Chapter 18: Chapter 18 – The Homecoming Meeting

JANUARY 21^st 2005 - FRIDAY

BEHIND THE ABANDONED BUILDING

Jessie lit a cigarette – one of her secret pleasures Xavier didn’t approve of, and of course, if he didn’t approve of it, she didn’t dare to do it in front of him…

‘I am such a fucking wimp!’ She scolded herself.

Everything in her mind screamed in fear – fear of her best friend, someone she knew was equally capable of becoming her enemy with a nudge in either direction.

The pressure was tearing her apart.

“You have to leave town as soon as possible,” Jessie passed the cigarette to her accomplice – Luis. “Professor Thorn is smart… that motherfucker limped away as soon as he could. I guarantee he will be on a flight any minute.”

“I am not afraid of fucking Xavier Ikaris,” Luis groaned, nursing some rather nasty bruises on his chest. “Even his name sounds fucked up… I don’t need to fear him. My brother and I will deal with that!”

“You won’t!” Jessie’s eyes turned aggressive, grabbing Luis by the shirt. “Believe me when I tell you that you haven’t seen anything else. You should leave Forks as soon as possible.”

“What about the product?” Luis growled.

“I will pick it up, distribute it, and send the money back to you guys in ten-thousand-dollar payments,” Jessie explained. “This is the only option we have left, and we have to work fast. I am guessing in a month Xavier will know I was the one who put your name on the list.”

“Are you saying he doesn’t already know?”

“Oh, he does – he just hasn’t realized it was me,” Jessie sighed, realizing just how much shit she was in. “I am a blind spot to him right now, but his eyes won’t be covered for too long.”

Luis hesitated as he rose to his feet. “Are you sure Greg and I can’t deal with him?” He inquired.

“Even your parents can’t…” Jessie broke whatever possibilities were swirling inside of Luis’s head. “You should go back home with haste. Xavier won’t wait long to make his move – I would think you have a day.”

“I’ll leave the product at the house, and the money for the next batch,” Luis decided – normally he would have to consult with Greg first, but Xavier had scared him that much. “Make sure to wire the money with the instructions I gave you, otherwise it will be flagged.”

Jessie slowly nodded her head and departed; though, in her heart, she was whispering a silent goodbye to a former business partner.

Xavier would have indeed waited a day, had the affected party not been Blake – needless to say, the girl held a special, but distant, place in his heart.

“Good fucking luck…” Jessie muttered.

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After turning the corner, Jessie felt a pair of frail arms embracing her waist, and she instinctively leaned back into her lover’s embrace.

“Stacy…” Jessie mumbled.

“I prefer Brittney,” The small girl pouted cutely. “I am worried…” She added.

“I know what I am doing!” Jessie instantly became defensive.

“You’re playing with fire… I should know,” Brittney muttered, glancing at the prominent burns on both her hands. “You will get burned, even if Xavier isn’t the one to do it.”

“I asked for help – I cried for help so many times… silent, voiceless plead!” Jessie roared in a strained voice – she didn’t want to do this, but she had to. “He didn’t even spare me a glance. He just used me, and—”

“He loves you – you know this,” Brittney encouraged, swaying back and forth with Jessie in her embrace. “He won’t know you ask until you really ask… he just thinks you’re strong.”

“And I can’t appear weak to him or he won’t respect me anymore,” Jessie sighed. “He said – a man does what a man needs to do to protect his women… and that’s what he expects from me.”

“You’re sacrificing too much,” Brittney’s heart was sinking.

“I would do anything to get you out of that house,” Jessie gritted her teeth. “You won’t survive another year at that place. Brandon is protecting you for now but how much longer until your father grounds the little pride Xavier has cultivated into dust?”

“I am not worth it…” Brittney’s tears fell without end. “I won’t have you betray your best friend to be with me – I would rather die.”

“Xavier and I aren’t friends,” The statement left a bitter taste in Jessie’s mouth because she knew it was true. “I tried to convince myself that we were, but he just tolerates me. Xavier just protects me from the guilt of what he did.”

“I know what he did,” Brittney comforted. “But a man is not defined by his worse action, not his best action, but a combination of all his actions. I can tell that he does love you like a sister.”

“Let’s not talk about this now,” Jessie pulled Brittney along to the car. “Why don’t we try those sex mints Xavier keeps in the Bugatti?”

The duo disappeared into the nearby car.

۞۞۞

THE CAFETERIA

Rumors circled about the incident in the Secret Club Room.

By the time classes resumed, nobody had very much interest other than learning what Xavier’s retaliation would look like – after all, Blake was considered one of his in the school.

Classes progressed as tediously as possible.

Xavier had another class with Bella, and there was a pop quiz that he cheated on without any hesitation. Bella’s eyes, for her part, remained concentrated on her own paper.

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Bella and Xavier joked about the quiz as they entered the cafeteria. They intended to wait in line for their meal, but they were greatly relieved when Mike and Angela waved them down.

It meant their meal had already been secured.

Of course, Angela knew exactly what Xavier wanted – the more meat the better, and strangely enough, Mike had studied Bella well enough to know that she liked chicken with a side of something green.

“Thank gosh, I am famished,” Bella slid into the seat opposite Mike, trying to pretend as if she didn’t know it would be next to Xavier.

“Can I have the parts you don’t eat?” Xavier questioned, already knowing Bella would leave a considerable portion of the food uneaten.

Angela scooted closer to Xavier, and The Eternal snaked his arm around her body as he ate – he was tall enough that hugging her and eating proved no problem.

Discussions started around the table.

Mike and Eric joked and competed for Bella’s attention, while Jessica occasionally poked fun at Angela, trying to determine the state of her and Xavier’s relationship.

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Bella, for the most part, became the social butterfly of the table, though, her words were limited to just a few sentences.

“So, Blake?” Angela inquired. “You won’t do anything crazy, right?”

“Like what?” Xavier played the ignorant card and continued to wolf down some food.

“You know what I mean,” Angela was growing upset. “She was one of those girls that tried to linger during our relationship… I just don’t want you falling for her same old trap—”

“What part of being violated is a trap,” Xavier unconsciously raised his voice, causing the noise at the table to cease. “I’m sorry… my head is all over the place today…” He apologized.

“I just don’t want you to become that person again,” Angela voiced with pity in her voice – pity Xavier didn’t appreciate.

“This, that… all of it is me,” Xavier frowned. “You can either get with it or get out of my fucking face…”

Angela froze, narrowed her eyes, and rose from the table before the argument could turn physical. She knew Xavier wouldn’t hurt her, but as Emily reminded her the previous night, anger often made men do things they later regret.

Angela walked across the cafeteria, spitefully joining Brandon at his team’s table.

Brandon, for his part, looked like a startled rabbit, but knowing how many times Angela and Xavier tended to fight, he wasn’t too concerned that Xavier would kill him over this much.

“I mean…” Jessica finally opened her mouth in a purposeful manner. “That could have gone better. Who does that to their boyfriend?”

“Jessica!” Bella called out, warning the girl to be quiet.

The expression on Xavier’s face told of someone who was profoundly tired, and not of his relationship, but of life.

“So… about my car?” Mike proposed a new topic.

A new topic was exactly what the table needed so Xavier clung to the topic with both hands.

“If Jacob and I can work on it, you can just buy a new car after selling it to us,” Xavier suggested.

Mike didn’t even hesitate to agree. “I kind of want a new car for homecoming, and some extra cash would be good.”

“Me, Jacob, and Tyler will swing by to discuss things in detail,” Xavier decided.

“I have another car that my dad doesn’t use… it’s a real antique, probably worth a lot to the right people,” Mike advertised.

“It almost sounds like you’re selling your soul, Mike,” Bella’s joke caused a universal chuckle. “So, who is the girl?”

“What?”

“I have to agree with Bella on this one,” Xavier stated, sifting through his memories to associate Mike with different girls. “A man doesn’t just wake up and want to sell his car, and a family heirloom unless he really wants to impress a certain girl.”

“And how would I go about it – if I did, I mean?” Mike sought the advice of the biggest womanizer he knew.

“If you actually want to keep the girl for longer than a week, you won’t want Xavier’s advice,” Bella joked, a piece of celery clenched between her teeth.

“So, you have jokes now?” Xavier smiled semi-evilly.

Bella raised a brow in his direction as if daring him to do something in a cafeteria full of people, and unsurprisingly, Xavier did do something.

The Eternal switched to the seat next to Bella, trapped the fearful girl in his sights, and swiftly leaned forward to snatch the end of the celery from her mouth with his own.

He only lingered for a second, but for that second, Bella could feel that they exchanged breath twice – the heat made its way down her throat and stunned her.

And there was still no kiss.

“So hot…” Jessica mumbled.

Though, everyone who had witnessed the exchange had the same thought. Xavier switched his seat back as swiftly as he had committed the deed.

Bella remained breathless with a chaotic mind – her eyes subconsciously drifted to The Cullen’s table.

Alice’s brows were scrunched as she stared at empty air, and Bella was relieved that the rest of The Cullens couldn’t care less about her brief, heated exchange with Xavier.

“Hey… what’s that?” Eric wanted a way to stray from the tense table, and he suddenly found one. “They’re putting something on the notification board.”

The notification board wasn’t used often, but any news that affected the school was attached to it – mostly because the Administrators were too cowardly to announce the information on the PA System.

Xavier, Bella, Jessica, and even Angela and Brandon drifted to the notice on the board. There, in as large words as can fit on an A4 paper were the words – Homecoming is canceled due to recent financial struggles of the school.

Nobody knew who started the cursing, but it instantly became the new favorite musical chorus at Forks High School. A few, like Xavier and The Cullens, remained unaffected by the announcement.

‘Wait…’

However, the more Xavier thought about it, the more he realized that Homecoming would be an important memory for Angela, so it couldn’t be canceled – not on his watch.

The bell rang, but it took a full ten minutes out of class time before everyone dispersed, and by the end of the day, a meeting had been called to discuss the matter of Homecoming.

Everyone showed.

Actually, ¾ of the students showed up to the meeting.

Even The Cullens were present, and the meeting location left space to be desired, so as soon as Xavier entered the auditorium, he bumped into Rosalie.

The notes in her hands scattered.

Had anyone else bumped into the vampire, their chests would have been aching for days, but Xavier’s skin just so happened to be as thick as Rosalie’s hands were hard.

Sheets of designs are scattered on the ground.

Xavier, for his part, managed to move with tremendous speed, snatching the majority of the sheets before they could touch the ground, but it seemed Rosalie was unwilling to do the same.

The duo spent three minutes gathering the remnants of sheets, and for the entire time, not a single word was shared between them.

There was no need for words – they had reached an understanding long ago.

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