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.
Bella stares at him for a moment trying to understand why the things he said would make him do what he did, but comes up empty. "Your explanation is stupid."
Edward looks at his feet as he sheepishly answers, "I know and I am so sorry."
Bella moves one of her crutches so she can lean on the door and tells him, "Your excuse is stupid, but you are not stupid, so are you lying?" By the end of her question, Bella's tone is demanding.
Edward shakes his head anxiously as he quickly tells her, "Of course I am not lying. I swear I am not. Just let me come in and I will explain everything."
Bella looks behind Edward and doesn't find his bike, which means that his mummy dropped him off, so she decides to let him in since she can't let him die out in the cold.
Edward thanks her profusely as he walks in but she ignores his thanks and wobbles over to the couch and sits on it waiting for his explanation to come. Ten minutes later, while she still doesn't understand why Edward would do something stupid like he did, she decides to believe that he is sorry and that he didn't mean to hurt her feelings.
"So you forgive me?" Edward asks hopefully.
"If you do something stupid like that again, I will never talk to you," Bella threatens although she doesn't sound that threatening.
"Yes!" Edward exclaims in excitement and then he jumps off the couch and hugs Bella.
Bella hugs him back, not as enthusiastically as he hugs her, but with love nonetheless. The truth is, since he lied to her, Bella has allowed her anger at him to consume her because she didn't want to feel the pain.
Why let yourself feel the emotions when they will eventually go away?
Edward pulls back and then sits in front of her and starts rapidly asking her questions about all of the recent changes in her life. "So you don't need to study with me anymore?" Edward asks her in disappointment. He was hoping that they would go back to hanging as frequently as they used to.
Bella shakes her head and tells him, "I help James study after school anyways, so you can come after he and I are done."
Edward frowns at her and asks her, "Why are you friends with James?"
"I have always been friends with him," Bella tells him shrugging.
"But…," Edward stutters in shock trying to make sense of what she just told him, "but he bullies me."
Bella rolls her eyes at Edward's dramatic behavior and tells him, "He bullied you once last year. Also, we became friends when we became neighbors which happened before we became friends."
Edward opens his mouth, but the sound of Bella's mummy stops him. "Who's with you, Bella?" her mummy asks.
Bella gets off the couch and limps over to the stairs to answer her mummy and tells her, "It's Edward, mummy."
Edward, who rushed after her as soon as she started limping toward the stairs, helps Bella slowly climb the stairs to her mummy's bedroom. After three minutes of climbing up them and two almost falls, they finally reach the top of the stairs.
Renee who is still in her bed, motions Edward over and then hugs him, but as soon as he is within touch she whispers, "If you hurt my daughter like that again I will make you very sad. Got it?" Renee pulls back and stares Edward in the eyes. Edward gulps audibly at the glare she is giving him and nods his head, too shaken to speak out. He has been told by Bella that her mummy gets angry, but she has never been angry at him. She has always been nice to him.
Satisfied with putting the fear of God in Edward, Renee turns toward Bella and tells her, "Why don't you call Phil and tell him to bring you some breakfast pancakes from the diner?"
"Really? I can do that?" Bella asks her mummy excitedly. Her mummy always makes sure she has only healthy food. Stuff like pancakes never happens. They used to happen when her daddy was alive. He would take her to the diner behind her mummy's back. It used to be their little secret, but now she has no one to take her.
"Yes, my treat, but don't get used to it," her mummy warns her.
"Come on, Edward. Let's go," Bella tells him excitedly as she walks as quickly as she can to her bedroom. The crutches end up being useless as she drags him behind her as she walk-runs to her bedroom. She knows that doing that is horrible and she will regret it later like her doctor told her, but she is too excited to slow down.
Edward slowly walks behind her and then watches her as she calls Phil. He doesn't understand the hype around the diner's pancakes since his mummy's taste better, but he doesn't wanna make Bella sad, so he keeps his mouth shut.
Once Bella hangs up with Phil, Bella lays on her bed and then pats the space beside her for Edward to lay on. Edward takes off his shoes and then lays beside Bella and they resume chatting until they hear the sound of a man calling to Bella.
Bella gets excited, but Edward is alarmed. "Wait, how did this person come in without ringing the doorbell?"
"That's Phil, silly. He has a key," Bella tells him giggling. Edward sighs in relief and then they get up together and walk downstairs.
At the sound of their footsteps, Phil leaves the kitchen then runs up the stairs and carries Bella down. Edward walks behind him and then sits opposite the seat Phil places Bella on. Edward quickly brings Bella into a discussion of the first thing he can think of. He does not want to meet Phil's eyes. The last time he saw him, Edward was rude to Phil.
When Phil came over to his house two days ago, Edward did not appreciate the visit. Phil came over to tell him how to fix things with Bella. Edward didn't want to listen to him. After all, Phil has known Bella for two months, and Edward has known her for two years.
It was only after he left, that his mummy talked some sense into him.
"Are you having breakfast with us, Edward?" Phil asks Edward, forcing him to speak to him.
Edward looks up and finds Phil smirking at him. Edward shakes his head and says, "I had breakfast at home."
Phil nods his head and returns to heating the pancakes he brought with him. Finally, he places a plate in front of Bella, and she thanks him and digs in.
Phil leaves them and goes to the living room to read there. "Are you sure you don't want to eat?" Bella asks him as soon as Phil is out of earshot.
"Mummy made me breakfast before I came," Edward tells her.
Bella nods her head then takes another bite and tells him, "I thought that maybe you did not want to eat because you don't like Phil."
"Of course not," Edward tells her, deciding that he will make an effort to be nice to Phil since Bella likes him, and he doesn't want her to feel uncomfortable. Bella sometimes acts like she is responsible for everything and she needs to fix it, and he doesn't want her to feel this way about him.
They spend the rest of her meal in silence and he takes her dish and puts it in the sink then they go to sit in the living room. They spend two hours watching cartoons together until they get bored of it and decide to play Monopoly instead. When her mummy and Phil see Edward and Bella take the Monopoly game out, they decide to join them.
Despite the four of them starting with equal opportunity, it becomes clear quickly that Bella's mummy is going to win.
Phil turns to the two kids moaning at their losses and asks them, "How about we join forces to defeat this business shark?"
Edward turns to Phil and nods his head eagerly, his competitive edge not letting him be willing to lose. Edward then turns to Bella to see if she wants that too and finds her frozen as she stares at the Monopoly game.
"What do you think, Bella?" Phil asks her then puts his hand on her shoulder, but as soon as he does that, Bella jumps in the air then turns to him and screams, "You are not my daddy!"
Taken aback, Phil pulls away in shock and looks at her mummy for guidance, unsure of what he did.
Renee, who was equally as surprised by Bella's reaction as the other two, lays a hand gently on Bella's shoulder and asks her, "What happened?"
Bella finally lifts her head, her eyes brimming with tears. They dart between the three shocked faces looking at her for a couple of seconds then she whimpers, "I am so sorry. I didn't mean it."
Bella clasps her hand on her mouth then gets up and starts limping to the stairs at a speed that surprises everyone.
"I, I don't understand," Phil, who is the first one to break his silence, mutters in disbelief.
Renee pats him on the knee and then tells him, "Don't kick yourself about it. She has not had any emotional outbursts since we left the hospital. Her father passed away. It was bound to happen."
Edward opens his mouth ready to be angry at Bella's mummy and Phil for thinking Bella crying is okay, but then remembers his daddy's words in the hospital about emotions and tells them instead, "I will take some water and see if she is okay."
Edward climbs up the stairs and knocks on the door, but Bella refuses to open the door. He tries to open it but finds it locked.
"Edward, go away!" her voice comes out muffled.
"How did you know it's me?" Edward asks in surprise.
"I can see your shoes under the door, dummy," Bella replies to him.
Edward looks down at his shoes in surprise then tells her, "I am not leaving until you tell me what is wrong."
Edward waits and waits, and waits, and yet, Bella doesn't open the door, so he exhales loudly as he slides down the door and sits on the floor then tells her, "Tell me what is wrong, and I will go away."
Finally, a minute later, Edward hears the rattling of the door handle and turns to face the door. "Only me and daddy got to team up against my mummy," Bella mutters through a crack in the door, then quickly shuts it.
Edward waits for a couple of minutes then decides to put the water by the door and walk downstairs. Once he reaches there, he tells Bella's mummy and Phil what Bella told him. He assumes since she didn't tell him to not tell them, it's okay for him to tell.
"That makes sense. I should have figured that out on my own," Bella's mummy mutters to herself as she runs her fingers through her hair.
Phil gets up and tells them, "I am going to apologize to her," But Bella's mummy stops him by telling him, "Bella is too wound up to listen to anyone now. Sit down." Then she pauses and turns to Edward and tells him, "Let me call your mummy, so she can come and get you."
Edward tries to argue with her and tell her that Bella might need him, but her mummy dismisses his argument and tells him that if Bella needs him, she will call him. Edward huffs in frustration then sits on the sofa by the window and sulks unhappily with what Bella's mummy thinks. He hates when adults treat him like a child. He can help and do things. He especially hates when Bella's mummy does it cause she makes him feel like a baby more than everyone else does.
After what feels like an entire day, but was two hours in actuality, Bella gets out of her room and then wobbles down the stairs. Before she can prepare herself, she finds herself facing her mummy. "Great of you to join us. Phil just started making lunch. Why don't you read while he finishes making it?"
Bella freezes in her place too shocked to do anything, but nod. Where is the yelling and lecturing? Isn't her mummy going to tell her to go and apologize to Phil? Won't she punish her for being unkind to Phil? Isn't she angry at her for embarrassing her? Won't she be angry at her and give her the silent treatment? Did aliens come and kidnap her mummy? That would explain how her mummy isn't angry.
Bella finally walks to the small bookshelf they have in the living room picks out a book and starts reading until Phil tells them that he is finished making lunch. Then Bella quietly gets off the couch and makes her way to the dining table. Both her mummy and Phil eat and talk to her and each other and joke like everything is okay. Bella finds that the food tastes like sand. She wants to join in on their fun. She thinks of really good jokes that are related to the stuff they are talking about, but she feels too guilty to laugh. How was she to joke with them when she was too rude to them?
Finally, all her pent-up emotions bubble to the surface and Bella explodes. "What is wrong? Are you trying to make me feel bad by not being angry?" she demands angrily.
Her mummy and Phil look up in surprise at her reaction. "Sweetie, what are you talking about?" her mummy asks her in confusion.
Before she can stop herself, Bella finds herself saying, "Your question makes you sound stupid."
A flash of anger touches Bella's mummy's eyes scaring Bella, but it is gone within seconds as her mummy sighs shaking her head before she tells her, "If you think that you can make me angry, so you don't feel guilty, you are wrong."
Bella crosses her arms across her chest and sits down in defeat but keeps staring in defiance at her mummy. "Bella, you are not a toddler. Stop the theatrics," Bella's mummy tells her, rolling her eyes at her daughter.
She takes a drink from her glass of orange juice and then tells Bella, "You were rude to Phil a while ago, and you are rude now."
"And you aren't angry? You are supposed to be angry," Bella exclaims in frustration as she stands up.
Bella's mummy stares her down and then tells her, "We are not angry at you because your reaction makes sense, Bella."
"But I am not a rude person," Bella tells her sadly sounding deflated as she falls back on her chair. Bella is a nice person. She is a kind person. The way she acted scares her. What if she became the person who becomes rude suddenly for no reason?
"How about you finish lunch then call Doctor Amanda? I spoke to her an hour ago and she wants to talk to you," her mother tells her and sure enough Bella understands why she reacted the way she did. She hangs up feeling better knowing that feeling guilty means that she will stop herself from acting like this in the future. She apologized to both Phil and her mummy then drained by the emotionally charged day she had, Bella is ready to sleep by the time the clock hits 8 pm, but right as she is getting in bed, her mummy calls Bella and tells her that Jamie is at the door and wants to talk to her.
Bella sighs in disappointment then gets up to talk to him, deciding that they need to have a new rule; no more visiting after 7:30 at night. But that rule flies out the window the moment Bella spots Jamie's red-rimmed eyes.
"What happened?" Bella demands as soon she hits the bottom of the stairs.
"My parents are getting a divorce and mummy and I are going to Arizona."
And that is how Bella lost the only other person aside from her daddy who didn't make her feel self-conscious before she knew what being self-conscious even meant.
Hello lovely people,
Did you like this chapter? What do you think of Renee's protective side? How do you think Bella is coping with Everything? Do you like the reference to Renee and Bella from the original series? Do you think this is the last of Jamie?
Tell me your predictions in the reviews section. Every reviewer will receive a sneak peek into the next chapter.
Since I updated this story twice in a row, I will be updating my other story Risk it all two times in a row before this story's next update, so I will update this story in ten days.
Stay Safe.