Chapter Text
“Up or down?” Alice asks, holding my hair up in different directions.
“A braid,” I yawn. It's too early for this,
“No,” Alice sneers, and I lean forward, planting my elbows on the bathroom sink and sigh. Alice has been doing my hair every day since school started. Three weeks into my sophomore year, and I haven't been allowed to touch my hair once.
“I let you curl, pin, and updo my hair since school started; can't we just do a braid?” Alice purses her lips and looks away in deep thought,
“Alice!” Esme calls from her bedroom. Esme and Carlisle have the biggest bathroom in the house, complete with its own little vanity setup. Every morning, Alice drags me out of bed and into their bathroom to play hairdresser. If Esme doesn't join us, she usually sits on her bed reading a book until we're done and then heads downstairs to make breakfast.
“Okay, one more day with it down and curled, and then tomorrow I'll put it in a French braid?”
I look at her hopeful face and roll my eyes. “Fine.”
She smiles, plunging the curling iron in and grabbing a few clips. “What are you wearing today?”
I yawn again, reaching forward to turn the cold water on. “Jeans, green and gold tank top, brown jacket.”
Alice hums while sectioning off my hair, “How about Chanel flats?”
“Adidas sneakers,” I answer, splashing my hands before placing them on my eyes in hopes of waking up. I hear Alice grumble behind me, “You can pick out jewelry.” I compromise, watching Alice perk up. The last thing I want is for her to be angry with me while she holds a hot iron to my head.
“You need to start going to bed earlier.” Alice chides, starting her crazy curling escapade,
“I wanted to finish The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
“Marceline Ann, I told you to put that book down last night.” Esme chides, stepping into the bathroom. Crap, I forgot she was so close,
“I wanted to find out what happened to Esmerelda.”I slump forward on the sink with a frown.
“Was it worth it?” Esme frowns with disapproval,
“No,” I look away from her reflection in the mirror to my hands,
“You could have just asked; I would have told you she died.” Alice sings as if my heart wasn't ripped out of my chest only five hours ago.
“Disney's a liar,” I grumble,
“Bed, 9 tonight, no books, no T.V.” Esme orders, her hand coming to rest under my chin. She waits until Alice pulls the curling iron away to turn my face to hers. “Understand?”
“Yes,” She lets go and nods, letting Alice take down the last section of hair to curl,
“You must be finished with it.” Alice grabs another piece of hair and quickly places my hair in the clamp
“No, I'm going to try to use my study hall to get it done.” It was only two weeks ago that my elective English class, Classic Novels, assigned the Victor Hugo novel. It was hard to get into, but this last week is where it picked up, and I haven't been able to put it down.
Everything has been going okay so far, but it’s never long until I remember that this is the year Bella shows up, and immediately the anxiety hits, and I don't know how to feel. The only one in the house who knows is Edward, and that's because with him around there's no such thing as privacy.
“Done!” Alice cheers, dropping the last curl in front of my face, and gasses me with a good dose of hairspray,
“Thank you.” I push the vanity chair back and get to my feet. I kiss Esme on the cheek before exiting the bathroom to head to my room,
“Don't lie down this time; the curls need to set.” I mouth the words, annoyed as she shouts them. She says this every morning. Lay down once and flatten one side, and I never hear the end of it.
“She's done?” Edward asks when I enter the hallway leading to our two rooms,
“For now, can I ride with you today?”
Edward lifts a brow, “You tell Rosalie?” Rosalie's been driving me to school since it started, but today I want Edward's company,
“She'll be fine.”
…
“She was mad, wasn't she?” Edward asks from the driver's side of his Volvo,
“She wasn't.......Emmett was.”
Edward nods, “Explains why he's staring at us.” Rose and Emmett left first, but unlike every morning when they speed to school, they've decided to drive idly in front of us with Emmett staring at us from the back window.
“He said you were boring and moody.”
“I'm not moody.” He rolls his eyes, and I smirk, leaning back to stare out the window. “Why did you want to drive with me anyway?”
I shrug, “Just wanted a chill drive, is that a crime?” I turn to Edward, his chuckle an unwelcome noise in the small car,
“No, but lying is.”
“I'm not lying,” I quickly defend, only to be met with Edward's unserious look....I hate that look. “Maybe I missed you; who knows.” I cross my arms, leaning back with a scowl,
“I haven't gone anywhere.” Edward's brows lift in curiosity, and my scowl deepens,
“Not yet.” An uncomfortable silence fills the small space, and I watch as Edward's grip tightens on the steering wheel.
“You're talking about the book, aren't you?”
“No,” I say it a little too quickly to be believable,
“You've been thinking about it since school started-”
“Stop reading my mind!” I snap
“Then stop thinking about it.” He snaps back, and once again we both fall into loud silence that doesn't end until Edward pulls into his normal parking spot,
“Mare-”
“Thanks for the ride.” I quickly get out of the car only to run face-first into Emmett's chest,
“So was it better than our rides?”
I groan, pushing him away. “I'll ride home with you,” I grumble, walking right past both him and Rose,
“What happened?” Rose hisses in Edward's direction; however, I don't stick around long enough to hear his reply.
…
“You've been in a bad mood all morning; could you please dial it back for lunch?” Cody all but demands as we sit down.
“I'm not in a bad mood.”
She rolls her eyes, “Alright.”
“I'm not,” I smile. She sees right through it, instead choosing to look over at “The Cullens” table. Unlike last year, when Carlisle was able to ask for my lunch to be without the others, it was left to chance this time, and... chance sucks, as I ended up with all my siblings, both this semester and next. However, so did my friends, so it's not all bad,
“Did you fight with Edward?” I'm shocked at this and lean back,
“How... how did you know?”
She picks up an apple from her lunch tray and takes a bite. “He's staring at you.”
I stiffen before slowly turning to his table, only to find she's right. “Stop!” I mouth, only for him to smile back. I quickly turn away just as Alex and Todd sit down.
“Talking about Cullens' foul mood,” Alex grumbles,
“Yes,” Kody answers,
“No!” I look between the two. “I'm not in a mood!”
“You yelled at me in English, and all I asked is who Esmerelda ends up with?”
“She dies!” I shout, only for the whole table to go quiet. “What!”
“You didn't have to spoil the whole book,” Alex whines,
“Wait, that's not how the Disney version ended,” Kody practically drops her apple at the revelation.
I reach forward and grasp her shoulder. “Disney lies.” She sighs, reaching for her pizza. I grab my own bagged lunch and pull out the sandwich Esme made for me this morning,
“Wait...how does she die?” I open my mouth when something sharp hits me in the back of the head,
“Ow,” I grab the back of my head, finding something tangled in the curls of my hair. I pull it out, finding a small, round, wet, crumpled piece of paper.....a spitball? I turn immediately, finding the only table I know is immature enough to do something like this. Tandy waves at me, a smile on her face and a straw in hand, everyone around her laughing. You've got to be kidding me!!
“What are you five?” Kody scoffs, only for Tandy to make a crying face,
Tandy has made it very clear this year that she does not care anymore; she's going to make my life miserable no matter who's watching, even when it's Rose, who drops her history textbooks on her table. The loud and sudden noise, along with the look she gives Tandy, immediately causes their table to quiet down and look away. I turn back, tossing the spitball on the ground, and reach for the hand sanitizer clipped on the side of my lunch box,
“I wish a girl was as obsessed with me as Tandy is as obsessed with you,” Todd mutters sadly, looking at his lunch like it's the last meal he'll ever eat. I roll my eyes,
“Take her.”
He looks up, offended. “No.”
“I'd rather eat worms than have a girl like Tandy obsessed with me.” Alex smiles at me,
“Eww, Alex, I'm eating.” Kody groans. He frowns,
“Sorry,” I smile back at him, nudging Kody with my shoulder, but she's made it clear this conversation is over. Alex seems shyer this year, more reserved, and for some reason Kody has taken personal offense to it. I reach over, patting his arm.
“Stop!” Kody bumps my shoulder. I sigh, reaching into my lunch as the rest of the table falls into silence.
...
“Mare, if she bothers you anymore, you need to let me know immediately,” Rose demands from the front seat. I can hear the leather on the steering wheel start to squeak under the pressure from her grip,
“She's just being childish, Rose; you don't have to worry.” I sigh, leaning forward to flick Emmett's ear; he turns with a scowl,
“How dare she mess with you right in front of me? She doesn't know who she's messing with; I'll bury her six feet under. I don't even have to spill her blood, just watch; I've done it once, I'll do it again.”
“That's concerning,” I note, leaning out of the way when Emmett reaches for my arm. I stick my tongue out at him. He frowns before reaching down to unbuckle his seatbelt.
“Emmett, seatbelt, Mare, stop it.” Immediately we follow her demands. “I mean, seriously,” Rose whispers, “Who does she think she is? She's probably feeling brave now that her brother's back at rehab.” I lean forward, grabbing the back of her seat,
“He's back at rehab?”
“A nice one in Seattle.” Emmett shrugs, turning back to face me,
“How do you know about this and I don't?”
“I overheard Carlisle telling Esme; apparently he helped get him into it.”
I lean back, “That's very.....Carlisle,” I groan,
Rose growls, “I'm going straight to that fancy rehab and dragging him out.”
“Chill, Babe,” Emmett laughs only to begin coughing when Rose sends him a glare that could absolutely kill a regular human man, “I mean....it's not his fault his sister's a bit-” another glare “witch.”
“Trust me, Rose, she doesn't bother me; there's nothing she can do.” I hear the leather groan under her grip again,
“She better not bother you again.”
“She won't.”
…
Tandy does indeed bother me. She's smart to do it when Rose isn't around and keeps it pretty petty, but it is getting to a point where it's just downright annoying. We share two classes together, and this whole week she's refusing to hand me worksheets when they're passed around, and she makes it a point to purposely bump me in the hallway. Everything comes to a standstill on Wednesday when Tandy stops in front of my locker, stepping in front of Kody to halt our conversation,
“Your freaky family doesn't scare me.” I raise a brow,
“I don't think I'm the one with the freaky family,” her jaw ticks.
“Tell your family to stop staring at me!”
I shrug, tossing the braid I’ve made Alice do all week over my shoulder, “Stop being freaky then.” I close my locker before reaching forward to grab Kody's wrist and pull her along to 9th period.
“I swear to god if she had heat vision, both of us would be dead,” She giggles,
“Thank god Kryptonians aren't real.”
…
It's at the end of the day when Kody and I are talking that I find Edward waiting by his car. I haven't ridden with him since he brought up the book, and I don't know if I plan to. As per Kody and my ritual, we usually end up talking at the pickup zone until her dad's jeep pulls in, and then we both part ways.
“Still not riding with him?” Kody asks, looking behind me at Edward's car. I follow her eyes. At least Edward's not staring at me instead; he's looking at something in his car,
“I know he doesn't look like it, but he talks too much on the way home.” I lie, and Kody laughs,
“Ya, okay,” her eyes catch something, and her lips fall into a frown, “Tandy's walking this way.” She grabs my arms and turns my back towards her, “Just ignore her.”
“Hard to when her ego takes up the whole school,”
“Her head too,” Kody laughs,
“And h-” My head is suddenly wrenched back when someone grips my braid and tugs down hard,
“Woah-” Kody jumps back,
“Don't ever talk about my family again,” Tandy hisses in my ear. The sound of her voice is like rusty scissors trying to cut through cardboard... no, it's actually scissors.....cutting through...The pressure on my braid releases, and I turn my head just as Tandy walks past me, bumping my arm hard as she passes,
“What the hell was that?” Kody scowls at her before giving her the finger. “I swear we....Oh, my god?” Kody's eyes widen when she turns back to me,
“What?” She doesn't say anything; instead, she steps to the side and looks behind me. I furrow my brows, turning to find where her eyes are looking...that's when I spot it... the last seven inches of my braided hair, lying on the ground.