Margaret had never wanted to disappear before, but the awkward tension that clung to the air was pushing her to the limit. Charlie had desperately been trying to make small talk to break the tension, but Bella would only answer with short monotonic responses. To Maggie's relief, they were close to reaching Forks now, when they passed the welcome sign she saw her sister flinch at it, she knew what she had despised from it: population 3,120. Isabella had grown so used to the big city life that she seemed to dislike the small simple ways of the countryside. It still didn't make sense to Margaret why she had decided to move here, where the cloudy days, constant rain, and cold sucked her life out of her.
"Your hair is longer..." Charlie noted, trying, once again, to get Isabella to talk to him.
"I cut it since I last came." She replied, lifting her hair to inspect its ends. Her father's eyes looked desperate and tired when they met hers in the car's mirror.
"It must've grown back." He muttered to himself. In an attempt to soothe things, Margaret straightened and cleared her throat.
"I decorated your room," Her voice mirrored cheerful bliss, and she hoped her father would not notice her facade. "Picked the bedsheets and everything." After not getting a reply Margaret tried harder. "You liked purple, right?" Maggie had gone to buy her bedclothes specifically in purple at her request, so she hoped that at least she would get some kind of acknowledgment from her sister, of course, she didn't expect her to be thankful for it, but a simple response would do.
"Purple's nice," Bella replied dryly. It was well enough, that was all she could manage at the moment. Deep inside her, she hoped that maybe when school started she would open up more.
In their driveway, Billy Black's car was pulling up just as they did. Margaret got out of the car and caught the look Paul was sending her. Jacob ran to her and hugged her close.
"Hey, Maggs!" Jacob's long hair danced with hers as he twirled her off the floor. "Hi, Bella. Oh- Uh- I'm Jacob, we used to make mud pies together when we were little..." Isabella had come out of the car after seeing the commotion and stared at the boys with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Yes, and he tried to eat one once!" Margaret laughed, remembering the good times when they were kids and Bella's temper had been manageable.
"And when he got sick, Maggs baked him a real pie." Paul had stepped up to them, his face stern, but his eyes lowered apologetically.
"Yeah, I remember." She said quickly, though Margaret doubted she did. Charlie and Billy were joking and laughing behind them. Billy Black was chasing after their father threatening to run over him with his wheelchair. "Are they always like this?" Bella asked in embarrassment.
"It gets worse with age," Margaret replied laughing. To that Charlie walked back to them, his hands perched on his hips and a soft smile on his face.
"So what do you think?" He asked his daughter, a nervous smile tugging at his lips as he awaited his daughter's reaction.
"About what?" Bella asked, confusion visible on her face, and eyebrows furrowed together.
"Your homecoming present." Charlie replied, clapping his hand on the red truck. Bella's first instinct was to gasp and run towards it, excited shrieks flowing out of her.
"Are you serious?!" She yelped, opening the door and slamming it again against Maggie's already bruised knee. The girl muffled a hiss and got out of the way, hoping nobody had seen it, so that this moment could last as long as possible. "Wow! Ugh please Fiona let me drive it to school first!" Bella whined, her head poked out of the truck's window. It took some time for everyone to understand she was talking to her sister, Maggie looked up startled when she realized that Bella was talking to her. She had to start calling her Maggie again, or else she wouldn't recognize her calling her at all.
"Oh, um, I have my car so... it's all yours!" she pointed back at her car with her thumb. At first, she hoped it would ease Bella and let her be happier now that she realized the truck was only hers and that they didn't have to share, but Bella being Bella took it the wrong way.
"Oh," her eyes were glued to her black car parked in their driveway. She had been cleaning it a few days before, so it looked in quite good condition, despite it being second-hand. "Char- I mean, Dad got you a car?" She whispered, disappointment pulling at her face.
"Oh, no. She bought it with her own money. Got a job and everything to pay for gas!" Charlie piped in, still entrances by the happiness he felt after seeing the smile on Bella's face. "My little grown-up girl." Her father said proudly, one of his hands on her shoulder and the other on her face. They hugged shortly and then parted, leaving Bella to catch up with him and the Blacks. Paul approached cautiously, his hands in his pockets and his head hanging low.
"I'm sorry about earlier..." he began, Maggie offered him a sympathetic smile in exchange as she turned to fully face him. "I wish I could blame it on some werewolf thing, but, the truth is, it was just me... being a dick." He finalized, his voice no louder than a sigh. Her arms had been crossed around her chest, and they rose as she collected her breath.
"Yeah, you were." She replied, her face soft, even if she still felt upset, she appreciated his apology. "Whatever happens, will be my choice, Paul, and you have no right to tell me otherwise." Maggie's arms loosened and she hugged him, his body tense under hers. "But I still want you to be my friend, so don't let this break us apart." Paul simply nodded, revealing nothing about what may have gone through his mind at that moment.
Margaret bid her goodbyes to the Blacks and Paul as they left and headed inside. Jacob had helped bring the suitcases upstairs, where they now lay on top of Bella's bed. She was staring around her room, absently taking it in. Her father was standing by the door when Margaret popped her head in.
"Bathroom's just straight ahead." She informed, Bella turned to face her with scanning eyes and an unexpressive look on her face.
"Right, one bathroom..." Charlie and Margaret exchanged looks before they left Bella to unpack. Once her door was closed, Margaret heard her calling on her phone and the glitchy voice of the person on the other side of the line. Her mother. When she got to her room she fought the urge to text Alice and tell her everything that had just happened for two reasons. The first one being, she most probably already knew, and the second, annoyingly poking her brain, she still had to work out and shower, and with Bella here, showering was going to become a whole war on its own. Margaret plugged in her headphones and extended her yoga mat to begin her routine. Under the music, her brain was bubbling with a million questions and situations she couldn't process quickly enough, letting her frustrations out on the exercise which would, most definitely, leave her sore the next day. She was almost over with her workout, holding a minute-long plank when Bella burst through her door.
"Gee, Bella, you almost gave me a heart attack! Don't you knock?" Her arms were shaky, and her back sweaty, but she couldn't just drop from it now, so she kept her back straight and focused on her breathing.
"Ew, Fiona, it stinks in here!" Her sister whined as she fumbled across her room, her hands fussing over every little detail on her nightstand and her desk. Sweat tickled its way down her forehead, she had pictures of her and Jasper on her phone and her photo añbum in her drawer, Bella had to stop snooping.
"Do you need something?" Maggie barked out, her aching muscles long forgotten under the stress and anxiety she was under.
"Yeah, to open a window." As she said so, her hands reached for her window and opened it wide, letting the cool breeze in, chilling Margaret's spine within seconds.
"Fuck, Bella I'm freezing!" She screams in a hushed tone, imagining her father would be dozing off on the couch downstairs, a newspaper folded over him like a blanket.
"Sucks to be you, I guess." Her shoulders raised to meet her ears as she walked away, leaving her door and window open allowing the deadly cold air into her room. Shortly after, the minute was over and she fell from her plank. She stayed that way for a few seconds, her body lying on top of the matt, regaining her breath. Once she had regained her strength, Margaret organized her workout equipment and grabbed a change of clothes to go shower. Bella wasn't in her room or the bathroom. which only made her worry more, but on the bright side, she wouldn't have to fight for the shower that day.
Barely ten minutes had gone by when there was a loud banging at the bathroom door. Water cascaded its way down Margaret's hair, making it look almost black. Soap and bubbles washed away to her feet as they fell down her face, cleaning it and soothing the muscles under its burning touch. Bella kept banging at the door, but the thudding faded away under the calming sound of trickling water splashing on the floor. After some time, the noise got unbearable and Margaret was forced to cut her shower short. She dried up with a towel and threw her clothes over her head. When she went outside, Bella almost tripped over as the door moved away from her, leaving her weight unsupported.
"So, you do know how to knock." Was all she could master, seeing her sister's fiery gaze pierce through her. Bella must've been bickering with their father, because her eyes rolled in a semi-circle, sighed, and made her way into the bathroom.
Tension began to loosen from her back once she was in her room. A warmth that began in her chest and spread its way through her neck, her shoulders, and her back, soothing her muscles as it advanced. For a brief moment, she simply stood there, cherishing each warm sensation and, most of all, savoring the smell of old paper and the countryside she had learned to associate with Jasper. He was resting against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest and the light of the dawning sun making his skin shine like gold. His already golden hair seemed auburn with the light and his eyes a mixture of honey and hazel. Margaret had pictured him that way, her eyes still closed and the warmth spreading through her soaring limbs. Jasper had his brows knit together, he had never felt Maggie in so much distress, and it worried him. It was that way that he found himself wrapping his arms around her, no words spoken between the couple yet. Only sympathy and a bond so strong between them that they knew what the other needed at every moment. Right now, Margaret just needed to be held.