Prologue
I heard a quote one time, "life isn't about the breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away." And it's true. All we can do is keep breathing, breathe in, breathe out. Stop to appreciate but never stop trying. Remember the past, forget the past.
Stop. Move forward. Slow down. Stay ahead.
Life is a contradiction, but the most important one we have. Forget the the people who get in your way, learn from their mistakes, take it in stride.
Breathe. Just keep breathing. Keep breathing.
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Bella's POV
"Do you get the homework?"
"I'm guessing that you don't?"
Rosalie scooted her chair closer to mine. "Obviously not. I'm the one who doesn't get the difference between cama and perro but understands quantum physics."
I laughed and looked over Rosalie's work. "Cama is a bed, perro is a female dog, Rosalie."
"Bitch and bed? Exactly, I don't get the difference."
We laughed under our breath as the librarian passed by and focused on the sheet of paper in front of us.
"Hey!"
We simultaneously looked up toward the doors of the library and saw Alice coming in with Jasper, Emmett and Edward in tow. I sighed and gave Rosalie back her paper.
"We're obviously not going to get any work done now that Alice is here."
"Apparently," Rosalie chuckled as our quartet of crazy approached the table we sat at.
A chorus of "shhh!" came from the front desk and we laughed.
"Sorry, Mrs. P!" Emmett stage whispered.
'Mrs. P' clicked her tongue in return.
"Hola, senoritas," Jasper drawled.
"Hola hombre," Rosalie joked back.
"Yes, hi, hi, hi, now let's get out of the library, it smells like books and nerds," Alice jabbed. I narrowed my eyes at her.
"You know I like libraries, jerk."
"That's because you're a crazy book lady," Edward smirked, and I looked at him for the first time since they had sat at the table. He moved to sit in the chair beside me, and I could smell him then; honey and clean laundry and spice. We locked eyes for a second, and I raised my eyebrow. He smiled and it frustrated me because he always did that and I always said the same thing.
"What?"
He smiled bigger and shook his head, folding his hands on top of the table and looking at them intently like there was a book written on there and he was getting to the good part.
I sighed and turned back to see Alice looking right at me.
"Oh my gosh, what? Do I have something on my face?"
"Nope. Anyway..."
I scoffed and looked down at the papers in front of me. They were suddenly yanked out of my view and in the apparently oh-so-interesting hands of Edward. I tried grabbing the papers out of hands and he held them out of reach. As I tried to get them back I caught a whiff of his minty gum and I tried not to breathe it in because that is definitely too weird to be appropriate for friends.
"... so, what do you think?"
"Of what?" I huffed as I struggled to get my homework back. I was half crawling over the table and as my arm rubbed against Edward's jacket, it made an awkward squeaking noise. I froze, and we were silent for a moment until we all started laughing and my face got simultaneously red. As Edward laughed – his stomach brushed against my hip every time he chuckled, but that was besides the point – I grabbed my homework and sat down triumphantly in my chair.
"About coming over for smores? Si? Oui? Danke?"
"That's thank you in German, sugar," Jasper said with a smile. I snorted and he winked at me in return.
Jasper and I were like brother and sister from another madam and mister. He's the confidante I go to when I want to talk about guys, with his Southern charm and gentlemanly traits, not to mention his good looks, but he and Alice were the perfect match. He's tall and lean and laid back and she's short and spunky and excitable to say the least, and they compliment each other perfectly.
"Sure, I'll ask Charlie but you know he loves you anyway," I said, arranging my papers on the table with a satisfied smile toward Edward.
"Great! Now let's get out of the library, seriously, I think Mrs. P is eyeing Emmett," Rosalie said, annoyed. We all laughed and headed out of the library.
Walking down the hallway, we passed by Mike Newton, who stopped short and looked at me, seeming like he was going to approach me. I gave him a little smile, nothing too motivating, but unfortunately with Mike Newton anything was something.
Just as he started taking a few steps toward me, Edward stepped closer to me and wrapped his arm tightly around my shoulder, pulling me into his side. I tried not to both breathe in the smell of his t-shirt and think any more of it than him doing me a favour by stopping Mike from asking me out on another potentially awkward "group date" where everybody cancels except for Mike and I.
But as I tried not to look any more into Edward putting his arm around me, I saw a glint in Alice, Rosalie, Jasper and Emmett's eyes, and I knew that there was something about me that showed wanting more than just friendship with Edward, and that bothered me.
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