Not That Girl

Chapter 12

I relaxed against the head board on my bed and looked at my friends' faces wondering who would ask first. Emily and William sat on my dark purple mini sofa, Michael sprawled across the end of the bed with a pillow balanced on his tummy.

'So, to break this awkward moment I'm just gonna ask, what happened to Bella?'

'Michael!' Emily hisses at him.

'What?' He asked innocently.

'No, guys, it's okay.' I muttered.

There was a silent couple of seconds before I continued talking.

'When Bella was about four, um, this one night she was really missing my dad being around so Ryan decided to take her out for ice cream after we had dinner to cheer her up. They were coming back when a drunk driver hit Bella's side of the car.'

I stopped when I realized tears were rolling down my face, Michael quickly came to sit next to me and after a moment of hesitation he pulled me into a tight hug, just holding me.

'Ryan had a few broken ribs and bruises so he called me from the hospital, I made one of the chuffers drive me even though Ryan told me not to come. A nurse thought I was supposed to be there and took me up to see Ryan.' I smiled weakly, 'He was pissed but he hugged me for so long and wouldn't let go. I couldn't really understand what was going on, I was thirteen when it happened.'

'I'm really sorry.' Emily mumbled.

'It's okay, it happened so long ago.' I bit my lip, 'My dad showed up the next morning and waited with us until she came out of surgery, he acted like a real dad. Hell he even stuck around for three months and hired an army of nurses to help Bella like a real father.' I smiled at the memory.

'Does Bella remember?' William asked.

'Sort of, she knows it was a car accident but that's about it. Bell blocked out a lot of what happened afterwards which is probably a good thing. I mean, she's so used to the missing- you know, that she doesn't really even remember how it was before.'

Michael was rubbing a soothing hand along my arm and gently rocking me. I wiped the tears off my face and took a deep breath to calm myself down.

'I haven't told a lot of people that story.'

'What do you tell people when they ask? I mean she has to go to school and all that.' Emily said.

'Ryan home schools her, she tried normal school but the kids teased the hell out of her so Ryan pulled her out.'

'Ryan? Not your dad?' Emily looked surprised.

'Oh yeah, Ryan's got control of Bella and my accounts so he decides how much we're allowed to spend. He's really reasonable though, I'm not allowed to touch my trust fund but I have full access to my dad's money.'

'Nice.' Michael muttered.

'Anyway, Bella's going to go back into normal school when she hits high school so that was she'll be prepared for college. She wants to be a teacher when she grows up.' I smiled at my little sister's dreams.

'That's cute.' William commented.

My bedroom door was pushed open slowly and Bella's head poked in, her long hair in her face, 'Can I come in Ron?'

'Course, come here.' I patted the bed in front of me.

She closed the door and ran to the bed sitting down, 'Can you plait my hair please?'

'Sure, turn around.'

She did as I asked and I gathered her hair in my hands, fumbling with the silky strands.

'Um, can I plait your hair Bella?' Emily suddenly asked.

'Will you make it messy like Ron does?' I scowled at my little sister but she didn't notice.

'Um, no?'

'Yay!'

Emily smiled and came to sit on the bed so she could plait Bella's hair, it was amazing how easily she made the hair form into a beautiful, neat braid.

'Show off.' I mumbled.

Michael whispered in my ear, 'I heard that, jealous much?'

'Just a little.'

He chuckled, 'You're so weird.'

'Shut up you noob.'