🌟She's Special🌟

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5 years ago
"Get it away!" Bella cried. I was confused. Why was Bella crying? What is making her uncomfortable?
"Bella, what's the matter? What is making you upset?" She pointed to the poodle skirt from that fateful Halloween.
"Oh no!" I got it and took it off of the rack.
"I'm so sorry!" I hugged my 9-year-old.
"He hurt me w-when I wore that, Mommy. I hate that skirt!"

"Bella, what happened on your trip?" I asked in a soothing yet concerned tone. I looked at the stuffed animal and I held it.
"Nothing happened on the trip." She told me. I wasn't buying it.
"The reaction that you had to me giving it to you doesn't show that. You reacted the way you did when you saw the poodle skirt a while ago. Something happened, you and I both know that." She took the penguin and tucked it under her arm.
"What happened?" I asked calmly.
"Well, it started out good, and then it ended badly."
"Bella, you're an amazing reader and writer. Your teachers say that you have very good analytical skills and you're very good at expressing ideas. I know that you can tell me more than what you're giving me."
"You're making me feel worse. I don't want to talk about it and I don't have to tell you every single thing that goes on in my life. No one hurt me, okay? I'm allowed to be sad every once in a while without you interfering. Gosh." She left the bedroom and locked herself in the bathroom.
"Okay, I'm leaving. I'm not interfering." I said.
******************
The Living Room (7:12 PM) (Leia's Perspective)
"Okay, your turn!" Ace knocked over the stick thing.
"You're supposed to move it, silly goose!" I'm trying to teach Ryan and Ace how to play board games...but it's not going so well. I moved him four squares up.
"You're catching up to me! You're going good!" He got excited.
"Woof!" I heard the front door open and I looked up.
"Look who's here!" Mommy and Daddy said that we'd have people over for the weekend.
"Kathleen!" I ran up to her and hugged her.
"Hey, Leia! I'm loving the purple hair!" Mommy let me have purple ends for the summer and it makes me feel really cool!
"Hehe, thank you!" I smiled. I saw a man outside talking to Olivia. I don't know who he is! He and Mom came inside. Kathleen stooped down to my level.
"So Leia, this is my boyfriend, Andrew. Can you tell him Hello?"
"Hi, Andrew!" I shook his hand really firm like Mommy taught me. She said lousy handshakes aren't good.
"Hey! I've heard a lot about you!"
"Hmm...What did Kathleen say?" I asked in a suspicious tone. Everyone laughed.
"She said that you're very sweet and funny. And, that you love cookies." He handed me a strawberry frosted sugar cookie and a chocolate chip cookie.
"Thank you! I'm gonna put this in the kitchen!"
^^^^^^^^^^^^
After Daddy came home we had dinner. Mom decided to order Chinese, which is yummy but I really wanted her to cook tonight. I was a little bored at the dinner table because when you're the youngest you just have to watch everyone else have adult talk. Which is boring. I poked my chicken and then put my fork down.
"So Kathleen's told me you got this new job at Google. Tell me about that." Daddy asked. I pretended to listen but all I heard was "computers blah, blah, blah, software, blah, blah, blah, and security." I continued to pick at the food on my plate. Mom leaned over.
"Stop playing with your food." She whispered. I sighed.
"Are you okay?" Bella asked. I nodded.
"People who sigh like that got big problems. You had me scared for a second... a 6-year-old shouldn't be having it so hard." I laughed quietly.
"But, you sigh like that. Why would a 13-year-old need to sigh like they have really big problems?" I whispered.
"Well, when you get to middle school you'll realize that boys suck. That they use you and take advantage of your feelings for them. When you realize that very sad fact, you too will want to sigh just like that." And when Bella said that to me Mom sort of looked at her in a kind of way. I didn't know what it meant but I don't think it's a good look.
"Sorry, but I feel really tired from my flight earlier. I'm going to bed early tonight. Good night, everyone." Bella got up and left the dining room table.
"May I be excused too?" I asked.
*******************
Saturday, June 16th (1 Halsey Path) (1:16 PM) (Bella's Perspective)

Hannah: Bella, are you okay? Please text me back. I'm worried.

I watched from my window as Leia, Andrew, Kathleen, Elliot, Noah, and Mom swam in the pool. I still feel a bit down about what went on between Jake and me. I realized my problem. I can't shake things off. I just keep thinking about it and working myself up. I loathe myself sometimes. I stepped away from the window and opened my laptop. Maybe watching 10 episodes of Private Practice will make me feel better. It's also a very good distraction. When I'm upset watching tv shows honestly make me feel better. I heard the bedroom door open. I swear she never leaves me alone.
"Bella, are you okay?!" Ohh it's Kathleen, never mind.
"Yeah!" I replied.
"So then...why are you up here while everyone's downstairs?"
"I'm watching Netflix. I finished Grey's and I realized that I have a profound love for Addison. So I decided to watch Private Practice this entire weekend."
"You don't fool me."
"But, I'm telling the truth!" She closed the laptop.
"You're not, I know how much you love your shows, but your reasoning behind watching isn't good. What's going on, babe?" I sighed.
"Your Mom's concerned."
"I know she is, Kathleen."
"Okay, you don't have to be like that about it."
"Like what?" I asked sincerely. She sighed.
"Bella, someone is downstairs asking for you!" Mom yelled. Who would be downstairs? I walked down the steps quietly and opened the front door. I paused abruptly.
"Jake?? What do you want?" I felt like crying out of sheer embarrassment now. My family was behind me and probably wondering what Jake was doing here.
"Do you have a minute?"
"I do.."
"Can we talk?" I nodded.
"Mom, I'm coming right back."
"Where are you going?"
"Ummm-"
"Tell her that we're going bike riding."
"I'm going bike riding with Jake."
"Okay." She replied. The next thing I know, I'm on my bike heading down a road with Jake.
^^^^^^^^^
"Where are we going?" I asked as I rode faster.
"You'll see." We were pretty silent for most of the ride, as to be expected.
"There's no point in me being here if we're going to ride silently. I just look stupid following you, I'm going home Romano."
"Please just wait. We're almost there." I rolled my eyes. I'm way too nice for my own good. We ended up at this ice cream shop. It wasn't familiar to me, my family usually goes to a different one. We went inside the shop and Jake told me to sit. He came back a couple of minutes later.
"So, are you going to tell me what you dragged me outside for?"
"Bella, I'm sorry about what happened Thursday. I didn't mean to...freeze up as I did."
"But, you did." I replied.
"You did and you made me feel used, Jake!" I whisper-yelled.
"I told you what happened to me when I was younger. You know, those men played nice with me and had me thinking that they loved and cared about me for a good minute, and then they started hurting me. And you know, we've spent so much time together and stuff, so I thought that you felt the same way I did. But, I was wrong..and now that I think about it, it wasn't fair for me to assume that you-"
"Bella, I would love to be your boyfriend." He said, interrupting me.
"Huh?" I began to tear up.
"I just didn't say it before because you'd taken me by surprise, but I do feel the same way. I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings but staying silent. That was fucked up."
"Well...at least you know." I said quietly. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know that he truly felt the same way.
"I wanted to ask you a couple of months ago, but I didn't know how. The guys tease me about it when you girls aren't around."
"I didn't know that, wow. I'm sorry for springing that on you though. A lot was running through my mind then..."
"Like what?" One of the workers came by with two cups of ice cream.
"A PBC cup for you and an Oreo dream cup for the lady."
"Thank you!" When he moved away I looked at Jake's ice cream.
"You're always eating some variation of Reese's."
"And you're always eating some variation of Oreos." I ate a spoonful.
"This is so good!" I exclaimed.
****************
Bella's House (3:01 PM) (Jake's Perspective)
We made it to her front door and we got off of our bikes.
"Thanks for today. It really made me feel better." I nodded.
"I should give you back the money for the ice cream. How much was it?!"
"Don't worry about it. It's on me. You know, it's okay for people to treat you to things every once in a while. If you're going to have me as a boyfriend you should get used to that."
"So you meant what you said at the shop?"
"Duh." She laughed.
"I think I can get used to it. I'm new to this whole thing." She hugged me.
"I have to go inside now because Leia's staring and probably going to tell my parents, but call me when you get home, okay?"
"Okay. Bye, Bella." She ran inside. She's my girlfriend now. Woah.