𝓋𝒶𝓁ℯ𝓇𝒾ℯ ↪︎ ᴘᴀᴜʟ ʟᴀʜᴏᴛᴇ



𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚗𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚜

valerie had been quiet the whole morning. since she was not in the mood to go on a field trip,
she arrived next to the bus, waiting for mr molina to allow them to enter it. she watched as isabella stared at the four of them. she smiled politely as usual, even though she was not fond of the human. she glanced up to edward only to find him glaring back at isabella. their eye contact broke when an overly excited mike newton hopped in front of her. valerie went to stand near jasper, but noticed that edward was still listening to the conversation between the two. she noticed isabella completely ignoring the poor boy, her eyes not leaving edward's.  

jasper grabbed her wrist making her look up. being an empath, jasper could feel her emotions. frustration, jealousy, sadness. walking to the bus, he quickly asked valerie if she was alright. she couldn't deny anything since he could feel her emotions. so she just cleave him a tight lipped smile, then looked back to edward, she was still near his car. jasper wanted to follow up with her but he didn't since they were in public. he also knew she would tell him when she was ready.
the bus ride was somewhat silent. valerie could hear alice blab to jasper about something, most likely fashion related. edward looked out the window and valerie at him. she took his hand in hers looking down at them clasped together. she felt a squeeze and looked up at her husband. he was already looking at her, giving her the smile that she fell in love with. valerie smiled back, she missed seeing that smile. she just hoped whatever shit was going on with him was over, or almost. she put her head on his shoulder the rest of the way there.

☽☽☽ ☾☾☾

valerie definitely regrets going on that field trip. she talked to jessica and angela, the latter of whom asking on cadences whereabouts. valerie's was about to respond when she heard his voice:
"what's in jacksonville?"
valerie zoned out, her answer going unheard.

"val? you okay?" angela asked, following valerie's eyes to edward and isabella talking. "don't worry, he only has eyes for you." she attempted to reassure the blonde. valerie wishes she could believe her. she shrugged it off and listened some more.

"are you gonna tell me how you stopped the van?" isabella asked, clearly still on this subject.

"yeah. i had an adrenaline rush. it's very common. you can google it." valerie snorted at edward's attempt to lie. did he really just say that? edward turned his head to her, upon hearing her snort and her thought. he gave her a look that said "well what am i supposed to say?" still laughing under her breath, she ignored the rest of the conversation, until preppy jessica stanley interrupts, making edward walk away. usually, valerie would have rushed to catch up with him, but she felt as if it wasn't worth it.
walking out with her siblings, jasper's hand in alice's and his arm around valerie's shoulders, she saw edward rush passed her. to whom? you guessed it. isabella swan.

"bella, we shouldn't be friends," okay none of the siblings expected that to come out of his mouth.

"you really should've figured that out a little earlier!" isabella was clearly upset by this. valerie kind of felt bad for her, only a little but. she turned to jasper:

"oof, low blow from eddy," she giggled. jasper laughed at this, earning a smack from alice. valerie could hear something about regret and guilt from the human, who assumed that edward would much rather have her dead.

"you don't know anything." edward tells the human. valerie was unsure why he was suddenly being so rude. yeah he was always somewhat annoyed-sounding, but this was downright mean. alice ran up to the two while the two blondes stayed a bit further back.

"hi! are you gonna be riding with us?" alice asked her. before she could even respond edward cut her off.

"no our bus is full," he said and punched open the door. the siblings following him in one by one each giving her a slight glare.

"so? what the hell was that?" valerie started. "there was no need to be so—"
"can you just stop fucking talking for once?" edward snapped. this earned a gasp from valerie, who was not expecting such harsh words. alice and jasper looked at him, surprised as well. even some of the other students started listening in, perhaps to witness the next piece of "forks high gossip material". while valerie did not want to give edward the satisfaction, she also didn't want the entire school to be apart of their business. so she turns in on herself and leans on the bus window, watching the world go by on the ride home.

☽☽☽ ☾☾☾

when they got back to the school, valerie did not bother going boy cheer practice that night. instead, she sped-walked out of sight, and once she reached the forest, she broke off into a sprint. she ran home so fast that she even beat the rest of them home. cadence as on her phone when she got in. she ran past her and slammed the door to the bedroom. while locking it couldn't hold back a vampire, she hoped that edward could take a hint from the lock and realize she didn't want to see him. cadence wanted to help her, but when she got this overwhelmed, this far into her thoughts, it was best to wait it out. she could hear her in her room, destroying anything in her path and choking on sobs. she glanced at esme who gave her a sad look. both of them knew this had to do with edward and whatever was going on between them. they knew that valerie could be emotional. but under the circumstances, they knew she wasn't overreacting.
when the rest of them arrived, all they could hear was loud music coming from the upstairs of the house. since they didn't see valerie in the living room, they knew what that meant.
they all turned to edward and gave him a look. he was confused at first until he listened hard enough and could hear sobs behind the music.
valerie had done this before. she did it at least once a year on the anniversary of sofia's death. she played music loudly in attempt to cover up the sound of her dry sobs, yet the family could all still hear them, just like they could now.
"nice going asshole. whatever you did must have been really bad." cadence said as she stood up and walked to him. "she cares so much for you and you treat her like absolute shit. you cunt!"

the other cullens watched wide-eyed as she shoved edward in the chest. this was not going to end well.

a/n: omg hey thanks for 100 reads! comment something whenever!