Pieces of the Memories (Drabble Set 8)
Title: Pieces of the Memories
Author: audreyii_fic
Fandom: Twilight (Team Jacob)
Rating: T
Characters: Swan Family, Black Family, Clearwater Family
Genre: Humor/Angst/Friendship
Warnings: Occasional language.
banner courtesy of lilabut
Summary:
Renee leaves Charlie and Bella. AU drabble series.
( beginning)
Bella Swan's First Kiss (Bella)
When Edward Cullen comes back to school after a two week absence, he's not angry anymore; in fact, he seems to want nothing more than to be Bella's new best friend. He volunteers to be her lab partner in Chemistry and he walks with her from class to class and he's always waiting for her in the parking lot.
Flabbergasted, she asks why.
"Because I can't read you at all." Edward's golden eyes search her expression like he's trying to lift all her secrets right out of her head. "You're... different. New. You're fascinating, Bella Swan." A tight look comes across his face when she blushes bright red, and he walks away quickly. He does that sometimes.
Bella doesn't know what to make of it. She's just... Bella. She's Officer Charlie Swan's daughter. She lives in the blue house on Perry Street. She was born in Forks and she's grown up in Forks and she intends to stay in Forks. She's really not very interesting.
Edward Cullen apparently thinks she is, though.
It's all very strange.
And now no one believes Bella isn't dating the most handsome boy in school. All the girls are giving her dirty looks at every turn. Even Lauren and Jessica are mad; they're jealous and they think Bella is lying about the relationship. No one talks to her, so she winds up talking to Edward more, so no one talks to her, and Bella feels very lonely overall.
But in spite of their bizarre beginning, Edward is okay. He has major mood swings, and he intimidates her even when he's clearly trying not to, but even so... it kind of makes her feel good, the way he looks at her. No one's ever looked at her quite like that.
Bella's never been fascinating before.
Her father encourages the friendship; he's made it very clear that he thinks the Cullens are a wonderful addition to Forks. So when Bella tells him Edward's coming over after school to work on homework -- that she's going to be alone in the house for two hours with a boy -- Dad only reminds her where the pepper spray is eight or nine times.
Edward finishes his half of the lab report in about fifteen minutes. He peppers Bella with random questions for the next hour while she struggles with stoichiometry.
What color does she like in clothes? (Green. It goes with everything.)
Does she miss her mom? (All the time-- oh, wait, Renee. Not too much.)
What's her favorite book? (The House of the Spirits.)
What's her least favorite movie? (Cinderella.)
Is it hard being a girl and living with her dad? (She loves her dad more than anything but a second bathroom would be nice.)
Is she looking forward to college? (Yes, and she'll need lots of scholarships in order to afford it, so she has to get a good grade on this lab report.)
Edward smiles that strangely perfect smile. "I'm bothering you, aren't I."
"No-- I mean, yes-- well, kind of." She flushes and Edward gets the hard look on his face. "You're not bothering me, I'm just having trouble with these equations."
"Hmm." Edward tugs her paper away. Within seconds all of the problems are completed. "What about boys? Have you ever been on a date?"
Bella goes from being angry -- she could've done it! -- to nervous. "I... no." What is he saying? Is he asking her out? She's never been asked out before. It's too frightening a prospect for words.
"So there hasn't been anyone at all?" Edward presses. Then he seems to notice her discomfort, and his sudden intensity fades into something gentler. "Don't worry. I'm just curious." The smile again. "You're a little young for me. Yet."
That makes no sense -- they're the same age, after all. Still, she lets out a relieved breath. "Well, there's been some things," she confesses.
She tells him about Roberto, who she met last summer, and how he invited her over to play video games then told her she was beautiful. ("You are," Edward assures her.) She thinks she might've gone to the movies with him if she hadn't been coming home in two weeks; it was the first time she'd regretted leaving something behind in Phoenix. He was the high point of her visit.
She tells him about Jessica's thirteenth birthday party, and how they'd played Seven Minutes in Heaven and she'd wound up in the closet with Tyler. They'd kissed -- even with tongues -- but when he'd tried to touch her chest she'd pulled away. ("He forced himself on you?" Edward asks furiously. She explains that Tyler had apologized immediately and it was no big deal.) Afterwards they'd been too embarrassed to look at each other for almost a month.
Bella has never shared any of this. Edward Cullen is surprisingly easy to talk to sometimes.
"And was that your first kiss?" he says, looking amused now. "Playing a game in a closet?"
She responds without thinking: "No, my first kiss was with Jake."
When she realizes what she has said the whiplash of pain takes her breath away.
"Who is Jake?"
Bella shakes her head. "It doesn't matter," she manages to say. "We were just kids, so... it didn't really count."
She'd tiptoed into his room after everyone else had gone to bed, sobbing, overwhelmed because the blond woman had said I'm your mom and Baby I missed you so much and Bella didn't know what she was supposed to do about it. Jake had pulled all the blankets out of the closet and made a sparrow's nest on the floor for them. He'd kissed her lots of times, childish presses of his lips that only lasted a half-second apiece, until she'd stopped crying and they had fallen asleep in the dark.
He'd been six and she'd been eight.
It counted.
"I don't want to answer any more questions," Bella whispers. "Please stop asking."
They finish their lab report. After Edward leaves Bella stares at the phone, her fingers hovering over the dial, but she knows he doesn't want to talk to her. Jacob Black hates her for what she did -- he must hate her -- and she can't bear to hear him say it out loud.
She has dried her face by the time her father comes home.
***
Jenseits von Gut und Böse (Sue)
Leah is fifteen years old and at this rate she will not survive to sixteen.
Sue cannot think of a sentence in English or Quileute that accurately summarizes her rage, frustration, and shock. "You... I can't believe... How could..."
"So I flunked," Leah says. She's sitting on the couch, her arms crossed and her jaw set. "What difference does it make?"
"You flunked in June!" It is now October. "You've still been in ninth grade for two months and you didn't tell us?!"
"I repeat: what difference does it make?"
If Sue had known what raising a teenage girl would be like she'd have gotten her tubes tied the day she turned eighteen. "How did this happen?" A terrible suspicion enters her mind. "Does Sam Uley have something to do with it?"
"No." Leah's glare could set things on fire. "You think I'd drop out just because a guy told me to?"
"Drop out?! You are not dropping out of school!"
"Once I'm sixteen you can't stop me."
"Wanna bet?"
"Sure," Leah says flippantly. "What would you do, exactly? Shackle me to a desk?"
It is illegal to hit children. It is illegal to hit children. It is illegal to hit children. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"You don't get it. Existence has no meaning. Knowledge is only bound by perspective, so I'm not going to waste my time in some brick building learning about prepositions."
Sue's teeth grind. "I am going to kill whoever gave you that Nietzsche book." How did she wind up with a daughter who argues using nineteenth century philosophy? "I can't believe you, Leah, I seriously can't. Rachel and Rebecca don't cause Billy this kind of trouble. Bella doesn't cause Charlie this kind of trouble--"
"How would you know?"
"I know because Charlie's not going gray the way I am!"
"Right. Well, I'm so sorry I don't measure up to Bella Swan." Leah kicks the floor darkly. "If you're still waiting on that you'll be waiting a long fucking time."
"What the hell are you--" Sue trails off... and her face turns red. "Oh, you did not just curse at me, Leah Clearwater."
"So what if I did? I've got some quarters in my pocket. The Swear Jar's been looking empty."
Leah is saved from having said Swear Jar thrown at her head by the timely arrival of Harry. He takes in the situation at a glance, then hangs up his coat, unperturbed. "Am I missing something?"
"Your daughter," Sue shouts, "is using nihilism as an excuse to flunk out of school!"
"...I beg your pardon?"
"She got held back! Connie Littlesea tells me at the general store that it's too bad Leah's missing so many classes! She asks me if she's been sick!" Sue is so angry she can barely speak. "Sick in the head, more like!"
Harry pauses for a long moment. Then he very deliberately turns to Leah. "Is this true?" he says quietly.
Leah avoids his eyes. "Yes."
"I see." Sue watches as he takes a deep breath and then exhales slowly. "Go to your room and wait."
"But I--"
"Go. We will talk later. I am too disappointed in you to discuss it right now."
In thirty seconds Harry has accomplished what Sue couldn't in an hour: their daughter's eyes fill with tears, and she slinks up the stairs with her head bowed.
Once they hear the door upstairs shut, Harry sighs. "Okay. I'm going to get a beer. You want one?"
"God yes." Sue flops onto the couch and hits the back of her head against the wall a few times. She's pretty sure she's not a complete failure as a parent; she's done well enough with Seth so far. But she and Leah have been fighting since the moment Leah decided to be born breach, and things have been so bad recently that Sue despairs of making it through the remaining teenage years.
Sue misses Bella. Bella had been such a good influence; Leah had silently held the girl on a mile-high pedestal. (Sue wouldn't have known that if she hadn't done the same with Sarah at their age. Sue misses her best friend like she'd miss a limb; there are still days she dials the Blacks' number and doesn't remember until Billy picks up.)
Sarah had known how to murmur. Sue only knows how to seethe, and that has no effect on Leah. Her daughter has always acted like shouting doesn't count for anything. Sarah would have known what to do.
Harry sits down next to her and puts the beer in her hand. "If you're not careful it'll be your blood pressure we monitor," he jokes.
"She's grounded 'til she's sixty."
"That won't do any good unless we chop down the tree outside her window."
"Damn. I like that tree."
"I know."
Harry spends three hours talking to Leah, and after that Leah's grades are perfect. Sue asks multiple times how he did it, but Harry just shrugs and says, "You can't fight fire with fire."
Annoyingly, Sue knows he's right.
***
Education (Rachel and Rebecca)
Having driver's licenses is the Best. Thing. Ever.
Okay, so the Chevy pickup is a piece of junk. Okay, so they can't afford more than one tank of gas every two weeks. Okay, so it's not like they have anything exciting to do. That's not the point.
Rachel and Rebecca can go wherever they want now. They can go to the ends of the earth. They don't have to ever come back if they decide they don't want to. Maybe.
For today, though, they'll settle for going to the Forks diner. They need milkshakes. (Rachel likes chocolate; Rebecca likes strawberry. Of course the best is when they're combined to make chocolate-strawberry.)
"U-Dub," says Rachel.
"WSU," says Rebecca.
"U-Dub."
"WSU."
"U-Dub."
"WSU."
This fall they'll be seniors. They'll obviously be applying to both the University of Washington and Washington State University, but the question is which to select for early enrollment. U-Dub has the better business school. WSU has the better psychology program. (Rebecca has decided to major in psych, since running a salon is as much about being a therapist as a beautician.) It's the strongest Rachel and Rebecca have ever disagreed on anything.
(The elephant in the room is the obvious solution: They could each go to their first choices. Separately. They're avoiding that possibility for now.)
Rebecca looks over the menu. "One plate of fries, or two?" (They load up on carbs whenever they go out; diabetes-friendly food gets old.)
"Two."
"With cheese."
"And bacon."
"Well, obviously."
The diner is quiet -- they're one of only three tables -- which is why both Rachel and Rebecca hear the squeak. They turn in time to see a dark head duck behind the bar.
The twins glance at each other. As one they stand up, push in their chairs, and walk to the counter. They peer over.
A pale girl in an apron is crouched on the floor, clutching a plastic bin full of dirty dishes. Her eyes are squeezed shut.
There is a long moment of silence.
Finally Rebecca says, "Good lord, Bella, when's the last time you cut your hair?"
"It is the completely wrong length for you," Rachel adds.
Bella opens her eyes.
When they go home that night Rachel immediately ducks her head into Jacob's room. "Hey, dork, guess who we saw today?"
Jake looks up from his bed; it still weirds Rachel out that his toes touch the foot board. One more growth spurt and he'll be taller than they are. "Who?"
"Bella Swan," Rebecca says in a sing-songy tone, her voice carrying from the bathroom. The dork's going to explode with this news.
Jacob pales, then quickly focuses back on his comic book. "Yeah, right."
"No, really, she's working at the diner. Saving for school." Rachel grins. "We're gonna stop by again next weekend. You wanna come with?"
He snorts. He is such a moody brat these days. Thirteen year old boys suck. "Did she ask for me?"
"Nah." Bella didn't ask for anyone; she'd just looked stunned to be addressed. In a half hour of conversation (wherein Rachel and Rebecca filled her in on a bunch of gossip and asked what she thought of U-Dub versus WSU) she'd barely spoken three words together. Basically, aside from longer hair and a few inches of height, Bella's exactly the same. "But you know you wanna go."
"Do not," he mutters.
Rachel rolls her eyes. "Fine. Suit yourself."
Jacob's response stops her before she leaves the room. "Why are you bothering? She loved Mom, not us." His tone is laced with bitterness. "Otherwise she would've come back."
"Maybe." Rachel and Rebecca thought that too, for awhile, and it had hurt. But it was so obvious who sent those weekly desserts. Jacob was the only one who still believed Charlie could bake. (He probably still believed in the Tooth Fairy too.) "But Bella was always strange in how she thought about things."
"She would've come back," Jacob insists.
Rachel heaves a theatrical sigh. "All right. I guess we'll just have to say you can't be bothered to come see her, won't we?"
Jake's fingers tighten on the edges of the comic, making a little crinkling sound. "Say whatever you want. I don't care."
Rachel is insulted by how stupid her brother must think she is. As though she can't see the dog-eared copy of James and the Giant Peach still sitting on his nightstand.
( next)
Author: audreyii_fic
Fandom: Twilight (Team Jacob)
Rating: T
Characters: Swan Family, Black Family, Clearwater Family
Genre: Humor/Angst/Friendship
Warnings: Occasional language.
banner courtesy of lilabut
Summary:
Renee leaves Charlie and Bella. AU drabble series.
( beginning)
Bella Swan's First Kiss (Bella)
When Edward Cullen comes back to school after a two week absence, he's not angry anymore; in fact, he seems to want nothing more than to be Bella's new best friend. He volunteers to be her lab partner in Chemistry and he walks with her from class to class and he's always waiting for her in the parking lot.
Flabbergasted, she asks why.
"Because I can't read you at all." Edward's golden eyes search her expression like he's trying to lift all her secrets right out of her head. "You're... different. New. You're fascinating, Bella Swan." A tight look comes across his face when she blushes bright red, and he walks away quickly. He does that sometimes.
Bella doesn't know what to make of it. She's just... Bella. She's Officer Charlie Swan's daughter. She lives in the blue house on Perry Street. She was born in Forks and she's grown up in Forks and she intends to stay in Forks. She's really not very interesting.
Edward Cullen apparently thinks she is, though.
It's all very strange.
And now no one believes Bella isn't dating the most handsome boy in school. All the girls are giving her dirty looks at every turn. Even Lauren and Jessica are mad; they're jealous and they think Bella is lying about the relationship. No one talks to her, so she winds up talking to Edward more, so no one talks to her, and Bella feels very lonely overall.
But in spite of their bizarre beginning, Edward is okay. He has major mood swings, and he intimidates her even when he's clearly trying not to, but even so... it kind of makes her feel good, the way he looks at her. No one's ever looked at her quite like that.
Bella's never been fascinating before.
Her father encourages the friendship; he's made it very clear that he thinks the Cullens are a wonderful addition to Forks. So when Bella tells him Edward's coming over after school to work on homework -- that she's going to be alone in the house for two hours with a boy -- Dad only reminds her where the pepper spray is eight or nine times.
Edward finishes his half of the lab report in about fifteen minutes. He peppers Bella with random questions for the next hour while she struggles with stoichiometry.
What color does she like in clothes? (Green. It goes with everything.)
Does she miss her mom? (All the time-- oh, wait, Renee. Not too much.)
What's her favorite book? (The House of the Spirits.)
What's her least favorite movie? (Cinderella.)
Is it hard being a girl and living with her dad? (She loves her dad more than anything but a second bathroom would be nice.)
Is she looking forward to college? (Yes, and she'll need lots of scholarships in order to afford it, so she has to get a good grade on this lab report.)
Edward smiles that strangely perfect smile. "I'm bothering you, aren't I."
"No-- I mean, yes-- well, kind of." She flushes and Edward gets the hard look on his face. "You're not bothering me, I'm just having trouble with these equations."
"Hmm." Edward tugs her paper away. Within seconds all of the problems are completed. "What about boys? Have you ever been on a date?"
Bella goes from being angry -- she could've done it! -- to nervous. "I... no." What is he saying? Is he asking her out? She's never been asked out before. It's too frightening a prospect for words.
"So there hasn't been anyone at all?" Edward presses. Then he seems to notice her discomfort, and his sudden intensity fades into something gentler. "Don't worry. I'm just curious." The smile again. "You're a little young for me. Yet."
That makes no sense -- they're the same age, after all. Still, she lets out a relieved breath. "Well, there's been some things," she confesses.
She tells him about Roberto, who she met last summer, and how he invited her over to play video games then told her she was beautiful. ("You are," Edward assures her.) She thinks she might've gone to the movies with him if she hadn't been coming home in two weeks; it was the first time she'd regretted leaving something behind in Phoenix. He was the high point of her visit.
She tells him about Jessica's thirteenth birthday party, and how they'd played Seven Minutes in Heaven and she'd wound up in the closet with Tyler. They'd kissed -- even with tongues -- but when he'd tried to touch her chest she'd pulled away. ("He forced himself on you?" Edward asks furiously. She explains that Tyler had apologized immediately and it was no big deal.) Afterwards they'd been too embarrassed to look at each other for almost a month.
Bella has never shared any of this. Edward Cullen is surprisingly easy to talk to sometimes.
"And was that your first kiss?" he says, looking amused now. "Playing a game in a closet?"
She responds without thinking: "No, my first kiss was with Jake."
When she realizes what she has said the whiplash of pain takes her breath away.
"Who is Jake?"
Bella shakes her head. "It doesn't matter," she manages to say. "We were just kids, so... it didn't really count."
She'd tiptoed into his room after everyone else had gone to bed, sobbing, overwhelmed because the blond woman had said I'm your mom and Baby I missed you so much and Bella didn't know what she was supposed to do about it. Jake had pulled all the blankets out of the closet and made a sparrow's nest on the floor for them. He'd kissed her lots of times, childish presses of his lips that only lasted a half-second apiece, until she'd stopped crying and they had fallen asleep in the dark.
He'd been six and she'd been eight.
It counted.
"I don't want to answer any more questions," Bella whispers. "Please stop asking."
They finish their lab report. After Edward leaves Bella stares at the phone, her fingers hovering over the dial, but she knows he doesn't want to talk to her. Jacob Black hates her for what she did -- he must hate her -- and she can't bear to hear him say it out loud.
She has dried her face by the time her father comes home.
***
Jenseits von Gut und Böse (Sue)
Leah is fifteen years old and at this rate she will not survive to sixteen.
Sue cannot think of a sentence in English or Quileute that accurately summarizes her rage, frustration, and shock. "You... I can't believe... How could..."
"So I flunked," Leah says. She's sitting on the couch, her arms crossed and her jaw set. "What difference does it make?"
"You flunked in June!" It is now October. "You've still been in ninth grade for two months and you didn't tell us?!"
"I repeat: what difference does it make?"
If Sue had known what raising a teenage girl would be like she'd have gotten her tubes tied the day she turned eighteen. "How did this happen?" A terrible suspicion enters her mind. "Does Sam Uley have something to do with it?"
"No." Leah's glare could set things on fire. "You think I'd drop out just because a guy told me to?"
"Drop out?! You are not dropping out of school!"
"Once I'm sixteen you can't stop me."
"Wanna bet?"
"Sure," Leah says flippantly. "What would you do, exactly? Shackle me to a desk?"
It is illegal to hit children. It is illegal to hit children. It is illegal to hit children. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"You don't get it. Existence has no meaning. Knowledge is only bound by perspective, so I'm not going to waste my time in some brick building learning about prepositions."
Sue's teeth grind. "I am going to kill whoever gave you that Nietzsche book." How did she wind up with a daughter who argues using nineteenth century philosophy? "I can't believe you, Leah, I seriously can't. Rachel and Rebecca don't cause Billy this kind of trouble. Bella doesn't cause Charlie this kind of trouble--"
"How would you know?"
"I know because Charlie's not going gray the way I am!"
"Right. Well, I'm so sorry I don't measure up to Bella Swan." Leah kicks the floor darkly. "If you're still waiting on that you'll be waiting a long fucking time."
"What the hell are you--" Sue trails off... and her face turns red. "Oh, you did not just curse at me, Leah Clearwater."
"So what if I did? I've got some quarters in my pocket. The Swear Jar's been looking empty."
Leah is saved from having said Swear Jar thrown at her head by the timely arrival of Harry. He takes in the situation at a glance, then hangs up his coat, unperturbed. "Am I missing something?"
"Your daughter," Sue shouts, "is using nihilism as an excuse to flunk out of school!"
"...I beg your pardon?"
"She got held back! Connie Littlesea tells me at the general store that it's too bad Leah's missing so many classes! She asks me if she's been sick!" Sue is so angry she can barely speak. "Sick in the head, more like!"
Harry pauses for a long moment. Then he very deliberately turns to Leah. "Is this true?" he says quietly.
Leah avoids his eyes. "Yes."
"I see." Sue watches as he takes a deep breath and then exhales slowly. "Go to your room and wait."
"But I--"
"Go. We will talk later. I am too disappointed in you to discuss it right now."
In thirty seconds Harry has accomplished what Sue couldn't in an hour: their daughter's eyes fill with tears, and she slinks up the stairs with her head bowed.
Once they hear the door upstairs shut, Harry sighs. "Okay. I'm going to get a beer. You want one?"
"God yes." Sue flops onto the couch and hits the back of her head against the wall a few times. She's pretty sure she's not a complete failure as a parent; she's done well enough with Seth so far. But she and Leah have been fighting since the moment Leah decided to be born breach, and things have been so bad recently that Sue despairs of making it through the remaining teenage years.
Sue misses Bella. Bella had been such a good influence; Leah had silently held the girl on a mile-high pedestal. (Sue wouldn't have known that if she hadn't done the same with Sarah at their age. Sue misses her best friend like she'd miss a limb; there are still days she dials the Blacks' number and doesn't remember until Billy picks up.)
Sarah had known how to murmur. Sue only knows how to seethe, and that has no effect on Leah. Her daughter has always acted like shouting doesn't count for anything. Sarah would have known what to do.
Harry sits down next to her and puts the beer in her hand. "If you're not careful it'll be your blood pressure we monitor," he jokes.
"She's grounded 'til she's sixty."
"That won't do any good unless we chop down the tree outside her window."
"Damn. I like that tree."
"I know."
Harry spends three hours talking to Leah, and after that Leah's grades are perfect. Sue asks multiple times how he did it, but Harry just shrugs and says, "You can't fight fire with fire."
Annoyingly, Sue knows he's right.
***
Education (Rachel and Rebecca)
Having driver's licenses is the Best. Thing. Ever.
Okay, so the Chevy pickup is a piece of junk. Okay, so they can't afford more than one tank of gas every two weeks. Okay, so it's not like they have anything exciting to do. That's not the point.
Rachel and Rebecca can go wherever they want now. They can go to the ends of the earth. They don't have to ever come back if they decide they don't want to. Maybe.
For today, though, they'll settle for going to the Forks diner. They need milkshakes. (Rachel likes chocolate; Rebecca likes strawberry. Of course the best is when they're combined to make chocolate-strawberry.)
"U-Dub," says Rachel.
"WSU," says Rebecca.
"U-Dub."
"WSU."
"U-Dub."
"WSU."
This fall they'll be seniors. They'll obviously be applying to both the University of Washington and Washington State University, but the question is which to select for early enrollment. U-Dub has the better business school. WSU has the better psychology program. (Rebecca has decided to major in psych, since running a salon is as much about being a therapist as a beautician.) It's the strongest Rachel and Rebecca have ever disagreed on anything.
(The elephant in the room is the obvious solution: They could each go to their first choices. Separately. They're avoiding that possibility for now.)
Rebecca looks over the menu. "One plate of fries, or two?" (They load up on carbs whenever they go out; diabetes-friendly food gets old.)
"Two."
"With cheese."
"And bacon."
"Well, obviously."
The diner is quiet -- they're one of only three tables -- which is why both Rachel and Rebecca hear the squeak. They turn in time to see a dark head duck behind the bar.
The twins glance at each other. As one they stand up, push in their chairs, and walk to the counter. They peer over.
A pale girl in an apron is crouched on the floor, clutching a plastic bin full of dirty dishes. Her eyes are squeezed shut.
There is a long moment of silence.
Finally Rebecca says, "Good lord, Bella, when's the last time you cut your hair?"
"It is the completely wrong length for you," Rachel adds.
Bella opens her eyes.
When they go home that night Rachel immediately ducks her head into Jacob's room. "Hey, dork, guess who we saw today?"
Jake looks up from his bed; it still weirds Rachel out that his toes touch the foot board. One more growth spurt and he'll be taller than they are. "Who?"
"Bella Swan," Rebecca says in a sing-songy tone, her voice carrying from the bathroom. The dork's going to explode with this news.
Jacob pales, then quickly focuses back on his comic book. "Yeah, right."
"No, really, she's working at the diner. Saving for school." Rachel grins. "We're gonna stop by again next weekend. You wanna come with?"
He snorts. He is such a moody brat these days. Thirteen year old boys suck. "Did she ask for me?"
"Nah." Bella didn't ask for anyone; she'd just looked stunned to be addressed. In a half hour of conversation (wherein Rachel and Rebecca filled her in on a bunch of gossip and asked what she thought of U-Dub versus WSU) she'd barely spoken three words together. Basically, aside from longer hair and a few inches of height, Bella's exactly the same. "But you know you wanna go."
"Do not," he mutters.
Rachel rolls her eyes. "Fine. Suit yourself."
Jacob's response stops her before she leaves the room. "Why are you bothering? She loved Mom, not us." His tone is laced with bitterness. "Otherwise she would've come back."
"Maybe." Rachel and Rebecca thought that too, for awhile, and it had hurt. But it was so obvious who sent those weekly desserts. Jacob was the only one who still believed Charlie could bake. (He probably still believed in the Tooth Fairy too.) "But Bella was always strange in how she thought about things."
"She would've come back," Jacob insists.
Rachel heaves a theatrical sigh. "All right. I guess we'll just have to say you can't be bothered to come see her, won't we?"
Jake's fingers tighten on the edges of the comic, making a little crinkling sound. "Say whatever you want. I don't care."
Rachel is insulted by how stupid her brother must think she is. As though she can't see the dog-eared copy of James and the Giant Peach still sitting on his nightstand.
( next)