Chapter Five

Lunch was over so now it was time for my last class of the day, Biology. I packed up the rest of my lunch tossing the empty bag away and headed to my locker grabbing my biology binder and pencil bag.

Many people stared at me but that was normal, I was kind of popular and friends with nearly everyone in this school, always polite and not like those Queen Bee types. I was a straight A student, taking AP classes and was only missing one credit which was biology which was funny considering I mixed potions.  I was also a member of a bunch of different clubs like, school paper, photography and a bunch of others.

I had tons of friends outside of the sister coven, some human, some supernatural and was always a go to for most of the teachers here. I was just that kind of girl... I guess I just wanted to think somehow my parents and my family were watching over me and were proud of what an accomplished person I was becoming.

I worked hard every day between keeping my grades up and learning witchcraft. It's kind of like living two different worlds but sometimes I liked it.

---

Walking into class, Bella came in slowly behind us. Quinn went to sit at her station with Eric while I took my seat next to Jazz. Bella stopped in the front of the classroom and looked around nervously.

Bella handed her slip to the teacher Mr. Molina.

"Welcome Ms. Swan." Mr. Molina said taking her paper. "Follow along best you can ill you get caught up."

Mr. Molina gestured to the only seat in front of me beside Edward. I smiled at her, glancing at Edward for a minute as she sat down. He slowly looked up at her, his eyes were coal black, if looks could kill, she would be dead. I could see Edward's aura turning red and sighed.

Edward please calm down.

His eyes turned towards me for a second, jerking away from my cousin. He seemed to calm down a little bit.

"Today we'll be observing the behavior of plan aria aka flat worms." Mr. Molina said walking around and passing out two petri dishes per table. "We're going to cut them in half then watch them regenerate into two separate worms."

I glanced up at Edward who had adverted his face, holding a hand over his nose like Bella was the one who stunk. I just kept a watchful eye on him.

The bell rang Edward bolted out the door, Bella stared at him in confusion before coming over to me.

"Do I stink?" Bella asked quietly.

"Of course not, don't worry about it." I told her walking out of the room. "Edward's not so bad but just ignore them and try your best to stay clear of him and his siblings."

"You sure?" Bella asked looking down the hall.

Edward had disappeared.

"Yeah I'm gonna go, I have something to pick up at the post office and then I will meet you at the diner." I said we stopped by my locker, and I grabbed my bag. She looked at me in confusion. "Dinner with Charlie remember?"

"Yeah."

I smiled at her closing my locker and headed outside, Jazz headed for the sports field going to play afterschool soccer while Quinn walked over to where Eric's car was parked. I gave them my goodbyes, we'd talk later anyway.

Unlocking my driver's door, I opened the door and tossed my bags into the back, hearing a noise and glanced over to where the Cullen's usually parked.  Edward hopped in his Volvo and peeled out of the parking lot.

I sighed and watched the others climb into Emmett's jeep which was a wrangler like mine but white. They all gave me looks that I understood. Edward was acting weird all of a sudden

Shaking it off I slide into my seat and turned the key and pulled out of the parking lot and headed to the post office quickly to grab a package and mail from the Lovelace box.

It only took a few minutes and I was back in the jeep and started for the diner.

---

It wasn't that far to the diner, it was literally the only one in town. This diner held a lot of heartache for me, it was the one my mother owned until she passed...

I noticed the truck and Charlie's police cruiser parked and pulled in beside them.

Getting out, I stared at the building as I hustled into the diner and met with a blast of warm heat. After my mother died, her co-owner and main waitress Cora bought the place and took good care of it, keeping it like she did, from the design to the menu... nothing changed.

I found Charlie and Bella sitting at a table, looking awkward as usual.

I greeted a few of my friends and people I knew making my way to them.

"Hey sweetheart." Charlie greeted.

I smiled at him taking a seat beside Bella.

It wasn't long till Cora came and took our orders and food was brought out.

The entire dinner was nothing but silence.

"I can't get over how grown up you are." Cora said placing our food down. "And just as pretty as your cousin."

Bella smiled at her.

"Hey do you 'member me?" Another guy Waylon asked coming over to stand beside Cora. "I played Santa one year."

"She hasn't had a Christmas here since she was four." Charlie pointed out.

"Bet I made an impression though" Waylon said shaking his head just smiling. "Didn't I?"

"You always do." I said in agreement making Charlie smile at me, I leaned over to Bella to help her. "Butt crack Santa."

"Oh! I remember." Bella said laughing making me grin.

"Hey kids love those little bottles." Waylon said.

"All right let the kids eat their dinners. Waylon." Cora said patting the man on the chest and pushing him off. She turned back. "And as soon as you're done, I'll bring your favorite...Berry cobbler."

"That'd be great thank you." Bella said politely.

I grabbed my fork and started cutting into my cauliflower steak, I cut a piece and ate it, nearly groaning in delight at the fresh seasoning taste, the way it looked and tasted no one would notice it wasn't real meat.

When Cora walked away, the awkwardness came back as we started eating. Bella had a burger and Charlie a real steak.

Bella and Charlie reached for the ketchup and knocked hands and Bella recoiled, it was a little uncomfortable watching Charlie hand the red bottle over to her and seeing the look on his face. He was trying so hard.

There were several other families, including one nearby that was laughing that caused Bella and Charlie to turn nearly red with embarrassment.

"So....you eat here every night?" Bella asked, breaking the silence.

"When Elena lets me, I do." Charlie said eating his steak.

"Eating out more than once a month isn't healthy." I told him glancing at Bella. "I do most of the cooking so if there's anything you want to eat let me know."

"Okay." She said nodding. "I can cook too so maybe we can switch off."

"Sure." I told her shrugging. "That gives me time to do other things, just remember I don't eat meat."

"Oh that's right your a vegetarian." Bella said making me nod.

"You cook?" Charlie asked drawing our attention.

"Uh yeah mom taught me."

Charlie looked at her surprised before he started chucking, we looked at him.

"I remember your mother's cooking." He said looking at Bella.

We shared a smile, laughing, remembering one Thanksgiving when my mum and dad hosted and Aunt Renee offered to cook the turkey, she ended up burning it that was the last time Renee was allowed near Mum's kitchen.

"So how was school?" Charlie asked trying to keep the good mode going. "Meet anyone."

"Yeah, uh Elena introduced me to her friends." Bella said gesturing to me.

"Well, that was nice." Charlie said giving me a smile.

I smiled back and went back to eating my dinner.

The conversation went quiet as we ate our meals until Bella broke it.

"Do you know the Cullen family?" She asked hesitantly, I glanced up at her.

Charlie's head snapped up faster than a jack rabbit.

"Are people talking about them again?" He asked.

"Always." I told him rolling my eyes a little and turned to Bella.

"Well, I just-" Bella said trailing off. "Lena mentioned they were friends with Aunt Lacy so."

I was going to add to that, but Charlie cut me to it.

"Forks is very lucky to have a surgeon like Dr. Cullen." He said angrily. "Lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town and those children are better behaved than half those who have lived here their entire lives."

"Charlie, Bella didn't mean anything by it." I told him frowning. "She's just curious."

"I just don't like narrow mindedness." Charlie added.

We finished eating, and left the diner, heading home separately.

---

Once there I retreated to my room, trying to give Charlie and Bella as much space as I can.

I made sure my homework was done and hung around my room, music played quietly. I stood in my closet sorting through my spell stuff, making sure it was all in order and which clients I had to fill soon. I had a special calendar to keep track of who and when I had to send a shipment of teas, herbs or potions.

While doing this, I was on the phone with Jazz and Quinn talking about what happened with Edward and if anything has made it through the force field we had around the town.  Whenever something dark passed through, it would alert us through magic.

Minutes passed I hung up my phone, setting it down and moved to my dresser, pulling out a set of clean pajamas that were fuzzy and warm and got dressed. Moving to my desk and sat down brushing my hair out.

I spotted my mail and package I got from the office on my bed, tying my hair up into a messy bun and moved to my bed, sliding in.

Sitting up against the backboard, I sorted through the mail. There was a couple bills, some had money checks in them to cash. I got paid monthly in advance from the Cullens and the few magic shops I sold things too, one of them being aunt Athena's shop. She was the one who gave me the idea of selling it. Those from the reservation paid me in person. It sounds like a crazy process but I had my own way of doing things.

There were also a couple letters one came from my cousins in London, a couple from another cousin... they were all distant cousins some from different stages in our family tree, it was all complicated cause of our whole immortal thing, sounds strange but it's quite normal in the supernatural world... Anyway we talked and sent messages all the time, except for my cousin Kaine who I haven't seen since he and aunt Roe was kicked out of the coven.

I glanced at the package, looking at the return address, seeing Holly's name. Holly and her sister Mariana went to a private boarding school type thing and just like the other family members we were always sending letters or in Holly's case a new book. She was a huge bookworm.

I pulled out a book titled A Secret History Of Witches.

"Looks like Holly sent me a good one." I muttered laying back on my pillow. I read quietly and thought about what happened today.

I saw everything Alice did and it was crazy.

Does this mean Bella is going to get involved in what's in this town, what did it mean?

I was very close with the Cullens like the rest of my family, I saw them as family and I trusted them, but I didn't know what to think about Bella and them meeting each other. I would never forgive myself if something happened to them.

Whenever Alice saw something, it usually meant it was going to happen, the future was a strange thing, and no one knew what was going to happen.

'mew'

Shaking my head clear, I made a mental note to get up early tomorrow and go see Carlisle.

I turned seeing Piper snuggling up to me and smiled, reaching over to pet her and sighed closing the book setting it on the side table and slowly laid down, cuddling with my kitty.

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New Chapter 4/10/2024