9. Shut Up!

EPOV

I held Marie to me tightly, feeling my protective instincts taking over as I heard in a student’s mind that they were going to go notify the principal of what had just occurred out here on the blacktop.

Alice was stressing out, trying desperately to see the future for Marie so that we knew what kind of disciplinary action the school was going to take. I was still as stone, keeping Marie firmly tucked into my side. Marie was the picture of calm, getting comfortable in our position and asking me if class was almost over, while Lauren Mallory was still screaming her head off on the ground, obviously intending to milk this for all it was worth. I rolled my eyes at her. Her jaw wasn’t even broken. Coach Clapp had gotten off the ground and found a seat on the bench, panting a little bit. I guess he was trying to breathe through the pain.


“I can’t see what’s going to happen, and I won’t be able to until the principal comes out here and makes a freakin decision,” Alice stressed.


“What do you mean, Ali? What’s gonna happen?” Marie asked Alice while twirling a lock of her hair. After a minute, she added, “…and can you make her shut the fuck up?” she looked up at me while pointing to Lauren on the ground. “She’s hurting my ears,” she explained.


I shook my head, completely baffled that she didn’t view anything wrong with the situation. Or that she wasn’t considering that she might be in a lot of trouble. It was clear that she didn’t think she had done anything wrong and didn’t understand why we were freaking out. My main concern was that either Lauren or Coach Clapp would want to press charges. I would bail her out long before they'd be able to lock her up in a holding cell, but that wasn't the point. I really didn’t want Bella, or Marie for that matter, to have to deal with that.


“Marie, you shouldn’t have hit Lauren, pushed Jessica, or hurt the teacher,” I said, trying to explain. “You are in a lot of trouble,” I said lowly in her ear, and then looked into her oblivious eyes.


“Why?” she said curiously. Then her eyes widened a bit and asked in a whisper, “Was it wicked of me?”


There’s that odd question again. I guess only Marie uses that expression, because I’ve never heard it from Bella. I just nodded grimly in response and she exhaled sharply, then to my complete surprise, she started trying to get out of my grip.

Realizing she was trying to escape the scene, I held onto her tighter. Running away wouldn’t do her any good, or make this problem go away. As much as it bothered me, I was going to have to teach Marie to not run away from her problems. Even if running away was exactly what I wanted to do right now.


After some twisting of her body, she started trying to push against my chest.

I grabbed her chin firmly, making sure I had eye contact with her, then said in a stern voice, “Stop it.”

Defeat crossed her features and she stopped, but grabbed a fistful of my shirt and kept a death grip on it. I was glad no one was paying us any attention at the moment. They were either focused on the screaming Lauren, or talking amongst themselves, already plotting gossip and rumors for school in the morning.


The principal walked out the gym doors then and started heading in our direction with a grim look on his face. Marie started freaking out when she saw him.

“Shit, what are they gonna do to me? Why are we still here? And why the fuck are you going to let them hurt me?!” she yelled at me, starting up her attempt to get away again.


Hurt her?

“NO, Marie, no one is going to hurt you,” I said in a raised voice. The thought of the principal, or anyone for that matter, hurting her suddenly enraged me. After I took a few calming breaths, knowing that those things would never happen, I stated in a calmer voice, “Nothing like that is going to happen. He is only going to talk to you, alright? No one is going to touch you,” I assured her.


She shook her head and said in a weak voice, “I don’t believe you…“ then started pushing against my chest, doubling her efforts to get away.


I took both of her wrists gently in one of my hands and started rubbing little circles into her back with my other hand that had her tucked into my side.

“Marie, stop,” I said, trying to be firm with her again when she wouldn‘t stop twisting around.

We were behind the crowd of people and the principal hadn’t gotten over to us yet. I wanted her calm before he reached us so that she wouldn’t pull another groin kick on the unsuspecting man.


To my disappointment, she shook her head, telling me ‘no’ again. Sighing regretfully, I stopped my gentle approach of rubbing her back, choosing instead to quickly spank her ass, then punctuating the single slap with a firm squeeze.


I spoke urgently in her ear, "Now, Marie. Stop it now."


It had the desired affect. She was breathing hard from all the exertion of trying to escape my grip, but her body was still by the time the principal had reached us and I was back to rubbing those circles in her lower back.

As much as I wanted to apologize to her for the swat, I knew that I shouldn’t. It would just confuse her, so I kept my mouth shut while the principal stood before us, taking in the scene around him.


He sighed and faced Marie, asking her calmly, “Do you have anything to say for yourself, Miss Swan?”


She nodded, and he raised his eyebrows expectantly. I inwardly cringed, wondering what she was going to say.


Please don’t let her smart mouth get her into any more trouble…


She looked him dead in the eye and said seriously, “Just that I can justify the shit out of all of this, if you’ll just give me a goddamn minute to explain.”


I sighed.

Never fucking mind.


She continued, “You see the coach man over there?” she asked, pointing to his hunched over form on the bench. The principal nodded, and she did too. “Ok. So, he walks up behind me and grabs my arm. And I’m talkin’ about a motherfucking death grip, alright? I’ll probably have a bruise,” she said showing him her arm for affect. “And you know, you really shouldn’t go grabbing on young girls like that, unless you really just want to get bitch slapped. Or kicked in the nuts. Or sprayed in your fucking eyes with some mace,” she finished with a nod. Then she added, “That motherfucker is lucky I didn’t have my purse out here with me, or I would have busted out my mace can quicker than shit, and started spraying it all over his ugly mug. Know what I mean? So…you know, that was pretty much self-defense,” she explained sounding all business-like and professional.

Yeah, professional bullshitter.


I had a hard time keeping a straight face as she continued on without letting the principal get a word in. I was sort of relieved to find that he was currently having the same problem as me, I could tell by his face, he was fighting a smile and could hear in his thought that he found the situation somewhat amusing. He didn’t like Coach Clapp at all personally, but he was trying his best to remain professional, knowing he was going to have to dish out some sort of punishment. So he stood there, and listened to Marie’s crafty explanations.


“And as for that scandalous bitch on the ground,” she said, pointing over towards Lauren, “it’s really her own motherfucking fault. See, talking about people behind their back isn’t nice. My mother taught me that shit when I was little. Obviously, her mother doesn’t give a damn about her if she’s gonna let her run her fucking mouth just so it can get smacked when she does it to the wrong person. So, you see…I was doing the little cunt a favor ‘cause her shit for a mother obviously didn’t care enough about her to do it her damn self,” she said nonchalantly with a shrug. “See, I think what we really have here, is a case of parental neglect...” she trailed off, obviously trying to distract the principal from the matter at hand.


I looked up to the sky and allowed my grin to break free. Marie was really amusing and right now was just not the time to let her know that, because it could encourage this kind of behavior. After I sighed, I straightened out my features again and lowered my head to look back at the man before me, who was currently trying to figure out how to deal with Marie.


“What will your father think of this, Miss Swan?” he asked after a minute of her silence.


Wrong thing to say, man.


Marie seemed angered by that question. “I don’t fucking know and what makes you think I care? He doesn’t come around anymore, so I’m pretty sure that he won’t give a shit. And why is that any of your motherfucking business?” she said, scowling at him.


He shook his head a little then said, “Come with me, Miss Swan. I need to call your father and then deal with the matter of your punishment.”


Marie tightened her grip on my shirt and shook her head.


He nodded at her, “Yes, now come on,” he insisted, pointing his hand toward the back gym doors, inviting her to walk in front of him.


Marie stood her ground. And so did the principal. He kept his eyes on her and she started blinking.


Oh, no…Bella.


After a second, the grip on her shirt loosened and she cleared her throat, looking at the principal standing in front of her with his hand out, then looked up at me questioningly.

I didn’t know what to say to her in front of the principal, so I just nodded my head in his direction, silently telling her to go with him.

She hesitantly stepped out of my hold and walked towards the principal and he watched her slowly walk in front of him and he quickly followed behind her.


“My office, Miss Swan,” he said, reminding her of where they were going.

She kept walking and before they got to the gym doors, she looked back at me with a worried look on her face. I stood there, trying to look reassuring in my gaze, but really feeling helpless and was clueless as to what to do right now.

Alice and I followed them shortly after and we sat in the lobby area outside of the principal’s office to wait for Bella. I was completely aware of what was happening and being said in the room across the hall. I could see Bella’s hesitant, unsure facial expressions through the principal’s mind. Her apologies and the principal’s phone call to the police station to contact Charlie had gotten her eyes to start tearing up. I could smell the salt in them from here, and it was stressing me the fuck out. My Bella shouldn’t be crying. I ran my hand roughly through my hair, thoroughly frustrated and completely unsure of how to handle this situation.

No matter how you look at it, it’s really fucked up.

The whole incident wasn’t Bella’s fault. It was Marie’s. But…it looks like from what had just happened, along with the recent smoking and traffic ticket incidents, that Marie lets Bella take the fall for her a lot.

The realization only made me angry at her. But then that brought up a new thought in my head. I’m angry with Marie right now, but does that mean that I’m also mad at Bella? As for this particular situation, as well as those that will happen in the future, I need to keep in mind that Marie is an extension of Bella, somewhat, and that punishing Marie is essentially punishing Bella. That concept seems extremely unfair to them, but what can anyone do about it? I mean, they share the same body and mind.

But after knowing both of them, I know that they are completely different from each other. Different mannerisms, views and morals, hell…even different voices. While Bella’s voice is mellow and relaxed, Marie’s tone is more sharp and I noticed that the octave of it is a bit lower. They have their own separate personalities, and it really is like they are two different people.


I am so confused.


I was interrupted from my thoughts by Alice taking my hand, right before Charlie walked in the door. I was angry at him for neglecting Bella while I was gone and for hitting her hard enough to leave a slight bruise on her beautiful face yesterday.

Before I could speak up to confront him though, he turned towards the seats that Alice and I were seated in, and a look of surprise came over his features. He hadn’t expected to see me hear. His thoughts were clouded but I could see that he had an intention to talk to me about something important.

“Edward,” he said, nodding curtly to me in greeting and sat down two chairs from me and my sister.


Alice squeezed my hand.

Let him talk first. Don’t say anything she thought at me.


Charlie turned to face me then. “Edward, I need to speak with you before I go check in with the receptionist. Your father came to speak with me this morning. I am going to tell you right now that I am not sorry for slapping my daughter across her face yesterday. I am her father, and will punish her smart mouth as I see fit,” he told me.


“You left a bruise on her cheek, asshole, so that constitutes as abuse,” I said, interrupting him. “I’m surprised that she didn’t file a police report against her father, the police chief. How do you think that would look on your record, hmm?”


“I’m not going to defend my actions to you, Edward. I actually need to discuss another matter with you.”


“Well, then fucking get on with it,” I said, not caring in the least if I sounded rude to him.

I didn’t respect this man at all anymore. Actually, I wanted to leave bruises on him in the worst ways possible. Right now, as a matter of fact.


“Your dad came to me personally, and explained a lot to me about my daughter’s current mental state. Things that I had no idea were going on. I have heard of split personality disorder, but I don’t really know anything about it. And after our discussion, the events of yesterday afternoon make more sense to me. Bella turned violent on me, out of nowhere, and she said something very peculiar. She said ‘Don’t ever touch us again’. I didn’t dwell much on that statement, but now a lot of the puzzle pieces are starting to fit together after 6 long months of her erratic behavior. He also informed me that since I don’t really have the financial facilities to get her any kind of help, and she is now 18, that she has decided to move out of my house and move in over there with your family, after a discussion that took place at your house last night. He told me that he would be her attending physician, free of charge, stating that she is like a daughter to him, and…” he paused.


I nodded, silently telling him to continue.


“…and, I need to know if you know when all of this moving is going to take place,” he finished.


“Tonight,” I informed him.


He nodded at me, but I saw in his thoughts that he was relieved. The fact that Bella was moving in so quickly allowed him to move his girlfriend, Sue, into the house sooner than expected without dealing with Bella’s apparent objections.

I was disgusted with him and his selfish thoughts. He had changed a lot since Bella’s birthday back in September.


“So, do you know if it was Bella that assaulted the teacher, or if it was this….uhmm, ‘alternate personality’?” he asked, unsure of himself.


I wouldn’t even look at him. “Alternate,” was my curt response.

If he didn’t care enough about his daughter to stick around and be a father to her in her times of need while I was gone, then I wouldn’t tell him this ‘alternate personality’s’ name, or explain to him any further on the subject matter. It was clear that he was comfortable with as little information as possible. He wasn’t interested in Bella’s mental state at all.


With that, Charlie went into the office to accompany Bella and the principal, and I sat back in my chair, waiting for my angel to be back in my arms again.

BPOV

I was in a daze. My eyes were clouded with tears that continued their decent down my face as I stared out the window of the Volvo while Edward drove down the road back towards the pharmacy we were at this morning. Before Marie took over and threw a fit, giving Edward trouble at handling her over something as simple as eating breakfast.


I didn’t throw a fit, I just wanted to go to school and you wouldn’t fucking listen to me.

Shut up.

And then at gym, when I asked her just to please calm down…that Lauren and Jess weren’t worth getting in trouble over, she wouldn’t fucking listen to me. Instead, she took over, assaulted two students and a teacher, and then…oh God, the principal -


Was a self-righteous prick that you shouldn’t have had to deal with. I turned on my fucking charm and tried to get us out of trouble! But it didn’t work…

Please shut up.

And then I’m sitting in his office, helplessly awaiting my doom, when my father walks in. My father, who hit me yesterday, walks in and starts explaining that I have a ‘mental illness’ and how I shouldn’t be blamed for things that I had no idea I was doing.


How the hell did he find out?! And I don’t have a fucking illness…do I?


No, and I bet it was those Cull-


I wasn’t fucking asking you, and I told you to SHUT UP!


So then after an eternity of being stared at like I’m some damn science experiment because I know that I am now considered crazy by both my father, and the Forks High School population, I am finally told my punishment. I am expelled. Fucking expelled. I can’t come back on school grounds and both Coach Clapp and Lauren Mallory will be filing restraining orders this afternoon.


I just…how did this happen? And my father is fine with me moving out? More than fine, actually…it sounded like he was pushing for it. Does he want to get rid of me? Smack me around then throw me away because I’m crazy now?


More tears fell at that though and I sniffled. Everything was fine and would have continued to be fucking fine, if Marie didn’t interfere. I know this because I sure as hell didn’t have any intention of walking across the blacktop to smack Lauren across her face. After that happened, from what I understand, everything just went down hill from there. And then my God, the coach -


Like I said, if you would just stick up for yourself more often, then ma-


“Shut the fuck up!!” I screamed into the quiet atmosphere of the Volvo while pressing my hands over my ears, causing Edward to jump a little and pull over to the side of the road.


“Expelled, Marie?! I hate you!” I yelled, tears streaming down my face. “Just shut up…shut up, shut up, fucking shut the hell up!!!” I cried desperately.

I just didn’t want to hear her voice right now and she wouldn’t do me the common courtesy of staying quiet inside of my head. She was giving my head a fucking headache.


“Bella!” Edward called out to me, clearly alarmed by my outburst.

He pried my hands off of my ears and then quickly unbuckled my seat belt, pulling me over onto his lap.

“It’s going to be okay, sweetheart,” he said with a worried tone, and then he placed a cool kiss to my temple.


Awesome job at making Edward think you’re not crazy her voice said sarcastically.


I pressed my hands back over my ears, buried my face in Edwards chest and screamed. The thought of Edward thinking that I’m crazy, along with everyone else, was just too much to bear at the moment. He just squeezed me tighter to him, clearly at a loss for words. After about five minutes of screaming and sobbing, I eventually relaxed and quieted down.

My throat felt raw as I asked him weakly, “Please make her shut up. Please, Edward….make her stop. My head hurts,” I pleaded with him.

He looked extremely concerned, but didn’t respond to my pleading. He just wiped my tears off my face and pressed his lips to overheated skin on my forehead. “I’m sorry…” he breathed out. “I don’t know how, baby,” he said hesitantly, as if this fact was very hard for him to admit. “I don’t know how,” he repeated in a whisper and started rocking us a little, never loosening his hold on me.


I felt better at the fact that he was still willing to comfort me right now, instead of displaying the behavior that I had become familiar with this afternoon from other people. The people that think I’m crazy. He wasn’t looking at me weird at all. All I could see in his eyes was concern and love. It was all I needed to calm down completely and crawl back over to my own seat so that we could finish our drive to the pharmacy.

We still had to pick up my meds and then go to the store for boxes and my gum.