Chapter 8: Better and Better

Waking in the morning, I was warmer than usual. Stretching out, I decided that pops must have closed my window after I fell asleep. The silence surrounding me put me off and I reluctantly opened my eyes afraid of what I might find. What greeted me was a purple comforter. "Ugh," I groaned, hating the colour purple.

I had to be at someone's house. For sure it wasn't Mandy's or Leah's. Seconds after scanning the room, I jumped up, pumping my fist into the air and yelled, "Yes."

Immediately there was quick, yet heavy steps heading towards me.

The impeding person couldn't remove the ear to ear grin on my face. Even though I had completed the switch with the belief that it was permanent, the worry that we would get switched back lingered. What if the was more like the movies and after learning some lesson we would be returned to our bodies? It's not like the spell came with a manual and guarantee. This morning was even more of a dream come true, since it supported the permanence of the switch.

"You okay?" Chief Swan grunted out on the other side of the door.

"Really good," I told him unable to hide my eagerness. Quickly trying to find something to explain my outburst, I blurted out, "I remembered that I have a date with Mike."

He humphed loudly and muttered something about shooting him, while his steps suggested that he had headed back downstairs.

This life really was like living in a fairy tale. There had yet to be a parent banging on my door. There was more money. Sure, there were a few downsides and hickups, but nothing I hadn't handled.

First things first, I wanted to continue giving Mike the best version of this body, so got myself ready for the day, including getting groomed and choosing one of the new tops. The whole affair took less time than before. It was getting easier to apply makeup to Bella's face. I knew her closet better, which helped a lot. The only part of her that was still a struggle was her hair. It was soft and slick like silk with a slight wave. Mama's hair was straight and coarse. Pops hair was coarse with tight curls, which would make for a great afro, if he didn't insist on having it in a short cut for work. Mine had been in between theirs. It was curly, but less than pops, and coarse, but more like Mama's kind of coarse. Figuring out how to manage Bella's strange texture was on the top of my agenda for this weekend.

Grabbing a poptart, since Mike was more important than breakfast, I arrived at school before the early bell. Fortunately, Mike was already there. He was, of course, talking with Eric. Coming nearer allowed me to hear that their conversation was about Tyler. Evidently, he was home and likely to be back tomorrow. Coming up next to them, Mike turned to me.

"Hey, Bella," he greeted.

The fact that he interrupted his conversation to greet me was a good sign.

"Hey," I offered back. Doing an idea Leah had given me, I licked my lips, tasting the gloss I had applied. It seemed like his eyes followed my tongue's movement, which I took as a score. Taking a breath, I told him, "My dad asked for details about our date tomorrow."

He smiled like he had won the lottery, while his eyes had a slightly dazed hungry look.

Poor Eric tried to appear like he wasn't jealous. The fact that a guy was jealous of Mike was expected. No one else compared.

"I talked to my mom about having my Friday shift off, and she said no, but gave me Saturday morning, so how about we have breakfast and then a movie together in Port Angeles?"

Smiling at this idea, as it allowed me to go shopping on Friday, I replied, "I'll need to check with my dad, but that sounds good to me."

"Pick you up about nine?"

"Yeah," I agreed.

"Great," he answered.

He seemed flustered for a few seconds, and then went back to talking to Eric, like I wasn't present.

Wanting to continue to garnish his attention, I shivered like I was cold and then stood closer to him. It was a move I had seen in a movie once that seemed to work.

He looked over at me and apologised. Then, he grabbed my arm, and pulled me into his chest, putting his arms around me, sidewise, since I had my backpack on. I was beyond pleased that the move had worked exactly like I had hoped.

Eric rolled his eyes and looked at me like asking, 'are you sure you want to date this douche?'

Smiling at him, I nodded, assuring him that Mike was the man for me.

Eric frowned and shrugged like 'it's your funeral'.

I assumed, since he had acted jealous, Eric's little moves were to try and drive a wedge between Mike and I, so he could ask me out. It seemed pointless, since, even if he wasn't my destiny, anyone could see that Mike was the better choice.

A couple minutes later the warning bell sounded and we all moved towards school.

Walking in, I realised that maybe Eric's display was the male version of Mandy's jealousy. Although, if that were true, boys had it way better.

Foolishly I had thought Mandy was my friend. When I had told her about Mike's interest in me, she had insisted that he was only being nice and actually wasn't that into me. Her whole speech reeked of jealousy. Over the weeks, as I had persisted, even though I hadn't told Mandy about my actions or plans, she got angrier and angrier at me. She continued to belittle me, insisting whenever she was within whispering distance of me that a man like Mike would never want some dark skinned nobody like me. Her pointing out my obvious traits stung more than I would ever admit, even to Leah. Never before had our differences mattered. It was like she was trying to tell me how she was going to go on to bigger and better things, while I would end up a town nobody. My grandmama had already left me behind. Mandy becoming my biggest critic, and then dissing the physical similarities my grandmama and I shared was taking it too far.

The real blow came in the girl's locker room before gym where she had insulted me horrendously in front of everyone. Rather than allowing her words to tear me down, they fuelled my determination to prove her biting words wrong and find a way to show to her, to everyone that Mike and I were meant to be together.

Worse still, when I had complained to my mother about Mandy, she had said it was a part of growing up, that some friends were only meant to be on our life for a season. It was such an empty thing to say after all her years of claiming that old friends were like gold. She was always being so contradictory. She said what suited her, rather than being honest, let alone having my back.

Somewhere in the back of my head it bothered me a little that Mike hadn't found the courage to overcome Forks' stupid grade intermixing to date me, as a few guys had. Not only that, but then I had to go to all this trouble to remove those obstacles. It also rubbed me the wrong way when Leah had pointed out and I had reluctantly agreed, few White boys in Forks went for the girls that were anything less than pale. Despite my general agreement, I had vehemently argued that Mike wasn't like that. He was friends with the only Asian guy in the junior class. He was nice to everyone, no matter their skin tone. Leah had tried to argue back that being friends with someone and dating them wasn't the same, but I wouldn't hear of it. Not to mention that what he said yesterday about Mrs. Cope contradicted Leah's assertions.

The part Leah had highlighted and I did agree was that Bella was the palest girl in the county. That combined with her being new blood to the town, along with her being the police chief's daughter, did seem to cause every boy at Forks High to give her attention. Being with her was both a step up socially for nearly everyone except Mike, and it was easy to imagine the thrill some guys would have in getting the Chief back in an indirect way. I told Leah that Mike wasn't friendly to Bella because of those reasons. He was sweet, kind, thoughtful, considerate, and worked at making everyone feel welcomed. Bella was just the most recent person to be at the receiving end. He could totally be the mayor one day, as he already had the critical components.

Leah might have been off about Mike's character, but Mandy had been completely out of line, not only with her attacks on my grandmama, but also claiming that she had spotted Mike first when we were in the third grade and called dibs. Truthfully, I had spotted Mike before that, when we were in the first grade. I just hadn't known to inform the world about it.

I was going to show Mandy that she was wrong and my grandmama had been right. Life was short and if I didn't take charge and make hard decisions, Mike would graduate without being brave enough to give our budding romance a chance. Not to mention that showing Mandy up would be a sweet added bonus! I knew that once Mike had picked me, Mandy would see what a great couple we were and be happy for us. Then, maybe, if I was willing to take her back, she and I could be BFFs once more. Smiling at that happy thought, I thanked my grandmama for giving me the courage to follow my dreams and happiness. At the end of the day what annoyed me was minor and didn't really matter.

The bottom line was that Mandy had been a back-stabbing bitch and my mother was two-faced. Even if she was right that the likes of ignorance on people like Mandy weren't worth trying to change, she didn't offer me any suggestions other than for me to move on, which she should know herself was impossible in Forks. Everyone's memories here are way too fucking long, since they have nothing better to do than hold grudges. That was why me not forgetting was so important.

A small voice in my head had to wonder if Mike was into me, Jamerica, or that he had won the attention of the new girl.

I could almost hear my grandmama's voice telling me how wonderful I was, how beautiful, and how any guy would be lucky to date me. Empowered by her words, I reminded myself that we were meant to be, and he was lucky I had been willing to work so hard to make it come true. His strutting and showing off was down to me, as he had yet to do anything to win me. Despite my certainty, the question quietly lingered in the back of my mind if it had been my skin tone he hadn't been able to look past.

There was also a small voice within my mind that was angry with my grandmama for no longer being here for me. I reprimanded myself for my anger. She would have stayed if she could have. She told me so. It wasn't her fault that her body gave out and that the medical field refused to do anything more for her.

I was on my own.

I was responsible to generate my own happiness, and this path was already bearing fruit, so was obviously the best one. Pushing my concerns and thoughts aside, I assured myself, that the body I inhabited had just allowed him to get to know me.

Throughout the day Mike continued to walk with me, talking my ear off about some game him and Eric were into. When Eric showed up, they talked some more and Mike attempted to include me with statements like, "What do you think, babe?"

"I like your ideas," I told him each time, which placated him.

The morning classes were torture and I had been lost. When the lunch bell rang, I had never been more grateful for the break.

Today, instead of Mandy watching Mike and I like a hawk, it was Jessica. In all of our classes, and then especially at lunch, she kept trying to get Mike's attention. She had even gone so far as to wear a low cut shirt, which showed her bra. Sure, Mike's eyes got stuck there, but he practically ignored her, kept his arm on my chair, and continued his conversation with Eric. The fact that he kept his affection on me pleased me greatly, reinforcing my belief that deep down inside he knew we were meant to be together.

When there was a lull in the conversation, Lauren asked the table in her high-pitched voice that grated, "Did you hear that the sophomores Mandy and Jamerica were close to fighting?"

Suddenly everyone at the table, except Angela, turned towards Lauren, giving her our attention.

From Lauren's description, it seemed like Bella had stuck up for herself against Mandy just fine, and there was no actual fighting. The part most concerning was when Lauren mock whispered, "And then Edward Cullen walked her to class."

As soon as Lauren's words existed her mouth, my brain couldn't stop the idea of him draining my body empty of its blood. I knew to steer clear of them. Did Bella? The possibility that she might not, and he take an interest in her or my body, whichever, was disgusting and disturbing thought. Given his looks, he'd probably fake flirt with her and smooth talk her into a walk in the forest, where he would murder her. It had been the talk of the junior class after school on Bella's first day how she had offended him.

But what could I do? It's not like I was going to go warn her to stay away from the dangerous vampire who wanted her blood. That was against the tribal laws. According to the treaty history, the Cullens were safe enough, but still the idea didn't settle well with me. Even worse was the images plaguing me that he wanted to seduce her for her body, like some of the vampires in stories did. The Quileute legends only talked about the cold ones deadly capacities, but that didn't mean some of the novels didn't have truth in it. What if the reason they drank animal blood and went to high school was to have sex with humans? What if she lost my virginity to him? Could there be anything worse?

In Biology I tried to think of all the ways to force Edward to keep his distance from Bella, but every statement that came to mind gave too much away, and then there was the whole obstacle of the Quileutes not having active protectors, so it wasn't like I had much to threaten him with. Sure, it was weird that I was trying to protect Bella, but something about my body being at risk didn't sit well with me.

As I fumed and tried to solve the problem, it suddenly dawned on me that if I got my wish to stay in this body, Bella would eventually lose my virginity to someone. In a way, it had become hers. Sure, it was reasonable for me to be possessive of it and especially regarding Edward, but it wasn't really my problem anymore. Maybe I owed her a polite heads up that Edward was best to be avoided, but other than that she was on her own. It was sobering, and for the briefest of moments I asked myself it was worth it.

Sighing again, I looked over at Mike, which immediately brightened my mood, and a smile filled my face at how lucky I had gotten thus far. He was my happily ever after, and so worth any sacrifice I had made and would make.

As seemed to be Mr. Banner's usual, every pair was supposed to be doing group work, but annoyingly Edward refused to do it for us, and I didn't understand anything about the class. Thus, he and I sat there with the work between us, neither talking nor working on it. Apart from being a vampire, he was the most irritating person I had encountered. He was arrogant and haughty. He had nothing to lose by doing the work for us both, but he refused. It was like he had the biggest stick up his ass, acting like he was better than us mere humans.

Eventually, since staring at the worksheet was pointless and my brain looping on my present problems was getting no where, it dawned on me that, although there was a ton of things I couldn't say to Edward, confirming Lauren's story wasn't one.

Thus, I asked him, "Lauren said that Jamerica and Mandy were near to blows and then you walked Jamerica to class?"

"Just being a good Samaritan," he answered in that non-human tone that grated on me.

That was another thing that irritated me about Edward Cullen. He didn't ever give straight answers.

All the retorts that I wanted to say were at the tip of my tongue, but every single one would make it clear that I was not Bella Swan.

My irritation grew until I muttered, "So you can't talk to me or help me out, but you can Jamerica?"

Edward smirked and retorted, "Jealous?"

"Not close," I bit back. "You're not all that. Jessica might want to get into your pants, but I certainly don't. It seems hypocritical to refuse to help me, while you went out of your way to help Jamerica claiming gentlemanly behaviour. But being a liar and hypocrite seems par for the course with you, so I guess my confusion is misplaced."

Edward had nothing more to say, which didn't surprise me. He was insufferable. I couldn't be more relieved when the bell rang.

In gym, I made sure to use Bella's clumsiness to touch Mike as much as possible along with him having multiple opportunities to touch me. They were all public appropriate, but by the end of class, Mike was giving me his full attention, talking about work with his parents and how much he was looking forward to our date on Saturday.

In the girl's locker room, Jessica came over to me her face red with righteous indignation.

"You're not all that," she told me.

"Not all what?" I questioned, pretending to be confused.

"Mike was mine long before you moved here," she informed me.

"Maybe he was meant for me all along and you were just a holding space," I retorted.

Jessica's face turned an even brighter red and she appeared like she was inches away from hitting me.

Turning my back on her, I finished changing, and reminded myself of Pop's words.

God bless her, Angela came over and spoke softly to Jessica, and then Lauren told her a whole bunch of rotten things about Bella, probably for the purposes of cheering her up, even though it was nasty stuff.

Pretending to ignore them all, I walked out of the locker room and waited for Mike. Then, we walked to the parking lot together.

"You're picking me up?" I asked, as we lingered at my truck.

"Yeah," he agreed with a slight blush.

"Good, I'll tell my dad," I informed him before kissing him on the cheek, only this time closer to his lips, and then hopped in the truck.

"Yeah, good," he mumbled his eyes glazed over a little.

Smiling at how he had been effected, I was pleased the entire drive home. Despite my inexperience with boys, I seemed to have been making all the steps necessary towards us becoming a couple. Leah's advice had been great, which was appreciated. Its effectiveness wasn't surprising, as she was so much more experienced with guys than me, with her and Sam getting engaged and all.

After making myself a snack, I got started on my homework. As each day had progressed, the more concerned I had become about being able to pass the classes, especially Biology and Math. When Chief Swan came home, I told him my plans with Mike, which he agreed to with reluctance.

"Make sure to tell Mike to arrive a bit early, so that I can have a chat with him," Chief Swan insisted.

"Okay," I agreed, heading upstairs, essentially ending the conversation, which meant I had managed to keep my failing grades from him.

Overall, I was over the moon. Chief Swan had agreed for me to go on the date. With the money for clothes he had given me, tomorrow after school I would go to Port Angeles and find the bra and panties to go with my top, so my outfit for the date will be just right. Everything was working out even better than I could have hoped.

My only true concern was Edward's involvement with my body. The thought that the Cullens might figure out the swap had never been a possible problem Leah and I had considered. With today's events, it was obvious, since they already lived in the supernatural world, there was a chance that they would think outside of the box in ways that Forks' people might not. Then again, what could they do about it? Pointing it out would bring attention to them, and it seemed like they worked really hard at staying under the radar. Hopefully, like the treaty history mentioned, they cared a lot about staying hidden in plain sight.

Maybe Leah would have an idea of how to pass my classes. She had helped with everything else.

Laying in bed the evening after confirming that Mike was truly into me, I had begun to consider ways that we could be in the same grade, so he could act on his interest in me. Reviewing what the week prior's effort of following him had taught me, I had realised that other than his friends he had given the new girl the most attention. She clearly wasn't his type, as she was mousy, while he was outgoing. He had just being his usual Mike overly friendly, nice self, trying to have her feel welcomed to Forks. I can admit being jealous that she was getting his attention, platonically intended or not, when he and I were destined. It had sparked my wish to be her.

The idea of being her had moved past wishing when one day at Leah's she had been complaining about her own life. She had off-handedly stated her desire to switch bodies with Emily. According to her there was this one legend that had made it seem like a Quileute ancestor had managed a body swap. I had barely remembered it, but luck was on my side, because that Monday my Quillayute teacher had us examine that exact legend. The next time we saw each other I had pointed out that we should try the spell. Leah had been beyond hesitant at that point, but I had argued out that the worst that could happen was that it worked. It seemed at least worth attempting, and all the signs from my grandmamma had been pointing in the direction of taking this step.

It's ironic that even while working to convince Leah, I really hadn't expected it to work.

My brain recalled the conversations Leah and I had about what to do if it had worked. At the time they seemed silly and an engagement in fantasy. Thinking about them caused a heavy weight of how much I owed Leah. I mean, it wasn't a burden or anything to pay her back. Leah had been great since grandmama died. Our friendship before her death had been more like close cousins than best friends. The place of best friend had gone to Mandy, who had held that position since Kindergarten. Shortly after the funeral, instead of acting like a best friend Mandy had dissed me, almost like she was mad at me for grieving and wanting to do my grandmama proud. In comparison, Leah had been the one to empathise with me and agree with me that honouring my grandmama and grabbing happiness with two hands was the best way to honour her. Thus, within a few months of grandmama's funeral my best friend had turned into an enemy, while my cousin had turned into my best friend. What kept me sane were my grandmama's words of wisdom.

In the end, Leah had helped me out and been there for me. She had been great and I wouldn't be here without her. Yet, I hadn't figured out yet how to get past Auntie Sue. In fact, since first waking up into this life, I hadn't given Leah much thought at all. I felt bad. It made me seem like a bad friend. I would have to find a way to make it up to her, and keep my promise.

Her and grandmama. It was an easy conclusion that the Quiluete belief that the ancestors looking after us was true, and my grandmama had helped me out, by making the spell work. At that thought this body was filled with a warm sense like it was receiving one of her hugs. I smiled brightly, closing my eyes and said a little prayer to her, thanking her.

I spent some more time on my homework, even Math. Eventually I gave up on completing it and laid down staring at the ceiling and fell asleep with a smile on my face. Sure, classes were a problem and paying Leah back had potential complications, but over all, my days were only getting better and better. Saying my prayers as I had the last two nights, I sent my gratitude to grandmamma.

A/N: I apologise for it being so long since my last update. Between trying to return to work, two weddings, and my mother's memorial as well as ash spreading was this month. I hope to be more consistent this month. Sorry again.