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 continuous help, support, and love.
"Do you like Dr. Amanda?" Edward asks Bella as they eat ice cream. It has been two months since the accident. Bella and her mummy are home now and Edward is very happy with that. He prefers visiting her in her home instead of the hospital. It feels weird to be here since her daddy is gone, but not being in a hospital makes it easier for him to not think of her as a sick person.
She shrugs her shoulders and continues eating ice cream.
"When will you know if you like her?" Edward continues after swallowing another spoonful of ice cream.
She shrugs again and says,"Therapy is weird. You talk and it's supposed to make you feel better. I don't know if I like therapy. Maybe once I know if I like it, I will know if I like her."
He nods his head, finishes his ice cream then waits for her to be done with her cartoon cup of the yummy cold goodness so he could throw both of theirs together in the garbage can. Bella likes her ice scream to be like soup, so it takes her a couple of minutes to be done since she mixes it between each bite.
"What answers have you reached in your ghost research so far?" Edward asks her once he throws the cups away and returns to sit beside her. Since Bella has asked for the first ghost book, she has asked for three more.
"I think ghosts are bullshit," she answers, shocking him.
"Bella, you aren't supposed to curse!" Edward exclaims, sounding insulted. Bella is very careful of what she says. She is a very fancy person. If she gets mud on her clothes halfway through playing, she will leave to change even if they only have 30 minutes left of playing. Her saying bad words is very strange.
"Well, according to all of the books I have read, ghosts tell you that they are present. If ghosts are real then daddy would be one, and he would tell me that he is around me. If there is a way for dead people to become ghosts, then daddy would be one and he would be near me, because he would never leave me alone. He knows that I hate hospitals. That means that ghosts aren't real."
Edward has an aha moment. It finally makes sense. He finally knows why Bella was invested in learning about ghosts. It was not her being weird, she was just trying to find a way to keep her daddy with her. This makes him sad. He was angry at her, and thinking she was weird, when she was just looking for her daddy.
He gets off the chair and sits on her bed beside her and hugs her, "Sorry for thinking you were being weird," he tells her while holding on to her and hugging her extra tight.
She returns the tight hug and whispers, "It's okay. I thought I was weird, too."
Edward pulls back and whispers, "Whenever you feel like being weird, tell me and we can be weird together."
Bella giggles and then whispers, "You can't be weird."
Edward takes offense at that and exclaims, "Is that a challenge?"
Bella shakes her head while giggling at his antics and tells him, "I mean that you are normal. Hanging out with you makes me feel normal. It doesn't feel like all of the bad things that happened to me really did, when we are having fun. Most of the time it feels wrong to laugh because daddy just died, but with you it feels right."
Edward's cheeks turn red from embarrassment but regardless of that a smile threatens to break his face. It makes him happy to know that he can make Bella giggle. Then, and there he swears that he will always make her laugh no matter what it takes.
Edward sighs as he climbs into his mum's car and buckles himself in. "How was school?" she asks as she pulls out of the parking lot.
"Okay," he tells her and sighs, then starts swinging his feet back and forth and hitting the seat in front of him.
"Buddy, is something wrong?" his mum asks in concern.
"No," he states with his arms crossed against his chest.
"Are you sure?" she asks.
"Yes," he replies and turns to look towards the window only to state a minute later, "I hate school."
"Why?" his mum asks, looking at him through the rearview mirror in concern.
"Because it's no longer fun without Bella," he replies. The truth is that he feels lonely, and Bella used to be the one to snap back at Jamie when he bullied him. Now he has no one to do that for him. He has no friends. Bella is his only friend.
"Well, sweetie you know that now the doctor has decided that it's better for her to finish the year in school,"
"I know. She is sick and can't move on her own and needs more treatment. I get it, but it's not fair. I know that I am supposed to think about her and what happened and be nice to her. I remember everything you said, mum. I am not stupid. It's just that I wish she would come to school, anyways. Does that make me a bad person?" he ends his statement with a question. He has been struggling with this for some time.
His mummy told him exactly what is appropriate to say and not say to Bella. She explained to him that Bella is dealing with trauma and told him exactly what trauma is. He knows that he is supposed to be nice, kind to her, and if she says or does something hurtful to not hold it against her because when you are hurt you say and do stuff you don't mean.
That said, he can't help but wish that she would attend school with him. He is smart. He doesn't need her help. Most times, she is the one that needs his help, but sometimes he needs her help. He needs someone to color with. He needs someone to laugh with. He needs someone to be angry at the teachers with. He needs her.
"Of course it isn't, sweetie. It makes you feel normal. It makes you human," his mother tells him sympathetically.
"I hate being human," Edward huffs out loud.
His mum laughs at his statement and giggling lets out, "Don't we all."
His mum parks the car in front of their house. He has a drawing he made for Bella yesterday at his home. He forgot it and now he needs to pick it up from his room before he goes to Bella's place. As he gets out of the car, he notices a big car parked in front of the house next door. It has been empty for years.
He ignores his curiosity and runs up the porch and through the front door of his home. Once be reaches his room, he finds the drawing on his desks and takes it with him downstairs. As he is running down the porch, he notices two kids standing with their parents in the front yard of the house beside their's.
"Who are those people?" he asks his mum as she pulls out of the parking space and drives toward Bella's place.
Looking at him through the rearview mirror, his mother notices where his gaze landed and answers him, "Those are our new neighbors, the Brandons. They have two kids. A set of twins named Alice and Emmett. They are your age."
After Edward visits Bella, he decides to sit in the chair of their front porch and read a book. He reads through the book, but hears some commotion from the new neighbors house. He looks to his right to find the boy playing with his dog. Once the boy notices him, he waves at Edward. Edward waves back.
"Well, it was fun playing with you, but I need to leave," Edward tells Emmett, kicking the ball in his direction.
"You can't stay longer?" Emmett asks, kicking the ball in his direction.
"No, I can't. I promised Bella that we will watch a movie together. I can't be late for that. We will be having a sleepover," Edward tells him. He doesn't want to play with Emmett any longer. He is very excited to go to Bella's place.
It has been a month since Emmett and Alice moved next to his family. They are in the same class and have become friends. They aren't Bella, but they will do until Bella is back. At least, he doesn't hate school and now has people to hang out with.
He still hangs out with Bella the most. She is after all, his best friend in the whole wide world. That will never change.
"But, you will be coming to our birthday on Tuesday, right?" Alice, who has been stitching her blanket on the porch asks him.
Edward pauses for a second feeling like he is forgetting something before he dismisses that thought and tells them, "Of course."
His mum calls to him as she climbs down the front porch of their house and he waves goodbye and then runs to the car and buckles himself in.
"Someone is very excited," his mother tells him as she buckles herself.
"We are watching three movies," Edward tells her as he waves three fingers in the air.
She laughs at his exuberance and tells him, "Bella must be very excited. What else are you doing?"
He thinks for a moment and when he realizes what he forgot, he tells her with less enthusiasm, "We are working on a surprise for her mum."
"What's with the sad face?" His mum asks noticing his tone of voice.
Edward reluctantly tells her, "It's supposed to happen on Tuesday and I promised Emmett and Alice to attend their birthday on Tuesday too. What do I do mum?"
Esme looks thoughtful for a minute then she asks him, "What is the occasion for the surprise?"
"Nothing."
"What do you mean nothing?" Esme asks in confusion.
"There is no occasion. Bella wants her mum to not be sad and decided that she will start to surprise her randomly to make her happy," Edward replies, explaining Bella's idea to her.
Personally, he thinks the idea is stupid. He doesn't understand how surprising someone will make them happier. When his parents surprise him by taking photos of him when he isn't looking, he looks ugly. When the people at his mum's shop jumped and yelled surprise to him, he peed his pants a little. It was embarrassing. People should be honest. Bella should tell her mum that she doesn't like that she never smiles and tell her that she should be happy. Everyone should be honest, but Bella doesn't believe that. She thinks her mum needs to be surprised, not told to be happy. He knows that he should follow his own thoughts and tell her that her idea is stupid, but he doesn't want to hurt her feelings.
His mum calling his names attracts his attention, "Tell her to put it off two days, that way you can attend both."
"You think she will accept it?" Edward asks her, unsure. Bella thinks deals are very important. They shouldn't be broken.
"Of course. If you tell her the whole truth she will accept it," she assures him.
Edward nods his head to himself and tells himself that he will, but that doesn't happen. "Mummy and daddy wants us to watch a movie together," Edward says defensively when Bella asks him why he wants to change the date of the surprise. All of that rehearsing in the car and the moment Bella asks him why, he decides to lie.
Bella crosses her arms and stares at him trying to see if he is hiding something from her. She decides to believe him. After all why would Edward lie to her. He is her best friend. Best friends don't lie to each other. They tell each other the truth.
Hello lovely people,
This chapter is brought to you by a very frustrated writer who has been trying to upload this for hours before it finally worked.
You don't need to be a genius to know that Edward's lie will most definitely come back to bite him in the ass.
You can find me as Aseel Ayelia on Instagram, substack, and Tumblr to read my original writing.
Until my next update,
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