CHAPTER ELEVEN
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i. notice anything different ?

— ISABELLA SWAN'S BEAT UP RUST BUCKET TRUCK PULLED INTO THE DRIVEWAY JUST AS JASPER AND ALICE PULLED OUT. The air was cold and quiet as the Swan girl's boot clad feet hit the pavement and approached the front door with her backpack slung over her shoulder.

For a moment, she looked up at the house, at all the memories that were held within those walls and reminiscing on all the memories they missed out on. She took a second to think of her brother, knowing he was in there somewhere. He was home. Safe. Alive.

Bella didn't bother to say anything to her father as she burst through the door. There was no need for it, he was passed out on the couch with the tv on.

Rushing up the stairs, she hesitated for a moment just outside her destination.

The familiar white painted door with green and gold accents stared her in the face, her fingertips barely grazing the handle.

All she needed was two seconds of courage to open that door, and that was what she did.

Anthony was sat up on his bed, finishing off the jelly sandwich Alice had made him. Lucky the pixie like woman remembered he was allergic to peanuts.

When the Swan woman entered the room, her brother looked up in surprise.

"Bella!" He exclaimed, setting his plate off to the side and jumping up to stand in front of her.

"Hey-" She barely got through before she was brought into a bone crushing hug.

"I never saw you after the accident." Anthony sighed heavily, rocking her back and forth.

"You cannot comprehend how worried I was about you." The boy whispered.

"Yeah, I kinda got that when you had a panic attack." Isabella melted into the hug.

Anthony chuckled, swaying back and forth with his sister still in his arms.

It was quiet for a minute.

"God, Bells I'm so sorry. The yelling, the arguing- I just- I'm just trying to be there for you while I can, I need you to understand that I'm not the bad guy-"

"I know." Bella interrupted. "I know, Tony and I never saw you as the bad guy." She pulled away from the hug, shaking her head.

"I do love you, okay?" Anthony gripped her arms gently, looking her in her eyes before moving his hands up to the sides of her head. "I just wish things would go back to the way it was."

"It can." Bella assured.

"I wish we still hung out like when we were kids- I wish I was still your confidante."

"You are, Tony." Isabella smiled lightly, pressing her forehead against his. "You're my best friend."

They pulled away and sighed heavily.

"I actually need to talk to you, as you're my confidante." Bella chuckled. Tony grinned.

"Of course bubs, but I really gotta take a shower first, I smell like I ran a marathon." He took a whiff of his sweater as if to prove a point.

Isabella scrunched up her nose mockingly.

"I noticed."

Anthony let out an undignified sound.

"I'll be real quick and then we can spill all the hot gossip."

— TONY SWAN EXITED THE BATHROOM IN A PAIR OF SWEATPANTS, with a towel around his shoulders to catch the dripping water from his hair.

When he entered his room, dragging his oxygen tank behind him, Bella was sat on the bed with some vanilla ice cream.

"Save some for me." Anthony greeted, throwing his other clothes in the hamper and grabbing the towel around his shoulders, trying to get the water out of his hair.

"It's vanilla." Bella reminded.

"You're so boring." Tony rolled his eyes as he plopped down next to her.

"Hey man, don't diss the vanilla." She pointed her spoon at him.

"Do we have any caramel sauce? Chocolate, even?" Anthony grabbed the spoon from her and scooped up some for himself.

"Nadda."

"Fair enough," he finished swallowing and handed the spoon back. "So, what is there to gossip about? Your new friends? Have they been treating you good?"

"Yeah they've been some good pals." Bella nodded, putting a scoop of ice cream in her mouth and handing the spoon back to Tony. "But uh... how has it been with the Cullens?"

Anthony paused in the middle of his bite, looking at his sister for a moment before furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"They've been great," he finished swallowing and answered. "Yeah, they've been fantastic, why?"

"I just- have you noticed anything... I don't know. Different? About them?" Isabella paused for a moment, thinking.

"Different how?"

"Like- when Tyler's van almost hit me," As Bella began, Anthony inhaled deeply. "Edward saved me."

"Saved you?" Anthony's eyes widened slightly, still the look of confusion on his face. "He saved you?"

"Yeah, I have know idea how he did it. The van was coming right for me- and he just showed up out of nowhere and stoped it." The brunette explained.

"He s-... he stopped the van? How- how did he stop the van."

"He just-" Bella gestured ahead of her. "Pushed it away before it hit me."

Anthony grabbed the spoon back and took a bite of slightly melted ice cream.

"So- is this like a conspiracy theory thing, like are we gonna be on unsolved mysteries or whatever?" Anthony joked.

"Tony, I'm serious."

"Okay," Anthony nodded. "Then let's talk vans- how did he stop it?"

"He pushed it away."

"With his hand?"

Bella nodded in response.

"So like- did it hurt him at all or was it like unstoppable force meets immovable object." Anthony, despite wanting to think his sister was crazy, couldn't help but understand what she meant. Edward got across the parking lot way too fast to be a normal human, Tony saw him hop out from between the van and the truck so he knows Edward was there and his sister's story could check out.

"Immovable object, it didn't seem to affect him at all."

Anthony nodded slightly.

"Okay, and anything else?"

"Their eyes?"

Now that Anthony could think back, Alice's eyes had been getting progressively darker over the past few days. He remembered them as a golden brown colour, but lately they almost seemed black.

So Anthony simply nodded.

"Listen Bells, I don't really know what to tell you. Maybe you should ask Edward?"

"That's the thing, when I mentioned what happened he gave me the cold shoulder." Bella stated.

"That doesn't sound like Edward." Anthony frowned, grabbing the towel around his shoulders and whipping it into the hamper along with yesterday's clothes.

Isabella sighed heavily, looking down at the sheets of Tony's bed and playing with the spoon in her hand.

"But I believe you."

"You do?" Bella looked up hopefully.

"Yeah, why not." The boy shrugged, standing up and grabbing a new sweatshirt. "I've noticed they're a little different but I can hardly judge. They've been the coolest friends." Anthony went through the normal routine of taking out the nasal prongs, pulling the sweat shirt over his head and then replacing the prongs.

Next to them, on the bedside table, Tony's phone vibrated with a message.

"I should just, do up some homework before school tomorrow." Bella gestured towards the door as she stood up.

"You sure you don't want to talk about anything else?" Anthony asked as he grabbed his phone and turned it on, briefly seeing the name 'Danny' show up on the screen.

"Yeah- though I've been meaning to ask how you've not been getting any homework."

Anthony chuckled, "The teachers feel guilty or some shit. It's stupid."

Bella nodded before retreating down the stairs to place the ice cream bowl in the sink.

Anthony turned back to the phone.

Danny
Hey kiddo I heard what happened with your sister, are you doing okay?

Tony
Yeah Danny E I'm all good, I've been wanting to text you but Liv said it'd be better if I waited for a while for you to recover.

The boy grabbed Danny's army tags off the bedside table and tossed them around his neck.

Danny
Yeah kid, well guess who's back in the hospital

Anthony sighed a heavy, tired sigh and glanced at the unlit cigarette also sitting on the bedside table.

Tony
I thought she was doing better

Danny
Isn't that how it always is? She gets better and better for a while until she doesn't, she only gets worse.

Tony
Did they tube her?

Danny
Just like last time

Tony
Damn it

Danny
I was supposed to get discharged two days ago but I'm faking a cold so I can stay with Liv.

Tony
Its probably for the best right now that she has someone.

Danny
Yeah exactly, don't worry about us for now- just keep going to school, get good grades, become a damn artist

Tony
Danny, ...

Danny
I know kid, but it doesn't hurt to dream, right? Anyway, I've gotta go I'll talk to you soon okay? Goodnight from Phoenix.

Tony
Goodnight from Forks, Danny.

With that, Tony shut off his phone and just stared at the ceiling of his room. His muscles were tense as he thought about his old friends, wanting desperately to relax he inhaled heavily.

It didn't quite work, and despite how tired he was he couldn't seem to fall asleep that night. His thoughts were plagued with Cullen family theories (all of which were comic book inspired) and the idea that Liv was back in the hospital.

— THE SWAN SIBLING'S MOTHER HAD BEEN MESSAGING AND CALLING TONY CONSTANTLY. Each call got declined and Anthony couldn't be bothered to read any of the texts.

In his eyes, Bella told their mother that he was fine. That should be enough to get Renée off his back.

Apparently, not so much.

On another note, Tony had been so tired recently that he could barely function enough to form coherent sentences. Yet he couldn't sleep. Whether it be his overloaded mind or fear that something would happen during the night like sleep apnea.

Because of course that would be his luck.

Whatever the case, he was moving around like a zombie on the day of their biology field trip.

"Why do we have to go to this thing." Tony complained, muffled by the permission slip he held in his lips as he hopped into the truck.

"Because it'll enrich our biology knowledge with hands on experience." Bells recited for the fourth time that morning.

Tony spit the paper onto his lap after he shut the door.

"That's bullshit." He moaned, not wanting to go on this, as he deepened it 'stupid' school trip.

"Wow that's almost as fascinating as the last 3 times you've said that." Isabella sasses as she pulled out of the driveway.

"Respect your elders missy."

"You're a year older than me." The brunette woman pointed out.

"I've yet to see your point?"

The younger one in the car just rolled her eyes mockingly.

When they pulled up in the parking lot, Anthony turned to his sister.

"Will you be okay if I sit with Alice and Jasper?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, have fun." Bella smiled.

When his shoes hit the pavement, he looked down to see the remnants of the previous accident, glass pieces of a car window. Ignoring them, he spotted Alice, Jasper and Edward a little ways away standing next to one of the busses.

"Hey Tony!" Alice waved him over.

"Hey, Angel." Anthony smiled as he approached and was greeted with a hug. "Hey Jasper. Edward."

Glancing back at his sister for a moment, he saw her talking to Mike Newton. Confirming that she'd be fine, he turned back to the Cullens.

"Let's get on the bus shall we?" He stated, noticing Mr. Molina calling for them to pack it up and get moving.

Jasper nodded and stepped forward, waking next to Tony.

"Hey is it alright if I sat with Edward?" Alice asked as they got on the bus, obviously wanting to talk to the bronze haired boy.

Anthony glanced at Jasper, who nodded.

"Yeah, that's fine I'll just sit with Jasper." He stated as he collapsed in the window seat near the back of the bus, Alice doing the same across from him.

Tony situated his oxygen tank between his legs awkwardly and Jasper slid in next to him and sent him a hesitant shy smile, which the swan boy returned.

As the bus started moving, Tony got more comfortable and leaned up against the window.

It was quiet between the two boys, despite the chatter flying around between the other students. Anthony just tried to ignore them, hoping to maybe fall asleep for the ride.

But he felt something cold creeping up on his hand, which was situated in his lap.

Looking down, he saw back of Jasper's hand pressed against his, testing the waters.

Anthony smiled to himself, which didn't go unnoticed by Jasper, and linked their fingers together before sinking against Jasper, his head laying in the blond's shoulder.

Nothing was said, nothing had to be said and as a wave of calm washed over Anthony he found himself falling asleep much easier than he had in a while.

author's note

Sorry this one took a bit longer oof my updating is so sporadic

Finished this while watching Grease though so gotta give me some brownie points,
It's really hard not to pay full attention to that movie 😂

aLso it keeps saying WDWG is eligible for the wattys but I've never entered in like- anything on here so I have no idea what to do so that's probably not happening ✌🏻

Anyway thank you for reading, thank you all for your support, I freakin love you ♥️