Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

The Rabbit Meets The Magic Stick

By Mama4Dukes

Chapter 22:

“Omigod! Maile, you look so pretty,” Gloria Silverwolf greeted as she approached her. “I bet Justin is going to go crazy when he sees you.”

“You look fantastic, Gloria. Wow! And I love your dress.”

“Thank you. Mrs. Lahote bought it for me. I tried to tell her that I didn’t need it, but since she took my sister and I in, she has doted upon us as if we were her own children.” She got a bit teary eyed. “She’s even taking us to visit our mother on Sunday and bringing us to the mall to buy us new clothes. She has to be one of the sweetest ladies alive.”

“She really is kind,” Bella agreed before giving Gloria a hug. “I’m so happy things are working out for you.”

“Hey, don’t we get hugs, too?” Linda Collins chirped. She and Tiffany Call approached them wearing pretty dresses. Bella noticed they were all wearing pantyhose and heels. Maybe it was an 80’s thing. She really missed her ballet flats at this point.

“I think we did a great job setting up for this thing.”

“So do I. I like the sparkling stars we hung from the ceiling, but if I never see glitter or anything sparkly again, I’ll be happy. Those were a pain in the butt,” Bella admitted.

“Yeah, they were. We should force Charlie to take them all down for coming up with the idea.”

“Good idea.”

“Oh, there’s Jack. How do I look?” Linda asked, smoothing out her pretty, red dress.

“You look beautiful! Stop worrying,” Tiffany assured.

Jake and Paul approached them flanked by Adam, Charlie, Quil, and another boy-Mark Newton, who Bella would know better in the future as Mr. Newton.

“So, who is dancing with whom first?” Charlie asked.

Jake took off with Linda immediately while Adam took Gloria’s hand.

“I’ve got dibs on Arizona,” Quil said and whisked Bella away on the dance floor while Mark Newton danced with Tiffany Call.

“Guess it’s just you and me, buddy,” Charlie told Paul.

“I’m not dancing with you, man.”

“No, but do you see those hot cheerleaders in the corner over there?”

“Yeah.”

“They’re going to dance with us. What girl can resist a high school quarterback and an exchange student from Arizona who rocks Billy Idol hair? Come on.”

And so Charlie and Paul began their night by introducing themselves to some pretty, perhaps slightly slutty looking girls, and dancing with them.

And now for a brief intermission…

“Peter, are you positive this is where we found the Rabbit? I thought it was further north.”

“Yeah, it was, but the bumbling idiots who left it, won’t find it if we put it back where it was. Trust me when I say that this is where it’s supposed to be.”

“I never doubt you, my love. Your gift is not subjective like the one that twit Jasper married has. You know she’s not his mate, don’t you?”

“Oh, I know, but we have to let the Major make his own mistakes. Give him about thirty years and he’ll come to his senses. He’s a slow learner.” Peter stopped running. He and his mate placed the Rabbit in a clearing in the forest beside a little used public access road. “What do you think?”

“It’s a little bright. Don’t you think the red paint is a bit too sparkly?”

“Charlotte, if I have to sparkle for the rest of my existence, so does this goddamned Rabbit! What idiot decided that vampires needed to sparkle in the sunlight anyway? I love the sun and now I can’t even go out in it if there are people around.”

“I have no idea honey, but you really did do a good deed fixing this Rabbit up.”

“I know I did. The kid who owns it is very deserving. He’s been taking care of his father ever since his mother died. His sisters are selfish witches. Plus, I’m doing a public service. Speaking of which, I have to leave a gift.” Peter placed a mix-tape of his favorite 80’s love songs in the cassette player and a box of condoms on the backseat. At the last minute, a thought came to him, and he added one more gift to the pile. “That should do it.”

“You’ve been doing a lot of good deeds tonight, honey. You even stopped at the prison and did a public service there.”

“I know, Charlotte, but that was an important stop.”

“I know. I never doubt you. Shall we leave now?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, good, I want to go see that new movie Dirty Dancing.”

“Sure thing, darlin’. I just have one more delivery to make at the local high school, and then we can be on our way.”

“I love you, Peter.”

“And I love you, Charlotte.”

Hand in hand, after their stop at the high school, the two happy vampires ran through the Olympic National Forest and headed for the movies. They each had smiles on their faces, knowing they’d done a very good deed.

But the show must go on…

About halfway through the dance, Paul finally caught up to Bella by the punch bowl. She had, for the most part, been avoiding him since their talk on Second Beach. Paul had done his best to give her some space.

“You look beautiful.” He took her hand in his. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

“I haven’t been avoiding you. I’ve been hanging out with the girls.”

“You were dancing with every guy, but me.”

“And you weren’t dancing with everything with boobs?”

“Only because you weren’t with me. I was trying to make you jealous.”

“It worked.”

“Dance with me?”

“Sure.” She extended her hand to him, and let him lead her onto the floor.

“I like this song,” he whispered as he swayed with her to Chicago’s ‘You’re The Inspiration.’ He dropped his forehead to hers, closed his eyes, inhaled a deep breath, and said, “I can’t do this anymore, Bella. I can’t pretend as if you don’t exist. We’ve been tiptoeing around each other since Wednesday and I don’t like it. What’s going to happen when we get back to the future? Are we…”

“Hey, Justin,” Karen purred. “Why don’t you switch partners with me? He doesn’t want to dance with you,” she snipped to Bella before turning her attention back to Paul again, “I’ll make sure you won’t regret it. I can take you places where you’ve never been?”

“I thought they only said stuff like that in songs,” Bella whispered in Paul’s ear, causing him to chuckle.

“So, come on. I can blow your mind.”

“Again with the song lyrics.”

Paul chuckled because Bella was right about Karen’s corny lines. He cleared his throat, looked at the pushy girl, and said, “Uh, no. You’re a little too fast for me. Relationships aren’t all about sex.”

“Jesus! What the hell is your problem?” She motioned to her body. “Don’t you want this? I’m giving this all to you.”

“Leave him alone, Karen,” Gloria ordered.

“Gloria, shut up! I know your secret, remember?”

“It’s no secret anymore. Everyone knows what Michael Clearwater tried to do to me and what my mother did to protect me.”

“You should have just slept with him. He was a good connection.”

“Seriously? Is that all you think about? Weed and sex?” Adam asked. “I heard the whole story. Michael attacked Gloria while she was sleeping in her bed, in her house. That’s attempted rape. I give kudos to Mrs. Silverwolf for shooting him dead.”

Karen scowled and tugged on her current dance partner’s arm, “Come on, Mark, let’s get out of here.”

Mark snatched his arm away and put his hands up. “You know something? You really aren’t the girl I thought you were. You’re pretty, but inside you’re a really ugly person. I don’t want anything to do with you.”

She glared at the kids who were all staring her down with fierce eyes. “Fine. You guys aren’t worth my time anyway.”

“Good riddance!” Gloria called after her. She took Adam’s hand and the pair disappeared somewhere.

“I hate admitting this, but my parents were right about her. They said she was bad news. They weren’t kidding,” Mark Newton spat in disgust before taking off in a different direction.

“That was some drama,” Paul stated. “I’m pissed at her. She interrupted our dance.”

“I think I’ve had enough of this dance. Let’s get out of here.”

“I thought you’d never ask.” He put his arm around her and gently pulled her to his side as they walked together into the forest. A minute later, he was running with her in his arms.

A few minutes into his run, when he was deep into the woods, he ran smack dab into Jake’s Rabbit.

“Oomph!” Bella cried as she flew out of his arms and into the backseat of the convertible.

“Sorry!” Paul hopped into the backseat next to her and pulled her onto his lap. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. What happened?”

“Obviously, I ran into Jake’s car?”

“But how?” Bella peered over the side and noticed the sparkly, red paint. “How the heck can you miss this thing? The paint job looks like Dorothy’s shoes from the Wizard of Oz.”

“Maybe a vampire painted it,” Paul joked. The pair of them had a good laugh together until he asked, “Is this even Jake’s car? I don’t remember it having sparkly red paint on it-or even a new coat of paint.”

“Or leather seats.” Bella climbed into the front seat and opened the glove box. She pulled out the registration. “Yep, this is definitely Jacob’s car, at least according to the registration. Plus, I recognize his key chain.” She jingled it. “See, it’s a Pirates of the Caribbean lanyard. It’s his favorite movie.”

“I noticed. He gave himself the name Jack Sparrow, while we’re stuck with Justin Beaver and Maile Cyrus. What kind of idiot leaves his key in the ignition?” Paul questioned.

“Give the kid the benefit of the doubt. We were working on his car when we were swept away by the twister. He was probably too freaked out to think about his keys.”

“It’s plausible.” Paul nodded his head. “I was freaked out, too.”

“I was, too,” she admitted. “I’d better start the engine up for him.” She turned the key. The engine purred to life and the romantic mixed tape started playing.

Bella returned to her previous position on Paul’s lap and snuggled into him.

He stroked her legs softly. “What the hell are you wearing on your legs?”

“Pantyhose. My aunt and grandma insisted.”

“I was wondering why your legs looked so tan.”

She made a mental note to make an appointment for a spray tan as soon as she got back to the future. She had no idea if they even had them in Forks, but she didn’t care. She’d drive all the way to Seattle if she had to. This all hinged on them getting back, though.

“I like you here. This is nice,” he whispered, gently tracing her fingers with his own. “I don’t want to go back. My life is so much better here, even if I have to go through life with a screwed up alias. At least here, I have family who care about me, friends who are decent and kind, and… and you. When we go back, what if Sam gives me an alpha order to never see you again? It would kill me. Then there’s my dad. He’s so drunk that… When I think of how he is now and what he’s going to become, I can’t handle going back, Bella. I can’t.”

She turned her face up to look earnestly into his eyes. “I swear on this earth, Paul, I won’t allow them to not let you see me. I’ve been doing some thinking these last two days and I came to a conclusion, you and I just fit together. Something about us just fits. Does that make sense? Whenever I’m with you, I feel as if it’s no longer gravity holding me to the planet-it’s you. Nothing matters but you. I tried to ignore you for the last couple of days, but it was physically painful for me, it’s like there’s a lasso pulling me to you and telling me that this is how it’s supposed to be.”

Paul was stunned. Bella had described imprinting to a T. She had used almost the same words that Sam had used when describing the phenomenon. For the most part, Paul also felt the same way as Bella had, but that jaw dropping first moment was missing; otherwise, it was exactly the same. It hurt him physically when she wasn’t with him, even when she was just a couple of doors down in a different classroom. When she was trying to ignore him, it hurt him-it literally pained him in the chest. He thought his life force was leaving him. Something was tying them to each other.

He came to a conclusion. “You complete me, Bella.”

On a whim, she decided to kiss him. He immediately deepened the kiss, wrapping his arms around her tight, trying to convey that he would never… could never let her go. It occurred to him then that he was master of his own feelings and nothing Sam said mattered, especially when it came to Bella.