Bella's POV
Feburary 14, the worst day of the year. I hate Valentine's Day. Sure, it's great for those who have their significant other, but what about us single ones. The 'holiday' should be renamed to Singles Awareness Day. Who agrees with me? And if you have a boyfriend/girlfriend, shoot your foot and go spread your love with the Martians. It's official, this is the worst day of the year.
I groaned and dragged myself out of bed and over to my closet. I was positive that almost everyone in school would dress up for the stupid day, so I opted for casual jeans, a gray tee shirt with blue lips, and blue vintage denim converse. Just like that, I was halfway ready. Quickly, I made my way into the bathroom and went through my morning activities: brushing teeth, deodorant, washing my face, etc. For my hair, I quickly brushed it out and styled in a braid that would convientley go behind my ear if need be.
When finished, I nearly growled at the mirror. I hated myself. Hell, I was the ugliest person in Forks High. My eyes were boring brown, my mahogany hair was flat, my skin was too pale, and my face was oddly shaped. I sighed and walked out.
Walking over to my desk, I collected last night's homework and grabbed my copy of Emma off of my book shelf. It was the least recent book of the Jane Austen collection that I had read. In truth though, I had already read it 17 times. Yeah, I read a lot. But what else is there to do?
I walked downstairs and observed the living room. Charlie was already gone, and the room was a complete mess. Coats were leaning over the couches, dishes were left out from last night, old and newspapers were spread across the entire area. "Perfect." I muttered scarcatically. I groaned, knowing I'd be the one that would have to clean it. Sure, I could just leave it, but it was one of the duties I took upon myself when I moved in with Charlie.
Not long ago, I moved in with Charlie after Renee, my mother, remaired a minor league baseball player half her age. She wanted to travel with him, and I was holding her back. So I decided to spend some time with my father. I hadn't seen him since I was 12, but Renee sent him a picture every year after spring picture day. When I moved in, I took on myself a few things around the house for me to earn my keep. Charlie said it wasn't necessary, but I insisted. So, I did all the cooking and cleaning. It wasn't really hard. I enjoyed cooking, and someone had to do the laundry. Charlie had a habit of waiting until he was out of clothes before running a load. So I decided to help out.
I looked back over the room. Whatever, it could wait until I got back home from school. I walked into the kitchen and poured myself some Lucky Charms for breakfast, since I wasn't really in the mood to do anything else. After quickly checking the experation date on the milk, I poured it on top of my cereal, trying to finish it off. It expires in less than a week. After rinsing out my bowl, I quickly wrote milk on the grocery list, grabbed my backpack and keys, and headed out to my car.
I smiled when I saw it. I loved my truck. So what if it wasn't the newest car in the world? It did it's job, it got me to where I needed to be. I climbed inside and stuck the key in the ignition. After a few seconds, the old thing roared to life, and I pulled out of the driveway and started to school. I flipped through the dinosaur old radio for anything, with no avail. It didn't help that it only picked up 11 FM stations. Finally, I sighed and turned it off completely, then smirked. If there was no song on the radio, I would just use my ipod. At a stop sign, I quickly pulled out the little thing and quickly gazed through my music collection, finally deciding on Dance Floor Anthem by Good Charlotte. I smiled and softly began to sing along when it hit the chorus.
...Everybody put up your hands
Say I dont wanna be in love
I dont wanna be in love
Feel the beat now
If you've got nothing left
Say I dont wanna be in love
I dont wanna be in love
Back it up now
You've got a reason to live
Say I dont wanna be in love
I dont wanna be in love
Feelin' good now
Dont be afraid to get down
Say I dont wanna be in love
I dont wanna be in love...
I smiled contently. This was one of my favorite songs.
After about 10 minutes driving, I pulled into the school parking lot. It was full of students chatting, with only 10 minutes until the bell would ring. Quickly, I pulled into my usual parking spot. I grabbed my bag and climbed out. I hadn't been outside for 15 seconds before I saw Mike Newton joging up to my car. I held in a groan. "Hi Bella." he said. I faked a smile and nodded. "Happy Valentine's Day!" I nodded again, trying my best to keep a bored expression off my face. I had a feeling I was failing.
"Any plans for today? Plan on spending it with anyone." he asked, trying to pry whether I had liked anyone or not. Well I definitley won't be spending it with you, that's for sure. I just shook my head no. "Me neither. I can't seem to find the right girl." Shut up. "I guess that means today we can stick it out together, then." he said with a smile. It'll be a cold day in hell the day I spend any more than manditory time with you. "Actually, I plan on spending the day with Emma." I said with a smile. "Who's Emma?" I smirked and fished in my back pack for my book. He let out an 'oh' when I showed him, then waved by and walked back over his friends.
My eyes scanned the parking lot for familiar faces. Instantly, they landed on a damn shiny Volvo. There, leaning against the door, Edward Cullen was starring at me. I glarred in response. Edward was here on my first day. For some reason, he acted like a complete prick and brushed me off. When I sat down, he inched away, and his fingers clenched the bottom of the table infront of us. The entire time, whenever he'd look at me, it'd be with so much hate that it was fightening. When the bell rang, he took off like a horse out gate. He just couldn't wait to get away from me. Then he was gone for a week, and out of nowhere appears again. Every since then he's been bipolar. One day he'll ask me questions and act decent, then the next I get the cold shoulder. After he saved me from getting squashed by Tyler Crowley's van, he became completely unaware of my exsistence. So I decided, if he would ignore me, I would ignore him. It was a two way street. Now he was currently in the stage of trying to talk with me again, but I can hold onto a grudge for forever, and still snub him. Besides, as soon as I drop it, he'll go back to ignoring me.
With nothing better to do, I leaned against my truck and opened the book. Emma wasn't my favorite Jane Austen book, no, that would be Pride and Prejustice, but it was still a good book. About my 3rd favorite, if I had to put them in order. In the very first sentence of the book, Jane Austen introduces the title character as "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich." Emma, however, is also rather spoiled; she greatly overestimates her own matchmaking abilities; and she is blind to the dangers of meddling in other people's lives and is often mistaken about the meanings of others' actions. Eventually, everything works out, and she ends up marying Mr George Knightley, he old friend and neighbor.
I had just barely begun chapter 2 when the bell rang, signalling classes. I sighed and pack away my book, promising to pull it out later. I swiftly walked down the hall to my first class, along with everyone else. Nobody wanted to get caught still lingering in the halls, or else you got detention for a week. Along with the crowd, I entered homeroom and took my seat at the window. Soon Ms. Cambell entered.
"Good morning class." she said cheerfully. "Happy Valentine's Day." Like all the others, go share your cheer with the Martians. "I do believe that the principle has something to say. He should be starting any time now." Perfect.
After about a minute, you could here shuffling from the speakers, signaling that he was getting prepared for his announcement.
"Good morning studens, and happy Valentine's Day. All throught the day our messenger will be giving out candy grams that students sent to others, also roses and chocolates. Another thing, when I was younger, we had Hearts On Sleeves. All the girls will get a heart taped to their arm, and a boy will sign it, you becoming his valentine. Remember, you can only sign one heart! Teachers, please place the hearts on students now. Thank you. Everyone have a wonderful day!"
Beautiful, fucking beautiful. As if this day didn't suck enough. As our teacher taped the heart to my arm, I saw a few boys turn in their seats to look at me. Oh hell no. I would have to protect my arm from bastard boys. There was no way anyone here was getting to sign my heart. Suddenly I came up with a genius idea. Quicky, I grabbed my bag and started to dig around frantically. I smirked in satasfaction when I found what I wanted. Before any of the boys could get ideas, I pulled out my black sweater and quickly threw it over my head. I smirked in satasfaction when I looked at my arm and the heart was nowhere in sight. Try to sign it now, dickheads.
I smirked again when I noticed all the disappointed boys' faces. Yep, I was not available. The only thing about the sweater was I would have to wear it all day, and was likely to get hot. Oh well, it was worth it. None of these bastards were getting anywhere my heart. The rest of class was completely boring. Every now and then some idiot would look back and see if I had removed my sweater. Never gonna happen today, buddy. Ugh, I will be so relieved when the day was over. Come on, hearts on sleeves? What idiot came up with that idea?
Suddenly the candy gram guy walked into the room. I silently prayed nothing would be for me. But just my luck, I managed to get more than anyone else in the class. I got a dozen roses, two chocolate boxes, and about twenty little lollie pops, and the most interesting, Dean Chocolate Bars. Yum. They were my favorite, but you could only get them in Japan. It was basically a dark chocolate bar about the size of three Kit-Kats, with either peanuts or cookie balls. I looked at the packaging to find out which. Though I couldn't understand Japanese for the life of me, I had taught myself the name of the candy and the words 'peanuts' and 'cookie balls'. Ooh, double yum, it's the cookie balls. But who the hell knew it was my favorite, much less how to get it? I had searched. Since it had to be imported, it was 26.95 for one chocolate bar. Needless to say, I didn't buy it.
I decided there was no need to let the candy go to waste or melt, so I quietly opened the box and broke off a piece of chocolate. Yum, so good. God bless the Japanese and their wonderful candy makers. All through class I snuck quick and silent pieces of chocolate. I couldn't help it, it was too good. Damn and bless whoever got me this. It wasn't good anyone knew my weakness, but at this moment I was really grateful to that person. When it was time for our next class, I had devoured over half of the candy bar.
Wherever I walked in the halls, boy's eyes fell to my arm. I had a smug smirk on my face, so glad I had thought of this. "Hey Bella." Mike said while joging up to me. What, too cool to walk? His eyes fell to my arm and smile faultered. I smirked again, really, really glad I had my sweater. I'd have any of the homeroom boys sign it before him. Hell, I would let pretty much anybody sign before Mike.
"So how was homeroom?" he asked, clearly trying to start a conversation. "Fine." I said with a small smile hoping he'd leave me alone. Why could boys not take the hint? "Was it cold?" he asked, while eyeing my arm again. I nearly laughed out loud. "Yeah. I felt a chill, so I pulled out my sweater. I'll probably keep it on all day." He was no longer smiling. Like earlier, he just said 'oh' and walked away. I smiled. Hopefully that meant he would leave me alone for the rest of the day.
In every period up until lunch, I kept recieving glances from boys, and glares from girls. Luckily, some girls did have names on their hearts, so that was just a few less boys I'd have to worry about. Maybe if I get lucky Mike will sign Jessica's. Then I might actually be able to take off the sweater. After all, you could only sign one heart. When it was finally time for lunch, I walked into the cafeteria to find it bussily chatting away, no doubt about the stupid Hearts On Sleeves or how many valentines they got. The thought was sickening.
I sat down in my usual seat next to Angela. She seemed awful peppy. I wondered what happened to her. But then she rotated and I could see her heart. In clear, big letters, was the name BEN. I smiled and congraduated her. She had been crushing on Ben all last semster, but hadn't had the guts to actually ask him out. While she chatted away about how it happened, I scaned everyone else's arms. A lot of girls had freshman's names on their arms, clearly a surprise attack. Freshman were sneaky because they had to be. Unless a freshman herself, no girl would willingly allow a freshman to sign her heart. Well, that just means theres a lot less for me to deal with. I looked over the hearts again and frowned. Nowhere did I see Mike, Tyler, or Eric. Damnit, I was hoping they'd sign someone by lunch.
Jessica's and Lauren's hearts had yet to be sign, so they were glarring at me. I knew each were hoping Mike and Tyler would sign their arms. Well, they would be settling for it. If any girl got to choose anybody to sign their heart, I'd be one of the Cullen boys. There's Emmett, the giant one with dark hair and dimples, Jasper, the blonde one who looks as if he's in pain, and Edward, the freakin bronze haired god. They were all extermely handsome, and any girl would just about die on the spot if she saw their name on her arm, except me. But first they'd have to get through Rosalie and Alice. Rosalie was dating Emmett, and was a really intimadating, drop dead beautiful blonde, while Alice was a small, pixie like girl who looks like she'd wrestle you over shoes any day. She was dating Jasper. Going back to the shoe comment, I could totally see her taking down a group of girls for the latest Gucci heel. Man I'd love to get that on tape.
With nothing else to do, and so I won't get pulled into the stupid gossip of who signed who's heart, I pulled out Emma again and started up where I left off. I managed to get through fifteen minutes of reading before someone directly spoke to me. "Why are you wearing a sweater, Bella?" Jessica asked. "I got cold." I replied, not taking my eyes off the page. "But the sweater covers up your heart. How is anyone suppose to sign it?" They're not. I smiled smugly and flipped to the next page. After another twenty-five minutes of reading, the bell rang. Sadly, I had to put away my book.
Biology's next, perfect. Biology was the class that I had to sit next to the moody god. Seriously, either ignore me or talk with me, not both. I walked silently to class with Mike right behind me. And for once, I didn't feel as if his eyes were burning a hole in my ass. No, no. This time it was my arm; like he actually thought he had lazer vision and could cut fabric. Loser. Well, at least me sitting next to Edward means I can't be next to Mike.
When we arrived, Edward was already in his seat, like always. I quickly walked over and sat down, happy to be away from Mike. "Hello Bella." his velvet voice said. I ignored him and starred straight forward. Like I said, I could hold a mean grudge. If you could help it, it was best to not piss me off. "Are you still ignoring me?" he asked. "Are you still ignoring me?" I shot back quickly, more venom in my voice than meant. He looked away, and I took that as my answer. "I'm sorry if it seems I've been ignoring you-" I scoffed. "But for your best interest, I'd be better if we weren't friends." I rolled my eyes.
"Fine then, just leave me alone. I can't stand your bipolarness, Edward. Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to have you act normal one day, and the next one brush me off like I'm invisible?" I asked.
"I'm sorry."
"Whatever."
For the rest of class I didn't look at or speak to Edward, but I could feel his gaze on me. Thank god Mr Banner had us work as singles instead of partners, that way I wouldn't have to look at him. As soon as the bell rang, I was out of the class faster than Edward on my first day. Unfortunately, in my haste, I left my bag. Embarrassed, I made my way back into the room to retrieve it. Edward looked amused; he still hadn't moved from his spot. I glared and grabbed my bag, before quickly twirling around. Once again, being to egar, I ran into the edge of the desk. "Ow, ow! Damnit!" I cursed under my breath. Not wanting to see Edward's facial expression now more than ever, I hobbled my way out of the room with my good leg. Why is everything working against me? It was official, both animate and inanimate objects hated me.
I just had two classes left in the day, then an elective, and after that I was home free. I could do this. Quietly and quickly, I made my way to Spanish. I arrived five minutes late due to my injury. Ms Gonzalez was kind enough to let it slide and signaled for me to take my seat. I quickly did so. Though I may not know Japanese, Spanish was a cinch. I had studied the languege over the summer so I could say I was bilingual, and had kept it up all through the school year, so when I transfered, I was already ahead. Ms Gonzalez asked me a few questions in Spanish, but I responded perfectly and she let me be. When class was over, I slowly dragged my feet to gym. I loathed physical education. If I got one wish, I would wish for it's cancelation.
All to quickly, I arrived at the place that was determined to put me six feet under. I'm serious. I've aquired so many injuries here it's not funny. It's like the walls were cursed to bring me pain. And Coach Clapp didn't help stupid asshole just didn't understand the fact that I was accident prone, and shouldn't be aloud to participate. Apparently, it's "manditory". One of these days I'm going to meet the man who made said torture manditory in a long, dark alley. If it was the president, at least I would go out swinging. We were split in teams of two for basketball. Another unfortunate event, even in my gym clothes, I was starting to overheat in my sweater. Reluctantly, I removed the sweater and exposed my arm. Immediately boys' eyes fell to my unsigned arm. Fantastic.
Luckily, no one could sign a heart in the middle of a basketball game, so I was safe for now. Lauren started to beat me brutally. As if I needed help falling on the ground, she purposly shoved me to the ground with her back. What is up with these psycho bitches? I glanced at her arm. Still no name. She was angry that Tyler had yet to sign her heart. But, on the bright side, Mike had broken down and signed Jessica's. He was just one less moron I had to worry about. Somehow, they ended up combining Sophomore and Juinor PE together, and a whole new load of boys searched for unmarked hearts. Lovely, just lovely. All through gym I had to be conscious of all the sneaky boys with sharpies. They were very sly, and sometimes you didn't notice them until they were a few feet away from you. At the end of gym, I took off to the locker room, happy to be out of sight for the boys.
While changing, I realized in horror that I had left my sweater in the gym. When I walked back in, there seemed to be about seven boys waiting around it. I cussed under my breath when I accidently tripped over air. How is that even possible? All their heads snapped in my direction. There was a chorus of "Hey Bella" circulating from them as they stood up. A sophomore grabbed my sweater. "Here's your sweater." he said while walking forward. I could see the edge of a sharpie peaking out of his front pocket. "That's ok. I have to, uhm... go." I said before turning around and all but sprint out of there.
I ran down the halls in school, looking for a place to hide, finally spying the door to the music room. Without hesitation, I ran inside and locked the door. With a heavy sigh, I stood still and allowed my heart to return to regular pace. "Hiding?" a voice came from behind me. I spun around within a second to see Edward sitting at a piano. I nodded and walked over to him slowly. "Who's chasing you?" he asked. I groaned. "Some sophomores and a few juinors. They have my sweater. I had to take it off for gym, and when I finished changing back into my regular clothes, I went back in to find a group of seven waiting for my return. I took off when they started coming closer. All of them either had a sharpie in hand or in their pocket." He just laughed then glanced at my arm.
"They all want to sign." it was more of a statement than a question. I nodded.
I ran my fingers across the top of the piano. "You play?" I asked. Edward nodded. "Could you play something for me?" I so subtley hinted. He laughed, but proceeded to play the most beautiful symphony I had ever heard. Certianly it wasn't from Beethoven or Debussy. No, this far suppressed their abilities. It was if he had learned to play from the angels. The symphony was like a lullaby. It started off soft and sweet, but then picked up pace and became more frantic, in the end it slowed back to it's original pace from the begining, and ended on one final sweet note. I was certain I was starring at him with awe in my eyes.
"Did you write that?" I asked, barely able to obtain my voice. He nodded. "That was... amazing, absolutely beautiful. How on earth did you come with it?" I asked. He smiled. "I got... inspired recently. I haven't played in a while." he said. "Well that's just wrong. You're robbing people of your talent. Edward, you clearly have a gift, why waste it?" I asked. He smiled and laughed. "You think too highly of me. I'm not that wonderful." I shook my head no furiously. "Your more than wonderful. That was the, most amazing thing I have ever heard." "Thank you." he said before mumbling something incomprehensible.
Another thought occured to me. Here we were, talking like regular people. Why did this seem so impossible for him on a normal occasion? Why would, most likely, the next time I see him he'll be cold and harsh again? It didn't make sense, and I hated it. "Edward," he turned to face me, "look at us. Were here talking like regular people would. Like friends. Why is it so impossible to keep it this way? Why are you so bipolar? If it's a disease, I can deal, but if your acting like an asshole on purpose, you're about to make me combust!"
"I'm sorry if it seems that way. I said it was best if we weren't friends, not that I didn't want to be. If you were smart you'd stay away from me." I rolled my eyes. "Well lets just say for argument's sake that I'm not smart; then what?"
I never got an answer, because just then I heard the locked door knob giggle, and saw one of my admirars on the other side. I dove behind the piano, and signaled for Edward to get the hell out of eye sight. He laughed, but joined me on the floor. I glared at him before rotating my head and body to the door. The kid had just given up, and was leaving. I let out a sigh of relief and rested my head against the back of the piano. After a second, I glanced at Edward. He looked highly entertained. I glared again. "It's not funny!" I hissed. He shook his head and stood up, then extended his hand out to me. I took it and he pulled me to my feet. Have I mentioned the Cullens are all absolutely freezing?
"What are you going to do about you sweater?" he asked. I sighed. " I have no clue. I think I can survive one more period without it, but it will be uncomfortable."
"Perhaps I can go get it for you?" he asked. My eyes widened and I smiled. "Yes please!" He laughed. "Just stay here." I nodded. Then he turned and walked out the door.
While waiting for him to return with my sweater, I sat down at the piano and tried to remember a tune I had learned. I had forgoten the name, but had the sound freshly in my mind as I experiminted with the keys, eventually finding the right ones. But the song was frustrating me. As soon as I'd find the right note, when I played, I normally missed the note. In annoyance, I stopped playing for a moment and rested my hands on the keys. Suddenly, cold, smooth hands appeared over mine. His hands guided mine along gently to the correct notes and lightly pressed down until I remembered enough to do it on my own.
"How long have you been there?" I asked. How long have you been listening to me screw up the song? "Not very long; about two minutes." Well at least he missed the horrible sounds from the begining. "You're not half bad. I could teach you, if you'd like." he offered. "No thank you. That was the only song I learned, and I don't feel like butchering another one." he laughed. "You didn't butcher it. So you hit a few rough spots, big deal. Everyone does." "If by a few, you mean every note, then yes, I hit a few rough spots." he shook his head. "Here's your sweater." he said while handing it to me. I muttered thanks before throwing it on. Soon after, I made my way out of the music room.
My elective period was alright, and since I had it with Lauren, I noticed that Tyler finally just signed her arm. I smiled to myself. As soon as it was over I walked out quickly to my car and climbed in, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. I had survived the day, though I thought it was impossible. Smugly, I smild as I thought of the fact that no dickheads signed my heart. In high spirits, I drove home.
When I got there, I quickly pulled off my bag and sweater before taking them to my room and tossing them on my bed. Then I went back downstairs and started to attack the mess in the living room. All in all, the entire room took my two hours to clean. When I glanced at the clock, it read four pm. I better get started with dinner. Looking for something easy, I pulled out noodles, chicken, carrots, and a crock pot for chicken soup. That sounded good right now. As soon as I had everything prepared, I threw it all in and turned the crock pot onto low before walking in the direction of my room. However, I stopped in my tracts when I passed a mirror.
There, on my stupid little heart ---the one I thought was still blank--- written in black pen, was the name Edward. That catty bastard! I glared at the heart in the mirror. It must have happened while we were in the music room, but I never felt the pressure on my arm. He was good.
Well played Edward Cullen, well played.
I pealed off the heart and returned to my room. Debating on whether to rip it to sherds or not, I finally set it down on my copy of Pride and Prejudice that layed on my desk. Then yet another thing occured to me. Edward was like my own personal Mr Darcy. He seemed harsh and cold at first, but was gradually growing on me. And I'll admit that some of my first impressions of him were wrong and a bit judgy.
"What's next? A marriage proposal?" I muttered scarcastically as I starred at the book.
If only...
Hi guys! Happy Valentine's Day! Gah, this is like my least favorite holiday. So, whatcha think? I think I did good, but could have done better. I also think the ending was a little rushed, but I'm tired and wanted to finish this. Any favorite parts? Lines, pharagraphs, quotes, etc? Please tell what you think! My last one-shot did amazing with reviews, and I'd be really greatful if this one did just as well. :) So press the little gray and green button down there please!