🌟She's Special🌟

Phew!

West 45th Street (Friday, May 5th) (7:45 AM) (Olivia's Perspective)
"Bye Noah! Have a good day!" Leia said with a smile.
"Bye guys. See you later." He waved to us before walking inside with his friends.
"I wanna go to high school! It looks so cool."
"Well if you keep doing your work and listening to your teachers, you'll get there baby." I watched as Bella slept in the backseat and Leia messed with her.
"Leia, what are you doing?"
"I'm putting a raisin in her mouth!"  I giggled silently as I drove to Leia's school. I'm a bit worried about Bella, ever since I found her distraught at the boba shop our conversations have been so different. I feel horrible about the way Bella learned of her conception, and I realized that if I hadn't put it off so much, that would not have happened. Every time I try to ask her where she got the info from she gets upset and asks me to stop mentioning it. Who could it possibly be?
"Okay, we're here Leia boo! What do we say every morning before school?"
"I'm beautiful, smart, and kind and I won't let anybody tell me different!" She yelled softly.
"Good girl, give Mommy a kiss."
"Bella, you gotta wake up sleepyhead!" Leia kissed me before Bella walked her up to her school building. I watched as she gave her little sister a big hug and a tickle. She's an amazing sister. Bella came back inside the car and I smiled at her.
"Leia likes it when you walk her in."
"Yeah. Me too." I began to drive again.
"Hey, Lucy's going to be staying with Leia at the dance studio because she has some privates, do you have your keys?" She nodded.
"Can I hang out with my friends?"
"For a little while, yes. I need you home before Elliot gets back, call me from the house phone."
"Mom, I will. You don't have to hound me."
"Bella, you do realize that about two weeks ago you attempted to run away, right?! This is not about hounding you. I need to make sure you're safe." She pouted as her eyes watered. I pulled up to her school.
"Bye Bella, have a great day."
"Bye Mom."
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Baskin-Robbins (East 76th Street) (3:10 PM) (Bella's Perspective)
"So yep. That's how math went today." I was walking to the ice cream shop with Jake after school. I thought it would be nice for us to spend some time together.
"Ahh cool. Class was alright for me today." As we reached the ice cream shop, we went inside.
"They have vanilla. You like that flavour right?" I blushed. He remembered my favorite ice cream flavour. As we sat down, he asked if I was feeling ok.
"I'm alright. Therapy is hard sometimes.. but my mom is great at helping me." The thing was, he only knew little bits about what happened to me. It was weird to talk about that with him. As we ate our ice cream, he kept looking at me. I know that I liked him.. but it was still weird. How can someone so kind and nice even like me? My friends all noticed that we had been hanging out a lot. I was a grown-up now. Mom was always the one who I spoke to about boys.
"Mint chocolate chip is a new favourite of mine!" Once we had finished, we left there to head to the park. As we sat down, he told me about his mom and dad.
"Mom is cool. She's always very caring, sweet, cool. She's also very overprotective." I smiled.
"My parents are cops. Don't even start." He smiled at me.
"Well, yeah they're cops but there also has to be a reason why they're sort of extra protective with you. No? Didn't you say Noah gets to do a bit more? Is it because you're a girl?" He asked me before taking another lick of ice cream.
"Not exactly."
"Then what is it?" I sighed. How do I say it without saying it? How do I say it without scaring him away?
"Let's just say that when I was younger...People took advantage of me in a not-so-kind way. So when Olivia ended up adopting me she swore that she wouldn't let me endure that again." Is he going to run away? Is he going to think I'm weird?
"You were-"
"Yeah. It's a very long story."
"I'm here to listen if that helps."
"Y-You don't think it's weird? You're not grossed out?" I asked him.
"No. What happened to you was foul and you didn't deserve it. If listening helps, I can listen."
"I don't want to scar you for life or anything."
"Trust me you won't. I've already had to watch Ethan try to dance. I think that's traumatizing enough." We both laughed softly. He's too kind. He doesn't deserve to be burdened by me.
"But it's okay, Jake." I said honestly. He nodded in understanding.
"Hey, tell me about Kenzie! Is she still acting like a weirdo?!" I asked.
"Yeah, she decided to dye her hair black. I think she's gone crazy. When Mom and Dad found out they freaked." We both laughed again. At this point, we were busy walking around the park senselessly.
"We're just walking in circles now." He pointed out. I paused.
"Wait! I have an idea."
"What?"
"Let's go to my house!"
^^^^^^^^^^
505 East 74th Street (3:45 PM)
"Bella, are you sure about this??" Jake asked as I opening the front door. The alarm blared and the dogs started to run towards the door. I have to say, this was pretty spontaneous of me. I don't usually have friends over when no one else is home but suddenly I just felt like doing just that.
"I'm positive. Elliot's not coming home till like 7 and Mom's coming home later. We got time."
"But-"
"Hey, relax, take a chill pill." Ace jumped at the sight of Jake and licked him.
"Wait, Lucy's not home?!" He asked.
"No."
"Yeah, I'm out!"
"Why?"
"I don't want your parents to kill me! I saw the way Elliot was staring at me the last time we hung out." Jake started to head towards the door.
"Jake, please don't go! I promise you won't get in trouble. I'd never bring you here if there was a risk. I don't want either of us to get in trouble." I grabbed his arm softly.
"Please." I said again. He came back inside and I locked the door. Jake took off his shoes and calmed down a bit.
"So, what do you wanna do?" I asked.
"I dunno. Whatever you want."
"Kay. Let's go to my room!"
***********************
Bella's Bedroom (Jake's Perspective)
I gotta be honest. I'm freaking out right now. I've never been in Bella's room before, namely because her parents haven't allowed it. She usually follows the rule but now all of a sudden she doesn't want to follow it anymore. I feel like she's acting a bit strange, because she's not usually a rule breaker. But at the same time..this was kind of cool.
"You said you wanted to watch something. We have Netflix, Disney +, Hulu. Just choose whatever you want to watch." She went into her closet and came back with some snacks.
"Did you prep for this?"
"Nah, I always have a stash! Here, gummy bears." I stared at them.
"Can you just take them?!"
"Sorry." I said while looking around. She has posters everywhere and her desk had a lot of stuff on it. She had a little couch thing as well. We both sat on her bed and it was kind of quiet and awkward for a moment.
"Are you okay? You're being kind of weird. You're not usually this quiet." Bella said.
"I'm okay. I'm just worried about you. Are you sure everything alright?"
"Yeah. Everything's fine." She said quietly. I think I messed up. I have to fix this.
"Hey, we should watch Total Drama!"
"Nah! I've been rewatching it lately, there wouldn't be any thrill to it."
"Percy Jackson?"
"Ooo, which one?"
"The second one." She laughed.
"You're joking, right?"
"I'm confused." I started to laugh now.
"Jake..why would we watch the second one? It's not good."
"Bro, it's better than the first movie."
"I've never heard of someone saying that's the better one. You're such a fucking weirdo."
"Wowwww." She turned on the movie and stared attentively at her computer screen. Maybe I don't have to be so worried.
"Percy! Watch out!"
"I swear I can't take Grover seriously with those hooves as feet." Bella said while laughing.
*********************
My Bedroom (5:45 PM) (Bella's Perspective)
I woke up and an entirely different movie was playing. Oh my goodness how long have we been asleep?! 5:46?! Damn it. I shifted quietly and Jake woke up.
"S-Sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep on you."
"It's okay. Did we sleep through that entire movie?!"
"Looks like it." Suddenly, I heard the alarm from downstairs. Ryan and Ace began to bark. Oh no.
"Bella?!" I heard Elliot say. Both of our eyes widened. Shit!
"I thought you said the coast was clear!"
"I thought it was. He wasn't supposed to come home right now." I started to fix my bed in a panic.
"What do we do?!"
"Go inside of my closet! Go!" I whispered as I heard Elliot's footsteps.
"Bella??" He knocked on my door.
"You can come in." Elliot looked around. I was under my covers and stretching.
"You look frazzled. Everything alright?"
"Yeah. I just woke up from a nap. You kind of scared me." Well I mean, it isn't a lie...
"Why are you home so early?"
"I decided I'd come home before Lucy to relieve her of her duties a bit earlier. How was school?"
"It was okay." Elliot looked around suspiciously.
"I'll trust you on that. Well, I'm going to take a shower before Leia comes home."
"Cool!" I gave him a thumbs up. He needs to leave. When he was gone I let out a sigh of relief.
"Hello?!! I'm still here!"
"Sorry! Ugh. I gotta find a way to sneak you outta here."
Me: Noah where are you?
Noah: I'm walking home, why?
Me: okay so hypothetically if I snuck Jake in and Elliot happened to get back before he got a chance to go home would you *hypothetically* help me 🥺
Noah: what the hell-
Noah: actually never mind. I'll help you, where's El?
Me: he's getting ready to shower. How far are you?!
Noah: I'm on 2nd avenue, gimme a sec. I could make it home in five if I run. Just make sure you keep Elliot away from the stairs. I'll tell you what to do when I get close to home.

"Who are you texting?!"
"Noah. We're going to get you out soon. Um.. go back into my closet for a sec." I carefully pushed him back in and closed the door. I wonder if Elliot is in the shower yet. I knocked on his bedroom door.
"Come in, Bella." I checked my phone before peeking my head in.
"Have you showered yet?" I asked.
"No, I'm getting ready to. Why?"
"Just wanted to know so I wouldn't use all of the hot water." I said with a smile.
Noah: I'm almost home. Tell Jake to get his stuff ready.
Noah: I'm going to tell you when I'm downstairs. After I disable the alarm bring Jake downstairs so that he can leave as I'm coming in. I think that's the swiftest way to do it. Is El in the shower?
Me: he's about to be. I'll have Jake get ready. Just call me when you're downstairs.

I rushed back to my floor and told Jake everything Noah said.
"You sure this'll work?"
"Yeah, if he's in the shower he isn't going to hear the shuffling." Jake grabbed his bag and I grabbed my lucky pair of converses. I felt my phone vibrate and the security system go off. We raced downstairs and Noah and Jake did their handshake thing.
"You've got about 10 seconds before the house goes into defense mode." I helped Jake out and I thanked Noah for rushing home. Jake walked outside and I followed right behind him.
"Where are you going?" Noah asked.
"I'm walking him halfway." Noah shook his head and went inside. Jake and I walked the next block in silence before bursting into laughter.
"I have to admit, that was scary but would I do it again? Yes. Yes, I would?!"
"Yeah, right! You're only saying that because we weren't busted. Last time I checked you were fully ready to leave once you realized it was just us."
"As I said before. Your stepfather is a 6-foot tall man with these big ass muscles. I'd like to live, you know." I rolled my eyes.
"You're just annoying." We continued to walk towards his house and the streets were pretty crowded.
"You know, if you have to be home you can go. I don't want you to get in any trouble."
"Nah, it's okay! I'll just say I had to get some fresh air."
"And he'll believe that?"
"Yep. Did your Mom make any pie?" I asked.
"I see what you're doing.."
"I just wanted to know if I could get a recipe. Is something wrong with that?!"
******************
My Bedroom (10:27 PM) (Jake's Perspective)
It's been a couple of hours since Bella came over for a slice of pie and I have to say, despite us almost getting in trouble today, this evening was really fun. I don't really get a chance to spend that much time with Bella because after school she's usually with the girls or at dance and I'm usually at basketball or football. So that makes things quite complicated.

Ethan: Um hello are we still playing COD?!
Paxton: Yeah, like we've been waiting forever bro.
Me: yeah, give me a second.
Preston: you've been MIA all evening, who died?!
Me: huh?!! No one died.
Preston: I just had to ask because when are you ever so SILENT
Evan: he probably ditched us for some girl.

I closed that chat and decided to open another one.
Me: Did you get in trouble with your parents?
Bella: Just a little because they don't want me to "run away"  again or whatever.
Me: You ran away?!
Bella: it's a long story :) anyways, we're driving to the hotel for Leia's competition tomorrow
Me: Wait you're going too? I thought it was just your Mom and Lei
Bella: she wanted to keep an eye on me after the whole running away thing
Me: how badly did you fuck up?
Bella: uhhh moderately
Me: are you ever going to tell me what happened?
Bella: I don't know..maybe 💜

Maybe.

A/N: TYSM LaurenLove18 for writing the ice cream section! It turned out so cute! Please, please, please read her stories! She's an amazing writer. 💙💙