Chapter Five - Field Trip
The residents of Forks awoke to a cloudy Friday morning that turned everything a shade of blue, the ice had melted making it safer to drive and yet one Charlie Swan was not letting his only daughter drive so soon after just exiting the hospital. It wasn't until Samuel offered to drive the truck instead of Charlie taking them both to school in the cruiser that both of them let up with their incessant arguing. Samuel was just glad that he had managed to acquire his learners permit recently so he wasn't stuck with the two of them on the way to school in a police car. Unfortunately it didn't change the fact that he still had to drive Bella, who he was trying to avoid eye contact with at all costs after last nights events, feeling embarrassed for his sudden breakdown.
It was silently awkward driving to school, so as they drove into the school parking lot Samuel let out a relieved sigh upon spotting his friends. Pulling up to park in a random spot, Samuel jumps out of the truck as fast as he can. He is suddenly glad he chose to wear his old boots as he lands in a massive puddle, splashing water everywhere, hating the feeling of soaked socks. Samuel looks up upon hearing his name being called by none other than his favorite person in their group of friends, Angela. He spots her with most of the group mulling by the two bright neon yellow school buses parked in the designated bus zone. Smiling he walks over to them, passing by a nervous Mike as he walks in the direction he just came from, shrugging it off for the moment. Angela jumps up and hugs him as he gets closer. Her excitement for the Freshman's excursion to the compost farm showing on her face. He is happy for his friend, but the thought of missing Gym today for this kind of annoys him. While chatting with Angela, several people come up to them to ask Samuel about Bella and the accident yesterday including Jessica and the ever irritating Lauren. Ignoring them he tries to continue his chat with Angela along with Eric's random interruptions for his thoughts to be thrown into the mix. It isn't until Jessica shuts up and looks upset that he actually begins to pay attention to her. As he follows her line of sight he spots Mike talking to Bella and realizes what it means. He feels sorry for Jessica, knowing her feelings towards Mike, but even so he can't help feeling awkward for Bella as he notices Mike Newton asking her to the Sadie Hawkins dance like he claimed he would yesterday, before the incident.
"I need everybody's permission slips, okay Sam do you have yours?" The Biology teacher asks, distracting him from spying on Bella and Mike.
"Ah yeah, here." He grabbed the rumpled up piece of paper from his jeans pocket, quickly handing it to the teacher who tried unsuccessfully to flatten it out to read Charlie's signature. Samuel just shrugged his shoulders at the look the teacher gave him for the state of his slip. The teacher just sighs before moving onto Jessica who is still blatantly staring at Mike. After watching Lauren practically drag Tyler into the first bus he moves towards the second one, Angela and Eric following him.
Once on other bus with Angela next to him and Eric sitting with one of his other friends closer to the front, Sam notices Edward walk onto the bus quickly followed by a bubbly Alice leading an uncomfortable looking Jasper. She looked directly at Samuel and smiled, bringing Jasper with her as she sat behind them, Edward choosing to sit in the only other empty seat on the other side of the bus. Alice taps Samuel on the shoulder and giggles in a musical way, practically singing hello to the two of them. Angela isn't as surprised as the rest of the bus due to Samuel mentioning their friendship in one of their texts along with his small crush on the two of them. Their friendship growing stronger with her acceptance of his openness to both genders. They both greet her with a friendly smile, Samuel greeting Jasper as well. Jasper simply nods, a pained expression on his face as he stares out the window.
"Are you alright Jasper?" Samuel worries as he stares at him.
"It's alright Samuel. Jasper just doesn't like crowds." Alice answers for him, placing a comforting hand on Jasper's shoulder. It's a while before Jasper manages to move from his position of looking out the window. But when he does, he gives Samuel a small smile, causing his heart to stutter. Samuel smiles back and starts to talk to him about their last History tutoring session. No one noticed the shocked look Edward gives them as they all conversed, Alice and Angela talking about one of the classes they had together. They were on the bus for over half an hour. Twenty minuets later and they finally arrive at their destination. Angela and Samuel debusing ( razz ) first. Alice bounces up to Sam, a huge smile across her face "Would you like to spend time with us today?" Samuel isn't sure at first since he told Angela that they would spend the day together, but Angela let out an uncharacteristic giggle and practically pushes him into Alice. Her eye's twinkling full of knowledge Samuel swears she shouldn't have.
"It's fine. Take care of him." Angela walks off to join Eric after sending a wink over to Samuel, causing Alice to beam a large and absolutely adorable smile at her. Samuel stumbles as he tries to avoid crashing into Alice, but manages to catch himself with a little help from Jasper. He looks into his eyes and blushes, standing upright. Alice then grabs his hand with the one not currently gripping Jasper's and leads them away from the stunned audience. Samuel not really paying attention to the temperature of her hand, but instead just enjoying the feel of it in his.
Samuel ignores the teachers enthusiastic speech about compost as he tries to get the students excited about today, instead paying more attention to Jasper as he plucks a flower along the way and hands it to Alice with a grin. Her face lights up and she hugs Jasper's arm then turns to face Samuel to show him. He blushes at her close proximity to his face and places the flower in Alice's hair when she hands it over to him. Something stirs inside of him as he stares at her face oh so close to his. He quickly looks away in an attempt to calm is racing heart. It is then that he notices Edward slowing down and edging closer to Bella. Samuel tries to pay attention to their conversation, but Alice pokes him on the shoulder to gain his attention.
"Oh look! I think he's finally going to ask her out. Watch this." Alice points towards a stammering Mike and a flustered Jessica. He cringes a little at Jessica's squeal as she accepts Mikes invitation to the dance, but is honestly happy for the two of them. "They make such a cute couple. They will have absolutely adorable children!" Alice gushes. Sam raises an eyebrow at the wording of her comment, but doesn't commented on it, realizing that she tends to speak like that most of the time and just brushes it off as an 'Alice' thing. They watch as Jessica runs past them and up to Bella, separating her and Edward who sulkily walks up to them now. Continuing talking to Samuel, Alice mentions a shopping trip she has planned with Rosalie and her mother Esme, inviting Samuel along with them. At the threatening look Edward gives him he starts to panic. He wanted to go, honestly, but the look Edward gave him then made him think otherwise. A hand places itself on the small of his back, calming him down and giving him confidence that he uses to hesitantly agree. It's then that Edwards glare moves from him to Jasper who glares back just as strongly, hand still placed lightly on Samuel's back. Edward elegantly storms away confusing and annoying Samuel, but as he turned back to look at Alice his mood changed of it's own accord upon seeing her ecstatic face. "Great! I'll call you later to sort out the details." Samuel smiles back at her, temporarily forgetting Edwards mini temper tantrum and looking forward to the weekend. He had been planning to go into town sooner or later to hand in some resume's in his ever ongoing hunt for a job in this small washed up old town, so he may as well have some fun while doing so he thinks.
When walking back to the bus with Alice and Jasper, they pass by Angela and the others playing with worms, laughing. They stop by the group for a minute to talk and Angela hugs Samuel quickly before they leave on their way to the bus. When they spot Bella and Edward arguing by the bus door Samuel starts to head towards them. "...let the van crush me and save yourself all this... regret?" As Samuel heard this, he speeds up, Alice and Jasper managing to easily keep up with his quickened pace. "You think I regret saving you?" "I can see that you do... I just... don't know why." Samuel takes two large steps and looks ready to punch Edwards face until a cold, firm hand grabs his from behind stopping him in his track. The owners other hand placing itself on his shoulder, calming him down and taking away his anger at Edwards treatment of Bella. "You don't know anything." Alice steps in front of them and up to Edward and Bella.
"Hi! Are you going to riding with us?" Alice asks in her usual bubbly voice to defuse the situation. "No, our bus is full." His voice holding a menacing tone towards Bella. Samuel let out a low growl that even Jasper's calming grip on him couldn't contain. Edward bangs on the bus door to open it and walks in. Alice sent Samuel a quick look to check if he was okay. Feeling Samuel in control of his emotions once more, Jasper lets him go. Samuel just glares at Edward's retreating back, taking Bella's hand and dragging her to their friends by the worm bin, giving Alice and Jasper a small grimace as he leaves. A slight tingle lingering on his body where Jasper held him. Alice pouts and Jasper has a small frown on his face, but he still nods walking into the bus to follow Alice.
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Once arriving at home Samuel follows Bella to the kitchen where they find Charlie reading the paper and drinking bear, a plate holding pizza crusts laying on the table. Samuel looks around and spots the Pizza boxes. He grabs a slice of peperoni from Charlie's half eaten Pizza and takes a bite. Charlie and Bella are talking about her mum so he figures now would be a good time to head upstairs to get the last of his homework out of the way. Charlie gave him a worried look as Samuel walked away, but he brushed it off, not wanting to think about the previous night and simply hoping that this night wouldn't be the same.
Laying flat on his bed, headphones blaring with his homework spread out in front of him, he doesn't notice Bella at the door until he feels an indent in his bed where she sits beside him. Samuel places down his pen for a moment, pausing in his horrible attempt at writing his English paper and not thinking about his up and coming shopping trip with Alice, her sister and mother tomorrow. He takes off his headphones in order to hear Bella as she asks Sam to back her up and say she is going to Jacksonville the weekend of the dance, since that's what she told Mike and Edward. He just laughs at her and nods in agreement. She smiles in thanks and walks out of the room, leaving Samuel to unsuccessfully focus on his paper and not the adorable giggle still ringing in his ears or the tingling sensation from the freezing cold hands on him earlier that day. He was doomed and he knew it.
A/N: Honestly I found Edward particularly irritating in this scene and it just felt great to have someone actually show their diss-like for him. Actually I find both him and Bella irritating through out most of the films and books, but I don't want to take away from the story by bashing their characters. Yes I know it may seem a little like I'm Edward bashing at the moment, but I swear I'm not. He and Samuel just have a rocky relationship and will do for a while due to his treatment of Bella. We all know how much Charlie doesn't like Edward and Samuel is much the same at the moment, although they will have a few moments later on where their relationship may start to grow... Unfortunately that moment won't be happening for a while yet.
