( crossfire! )¹ ─ ᵗʷᶤˡᶤᵍʰᵗ ✓

chapter eight.

( CHAPTER EIGHT )
INVITATION

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8 MARCH 2008

A FEW DAYS LATER and Bella and Carter were still the secret dynamic-duo, spending hours upon hours looking for anything that could indicate as to what was wrong with the Cullens. So far, they hadn't had any luck. They had gone through seemingly millions of medical websites, wondering if they all had some sort of disease or illness that was very rare, as well as who-knows-how-many conspiracy theories sites. The conspiracy theory sites were mostly Carter's idea, but Bella knew deep down that she, too, was curious about what could be on them. But their research time was cut short half of the time due to school and their own personal lives they had to keep up with (well, mostly Bella's personal life since Carter never did anything remotely interesting). Meanwhile, Bella was always being dragged off to who-knows-where with Jessica and Angela, with Eric, Mike, and Tyler (the one who almost ran both Carter and Bella over) occasionally joining them. Carter wanted to remain away from their social interactions, so sometimes she would occupy herself with researching on her own until she could speak to Bella again.

Carter hated to admit it, but the more time she spent with the Swan girl the more a close friendship began to develop between the two. She would always find herself joking with her and had caught herself many times before she said something she didn't want to about her past. She actually found herself wanting to tell Bella some personal things about herself so she wouldn't be the only one holding the burden, as messed up as it sounded. However, she knew that telling the things that really burdened herself to Bella would surely make the girl think she was crazy. Hell, she hadn't even told Robyn the full truth―not that she ever planned to do so anyway.

"I need everybody's permission slips," the biology teacher, Mr. Molina, yelled to all of his students. As a little field trip that was meant to be educational, he had requested a short trip to the local greenhouses for all of his classes, for the ones who truly wanted to go. Carter guessed that he had forgotten that most high school students would take any opportunity they could get to not have to attend their classes for a while. She was glad that she had turned in her permission slip ahead of time, seeing as how the teacher was now being swarmed by students who hadn't given him their slips.

"You know, I don't know how teachers do it. If I had to be surrounded all day by immature, ignorant, stuck-up little bitches that most high school, junior high, and elementary students are, I would have shot myself by now," Carter mused. She stood next to Bella at the girl's red-orange truck, away from the crowd and the buses they would be taking. Bella chuckled in reply. "I mean, it's not like many of the students actually appreciate what their teachers are educating them on, even though they for damn sure should be appreciated to at least some degree."

Bella remained silent, staring down at the asphalt beneath their feet. Carter turned her head to look at the girl to her right, finding her staring at something on the ground. When she followed her gaze, she found that Bella was staring at the streaks left behind from the tires of Tyler's van the day Bella almost got crushed by it. Scattered around the streaks were small chips of paint from both Tyler's van and Bella's truck.

The day after Bella "recruited" Carter as her fellow partner-in-crime, Bella had divulged the main reason why she wanted to find out what or who the Cullens really were. And according to the shorter brunette, right before the van had hit her, Edward jumped in out of nowhere and stopped it with a single outstretched hand. Bella said that right before Tyler had hit that patch of black ice that she had seen Edward on the other side of the lot with his adoptive siblings.