A Realm Apart

“Edward, please just fucking kill me.”
Edward smirked, “Don’t be melodramatic.” I shot him a cold glare in response. “Bella needs to graduate. Just play the part and everything should go smoothly.” He reasoned.
“I’m 22, Edward! I have a bachelor’s degree! I don’t think I can even relate to teenagers anymore!”
He laughed, “They’re teenagers not monsters.”
“I think I’d do better with the monsters given the past couple days.” I swung Bella’s backpack, full of textbooks, over my shoulder. “Has Bella ever heard of a Kindle?”
Edward reached for the backpack strap and carried it by his side, “Are you ready to walk-in to your first class?”
“Can’t I wait for you inside the Volvo?”
“No, you cannot Violet.” He said sternly. “It’ll be fun! We have all the same classes.”
I rolled my eyes and hoped codependency would be a topic talked about in health class. We walked into the building and Edward led the way to our first class. The chalkboard listed instructions of what to begin before the class started. “Is there a test today?” I questioned, slowly panicking.
Edward looked to be slightly enjoying my reaction, “Violet, the test is over early American history. I’m sure you’ll do fine.”
I gasped, “History is my worst subject!” I took out Bella’s notebook and began cramming her notes. “Not all of us lived through early American history, Edward! I can’t just use personal reference to pass this test!”
Edward hushed me, “I wasn’t born that long ago, Violet!”
I shot him another annoyed glare, “I’m going to fail and ruin her GPA.”
He sighed, “I’ll take care of it.”
The class began and I thumbed through the pages of the trying to find questions I was certain I knew the answers to. Who did the trail of tears, I questioned to myself. Midway through the test, my sweaty hands dropped my pencil under the desk. In the moments between picking up my pencil and getting up, Edward had switched our tests. I felt relieved and then I felt annoyed. I took my pencil and started changing some of the answers to spite him. I could see him grinding his teeth in annoyance. I tried not to giggle out loud. Bella’s GPA could handle a ‘B.’
At the end of the class, we turned in our tests and walked into the hallway. “That was very immature, Violet,” Edward scolded.
I laughed, “Lighten up! I’m actually enjoying myself.” I felt a strong little arm wrap itself around my shoulders.
“How was your second first day of high school?” Alice inquired.
“Edward is being a stick in the mud.”
Alice giggled, “What’s new?”
Edward spiritedly raised an eyebrow as he said, “I can be fun but I doubt you’d be able to keep up.”
I scoffed, “Show us what you got!”
Edward smiled and ran into the next classroom. I looked to Alice, “What is he about to do?”
She closed her eyes, “I see him doing something…really lame.”
“Thought so.” I affirmed.
The rest of the school day consisted of Edward trying to be cool and becoming frustrated as his siblings and I laughed at his attempts.
“You guys were being sticks in the mud, not me!” Edward challenged.
“I will admit the spitball that landed in our Geology teacher’s throat was kind of funny but I also felt bad because he was asthmatic and he could have severely choked.”
“I saved him, didn’t I?” Edward rebutted.
Edward and I climbed into his Volvo and drove towards the Cullen home. I remembered all the snacks that I had purchased and left at the Cullen residence and my mood lifted. “I don’t have to go to school again, right? Today was fine but the novelty will wear off.”
“I’m not sure how long it’ll be before we figure out a way to switch you and Bella back…” he trailed off.
“Edward, I can’t just live life as Bella forever! What if years go by and I’m still here? You can’t expect me to play as Bella for the rest of my life!”
“You won’t be Bella forever! We’ll find a way!” He asserted.
“And what if we don’t find a way! What if I never see my family, my friends, Jackson, or anyone I once knew ever again!” Edward didn’t speak. “Pull over!”
“We’re almost home, Violet.”
“Pull over!” I exclaimed again. The Volvo halted and if it weren’t for the seatbelt, I would have probably flung head first into the dashboard. I grabbed the handle to open the door but it was locked. “Unlock the door!”
“No.” Edward said while avoiding looking at me.
I tried lifting the lock but it wouldn’t budge, “Do you have the child lock on right now!”
“Well, since you want to act so childish I thought it was necessary.” Edward venomously spat.
Maybe it was the hormones in Bella’s teenage body that induced the following events or maybe it was my Latin upbringing. I unfastened my seat belt and lunged towards Edward’s stupid face! I could feel the bones in my right hand cracking as I tried punching his chin. I ignored the pain and slapped him with the left. In a blink, Edward got out of the car and took the keys with him. I tried to open the door to also exit the car but every time I unlocked the door, he’d use the keys to lock me back in. I screamed and tried to kick open the door with little success. “Are you honestly going to keep me in here?” I exclaimed. Edward looked a cross between bemused and horrified.
“Are you done throwing your little temper tantrum?” He mockingly questioned while he jiggled the keys.
“You know, Bella might think you’re this perfect, brooding, gentlemen of a guy, but you’re actually a controlling and abusive dick!”
“You know nothing about me, Violet!” He stated as he walked towards my side of the car.
I laughed, “I know all about you, Edward!” I screamed through the window. “You’re a misogynistic asshole who thinks it’s okay to watch his girlfriend sleep, like a voyeur!”
He ripped open the door, “That’s not true!” He argued. I should have been afraid but I was too mad to realize.
“It is very true! You’re also emotional abusive! You left Bella and didn’t even give her any closure! She jumped off a cliff because you fucked her up so badly!”
“I would never hurt Bella!” Edward bellowed.
“But you did and you do!” I said as I climbed out of the car, “You think it’s healthy that she is willing to physically die for you? To me that’s a red fucking flag with big neon letters that scream ‘CODEPENDENCY’ all over it!”
He laughed, “Just because you’ve never been in love, Violet, doesn’t mean Bella and I are unstable in our relationship!”
It was my turn to laugh, “You think my judgment comes from envy?” I bent over snorting. “I’ve been in love, Edward! It may not have been the healthiest relationship but that relationship never isolated me from my friends or family. Can Bella honestly say the same thing?”
“My relationship is none of your business!” Edward shouted.
“It is my business because I’m currently occupying the vacancy inside of the Bella Hotel and I might be around for a while!” He kept pacing in front of me, trying to let his anger dissipate. “If Bella is in my body, I hope Jackson finds her. He’d do a lot better of a job making her feel normal!”
“You think this Jackson guy is better than me?” He scoffed.
“He’s not perfect.” I admitted.
“How long have you guys been together?” Edward searched for ammunition to verbally attack me.
“3 years.”
Edward could sense that I was apprehensive to answer, “When’s your anniversary?”
“We…don’t have one.”
He laughed, “Let me guess! You’re one of those stereotypical couples that are never together but never not together.”
“You could put it that way.” I sneered.
Still laughing, “Reframe from commenting on the stability of my relationship when you obviously have none in your own.”
“Jackson and I may have been on and off, but he’d never lock me in fucking car, you controlling douche!”
“You hit me!” Edward quarreled, gesturing to his face.
“Fuck you!”
“No, fuck you!” Edward retorted. He sat on the side of the rode, Forks’ lush forest surrounding us. The ground was wet but I sat beside him anyways. We both felt defeated. “I know I can be controlling.” He admitted after a few moments of silence.
“I know I shouldn’t let Jackson enter and exit my life the way he does.” I admitted in response.
“Then why do you let him?”
I took a moment to find the answer, “For the same reason Bella puts up with your shit.”
He half-heartedly smirked, “Why’s that?”
“Because I love him.”