Chapter 9- Talk About Awkward

I could feel his goofy, cocky, grin before I even picked my head up from my hands.

"Hi, Bella" Edward said, special emphasis on 'Bella'. The arrogant smirk that spread across his face told me that he was happy for this forced interaction.

"Correction- its Izzy now." I snapped. I didn't want to have to deal with this right now.

"Izzy! Behave! Be nice to the Cullens. You guys used to be best friends…" Charlie scolded me for my natural sarcasm. Where on earth did he get us being best friends from?

"Dad." I said with a look of disappointment, "We were never friends. I liked Esme and Carlisle, but not them. I whispered to him. But it was probably pointless since me and him were separated by about five people.

"Oh, right. That was Emmett who was always hanging out with them. Well never mind that! You still need to behave!" He scolded. I scowled at him but retreated.

"Please excuse my behavior, I'm a bit jet-legged still" I apologized, the words nothing but a lie that burned my tongue with its vile taste. I can't believe that I have to sit here and lie just to avoid getting in trouble. It's like 3rd grade all over again.

"Oh that's okay sweetie" Esme said. "You look great! You certainly have changed since we saw you last"

"Yeah, well shit happens." I said, almost hesitant to say 'shit' in front of Charlie, and Esme, and Carlise. "I guess my new friends in Arizona helped change my image without my noticing it. That explains why Emmett didn't recognize me!" I said, giggling, remembering the hilarious show Emmett put on. Charlie laughed with me, but Emmett blushed deep red, and stared down.

"Awe, baby. Don't worry about it. I don't love you any less" I heard a silky voice purr. Apparently I have been so preoccupied that I haven't even noticed that Emmett has his arm draped lazily over Rosalie's rigid shoulders. Since when were they a thing? This is just perfect. My mortal enemy is dating the one of the only people I thought I could whole-heartedly trust.

"Oh yeah, Izzy, this is Rosalie, in case you don't remember her, and she is my girlfriend. We have been dating for about a month now!" Emmett said proudly, as if he could read my mind. I hissed out a sigh between my teeth.

"What's wrong Bella? Jealous that your big brother could find love before you?" Edward whispered nonchalantly to me, calling absolutely no attention to us. Apparently no one heard him. If this was a cartoon, I would have steam puffing out of my nostrils and ears. How dare him! How on earth does he have the audacity to talk to me?

"No, I'm just upset that my brother doesn't have enough sense to stay away from the female version of the devil. " I said, matching his tone. Anger flashed through his eyes, but then…amusement? Was he amused that I am actually standing up for myself? My tightly coiled fists started to tremble beneath the table as I struggled to maintain my composure. My resentment towards him that had been built up over all the painful years of torture boiled in the pit of my stomach, threatening me with an infuriated outburst.

'Stop, stop it. You promised Charlie… Plus, you can get them back later. Calm down' I mentally shouted in my head. I knew that if I didn't get a cap on my anger, I would blow these fantastic opportunities I have. With that, I settled with gritting my teeth as he cockily went about his answer.

"Well, he gets to make his own decisions. Like you. If you don't shut your trap before you ruin this, school will be hell on Monday." With that, I lifted my heel, and even though I didn't have a sharp heel, or even one at all, I brought my foot down as hard as I could on his leather shoe covered foot.

"Gah! Son of a-"

"Edward!" Esme shouted, effectively scaring us. She cleared her throat. "I mean, Edward, you know how I feel about you swearing during dinner." She corrected, much calmer than she was five seconds ago.

"But.. But Bella-"

"Izzy" Charlie said, correcting him.

"Well, Izzy kicked me!" He said, sounding very much like a four year old. I put on a shocked face.

"Oh Edward! I am so sorry! I had no idea your foot was there, I was just bringing my foot down from having crossed over my knee, and I guess I forgot that you were there…" I say, trying to hide behind my hair, adding to the allusion of how embarrassed I was for my 'offense'.

"Come on Edward, don't ruin the nice evening. She's very sorry" Esme said, desperately trying to save the mood. He shot me a daggers when he realized what kind of a situation I put him into. I frowned, my eyes filling with fake tears.

"I-I'm very sorry Edward" I say, my thick brown hair covering the left side of my face as I stared at my plate. This is just way too easy.

"Whatever. It's cool" he grumbled unhappily. I smirked a small, devilish smirk before returning into the normal pattern of conversation.

Charlie, Esme, and Carlisle all wanted to know about my trip, who my new friends are, what the other school was like, etcetera, etcetera. I answered them all as honestly as possible without revealing too much. Like how almost every other day Dani, Alec, Arron, and I would ditch the last part of the day, which, in my defense, was only gym and some computer course. Both of those are useless to me, so I would much rather be happy in spending time with my friends than wasting hours in a prison like school classroom.

Or, like how on summer, Arron threw a major party at the end of the year, and we all got wasted. Well, almost everyone. I only got a bit tipsy, and Alec didn't drink at all. It was so funny seeing all my friends drunk. I think Dani even wanted to go and get tattoos of a squirrel she saw because it inspired her to "enjoy life while you can, man. One second your scurrying across a powerline, the next you are running on a fense". Yeah, I know it doesn't make sense, so I stopped her from making that mistake.

Edward remained quiet, although his eyes never left me. He seemed content with keeping his forest green eyes glued to my skull. There's no doubt that he is mad, I just embarrassed him in front of everyone at the table. I am positive I can handle anything he throws at me on Monday, after all, I have changed, Esme was right. But what has remained the same throughout these many years was my lust for vengeance against the Cullen's wrong doings.

As we were leaving the restaurant, everyone stared. This had been quite an exciting dinner, with many different scenes of drama, it's almost laughable. I was the second last person to leave the booth. Right as I broke out into the crisp air of near twilight, something pulled at my shirt. I turned around, expecting to have to undo a knot that somehow tied me down to the booth, but instead, came face to face with Edward. He roughly grabbed my hand and yanked me closer than I ever would want to be with him and whispered, "You dug your own grave this time, Swan. Monday's coming up and you've got hell to pay." He gave a harsh push and stormed out to his obnoxious silver Volvo. He always did think that he would get the 'coolest' car in town.

I tried to scurry after Charlie, but Edward's words swam in my mind. Did I get in too deep this time? Maybe they really would kill me now. They almost have before, so why would they not again? I bit my lip, questioning every action I took during dinner. I gulped hard. I am on my own now. I keep forgetting about my extreme lack of support if I needed to go into 'battle'. Charlie and Emmett talked nonsense stuff about sports, politics, and other stuff that I'm not into, so I stayed quiet, contemplating what to do about my impending doom.