Monroe's Story Pt. 1

**BONUS POST.   Just a little background from Monroe's perspective**

 

I still remember the day I met Bella.  We were pretty young and I was being bullied by a group of guys.  I had always been different; I think I had always known that I wasn’t like the other guys.  I was leaning against a wall of our school while a group of boys had circled me and were calling me all sorts of names.  I was trying to be strong, but all I had ever wanted was to fit in; be one of the guys so to speak.  She came over and put herself between me and the 5 boys who had circled me.  Back then Bella was so confident in herself.  She was an intimidating little girl.  She had always gotten along with everyone, and yet no one seemed to want to cross her.  The boys looked around her and said she can’t protect you forever...It was from that day forward that Bella and I had become inseparable.  Turns out she was the one who protected me from them...

I won’t go into my home life, because well it wasn’t perfect.  I didn’t fit in to their idea of a son; so most of my childhood was spent with Bella.  Her mom welcomed me with open arms, even turning their guest room into a spare room for me to stay in whenever I wanted.  Her home felt like it was home to me. 

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Bella had been my protector all the way up to high school.  Even in high school she was popular, and thus I became more accepted and popular through her.  I had to hand it to Bella, she had taken a kid that was once the social outcast and made him popular and accepted. 

I applied for college, and got into fashion design.  Daphne was so excited for me; my own parents had pretty much just nodded and asked how much I needed.  They hadn’t really been enthusiastic, but remained supportive in their own withdrawn sort of way.  I think my mom wanted to reach out more, but my dad not so much.  As for Bella, she applied for college to become a legal assistant.  Her mom was convinced that she would meet a nice rich lawyer and get married that way.  I knew that wasn’t what she wanted to do, she wanted to be a social worker, but it was Daphne’s dream that she marry wealthy and not waste her good looks.  This would be the first time we’d been apart since we were kids.  I would have to move to Windsor and she would remain in Toronto.

I had a blast in Windsor; I was excelling in my program and had been offered a spot to attend NYC Fashion Week with one of my professors.  I so wanted Bella to come with me, and so I went home for a break, what I saw was not what I was expecting.  I went straight to the house and Daphne had told me that Bella had dropped out of college and no longer lived there.  She told me she had let herself go, and that she didn’t know what to do.  I didn’t notice it before, but all of a sudden I saw that Daphne was not as concerned for the fact that Bella had dropped out, but for the fact that she had gained weight.  I was shocked and disappointed but I never let it show and asked for Bella’s address.

I jumped into a cab and a short while later it pulled up to a rundown 4 storey building.  I got out after I had paid the driver and walked to the door and buzzed her apartment.  I walked up the stairs after she let me in and when I got to the door I saw her.  She looked tired and like someone had dragged her through the mud.  Now yes she had gained weight, but in my eyes she would always be beautiful.  I walked into her apartment and knew I needed to talk her into coming to Windsor.

M: “What happened?  Why didn’t you call me?  Bella ... are you ok?”

B: “I am fine.  I just didn’t like college.”

Her entire demeanour had changed.  She was not the confident girl I had left, but was a broken down version of her own self. 

M: “No everything is not fine. TELL ME NOW!”

Bella had started to cry and told me about her college experience.  She had been doing fine; she was excelling in her classes.  Then one day one of her professors had taken a group out for dinner to celebrate all the hard work before the final exam.  As the night progressed the table had emptied and she and her professor were the only ones left.  She was waiting for her cousin to come pick her up, and the professor offered to wait with her.  She basically went stone cold while saying the next part; he basically tried to barter a grade for sex.  When she declined, he seemed to be fine with it.  However the next day, he was cold towards her.  Then the exam grades were posted and he had given her a very low grade.  Bella went to him after and asked what happened, she studied and that she was more than prepared.  He closed his office door, walked around his desk and looked her dead in her eye ‘you know how the world works Isabella, you scratch my back and I scratch yours.  You’re a smart and beautiful girl.  I know the type, take legal assistant, seduce a lawyer you’re working for, get him to marry you...I could’ve made it so easy for you.  Now if you’ve come to earn extra credit, we can discuss that tonight and if not, the door is there.’

She had never been talked to like that before...ever!  You could see the defeated look in her eye that she had taken that to heart.  She immediately dropped out of school and went home.  She thought the one place she could be safe was home, but that wasn’t the case.  Daphne was irate that she dropped out and wasted the money.   Daphne’s reaction had caused Bella had started eating everything in sight.  She was so upset that her mom didn’t even ask why or what happened.

I knew then that my Isabella was gone, buried beneath all the hurt and betrayal.   But I was going to do everything I could to get her back.