Chapter Text
Thursday March 10
“Bells, can I ask you something and you be completely honest with me?”
“Sure, Dad,” Bella said absently as she packed her books and homework in her backpack. She rolled her eyes at the stack of college applications that Edward brought her last night. She only resisted from throwing them in the garbage for Charlie’s sake.
“Have you gotten involved with some sort of Pagan witchcraft voodoo nonsense?”
“What?” Bella’s head snapped up from where she’d been carefully making sure her English essay didn’t get crumpled in her bag. She looked at Charlie’s entirely serious, if a little uncomfortable, face and felt her heart rate pick up. “What makes you ask that?”
Charlie fidgeted in his seat at the old and worn kitchen table they shared at breakfast and dinner. “I… uh, I went to put your basket of clothes in your room, and I found… a book on your dresser.”
Bella tried to think of what book on her dresser would have her dad talking about witchcraft. She had a few Jane Austen novels, her faded copy of Romeo and Juliet, and…
And a book she borrowed from her best friend.
‘A History of Magic’, complete with a pentagram carved on the front of the leather bound book.
“Uh…” Bella hesitated as she tried to explain without divulging a lot of dangerous secrets to her dad. Actually, she didn’t need to explain, just shift the blame on to Charlie’s favorite person. “That’s Harry’s, he loaned it to me.”
Like magic, no pun intended, Charlie looked suddenly thoughtful instead of uncomfortable.
“Is Harry into that Pagan crap?” he asked. He stroked his mustache and screwed his eyes up. “I think there’s a service for it in Seattle, we don’t have anything like that here.”
Sure.
If Bella was into ‘Pagan nonsense’, Charlie didn’t approve. But if Harry was into it, Charlie would probably offer to drive him to services and sit by him the whole time.
“I don’t think Harry’s a Pagan, Dad,” Bella told him without the roll of her eyes that she wanted to add. “He just has weird reading habits, I guess.”
“Humph.” Charlie nodded, his thoughtful look relaxing as he was clearly relieved to not have to suffer through ‘Pagan crap’ from his favorite citizen of Forks.
And yes, Bella was totally fine with Harry eclipsing her for that title. Well, if not totally fine then at least completely accepting of it.
“Well you remind Harry that he’s supposed to be studying that book I gave him,” Charlie said. “I’m gonna catch a lot of flack about hiring someone under 21, it’ll look better if he’s knowledgeable about the whole operation.”
Bella mentally corrected that to: it’ll look less like the blatant favoritism that it is.
Bella glanced at the clock and figured she had a minute to toy with Charlie before she really had to get going to school. “Harry wants to be an EMT, Dad,” she grinned. “He doesn’t want to fight bad guys, he wants to help people… and drive fast,” she added.
She hadn’t told Charlie about her little adventure to the ER, nor did she tell him about her trip to Italy. As far as Charlie was aware, Bella was camping with Harry last week. And that was the way she wanted it to stay.
That did not mean that she forgot the way Harry sounded so excited when they rode in the ambulance though.
“Bells! Why didn’t you say so?” Charlie looked excited instead of upset, like Bella thought he would. “The fire department needs new guys! I think they have a class starting in May! Oh!” Charlie’s joy seemed to grow as he had a sudden idea. “Why don’t you both take the class?” he asked. “Think about it, Bells, it’d be great training for you and then you guys would respond to some of the same calls I do.”
Well now Bella felt guilty as she had to gently burst his bubble. Her and Charlie didn’t have any similar hobbies- she liked to read and spend time with her mythical creatures that she calls friends and Charlie liked to fish and watch college basketball.
“Dad,” Bella gave him a pitying look, “me and blood? Do you really think that’s a good idea? I’d just end up a patient on our first call.”
“Oh.” Charlie deflated once more. “You’re right,” he gave her a small grin. “I forgot about how much you hate blood.”
For now.
Because in six months, Bella would be craving blood above anything else.
Not that she’d be telling Charlie that though.
“I gotta go,” Bella said after checking the time again. She gave Charlie a quick peck on the cheek, feeling more sentimentally fond of him than usual. “I’ll see you tonight, we’ll have fish or something for just the two of us, okay?”
Charlie brightened at that just as she figured he would. “No Edward tonight?” he asked as subtly as a raging bull. “Thought he might hang around like he used to before he moved…”
Bella did finally roll her eyes as she snagged her jacket off the counter and pulled it on. “We’re on a… break,” she said carefully. “For creative differences.”
Charlie’s dark eyes were glittering with amusement and a bit of approval. “Good for you, Bells. If he’s not willing to work his ass off for you, then he’s not worth it.”
“Yes, Dad,” Bella laughed. She grabbed her keys and slung her bag over her shoulder. “Love you, see you tonight.”
“Love you too, kiddo.”
Bella drove her truck to school, absently singing along with the newly reinstalled radio.
It was a good radio. Emmett and Rosalie had given it to her on what she had dubbed the ‘birthday from hell’. Bella pried it out of her truck when she couldn’t stand to listen to it anymore, but Edward had repaired and replaced it last weekend when they hung out for a little while.
And of course that thought turned into Bella thinking about what to do about Edward…
She knew she loved him.
She knew he loved her.
But he also left her, made her feel like crap, and then tried to kill himself when he thought Bella was dead.
Not to mention he was rude as hell to her best friend and probably hadn’t even apologized. Harry had made a few jabs at Edward too, but since Edward started it then Bella couldn’t be too mad at Harry for it.
The morning after they all got back from Volterra, which had been a terrifying experience that Bella never wanted to repeat, Bella told Edward that he was on probation and he asked her what that was supposed to mean.
She actually wasn’t sure, but she knew that it meant they were on a break at a minimum while he thought about his actions. She also warned him that just because she was joining his family didn’t have to mean that she would do it as his girlfriend.
Bella grinned when she remembered the threat she’d made.
‘Harry has a lot of wizard friends, and they live for a really long time. I’m sure they wouldn’t run off and dump me ‘for my own safety’.’
And, in her defense, Harry’s friend, George Weasley, was really cute and funny and charming.
She loved Edward, her entire being loved Edward, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have to face the repercussions for his actions, just as Jasper did for leaving Harry.
Bella automatically looked around the parking lot as she carefully maneuvered her truck into a spot and frowned when she saw Edward’s Volvo and no motorcycle or flashy new car.
“Where’s Harry?” Bella asked Alice as she joined the two vampires waiting for her under the awning out of the rain.
“I’m not sure,” Alice hummed as she casually linked arms with Bella. “He’ll be here by lunch though.”
Bella had long since accepted Alice’s abilities to see in the future- as long as Jacob’s pack wasn’t in that future and Harry wasn’t actively casting magic.
She had also accepted Alice’s constant casual touches, something she and Harry bonded over merely tolerating instead of actively seeking it out. She also accepted the fact that Alice was probably her second best friend and it made her happy to walk with their arms linked. She had been hurt when Alice left her without a word, but she also knew that if she had a real sibling, instead of only a faux-brother in Harry, then she would stand by their side no matter what.
Or, comparing it to Bella’s actual relationship with Harry, she could see how Alice would stay with Edward in self-declared exile when Bella herself stayed with Harry all through magic-jail.
“Did you not text him?” Edward asked as the three of them made their way inside.
“I can’t,” Bella said, calmly, if not a little irritably. “I broke my phone when Harry and I got in that wreck. Or…” Bella looked around and saw that nobody was paying them any mind. “I guess Harry technically blew it up when he caught his car on fire.”
Psychopath that he was.
Bella loved Harry; Harry was the brother she’d always wanted. Harry was loyal and fun and empathetic and just everything a best friend should be.
But Harry was also borderline insane. Which was fun, but also terrifying when he was the one driving or planning things.
Edward hummed and his eyes gained a little spark of something in them while his lips flattened. Bella could guess what the look was for, and so she channeled her own irritated look.
“Don’t start,” Bella warned him. “It was an accident.”
“I did not say a word about your friend who seems to neglect your safety at every given chance,” Edward said with a smile that did nothing to detract from the coolness of his tone.
“This is why we’re on a break,” Bella said with a bit of the flair she’d picked up front Ginny before striding away towards English…
…where Edward sat beside her.
Admittedly, Bella wasn’t great at giving the cold shoulder.
Bella looked around the classroom and sighed a little when it seemed as if Harry really wasn’t going to show up that morning. She debated on asking Edward if he would text him, but she could wait until lunch. It was cloudy out, so they could all sit outside anyway just in case Jasper dropped Harry off and wanted to stick around for a while.
Edward gave Bella a little ‘look’ when she sighed again as they entered their fourth hour class and there was still no sign of Harry. Unlike Edward, Harry had different classes from her, but she was sure that she would have heard or seen him in the halls between classes. He did stand out, like… a lot.
Not like how the Cullen’s stood out with their unnatural beauty and distance, but in the way that the magic around Harry seemed to draw people to him.
Bella was pretty sure half the senior girls, and most of the juniors, even a handful of guys, had all joined the ‘We Hate Jasper Hale’ Club once he and Harry went public.
And, sure, Harry was charismatic and a great friend to have, but Bella thought the dirty looks that Mallory and Lauren sent to Jasper every time he showed up with Harry was taking it too far. Jasper didn’t seem to mind though, he always made sure to kiss Harry at an angle where they could see and sometimes even found a way to mention their upcoming wedding in their goodbyes.
Harry would say bye, see you later.
Jasper would dramatically declare how many days it was until they would be wed together for eternity.
Even if it was embarrassing to be around them when they did it, it was still cute.
“What are you thinking about?” Edward whispered under the cover of the movie their teacher was playing for the second day in a row. “You’re smiling.”
She was smiling a little. Jasper and Harry were just effortlessly adorable- and she was sure they would both hate hearing themselves described that way.
“Harry and Jasper’s wedding,” Bella whispered back.
In a round about way.
Edward turned pensive. “I thought you didn’t believe in marriage?”
“Ugh.” Bella refrained from hitting her head off her desk. “That wasn’t the point of what I said at all,” she whispered heatedly. “Marriage is great for them, but not for us, not right now.”
Edward shrugged and leaned down so he could whisper directly in her ear- an unfair tactic as his breath on her skin gave her literal goosebumps and they weren’t all from the chill. “You know our terms.”
Bella rolled her eyes at him and hid the blush on her cheeks with her hair.
‘Their terms’ had been a discussion they had a few days after Edward came home.
Bella wanted Edward to be the one to change her. Even if they weren’t technically together now, Bella knew they would be for eternity; as soon as Edward admitted that he was being an ass.
Edward wanted Bella to wait, but she argued against it because of the safety risk to his family.
Instead, Edward wanted Bella to marry him before she changed.
And not only did the idea of marriage kind of give her hives, but also Harry and Jasper were getting married June 20th and Bella refused to wait a single day past September 1st to be changed. And six weeks was not enough of a gap to not feel like they stole Harry and Jasper’s thunder in some way.
Also: HIVES.
“I remember our terms,” Bella whispered, safely hidden behind her hair. “I bet Hermione can find a spell so Jasper doesn’t kill me and I can just let him do it.”
She peeked through the brunette curtain a few moments later and saw Edward sitting beside her with a polite little amused grin on his face. He knew she wanted him to do it.
Ass.
“Harry and Jasper will meet us outside,” Alice chirped when Bella eagerly left fourth hour for lunch and she met them in the hallway.
Bella quickly grabbed her brown bagged lunch and her jacket from her locker and joined Alice as she moved at a human quick, vampire slow, pace to the picnic tables out by the parking lot.
And they still weren’t quick enough.
Even with the clouds and very light drizzle, it seemed like the general ‘springtime warmth’ of the day had drove most of the students to sit outside.
Bella rolled her eyes when Mike Newton tried to wave her over and gravitated closer to Edward; she tried to give Mike the hint without giving Edward too much hope. Edward was gracious as he played along though, wrapping a firm arm around Bella’s waist as waving politely to a much less happy Mike.
“Why does Mike think you and Harry are twins?” Edward asked Bella as the three of them settled on a covered patch of pavement instead of a picnic table.
Bella laughed, she had forgotten about that. She was mid-story on the Mike Saga’s that Alice and Edward missed when a familiar roar caught her attention.
Actually, it caught most of the students’ attention.
Bella jumped to her feet to wave Harry down and grinned when she saw two motorcycles pulling in the parking lot at a reckless angle that only Harry and Jasper would dare pull off.
She couldn’t wait until she was a vampire. She didn’t think she’d develop some sudden obsession with speed and adrenaline like Harry, Jasper, and Edward all shared to an extent, but it would be nice not to be the one dragging them to the hospital after a poorly thought out plan too.
Harry must have caught Bella’s wave, because his green bike turned in their direction and he turned it last minute in a dramatic stop right in front of the part of the sidewalk where she had been standing. “Ta da!” Harry cried with a bright smile after he killed the engine. “I bet you thought I would skip, but I came!”
This was one of the things that Bella loved about Harry— his effortless enthusiasm that was more entertaining and more genuine than anyone else she knew.
“I knew you were coming,” Alice grinned.
“You don’t count,” Harry said with a fond look to take the sting out of his words. He ignored Edward completely as Jasper pulled up beside him with a light grin and a white knuckled grip on his handlebars.
That was another reason why Bella wasn’t giving Edward more dirty looks for his occasional comments about Harry. Harry also went out of his way to irritate Edward; it was like they were already brothers, really.
“Isabella, Alice, Edward,” Jasper nodded at each of them. “How’s… school?”
“Not as fun as a probation meeting sounds,” Edward said curiously. “Why were you at a probation meeting, Jasper?”
Jasper rolled his eyes up to the sky while Harry scoffed.
“I had a probation meeting,” he said, his energetic voice carrying to the gossipy students around them. “And it was dreadfully boring.”
“And expensive,” Jasper said.
“And dreadfully expensive,” Harry nodded.
“And you were accosted for no less than six autographs.”
“And I was accosted for no less than six autographs!” Harry practically growled. “A bit unprofessional, isn’t it?”
“Come, sit.” Alice patted the pavement beside her and smiled up at the couple. “You can tell us all about it.”
“You might want to go park those bikes first,” Edward murmured softly to just their group. “Mister Lee is headed this way to try and cite you.”
“He’s always hated me,” Harry said with what Bella hoped was fake sadness in his voice.
Harry had the teacher for half his entire junior year and only showed up to maybe a quarter of those first hour classes. Of course the man didn’t like him.
Bella wasn’t sure why it always seemed like such a personal blow to Harry when others didn’t like him.
“Well, let’s go park, daaaaarling.” Harry swung his leg over his motorcycle and smiled so brightly towards Jasper that Bella finally noticed it.
The it that everyone at school always whispered about, but Bella never understood.
“Oh my God,” Bella whispered as the two of them moved to park in actual parking spots. Her jaw popped open a little and she forgot to even fight to close it.
Harry with his artfully messy black hair. Harry with his bright green eyes and his perfectly white and endearingly crooked smile. Harry with his leather jacket and faded blue jeans. Harry should have looked short compared to Jasper, who was pretty about 6’2” as compared to Harry’s average 5’10”, but on his motorcycle he was radiating enough confidence that he seemed to be just as tall as Jasper.
Bella didn’t usually think about it, but she would have to be blind not to notice it now.
Harry was hot.
And… Harry leaned over to kiss Jasper, just as Bella had seen him do hundreds of times before… and Jasper was also very hot.
Alice was grinning beside Bella, just as amused by Harry and Jasper as Edward was wholly unamused.
“They make a very attractive couple, don’t they?” Alice giggled quietly while it seemed as if the female student body was torn between ogling Harry or ogling Jasper.
Bella nodded mutely, dumbfounded by how she’d never noticed before.
She felt suddenly shy as Jasper and Harry linked hands and walked over to where the others sat. Luckily, with Harry’s excitement to tell them all the really dramatic tale of ‘probationary hell’, nobody seemed to notice.
Bella remained quiet for the rest of the afternoon, her mind replaying that kiss over and over. She had seen Harry and Jasper kiss before, so why did this one bother her?
Or… not ‘bother’, but… why was this one memorable?
It took until Bella got home that night, brushing off Edward’s offer to hang out and Harry’s offer to get dinner together, for her to figure it out.
She sat bolt upright in her bed and was glad to be alone as her face felt like it was on fire from the force of her blush. “Oh my god,” she whispered. “I’m jealous.”
Not of Harry, not of Jasper, but of what they had together.
Not only were they extremely and obviously in love, but they were passionate and flirty and had fun together. It probably helped that Jasper didn’t want to drink Harry’s blood, but still.
Bella threw her head back on her pillow and covered her face with her blanket as she groaned.
“I need to get laid.”
And, suddenly, Bella began to mentally renegotiate her terms of changing with Edward.