Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Spy Games

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 15:

Chapter 15 where Arial and Bella take over Forks High and Bella begins to learn love isn’t that easy .

I woke up this morning with dread in my heart. Another school day in this God forsaken town with a corpse draped over me and his walking dead family talking to me every time I turned around.

Then it hit me.

Last night.

Charlie insisting I change into dry clothes while I continued my laughing fit. Finally calming down enough to take a hot shower and walking downstairs to apologize to everyone, at Jack’s insistence, for my getting lost in the woods on a stroll to clear my head after being dumped by a boy. Billy Black looked so smug until I whispered in his ear that ‘we’ would be watching him. He didn’t look so smug then. I remembered Sam Uley’s pitying face. I patted his cheek and told him to cheer up. He looked at me like I was the one who turned into a big dog.

Wait a minute.

Sam Uley. Werewolf.

I saw my wet clothes in a pile on the floor of the corner of my room.

Oh my God, it wasn’t a dream. I jumped out of bed and ran to the window to see the drive.

No fucking Volvo.

“Sweet Jesus, it wasn’t a dream.” I whispered.

“No., it wasn’t. Morning Bella.”

“Morning Uncle Jack.”

“I need to talk to you about some things at our place. We also need to take care of a procedure. Think you can ditch or fake an illness or something?”

“Yeah… we getting drunk?” I hoped. I would convince Sasha to join me in the hot tub. Now was my chance to strike, or at least get to oogle her body. If our legs happen to brush under the water then hey, these things happen. Nothing Uncle Jack could get mad about.

“Nope, least not yet. You’re going under kid. As soon as your Dad leaves get over here.”

“What do you mean under?” Shit, I hope he wasn’t putting me in some witness protection program or worse.

“We are knocking you out. Have a simple procedure to get taken care of. Aren’t you tired of the voices in your head?”

“I’m getting it out? For reals?”

“For reals kid. Get your ass over here. Already have a bed, equipment and a doc and nurse here. Whole thing from knocking you out to bringing you around should take about 6 hours. We talk after that, you go home and relax and I bring Sasha and Arial over tonight and explain to Charlie that we have moved here so you and Arial can be close. He met us in Phoenix and knows how tight you two are.”

“This is so great. I’ll get rid of him and be there in an hour.”

I didn’t bother changing, racing down the stairs and swinging around into the kitchen, scaring the hell out of Charlie and making him drop his spoon in his bowl of cereal before it reached his mouth.

“Hey! how ya doing Daddy?”

“Uh Bella? I didn’t think you would be up so early.”

“Are you kidding? It’s a great day to be alive. The rain is falling, the birds are hiding, there are a lot of trees and moss. What more can a girl ask for? Why aren’t you dressed for work?”

“I… I was going to take off today and keep an eye on you. After yesterday and last night… are you okay?”

Am I okay? I am the queen of the fucking world. Put me on the front of the Titanic and watch me fly.

“Yeah, sorry about the whole getting lost thing. Won’t happen again. I just thought I recognized a tree on the way back and then it turned out to be a different tree so I took a left when I should have taken a right and zigged when I should have zagged. I got tired and found a nice place to relax and just kind of dozed off. My bad. Anyway I feel great, you should go to work.”

“Uh, are you going to school?”

“Oh no. I don’t really want to face the whole question barrage I’m going to get and then I probably need to stay warm today and relax, make sure I don’t get pneumonia or anything contagious from my exposure to the elements. Hell, I may take two days off.”

“Oh… I guess that would be alright.”

Wasn’t asking Charles.

“If you are sure you’re alright. You seemed a bit hysterical last night. You wouldn’t stop laughing. Sam said you just kept mumbling ‘he’s gone’ over and over again. Do you want to… talk about it?”

“About what?” I asked. Surely this man did not want to talk to me about boys.

“About, you know… Edward leaving?”

“I know, it’s great isn’t it?” I let slip before I could pull it in.

“Great? Bella you two have dated for quite a while and from what I understand he sprung this on you with no warning. You don’t have to be strong, you can talk to me. Or maybe if you aren’t comfortable talking to me I can fly you to Renee for the weekend and talk to her or something. I realize I’m not great at these things but I want to try to be… I don’t know what I’m talking about do I?”

He was so sweet for trying. I kissed him on his cheek and gave him a hug.

“Daddy, I love you for wanting to talk to me but honestly I’m 18. It was just a boyfriend. Teenagers break up all the time. No big deal.”

Your little angel happens to enjoy sex with other women without any strings attached but you don’t need to know that yet. Of course I need to eventually tell him I was gay so there would be no misunderstandings or misguided hopes for grandchildren, but then he would question why I dated Edward and that would lead down a path of questions he couldn’t know the answer too. Even if I could tell him I wouldn’t. I don’t want him to know I moved in with him for an assignment. At least I had a clear conscience about staying with him.

“Okay then. I guess I will get ready for work. I’m glad you are taking this so well Bella.”

“You have a great day and be careful out there.”

“I al…”

“Always am right? Ha! I beat you there!” Yeah, he was a bit predictable and I was a bit elated today.

An hour later and Charlie was shouting goodbye as he left. I ran to my truck and started it up, ready to…

The fucker wouldn’t start.

I popped the hood and was slightly annoyed to see Daddy dearest had detached my battery wires. The shit is on now. Jack is about to add destruction of police property to my list of crimes covered by diplomatic immunity. Reattaching the wires in ten seconds, I was on my way to Jack’s.

I walked in and instead of being hit by Arial I was actually hugged. Sasha hugged me too, her perfect breasts pressing against mine as I let my arms slide down her back to her perfect ass right before Jack grabbed me, pulling me off of her and into his own hug.

Cock blocker.

Ty, Connolly and Hawk were sitting in the living room and began applauding when I walked in. I gave a bow and asked where the fucking doctor was.

Six hours later I felt like I had been hit by a truck but was slowly starting to come around. My ear was pretty sore, the same as it was when that damn com was buried in it.

Once I had regained my faculties I was able to walk into the living room. Only Sasha, Jack and Arial were there.

“Where did the other three stooges go?”

“Ty and Connolly managed to put trackers on all the vehicles while you were having your birthday party. They are going to Connecticut to keep an eye on the Cullens simply and see if they make contact with any other vampires we don’t know yet. Hawk is wiring the mansion here for sound in the event they come back and setting up explosive packs in the walls in case we ever need to blow the place up in a hurry.”

“Won’t Edward hear Ty’s thoughts?” Connolly could keep quiet. Something told me this was impossible for Ty.

“Edward isn’t there. He left his car at the California-Mexico border, and ran across. I have tried to contact Whitlock about his possible location but Whitlock has changed his number. He sent a text to me before he did saying he fulfilled his end of the bargain. We don’t need him anyway and he is right. Eddie will eventually come back to the family.”

“And if he comes back here?”

“We deal with it. You won’t have to go back to him Bella. That op is over, I promise.”

“That op?”

“Yeah. Look I know what you are thinking…”

“Werewolves right? You want me to get into Uley’s good graces? Or Billy Black’s kid, John?”

“Jake.” Jack corrected.

“Who gives a fuck what his name is?”

“Good point. The answer is no, I don’t want you near any fucking werewolves. I couldn’t take it if something else happened to you because of me kid. Another friend of mine is visiting La Push for the long term to gather information and observe only. We may need you to ask questions eventually and see if you can mine any info from Billy Black, but you will not be posing as any damn wolf’s girlfriend.”

“Thank you, Jack. I could just wheel Billy into the woods and beat him until he talks.” I offered.

“An interesting proposition but something tells me he wouldn’t talk and with his disappearance your father would become involved. Best not to take a risk of killing him right now. You found out everything about the vampire world and never hurt Edward Cullen. You are a natural at this Bella. If we need you we will let you know. Are you going to let your dad know you are gay?”

“No. It would lead to too many questions.”

“I had the same thought. I suppose you are ready to get at least some of your life back though. Take tomorrow off like you told Charlie and Sasha will take you and Arial shopping, on me. Then Arial can start school with you Monday. Also you are to carry this at all times.”

Jack handed me a small white device that looked like a very small hearing aid.

“This is a portable com unit like the rest of us wear. It’s just like the one you had planted but this can be removed. Use it if you need it. Sasha or I have one activated at all times of the day. I’ll have your new I phone X tomorrow and it will be secure as well so use that at all times.”

“You’re the bestest uncle in the whole world. So, I know you have been digging. What have you found out about Uley?”

“It’s been less than a day so not much. Phone records indicate he calls a Jared Cameron and Paul LaHote several times a week and his utility bills are paid for by the tribe. He doesn’t appear to have a job but he lives in a house worth about $70 grand that he owns outright according to tax records. I’ll know more when my friend Dante reports in. That’s just the stuff Sasha could dig up last night.”

I glanced at Arial. She was sickly pale, same skin tone as me as a matter of fact.

She met my eyes.

What the hell could she be so…

“Did you say Paul LaHote?” I blurted out.

“Yeah, you know him?”

Arial’s eyes were very big. Sasha’s were as well. I rolled my eyes slightly. Like I would tell Jack a damn thing.

“No, I just thought I heard John mention a Peter LaHote once at the beach while Arial was helping me flirt with him to get information on the Cold Ones, remember?”

“Yeah, I heard the recording. I don’t remember anything about a Peter or Paul LaHote.”

“No, Bella it was when you two were in La Push for the first time together. I think you may have met him at the diner. His name was Paul.” Sasha helped out.

“That’s it. Thank you Sasha. Yeah, we said hi briefly.”

“Arial, you were with Bella. Do you remember meeting him?”

“No,, I guess I was in the bathroom while she was meeting him.” Arial told him while glaring at me. I couldn’t hold back a grin. She was so much fun to fuck with.

“Anyway, we think he is a possible wolf suspect along with this Cameron. Nothing you need to worry about though. If we need info we will let you know so long as it is safe.”

“How is the whole developing a weapon to kill the fairies thing going?” I asked.

“We did manage to blow off one of the fingers from the hand. Unfortunately it took a bullet the size of a tank shell, loaded with Uranium and has to be mounted to a tripod because it is too heavy to carry so the target would have to be absolutely still. Also whoever is within 50 meters of it when fired will probably die of radiation poisoning in an hour or less.”

“So not good then?” Damn it.

“No, but we will get there. They aren’t indestructible, just very, very fucking hard. Standard armor piercing round do nothing but several avenues are being explored. Don’t worry about it. Enjoy your senior year. I’ll drive you home and you can tell Charlie we moved down and are coming for dinner. I’ll even bring dinner. I’m sure he is sick of casseroles by now.”

“Sounds great. See you girls later. Arial you should throw some water on your face. You look so sick and I’m the one that just came out of anesthesia.”

“That’s true Arial. Are you sick baby?”

“No Daddy. I just think the stress Bella has put me through over the past few months because of her stupid stunts is beginning to catch up with me.”

Arial was not giving me an I love you look. I should probably stop fucking with her.

That night Jack showed up, true to his word. Charlie reintroduced himself to Jack, Sasha and Arial and looked less than comfortable with Hawk. I didn’t realize that one, Charlie had not met Hawk in Phoenix and two that Jack would make Hawk’s introduction as Arial’s bodyguard pissing off both her and me. After a nice dinner I walked the four out and Arial and I cursed Jack’s name, and told him we would simply kill Hawk in his deep lumbering sleep if he showed up at school or anytime we went out. Jack of course argued while Hawk stood there and watched but said nothing as usual. Finally Sasha calmed everyone down by promising me and Arial that she would take care of it.

The next day we went to Seattle, no Hawk or Jack in sight. Not having his voice in my head was wonderful. I was seriously beginning to wonder if I would ever feel like I didn’t have schizophrenia again.

First stop, was a salon. I had ten pounds of hair cut off, lightened to a shade of darker brown with red highlights, styled to hang just below my shoulder that could part to cover the left side of my face if I wanted, but still easy to brush back or put it up for training in seconds. The next stop was a mall and then a few boutiques and higher end sporting goods stores. I am pretty sure between the three of us we spent nearly ten thousand on Jack’s card. I of course, was doing well considering I had been making $6 grand a month for the past 6 months and hadn’t paid for a single thing in my life but Jack got me into this and he could get me out. Arial and I both had spray tans, the only difference is that I had a very specific part of my skin covered in preparation for my last stop.

The last and final shop was a tattoo shop. Sasha practically begged Arial not to get another one or any piercings back yet and finally Arial agreed. When Arial had gotten her grim reaper tattoo the only reason I didn’t get a tat was because I couldn’t come up with an idea. Her idea was amazing but it was hers. I wanted my own.

Now I had one. I lay on my stomach while the artist inked a beautiful red, bloody, Phoenix rising from the flames, at the base of my spine. Luckily the jeans I had on were so low cut they didn’t interfere with the tat and my new tee barely covered my abs much less covered my ink.

I also had my tongue and navel pierced. The body piercer warned me about the pain and I told her I had dealt with a lot more pain than she could give me. I didn’t flinch when either needle went through me.

When we arrived back at Arial’s, Jack took one look at me and smiled.

“There is my niece. I missed you, bitch.”

Then he looked at Arial. He tried to open her jaw and look in her mouth until she bit his finger and walked away while he cursed and held his digit. Arial bites hard as my ear has found out in many training sessions.

The look on Charlie’s face when I arrived home that night was priceless. Luckily his face stayed frozen long enough in one position that I was able to snap a photo with my phone.

“You uh, you look nice Bells.”

“Thanks Dad.”

“So that’s a… different look for you.”

“Actually this is pretty much what I looked like in Phoenix. I just toned it down a bit when I came to Forks, small town and all. But I feel like I gotta be me, you know?”

“Yeah, I guess… is that a… what is… did you get your belly button pierced?”

He is observant. Finally.

“Yep, got my tongue pierced too. Wanna see?”

I stuck my tongue out and once again the look on his face was so comical I snap chatted a photo of him to Arial and Sasha.

“You… didn’t that hurt?”

“Not really. I guess yeah a little. Compared to having my leg shattered it was a walk in the park. Do you want to hear about how they do it?”

“God no!”

“Okay. I probably should have warned you I was going back to my old style I guess you could say. I realize it can be a bit much but with Edward gone I just feel so free, you know what I mean?”

“Yeah… He did kind of smother you, I suppose. I’m just taken back a bit but you look beautiful, not that you haven’t always… I just mean…”

I decided to put him out of his misery.

“Daddy, could you please help me take these bags up stairs?” Plus I have eight more bags in Arial’s car outside.”

“Her car?”

“Yeah. I’m just going to pick her up in the morning, show her around the area, and such. Then we will probably hang out here tomorrow. Are you going to be here? I have a surprise I got for you today. Bought it myself.” I told him proudly.

“How did you pay for a gift for me…”

“Summer job the summer before I came here. You have been so good to me I wanted to pay you back. It’s being installed tomorrow so make sure you are gone fishing or something.”

“Installed?”

“Yep, company is coming down from Seattle, should be here about 10 AM so go have fun with your handicap friend and relax.”

“Oh… okay. So I guess i will grab the… wait did you say eight bags of clothes?”

“Yeah, the ones I had burned up in a tragic fire. At least they are about to. Do you know where a furnace is that I could use?”

“I will look into it.”

Daddy seemed taken aback. Perhaps I should have done this more subtly. Fuck it, too late now.

I grabbed one bag while he grabbed a couple more and started up the stairs.

“What the fuck!”

Oh shit. Charlie said fuck. I wonder what his problem is? I hope he didn’t get the lingerie bag.

“When… you got a tattoo?”

Oh yeah.

“Yeah, great artwork huh? It’s a phoenix.”

“You got a tattoo?!”

“Yeah, I thought we just covered that?”

There goes those observation skills I had given him credit for earlier.

“How did you do that? Why?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“I always wanted one and had to wait until I turned 18. I turned 18 and got one. Pretty simple actually. You don’t like it?”

I gave him my best sad face. The stone facade was breaking a minute at a time the farther away Edward was. I may have a genuine smile by morning, one that doesn’t hurt every time I use it.

“It’s just a surprise is all. You seem a lot tanner also. How…”

“Spray tan, Dad. Just about all I have to work with and it really is healthier than all the Arizona rays I soaked up. Now I have had a long day of shopping and arranging surprises for you. At least a big one, so lets get these bags unloaded and get some sleep. I’m exhausted.”

“Okay Bella.”

“Oh and Dad?”

“Yes?”

“The bags that say Syndi’s? Let me handle those. You don’t want to know, trust me.”

He gulped.

“No problem.”

That went better than expected. I slept like a newborn baby. I didn’t even hear Charlie’s Saturday morning 6 AM alarm go off. Jack wasn’t in my ear telling me good morning. I woke at ten AM when the doorbell rang. I threw on a pair of yoga pants and a sports bra and made my way downstairs, pleased to see my contractors had arrived on time.

Showing them to the back yard, I pointed out the area I wanted the small building and how I wanted the hot tub in the middle with decking around it. This way it would be warm year round no matter how cold it was outside. Yeah, I was getting Charlie a hot tub. Okay I was getting me a hot tub but damn it if I was going to live here I needed some type of warm water outside the shower.

The guys were good. I walked inside so they would stop staring at me and watched from my bedroom window for a bit. When Arial called I picked her up and when I returned I was glad to see the small wooden building was complete and the hot tub appeared to be filling with water. Looked like the filtering system was where I wanted it so it couldn’t be seen from the backdoor of the house. All in all not a bad day.

“So what is the plan? We can’t get into the tub because of your new ink for a few days. What do you want to do?” Arial asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Watch a movie?”

“Not in the mood for lesbian porn, Bella.”

“Uh… we can spar?”

“Yeah till I hit you in your lower back and you scream at me for ruining your new tattoo even though that is exactly what you did to me and it had no effect on mine.”

“Target practice?”

“Where?”

“We can hike behind the house and make us a spot. Set up some paper targets, use silencers, no one will be any wiser.”

“Done deal.”

Arial and I spent the rest of the afternoon setting up a gun range in the woods behind Charlie’s house. It was fun, a nice break from the mundane. We managed to fire a few clips and I was glad to see that time off had not made me lose my touch. She was better right now but with a little practice I would be back to form in no time.

Charlie arrived home at 6 to see the two of us waiting on him with a home cooked meal. It was cooked at Jack’s home anyway. Arial insisted I learn to cook because she refused to do all our cooking in college. Apparently, she would be tutoring me on meals that don’t require me touching raw meat because it is disgusting.

Once we ate, I blindfolded Charlie and walked him out to my new hot tub room. To say he was surprised would be an understatement.

Hell, he couldn’t talk for ten minutes.

Once he seemed to come to grips with our new home edition he seemed happy. I pointed out the therapeutic effects of a hot tub for his back and glossed over the party effects I would be experiencing.

Arial spent the night and we ate a pint of chocolate chip ice cream and then did two hundred crunches to make ourselves feel better. Sunday morning we drove to La Push, Hawk following us of course, doing a poor job of staying hidden and went for a run, through the forest, zig zagging and losing him easily.

“What the fuck is that?” I heard Arial ask, stopping our stride.

I followed her gaze and holy shit, Sasha wasn’t kidding.

“Those are big ass wolf tracks. Looks like they do run on four legs. Judging by the length between strides I would say they would probably be… seven feet long?”

“Which would probably put them around five foot six or six foot. About the size of a full grown horse.” Arial agreed.

“Look at the damn imprint of those paws. Damn things are fucking huge.” I whispered.

“I know. Hate to get hit in the face with one of those things. Probably scar a person for life if they survived. Let’s get out of here, I don’t like being out here, knowing they might run through and our guns are four miles away.”

Arial had a point. I laid down next to them for perspective while Arial snapped a few photos to text to Jack and we left. We took our time getting back and I made some sort of salmon patty that only needed to be baked in the oven and heated corn on the cob in water. It didn’t seem so bad. She told me she would teach me to make pasta later this week. I figure if Esme can do it, it can’t be that hard.

Then came Monday morning.

Showtime.

Arial was wearing a black leather miniskirt with red leggings underneath covered by black stilletto boots and a red zip top with a black leather vest. Not bad.

I had on brown cowboy boots over my very low black skinny jeans, and an Arizona Diamond backs female jersey that fit me like a second skin. Not easy to find in Seattle. Makeup adorning my face, it was almost like I was seeing myself for the first time and remembering how damn hot I was.

“You ready, bitch?”

“Let’s go sister. Time to introduce ourselves to Forks high school.”

Arial drove while I strapped my hunting knife to my ankle under my boot. I’m thinking tomorrow will be a leather day, mini skirt or pants I hadn’t decided on yet but I had a killer suede vest I couldn’t wait to try out.

We parked in the spot usually reserved for the car bomb. It warmed my heart to see the Cullen’s spots empty.

Of course before Arial could put the top over her convertible, everyone in the parking lot was staring at us.

“These little bitches are all looking at us.” she said, a hint of amusement in her voice. I knew she wanted to play.

“Damn straight they are. I wish we had one of those wireless speakers so we could play entrance music. Just remember to walk slow.”

“Why?” she asked.

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Vampires do it, why shouldn’t we get to?”

The two of us walked straight through the middle of the parking lot, heads held high, not meeting anyone’s eyes but walking slow enough that they all saw us. Yeah, we knew how to make an entrance.

Once inside, I took my sis to the office to get her schedule.

“This isn’t right.” I told the bitch behind the desk.

“I’m sorry, dear?”

“Arial’s schedule isn’t the same as mine.”

“Well, there weren’t enough spaces in your classes to…”

“Edward Cullen was in every single one of my classes and he is gone. Look at your computer, start typing and put her Edward’s spots, comprende?”

“Well, I don’t think students can dictate…”

I glared at her. Arial leaned over the counter and looked her in the eyes, giving her the patented I may look sweet but I will gut you like a hog look she had perfected.

“Give me a moment.”

A moment later Arial was in every one of my classes.

Jessica was waiting to ambush me as we walked out of the office.

“Bella, what happened to you and who is this?”

I placed my palm up to her face, inches away.

“I have classes, Jess, I will see everyone at lunch. This is my cousin Arial from Phoenix. We can all get to know each other at lunch. Busy right now.”

“Oh, of course… Bella.”

We didn’t make it half way down the hall way before Newton was in front of me, literally drooling.

“Bella how…”

“Fuck off Mike, not in the mood for you today.”

The shocked look on his face almost made me laugh but months of stifling my emotions allowed me to remain stoic.

“Well, who is your…”

“Fuck off Mike. Not in the mood for you. Ever.” Arial told him.

We kept walking through a crowd of astonished faces. I suppose my shirt rode up a bit in the back because I heard one guy ask if that was a real tattoo.

We kept to ourselves in class, not bothering anyone, only talking through hand signals like we had learned long ago. Both of us learned sign language so we could operate in complete silence should a situation call for it. Jack insisted and it served us well in our classes if nothing else.

At lunch it was time to put into actions plans I had made. First step, establish dominance over the pack.

We walked up to the table where Jessica, Angela, Tyler, Mike, Ben, Eric and Lauren were sitting.

“Lauren, you are in my chair.” I whispered in her ear.

Her face turned red, probably not from embarrassment.

“Your table is over there where the Cullens used to be before your ass was dumped. You and your cousin can go…”

Arial grabbed Lauren’s hand gently and bent back her fingers.

“How many fingers should we break on this one, Bells?”

“I don’t know. How many seconds has it been since I told her she was in my chair.”

“You can’t threaten me. You are all seeing this right?”

“My Daddy is chief of police Lauren. You haven’t been very nice to me since I have been in Forks and I have been letting him know it. Who do you think he will believe threatened who? You and your friends or me? Now I will tell you one more time before Arial and I start breaking fingers and toes, get the fuck out of my seat.”

Lauren must have recognized my tone. She knew an alpha when she heard one. She turned pale and stood, walking over to another chair. Arial looked at Eric.

“Do I have to say it?’ she asked him.

“No of course not! Please take my seat. My name is…”

“Eric, I know. Bella has told me a little about each of you. Newton, Cheney, Jessica something right?”

“Stanley.” Jess stuttered.

“Yeah, that sounds right. Lauren… I never bothered to learn your last name. Did you mention it Bells?”

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t.” I lied.

“Tyler, the guy who can’t drive worth a shit and then there is you… the pretty girl in the glasses. You are defintely Angela Weber. Bella can’t stop talking about how great you are. I have to say you are as beautiful as she has told me.”

Angela blushed so red she may have burned up in her seat. She met my eyes and I winked at her.

“Angela is a very good friend.” I told Arial. She knew what step three of the plan was. Bella may not come out of the closet anytime soon but that didn’t mean I had no plans to pull someone inside the closet with me.

“Okay gang, let’s get the gossip out of the way. Jessica I am going to give you the real dirt and I expect it to be spread around this dump by the end of the day, understand?”

“Of course, Bella.”

“Good girl. It is my fault Edward and his family left. Edward kept bugging me about having sex. I told him I wouldn’t consider letting him take my virginity unless I knew he was at least six inches long where it counted.”

“Where it counted?” Mike asked.

“Yeah, his dick. I would say cock but sadly it didn’t qualify. I told him to drop his pants and well… let’s just say I couldn’t help but laugh. I mean pinky finger size. It was ridiculously small. He could fuck me and I would still be a virgin. So I basically told him to fuck off and I was dumping him. He became angry and I told him he needed to leave town because I would be letting the entire school know just how fucking small his dick was on Monday. He left and this is me fulfilling my promise. It was embarrassing and I am embarrassed for him but I couldn’t see continuing a relationship with a guy I would never, ever fuck and if he was around it would cramp my style. That’s it in a nutshell. I told him to leave because he had a small dick. Everybody got it?”

Shocked, silent nods were seen around the table.

“Did you say you were a virgin?” Tyler asked.

“Oh yeah. Why? You want to take a chance on being called pinky until you graduate?”

“No!” Tyler practically shouted.

“So what is with the new style?” Make asked.

“I know I look great, right? This is how I dressed in Arizona. Arial and I spent Thursday and Friday shopping.”

“You have a tattoo.” Eric pointed out.

“So do I. Have a problem with it?” Arial asked.

“No! It’s just a surprise. Bella has always been sort of… not the tattoo type. Is your tongue pierced?”

“Yes it is, Eric. Other places are too but you don’t get to see those. Unless you want to take the same gamble as Eddie.”

“No! I wasn’t suggesting that. I just meant… it’s kind of a surprise Bella.”

“Well surprises are good aren’t they Eric?” I told him and winked while my boot slid under the table and caressed Angela’s leg. She sat up in shock but kept her face still and didn’t move her leg. I think she even moaned a bit.

Arial made nice, even smiling a bit. After math I asked her if she thought I may have been too hard on them.

“No, it’s like boot camp. You have to be hard at first and then build them up. It will make them respect you and be loyal. Lauren may be a tough one to break but we will handle her in the next class.”

One of the things I loved about Arial was how she always had a plan and kept her eye on the end game.

“There is one thing we need to talk about.”

“What would that be?” I groaned already knowing.

“Your Weber plan. Bella she is really into you but she is going to be very confused. She will probably fall in love with you. She may be very confused about wanting another woman. She seems like a sweet kid and has clinger written all over her. I realize what types of girls you like and you would be upset with yourself for leading her on. She is going to take a big chance with her father being a minister on sneaking around with you. You can hurt her and I know you will feel bad about it later. Think about it. If she is a passing fad then you need to let it go.”

“I know.” I sighed. The thing was I really wanted Angela physically and she was a sweet girl. I liked her. I legitimately liked her. I didn’t know what to do with that.

I had never been with a woman I couldn’t just use for sex and move on, much less a girl my own age who probably didn’t realize she was gay or bi until I had her alone in the back of a van.

Fuck it, I had other things to do than think about this right now. Arial and I walked into the locker room and began undressing. Every girl in the room stopped what they were doing and stared at us. I had never undressed in front of them, because I didn’t want anyone to know how cut I was and I didn’t want Eddie reading it in anyone’s thoughts or seeing me naked in any of these chicks heads. I had no problem today. We slid our Nike Pro volleyball shorts on and walked onto the gym floor, the volleyball team following us.

“Coach Clapper. Meet your new players.” I told him tossing a ball into his chest, fairly hard.

“Swan? What are you doing suiting out? You know you aren’t allowed to participate. What the hell kind of shorts are those anyway? You asked to be let out of it of gym. Go study or something. If your friend wants to try out that’s fine once she puts some decent shorts on but you need…”

“The two of us will take on your whole team. Two on six. Arial and I have played quite a bit of beach volleyball in Phoenix. What we lack in height we make up for in quickness and hops. Line your girls up. First to 15, beach scoring. We win you have two new outside hitters starting on your team. We lose and we will go sit on the benches, do our homework and watch your team get crushed every game.”

“I don’t know who your friend is but I know you Swan.”

“You really don’t. $50 says we beat your girls by ten.”

“I can’t make bets with students.”

“Whatever. You up for the challenge or not?”

Clapper took a long look at Arial and I. I’m sure he saw two short girls who looked a bit different than what he was used to.

“Your funeral. Line up girls, we have challengers for you.”

Twenty minutes later, I had planted the ball in Lauren’s face three times and Arial and I won 15 to 1.

“Looks like you got two new starters, Coach. Congratulations, you just hit the lottery and won district. What time is practice?”

“Uh right after school until around 5:00.”

“Good, these girls are going to need work but they have some potential. I think we can work with this. What do you think Arial?”

“I think this team probably isn’t worth my time but I’m already bored in this town so whipping them into shape can’t be worse than not doing anything. I’m in.”

“Swan, what the hell? Why have you been hiding this?” Clapp asked me.

“I wasn’t. I took yoga in the summer. Helped me with my balance issues.”

“You said you played beach volleyball before.”

“It’s a pretty popular sport in Phoenix. Despite the lack of an ocean we have an abundance of beach. I picked a few things up now and then.”

“That doesn’t explain…”

Better head this off.

“Coach, do you want my cousin and I on your team?”

“Yeah I do.”

“Then some questions are best unanswered. Get what I’m saying? Just relax, sit back and let us do what we do. See you at practice… tomorrow. I need to take care of something after school that I’m afraid I can’t reschedule. That okay, Coach?”

“Yeah, Swan.”

“Coach?”

“Yeah?”

“You may call me Bella.”

“Oh… okay.”

“And when you give the lineup to the other team make sure my name is spelt ARIAL, not ARIEL. It pisses me off when someone makes that mistake and trust me you don’t want to see me pissed off.”

“Got it Web… Arial.”

Biology was a breeze. Since Arial was my new lab partner we didn’t resort to using sign language.

She was still not happy about my next phase of the plan. The alphas had established dominance quickly. Within the course of 8 hours everyone knew I had sent Eddie away because he had a small penis, Arial and I were friendly when we wanted to be, hot, very dangerous, and the best athletes in the school. Jessica texted me that the captain of the football team planned to ask one of us out but couldn’t decide who. I texted her back to try to save the boy from embarrassment because we had both decided and found him lacking.

Yes, dominance had defintely been established. Now it was time for one of the alpha’s to take her mate.

“Not a good idea, Bells.”

“Has it ever occurred to you that I may just really like her?”

“Has it occurred to you what would happen if she was found out? You wouldn’t have to deal with the fallout but she would. Her Dad would try to burn her at the stake in front of his congregation!”

“I’m a damn spy. You really think I can’t keep this a secret? Besides most people in this backwoods town don’t really believe in lesbians any more than they believe in unicorns. Sure they may see them on TV and movies but they never actually think they are going to meet one in person.”

“I’ve watched her today.” Arial continued. “She is sweet to everyone, her boyfriend is very polite if a bit cold towards her. She is absolutely obsessed with you. You certainly made an impression on her in the back of that van. She seems like a caring, genuinely nice person who is looking for someone to love her the way she deserves to be loved. In other words the exact opposite of everyone you have ever gone out with. Did I say go out with? I meant the exact opposite of every girl you have ever fucked.”

“Maybe I like her. Maybe I want something different.” I argued.

“Maybe you are bored. We can go to Seattle, find a club, get a hotel room. I will stay outside while you take care of your needs with whatever lady you find. But damn it Bella, I don’t want to see you do something that I know will hurt her and will probably hurt you.”

Fuck. How to explain this? My as well be honest, she is the only one I can be honest with.

“Arial have you ever considered that after so long in a fake relationship and everything I have gone through that maybe… just maybe I need to be loved too? I’m not just talking about sex either. I’ve watched her as well. I know what she is. I know what everyone in this school is including myself. I’m a slightly violent, self centered, egotistical, very aggressive, bitch and a liar.”

“Your also loving, brave and loyal to a fault to your friends. Stop putting yourself down Bella. It’s unattractive.”

Uh, wait a minute.

“I really didn’t consider the qualities I mentioned to be insults.” I told her.

“Oh… sorry. Misunderstood.”

Bitch.

“Still the fact that you did think they are insults tells me that maybe there are some things I could stand to change about myself. Maybe I just want to see where it goes. I’ll do my best not to hurt her but can you sit there and tell me you will never hurt the next guy you date? Really? You aren’t going to have a relationship until you find a guy to marry?”

“Yes, I will but it will be with someone who wants and doesn’t want the same things I do.”

“I just want someone of my own and she seems like the only one I have met who is worth taking a chance on. If you really don’t want me too I won’t but I promise I will do my best not to hurt her. I swear, this isn’t a quick fuck. I just want to try to have someone that I could possibly love.”

Arial took a moment and then sighed.

“Happy hunting, Bella.”

I nearly squealed when I threw my arms around her, causing the entire class to look at us.

“Everything okay…” Banner started to ask.

“Not now Bruce, we are having a moment.” Arial told him while hugging me back. When I unwrapped myself from her I saw Banner was back at his desk looking anywhere but at us.

Parking lot.

I scanned, ignoring the stares around me. Arial had left to go home. This had better work or I would be calling her to come right back and get me.

“Bella! Hi, I don’t think we have ever met. My name is…”

“Devin Curry, captain of the pathetic team that attempts to play football every fall at this school. 6’1″ blonde hair blue eyes, Dad is a logging supervisor at the Ferguson Mill, mother works at the local library, You live on Eleanor street, wood house, white paint trimmed in blue. You are usually on the B honor roll indicating you have intelligence so I hope you have enough intelligence to understand I won’t go out with you and if you ever attempt to ask me or my cousin out I will plant a pound of cocaine somewhere in your car that you won’t be able to find and my father will get an anonymous tip about the location. We understand each other?”

Devin didn’t answer. He just sort of shuffled back and ran across the parking lot. It was cute.

There the target is.

I walked up to her with my warmest smile. My work with expressions was coming along nicely.

“Hey Ang.”

“Bella? Where is your… where is Arial?”

“She had somewhere she needed to be. I didn’t feel like going and was wondering if you might give me a ride home.”

“You? You want to ride with me?”

“Yeah.” Poor thing looked so excited and scared at the same time. It was such a great look for her.

“I told Ben that we could study after school. Let me text him…”

“What’s his number?” I asked. She told me.

“Taken care of.”

“What did you text him?”

“You would be studying with me and he would have to take care of himself tonight. So are you ready to get started? Studying, I mean?”

“Sure… Uh, I was having a bit of trouble with the trig problems today. Are you good at trig?”

“Angela I am good at everything. Let’s get out of here. I can’t wait to get you to my home. Charlie is working late tonight so we can order pizza and enjoy each other’s company.”

“That sounds… nice.”

“We also just got a hot tub. I would love to show it to you. We could relax after figuring out those tricky math problems.”

“I don’t really have a suit and…” the poor thing tried.

“C’mon Ang, it’s just the two of us. You saw me naked in the locker room today. I saw you looking. It’s okay. I’ve paid attention to you too.” I whispered. “Relax, I’m not going to molest you. I just think it’s time we had a long talk about what we are and what we could be and it would be best if we did it in private, where roaming ears can’t hear. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Bella I don’t know… my Dad…”

“Can go fuck himself. I’m very, very good at keeping a secret.” I told her. “Now am I driving or are you driving?”

She handed me her keys.

“I guess you are driving. Maybe we can try out that hot tub after you explain a few things to me.”

Once we were on the road she turned the radio off.

“Ready to explain a few things?”

“Sure.” I planned on waiting till the house but whatever.

“This is you. This look, the tattoo, your body, your balance, the confidence you showed me when I nearly attacked your lips in the van.”

“Yes, it is me.” I admitted.

“So why were you pretending to be something you weren’t and pretending to be in love with Edward Cullen when it was obvious to anyone who really paid attention to you and not him that you couldn’t stand him and are defintely a lesbian?”

Damn it.

This relationship stuff was going to be harder than I thought.