I wanna hold you when I'm not supposed to
When I'm lying close to someone else
You're stuck in my head and

I can't get you out of it
If I could do it all again
I know I'd go back to you

Rosalie hits her with her car and, okay, so the vampire says it's an accident and Emmett is usually inclined to believe her. After all, Rose is known for her brutal and often violent truth. This time, however, there's a gleam in her eye, a playful twinkle just in the corner. Her lips are curved ever so slightly with a hidden smile as Bella rolls backwards off the hood of the car, "fucking whAT?!" shouted at them as she goes.

A few students gasp and run over, others reach for their cellphones, but Bella jumps right back up. She shakes her strong shoulders loose and grins, quick to reassure them that she's fine and, no, don't call an ambulance. Really.

It takes some convincing but after a few minutes, everyone goes back to their business. Rosalie taps her fingers against the steering wheel while Emmett hides his face in his hands, Bella's dark eyes wandering around the inside of the car until they find Rosalie. She doesn't even hesitate in her tapping, merely raising an inconspicuous eyebrow, as if daring Bella to accuse her of something.

The challenge is reflected back in Bella's borderline feral grin and the tall girl leans down to press her palm against the hood of the car. "Didn't see you there," she says, barely above a whisper. Emmett twitches and Rosalie inclines her head ever so slightly as way of response. "Sorry." Bella winks and drags her hand down the hood, nails digging in enough to scratch the paint before she turns to jog off.

Emmett has to reach over and grab Rosalie's door while the blonde snarls. "No, no! Hah, nope. That was called for, you hit her with your car. No strangling the puppy for you, missy."

She swallows her rage and focuses on not ripping apart the steering wheel as she parks.

By the time she's done staring at the hood of her car, trying to quell the desire to march through the school until she found the damn dog and throttled her, the late bell has rung. The teacher's muttering something about detention in her general direction as she walks through the door (it's not like any of them actually ever talk to her, the quivering, cowering beasts) and she casts her eyes around the room until they find their target.

The wolf, Rosalie has noticed, likes to surround herself with humanity. She constantly has humans clinging to her, a ring of mortality to keep the vampires at bay, and Rosalie hates how well it works.

Three months they've been here. Three months of having to put up with this wolf. Three months, and they've exchanged a handful of sentences.

Plus one more. Bella leans back in her chair, arms stretched over her head until the sleeves slide up and reveal colourful ink etched into her skin. "Car trouble?" she asks innocently as the vampire passes.

And Rosalie hates her even more.

She lifts her lip in a silent snarl that makes the colour drain from the faces around Bella, until Jessica and Lauren snap their gazes down to their desks. Typical and predictable-

But Bella only laughs. She laughs and Rosalie's feathers are ruffled, her anger flips and turns to bewilderment, and she very nearly misses a step, catching herself on Michael Newton's desk. He looks up in surprise and she glares at him until he looks away.

(And Bella is still laughing, damn it.)

"Miss Swan, that's quite enough," the teacher huffs at the disruption.

Rosalie is too distracted to stop herself. "Yeah, Swan," she echoes childishly and wants to drown in her mortification when she realizes she said it aloud.

Bella laughs harder and Mr Banner sets his textbook down on his desk. "And you sit down, Miss Hale."

"Yeah, Hale," Bella chortles.

"Miss Swan!"

"Shut up."

"Miss Hale-"

"Bite me!"

"M-Bella, that's enough. Rosalie, sit down and Bella-"

"I'll do more than that, dog."

"Principal's office, now!" Mr Banner snaps and cracks his ruler down on the desk.

Rosalie clenches her fists tight enough that she can feel the spiderweb cracks in her fingers and her jaw pops. Black eyes bore into Bella's face, fury making them swirl like beautiful chaos. Her pocket won't stop vibrating with her phone and the calm, collected part of her brain knows it's either Edward or Alice trying to talk her down.

She swallows a mouthful of venom and nods briskly, turning for the door of the classroom. She's not entirely sure if she'll end up at the principal's office, but she definitely needs to leave.

"Ta ta!" Bella calls after her.

The ruler cracks on the desk again. "Detention, after school!"

"Ah, fuck."

"Isabella Swan, do you want to join your friend in the principal's office?"

The wolf perks up, blinking rapidly. "No, sir. Sorry, sir."

.

.

.

When lunch rolls around, it's safe to say that Rosalie is pissed off and the rest of the family can feel it. The rest of the school can feel it, too, but that doesn't change much for them. They maybe give her a wider birth of space in the halls, but people usually went out of their way to distance themselves from her anyway. Her family, however, decides the best course of action is to walk on eggshells, and it just bothers her more.

The sandwich on her plate jumps when she slams her tray down onto the table in the cafeteria, bottle of water rolling across towards the edge on the opposite side. Edward doesn't blink as he catches it and places it back in the middle of the table. "We're trying," he tells her softly.

"Try harder," she snaps and crosses her leg over the other. He huffs and crosses his arms instead, looking away.

Alice sits up in her chair, elbows resting on the table, mischief making her golden eyes sparkle. She opens her mouth, ignoring Edward's vigorous head shake. "Land yourself in a wee spot of trouble, sister?"

"Drop dead."

"Been there," Alice chimes brightly. "Done that."

A thought occurs to her and Rosalie turns to her sister, dark eyes narrowed in a glare. "Why didn't you warn me against going to class?"

"I can't see you when you interact with B-"

"Don't say her name."

"-ae."

Emmett's brows furrow. "Bae?"

"Something the children call their significant others," Edward leans over to tell him with a pat on his broad shoulder.

"Rosalie's bae, to be more accurate," Jasper corrects.

Black eyes flick to him, a rumble in Rosalie's chest. "You're supposed to be on my side, brother."

Edward's eyes widen and he turns to his other side, blinking big eyes at Jasper. "Does she?!" he exclaims softly.

Rosalie's jaw pops again.

"Oh, but you're getting so good at hiding your thoughts, Rosalie!" Edward praises the blonde with a charming smile. "I had no idea."

Emmett and Alice exchange looks and the pixie pouts. "I am cruelly and unexpectedly in the dark. What are you guys talking about? What does Rosalie…?"

"Nothing!" she barks out, hand on the table with cracks spreading from it. The others stare down at the damage, not used to such an outburst from their most controlled sibling. "I don't care for your little asinine games, Edward. And you're testing my patience, Jasper."

He inclines his head, golden curls bouncing. "Apologies."

"Whatever," she scoffs in response and looks away.

The others continue their snickering, making jabs at her expense, and fine. If they want to act like children, they can go right ahead, but she refuses to be goaded into another confrontation. It gives people the wrong idea, like maybe she actually cares. And she doesn't.

Her eyes scan the rest of the cafeteria, in search of nothing particular. Truly, it's just happenstance that her gaze lands upon the wolf's table. The table she claimed as her own, right by the door, so Rosalie and the others are forced to walk by her every day. So Rosalie's control is tested and she doesn't flip the table up into Bella's face like she deserves.

Less animated today than most days, Bella's chin rests on the tabletop. She's slouched low in her chair, arm tossed out to the side, while her other hand rolls an apple back and forth on her tray. Her dark eyes are dull and she feels like she's a million miles away as her table chatters on.

Curiosity burns Rosalie like acid.

What could possibly have the over-energized puppy so sullen?

It's not as if Rosalie was overly mean in class. She didn't say anything today that she hadn't said before. And even if she did, so what? Who cares. Maybe Bella shouldn't go around pushing buttons if she doesn't want the trouble that follows. Or, at the least, she should grow a stronger hide.

"She got a phone call," Edward says so suddenly she almost jumps out of her chair. At her raised eyebrow, Edward nods over to Bella's table. "I was also wondering why she looks so upset, and while I cannot read her, I can read those around her. She was fine all morning until she got a phone call just before lunch. She's been upset ever since."

"I could not possibly care any less than I already do," Rosalie tells him blankly.

"Liar!" Alice sings and catches the bottle of water thrown at her face.

Rosalie runs her tongue along the backs of her teeth. "You're insufferable today."

"I'm insufferable every day, according to you." A light bulb goes off and Alice tilts her head, big golden eyes drifting over to the shifter's table. "I bet Bella and I would get along swimmingly."

Shackles rising, Rosalie straightens in her chair and lifts her hand. "Wait…" Alice gets to her feet and Rosalie's eyes widen. "Wait! Alice, sit down."

"Say please."

"Not even if you were on fire."

A challenging eyebrow is raised and Alice steps back.

Rosalie slides forward in her chair anxiously.

There's a heartbeat of silence between them before Alice turns, places a loving kiss on Jasper's cheek, and dances across the cafeteria. Rosalie ponders just how it might feel to frisbee throw her tray into the back of the pixie's head and just how angry Esme would get.

On the other side of the cafeteria, the chatter around Bella's table subsides the closer Alice Cullen gets, until it cuts off completely when she bounces to a stop in front of them. The Cullens have been in Forks for three months, and in those three months, they've reached out to others outside their family exactly zero times. Not only that, but any inquiries and invitations sent to them have been met with polite, but distant declination.

And while Alice may be the friendliest Cullen, she is also the weirdest Cullen, and this was not what anyone was expecting.

Bella's dark eyes flick up to look at Alice and the pixie smiles brightly, doing a cute little curtsy. It pulls a smile from the wolf who releases a tired sigh and sits up properly to rest her chin on her fist with one hand and give a two-finger salute with the other. "Hello, kitten."

"Hello, puppy," Alice replies seamlessly and she can practically see Bella's tail wag. "Angela, Lauren, Jessica, Tyler, Michael, Eric," she greets as well after a moment.

"H-Hi, Alice!" Mike shouts and winces. "I mean, hey. Hi. Sup?"

Jessica blinks at him a few times and looks back at Alice. "Do you need something?"

"Rude," Angela warns under her breath.

But the teenager doesn't care. She only scoots her chair closer to the wolf's, hooking her arm through Bella's. "So? Rosalie bitched Bella out this morning for no reason, excuse me for wanting to make sure her sister doesn't have a turn, too."

"I would never!" Alice exclaims earnestly, hand over her heart and stretching up on her tiptoes. "Not unless she deserved it, and even then I would probably feel very, very badly about it. Of course, if she deserved it, then we probably wouldn't be the type to get on well, in which case, we would not be friends. In that case, I would likely not feel very badly at all."

The table watches her in confusion and Bella's heart thumps in her ribcage.

(Exciting, these vampires are exciting.)

"Thankfully, I don't deserve it," Bella finally says with a grin stretched across her cheeks. Alice lights up again and decides that she's found her new best friend. "So what can I do for you, Cullen?"

Alice slides up closer again, gesturing to the table beside Bella's tray. "May I sit?" Bella chuckles and sits back in her seat, waving to the spot with a nod. She watches the pixie hop up onto the table, smoothing her skirt down while she gets comfy. Alice pauses halfway, looking down at Jessica. "Can I help you?"

"... no," the human grumbles after a breath and sinks back in her chair next to Mike.

Bella drums her fingers on a stone knee, gaining Alice's attention again. "Time is money, friend."

"That's just not true."

"Says who?"

"Me."

"And you're an authority on the matter?"

"I should think so!" Alice gasps dramatically. "I've had enough experience with both."

"Moneybags, eh?"

Alice only flashes another smile, fangs and all.

Bella shakes her head. "I feel less bad about Hale's car, then."

"Oh, she's very upset about that. Rosalie loves her cars, more than anything in the world, except maybe Esme."

"Then I must battle her at dawn."

Brows furrowed, Alice tilts her head. "Rose?"

"Esme."

"Esme?" Alice echoes. "Whatever for?"

"For challenging the love of a vehicular automotive, of course."

Realization breaks across Alice's face like the sun over the horizon. Excitement has her bouncing on the table. "You're odd!" she chirps.

"Unusual, sure."

"Strange!"

"Bizarre."

"I'm having the most intense case of deja vu," Alice declares thoughtfully as a perfectly manicured finger taps her chin. She studies the shifter's face, the way the honey specs in those dark eyes catch the light and make them look like smouldering earth, rich and unending. The scars that others can't catch unless they looked closely; little jagged half a centimetre gashes that frame the side of her left eye and disappear in her eyebrow, the bold crack of a scar through her lip and cutting down into her chin. "Have we done this before?"

Bella's tongue snakes out to run across that scar on her lip and Alice catches a quick glimpse of a tongue stud, delightedly surprised and curious at the same time. "Not to my recollection, kitten, but my memory isn't what it used to be."

"What an old man, you sound like!"

A lazy fingergun is shot at her with another wink. "So, you just swung by my table to call me names?"

"I knew it!" Jessica fumes, shooting up in her seat. "What gives you the right? You Cullens and your holier than thou attitude, singling out Bella because, what, she doesn't put up with your shit? Because she actually stands up for herself? Well, I have news for you! Bella is amazing and thoughtful and generous and she's been through a lot this year, and you don't deserve her kindness. I don't care if your sister is scary, I'll kick your ass before I let you push her around anymore!"

All the others around the table stare at the panting teenager, Jessica's face flushed from anger or embarrassment, who knows. Her chest heaves, brown eyes wild and flicking around each face. Bella's eyebrows slowly climb back down her forehead, staring at Jessica with mild disbelief. "Jess, honey, are you in love with me?"

Jessica's hand blindly shoots out to grab Bella's shoulder, bunching her shirt in her fist while she nods. "A little bit, I might be. That was too much, yeah?"

"You're rocking an eleven on the drama meter, and we need you at about a four."

She's still nodding, staring across the room at the wall. "Did I just threaten a Cullen?"

"Yup."

"Is she still here?"

"Yes!" Alice chimes happily.

"I wanna die."

"That's fair," Bella nods with an amused grin on her face. She pats Jessica's back and turns to Alice. "Jess is very passionate and didn't mean half of what she said."

Alice hums and watches Bella again, watches her.

(These vampires are always watching her and she doesn't know why.)

The pixie sways side to side and comes to a decision. "I think I know now."

"Know what?"

"It's not important."

Bella's eyes narrow curiously. "Sure," she drawls.

And Alice grins. "Well, it is important. Quite important, but I have an even more important, and immediate question for you!"

"Fire away, Cullen."

"Should I marry Kocoum?"

The wolf's eyebrows jump up again. While being a fan of Disney absolutely does not seem out of the norm for Alice, she swore the other day she heard Rosalie humming a tune from Hercules. Which had floored her, at the time, and hasn't actually left her ever since.

Her gaze wanders past Alice, to her family's table where a certain blonde is very suddenly absent from. Bella blinks and looks back up at Alice curiously. "You could," she says evenly. Alice's head tilts again and it's damn cute. "But damn, isn't that riverbend tempting."

"Excellent," Alice breathes and hops down from the table. "Thank you, Bella. You've been very helpful."

"Always."

"Hand, please." Alice holds hers out expectantly, waiting while Bella slowly offers her own. "Text me before you go to sleep tonight."

Bella watches Alice scrawl a number on her palm, staring down at the ink, and looking back up at her in confusion. "Why?"

"That's what best friends do," Alice tells her. She juts out her hip, bottom lip a little larger, eyes very slightly watery. "We're best friends now, Bella, aren't we?"

"Uh oh."

"So you'll text me?"

"I think so."

Alice bites her lip, staring down at the hand she still holds. "Is that okay?"

"Definitely not."

"I don't want to get you in trouble."

"Too late." Bella grins. "And I think you do."

Alice smells like bubblegum and mischief, Bella notes. "Only the good kind."

.

.

.

Rosalie glares at the hands on the clock, every second ticking by slower than the last. Two minutes she's been here, alone, staring at the clock while she waits for the only other person who has detention today. Who is, of course, late because why wouldn't she be?

Why wouldn't Bella get off more easily than Rosalie?

The door opens with a click, Bella slinking in with her backpack between her hands. The teacher looks up at the clock and back to Bella. "Running a bit late, Miss Swan?"

Rosalie watches with an annoyed growl in her chest as Bella ducks her head sheepishly, shoulders hunched up to look smaller than she is. "I couldn't find the room, miss. Sorry."

"This is your first detention, Bella, so I'll let it slide." Rosalie snorts and rolls her eyes. Of. Course. "Now please have a seat at Miss Hale's table."

Golden eyes snap open again quickly. "Literally any other table is free," she points out. She even turns in her chair to scan the empty classroom. "Thirteen options, right there."

"Sorry," Miss Wright stands from the desk, ushering Bella to Rosalie's table, "did you think this was merely a time out? You should know, Miss Hale, that's not how I teach. I'm much more interactive."

"Unfortunately."

The woman laughs softly and shakes her head. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that, as you're one of my favourite students. Now, let's get to the bottom of this conflict, hm? You two very clearly don't get along."

"How astute of you."

Miss Wright raises an eyebrow and holds her fingers an inch apart. "The ice, Rosalie? Really thin. Be careful." She looks at Bella, waiting for the wolf to drop down into the chair on the opposite side of Rosalie. "Why don't you tell me where the animosity stems from?"

"She's a Capulet, I'm a Montague," Bella informs her with a crook on her lips that could be a smile or a smirk. "We're destined to be enemies."

Miss Wright hums thoughtfully and watches the two girls. Rosalie scowls at the wall across the room while Bella flips between watching her hands on the table, and glancing up at the blonde every few seconds.

And suddenly a piece of the puzzle clicks in place.

"Were Romeo and Juliet enemies?"

Black eyes glare at her and Miss Wright staggers back a half step at the hostility in Rosalie's face. She finally sees what the rest of the school sees, and feels the very real fear everyone keeps talking about when dealing with Rosalie Hale.

A boot kicks at the vampire's chair until she blinks and looks down at Bella. The wolf has a rather serious look on her face and shakes her head, a warning against the aggression towards her favourite teacher.

Rosalie lifts her chin in the air. "I think that's rather inappropriate to insinuate."

"That's the great thing about insinuations, Miss Hale," Miss Wright says after she swallows the cold fear. "You drew your own conclusions and interpreted it how you did. Would you like to discuss the path your mind took?"

Jaw clenched, Rosalie looks away from the teacher and to Bella. The wolf lifts her shoulders in a shrug, an oblivious shrug that is frustratingly endearing and unhelpful. "My thoughts are my own."

"And you, Bella? Thoughts?"

"Not usually." It earns a snort that Rosalie is ashamed of but cannot stop. She glances at Bella to see the biggest puppy-dog look on her face that Rosalie's ever seen, and quickly looks away again. "I don't know, I guess I'm more of an ass than usual, when I'm around her."

"Why is that?"

Another shrug, surprise surprise.

Miss Wright sighs, more than a little disappointed at two of her very best students. Although she could have guessed, as they happened to be her two most stubborn students as well. "Okay, if you don't want to talk about why, let's discuss how we'll fix it instead."

"If she just leaves me alone, there will be no more issues from me," Rosalie says quickly.

Bella sticks out her tongue and Rosalie growls again, leaning forward in her chair threateningly. Bella points. "Aggressive! I don't feel safe."

"Bella," Miss Wright chastises. "Rosalie. You two really are more alike than you realize," she says and smiles. "I think you might get along better if you discovered more about each other."

"I disagree-"

"Five questions," she tells them and sets out a sheet of paper and pen for each girl. "I want five meaningful facts about the other and you guys can leave."

"Or," Bella says with an eyebrow wiggle. "Maybe we just wait out the detention hour."

"Maybe you were late and maybe you were mildly insulting, Rosalie, and maybe you both have detention again tomorrow after school."

An annoyance, to be sure, but Rosalie is fiercely curious when the smile falls from Bella's face along with the colour in her cheeks. "Yes, ma'am."

"Whatever," Rosalie scoffs for the second time that day.

Because she doesn't care.

Not because Bella's startled her and actually made her concerned. She's not concerned. Just curious. Only curious. And she doesn't care, so if it helps Bella, then whatever. It's not the worst thing to be nice sometimes.

Esme might even be proud.

Miss Wright hums happily and returns to her desk, leaving the two alone for the first time all day. For the first time ever, if Rosalie thinks about it. No intrusive siblings poking, poking, poking, and no ring of mortality to protect the wolf.

Rosalie looks down at her paper and across to Bella's, sighing at the doodling that's already happening. "Can you not sit still for two seconds?"

"Nope. Too much energy." Bella looks up and smiles again, but it's weak. "I don't sleep much anymore because of it."

"I don't sleep at all, you don't see me crying about it."

"Didn't you just?"

Rosalie snaps her jaw shut, glaring at the wolf and then the teacher. She takes a breath and looks back at Bella, jotting down her first answer. Bella doesn't sleep. "What's… god, what's your favourite colour?"

"Meaningful!" Miss Wright says loudly and goes back to her book.

Taking pity on the vampire, Bella leans forward and lowers her voice for a modicum of privacy. She taps Rosalie's paper. "I like white." She drums her fingertips on the table and looks around before meeting Rosalie's eye. "I got suspended for kissing Megan on the playground back in the seventh grade, in Phoenix. Her homophobic mother said I assaulted her daughter, and that was the end result. It's also how I came out. I thought my mom was gonna kill me. Or maybe disown me."

Rosalie blinks once, her face a stoic stone mask. Her mind whirls, heart clenching painfully for a young child penalized because of discrimination and senseless hate.

"She didn't," Bella says happily. "She took me to the museum instead, we spent the entire day surrounded by art. I like doodling, and she figured it would comfort me. Studying people's interpretation of life. She told me that, technically, white is all the colours. Something to do with the way it reflects light and junk. But it's kinda like a hidden rainbow, and… you know, that if I wanted to hide, that's okay, but if I didn't, that's okay, too. It was the day she told me that she doesn't care what colour I am, that she loves all of my colours."

The pen scratches the paper as Rosalie jots it down.

Bella's favourite colour is white.

The wolf barks out a laugh. "Okay. Basics are important, too. Just ignore my heartwarming story." She sits back and stares at the vampire, trying to pick a good question. All of the usual ones come to mind but that's too on the nose. "Does Emmett give you roses?"

"How is it any of your business what Emmett does or does not give me?" The reply is shot off quickly, reflex more than anything, but Rosalie's okay with it.

Fingertips drum on the top of the desk again, Bella's shoulders rising and falling in a shrug. "Roses aren't the right flower for you, is all. A little on the nose. I know the perfect flower he should give you!"

"Why does my brother need to give me flowers?"

Dark brows furrow on confusion. "Well none of you are actually related, yeah?" she asks quietly. Rosalie slowly nods while she tries to board the train of thought Bella's on. "And you're all dating each other?" Another nod, this one a little more hesitant as Rosalie's face sets into a hard mask giving nothing away. "So he's also your boyfriend."

"No…" Rosalie slowly shakes her head. "Emmett is Edward's boyfriend."

She watches as Bella's eyebrows jump again, sitting back in her chair. The wolf hums and nods while her mind very obviously reels. Rosalie can almost see the gears turning. "I didn't see that coming."

"If you thought Emmett and I were a couple, I hardly see how he and Edward being a couple is that much of a stretch. Much as I'm loathed to admit it, Edward and I are… more similar than not. If Emmett could be with me, he could just as easily be with Edward."

Bella blinks and jerks forward against the table. "Good for them, then."

Rosalie scoffs. "What a patronizing thing to say. Good for them."

"I feel like it's less patronizing from another queer."

Rosalie twitches at the name. "There's more history tied to that word than you could possibly understand."

"Probably," Bella agrees quietly. "But words are powerful things and I don't think that one should be left in anyone else's hands. It's ours and I'll wear it with pride, I'm not ashamed."

A ring of honey swirls back into the inky black depths of Rosalie's eyes. She's not sure she agrees, but she appreciates the thought behind it.

Bella taps at the desk with her fingers, staring down at them. "I won't say it, if it makes you uncomfortable."

"Why do you wear ties?" she asks abruptly and Bella suspects that's not the question she had in mind.

Still, the wolf relents because this is going much better than she expected. "What's the one thing that separates us from the beasts?"

"Logical reasoning."

She hums and sways a little in her seat. "Close. It's actually style. Style separates man from animal."

"That's very incorrect but go on."

Bella frames her hand under her tie, grin a tad on the wild side, but an oddly serious look in her eye. "Bowties are my humanity. Or at least how I hold onto it. Wolves don't wear ties," ink-stained fingers tug at the tie around her neck, "so I must be me and not the other one. For now."

Bella struggles with control.

"Oh, sure. Read into that one but not my deeply touching favourite colour." Bella stares at the unamused vampire for a few uncomfortable moments before shifting in the seat. She glances towards the front of the classroom and Miss Wright engrossed in her book. Golden eyes blink at her when she looks back at Rosalie. "If…" she clears her throat and circles the next number on her own list. "If you could explore space or the ocean, which would you choose?"

"The ocean isn't all it's cracked up to be," Rosalie tells her dismissively. "Fish, sand, and a whole lot of pressure."

…

"Are you telling me you've explored the ocean before?"

This time it's Rosalie's turn to shrug. "Never to the very bottom, but there's something comforting about sitting in the middle of the ocean with nothing but water for miles in every direction."

"So," Bella drawls and squints at the vampire. "What you're saying is that you'd rather further your understanding of something you already know, to discover the depths and intricacies of it… than explore something new. For example. You would know your own self completely before knowing someone else."

The gold is gone, onyx pits glaring at Bella once more. "If you want to bullshit your way through this ridiculous practice, be my guest."

Bella isn't good at talking to people.

The wolf's eyes widen, a grin stretching across her face even as her jaw falls open. She slams a finger down to the last fact, staring up at Rosalie and shaking her head. "As if! You're bad at talking to people! I - You don't even talk! How, okay, first of all. That's not. I am charming and. Fuck you, Hale."

"Congratulations. Those were almost full sentences." Rosalie's face is stoic, a neutral mask of nothing while she traces over her answers. And yet… Bella can feel the humour. She knows that if those eyes met hers, she would see amusement.

Bella falls back in her chair, palms against the table. She taps one of her fingers four times and nods. "Okay, fine. I'm-I could say things… more gracefully."

"Eloquently," Rosalie corrects.

And Bella just snorts. "Some of us actually have to work to be half as lovely as you, Hale."

The plastic of the pen cracks in stone fingers. Rosalie glares at the paper. "I'm done."

"But that was only four-"

Bella is stupidly kind and even more naive.

The words are carved into the page before it's snatched up and slapped onto Miss Wright's desk. The teacher says nothing as Rosalie storms out.

Bella sits at the table for a moment, trying to figure out just how she offended the vampire. Slowly, she gets to her feet and shuffles over to the desk, holding out her paper. Miss Wright reads over each fact and her face softens in a way that makes Bella blush and scratch the back of her neck. "Bella," she sighs and hesitates. "Have you ever heard the saying a gentle heart hurts the most?"

Dark eyes stare down at the human. "Only fools listen to their hearts anyway." Bella smiles, albeit strangely. Humour tinged with sorrow. "I may be an ass but I'm no fool."

.

.

.

It was the most they had ever said to each other and it had been all in one day. After that, both parties kind of expected more interaction, maybe greetings and farewells. Something. But, as it turns out, all things will regress to the norm unless conscious effort is put forth. And conscious effort is not something either girl is capable of yet.

So they don't speak.

There are silent meetings of their eyes, an awkward hesitation around each other, but nothing has really changed. Well. Mostly nothing. Rosalie is annoyed to see that Bella and Alice have become closer through it all. The pixie had spent the entire night giggling and smiling at her phone, gushing about how funny Bella is, how charming she is, how clever she is. Blah, Blah, blah.

By the time morning rolls around, Rosalie is ready to crush the phone in her hand.

Instead, she's forced to listen to her sister coo and press her face against the windshield when they spot Bella. Or, more specifically, when they spot Bella in Rosalie's parking space. It says something that she's never noticed Bella rides a dirt bike to school.

(It says something else that her chest flutters when she watches Bella pull off her helmet and shake her wild hair loose.)

"How can you stay mad at her? Have you ever seen a cuter puppy?" Alice asks excitedly.

Rosalie sighs and sinks back in her seat. "I thought denim coats were allowed to die in the 90's like they deserve?"

"Unless they're black denim and accompanied by a pastel bowtie."

"Why is she in my space?"

"Perhaps because you refuse to acknowledge her unless she is actively pushing your buttons?" Edward ventures thoughtfully. His face slams into the back of Rosalie's headrest when she taps the breaks. "You deserve each other," he grumbles and fixes his hair.

Emmett leans down to press a kiss to Edward's cheek before he's between the seats up front. "When do the rest of us get to play with her?"

"Have you forgotten who she is?" Rosalie asks the rest of the car. The others' cheer fades and she glares out the window at Bella. "She's one of Sam's Shifters. She was at the treaty re-establishment, snarling like all the others."

"Bella wouldn't!" Alice tries.

Rosalie doesn't even blink. "Ask her." She's opening the door before the others can react, shoes on the pavement and wind blowing pale blonde locks. "Dog."

"Ouch. Hi."

The wolf looks at the others with confusion, Alice's anxious face. But Rosalie blocks her view. "Were you at the border? When we returned, the first night. With aggression and hatred in your eyes."

Bella's eyebrows slowly pinch together and it's the first time anything other than jovial energy has been directed at them. Gone is the wide grin, and in its wake, a shadow is born. The fluttering in Rosalie's chest drops into a lead ball of regret and she's startled to realize she can't breathe. "I didn't have a choice," Bella tells them in a flat voice.

And since when has Rosalie ever been able to let things go? To just leave her mess alone? Even as Alice clutches at her arm and silently pleads with her to drop it. "Yes, because having a mind of your own is so difficult when prejudism is so much easier."

"You very clearly don't know what you're talking about," Bella snarls. Actually, literally snarls. Her hands tremble and everyone looks down at them, Edward and Jasper in alarm. Bella clenches them into fists to make them stop and staggers back a few steps. "Forget it," she breathes in a shaky voice.

Alice jolts forward when the wolf turns away. "No, wait! Bella, please."

"I'm not-" Bella whirls around and her heart breaks when they all flinch, when her passion is mistaken for aggression. She watches them relax, one by one, until they're all as loose as Alice is. "I'm not going to hurt you," she says in a small voice. "Who's prejudice now?"

Rosalie blinks. "I know what I saw at the border. On your own, you're a puppy, but the second the others are around, you're Kujo."

"You don't know me," Bella tells her earnestly. "You saw what you saw, but you still don't know."

"I know that you're dangerous to my family and just because you wear a bowtie doesn't change that."

"What an excuse!"

"Excuse or not, it's true."

Bella squeezes her fists tighter, Rosalie officially breaching her bubble. Daring her, challenging her maybe. "I'm not like him," she grounds out between her teeth.

"You're a wolf."

"And you're an asshole!"

A silence falls after the outburst once again, Rosalie is surprised. She expected leech, vampire, even bitch. Something equally as offensive as she is being.

Perhaps Bella is wrong. Perhaps her control is better than she thinks.

Rosalie scoffs and turns away. "What else is new."

A warm hand clamps around her wrist and - okay, she immediately knows she's overreacting. The grip is strong but gentle, much like Bella herself. It's (again) unexpected more than anything, and she suspects that's why she lashes out. People don't reach out to her. Strangers don't keep trying. She's rude and people run until she's calm again. They're afraid of her.

(Or her anger, in her family's case.)

Only ever afraid of her.

Is this how Bella feels too?

That black coat is bunched up in Rosalie's fist, Bella shoved up against the fence at the head of the parking space. Black eyes burn her, right down to the bone, Rosalie's silent snarl fearsome. "Just let it go," let me go, "it's done. Vampires and Shifters don't mix. It doesn't make sense."

Alice visibly deflates behind Rosalie but none of them say anything.

Bella looks back to Rosalie, away from the silent siblings. The anger. The anger. Her fingers are still wrapped around an impossibly pale, marble wrist. Her free hand grabs the lapel of Rosalie's coat, holding her close. "Since when does life ever make sense?"

And Bella smells wild. Like nature and the mountains. Rich earth from deep in the forest, but the clear sharp scent of the ocean, too. She smells like a place Rosalie could get lost in. So she pushes her away instead. Yanks herself free and takes large steps back. "Leave my family alone."

Leave me alone.

"I did."

I can't.

Their staredown is broken when Alice shoulders around her sister to grab Bella's hand. She glares defiantly up at Rosalie. "I can decide who is and isn't too dangerous to be in my life. Bella is my friend. I don't want her to leave me alone."

Rosalie refuses to blink, to close her stormy eyes even for a moment. "Fine." She looks around at the others, Emmett lowering his gaze and ready to follow her lead, Edward conflicted, Jasper torn between agreeing with her and supporting his wife. "Don't come crying to me when-"

"What?" Alice snaps. Her hand is on her hip, eyebrow climbing up her forehead with more sass than anyone was expecting. "When what?"

It helps. It does. The frustration and melancholy that had weighed down her shoulders is gone, and a tentative smile slides onto Bella's face. The wolf ducks her head bashfully, squeezing Alice's hand. "Thank you," she whispers.

Alice leans against her warm wall and looks up at her. Maybe there's a moment, or potential for one, at least, but it's quashed before it has a chance to develop. Rosalie turns on her heel and is gone, cutting through the parking lot like a warrior-goddess of Fury. Students part like the Red Sea.

There's no time to even try to go over everything that happened.

"It's because I know you a little better now, isn't it?"

"For the love of God," Rosalie growls. She glares sideways at Bella, annoyed that the wolf is tall enough to match her long strides. "You have my sister, what more do you want?"

"Anything you're willing to give me."

"Leave." Though she doesn't keep poking, she doesn't leave either, and the vampire can hear the students beginning to notice. Rosalie Hale and Bella Swan walking to class together. Bella even gets the door for her. "That's quite the switch. All is forgiven so soon?" she mocks and ducks into the building.

Bella sighs but her smile is strong. "I try not to let my anger control me."

"And how is that going for you?"

"Not great, but it could be worse."

"How many times do I have to say that I actually don't care? How offensive do I have to be for you to take a hint?"

Bella snaps her fingers. "I knew it!"

"You don't know anything."

The wolf leans back against the lockers while Rosalie goes through her own, nodding to a few students who dare murmur a nervous hey, Bella around the vampire. "You're mean when you want people to back off, when they get too close, or you feel vulnerable."

"No, I'm not." The locker door swings to the side enough for Rosalie to give Bella a gruff, curious look. "Aren't you?"

A shake of the head and a shrug. "Nope, I'm a phantom. I drop off the face of the earth when I'm upset with people. I figure it spares them, especially with this new… explosive reaction."

"Does it?"

Dark eyes stare up into the fluorescent light and Rosalie marvels at the amber rings. Bella puffs out a breath. "Not sure. Sometimes people want a confrontation, you know? It might be bad, but you're there, so you must care." She shrugs again, but it's… different. Like she's trying to shrug off a memory. "I've been accused of not caring enough many, many times in life. It's not true."

"I can see that." Rosalie makes a point of closing her locker and staring at Bella, who is very much there. "Feel free to ghost away anytime now."

"Would you miss me?" The smile is charming and Rosalie's gut does something… weird.

(As much as the moon misses the sun at night.)

"Not even slightly. You're not good at the hint game."

"Or am I excellent at the unspoken version?"

"Leave. Begone. Retire. Cease and desist. I cannot possibly make it any more clear than that. I don't want you in my life."

A heartbeat passes. "Is that true?"

"Yes!" Rosalie exclaims with sheer exhaustion.

Bella watches her and it's a tense moment they have. The vampire can feel how stiff and taut her body is, knows that her entire being is pulsing with regret. But she can't make her lips move, the words won't come out. So Bella nods and shoves her hands into her pockets. "That's all I'll ever be to you. Just another wolf." She nods again, one last time, and Rosalie's fingers twitch. "Goodbye, Hale."

And the rest of Forks is oblivious as a vampire shatters in the middle of the hall while a wolf walks away.

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whaddup, dudes. Part one of... not really sure how many chapters it will be. Was supposed to be a short, little oneshot. Now it's 50k. Ah well. I'm breaking it down into chapters though. Next one will be up within a couple days, or whenever I get to editing the rest of them.