LIMINAL || 𝙅𝙖𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙃𝙖𝙡𝙚 [1]

𝟙𝟘 | 𝕨𝕙𝕚𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕙

Cara ended up letting me stay home from school on Friday. Well, 'let' is a strong word, since she can't force me to go to school, but she suggested it. I spent the weekend avoiding the stairs and trying to figure out the best way to navigate with a bum leg. Showering was the worst obstacle because it was too painful to stand without my boot supporting my leg, so I resorted to lying in the tub. Cara took over more of the cooking and housekeeping while I learned to adjust. On Saturday, Matthew came to check in, followed by Angela, who brought Bella along.

Bella and Angela were supposed to be good friends (Angela's words), but from my perspective, they rarely ever hung out. Maybe it was because of Bella going zombie-mode for months, or because both of them had boyfriends and less time to spend with each other. But it was apparent, based on the way they interacted in the same space outside of school, that they hadn't completely mended any bad blood.

"How exactly did this happen anyway? One second you were in government and the next, Matt catches me in the hallway, saying something about you and Jasper going to the hospital."

The details of my sprain had been glossed over in text. I didn't have enough messages per month to handle how Angela and Jess would react to the whole thing if I tried to send them the full explanation.

"I dove for a ball during PE. My foot somehow slipped and turned at an odd angle, there was this loud popping noise and the next thing I knew, I was laying on the floor. When Coach radioed down for the nurse, Jasper was with her and he offered to take me to the hospital. He brought me back home afterward, and I've been trying to take it easy since then."

My foot was propped up on a stack of pillows on my bed. Angela sat at the end and examined the ACE bandage. Bella stood near the door, her arms crossed protectively across her body. She didn't look my way, and I wondered if it was the absence of her boyfriend or being in my room that caused her to seem so uncomfortable. Instead, her eyes were focused on the balcony door. From where she stood, she could probably see her house.

"Edward was with Jasper when they got to the gym. They looked like they'd been arguing but I wasn't sure. You wouldn't happen to know what they were doing, would you, Bella?"

Bella's eyes flitted over to me, then blinked a few times, as if she was returning from a different world.

"Um, I don't really know. I wasn't with him," she swallowed hard. Her eyes moved away again.

"I actually saw them talking about something in the hallway the other day. They were definitely fighting then." I didn't bother asking another question that I knew she'd avoid. She opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it and shrugged, blinking a few times. Angela turned to her, then back to me again like she was missing out on something.

"I'm sure they fight every once in a while. It seems like Joshua and Isaac never stop fighting," she laughed. I smiled and nodded, but knew this wasn't your average sibling squabble. Whatever it'd been about had something to do with me, I was certain of that at least.

"Jess is wondering what you're going to do about the dance. You're still going, aren't you?" Angela asked.

"Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise. I'll have to borrow some of her sandals because I don't think heels would pair well with this," I gestured to my lame foot.

We wrapped up the visit a few minutes later when Bella mentioned that she needed to get home, due to the Charlie-imposed grounding that she was still subject to. I wondered how long she was punished for, considering she had run away, no matter how briefly, to Italy and then returned with her estranged boyfriend. The whole story Angela had told me seemed too random. Bella goes to Italy and magically finds Edward and his family, who decides to then return to Forks? And why had they left anyway if they were going to come back in a few months? Sure they were stupid rich, but it didn't make a lot of sense to me even then. Maybe if I were stupid rich, it would.