Thanks to Karie (SweetVenom69), my super beta :)
~*~
Fuck my life, Bella thought angrily as she squinted in the early morning light, fuck my fucking life.
Isabella Swan’s reactions to the events of the previous night were quite unlike that of the partying Democrats and overwhelmed Edward Cullen. While he had had his fingers crossed for his own name to be read out, Bella was praying for James Hunter. Not that she liked James Hunter; not by any stretch of the imagination. It was just that she disliked Edward Cullen a little more.
Maybe dislike was the wrong word, she mused. It was more like an intense, burning desire to see his mutilated corpse thrown into the pits of Hades; the way she felt towards the new President. Yes, that was putting it nicely, she thought to herself.
As she turned on her side and threw her duvet over her head, she wondered why she had even agreed to another term when she knew full well there was a chance he would be working alongside her. Why, why, why? she thought as she thumped her pillow. Why was she so stupid?
Deciding that sleep had well and truly evaded her out the slowly brightening window, Bella swung her feet onto the floor. Combing through her sleep induced fuzz; she walked to her bathroom mirror and peered blearily at her reflection. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders determinedly. Edward Cullen be damned, she thought, she was Bella Swan, she could do anything. Pulling on some running shorts and a singlet top, Bella left her bad mood behind her and jogged out of her Georgetown house.
The air was still fresh and a slight breeze was blowing along the tops of her oak tree lined suburban street. Taking a right, Bella ran through the day’s agenda. Today was the President’s first day in office. The moving van with his necessary belongings would arrive at the White House at 6am, but would not need to be unloaded until 7:30am which was when she would arrive to oversee the furniture placement. A personal staff had not yet been arranged for President Cullen, who had requested to oversee the hiring process himself. As part of the permanent White House staff, Bella had grumbled and scowled when she heard this news. That meant it would fall to her, and only her, to prepare just about everything for the President’s arrival. He would be arriving at the White House at 8am sharp. Bella would make a point of being there to officially welcome him inside. Warmly welcome him, she emphasized to herself, warmly.
Stopping at a park bench to stretch out her hamstrings, Bella’s thoughts turned to the President himself. Class valedictorian of The Bush School 1998 graduating class, captain of the swim and track team; Edward Cullen was a rising star from the very beginning. Accepted until nearly every university under the sun, he had chosen to follow in his father’s footsteps and studied Law and Politics at Harvard. Again, he graduated top of his class in 2002 and joined the Democratic Party only a month later. After a six year term as a party member in Washington, Cullen had set his sights on a higher goal. He joined the Presidential campaign soon after. The rest, as they say, is history, Bella thought wryly to herself.
As she sprinted down the final hill of Archbold Parkway Park that marked the end of her morning run, Bella embraced her burning muscles and pushed against the image of Edward Cullen, pounding her trainers into the pavement as if she were pounding them into his stupid, goofy smirk.
~*~
“No, the President wants the redwood side table in his private study, not his bedroom!” Bella barked at the idiotic mover who was completely ignoring the list of finely detailed furniture placement instructions the President’s campaign manager had sent through, along with his dietary requirements, exercise regime and list of jobs that needed to be completed before his arrival in less than one hour. Tapping her black Jimmy Choo pumps against the ground, Bella let out an exaggerated huff as the removalist ever so slowly transported the final box of personal items out of the moving truck.
“Finally!” she muttered under her breath as the last removalist clumped his big black boots out of the pristinely cleaned foyer. Pulling out her Blackberry she quickly dialled the Chief Usher.
“Ralph, it’s Bella. Can you send a cleaner to the foyer ay-sap? The removalists have dragged a whole heap of dirt inside and the President’s campaign manager will be arriving any moment now to oversee the President’s arrival,” she asked before listening to the Usher’s response, “Thanks, Ralph.”
Jasper Whitlock, the President’s campaign manager, was a well-known Democrat from Seattle, who had relocated to Washington with the President in 2008. He had learned under Carlisle Cullen, the President’s father, and had been partnered with the President Cullen ever since he had joined the party in 2006.
Jasper and Bella had accidentally met in person for the first time the previous day; a meeting which Bella regretted and was still embarrassed over, as a consequence of her less than accommodating behaviour. Lost in her musings, she turned a corner and ran smack bang into something. A hard something.
“Ow!” she exclaimed, cupping her throbbing forehead.
“Woah,” came the twang of a deep Southern voice, “Are you alright there, miss?”
Looking up, her face flushing pink, Bella realized she hadn’t run into something; she had run in to someone. Not only someone, but Jasper Whitlock. As ruggedly handsome as he was, the man was an ass by association. As the President’s campaign manager, Jasper had hounded Bella repeatedly with emails and instructions for the President’s imminent arrival. Her apologetic face merged into a scowl and the tightening around Jasper’s eyes told her that he was no happier to see her, than she was to see him.
“Miss Swan,” he said tersely. “How are you?”
“Fine, thank you Mr Whitlock,” Bella replied, giving her forehead a rub. “I trust everything is as you requested?” she queried, sarcasm and disdain coating her words.
“Yes, Edward will be very pleased. I’m actually on my way to the West Wing, so if you don’t mind,” he replied before taking walking away from Bella.
She couldn’t help but feel affronted by Jasper’s brush-off and stilted reply; even if she knew she deserved it. Their first meeting hadn’t exactly been pleasant.
“I’m sorry, can I help you with something Mr. Whitlock?” she said primly; completing ignoring his statement and unspoken request to explain herself.
Jasper’s face twisted into a confused frown. “I was wondering if I could have a word with you about-”
“No, I’m afraid you can’t. I’m extremely busy at the moment.” God, I’m such a bitch, Bella thought to herself. She would just email the information she had wanted to tell him.
Now his eyes darkened and his voice lowered. “Is there something I can clear up for you, Miss Swan?”
She let her expression remain blank, as if she were speaking at a press conference. “Let me assure you, Mr. Whitlock, there is nothing left to clear up. Everything is crystal,” Bella replied before haughtily storming off to her car.
Bella stared at Jasper’s retreating back and sighed. He had begun walking towards the East Wing.
“Um, Mr. Whitlock?” Bella called, “The West Wing is this way,” she said indicating in the opposite direction.
Jasper looked embarrassed and Bella sighed again. He clearly had no idea. “I was actually headed that way myself, would you like me to show you where everything is?”
He gave her a forced smile and nodded.
The silence between them as they walked was thick with tension and awkwardness. Bella knew she had earned her reputation as a hard-ass but she was a nice person, really. She did what she had to do to survive in the testosterone-dominated world of politics. How could she expect them to understand what she did was to protect herself?
She was relieved when they finally reached the end of the West Colonnade and entered the first floor of the West Wing. Desperate to fill the silence, Bella began the standard tour speech.
“So this is the first floor of the West Wing. Through that door,” she said indicating right, “are the press; their briefing room, offices and kitchen.” Rounding the corner, they reached her office, “This is my office and directly across here is the Cabinet Room.” Indicating again to the right, “Down there is the Lobby and the main entrance,” she said, “and of course down here is the Oval Office. The President’s secretary has an office between Cabinet and the Oval Office.” They rounded the corner and Bella pointed out the various rooms, “Through that wall is the President’s private study and dining room, through that door is the Roosevelt Room, Senior Advisers and here,” she said, stopping at the end of the corridor, “is the Chief of Staff’s office. The Vice President and National Security Adviser are down the hall.” They had stopped outside Jasper’s office; the personalized sign on the door already claiming it as his.
“Thank you, Miss Swan,” Jasper replied honestly as he reached for the door.
“Please, call me Bella,” she said, sweeping stray strands of hair from her eyes. “If you have any questions, you know where my office is,” she said, before turning and hurrying down the hall, desperate to escape Jasper’s burning stare.
Walking inside his new office and closing the door behind him, it occurred to Jasper that maybe Isabella Swan wasn’t so bad after all.
~*~
A/N: Thanks everyone for the amazing response I got from the last chapter :) Especially from the ladies at Twilighted who flooded my inbox after the prologue and chapter one went up last week. But sorry for the update fail – kind, lovely people wanted to wine and dine me for my birthday on Thursday and I just couldn’t refuse!
I love the White House; it’s my favourite part of the research for this story :) Bella’s not really a hard-ass, she’s just misunderstood. She likes Jasper and she’s thinking he might not be that bad but trust me; this is no Jasper/Bella story.
I promise you, they will meet in the next chapter and in the chapter after that, we will find out why Bella hates Edward so much! This week the teaser is featured on my blog – if you head to my profile and click the ‘BLOG’ link it will take you straight there. I will try my best to reply to any questions or concrit I receive in reviews! Thank you so much again :)
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