fourteen.

competent observance

They went to JT's room despite the mess. JT threw a few things into her hamper to help tidy the space, but there was only so much that could be done before Bella could see the true nature of her depression den. 

"I've been a little unproductive," JT defended as she cleaned. 

"It's okay." Bella curled a piece of hair behind her ear. "If you want to shower or something, I can tidy up a bit in here." Her face dropped. "I just mean that I really like cleaning, and you look like you could use a break. I know that sometimes messy rooms can be overwhelming--"

JT waved her hand. "Actually, yeah. That would be nice. It has been... stressing me out." 

Bella immediately looked relieved, while a little unsure. "You positive? I don't mean to invade your space." 

JT grabbed her towel and a change of clothes. "Do your thing, you little clean freak." She said it with a smile to make sure that Bella knew there wasn't any malice behind it. She genuinely did appreciate the brunette's offer. 

The Swan smiled softly before shooing her out of her own room. "Go shower. Take a bath if you want to. I'll be right here. Leave your dirty clothes outside the bathroom and I'll take care of those, too." 

JT tried not to think about the strange, yet kind gesture the girl was doing for her as she stripped out of her clothes under the bathroom's harsh lighting. She hesitated while holding her dirty clothes, but ended up putting them outside the bathroom door anyway. JT did her best to shower quickly, as there was pizza waiting. She also didn't often have a guest waiting for her to be done bathing. 

Emerging from the shower smelling like Joey, she felt immensely better than when she'd entered.  She had been stealing Joey's body wash until he got her her own bottle, and she hadn't switched in the last two years. When she opened the door to the bathroom, she heard the washer door shut and saw Bella clambering up the stair. 

"I waited until you got out so you could have all the water pressure. There are a few loads of laundry sorted and I picked up some of the trash you had around." She had tied her hair into a ponytail and taken off her jacket. 

"How did you do all that so quickly?" JT asked as she looked at her room. It looked much better and was significantly less overwhelming to look at. "Thank you, Bella. Seriously." 

Bella's skin turned a deep shade of pink. "It's nothing. My parents suck at cleaning so I'm doing it all the time. I like it, really." 

JT smiled at the girl. "I appreciate it and you. Now, what's so important that you've brought those folders and pizza for?" 

"Well, Jess once told me you could be bribed with chicken, tomato, and bacon pizza." Traitor. "I brought it in case you didn't let me in." 

JT cocked an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I let you in?" Her spine tingled in anticipation. Surely she hadn't moved from one obsessor to the next. 

"I have some papers for you to look at. You're smart. Observant, too. I just wanted your second opinion on these." Bella opened one of the folders and handed it to her. 

JT eyed her warily before sitting down on her remade bed. She skimmed the printed pages and observed Bella's chicken scratch handwriting and sloppy highlighting. 

Cold skin. 

Alice and Carlisle's icy hands. 

Strength. 

Edward and Julian protecting Bella and her from Tyler's van. 

Speed. 

The same instance called to her. Neither Cullen had been anywhere close enough to save them.

Pale skin. 

The way that the Cullens all shared a nearly translucent skin despite not actually being related, along with all of the other instances and facts, caused JT to look up slowly to Bella. Normally, she would've called the girl insane, but there was no medical condition that would cause so many people to match all of those descriptions without being related, or supernatural. 

But, fuck, vampires?

"You think I'm crazy," Bella stated quietly. 

"Maybe," JT answered. Her eyes drifted back to Bella's notes. "But your crazy makes sense." The brunette had been very thorough in her research. JT hadn't even been through half of it, and already her bed was covered in papers. "How did you even think to start looking here?" 

"I have a friend on the reservation who told me about one of their legends." Bella had been pacing while JT read, and continued to do so. 

"The cold ones," JT confirmed, picking up the paper in reference. "And you thought yes, this seems exactly like this family in town." 

"I didn't say anything about them," Bella defended. She was right. She hadn't said anything about the Cullens. JT had made that connection on her own. 

"Why did you come to me with this?" They weren't that close, for one. And for another, what made Bella think that JT would be the one to go to about her supernatural theories? Did she seem like that sort of theorist?

"I was hoping you'd either believe me or be too nice to tell the whole town I'm insane." Bella fiddled with her ponytail. 

With no other explanation for the Cullens family's appearance, activities, and traits, JT had either the choice to choose human ignorance, or to choose the explanation that was right in front of her. 

"And you just figured I'd be open to the idea of vampires?" Did she seem crazy?

Bella shrugged. "You seem like the type to believe in the possibility of everything." 

She had a point there. "But if vampires are real, what about everything else?"

"Like werewolves, witches, and fairies?"  At JT's nod, Bella shook her head. "I thought about that, too. But I have no idea." 

The girls talked for hours, munching on pizza and sipping on the Sunny-D that JT found in the fridge. Bella explained the story about wolf spirits and cold ones, also sprinkling in the fact that she'd flirted the story out of some poor boy who was helplessly in love with her. They compared accounts of the day of the accident with Tyler's van and compared mental notes about appearances and absences. 

As for the last few weeks, it was obvious that JT's reconnaissance wouldn't be quite as valuable. But Bella's keen, albeit obsessive, eye kept them full of information and evidence. JT wondered what kind of social life Bella had outside of school and work to have been able to provide her with the copious amounts of paper that the brunette promised to recycle when they were done. 

"To be honest, I thought you were going to take more convincing. I was tempted to prepare a speech and everything," Bella admitted after she sprawled on JT's floor. She had done three loads of laundry, folding them and all, while they spoke. She didn't say anything of it, but just kept the conversation going about the Cullens. 

The sun had set awhile ago, neither Lauren or Lorraine having returned home yet. "Yeah, well I think that anyone with a competent observance should be able to tell that something is up with them," JT said lightly. "I didn't really think to go this far, though." 

Bella flushed a deep pink again. "I know it was a far stretch. I just wanted to know that there had to be an explanation. I knew I wasn't crazy." 

JT tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. It had dried for the most part, falling down in mildly damp waves. "Oh, you're definitely crazy, Bella. But I think it's fine." She smiled affectionately at the girl. Bella smiled back weakly. "So what are we supposed to do with this information now that we have it? Just sit there and know?" 

Bella shrugged. "Julian might take some working, but I think I can break him." 

"Jesus, Bells. It's not like he's a criminal--"

"That we know of."

"-- for you to break in an interrogation." JT reeled back upon processing what Bella said. "So you want to interrogate a bloodsucker with super strength that may potentially be a criminal about whether or not he is those things?" 

"If I die, I die, I guess. But at least I'll know if I was right," Bella defended. 

JT laughed in shock at Bella's lack of personal safety. "For like five seconds until he kills you." 

Bella rolled over to face JT. "Do you really think he would kill me? That any of them would kill anyone?" 

JT thought about it. They all seemed too kind, but that could easily be the deception. Ted Bundy was nice until he wasn't, as were most killers. As was Jason. And she had seen the murder in Rosalie's eyes. "Do you want me to answer that honestly?" 

Bella's head thunked against the ground. "I guess not." 

JT swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "Obviously, I can't stop you from doing anything. All I can do is advise caution. People don't need to be supernatural to be deadly, Bella." 

The brunette girl heaved a heavy sigh. "I know. I just want to know if I'm right." 

"Ah," JT exclaimed quietly. "You're one of those." 

"Guess so." She was quiet for a moment before asking, "Who's Joey?" 

"He's my host dad in Maine." Bringing him up again pulled a sad string in JT's heart. 

As if Bella could sense the sadness and fatigue in JT, she stood and began gathering her papers. "I'll see you at school tomorrow. Get some rest. We can talk more about this later." 

"Thank you, Bella," JT said. "For helping me today and for trusting me with this."

Bella smiled with the gentleness of a puppy's gaze. "Of course. Thank you for believing me." She finished packing her papers and checked the room once more. "I'll see you tomorrow." 

"If the Cullens don't end us in our sleep for discovering their secret," JT only half-teased. "Or maybe Julian will eat you when you try to break him." 

"If I'm lucky," Bella quipped with a humored smile. 

Then JT was left to herself and her thoughts once again.

a/n: two chapters in one night! I'm feeling a smidge productive despite this COVID fatigue. it's my second time getting it, and I will say it's worse than the first time. but I'll be fine. make sure to distance, drink lots of water, take your vitamins, get as much sun as possible, and do anything you can to keep your immune systems up! 

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. 

all my love,

hadley