No Means No

[nintendogal55.livejournal.com]

Title: No Means No
Author: nintendogal55
Fandom: Twilight
Rating: PG
Word Count: 3,355
Inspiration: First book/movie
Warning(s): Mild language
Summary: Sequel to Other Bella and Revelations. Bella, still trying not to keep the future events from happening one day after meeting her future self, Edward is on her tail. Not taking no for an answer. It isn't long before she soon enlists the help of her friends, and her father.
Author's Note: Here is the sequel. I also want to take a moment to apologize for any errors at this point. I quite honestly will admit that I had trouble with comma punctuation in the past. Lame, huh? Well, I take full responsibility for my mistakes and will make a concerted effort to be more careful and aware of this from now on. Thank you all!

-------------

"You okay, Bella?" Angela asked Bella in concern, placing a hand on her arm, "You look uneasy."

It was lunchtime, and Bella was sitting with Angela, Mike, Eric, and Jessica. Every now and then, Bella could feel Edward's eyes on her, and she was terrified to turn around and even look at him. As triumphant as she felt about avoiding sitting with him in Biology, she still had a bad feeling about it all. Especially in what her vampire self told her. The future events continued to scare her, everything. She just couldn't let them happen.

Bella finally snapped out of her thoughts, and nodded, "No, not really."

"What's wrong?" Mike asked. "Is something going on?"

"No, it's just...I don't know," Bella sighed.

"You can tell us," Angela assured, "tell us what's bothering you."

"Edward Cullen," Bella blurted in a small voice, remembering about how vampires had very sensitive hearing. It was pointless, he could probably hear her right now, as if she were just next to him.

"What about him?" Jessica blinked, brightening, "He's only one of the hottest guys in school."

Bella shook her head head, "I know, but... I just...I feel uneasy around him. I can't explain it," And goodness knows she couldn't explain THAT. How was she going to tell her friends that her future self, who was a vampire, came back in time to warn her about the future, and Edward? They would think she was crazy. "to be honest. I just really don't want anything to do with him. He tried talking to me in Bio."

"You are so lucky!" Jessica cried, with her wide eyes. She then looked concerned. "But why do you feel uneasy?"

"I don't know!" Bella snapped. She sighed, realizing her mistake, "Sorry, Jess. I didn't mean to snap at you... I just...I don't know, okay? I just don't want to be near him."

"Then don't," Eric chimed in, "Just tell him you're not interested. I think any good guy would respect that,"

Edward ISN'T a good guy, apparently. That's the problem. Bella thought, "I hope so. I just don't know what else to do."

"Keep saying no," Angela told her.

"Exactly," Mike agreed, "If any girl told me she wasn't interested, I'd back off."

"Me too," Eric agreed as well, "Otherwise, it's harassment. He hasn't tried anything, has he?"

Bella shook her head, "No, he hasn't."

"Then you're on the right track. But if he does, TELL someone," Angela advised, "I know it's not easy for you, Bella, I understand that. But if he tries to touch you or do anything inappropriate to you, either tell us, one of the teachers, or an administrator. And your dad is the chief of police, he'll be able to do something."

Biting her lip, Bella felt...quite relieved. Looking at her friends, she could see they had her back. She smiled a bit, feeling better, "Thanks, you guys."

"No problem," Jessica smiled. "Listen, sorry about that... If you're not into Edward, who cares? That doesn't matter. If he makes you uneasy, so what if he's hot?"

"Exactly," Angela agreed. "He might be hot, but that doesn't give him reason to be a jerk."

Bella nodded in agreement, "You can say that again."

------

Meanwhile, over across the cafeteria, you bet that Edward could hear what they were saying. Especially Bella. The minds of her friends were infuriating to him. Protecting Bella, telling her to say no, how worried they were about her. He couldn't believe the gull they had. They wouldn't understand. They weren't vampires. They didn't know good blood even if there was a glass of it right in front of them. Never in his life had he smelt such intoxicating blood, and it was coming from a girl who had a strangely different allure, to be sure.

Glancing over to Alice, he saw no promising visions within her mind. Everything pertained to Bella telling him no.

Was it such a crime to get close to a girl?

Oh well. He wouldn't give up. She wouldn't be able to resist for very long.

Edward turned back to the table Bella sat at with her friends, easily eavesdropping on their conversation.

"So, we're still on for La Push?" he heard Bella ask.

It's pretty nice how Bella's been a lot more open with us. She's a nice girl. Mike Newton was thinking, "Yep, it's pretty much been finalized! Are you taking your truck, or do you want to get a ride with someone? A couple of us are borrowing our folks' vans because of the surf boards and para-gliders."

"You can go with me, Jessica and Lauren, we're taking my car," Angela offered. I hope she comes with us, it'd be nice for us all to have time to talk on the way there and back.

Bella was pondering for a moment. Edward wondered what she was thinking about, and could only surmise she was probably trying to think of a convenient method, but without being bothersome to her friends.

"I'll ride with you guys, I can have my Dad drop me off at your house so you won't have to come pick me up." Bella suggested.

Angela was grinning brightly, "Well, great! We're leaving fairly early, around nine thirty. Think you can make it for about nine-fifteen?"

Bella nodded, and actually shifted her body to have her back to Edward, which made him frown a bit. He wouldn't even be able to talk her into letting him give her a ride. Well, most of the way, considering the treaty.

"Sure, that sounds great. I'll call when we're on our way." Bella said, actually sounding happier.

"Perfect!" Jessica smiled also. "It'll be great, Bella. I think you're really going to like it. The weather is supposed to be very nice,"

"Sunny, I hope?" Bella quipped.

"Don't push it!" Eric joked, laughing.

Pretty soon, Bella was laughing, too. Edward couldn't help but feel envious. Why could they make her laugh? What was so special about them that they earned the alluring, sweet bells of her laughter? He could make her laugh, ten times more than they ever could.

Now he just had to think of a good approach...

---------

Before lunch was over, he followed Bella at a distance as she headed to her locker to gather her materials for her next class. It was perfect, she was alone this time. Oh, no. She wasn't. Angela wasn't too far behind. Of course, she had asked that at least one of them stay close by.

"Bella," Edward approached her, managing to put on his best smile, "Hey, can we talk?"

"No," Bella said as kindly, but firmly as possible. "Edward, I'm not interested in you, okay? Please, try to understand."

"Well, why not? You haven't even given me a chance. You don't even know me," Edward's smile slipped a little.

Bella sighed, looking at him. He could see she was having a little trouble, but she was keeping herself in check...by stepping away a little. "I'm sorry. I just am not interested! You don't know me either, so why should I?"

"Friends get to know each other... We shouldn't be friends, but that doesn't mean I don't want to be," Edward leaned against the row of lockers, leaning toward her a little.

Bella's lips pursed, and there was a strange look in her brown eyes, as if she was really seeing or thinking something significant as she gazed at him. There was even a touch of fear in her eyes. She shook her head then, and actually glared a bit. "Edward Cullen, please. I said no. I have to get my things for class."

"Next period doesn't start for eight minutes," Edward reminded her, taking a step closer toward her.

"I'm meeting my friends to quickly look over our notes for Math class," Bella protested.

Edward frowned slightly. "You were just with them in the cafeteria."

"That's precisely why I'm here. Yes, we should've thought of it earlier, I get it," Bella snarked. "If you were going to say 'You should've thought of that before', you don't need to."

This made Edward snicker. She was so cute when getting angry. "You're a smart aleck."

"Look, just leave me alone," Bella took her pencil case from her locker, the last thing she needed, and closed it shut. She began to walk away, and Edward followed.

"Is it a crime to talk to you?" Edward wanted to know.

"No. I just don't want to," Bella walked a few paces faster.

Edward caught up to her again, "Will you stop walking away from me? I'm trying to talk to you," He could see Angela just about to approach them.

"And I have things to do, so buzz off." she said, her voice containing an edge.

"Hey," One of the Cullens, Bella recognized as Emmett, came up to them from a nearby corner. "Wardo, you botherin' her?"

"No, I'm not," Edward said calmly.

"Yes he is," Bella said, trying not to smile at the use of "Wardo". She remembered her future self saying how Emmett called him Wardo behind his back. After hearing the terrible things about Edward, she couldn't help but agree with it. "I have asked him several times to leave me alone, and he won't listen."

Emmett glanced from Edward to Bella and nodded, "Sorry, um...Bella, is it? Yeah, Bella. He's an ass. I'll take care of him for ya."

Edward glared at Emmett fiercely, pursing his lips, but saying nothing.

"I gathered," Bella responded, "Thanks for your help, Emmett."

"Sure thing," Emmett smiled and gave a nod, "See ya, Bella."

"See you," Bella smiled in response and then headed off down the hallway to regroup with Angela.

Glaring at Emmett, Edward narrowed his eyes as his fists clenched. "What are you doing?"

Emmett rolled his eyes. "Leave her alone. She wants nothin' to do with you. We're vampires, but we're not above being respectful to people,"

"You can't tell me what to do."

"Sure Carlisle won't like hearin' this."

Edward grumbled and walked off as Emmett chuckled at his reactions.

-----------------

Even though Bella still felt a bit awkward around her father, she was glad to be putting forth the effort to be nicer to him. He did deserve it, after all. She even came to notice how much he was more focused than Renee even was. For dinner, she yet again suggested he make something, which surprised Charlie. None the less, he obliged and cooked up a simple vegetable and rice stir fry, with a hint of some spices.

"So...how was your day, Dad?" Bella queried, making conversation.

Charlie looked at her with mild surprise, and shrugged a bit, "It was fine. You have a good day at school?"

"It was...yeah, it was fine, I guess," Bella looked down at the table, biting her lip as she stared at her plate of food. "...Um...Dad...what do you...you know, know about the Cullens?"

"The Cullens? Oh, they're a pretty nice family. I know Dr. and Mrs. Cullen pretty well. Dr. Cullen works at the hospital, his wife is an interior designer and just got her real estate license," Charlie replied, "Their kids go to the school here. Why do you ask, Bells?"

"Just curious, I guess," Bella gave a shrug.

"Is something bothering you about them?" Charlie asked, noticing the look of unease on Bella's face as she looked at him again.

"Well, I...um...nah, it's nothing."

"You can tell me. Are they bothering you?" he said.

"Well, not really, but...Edward Cullen won't leave me alone at school," she said, biting her lip again.

Charlie frowned a bit at that. "He won't?"

"No," Bella shook her head. "I mean, he's not doing anything to me, but he wouldn't stop trying to talk me, after I told him no."

Pondering a few moments, Charlie then looked at her, "You listen here, Isabella. If you don't want to talk to that Cullen boy, or any other guy at school for that matter, you tell them no. And if he or anyone else tries to pick a fight with you, you do not hesitate to defend yourself any way you can. Even if it means knocking the crap out of them. I understand why a lot of kids don't want to fight, but you have my permission, and your mother's permission, to defend yourself. I don't mean for you to go picking fights, don't do that. But you are allowed to defend yourself if you ever need to. If they try to kick you out of school for fighting, don't worry about that, I'll handle it. I'll even tell the Principle myself about what I told you. I'll even give you some pepper spray if it means fighting off anyone who tries to lay their hands on you."

Bella stared at her father with such surprise at his words. He was hard and stern, but there was caring in his tone. Giving her permission to defend herself against anyone who tried to pick a fight with her. She couldn't help but see that he was trying to be a good Dad, teaching her a good lesson. He really did care about her, and was looking out of her safety. Despite that she knew better than to fight a vampire...

Charlie then got up, going to the phone in the kitchen. Bella watched curiously.

"Who are you calling?"

"Dr. Cullen, letting him know that his son has been pestering you," Charlie dialed a number, and waited for someone on the other line to pick up.

"Yes, hello Carlisle, it's Charlie. How are you? Good, good. I'm not too bad. Listen, I'm calling about your son, Edward. He was pestering my daughter at school today," A pause, "Yes, yes he was. I thought you should know. Mm-hmm... No, just that he wanted to talk to her and she told him no repeatedly. Yes, that's it. Mm-hmm...All right, thanks a lot. Tell Esme I said hello, give her my regards. Okay, have a good evening. Bye," he hung up the phone, "Well, he was very surprised that Edward did this, but said that he and his wife are going to talk to him about this, and make sure he never does this again,"

Bella had a bad feeling that it wouldn't work that way, considering what Vampire Bella told her about Edward and his behaviour, but thought that maybe if Carlisle and Esme stepped in to things, it could be prevented even more. "Gosh...thanks for that, Dad. I...well I...I appreciate it." She looked down in mild embarrassment.

Charlie nodded, a small smile pulling at his lips. "Just making sure you're safe, Bella. Here," He took a box from the counter, and handed the contents of it to her. "Pepper spray, carry it on you."

Nodding, Bella placed it in her pocket to put into her bag later. "Thanks, Dad."

----------

As Bella lay in bed that night, she hoped all the more that this would indeed change the future events. Of course, she knew all too well the statement Doc Brown had said at the end of Back To The Future Part III, that no one's future was written, it could be whatever they wanted it to be.

As scared as she was about the future, especially when it had presented herself in what would happen if she allowed certain events to occur, she had comfort in that. Already, she must've twisted around the space time continuum. Vampire Bella was probably long gone now, considering she meddled with the past, and likely now wouldn't exist.

That scared her too, becoming a vampire. Sure, it sounded cool on paper, and even for a fun fantasy or a story, but for real? No, she couldn't imagine it. If anything, to live like that, to watch your family and friends all grow old and die while you yourself lived on agelessly... Having nothing to do most of the time? As Vampire Bella said, they went to school over and over. Bella didn't exactly hate school, but she wasn't all that keen about going to school for all eternity over and over and over again. College, probably, there were many degrees and subjects she could earn and study, but even that would get old.

What about trying to get certain jobs? Or having to move around all the time? Or keeping your identity a secret? What about all of that?

She didn't want that. She would miss her family, her friends, everything she had in her life. Given what vampires do, and feel, according to her Vampire self...it didn't sound very appealing when you really dug deep into the subject.

Not to mention, in a way, it kind of defeated the purpose of writing vampires. It just closed every other interpretation of them. Until now, there were no such thing as a "true" vampire. People just claimed what they were thanks to their favourite lore. But now, that was all ruined. Bella couldn't help but feel a bit put-down. Wasn't the point of supernatural entities was to have different interpretations and present them as such? Vampires ranged from writer to writer, movie to movie, game to game, show to show, plain and simple.

And now here they were. Real as can be, with set abilities.

Bella sighed. If I ever become a writer, I hope I don't write about vampires...

There was a creaking sound behind her. It sounded again. Bella frowned, and rolled over onto her other side. It was coming from near her window. Probably a squirrel or-

Bella screamed in horror upon seeing the face of Edward Cullen looking in at her from her window. He then opened the window, rushed in, and covered her mouth with his hand.

"Bella! Stop screaming!" Edward hissed.

Fortunately, she could hear Charlie come running from his room. Her door opened, and Edward didn't move. He couldn't let on that he was a vampire!

"Bella! What's wrong, what-" Charlie immediately noticed Edward, and glared, "You...Cullen... You get out of my house. How dare you break into my daughter's room."

"Chief Swan, listen, I-"

"Get off my property, or I will arrest you, Cullen," Charlie cut him off. "That wasn't a request."

Edward could see he wasn't going to win this, and then left out the window. Charlie watched him go until he was out of sight, and then heard the sound of a car driving away.

Shaking on her bed, Bella looked up at her father. She remembered now how Vampire Bella told her about the way Edward came into her room at night to watch her sleep. Spying on her.

Charlie sat next to Bella on her bed, and she came into his arms. He held his trembling daughter gently, "It's okay, Bells...he's gone now. He's gone. I'll make sure he never comes near you again. Ever."

Grateful for her father, Bella nodded and managed to calm down before she soon fell asleep in his arms. She really was lucky to have such good friends, a good mother, and a good father who would always be there to help her. She just felt so much better about living in Forks. She really did.

--------

The next day, at school, Bella confided in Angela about what had happened. Angela then passed the news to Mike, Eric, and Jessica, and they promised Bella to be on guard for Edward.

It wasn't until lunchtime, on her way to the cafeteria with Mike and Jessica at her side to meet Angela and Eric, that she saw him again.

"Bella, I'm sorry about-" he began before he was then cut off by Bella.

"Get out of my face, you stalker!! You don't break into people's houses or spy on them! You leave me alone!! No means NO!" Bella screeched, loud enough for anyone else in the hallway to hear.

"Leave her alone, Edward," Mike said firmly.

"You don't deserve her. You did enough," Jessica told him. "Let's go, Bella."

Nodding, Bella walked off with her friends, not once looking back at the mortified face of Edward Cullen.