Awry

PAIN BURST THROUGH MY ABDOMEN. Uncomfortably and near-excruciatingly. Intense spasms emitted from my uterus, cruelly awakening me. I tossed and turned to rest more peacefully. It didn't work, not even remotely. The aches of my organ only seemed to intensify with my movements. I furrowed my brows grumpily and squinted into the darkness of my room, glaring at the obsidian shadow of the darkest corner. The imaginary monster there was amused by my discomfort.

Rude.

The wind stood still, and the rain poured no longer. For now. My eyes flitted to my electronic clock; four in the morning, huh? What a way to wake up. Why today of ALL days? I groan miserably, sliding my hand to my crotch. I hoped I was only imagining things and that I moved too suddenly and caused a muscle cramp. It wasn't until I felt the sticky warmth that accumulated. Bleed had seeped through my panties AND sweats. Incoherent curses flooded my hazed mind.

I rolled to the edge of my bed, to the side closest to the door. My uterus did not appreciate the sudden change of gravity, deliberately tearing me a new one with the fierceness of a tenth-century barbarian.

Holding my belly, I waddle for the bathroom.

No tampons? I make a face of despair, realizing my preferred menstrual product did not reside under the sink where it should. I guess I used the last of them before. Fortunately for me, I just so happened to spot some pads hiding behind the sink drainpipe. I make another face. I never liked pads - it always felt as if I were wearing a diaper. I suppose it'll have to do for today.

Sorely, I made my way back to my room and checked my sheets for blood. Luckily, I woke up just before I could bleed out a crime scene. I traded my soiled underwear and sweats for clean ones. I left my shirt one, it's not like anyone would know anyway. I tugged on a bra and adjusted my clothes to my body - I'd regret wearing jeans today. The button and zippers always dug into my pelvis when I would sit.

Begrudgingly, I moved to my bed and neatened my sheets and blanket. I was wide awake now, no way I could sleep again. It was clear my body wouldn't either. Trying to sleep while my reproductive organ Tasmanian-Deviled around in was a big fat "no."

I ignore the waves of pain and find my brush, combing my hair into nice thick waves. I separate three parts to braid. It wouldn't end the confusion that would no doubt happen today, though it might ease some people when they know the one with the braided hair is me. I suppose I couldn't help it; the confusion was bound to happen either way.

"Maybe I should fake being sick." Bella murmured under her breath.

I was a bit surprised to have heard her over the ancient truck's monstrously thundering engine. It was so deafening, I couldn't hear my own thoughts, though that was probably a good thing. Every bone in my body rattled as the truck did. Rain trickled down and smeared the roads into slick, pavement waterslides. The clouds above drummed like a hungry belly, and the droplets pelted the windshield more fiercely than a minute ago. I couldn't tell which was louder, the rain or the engine.

My fingers gripped the seatbelt over my chest, preparing for us to hydroplane into the ditches, a telephone, or another car. Despite not having driven on the slick roads of Forks, Bella managed behind the wheel as if she had before, comfortable and confident. Her hands gripped the steering wheel to the point her knuckles turned a new shade of white. She kept the quaking truck at a steady fifty-five on the highway as it groaned and sputtered whatever life it had.

"You've got this." I encouraged her through my growing nervousness. Now just take it easy, I telepathically urge her, holding back the grimace. She was doing pretty well, but her flight response overruled the fight one.

"I don't feel so good." She blanched.

Oh no. Please don't hurl while driving. "Want me to take over?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine."

There were those overused words again. "I'm fine." I wanted to take those words and whack her upside the head with them, and then tell her to woman up. "I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine," that was all she could say this morning was that she was fine.

If this is what fine looked like for her, I couldn't wait to see how fine she was when we got to school.

"I knew it was you!" Anais jogged across the puddled asphalt after we parked. There weren't many cars in the lot, but the students that already arrived were looking at the monstrosity of a vehicle loud enough to wake up the dead.

I walk around the truck to the driver's side while Bella slid out. "How'd you guess?"

"Don't get smart with me, young lady."

I laugh her motherly tone off, distracted by the truck door being slammed shut. Bella remained stoic as she glanced at my friend. They both observed each other for a moment.

"Bella, this is Anais," I introduced them. "Anais, this is Bella."

"This is going to be so confusing," My friend eyed me and Bella. "Aside from your clothes, I can't tell you apart."

"Anyway," I cleared my throat and looked toward Bella, who still stood awkwardly. "I'll show you to the office so you can get your schedule."

"Thanks."

Upon entering the front office, a wave of air freshener filled and burned my nostrils. I held the door open for Bella to go in first. She quietly observed the small office and its little waiting room that had padded folding chairs, rustic carpet, and colorfully cluttered walls of notices and awards. She then approached the counter, cluttered with wired baskets of papers and even brighter-colored posters.

Ms. Cope manned one of the three desks behind the long counter. She was a red-haired woman with plastic glasses. She loved colorful wear, and today she had herself a purple tee.

"Oh," she looked up, her eyes switched between Bella and me. "Miss Swan. Good morning, how can I help you?"

"Good morning, Ms. Cope," I leaned on the counter. "My sister needs her schedule."

Her eyes lit up with immediate awareness. She knew Bella was coming, and that made me feel somewhat bitter. Not at Bella, but at Dad. I shook the feeling off and waited for Ms. Cope to regain herself.

"Of course," she hurried to dig through a neat pile of documents on her desk until she found the ones she searched for. "I have your schedule right here, and a map of the school."

"Alright," I pushed off the counter. "I'm going to go to my locker, do you need any help before I go?"

"I'll be fine." My sister scanned her new schedule and map.

Okay, then. Without another word from either of us, I left the front office.

"So, that was a bit awkward, wasn't it?" Anais met me at my locker. She leaned on the locker next to mine.

"You have no idea," I hung my bag inside my locker, gathering my Trig homework, notebooks, and writing utensils. "Last night wasn't any better either."

"Oof," Anais smirked at my predicament. "Say the wrong thing?"

I groan and shut my locker, leaning against the door. "Maybe? God, why am I so bad at comforting?"

"You're awkward, and that's okay. Besides, you're not going to be a good sister overnight. I mean, how many years were you guys apart?"

"Four? Maybe five?"

"Aha!" Anais exclaimed, "There's your problem."

"What?" I looked at her curiously.

"You've been away from each other for too long," she said, pushing off the lockers. "Your sisterly bond is dusty."

"Sisterly bond?" I raised a brow.

"Yep! If I know anything about being an only child, bonds mean everything to me." Anais folded her arms across her chest.

"You're not making any sense, Ana."

She grabbed my shoulders. "You, my friend, are very dense indeed. I'm trying to tell you to rekindle with her!"

I groaned again. "I tried! It's not easy! The second I tried; she kicked me out!"

"You were never really good at comforting people."

I cast a glance at her, annoyed, more at myself than her. Here she was, my best friend, giving the advice I needed to "re-bond" with Bella. I know it's only been half a day and night, but still, it couldn't be this difficult to rekindle, right? I couldn't understand the feeling broiling inside me, why did I yearn for her and me to be buddies? We haven't been that way since we were kids. The weight of reality was terribly burdening, so dreadfully massive, a headache began to form.

"Yeah." I agreed with her, not much thought behind it.

"About the truck..." Anais trailed off.

A dry chuckle escaped me. "Dad bought it for us. From Billy Black."

"The one from the reservation?" She quipped.

"That's the one."

"No wonder it looked so old," Anais and I began down the hall, passing a few freshmen. "Does that mean Bella has her license, I mean, of course, she must have one, or else you would've been driving."

"Yeah, that's a big no," I shook my head. "It is the loudest and shakiest thing I've ever been inside. She did well on the roads, so there's that."

Anais linked her elbow around mine. "I see what's going on. You made her drive because it's an old truck."

"The truck itself is fine, er, okay maybe I don't like it, but I'm glad Dad was thinking of us. At least the truck has heat and comfy seats."

"Well, there's that." Anais nodded.

"Do you still have that box of tampons in your car? I have numbero cero at home."

"Yeah, I think so," she hummed, thinking. "In the middle console. How many do you need?"

"I just started, so my flow's pretty heavy. A few, at least."

"Do you want some Midol?"

"Please."

I went through the day either being asked about or mistaken for Bella. By lunch, I swore the headache I developed was going to cause me to implode. Not only was it humiliating, but it was also frustrating. I wasn't humiliated in the sense that we were identical, only about the kinds of boys that approached me with carelessly lewd comments and hormonal humor. They swooned for Bella, and they weren't shy about making it clear, and their flirting was beyond cringeworthy.

Honestly? Sorriness simmered in the pits of my body. She must've had an uncomfortable day, being flocked by strangers like a new toy in a kindergarten classroom.

In the lunchroom, I easily spotted her at Anais' and my table. Each chair seemed to be occupied by Jessica's friends. The boys at the table inched closer into Bella's personal space at a federal expense.

"Hey, Babe!" Anais skipped to me through the crowd and attached herself to my hip.

"Hey." I nodded while I scanned the food options.

Today's menu: cheese pizza with cheesy bread, or the salad bar.

I chose the unhealthy option with water. Anais followed after me with her own tray. We paid for our food and headed for our table.

"Aren't you popular?" I half-joked, approaching the full table.

Heads turned our way. Bella's pale face turned red at my teasing. She tried to hide her face with her thick hair. It didn't work.

"Wow," Mike was the first to speak. "You guys really are identical."

Resist the urge to roll your eyes, Faye. The annoyance crept up on me again. The drive to cause violence was almost at an all-time high, almost too strong for me to force down. I just wanted to chuck my tray at the Newton boy's head and cuss like a drunken sailor at anyone and everyone for breathing.

"I told you," I put my tray on the table, between a random girl and Bella. "Excuse you, this is my friend and I's place. Please move."

The ebony-haired girl and her friend looked at me as if I'd grown two heads. Frankly, they seemed like freshmen. This wasn't a freshman lunch hour, just a mix of juniors and seniors. They scoffed, grabbed their bags, and trudged out of the cafeteria building.

"That's the Faye I know and love!" Anais cooed sweetly, taking the seat closest to Angela.

"Yeouch. Wake up on the wrong side of the bed, Faye?" Tyler grinned, meaning for his words to be playful, expecting me to laugh with him, but all he received from me was an unamused stone-like stare. "Sorry."

I sat down, turning my focus to Bella. "How were your classes? You find your way around okay?"

She nodded. "It was fine."

Out of all our classes, we only had lunch together. I would've figured we'd have at least one class together, but surprisingly, we didn't. I held a chuckle in, remembering her schedule. She had last-period gym. It should be interesting to learn how her classmates fare against her. She'd always been clumsy to the point of having bodily injuries on a daily, or weekly.

As I bit into my semi-cheesy cheese pizza, I see Bella glance behind us. I followed her focused vision line, straight to the Cullen table. She stared at them, well, perhaps not "stared", maybe a prolonged glance. The six siblings chatted amongst themselves, minding their own business. I would have stared alongside her, but the thought of staring at Zain once again made my blood warm. I hurried to look away before I caught sight of his pretty gold skin.

"Who are they?" Bella continued to peer at the beautiful siblings. I guess my sister hadn't had the pleasure of meeting them quite yet.

I hear Jessica giggle and turn to look at her. The curly-haired girl blushed while she stole a glance at the family. "That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The one to the left is Alice Cullen, and the one to Edward's right is Zain Cullen; they all live together."

"No duh, Sherlock," I couldn't help myself to say, earning a glare from Jessica. "They're family, where else are they going to live?"

Disregarding my attitude-inflicted comment, Bella twisted back around. "They're...very nice-looking."

Nice-looking is an understatement, I wanted to intervene. "They're all together though - Emmett and Rosalie, and Alice and Jasper. And they LIVE together."

I rolled my eyes. The controversy of this town was enough to lethally put down an elephant. It was so looked down upon, that foster siblings could date each other, or whatever. They weren't related by any means, so what did it matter? Besides, it was literally no one else's business their personal lives. I finished my pizza and grabbed my cheesy bread and gazed at the Cullens once more. All of them were dressed in subtle designer clothes, which added to their inhuman beauty.

"Which ones are the Cullens?" Bella furrowed her brows, looking at the siblings again. "They don't look related."

"They're not," Anais cut Jessica off, which visibly peeved the girl off. "Dr. Cullen's super young - like he's still in his twenties. They're all adopted. Excepted for the Hales, they're the only blood siblings. See the blondes? They're the foster kids."

Bella faced Anais. "They look a little old to be foster children."

"Well, they are now. Rosalie and Jasper are eighteen, but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were young. I believe she's their aunt."

I stuffed my mouth with more cheesy bread, silently observing Bella while she processed all the information given to her about the strange, yet beautiful family. Truthfully, it was a lot to take in, that's for sure. The family was a bit complicated but despite all the talk and appearances, they seemed to be wonderful. They hadn't done anything to me to make me resent them, and considering I had pleasant encounters with three out of six, I seemed to be doing well so far.

"That's kind of nice - for them to take care of all those kids like that when they're still young themselves."

"I guess so," Jessica shrugged. Like a lot of the student body, she loved to stare and fantasize about the Cullens and their otherworldly looks. She'd ogle them at any given chance but would become blind with envy in the blink of an eye. She admired, but also resented at the same time. "I think Mrs. Culle can't have kids though."

I wanted to meet Mrs. Cullen. Despite the talk of the town about her being a stay-at-home wife and mother, she seemed like an amazing woman worth knowing. I tuned the rest of the conversation out and pushed my tray away to lay my head on the table. Instinctively, my arms curled around my belly. The aches and pains were back, arising from whatever depths of hell.

"Are you okay?" Bella's voice was faint, I almost didn't hear her over the raging conversations and meaningless chatter around the cafeteria.

I make an inaudible whimper. There was nothing more I wanted to do than to curl up someplace quiet and cry, maybe I could ditch my next class and hide out in Mrs. Hammond's office. Dose up on some pain medicine too. The cramps seemed to be worse and nearly paralyzed me to the point of having to hunch over to have any relief, not that it worked. I must have looked ready for death, I certainly felt like it. Death would be preferable, and probably more peaceful.

I tried to sit back, my hands clammy and gross, which I wiped on my pants to rub off the feeling.

Anais leaned toward me, "Want me to you to Mrs. Hammond's office? She's got heating pads."

I didn't answer her directly, instead, I grabbed my tray and got up. My friend followed me.

"I'll make sure you don't faint on the way there." She teased me.

"Not gonna faint."

"We'll see. "

The hour I spent in Mrs. Hammond's office, on the bed specifically for sick students, helped tremendously. Curled up like a baby on my side for fifty-odd minutes did justice to my uterus and it had yet to begin clawing again. I had taken a Tylenol and borrowed a heated gel pad that I pressed on my abdomen, worked wonders. They had been numbed and I was pain-free...for now. Cramps never hurt that bad before.

I was bursting with energy, void of spasming muscles, yeah, I was great.

"Ah, glad you could make it, Miss Swan." Mr. Mason greeted me bluntly as I entered the classroom.

He stood before the whiteboard, holding his copy of Macbeth, the old Shakespearian version. His eyes watched me sharply from behind his wire glasses. He had this disapproving, but tired expression painted on his aged face. It didn't help with his towering height; it was a bit intimidating.

"Sorry, Mr. Mason, I was -" I go to explain myself.

"Just sit down, Miss Swan." He dismissed me.

"Yes, sir." Embarrassed, I hurry to my seat and down the aisle while Mr. Mason stared me down. I met Zain's eyes among the other eyes that were also watching me. I send him a shy smile and a subtle finger-wiggled wave. He hadn't reacted to me at all, but his face suddenly contorted with agony. My brows squished together in concern, something washing over me, only for it to turn cold. Maybe colder than cold, maybe a below-freezing kind of cold. I don't know what happened, but his pretty honey-hued eyes, the color of purest gold, amber in the sun, had turned black. His golden orbs were corrupted by this...this cruel obsidian. Something pulsated through my body. Was it fear? Surprise? My heart hammered against my ribcage and chest, and a wave of nervousness flooded my veins like ice. He covered his face, looking away from me, and refused to meet my eyes; his hand covered his mouth and nose as if he'd gotten a whiff of something so putrid, something so horrendously retching and revolting.

The moths I had yesterday dropped into the acidic potion that would broil into reflux if they were to flutter. They died on impact, and my eyes felt warm. Was it humiliating stirring in me, or was it rejection? But...for the most part, that terrible feeling nagged my senses, screaming for me to get away now and fast. Everything screamed at me to get the hell out of there.

I ignored it and slid into my seat.

"If you would, Miss Swan," Mr. Mason cleared his throat loudly. "Turn to Act Four, Scene Five. Read it aloud."

Silently, I take my copy of Macbeth, opening to the said pages.

It was sprinkling when school let out. The parking lot was damp and small puddles had already begun to form. Though, it wasn't much concern to me.

By the time I reached the old red truck of ours, Bella had already climbed into the driver's seat. I opened the passenger door, it seemed heavier than this morning, creakier, and slow to open. I tossed my bag onto the floorboard and climbed inside.

Anais would understand. My mind was blank and still riveting from sixth-period, not to mention my cramps seemed to have returned. I didn't have the energy to talk for a while. Setting against the seat, I adjusted my legs around my bag and pulled on my seatbelt. I desperately attempted to ignore Zain's face flashing through my mind like a neon sign.

"How was your first day?" I looked at Bella.

She sniffled. "It was fine." Her eyes were glossy and almost red, and her lips trembled ever-so-slightly. Had someone said something? Done anything to her?

"Are you sure -"

"Edward Cullen is a jerk." She hissed sourly as she jammed the key into the ignition and revved up the engine.

The truck roared to life, and we were off.