A/N: Hey gang! I'm out of town this weekend so I'm going to update this early. I had one reviewer mention that she hadn't gotten a notice that my story had updated. Is anyone else not getting notifications? Cause I don't want you guys thinking that I've forgotten about you.
....
I steeled myself as I turned to face Victoria, and I noticed that she was surrounded by her band of brainless wonders. The fact that she was approaching me at a dance with all of these witnesses, led me to believe that she was up to no good.
"What do you want, Victoria?"
She took a deep breath and said in a loud, trembling voice that carried around us, "I want you to stop picking on me! I don't understand why you're being so mean to me!"
Ah. So, that's how she was going to play it. Get herself all worked up and accuse me of horrible things in front of everyone. Well played, Bitchtoria. Well played. But, I was through dealing with her and her bull. It was high time I grew a pair and had it out with her, and if that meant I had to duke it out with her in front of an entire dance floor, then so be it.
Shooting her a scathing look, I replied, "Really, Victoria? Really? You're gonna play the injured party? You've made it known since the beginning of the school year that you can't stand me. You've threatened me time and time again, and I've done nothing to you."
By now, a small crowd had gathered and was hovering near the drink station. Realizing that she had an audience, Victoria upped her performance.
"Bella, I just don't understand why you hate me so much. All I wanted was for us to be friends," she whined as a tear trickled down her cheek.
You've got to be freaking kidding me.
I raised my voice a bit louder to ensure that everyone hovering nearby could hear me."Cut the act, Victoria. You're not fooling anyone, but just in case, let me clear a few things up. A few weeks ago, I accidentally ran into Edward. Anyone who knows me knows I can't walk without tripping ten feet over something." I heard a few snickers from people.
Looking around, I told our audience, "Victoria, here, got all territorial and has since then proceeded to threaten me every chance she gets. For some unknown reasons, believes that I'm a threat to her and is doing everything in her power to make my life miserable. If you don't believe me, that's fine, but I've got witnesses who have seen and heard her threaten me. So believe what you will."
Victoria looked around and saw several people who appeared to agree with me, and she shot them all dirty looks. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised her voice a bit more.
"You're such a liar, Isabella. I highly doubt anyone's going to buy your story. I just wanted to get to know you better, and all you wanted to do was steal Edward from me. That's why you've been going around calling me names and threatening to hurt me."
I seriously hoped no one was buying into her bull, but the students of Forks High weren't exactly brilliant. I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and was preparing to continue my attack when Rose stepped up beside me.
"Oh, cut the crap, Victoria! Every word coming out of your mouth is a fucking lie! You and I both know it. Your girls know it. How many times did we have to listen to you bitch about Bella? How many times did we have to listen to you go on and on about how you were going to ruin her because she dared talk to your man?"
Victoria stood there looking stunned as did several other people near us. Nobody thought that Rosalie Hale would side with me, especially not Victoria. Hell, I almost couldn't believe it.
"What the fuck are you doing, Rosalie?" Victoria asked her in a cold voice.
"Telling the truth," Rosalie said, in full bitch mode. "While Bella and I aren't exactly friends, I'm sick and fucking tired of listening to you bitch about her. Get the fuck over it already! So what if she talks to Edward? They're friends. Something you know nothing about."
Victoria gave Rose a glare that was supposed to intimidate her, but come on, this was Rose. Rose didn't intimidate easily.
"You're overstepping your boundaries, Rosalie. You might want to watch yourself."
Rose just raised an eyebrow and took a menacing step toward Victoria.
"Oh, so now you're going to threaten me? I don't think that would be wise, Victoria. You have no idea what I'm capable of. Believe me when I tell you that your reign as queen over this school has come to an end."
Rose then turned her back to Victoria and looked at me.
"C'mon, Bella. Let's go have some fun while we still can. No way in hell I am gonna let that bitch ruin my evening."
The look on Bitchtoria's face as we walked by her on our way back to our table was priceless. She stood there, with her mouth hanging open as if she couldn't believe that anyone would dare cross her. Probably because no one ever had before. Boy, was I glad that Rose was on my side.
"Thanks, Rose," I told her, my voice full of relief.
She shrugged. "Like I've told you before Bella, this was a completely selfish act. I want her gone, and if it helps you out along the way, that's fine with me."
"Still, I appreciate it."
We got back to our table, and Angela wrapped her arms around me.
"So, how terrifying was that?" she asked me.
I held up my hands and showed her how badly they were trembling. I didn't deal well with confrontation, but sometimes, it had to be done.
"I was terrified, but I was even more pissed off. Stupid bitch. I'm immensely glad that Rose was there to jump in."
"Well, now that Edward knows all about Victoria, maybe he'll come around," she said.
Jasper leaned over and replied in a slightly exasperated voice, "Yeah. He managed to miss the whole thing."
"What?" I asked.
"I was talking to him on my way back from the bathroom when he got a phone call, and he went outside so he could talk."
Figured. The one time I got the nerve to confront Victoria, and Rose outs her, he wasn't around to hear or see it. I wasn't going to dwell on it though. With the way people gossiped, he'd hear all about it by the end of the night. Putting all thoughts of Victoria and Edward out of my mind, I spent the rest of the night enjoying the dance. By the time the dance was over, my feet were killing me, and my cheeks were hurting from smiling and laughing so much. I'd almost forgotten that I was spending the night with Alice until she asked Rose if she wanted to join us.
"Thanks for the invite, Alice, but I want to spend some time with my man."
I shuddered at the images that assaulted my brain. Not that Rose and Emmett weren't a cute couple, but still. Ugh! Emmett dropped us off at the Cullen house, and I climbed out first, giving Alice and Jasper a chance to say goodnight. A few minutes later, Alice joined me and we walked inside.
"Hello, ladies," Dr. Cullen's voice said from the living room.
We walked into the room and found Dr. and Mrs. Cullen sitting on the couch, watching a movie.
"Did you have a good time?" Mrs. Cullen inquired.
"Yes," I replied.
"Totally awesome time. Although, Victoria tried to put a damper on our evening," Alice said.
I hissed at Alice, not wanting to speak ill of Edward's girlfriend in front of his parents.
"Oh, well, Victoria is something else. I'm glad you didn't let her ruin your evening," Mrs. Cullen said.
Wow. Even Mrs. Cullen wasn't fond of Victoria. That made me feel better. You'd think that would be a hint that your girlfriend was a major bitch if even your mother didn't like her. After talking a bit longer with Dr. Hot and Mrs. Cullen, we headed upstairs to change out of our dresses and get comfy. Twenty minutes later, with our faces freshly scrubbed, we were lying on Alice's bed in our PJ's, watching a movie and eating ice cream.
"So, Bella," she began.
"So, Alice."
"Edward looked quite good tonight, didn't he?"
"I didn't notice."
She shot me a look, calling me out for the liar that I was. "Sure, you didn't. I noticed that he couldn't take his eyes off of you earlier tonight."
"I think that's 'cause he was shocked to see me here, not because I looked good."
"You did look good," she agreed.
We spent the rest of the night watching silly movies, gossiping, and pigging out on junk food. It was times like these that made me glad to have good friends.
I woke up around three in the morning, completely disoriented. I'd been having a bizarre dream where I'd been running around the desert, and woke up thirsty. As quietly as possible, I crawled out of Alice's bed and headed toward her bedroom door. I hoped the Cullens wouldn't think it rude if I got something to drink from their fridge at three in the morning.
Cautiously, I made my way down their stairs, only stubbing my toe once, and crept into their kitchen. There was a light on above the stove that illuminated my way to their fridge. I tried to remember where they kept their glasses, but I ended up opening several cupboards 'til I found the right one. I had just poured myself a glass of juice when I heard footsteps come into the room. I looked up, expecting to see one the Cullen parents, but instead found myself face to face with a shirtless, boxer clad, disheveled Edward. Holy hell! Dude was so freaking hot! And there I stood, in my old PJ's with bed-head. Fabulous.
He ran a hand through his already messy hair and gave me a puzzled look.
"What are you doing here?"
"Getting something to drink," I said, stating the obvious.
"No, I mean, why are you in my kitchen at three in the morning?"
"Because I was thirsty and figured the kitchen would be a good place to get something to drink," I said a bit confused.
He gave me an exasperated look and said, "No, Bella. I mean, why are you at my house at this early of an hour?"
"Oh. Alice invited me to spend the night after the dance. So, here I am."
I heard him mumble something under his breath but couldn't make it out. He reached into the cabinet above me to grab a glass, then poured himself some juice.
"Since we're both here, can we have that talk?" he asked.
Seriously? He wanted to duke it out at three a.m.? Guess I couldn't avoid it forever.
"Sure. Let's have that talk. Go ahead."
He sat down at one of the stools next to the island and started rolling his glass between his hands.
"Um . . .well . . . I really am sorry for acting like an ass. I just," he let out a long sigh. "I just got so angry because I thought we were friends and then you went and lied to me. I don't like being lied to."
While he was talking, I sat down on a stool opposite of him and listened to what he had to say.
"That's just it though, Edward. Like I told you in Biology, I never once lied to you. Not once! I've never spread lies about Victoria, I've never threatened her. That's not who I am, and if you were my friend, you would have realized that."
"What the hell am I supposed to believe?" he hissed at me. "You sit here and claim that you're innocent, and I've got Victoria telling me that you verbally attacked her and threatened her!"
"The only time I've ever verbally attacked Victoria was last night at the dance, and that was after she started crap with me. I'm tired of it, Edward! I'm sick and tired of being bullied by her, and it stops now! I won't sit back and take whatever crap she decides to throw at me anymore. The fact that not only your sister but your friends have my back should tell you something. The fact that Rose has been present when Victoria was plotting my demise, the fact that Angela has been witness to Victoria's tirades against me should be all the proof you freaking need!"
He sat there with his hands in his hair, looking so adorably bewildered. "I'm so freaking confused," he whispered. "I don't know what or who to believe anymore. I feel like I'm being pulled in two different directions. My girlfriend of two years tells me that you're this horrible person, and then I have you telling me she's a horrible person. I can't do this. I just can't."
I didn't know what to say. It was obvious that he was upset and confused and he needed to mull things over. I could feel my anger toward him lessening. I still felt betrayed by him and his actions, but I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be in his shoes. I reached out and tentatively put my hand on his arm.
"I don't know what to say about everything else, Edward, but I will tell you that I was extremely hurt by your actions towards me. I had really thought we were friends or going to be friends, at any rate. Then, with no warning at all, you turned around and treated me like crap. You could have at least had the decency to talk to me and find out if what Victoria had said was true or not, but you chose not to. I realize that the two of you have been together for a long time and you really had no reason to question her word, but the fact that you were so willing to believe bad things about me upsets me. It's going to be a while before I can forgive you for that."
He nodded his head. "I think I need to take a step back and think things through. I know Victoria can be a real bitch at times, but I don't want to think that she'd be so mean as to lie about you. I just--I need space. Away from both of you. I want to believe you, Bella, I really do. But, I also want to believe Victoria. I am sorry, Bella. More than you know."
He then got up, emptied his glass in the sink, and headed back upstairs. I sat at the island and thought about our conversation. It had actually gone better than I'd expected, and I felt like I better understood where he was coming from. Not that that excused his behavior, but maybe now he'd begin to see what Bitchtoria really was. Feeling a bit better after our talk, I headed back to Alice's room.
"You seem a bit cheerful this morning," Alice said to me as we sat at the table eating breakfast.
"A bit."
"Want to tell me why?"
"Edward and I had a talk this morning."
"What? When? What did he say? Did he apologize?" she fired off.
"Calm down, Alice. I went down to the kitchen for something to drink and he came down. Yes, he apologized for his behavior although I still haven't forgiven him. It's gonna take time for that. But he did explain that he was feeling very confused, like he was being pulled in two directions. He said that he wanted to believe me, but that he also wanted to believe Victoria."
"Hmmm," was her response.
"What does that mean?"
"It means, I'm thinking. I'm trying to find a way to get him to talk to me about what he's feeling and see if I can't enlighten him a bit."
"Good luck," I told her dryly. "He did tell me that he needs space away from me and her."
She looked up, startled. "He's breaking up with her?"
"What? I have no idea. He just said he needed space away from both of us."
We finished breakfast and sat around, trying to figure out what to do with our day. Halfway through our discussion, Rose called and invited us to hang out at First Beach with her and Emmett. I gave Angela a call to make sure it was cool with her while Alice called Jasper. Once everyone was in agreement, we made plans to meet around noon. Alice and I packed a picnic basket with plenty of food, then headed out to go pick up Angela.
"Hey, Angela," I said as she squeezed into the yellow death trap.
"Hey, Bella! Hey, Alice! How are you guys?"
"Doing good. Bella made some headway with Edward this morning."
"Well," I began, a look of exasperation on my face toward Alice. "I don't know if you could say I made headway, but we did talk a bit."
"Well, what did he have to say?" Angela asked me eagerly.
"Well, he apologized for being an ass and then told me how confused he was by everything and that he needed to think about things."
"Told you he was confused," she said.
I rolled my eyes at her. "You were right, Oh Wise One."
"So, why are we going to First Beach?" Angela asked Alice.
"Apparently, Emmett has a running football game with some of the kids on the rez. Rose didn't want to have to sit there by herself, so she invited us."
Once we got to First Beach, we pulled up next to the Hummer and climbed out. It was freezing, and I was glad that Alice had brought some blankets. I grabbed the picnic basket before we made our way toward the beach, where we spotted Rose sitting on a piece of driftwood.
"Hey, Rose!" Alice called out as we approached her.
Soon, the four of us were huddled under some blankets, eating sandwiches and watching Emmett and some of the rez kids play football. Jasper arrived a few minutes after we did and after a quick kiss for Alice, he headed toward Emmett, intent on joining the game. We watched the boys play, and I have to admit, it was hot. Halfway through their game, they all started pulling off their shirts, and it was a sight to behold. Eventually, the game came to an end.
"Hey, Bells!" came a voice to my right. I looked up and saw Jake jogging over toward us.
"Jake! What are you doing out here?" I asked him after giving him a quick hug.
"Playing ball with these guys. What are you doing out here?" he asked me.
"Rose and Emmett invited me out to watch the game."
"Never pictured you hanging out with Emmett and the ice queen," he said a peculiar look on his face.
I smiled at his description of Rose. "Emmett and I are friends. Rose and I are . . .uh . . . friendly."
Emmett bounded over to us and threw an arm around my shoulder. "Fumbling, bumbling Bella! Glad to see you could make it! Did you enjoy watching me crush some skulls?"
Looking at Emmett, with a serious expression, I told him, "I live to watch you crush skulls. By the way, Alice and I brought lunch if you're interested."
"Yes!" he yelled, fist punching the air. "I love food!"
Jake and I caught each other's eye and busted out laughing. Emmett was so much fun. Soon, the boys were eating and we were listening to Emmett, Jake, and some other boys from the rez arguing about some football game.
"Hey Jake, how do you know Bumbling Bumbalina?" Emmett asked him, pointing at me.
"Bumbling Bumbalina, huh? That totally fits," he said. I stuck my tongue out at him. Jerk.
"My dad and Bells' dad are best friends. We hung out a lot when we were little. Our dads used to take us fishing, but after Bells fell out of the boat a few too many times, they gave up."
"Oh, yeah. Thanks, Jake. Lay the blame on me. You pushed me out of the boat half the time."
"That's 'cause you squealed like a girl every time you had to bait the hook."
"Of course I squealed like a girl. I am one!"
All too soon, the sun was starting to set. We gathered up all of our stuff and headed back to Forks. I'd had the foresight to bring my overnight bag, so Alice dropped me off at home.
"I'll call you later," she hollered at me as she pulled out of my drive. I gave her a wave and headed inside.
"Hey, Dad."
Charlie poked his head around the corner of the kitchen, and I noticed that he had a slightly guilty look on his face.
"Oh. Hey, Bells. I . . . uh . . . didn't realize that you'd be home so soon."
I quirked an eyebrow at him. "It's after five. Are you feeling okay?"
"Yep."
I was starting to freak out a bit. Charlie was acting very odd.
"How about if I make us some dinner?" I asked, heading toward him.
"No! No, that's okay. I can make dinner."
Huh? Charlie offering to make dinner? Something was definitely going on.
"What's got you acting so weird, Dad?"
"Weird. I'm not acting weird," he said, all the while his face was looking more and more flushed.
"Oh, Charlie. You're not fooling anyone," a female voice said from kitchen.
Oh. My. God. Charlie had a woman over! I didn't know whether to applaud him or be appalled.
"Hi, Bella," Sue Clearwater said, as she came out of the kitchen. Sue was the widow of one of Charlie's good friends who had died five years earlier. She was a really nice lady who had a couple of kids that were around my age.
"Hey, Sue."
Well, it was a bit awkward as we all just kinda stood there outside the kitchen, looking everywhere but at each other.
"So . . ." I began.
"Sue and I are dating," Charlie blurted out.
"Okay," I said, trying to hold in the giggle that was threatening to erupt.
He rubbed his hand on his neck. "Are you okay with this?"
"Why wouldn't I be? If Sue makes you happy, that's great."
Sue gave Charlie a look. "See. I told you that you were worrying over nothing. I wanted to tell you weeks ago, but Charlie was afraid that you'd freak out."
"Well, it is a bit weird to think about my dad dating, but I'm totally fine with it."
And I truly was. Renee had left when I was ten, claiming that small town life was suffocating her. Charlie had been devastated. I was worried that he'd be alone forever. I was glad to know that he now had Sue.
"So, do your kids know about you and Charlie?" I asked Sue later on that evening as we ate dinner.
"Yes. I told them. Seth is fine with it. Leah--well, she's in a rough place right now and isn't too happy about it."
I tried to remember how old they were but couldn't.
"How old are they?"
"Seth is fourteen, although he looks a lot older. Leah is eighteen and a handful. It's been years since all of you hung out, but I'd like it, if at some point, we could all have a family dinner."
"Sure. I've got no problem with it," I told her.
Once dinner was done and the dishes washed, I headed upstairs to give Sue and Charlie some privacy. I might be cool with them dating, but I sure as hell didn't want to see the love. I sat down to do some homework - 'cause I'm cool like that, doing homework on a Saturday night- when I realized that I hadn't Facebooked in over a day. Yes, I was well aware that I had a Facebook addiction, thank you very much. I waited impatiently for my computer to boot up. I was in such a hurry to log in that I mistyped my password twice. Finally, it came up. I quickly scanned through to see what I'd missed.
Alice had tagged me in the photos her mom had taken of us the night before, Ben and Angela were going out on a date, Emmett was attempting to eat a burger the size of his head, and Edward was going AWOL for a while. I decided to update my status before heading to my games. Bella Swan runs with scissors. After updating my status, I played some games and then noticed that some people had commented on my post.
Ben Cheney seeing as how often you trip over thin air, perhaps running with scissors isn't the best of ideas.
Emmett McCarty first cliff-diving and now running with scissors. you are one wild woman
I giggled after reading their comments. Those two were crazy and more alike than I cared for. One of these days, they were going to realize that they were soul mates and all hell would break loose on earth.
....
Why was it that the weekend always went by so quickly, while the week just dragged? Monday arrived before I was ready and I wasn't looking forward to it. By now, I was sure the whole school knew about my confrontation with Bitchtoria. I arrived at school right as the warning bell rang, so I had to make a run for it.
Now we all know that me plus running equals disaster. Today was no different. I made a beeline for my locker when I slid on the floor and smashed my head into the lockers. Holy motherfucker! That hurt! I lay there on the floor, a bit dazed.
"Oh, Jesus! Bella, are you okay?" a Southern voice asked me as he slowly pulled me into a sitting position. So much for no one noticing.
I carefully opened my eyes and found Jasper staring at me in concern.
"I'll be fine. I think. My head hurts like hell though."
I felt Jasper reach out and gently probe the spot I had hit the locker with.
"Well, darlin', you're not bleeding, so that's good. You're gonna have one hell of a headache, though. Do you want to go to the nurse?"
"Not really, but I probably should. At least this way, I'll get a note excusing my tardiness to class."
"I'll come with you," he said, reaching a hand out and pulling me up.
"You don't have to do that, Jasper."
"I don't mind at all. Not like I really wanted to go to homeroom anyway," he said with a wink.
I gave him a smile and we headed towards the nurse's office. After getting an ice pack and some Tylenol, I was given a clean bill of health and released into the wild. Thankfully, there were no more head injury incidents for the rest of the morning. One good thing about getting a head injury was that it got me out of gym, so it was almost worth it.
As I walked into the cafeteria, I noticed two things. First, Rose looked more smug than usual, which had me slightly worried. Secondly, Victoria looked angrier than normal, and her usual band of morons seemed to have diminished in size. Hmmm . . . curiouser and curiouser. I got into line, grabbed the first sandwich I came upon, and hurried over to my new table.
"Hey, Bella," Rose said as I sat down.
"Hey, Rose. You seem in a good mood."
The smile she flashed scared me. It was the smile of someone who had committed some nefarious deed.
"Indeed I am," she said but didn't elaborate, and I didn't ask. Some things you were better off not knowing.
"What did you do to your head, Bella?" Ben asked me after he sat down.
"I was running late today, so I ran to my locker, slipped, and smashed my head into the lockers."
Emmett let out a loud guffaw at that, and I shot him a dirty look.
"Now, now, Wild Woman, don't look at me like that. You know I love you."
I rolled my eyes at him. Stupid jerk.
"Well, it's a good thing you weren't running with scissors," Ben said, setting Emmett off again.
Once he calmed down, he explained my Facebook status to the others and why he thought what Ben said was so funny.
"Ben, my man, you are one funny dude."
Oh no! It was starting. Pretty soon, they'd be joined at the hip and after that . . .world domination.
All too soon, lunch was over and Alice, Angela, and I headed to biology. I noticed Edward was sitting at our table and made my way over. I sat down, got my notebook out of my bag, and started to doodle while waiting for Mr. Banner to start class.
"Hello, Bella."
I looked up from my craptastic art doodle.
"Hello, Edward."
He gave me a small, tentative smile as Mr. Banner started class. We were almost done with the pig dissection, and boy was I ready for it to be over. At least today, Edward and I were working in peaceful quiet instead of hateful silence. We didn't really talk much except to point out something to one another regarding our assignment, but I was okay with that. I took a moment to really look at him and noticed that he looked tired. He had bags under his beautiful eyes, and they looked sad. I could feel my resolve to not forgive him slowly crumbling. No, Bella. You have to stay strong! Do not forgive him so easily, I told myself, but it was hard. He looked so torn up.
By the time the school day was over, I was ready to head home. I had a killer headache and just wanted to go home and lie down. I said goodbye to Angela and Ben and made my way to Chuck at the far end of the parking lot.
"You fucking bitch!" a voice behind me shouted.
FML. I didn't want to do this now. Okay, I didn't want to do this at all, but particularly not when I had a major headache.
"What now, Victoria?" I asked in a tired voice as I turned to see her stomping across the parking lot.
"This is all your fucking fault!" she screeched at me loudly, drawing a crowd. I could see people stopping what they were doing to watch the drama unfold. Good lord, my life had more drama than a soap opera lately, and I was sick of it.
"What's my fault?" I asked, edging closer to Chuck and keeping my keys out in case I had to stab Victoria in the eye to make my escape.
"Oh, don't act like you don't know! I don't know what you said to him, but if you think he's going to dump me and go for you, you're so wrong!"
"Wait. What?"
By now she was up in my face. Her eyes had a frantic, wild look to them, and I was slightly worried for my safety.
"Edward wants to take a break. From me! I know this is all your doing! What the fuck did you say to him?" she spat at me.
"The truth. Hurts, doesn't it?" Wow. I didn't know where Bitchella came from, but she was free to stay around while dealing with Bitchtoria.
"Don't act so fucking smug, bitch. Eddie might be taking a break from me, but he will come back to me. They always do. Don't think for one minute that you've won."
"Oh, but I have. Obviously, there's a reason he's taking a break from you. Maybe he's finally realized what a fucking bitch you are!" I shot back at her.
I could have sworn her eyes glowed red, and from the corner of my eye, I saw her hand come up. Oh, hell no! That bitch better not be thinking of smacking me. Just as her hand swung forward, it was grabbed by someone, and a voice growled, "Don't even think about it, Victoria."
....
a/n: Oh, what I wouldn't give for a shirtless Edward (one who's of age, of course). The pic I used this week is from some tabloid or another covering all the gossip about K-Stew and Rob. It seemed a fitting pic. Yes, I'm a sucker for celeb gossip. I know, I know. What's wrong with me? The list is too long to type up. *snickers*