Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Obsession

By Mama4Dukes

Chapter 03:

By the beginning of March, the topic of the month had shifted to the prom, which was two months away. Mike Newton and Jessica Stanley would go together, as would Angela Weber and Eric Yorkie. Ben Cheney and Tyler Crowley were taking their girlfriends. Bella didn’t have a date yet, but she planned to go solo to be with her friends. Katie Marshall was also in the same boat.

“We should look at prom dresses before the good ones are all taken,” Jess suggested during lunch in the cafeteria.

“That’s a good idea,” Angela agreed. “Let’s go to Port Angeles on Friday after school.”

Bella shrugged her shoulders. “I have to ask my dad, but if it’s okay with him, I’m in.”

“I’m in, too,” Katie chimed in. “We should have dinner and see a movie, too. You have to make it fun for Bella and me.”

“Well, of course, we’re going to do those things. We should never waste a trip to PA,” Jess said.

Throughout this conversation, Bella noticed Edward Cullen watching them with riveted interest. It almost appeared as if he could hear them, but that was impossible. He was on the other side of the cafeteria. There was no way he could hear them. Right?

But then again, there was that story Leah had told her about the Quileutes being descended from wolves and the Cullens being from a rival clan. Maybe the Cullens were werewolves? Bella chuckled at the thought. Clearly, she needed to stop reading supernatural romance novels.

---

With parental permission confirmed, the friends headed to Port Angeles in Katie Marshall’s SUV for an afternoon and evening of fun. Their first stop was the dress shop, where they tried on multiple gowns.

“Don’t you dare try the royal blue on, Bella. You don’t have enough of a tan.”

Bella giggled, holding the dress up to her. “Oh my God, this color is fugly on me.”

“Yeah, it does look fucked up, but unlike you, I have a natural tan,” Angela reminded her, taking the dress from her.

“I swear. I can’t believe you’re the minister’s daughter with all the swearing you do,” Katie noted.

“How do these make my boobs look?” Jessica asked, coming out of the fitting room wearing a skin-tight, curve-hugging dress.

“Um, no. Your boobs look like they’re squished together and popping out.”

“That’s the point. I want Mike to notice.”

“I highly doubt Mike isn’t going to notice. He can’t take his eyes off of you. Besides, if you wear that dress, you won’t be able to move because it’s so tight. I can even see your bony kneecaps. And you won’t be able to eat anything, and you love to eat, Jess,” Bella pointed out, reaching for a rose-colored dress and stepping into another fitting room. After a while, she cried, “Oh, this is all wrong! What the heck am I going to wear?”

“Don’t worry. We’re in the same boat-no date, no dress,” Katie groaned. We still have time and can always go to Silverdale or Olympia.”

“True. We’ll figure it out.”

“Oh my God, that blue looks so nice on you, Angela.”

“Yeah, I like it. I think I’ll take it.” Angela wore the blue halter dress that looked so heinous against Bella’s skin.

“What about this one?” Jess asked, putting on the rose-colored number Bella had just taken off.

“Better. Your boobs don’t look like they’re suffocating.”

Just then, several drunk college students tapped on the window and made catcalls. One of them made lewd gestures with his tongue while another grabbed his crotch.

“Gross,” Bella cringed, turning her back on the boys.

“Yeah, no kidding.”

Angela and Jess paid for their dresses, leaving them behind for alterations. They’d pick them up when ready in a couple of weeks.

“You know, we have to consider alteration time, too. I didn’t realize that,” Katie said.

“Neither did I. I’ll have to talk to my dad about going to Olympia later. Where is it?”

“South of us, about three hours away.”

“There’s no way my dad will let me drive so far away alone. He barely let me drive when we traveled up from Phoenix.”

“Yeah, that’s why we have to ask them to take us, and we’ll see if we can go together. They’re friends, so it should be easy to persuade them.”

Bella shrugged and nodded. “Well, that makes sense.”

The girls cut through an alleyway and parking lot to get to the movie theatre. They figured there were four of them, so there was safety in numbers. What they weren’t expecting was to run into the drunk college students who harassed them through the window of the dress shop. They were drinking in the parking lot, and they had predatory expressions on their faces. They quickly surrounded the girls.

---

Paul Lahote sighed as he walked out of the Thunderbird and Whale bookstore. It was his mother’s birthday, and he had purchased a book on legends of Native American tribes that she’d been eyeing for a while. Earlier, he had gone to the bakery to pick up a birthday cake for her.

Paul, a member of the Quileute Nation, was the only child of Dr Julia Lahote-though she preferred to be called Ms Lahote. His mother was a psychologist at the Forks Police Department. She had raised him independently since she had him at seventeen, the same age he was now. Paul knew his mother had struggled initially and worked herself to the bone to support him while educating herself. It was why he was happy to make her birthdays special.

As he approached the parking lot where his Ford Focus was parked, Paul heard a girl yelling, “Get away from us, you scumbags!”

Paul’s sense of honor didn’t allow him to walk away, especially when people were in danger. He rushed to the scene to see what was going on. A group of eight or nine college students-all male and drunk-harassed four girls. The drunkards formed a circle around the girls, encompassing them so they couldn’t leave. Whatever those guys were up to, it wasn’t friendly. The girls were desperately trying to get away from them.

“Hey, Hey. Where are you going?” One of the guys asked with a lascivious leer on his face.

“Why don’t you hang out with us?” Another suggested, licking his lips in anticipation of god only knowing what.

They surrounded the girls, groping them, touching them, and intimidating them. Paul wasn’t going to stand for that. His mother had been a rape victim, and he was the result of the rape. He didn’t know who his father was; neither did his mother, and he wasn’t about to let the girls get victimized.

As he approached, a feisty brunette girl kneed one of the guys in the balls, sending him to the ground, doubled over. She jabbed another in the windpipe and clocked his jaw, but one of his friends grabbed the girl from behind, immobilizing her. “I like a wild one. I’m going to have fun with you,” he sneered, his voice laden with an undercurrent of menace. The girl didn’t give up, though; she furiously jabbed the guy holding her with her elbow several times, attempting to get free.

“Hey! Leave the girls alone!” Paul shouted, approaching the scene.

“What are you going to do, boy, defend them all on your own?” One of the guys puffed out.

Paul cracked his knuckles. “Yeah,” he smirked. “Come and get me.”

The guys left the girls and suddenly stalked toward Paul. He wasn’t worried. He had a special gift-courtesy of an ancestor from his mother’s line.

“Oh my God, Bella! What are you doing?” Katie called.

“We can’t let this guy let us defend us on his own. What if he’s killed? I won’t stand for it.”

Bella joined the fray and decided to practice some of her karate moves. Indeed, she had no idea what she was doing and got slugged more than a few times, but she got several good kicks and punches in. She refused to be a bystander like at her old high school.

Paul, meanwhile, was having an easy time of it. He was much stronger than these twerps, and he was easily defending himself, clocking them with hooks and jabs, and flinging others away. The brunette girl did her best to help him when she didn’t need to. She was a little spitfire, getting back up to fight whenever she was knocked down. He liked her spirit.

Two of the other girls rushed one of the drunkards together, kicking, slapping, and pulling his hair. The other girl frantically called someone, probably the police. Suddenly, the drunks dispersed and ran away.

The avenging angel stood up on her own before Paul could help her. “Ow! I didn’t realize it hurt so much to get punched,” she commented, rubbing the side of her head. “Thanks for coming to our defense. We would have been in trouble if you weren’t there.”

“No problem. Those guys were nothing but trouble.” Paul looked into the girl’s eyes. “What’s your name?”

And then it happened. Holy shit. Not now. Not here. Well, Sam warned him it would occur at the most inopportune time and place. He felt like an invisible lasso was binding him to the girl before him. Suddenly, nothing else in the world mattered but her. He would do anything, be anything for her.

Paul also had an incredible urge to sing “As Long As You Love Me” by the Backstreet Boys to her because, for some reason, he thought the lyrics were appropriate to the situation. Or maybe he should draw huge hearts on the sand at First Beach and write Paul and… What the heck is her name?

Paul Lahote had just imprinted on a complete stranger. He’d never seen her before, and he knew a lot of people both in Forks and La Push. He even recognized the three other girls. They were students at Forks High, although two of their names escaped him. He had found his soulmate-the girl his entire world would revolve around for life, and he didn’t even know her name. Quileute magic was weird.

Who was she? What if she was a hardened criminal? Or worse. What if she was flighty and fake? He couldn’t handle that.

“Oh, my God. Paul, thank god you were here. I didn’t recognize you with short hair.” Katie Marshall approached them. She had been the girl on the phone. “I called 911. Paul’s mother works at the station, Bella. She’s Julia Lahote, the psychologist at the police station. Paul, this is Bella Swan-Chief Swan’s daughter.”

Well, at least Paul knew who the girl was now. Her father was his mom’s boss.

Suddenly, a silver Volvo skidded into the parking lot with headlights blaring. A tall, copper-haired boy stepped out of it, and everyone instantly recognized Edward Cullen. He glared sinisterly at Bella and ordered, “Get in!”

“Fuck, no!” she hollered.

“It wasn’t a request,” Cullen snarled, grabbing Bella by the arm. She immediately struggled to break free, but he had an icy, cold grip on her. His hand was so cold that she thought her arm would become frostbitten.

“Who the hell do you think you are? You have no right to order me around.”

“Bella, that boy isn’t safe,” Edward growled. He’s a predator.”

“Who? Paul? He just saved us all. He’s a hero. You’re the predator. You’ve been stalking me since I arrived at Forks High School. Now, leave me and my friends alone!”

Edward tried to force Bella into his car. “Let go of my friend, you asshole, or I’ll tell my dad!” Katie cried, latching onto Bella and refusing to let go.

Edward finally released her, and the girls scurried behind Paul, who stepped toe to toe with the creep. There was a staring contest, and both boys refused to back down.

“I can’t read you clearly,” Edward Cullen mumbled, shaking his head. All he could get from the boy was, ‘Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh’ over and over again. He fixed an icy glare on Bella. “We’ll discuss this on Monday,” he grunted before peeling out of the parking lot, almost mowing down Paul.

“You weren’t kidding about him being creepy!” Jess commented to Bella.

“I told you.”

“It’s like he’s obsessed with you,” Angela pointed out. “That is so not good.”

“We need to tell our dads,” Katie stated, just as sirens sounded and two police cars pulled into the parking lot.

Paul wondered why the hell a vampire was obsessed with his imprint. Why couldn’t life ever be easy for him?

The kids explained what happened to the Port Angeles police officers, who put the kids in the squad cars and brought them all to the station after realizing three out of five had parents who worked in law enforcement. An hour later, Charlie Swan, Ken Marshall, and Julia Lahote rushed into the station. They were still at work when they received a phone call from the Port Angeles police chief. Twenty minutes after their arrival, the Webers and the Stanleys showed up.

Katie submitted evidence by way of photos. While everyone was fighting, she had taken pictures and video of the incident to identify the attackers. She had no intention of publishing anything on social media. She just wanted their attackers arrested.

One of the investigating officers blew out a breath. “I can identify most of them. The kid in the red shirt is my nephew and some of his high school hockey team friends. They’re all on Spring Break from college and are home for the week.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry about this. We’ll handle this on our end and keep you updated, Charlie. I’m glad the girls are okay.

“Well, we were lucky Paul was here to defend us,” Jess pointed out. “And Bella, you went in and fought valiantly, too.”

“Yeah, but I can one hundred percent say that putting everything I learned in karate class into play wasn’t easy. I was fighting those guys off where I could. Oh, and getting punched for real hurts.”

“Why did you fight those boys?” the Port Angeles police chief asked curiously.

“Well, I couldn’t let Paul defend us on his own. He might have been killed, and I couldn’t allow that to happen,” Bella explained. “I would never recover if I saw anything like that.”

She looked up to see Lieutenant Marshall, Ms Lahote, and her father smiling knowingly at her. They knew she had made a great deal of progress in getting a handle on her mental health since arriving in Forks.

“Well, Charlie, your daughter should get checked out at the hospital. She took several hard punches and might have a concussion.”

“I’d seriously go to Port Angeles because you don’t want that creepy Edward Cullen’s father checking you out,” Katie advised.

“Oh, yeah. We should tell everyone about what happened to him. That was seriously freaky!” Jess added.

The girls explained to their parents and the police officer how Edward Cullen suddenly appeared, demanding Bella get in his vehicle.

Paul added his two cents, too. He didn’t like the idea of a vampire stalking his imprint. As soon as he returned to the reservation, he planned on mentioning tonight’s events to Chief Black. It was a momentous day for him, even if he hadn’t explained it to Bella yet.

After everything concluded, the kids went home with their parents. Ken Marshall drove Katie’s SUV home while Paul drove his mom in his car. They had caught rides with Charlie. The other girls went home with their parents while Charlie took Bella to the emergency room in Port Angeles because it was better if she was seen sooner rather than later. Miraculously, she only suffered a black eye and a whole bunch of bruises and was treated and released to her father’s care.

---

“What were you doing in Port Angeles, Paul?” Julia asked as her son started the engine.

Paul shook his head. He’d wanted to surprise his mother, but it wasn’t happening now. “Mom, if you look in the backseat, you’ll see a box from the bakery. It’s your birthday today. I wanted to surprise you.”

“You are just too sweet. Thank you, Paul. Have you had dinner yet?”

“No, I wasn’t expecting to have to defend girls from a bunch of drunks.”

“Well, I’m glad you were there to help them, especially Bella. I have a soft spot in my heart for her. Why don’t you drive to Bella Italia? Let’s get dinner there. We can bring the cake you bought for me and have it for dessert.”

“Mom, if we go to Bella Italia, I want the Tiramisu for dessert.”

Julia laughed. “Alright, we’ll save the cake for home then.”

Julia took in the sight of her son. She loved the boy more than life itself. Her boy, born through adversity, was a treasure. He was intelligent, respectful, and worked hard in school. This school year had been challenging for Paul. In October, her son had phased into a shapeshifting wolf, an utterly unexpected occurrence. She knew of the legends of her tribe, of course, but had assumed they were a folk tale.

With the arrival of the Cullen Family, a vampire coven that had previously resided in Forks in the 1930s, some of the boys turned into wolves due to a long-dormant gene that activates with the long-time presence of vampires. Julia carried the gene and passed it on to Paul.

Other than her son, Sam Uley, Jared Cameron, and Embry Call had also shifted. Their job is to protect La Push from vampires. It had been a difficult transition for the boys, who needed to adapt to their new abilities while still attending school. On top of that, one of the boys underwent the phenomenon of imprinting. Imprinting happened when a wolf met his soulmate, the one he’d keep and protect forever. An imprint was formed for the wolves by the spirits. Sadly, the first imprinting caused a dilemma. Poor Leah Clearwater, who had been Sam Uley’s fiancée, was shunted aside in favor of her cousin Emily. Leah had fallen into a deep depression, but according to Billy, she was finally climbing out of it with the help of a new friend: Bella Swan. Fortunately, none of the other boys had imprinted yet. They didn’t need that complication, too.

Julia and Paul placed their orders and talked while waiting for their dinner. Her son reached into his backpack and presented her with a bag from her favorite bookstore. “Sorry, I didn’t have time to wrap it. It’s your birthday present. Open it, Mom.”

“Oh, Paul. You shouldn’t be spending your hard-earned money on me.” Her son worked as a river guide on the Hoh Reservation during the summers when it was peak tourist season.

“Aw, Mom. You’re so worth it.” Paul flashed her his trademark smile. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Julia opened the bag and pulled out a book on Native American Legends. It was the one she had been eyeing for a while. How did he know? “How did you know I wanted this book?”

“Mom, I saw you looking it up over and over again. And you left your laptop the other day with the page for the book open. Duh.”

“Well, you’re a perceptive kid.”

“I take after you.” Paul’s expression was contemplative. It looked like he was considering whether or not to say something to her.

“Whatever you’re thinking, Paul, it’s better out than in,” Julia reminded him. She was a firm believer that if something needed to be said, it was better to air it out instead of letting it ferment.

“Alright, then. Mom, I imprinted.”

Julia’s mouth popped open and shut several times. She wasn’t sure how to respond. Her son was too young to have a soulmate. “On whom? Did it happen at school? Is it one of your classmates?”

“No, not one of my classmates! That would be like unfair punishment. I feel like they’re all ditzes.” Paul tapped the side of his head. “I need a bit more originality. I don’t like it when girls agree with everything a guy says to make it seem like they have something in common.”

“Well, then, who did you imprint on?”

“Oh, the super pretty girl I met tonight. Her name is Bella Swan.”

Julia’s eyes widened. “You imprinted on my boss’s daughter?”

“Yeah. I looked into Bella’s eyes, and suddenly, everything in the world fell into place. Am I making any sense?”

Julia sighed. “If everything Billy explained about imprinting is true, then yes. Just don’t rush into things like Sam did with Emily. Treat her with the utmost respect.”

“Of course, Mom.”