Chapter 8
BPOV
The next morning started like the first: a rainy school day. I didn't let myself think of the warm, dry, sunny mornings I woke up to in Phoenix; instead, I decided to prepare a way to improve upon yesterday's experience. I packed an MP3 player with headphones, a book for pleasure reading, and my flask filled with Jack Daniels—my true love. After my shower and the rest of my getting-ready ritual, I stood in my room, staring out my window at the depressingly gray sky. I was right: the weather here did match how I felt on the inside. Even with all of the new distractions my life in Forks was offering—more like shoving—me, I remembered the remaining chill in my bones. If it weren't for the shot of Jack I had warming my stomach, I might have just shivered.
Downstairs Charlie was reading the paper and drinking his coffee. I offered to make him some eggs but he declined, saying he already ate. I wasn't very hungry myself and decided against cereal (being that whiskey and milk do not mix well) and opted for some toast. Good, safe toast. The alcohol in my system was making me pensive this morning: I started to think about the things I left behind in Phoenix. For example, contrary to my mother's knowledge, the antidepressant pills that Dr. Uley had prescribed me were sitting in the bottom drawer of my dresser. I was still supposed to be taking them, but I don't like being medicated. Luckily Charlie doesn't know that I'm supposed to be on medications, or I might have had some issues with that. They think I'm depressed, but I'm not. Emmett had finally finished with his breakfast and interrupted me from my musings as he asked, "Bella, you ready?" I nodded. Of course I was ready; I was wearing my raincoat, sitting at the table with my shoes on and my backpack was on my lap. Psh!
We arrived to school and parked in Emmett's spot. Before lunch, school was just as it had been the day before. The same people were trying to be my friends and I was still annoyed. The only plus was I had tuned Mike out before English with my MP3 player—effective, but socially acceptable, and in-between classes I snuck to the bathroom to dull the experience with my handy-flask. By the time lunch came around I was practically starving with the drunk-munchies. I wasn't technically drunk, but the edge had definitely been taken off, so to speak. I plopped down in the chair I had occupied the day before and made Emmett get me some pizza and a Coke (which I planned to put more Jack into).
I was sitting at the table by myself while everyone except Alice and Edward were in line, listening to my MP3 player, quietly singing to myself. I didn't notice Edward sneaking up on me because suddenly someone was shaking me and I started to let out a scream when a strong, firm hand was placed over my mouth—effectively cutting off my scream. Edward leaned forward into my line-of-sight and I let out the air my lungs had been holding. He unclamped his hand before he started to say anything to me. "Bella, good God! You almost just scared the whole fucking cafeteria! It was just me!" To me, he sounded upset, but his crooked-smile said otherwise. I narrowed my eyes at him and pursed my lips.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Mr. Sneaky-Fucking-Cullen himself," I replied.
He must have found something I said amusing because he started to lightly chuckle. "Well, Ms. Prim and Proper! I didn't know you knew the f-word."
I stared at him icily. "Oh there is so much you don't know about me," I stated, matter-of-factly.
"I see, playing the 'mysterious card', are we? How original, Ms. Originality," Edward replied sarcastically.
"If I recall correctly, and I do, YOU were the one that called me mysterious before. I'm not playing anything!" I said and hiccupped. Shoot! Emmett, hurry back with my food! Edward looked like he was sniffing the air, but perhaps was about to sneeze. "And here you are playing the too-cool card. Fool." I continued, lamely. Wow, maybe I should call it a day with my buddy Jack.
"Did you just… hiccup?"
"No."
"Yes you did. You definitely just hiccupped, and it smelled like… whiskey…"
"No I didn't and it doesn't." I replied with a forced shortness.
"Bella, are you drunk?"
"No!... Are you drunk?"
"Holy shit! Bella, you're drunk! How did this happen?" He had a shocked, almost impressed look on his face.
"Edward, shut your damn mouth!" I chided and added under my breath, "people can hear you!"
"Why are you drunk?"
"I'm not." He merely looked at me and I knew he saw through my lie. "Ok, fine. It's because I'm almost regretting my decision to come here. Your stupid friends won't leave me alone: they all want to be buddy-buddy. It's maddening; it's… driving me to drink!" I whisper-shouted.
Edward looked confused. "You mean… Alice-, Rosalie- and Jasper-friends? Or the people that stalk them?"
"The stalkers! Mike Newton is driving me nuts with his pathetic attempts at flirting. Jessica Stanley is almost willing to throw herself off a bridge if I tell her to, and James Smith is about five seconds away from humping my leg like a damn dog." I frowned, deeply. Edward looked about as unhappy as I felt as soon as I mentioned Mike or James. Jessica, he merely smirked at, but the others he looked extremely displeased.
"Well, of course they are," he continued slowly. "You're the new toast of the town. I bet by Homecoming, they'll nominate you to be on the Court. Besides, you're also friends with us. We're the ones people follow." He said it all so matter-of-factly. It made me uncomfortable. It wasn't right; I didn't want the social power that was being thrust into my hands.
"They better not!" I warned. Just then, everyone else joined our table. I was surprised that they all came at once, but shrugged it off: the alcohol was having a bigger effect that I had anticipated.
"Better not what?" Alice asked as she gracefully took a seat next to Edward, and Jasper next to her. I decided on honesty, after all: clearly something was bothering me.
"Bella has some stalkers," Edward coolly replied. I looked at him and tried to communicate nice save. I think he got the message because he winked at me.
"Stalkers?" Emmett questioned, as he sat on my other side, followed by Rosalie. Finally, our table was full.
"Mike Newton, Jessica Stanley, and James Smith are particularly bothering me. Not to mention the fact that all of these other strangers keep trying to befriend me!"
"Oh not this again!" Emmett rolled his eyes and laughed.
"Bella, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being admired," Rosalie said and winked.
"You're a very pretty girl, Bella. Of course it'll warrant you some attention." Jasper comforted. Despite the fact that I felt like I dress like a bum he means, I thought. "It's kind of a fact: when you're in our group, people will want to be around you."
I looked around to everyone at our table and sighed. "I guess," I resigned and took a bite from the slice of pizza Emmett had brought me. "Thanks for the Pizza, Em."
I breathed a sigh of relief: crisis averted. I had to hand it to Edward, maybe he wasn't such and asshole if he could keep my little accidental drunk day a secret. I looked over at him with new eyes. Suddenly the way his eyebrows quirked wasn't cocky… it was cute and I had always enjoyed his eyebrow ring. The way he half-smiled wasn't like a stroke victim with a black heart anymore; it was … dazzling, and when he winked at me I didn't want to throw up, I wanted to—
"So, Bella. What are you doing for your birthday this Sunday?" Edward loudly asked. I wanted to punch him in his smart-assed face! I thought viciously. My eyes virtually screamed murder as I willed them to shoot lasers at him.
"Your birthday is this Sunday!" Alice cried in shock. "Oh my goodness! Why didn't you tell me before! Do you have plans yet?" I was glad she asked because my answer would have been a lie. Yes, Alice, I thought¸ of course I have plans. Before I could answer, Emmett stepped in.
"Nope! Izzy-Bear is wide-open!" He boasted. Emmett was now on my shit list, right after Edward, but before Mike or Jessica.
"Oh this is too perfect!" Alice squealed. "Our parents aren't home this weekend—Carlisle's at that medical convention and Esme went with! Bella, we have to have a party for you on Saturday night! We'll ring-in your birthday at midnight with all the festivities! Luckily I have just enough time to pull something together!" Alice got out her blackberry and began to frantically pound away at the keys. "Ok, so I'll get the Facebook event up and running… and, done!" Alice looked up momentarily at the occupants of our table. "Well I'm going to go get this stuff taken care of. Rose, do you want to help me after school?"
"Yeah, of course!" Rosalie replied, too enthusiastically for my liking. Everything was spiraling out of my control faster and faster.
"Well if Rose and Alice are going shopping, can I get a ride home with you after practice, bro?" Jasper asked Emmett. Emmett nodded and then looked from Jasper to me with a look of apologetic horror.
"Shit, Bella! I forgot to tell you I can't take you home today because I have football practice after school. Dad really needs to get you a car. I'm so sorry Bella, I—"
"I can give her a ride home, Emmett," Edward offered, cutting off Emmett's apologetic rant.
"Thanks dude, that will be a big help."
I found it odd that I had no say in the matter whatsoever. I darkly thought about how that was true. I had no say in any matter of my life—although it was my decision to come here, the action that lead to my decision was completely out of my hands. In fact, I didn't even know what it was. When the bell rang dismissing lunch, everyone from our table ran in different directions, all hell-bent on their own purposes. Edward remained by my side and walked me to class.
"Do you have a death wish?" I coldly asked.
He looked taken-aback. "No… why?"
"What the hell is your problem? Why did you just go announcing in front of everyone at the table that my birthday is on Sunday!" I half-yelled while stomping to class. Edward easily kept up with my angered pace.
"I didn't think it was that big of a deal… Anyways, you deserve a good birthday and Alice is the best at providing that."
"It is none of your business when or what I do on my birthday!"
"Bella, whether you think so or not, I've started to care about you and not just because you're the sister of one of my best friends. I think you deserve a good birthday party. Trust me. You'll have fun." Edward was so sure of himself. If he had said something like that only a half an hour beforehand I would have been persuaded. Now, he was a half an hour too late and my whiskey was wearing off.
"What. The Fuck. Ever." I huffed and took my seat in bio, Edward taking his next to me. We sat in silence the entire class; it was the first class all week that no one had said anything to me in. It, however, was bittersweet for some reason I couldn't quite wrap my mind around. Gym passed quickly enough as it was another day of learning. We didn't have to dress, but we did have to listen to an hour-long lecture about Volleyball. If there was just one lecture that put me to sleep that day, it was the one on volleyball. Mike kept nudging me to wake up as my head drooped lower and lower into my hands which eventually fell into my lap. I looked like a crumpled piece of paper. What kind of person is so into hearing their own voice that they don't notice one of their students falling deeper and deeper asleep? Coach Carr was king of the idiots, in my book.
As I walked out of the gymnasium, I noticed Edward leaning (God-like as usual) against a wall opposite the doors. Despite my chilly nature around him earlier, he greeted me with his usual crooked-smile, the one that did funny things to my heart and stomach. The atmosphere around him was warm, and I felt a weird almost burning sensation in my heart. This was a new reaction to Edward…
"Well, you look tired." Edward greeted. What an odd way of saying hello.
"Newton kept waking me up in gym," I replied.
"What a good-for-nothing—Oh hey Mike!" Edward had seen Mike exiting behind me and called out his greeting. Even I, only knowing Edward for less than a week, could tell that it was faked. Mike, however, seemed not to notice and was thoroughly pleased that Edward had even glanced in his direction, much less said hello to him.
"Edward Cullen!" I exclaimed, bent on joking with him. "Why, you're as fake as Jessica!" I teased. He looked shocked.
"Well lookey-here! Look who finally decided to grow a sense of humor!" He retorted. I smiled at him, and probably for the first time ever.
"Oh, hush. You can dish it out, but you can't take any jokes about yourself?" I inquired.
Edward only winked at me in response. My body reacted to Edward differently than I was used to: I blushed, but I wasn't angry, and my heart started to beat faster. Maybe I was coming down with something.
"Well let's get you home, Sleeping Beauty. We don't want you passing out right here in the hallway," Edward joked. Although I was still upset about the birthday comment, I just couldn't find it in myself at that moment to be upset with him. All I could do was nod, and faintly at that. I felt weak and did not recognize why. "You okay, Bella?" Edward asked while guiding me with his hand on the small of my back towards his car. "You look flushed."
"What? Oh. Yeah, I'm fine. I probably just need fluids or… something." The sun had come out for a brief interlude that afternoon which beat down on my face pleasantly. I attributed my sudden nicety towards Edward as the effects of the Sun on a sun-starved girl. The sooner the weather became gloomy again, the sooner I would be gloomier to him. It could have been the Jack talking, or perhaps the sun, but I mentally decided that perhaps I could actually be friends with Edward Cullen.
The ride home wasn't silent; I just don't remember it well. What I do remember is the way it smelled—just like Edward. It was honey and musk, and some other scents I couldn't name: all combined in such a way that it was stunning enough to make me forget an entire five-minute lapse of time. The rest of that evening was also a bit of a haze. I can only assume I had followed my newly formed bedtime routine after making dinner for my dad and brother.
