CHAPTER TEN
The first week of school went very well for Bella. She liked the girls on the softball team, and she made more friends in general. Ironically, her former group of friends were not among them. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't dwell on it because when she really thought about it, they were pushy and annoying—even Angela Weber, whom Bella previously thought of as kind.
First, there was Jessica Stanley, who had been catty and passive-aggressive, and Mike Newton, who had been nonstop about asking her out despite Bella's lack of interest. Then there was Ben Cheney and his feature story of Bella in the school newspaper, and Angela Weber, who first greeted her with a camera and flash in her face to coincide with said feature story. They weren't bad people, but Bella just got along better with her new group of friends.
But now, it was Friday. Her father had left work early, and the pair were now busy painting some rooms in the interior of the house: the kitchen, Bella's room, and his room.
"Dad, why do we have to get this all done now?" Bella asked.
"I told you why; it's because the new appliances for the kitchen are coming in tomorrow, and so is the furniture for our rooms. We don't want to do it after the stuff arrives."
"Okay, but seriously, shouldn't we prime everything first? I'm not sure if this yellow is going to cover the olive green in the kitchen," Bella suggested. "I mean, I think the walls are now puke-colored, and this is my third coat.
Bella and Charlie stepped back and took a look at the walls, each tilting their heads to one side and then the other.
Charlie nodded his head. "Yeah, we need primer. Let me make a call."
An hour later, Waylon Forge walked into the house carrying a case of beer and two gallons of primer. He was dressed for painting, with a bandana wrapped around his head and an old t-shirt and jeans.
"Let's see the damage, Charlie," he said as he placed the beer in the fridge. "And my goodness! Is this Bella? You turned out just as pretty as I thought you would. Do you remember me?"
Well, she did. Waylon was one of James, Victoria, and Laurent's first victims. She didn't want Waylon to die! How was she supposed to stop it from happening? Waylon's death was totally unconnected to her, so presumably, it would happen.
"Uh, sort of. Did you play Santa one year?"
"I did! Charlie, she remembered me. I must have made quite an impression."
"You were a good Santa."
With Waylon's help, they were able to get all three rooms painted and primed, ready for tomorrow. In addition, Waylon said he'd take all the old furniture off of their hands because one of his hobbies was refinishing and repurposing old furniture.
"Great! You can have it all!" Charlie told him. "I'll even help bring it to your place."
So, they ended the night loading up all the bedroom furniture from both bedrooms into Waylon's and Charlie's truck. Then, her father decided to be generous and gave away the living room furniture, too. The only thing left was the old mattresses for them to sleep on for the night before they were hauled away by the furniture store tomorrow.
"Hey, Dad. Why did you give Waylon all the furniture?"
"Well, this house needs a bit of updating, and Waylon needs something to do in his spare time. Playing with all of the furniture should give him some purpose. There was a massive layoff at the factory he was working at, and he's currently jobless. Waylon has a tendency to drink, so I figured if he had something productive to do, it would keep him out of trouble."
Bella hugged her father. "You are so cool, Dad."
"I try to help the townspeople where I can. It's always good to consider how one simple action can affect the many. In this case, it affects the community. If we can keep Waylon busy, he won't drink to excess. Hopefully he won't get behind the wheel of his truck drunk and possibly get into an accident." Charlie pointed to the case of beer Waylon brought. "He had one beer only today. That's a good thing."
"I'm going to remember what you said, Dad. I will try to consider the community at large when I make decisions. The actions of one can affect the many."
"Good girl. Now, get to bed. The appliances are coming in the morning."
Bella gave her father a kiss on his cheek before taking off for bed. The actions of one can affect the many was going to be her mantra.
XOXO
The next day began with a knock on the door at 8 a.m. The replacement appliances had arrived. Two men brought in the new kitchen and laundry appliances, installed them, and left a couple of hours later.
As soon as they left, delivery guys showed up with the new bedroom furniture. They hauled away the two old mattresses and left.
By then, it was already well past noon, and the Swans were hungry. They stood in the kitchen looking at the new, shiny, stainless steel appliances, the beautifully painted walls, and the olive green countertops that stuck out like a sore thumb.
"Get the tape measure, Bells."
XOXO
Bella and Charlie had just finished lunch when there was a knock at the door. They weren't expecting anyone so her father went to see who it was. She followed closely behind.
"Are you Charles Geoffrey Swan?"
"I am."
"Oh, good. I'm with the car transport company, we have your new truck for you. If you could tell me where you want it, I'll get it down for you."
"Oh, yeah. I forgot about the truck. You can just park it next to the other truck."
"Great."
It took just a few minutes to unload the truck. Bella noticed all the neighbors standing outside and watching curiously to see what was going on.
The delivery driver handed Charlie two sets of keys and asked him to sign on a form that he took delivery. "Oh, and Hank Nakajima said he added a few bells and whistles to your truck with his compliments, but you still have to drive the blue truck. It's all explained in this letter."
"That's great. You tell him I said thanks."
After he left, Charlie said, "Well, Bells, I think you'd better take your permit test soon. You've got a truck waiting for you."
"I get the blue one?" she asked excitedly, hopping up and down.
"Hell, no! I'm driving the blue one. You get the black one."
"Cool! I love your truck."
XOXO
Bella managed to take her permit exam on Monday and passed with flying colors, according to Sergeant Cameron, who looked to be older than her father by about ten years. She was super nice and helped Bella do her hair and makeup before snapping the photo for her permit. Then she took her photo several times until it was just right. According to her, it was a perk of having a parent working for the Forks Police Department.
With Bella having a permit, she had to sign up for an approved driver's training course. The majority of kids waited until Forks High School offered it up, which was three times a year in the fall, winter, and summer.
Her father had discovered that it was too late for the fall semester; the winter semester was all booked up, and the only session open was summer.
It was Sergeant Cameron who offered up an alternative. She informed Charlie that Bella had the option of attending driver's ed out of the tribal school. Apparently, since they were such a small school, they waited until there were enough kids with permits to take the course. They took kids from Forks High School as part of a reciprocal arrangement.
XOXO
It was now lunchtime on Wednesday, and Bella was sitting in the cafeteria with her usual group of friends—her new usual group.
"Hey, are you going to the homecoming dance on Friday?" Samantha asked.
"Homecoming? I just went to the homecoming dance at my old school," Bella mentioned.
"Lucky! You get to go to two dances. You have to go, Bella. It's your first dance in Forks," Katie said.
"Why not? I already have a dress."
"Yay!" Katie cheered.
"Oh, good. My mom said she'd close the salon to the public at five and do all of our hair and makeup then. She just asks that you all wash and condition your hair the night before to save time." Lauren reached into her tote bag and gave each of them samples of shampoo and a hair mask. "Mom said to use these to wash your hair. She said to leave the hair mask on for five minutes and give it a wet comb before rinsing out your hair."
"Thanks, Lauren."
"No problem."
"I'll need to ask my dad if I can go, but I'm sure he'll say yes."
Later that week, Bella had her first encounter with the Cullens. She had gone to the bathroom and ran into Rosalie Cullen, the statuesque blonde. She was putting lipstick on.
Bella didn't bother greeting her. When she went to wash her hands after using the toilet, Rosalie was still there, but this time with Alice. They were saying something to each other at vampire speed.
"Hello," Alice greeted with a fake smile on her face, looking expectant for some reason.
"Can I help you?" Bella asked with a bored expression on her face.
"You're the new girl, right? Bella? Chief Swan's daughter."
Bella wasn't about to reply to her. She didn't want anything to do with Alice, but an idea came to her. "Hey, are you even supposed to be in here? This is the girls' bathroom." She turned to Rosalie. "We should get Mr Greene, don't you think?"
And then Bella saw Rosalie smile for the very first time in her life. "Yeah, I think we should get the principal."
"No… What… I'm a girl!" Alice protested.
Bella huffed. "Just don't use the ladies' room again, or I'll tell the principal." She shook her head dramatically as she left. Inside, she was holding in her laughter, thinking of how her actions must have thrown Alice for a loop.
XOXO
On Friday, Bella went to Mrs Mallory's beauty salon on Forks Avenue. She was a pretty blonde woman with big, bright blue eyes and a welcoming smile.
"Come in. Come in. You must be Bella. Lauren has told me so much about you." She ran her fingers through Bella's hair. "Oh, you have such pretty and well-maintained hair, too, which makes it easy for me. I know you just moved here, so you probably don't have a stylist. You'll be coming here, of course."
"Of course," Bella replied.
"Alright, let's get started then. You can hang your dress up on the rack in the back. Lauren, show her where it is."
Bella greeted all her friends with a hug. Mrs Mallory had ordered pizza and salad for the girls. She also had a selection of drinks that were iced in a cooler. Bella thought it was really nice of her.
There was a knock on the storefront window. "Oh, for Christ's sake," Mrs Mallory complained. "Let me see to this."
Bella stood off to the side with the rest of the girls, watching as Lydia Stanley attempted to push her way into the salon. "I know this is last minute, but I'm wondering if you could style Jessica's hair for homecoming. I'm hopeless with a curling iron."
"I'm sorry, but I'm closed for the evening."
"Oh, but homecoming is tonight, and Jess needs her hair done." The woman craned her neck, peering into the salon. "It looks like you still have customers. One more person won't make a difference."
"Lydia, the salon is closed."
"So, you're telling me all those girls aren't going to homecoming?"
"Wow. She's pushy," Bella whispered to no one in particular.
"Mrs Stanley takes pushy to the next level," Samantha Wells explained, "and she thinks there's no one more important than her daughter. Apparently, we're all supposed to go down on our knees and worship her."
"I don't think I've met her daughter," Bella said, even though she knew perfectly well who Jessica Stanley was.
"Come over here." Tara pulled her to the side. "Do you see the girl with the permanent pout standing behind her mother?"
Bella peered around Tara. "I do."
"That's Jessica. She's not as bad as her mother, but she can be bitchy."
"She's super fake," Lauren added.
This was sheer irony because Jessica had called Lauren and her group of friends fake and bitchy the first time around, but Bella was discovering that this group was about as down-to-earth as they came. She'd also made friends with some Quileute girls who played on the softball team. Jenny Cameron—a senior, Kim Greenleaf—a junior, and Maya Fuller—another junior, hung out with them. There were other girls from both Forks and La Push, but they had their own group of friends.
"I will pay you one hundred dollars on top of what you usually charge," Mrs Stanley stated. "Jessica would prefer to get her hair done here."
"I'm sorry, but we are closed. You knew homecoming was tonight. Why are you searching for a hairstylist now?"
"Well, if you don't do Jessica's hair for her, I'll just take our business elsewhere!"
"I'll be sorry to lose your business, but there's nothing I can do," Mrs Mallory told the woman before closing the door and locking it.
Mrs. Stanley knocked incessantly at the door and shouted a whole bunch of derogatory statements at Mrs. Mallory until she finally walked away in a huff, taking Jessica with her.
"That lady is nuts!" Katie declared. "My dad said she's constantly calling the cops to complain about everything under the sun.
"Even worse, she's the bank manager, and she's always snooping around into everyone's finances. At least that's what my mother told me," Ashley explained.
"Wow. Why do people put up with her?"
"I think we all look at her as a pest," Mrs Mallory said. "It's best not to let someone like that get under your skin. Okay, girls, let's get started. Last year, we started with Ashley, so this year, we'll go backwards and begin with Tara. Come on. In the chair. You girls need to eat. I don't want any of you fainting from hunger at homecoming. And after you eat, run the steamer over the dresses. Start with Tara's because she'll be ready first.
XOXO
Mrs Mallory did a wonderful job getting all the girls ready for the homecoming dance. She studied each of their dresses and made sure their hairstyles matched the design of the dress. In Bella's case, she wore a simple A-line dress with a satin bodice and a chiffon skirt in baby pink that stopped just at her knees. She paired the dress with silver cowboy boots that her mother passed down to her because they were uncomfortable for her. They fit Bella like a glove.
Bella loved the dress so much that it was actually the fourth time she had worn it. The first time was during her sophomore year. Her mother actually purchased it for her when they went shopping for homecoming together. This was pre-Phil, of course.
The second and third time she wore it was for the homecoming dance in Arizona, which she went to twice, but in different timelines. And the fourth time she wore it was actually today in Forks. Bella didn't really care what people thought about her re-wearing dresses. When she liked something—she liked it and wore it. She absolutely would need to send the dress out for dry cleaning after this dance, though.
The best part about this dress was she actually had a second one in a deep emerald green. Her mother purchased both of them but forgot to return the other one, so Bella ended up with two dresses. She liked both of them, but the pink was her favorite.
Mrs Mallory curled Bella's hair so they cascaded into waves down her back. Her makeup was not overdone and simple, making her look like the fresh-faced teen she was.