Everything happens for a reason… right? I mean, why else would I be staring into his eyes, as if it never happened? As if Edward had never left, I mean. Why else would I be gazing into these golden balls of wonder? I should never be able to get over Edward… much less fall for another person. As if that's not enough, how could I fall for a vampire, Ben? Ben smiled at me, his eyes glistening in the slight light that came from the small window by entrance to the lunchroom.
"So what do you think, Bella? Will you do it?" He smiled at me. A lump rose in my throat. I held back tears as memories came flowing back… memories of whenever Edward was here, asking me to prom. I looked into Ben's eyes, his happy eyes. The difference in his personality lately was… amazing. That might be a tiny understatement though. He was normally cold to everyone he came across. Now he seemed… warm and happy.
I forced out a small, innocent smile. "Of course I'll go with you, Ben!" I tried to push my grin farther, make it believable. There was so much about Ben that reminded me of him. Reminded me of the hurt Edward put me through. I didn't want that to happen to me again. Suddenly, I felt myself needing restraint yet again. The warm floods of tears were trying to push themselves up into my eyes. I held back, yet again. I looked around the lunchroom, trying to find a distraction.
"Bella, come sit over here with us! We need to talk to you!" I turned to see Mike's face shimmering with excitement as he looked at Jessica, who gave him an approving nod. Jessica smiled at me, before raising her hand and beckoning me over to her table. I turned to Ben, who tried to push a smile onto his face, before nodding at me as if to say, "Just go."
"Sorry, Ben," I mumbled as I pushed my way across the lunch room to plop down at Jessica and Mike's table. Jessica gave me a disapproving look and turned to Mike who just sat there staring blankly into space. Jessica stomped on his foot and he suddenly snapped back.
"Huh, what? OW!" He screeched between his teeth. Jessica gave him an eager look and he continued. "Jess and I… we don't think it's a good idea for you to get involved with someone like Ben. He reminds us a lot of Cullen and… we just don't want to see you like that again, Bella. We don't want to see you in agony." I turned to look at Ben. I saw what Jessica and Mike saw. They saw a young boy, our age, with extremely pale skin, and golden eyes that sometimes seem to be darker. Suddenly, a mental image of Edward went thru her mind. He did look a lot like Ben. It hurt me to think of Edward. I turned back to Ben and saw him gripping his fork with his right hand. The metal was bending. Suddenly, he got up and walked over to where I was sitting.
Ben threw a mean look at Mike as he mumbled, "Bella and I need to take our leave now." He grabbed my arm with a tug and pulled me away from the table. I shot a look back at Mike. His face was surrounded in worry. I took another look at Ben. He was struggling to control himself. Maybe I shouldn't go with another vampire. Maybe I'm setting myself up for more hurt, more agony. I glanced at both of my choices. Mike with his fair skin, wide human smile, blue eyes, and happy personality. Then I looked at Ben, with hardly any human features and a hard, cold, personality. I took a quick glance between them and turned back around and continued to walk out of the lunchroom by Ben's side. I couldn't decide what was best for me. At least, I couldn't decide right then. That decision would just have to wait.