone will be nice and kind like her.
"Hello, are you still with me?" Esme asks, bored of the lack of reaction from Renee.
Renee shakes her head to rid it of those passive thoughts and asks her, "What brought them here? Don't people like them prefer cities?"
"Well you know how rich people like to have a change in scenery and experience a quaint simple life since it's such a teaching moment for their children," Esme tells her in a theatrical tone.
"What do you know, Esme? Tell me right now!" Renee demands knowing from the tone Esme used that she knows more than she told her.
Esme pulls her knees beneath her then switches the phone to the other ear and tells her, "Rumor has it that the husband is running from rape accusations in three different states and the wife was involved in some charity that supposedly built schools in Africa, except that no schools were built."
Renee barks a loud laugh in surprise then tells Esme, "God, I hope some legal drama happens to them while they are here. At the very least, we will have some entertainment."
"Renee, are you high? We are talking about actual criminals here," Esme exclaims as she finds herself surprised by her friend's reaction. She expected disgust from her friend. After all, she is a lawyer who was married to the chief of police.
"It's not me. It's the pain medication I am taking," Renee mutters pausing for a moment to control her giggles then in a serious tone continuing, "I will let you go and I will sleep this off."
Shaking her head, Esme tells her to hand over the phone to Bella since Edward wants to talk to her.
"Hello?" Bella questions, sounding as unsure as she felt when her mummy handed her the phone.
"Bella, the party wasn't fun without you. I wish you stayed," Edward exclaims instead of greeting her.
"Really?" Bella asks in surprise at Edward's statement. He was hanging out with Emmett and Alice. Why would he not have fun?
"Of course not. You are my best friend. No party is fun without you," Edward replies to her in a duh tone. As Bella pulls a strand of hair behind her ear, she spies her mummy standing in the doorway. She waves her away and gives her a thumbs up. Her mummy smiles warmly at her then leaves to go to her room.
"Well you know, my mummy was tired and I didn't want her to leave alone, but we can hang out soon."
"Plus we have your mummy's gift," Edward replies.
Bella smiles remembering the tickets to the painting workshop her mummy got for them as a gift as she smiles and tells him, "Yeah, we have that too. We will hang out so much that we will get tired of each another."
"Impossible. I will never be bored of you." Bella's smile threatens to split her lips as she finds herself with nothing to reply.
"Tell me what happened after I left," Bella tells him in an encouraging tone and feels satisfied when the way Edward speaks makes her sure he didn't have any fun after she left even though she knows that is wrong, but she can't help it. After Emmett hurt her feelings like that, she is happy to know that Edward thinks she is more fun than him.
They then make plans for the next day, and before they hang up, Edward asks her, "Are you sure that no one hurt your feelings?"
Bella opens her mouth ready to tell him the truth, but pauses for a moment. Does he really need to know? It won't matter. They will always come second to her.
"No, everyone was nice," Bella tells him smiling.
That is the first time Bella hid the truth from Edward.
Hello lovely people of the internet,
What do you think of Renee and Esme's friendship? I love it.
Have you ever had a moment like Bella did that went on to destroy your day? I am not too ashamed to say that I have had such reactions to stupid things over the years.
I know he way Emmett acted might seem farfetched, but I can totally imagine a bully having that mentality. I am the daughter of two nerds, and was sent to a private school my entire childhood which made it an education oriented one, and while I never bullied anyone over their grades since mine were average till the last two years in high school, I did once tell a friend in middle school that the guy she had a crush on wasn't worth it because he got a a 64% average in the previous year.
Was I pretentious? Yes.
Do I feel guilty about that? Not at all. He broke my friend's heart then made a nasty rumor about me.
Tell me your predictions in the reviews section. Every reviewer will receive a sneak peek into the next chapter.
My next update will be sometime in early January, but until then,
Stay Safe