Worth the Fight: Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I have to redeem myself
Forever and forever
You can hear it in my song
You can see it in my eyes
You can master me
You can master me alive

The Real You-Joseph Arthur

“Are you just going to sit there staring out the window or are you going to get out of the car? School starts in fifteen minutes.” Phil asked. I let out a deep breath, wondering why I had agreed to this. My stomach was so full of butterflies that I could basically harbor a conservatory if I wanted to. This school was just so different than what I was used to. Down here, students were required to take five classes a day out of seven that alternated every day, not to mention the fact that gym was required all four years. I was a junior so I knew I was going to be subjected to this hell for a while. All of these things were just at the tip of the iceberg, not to mention that being the new girl wasn’t distracting enough.

“Bella, come on.” Phil pleaded, and I grudgingly nodded my head. I had to do it sooner or later, so I might as well save myself the trouble and get it over with. I quietly got out the car. I desperately wanted to blend in.  This morning, I opted for a simple sweater and jeans combo and yet I still felt like all eyes were on me as Phil and I walked towards the admissions office. I didn’t want him to accompany me, but he had to pick up his mail from the office and sign off for my schedule. It was all just perfect (enter sarcastic remark here).

After leaving the office, we parted ways. He headed towards the gymnasium promising that we would meet up later at his car at the end of the day. He also told me he would see me later in P.E which of course would just be the highlight of my day. I looked down at my schedule.

Isabella Marie Swan

Grade: 11th

SS: xxxxx8768
Parent/Guardian: Phillip Kyle Dwyer

Address: 775 K St. Forks, WA. 98331

Phone Number: 555-9808

Schedule is effective as of: 1/5/2008

1. English III: Mr. Banner Rm. 406 Mon.-Fri.

2. Art III: Mr. Molina Rm. 602 Mon. Wed. Fri.

3. Algebra II: Mrs. Alinos Rm.709 Mon. Tues. Thurs.

4. Chemistry: Ms. Jameson Rm.705 Tues. Thurs. Fri.

5. American History: Mrs. Freeman Rm.809 Mon. Wed. Thurs.

6. P.E: Mr. Dwyer- Gymnasium Tues. Wed. Fri.

7. Psychology: Mr. Zuniga Rm. 701 Mon. - Fri.

It was Wednesday and it appeared that I would at least be in some of my favorite classes sans the second to last one. I wandered the hallways until the bell rang and the halls quickly filled with people. I got a few glances from a couple of students, but at least no one was blatantly staring at me. My day passed without a hitch and no one seemed to bother me much to my relief. Luckily, the day was almost over, but now I had to face Phil and his dreaded P.E class. He had told me earlier that morning to arrive a little earlier and get situated.

The gym was easy to find, the only lone building at the back of the school. I quietly walked over through the muddy field, careful of not getting my sneakers wet and walked inside. Phil was over by his office talking to a tall blonde woman. She looked out of place with her designer jeans, blouse, and heels, but her face seemed to hold a sense of warmth as she spoke with my uncle. I stood there quietly, weary of disturbing their conversation when Phil smiled and gestured for me to come over. The tall blonde woman looked over at me and she was even more beautiful than I could imagine. Her blonde locks fell just above her shoulders in waves and she had the prettiest hazel eyes I had ever seen. She had looked like a model who had just stepped off the runway making me feel like the poster child for the frumpy kids of America. She smiled at me warmly.

“Bells, this is my friend Rosalie Hale, and Rosalie this is my niece Bella.” Phil smiled and I noticed that his cheeks were slightly flushed. I was going to ask him about that later. Rosalie reached out her hand for me to take.

 “Hello Bella, it’s so nice to meet you. I’ve heard so many good things about you.” I smiled, or at least hoped it was a smile and not a grimace.  I shook her hand. I didn’t want to come across as rude. Ms. Hale looked at me understandingly and then I wondered how much Phil had told her about me.

“Nice to meet you too Ms. Hale. I would like to say that I heard a lot about you but sadly I can’t. My apologies.”  I answered and we stood there in awkward silence.

“Um, well I have to go. I have errands to run and people to see, so I’ll see you later.” Ms. Hale smile and what got me was the fact that when she said that she didn’t look at Phil and over at me instead. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion and I noticed that Phil had shaken his head at her. With a quick wave, she was gone. I turned back to Phil.

“So, does she even work here? She seems…a little out of place.” I asked. Phil shook his head.

“No she doesn’t. She’s a counselor of sorts. Rose…Ms. Hale just wanted to talk to me about a few things.” He said cryptically and gestured for the both of us to go into his office.

“Rose, eh? So I’m assuming that the both of you know each other on a personal level?” He gave me a pointed look.

“No Bella, she and I are just friends.”

“But you want to be more than friends, right?’ I implied, with a wiggle of my eyebrows. Phil gave me another look.

“Bells, we are not here to talk about me.” I sighed. “Fine.”

Phil leaned back in his seat and grabbed me a uniform from behind his desk.

“Here you go Bella. I think this should fit you just fine. Now I don’t expect you dress out today, since it’s your first day and all, but don’t expect to be treated any differently just because you’re my niece. I have to treat everyone the same. Of course the staff knows you’re my niece so I don’t have to worry about any problems from that but when we’re in school; in class, I’m Mr. Dwyer to you.  We have a simple student/teacher relationship okay?” I nodded my head and grimaced as my stomach growled loudly. Phil gave me another pointed look. I wondered what was going on with the looks he was giving me lately.

“Bella did you eat today? I gave you lunch money didn’t I?”  Phil asked, his blue eyes gleaming with nothing but concern. I looked away.

“Yeah, I guess I was too nervous to go get anything.” I lied, well at least partly. In all honesty I was too scared to go to the cafeteria; full of wondering eyes and questioning looks. I just couldn’t handle it today. Phil let out a labored breath. “I know.” I whispered quietly. He reached but under his desk and pulled out a brown paper bag and slid it across his desk to me.

“Uncle Phil,” I breathed. He raised his hands. “Eat.”

I opened the bag to see a turkey club sandwich, a bag of chips, and a bottle of apple juice.  The sandwich was my favorite but knowing Phil and his cooking skills, I eyed the sandwich wearily.

“I promise it’s good.” I took a bite and then another. Phil smiled happily at me. The bell rang and he stayed seated.

“Shouldn’t you be getting ready?” I asked, taking a sip of the juice.

“Yeah, but they’ll be alright.’ He replied and waited as I finished eating.

“You’re not going to watch me eat all the time, are you?” he shrugged his shoulders.

“Is there a reason why I should?” He retorted raised his eyebrows questioningly. I shook my head.

“No I was just wondering why you were sitting here with me instead of out there.” I replied, throwing the now empty bag into the garbage bag.

“I don’t mind. I need to make a mental note to start making your lunch along with mine in the morning.” He grinned patting his stomach. I looked down at my feet embarrassed.

“Oh gosh, I didn’t even think of that. I took you lunch didn’t I? I’m so sorry.” I rambled. Phil got up and put his arms around my shoulder.

“Bells, relax. I can take the hunger. You can’t. I don’t need you wasting away on me.” I still wasn’t convinced.

“Fine, how about you make me some of you delicious lasagna I’ve heard about and we’ll be even.” He grinned. I nodded my head and motioned to leave. I stopped in the doorway.

“Wait, how did you know about my lasagna?” I asked curiously.

“The same way I knew that turkey club was your favorite.” He winked at me, and for a moment I saw a spark in his eyes. The same spark that only came when he spoke of my mother.

I didn’t reply and walked out the door.

………..

“Omg, Mr. Dwyer is so hot. If only I was eighteen, I would do him in a heartbeat.” A blonde girl whose name I found out was Lauren squawked.

“Oh yes Lauren. I mean he is so freaking hot. He reminds me of McSteamy or Dreamy or whatever that guy is on that doctor show.” Another girl named Jessica joined in. I rolled my eyes and looked around. Since Phil was late coming to class (since he was talking to me), he decided he was going to give everyone a free day and the choice to dress out if they wanted to.

Of course the boys in our class took this as a chance to play basketball, while the majority if the girls including me sat on the bleachers for the remainder of the hour. There were about 15 girls in this class including myself and as any cliché would have it in high school; they were all separated by cliques.

The yappy twins as I called Lauren and Jessica must have been the popular girls, with their incessant gossip, short skirts, and flipping of their overly processed blonde hair, the two of them and their other 3 friends could have been Forks high school’s version of Mean Girls. The rest of the girls were separated in their own groups, while a couple of other girls were scattered around by themselves.

My observation was broken by the sound of a nasally voice.

“Hey new girl.” I turned my head and saw that is was one of the Mean girls. I tried to ignore her, but she called out for me again.

“New girl!” she said again.

“Yes?” I answered and saw that all of them were watching me. I sighed and motioned for her to tell me whatever she wanted.

“My friend Irina said that she saw you in Mr. Dwyer’s office and that was why he was late arriving to class. She said she saw you and then he came out later all flustered and everything.” She snidely said. I shook my head in confusion.

“First day and you’re already trying to make an impression, sleeping with teachers. It’s really not a cute. It’s kind of sad actually.” She continued and that’s when I comprehended what she was trying to say. I nearly choked on my spit.

“I…no…I…you got it al...all wrong.” I stuttered.

“Kate’s right. I mean you’re not even that pretty to be sleeping with…” the other girl was cut off by another voice.

“Stop being a bitch Carmen. Mr. Dwyer’s her uncle. Now stop being a nosy fucker and leave the girl alone.” I looked up to see a tall dark haired girl standing beside me.

“Ah, if it isn’t Didemon over here. Don’t you have a rock to live under?” Carmen barked.

“Yeah it’s the same place where you left your personality and heart.” The girl replied back. “Come on.” The girl gestured for me to follow behind her. I got up and carefully followed her up the bleachers to where another dark haired girl was sitting. I sat down on the bleacher below them.

“Thank you. I don’t even know those girls.” I stated gratefully.

“Don’t worry about it, those girls prey on everyone and everything. They think they run this school.” The girl who saved me replied. She had long jet black hair and bright blue eyes. She was dressed in a t-shirt/jeans combo with a pair of converse.  The girl beside her had long brown hair with streaks of blonde and pink throughout her hair. She too had blue eyes, with various piercings in her nose and eyebrows. She was dressed in an all-black sweater dress and boots. She was looking at me curiously. I asked them both for their names.

“Oh I’m sorry, I’m Didyme Daniels. I know my name seems weird. I think my parents were in Greece or some shit and came up with my name, but you can call me Di. This lovely lady is Maria Holiantos but don’t let her tough appearance get to you, she’s a sweetheart.” Did- Di smiled and it didn’t escape my notice that she rubbed Maria’s hand lovingly. Maria just stared at me.

“Oh I’m.” Di cut me off.

“You’re Isabella.” I raised my eyes questionably.

I’m sorry if I’m freaking you out. I work as an office aid and I heard about you being Mr. Dwyer’s niece. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.” She apologized. I shook my head.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad someone saved me.” I grimaced.

“Don’t worry about it.” Di repeated my words. “That’s what friends are for right?” She smiled and I felt myself smiling back.

“Yeah. And you can call me Bella.”

……….

“So how was your day?” Phil asked conversationally as we sat down at one of the booths. We were in some ratty pizza joint in Port Angeles, which Phil swore had the best pizza in Washington State. It was a Friday night and the place was swarming with people. Phil did this every day. We would both sit down while we ate and he would ask about my day. I knew we were avoiding the elephant in the room with my constant nightmares and screaming throughout the night, which was evident by the huge dark circles under my eyes, but he was trying to placate me by getting my mind on other things.

“Yeah it was fine.  My classes went okay and I spent lunch with Maria and Di.” I replied, just as the server brought out the largest pizza I had ever seen in my life and onto the table with a couple of napkins.

“You really expect the both of us to eat all of this?” I asked, as he handed me a slice.

“Well no, but we can always try.” Phil grinned, taking a bite of his own slice. I looked down at mine. It was cheesy, greasy, and gooey. I grimaced.

“Bella.” Phil said through a mouthful.

“Fine.” I huffed, tentatively take a bite. It was delicious. I took another bite and noticed Phil give me an encouraging smile.

We continued our conversation and I felt it slightly calming to have some sense of normalcy again. In the last few months of my parents’ lives, dinner together was a rare occurrence. If it wasn’t the fact that one of them were missing, or at work, it was because of the bickering. Don’t get me wrong, my parents loved me faithfully, but sometimes I wondered when the loving between the two of them began to fade or if it had ever existed at all.

……….

“Dinner’s almost ready.” I said, walking into the room to see my father on the couch watching a football game. I walked behind him and laid my head on his shoulder.

“Where’s mom?” I asked, looking over at the television screen. He let out a labored breath. My dad was a quiet man. He didn’t show his feelings much, something I inherited from him. I looked at his brown eyes, which mirrored mine eerily in exact color and shape. He rested his head against mine.

“Still out. I’m guessing one of her lessons ran over.” He answered. My mother taught piano lessons and was one of the best piano players I ever knew. I followed in her footsteps and played the piano whenever I could, just so we could spend time together.

“Her lessons have been running over a lot lately. I miss her being around when I get home.” I sighed.

“Yeah.” He sounded defeated. I do too.” He replied and I turned to see that he had and conflicted expression upon his face.

“Dad?”

“Yes Bells?” He answered.

“You would tell me if something was wrong right?” I asked. I may have been sixteen at the time, but I knew I was too mature and observant beyond my years.

“Of course baby girl.” He replied and for the first time, I could see something hidden in his eyes. Something dark and consuming. My father was always an honest man, but I could tell he was hiding something Both of my parents were. I wanted to ask him more about it, but heard the front door open and my mother’s tinkling voice echo through the hallway as she entered.

My father would never give me the answers I wanted. Neither would my mother.

I had to find out things the hard way and when I did, I wished it were me lying in pools of my own blood and not theirs.

I feel like taking a razor blade
And on my wrist
Write an invitation
I feel like taking a loaded gun
And in my mouth
Blowing up the ocean