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𝑮 𝑳 𝑰 𝑻 𝑪 𝑯
❝  𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚏𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚖?!  ❞

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ㅤ𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 haven't left Maria's mind. The sudden turn of events left her somewhat traumatized; seeing her friend lose control over a single drop of blood made her genuinely scared of the people she decided to be friends with. Never had she seen anyone act so rabid before. The rest of the night became a blur to the Stark heir, and the only thing she could remember was the sorrowful look Rosalie gave her, with a muttered 'sorry' leaving her lips.

She never expected them to actually leave.

To be quite honest, Maria was hurt, but she understood that sometimes, the best way to solve a problem is to just leave it, and let it solve itself. After all, the Cullens were immortals, and mishaps like that barely put a crease to their perfect lives. But what she couldn't understand was why Edward decided to leave Bella in the woods like that, knowing just how prone she was to life-threatening idiocy. In short, she got lost, and the whole town went searching the woods for her.

Maria still shivered when she remembered the look that Charlie Swan had on his face when he first realized that his daughter was missing; it was a face she hoped her dad would never have. Of course, Bella was eventually found by a shirtless man with shorts during what seemed to be the middle of winter—for the standards of a Californian of course. But according to her newfound friend Jacob Black, the man who rescued Bella, named Sam Uley, was the leader of a cult.

Yeah, he didn't sound like the most approachable guy after that. But nonetheless, Maria was quick to thank him and gave him a smile of gratitude. But the trouble didn't end there. Bella Swan went on a downward spiral to depression because of her toxic relationship with the 100-year-old virgin; something that Maria couldn't understand. Still, she stayed to help her friend.

Maria, being the nice person she was, tried her best to get Bella back on her feet. Charlie would constantly thank her every time she came over to try and coax Bella out of her chair or bed, but Victoria would often tell her how she couldn't understand why she would even try.

"I understand how Bella is your friend and that she means a lot to you, but she's taking you for granted and doesn't seem the least bit thankful that you're even sticking out for her," Victoria had said. "At this point, she's only using you, Mia."

But Maria had her father's stubbornness, and dismissed her aunt's concerns, with her stating, "I know that Bella probably won't appreciate all the effort I'm putting into her recovery, but I'd be a bad friend if I gave up on her. Even if she seems to have forgotten our friendship."

Throughout Bella's depressive state, Charlie himself would try to ask Maria to give herself a day to relax, noticing how everyday with no fail, she's there at their house to talk to his daughter. With a small smile, she would ease his worries with a simple, "it's no problem." The chief would always give her a hug every time, telling her that she's a good friend, and if he needed him, he'd be there.

Maria was pretty much a Swan at that point, spending more time at their house than her own.

After months of Bella not responding, Maria decided to spend her Christmas break back in Malibu, where she confided to her father.

"I just don't understand," Maria started, her head on her dad's shoulder, "What they had was special, not gonna lie," she held back from saying that Edward was a vampire, "but it's not normal if she can't function without him. She's so co-dependent and I don't understand why. She lived seventeen years without that dude! And it's the 21st century! Where is her sense of feminism?!"

Tony chuckled, giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead. "Well, from what you've told me, she's not really the best person to hang out with. You should just stick to that other girl Angela; she's a better friend, trust me."

Spending time with her family had definitely improved her mental state, and when she got back to Forks, she had a long talk with Aunt Vic and decided that she should definitely find time for herself more. She even had a conversation with Charlie and both of them decided that it was for the best, and that he was actually planning on sending Bella to Jacksonville with her mother.

Of course, nothing went according to plan and Maria was forced to watch a zombie movie with Bella and Jessica. That's when Bella really showed her 'true colors,' when she decided to hop on the back of a random man's bike. Maria had enough of her at that point and apologized to Charlie, stating that she couldn't handle Bella anymore.

Charlie struggled to hold back a sigh of relief at Maria's decision.

Everything pretty much went back to normal for Maria after that. Her grades were, of course, the best the school had ever seen, and she was the candidate for valedictorian at their graduation, earning her jealous looks from the predicted salutatorian, Jessica. But Maria only gave her a smirk, teasingly reassuring her that she wasn't planning on doing a speech anyway.

She and Jessica became close after that, with the latter thanking her for making her dream to say a speech at a graduation come true.

Then Bella came barreling back into their lives.

"I did see something in the woods," Angela insisted.

"Totally, baby," Eric unconvincingly tried to reassure, earning him an eye roll from both Jessica and Maria. "I believe you."

"No, he doesn't," Jessica shook her head.

"He's just trying to get lucky," Maria scoffed, sharing a smile with Jessica.

Eric nervously chuckled, letting go of his girlfriend's hand. Then Angela continued. "No, okay, it was jet-black and huge. On all-fours, it was still taller than a person. A bear, maybe?"

"Or an alien," Mike chipped in, giving a wink to Maria who gave him an unimpressed look. "You're lucky you didn't get probed."

Jessica quickly nudged Maria at the sight of an approaching Bella Swan. Maria noted how the girl looked healthier than she was a couple months ago, but still, she refused to meet her gaze. She instead shared a look with Jessica and Angela, who knew all about her countless failed attempts at getting the pale girl back to normal.

"You know, you're not the only one," Bella awkwardly cleared her throat, turning the attention to her. Maria continued to look down, with Jessica grabbing onto her hand for reassurance. "Um, my dad's been getting reports at the station. Like, five hikers have been killed by some bear. But they can't find the bear."

Ever so kind, Angela continued as if Bella being there wasn't an intrusion, turning to give her boyfriend a look. "Hmm."

Eric gave an awkward laugh. "Last time you clowns doubt my girlfriend."

Mike decided to suddenly make a move on Bella despite literally having not talked to her for months, earning him a glare from Maria, who felt Jessica's hold on her hand tighten. She rolled her eyes, meeting Jessica's sad gaze. She couldn't believe he had the guts to try and flirt with Bella despite having the girl he recently broke up with literally sitting in front of him.

"He doesn't deserve you, Jess," Maria whispered. Jessica gave her a sad smile before looking down at the floor. "I swear, I'll find you a better boy. One who's all tanned and stuff, just like I know you like 'em."

Jessica couldn't help but giggle, finally meeting her eyes again. "I'll hold you to that."

"Do you guys want to go see Face Punch?" Bella suddenly spoke up.

"Face Punch, yeah!" Eric immediately agreed with an enthusiasm only teenage boys possessed. Maria couldn't hold back a snort at Mike's dejected expression. "Mike, hey, we were supposed to watch that!"

"Yay, movie night with Bella..."

It came as a shock when Maria saw multiple missed calls from Bella the next morning. She and Jessica decided not to come and instead head off to Seattle to do some retail therapy, with Maria making sure that her friend has her mind off of stupid, teenage boys.

But her mind started to race at what could possibly the girl wanted as the two haven't talked in months. Is she in trouble? Did she need help? Why would she call her? So many questions ran through her mind at the sudden situation. She fought hard not to care, given Bella's ungratefulness, but she couldn't help but worry.

So she called back.

"Bella?"

"Oh thank God, um," the girl muttered, "Laurent! He's...remember how I told you about that baseball incident? And the whole thing where I had to go to Phoenix?"

Maria, of course, could still remember that whole thing. It was just before prom, a few months before she figured out what the Cullens were. After Bella had told her how she actually ended up with multiple injuries that landed her at the hospital, she was genuinely concerned for her sanity at wanting to stay in such a complicated and downright dangerous relationship.

"Yeah, so?"

"Laurent!" Was Bella's frantic response. "H-he was there and these huge wolves came and—oh my God!"

"Hey, calm down," Maria tried to reassure. "Don't work yourself into a panic attack, okay?"

"Okay, um," Bella took a deep breath. "So, I-I understand, and can clearly see, that you don't really want to be my friend anymore, considering what I've done, but I want-I need your help."

"Help with what?" Maria scoffed. "Bella, we haven't talked in months. I tried to get you out of bed, I tried to help you move on from Edward, but nothing seemed to work; you wanted to be depressed, you wanted to stay that way. And now, you think we're suddenly okay? Just 'cause you're okay? Bella, I don't work like that, I'm not like you. So tell me, why do you think I should help you right now?"

"Mia..."

"Bella, give me a reason, a good reason," Maria sighed. "If it's good enough, I'll go."

"...Remember Sam Uley? And Jacob?"

"Jacob? Yeah, Charlie introduced us. We're friends, I guess," Maria replied. "And Sam Uley was the one who saved you the time you got lost in the woods. But according to Jacob, he's in some cult? What's this got to do with them?"

"Um, I've been hanging out with Jake these past few weeks," Bella admitted, "and he just...he disappeared because he had mono or something and then suddenly he's running with Sam Uley, who he's pretty much scared of. I'm...I'm worried that Sam's got to him, turned him or something."

"Turned him into what?"

"I don't know, but I-I think they're the ones that made all those missing hikers disappear."

"Bella..."

"Please!"

"Oh, what the hell. Where do we meet?"

author's note: mia has hero complex lmao, she really tries to keep everyone safe, even if she's holding a grudge against them.

honestly, i'm still shocked that very few people are calling bella out for all the bullshit she's caused. actually, i'm pretty sure charlie's the only one who was not having it in the entire series. so i really wanted someone else to call her out on it too.

also, i really thought that mia and paul would be meeting in this chapter, but i felt like i wanted to have the focus on mia instead; i wanted to show some character development, and i wanted to shine a light on the other characters, including jessica. i really felt like she had more to offer if she had more screen time. so i made her and mia connect despite their terrible first impressions of each other.