Asteraceae

THIRTY SIX

Curiosity ate away at Isabella as she relaxed in science class. Her conversation with Edward ended as the teacher began talking about today's lesson. He had been genuinely nice to her recently, but he had also been a bit weird as of late. He would usually smile at her, or even stare during lunch, but the second they get into class he's suddenly either noticeably quiet or very talkative as if the weirdness from before didn't occur between them.

It was confusing, but should she really be complaining when she's getting words of envy from her friends that wish it was them, he was chatting up and staring at? She didn't know, but she did know that his entire family seemed to be in on something she hoped wasn't an inside joke. She could see the beauty of his sister, Rosalie, glaring from across the cafeteria. Eyes dark with hatred and annoyance, she could practically taste the nastiness of the words the girl would be saying about her, and she was confused as to why. She wasn't as she was, wasn't as smart or rich, and while that hurt to admit she knew it was true. She wasn't even the third prettiest girl in the school considering the Nurse beat her simply because of her 'experience and age.' So, she really had no reason to hate her, but she did.

Alice was even more confused. The girl never showed any sort of negative emotions about her, but she was silently possessive in ways she might not even notice herself. She probably knew that there were girls aiming for the man she was going for, and she was probably aware that Bella might be one of them, but she never did show it on her face whenever they would meet each other at the end of the day. She never spoke to her, never touched her, or even bothered to stare like her brother did, but she did stick close to Joshua like a vice.

She would cling more onto his arm, laugh a little louder than needed, or even chat with him about personal things that a student really shouldn't be talking to her teacher, her male teacher at that about. It was interesting to watch, but it lit her competitive nature. It would feel good to take something away from the school's second prettiest girl. Particularly good, but her goal wasn't Joshua. She was still at school; she was seventeen years old compared to an eighteen-year-old girl. She was practically a walking case with her father being the sheriff of the town they lived in. He wouldn't go for her even if he wanted to.

Now that Nurse. Julia Hammond was a mystery to her. The woman mostly kept to herself, but she had found her office easily when she had almost broken her neck playing dodge ball during gym. Rosalie at that time had been out of blood and had thrown a ball so hard she had no choice but to drop to the ground or lose her head. There had been teen boys filling the room to the brim just trying to talk to her, and she paid them all no mind. Smiling wide, and shyly chuckling at their pathetic attempts to flirt with the married woman. She hadn't noticed Bella until the last Bell, blood smothering the napkin that was shoved up her nose from the impact she had suffered on the hardwood flooring of the gym.

She had smiled at her also, a bit annoyed, but that professional smile stayed on her face as she tended to her slowly bruising face. She chatted with her just to break the silence, and while she found out that the woman wasn't quite fond of the Cullen's, she was also surprised to pick up the fear she had of Joshua. The woman was quite to brush off his name as if he would suddenly appear behind her with a gun to her head. She was weird, suspicious, but still normal. She was nothing but a sad woman who had fallen into the same predicament her mother had fell into, but she had no kids to pass her worry onto. She had nothing but that ring, and that ring came from a well-off man that was border lining the middle-class income. An incredibly sad woman she was, a sad woman Bella was aiming too never be.

She talked about anything and everything and gave her a pass to head back to class where she reluctantly shuffled past an obviously disgusted Jasper. The teen held his nose as if she stunk and to a certain degree, she probably did consider she had left the gym covered in blood, sweat, and tears. He was somewhat like Edward, but he didn't bother to try and hide the fact that she smelled weird. Didn't care if it hurt her feelings, and even moved closer to Emmett who couldn't help but laugh at her...or his pain? She didn't know, but she was a bit embarrassed. Already planning on pestering Edward about his sibling's behavior towards her.