Just had a little "late night fun" writing exercise. Please pardon any errors you may come across. Lol.
Twilight belongs to SM. The rest is mine. No redistribution without my consent.
"Come on Bella, don't be shy. It's time to go inside."
"No, mom! I don't want to!"
"Baby, you need to. No one will hurt you." My mother looked down at me with her hazel, soothing eyes and combed her fingers through my hair. She knew it calmed me down...most of the time. Right now, it simply wasn't working.
It was the first day of four-year old preschool and I was scared, to put it mildly. As an only child, I've never been around other children my age, so I had no idea what to expect. Would the other kids like me? What about if I had nothing in common with them? Will I make any friends?
"Do you promise?" I asked with wide, pleading eyes.
"I promise. You want to be a big girl, right?"
"Yes," I nodded determinedly.
"Then you need to go inside. It's time for you to meet other kids your age."
"But what if they don't like me?" I searched her face.
"They'll like you, honey. I'm sure of it," She reassured, softly patting my head.
The sound of clicking heels and another set of shoes registered in my ear just then, and I saw a couple people walking towards us. A boy about my age, I assumed, and his mother.
"Hi, Renee," the lady said to my mom.
"Hi, Esme. How are you liking Forks so far?"
Huh? Mom knew this lady? I studied her unfamiliar face. She had ivory, flawless skin that blended perfectly with the caramel colored hair that cascaded over her shoulders. And her piercing green eyes...Hmmm, surely I would have remembered her if I encountered her before. She was beautiful.
"How do you know each other?" I asked mom as I tugged on the frills of her skirt.
"Bella, it's not nice to interrupt grown ups' conversations unless it's important," Mom said sternly before answering my question. "This lady just moved in to town with her family a couple weeks ago. Her name is Mrs. Cullen."
"Oh, okay. Sorry, mom. Sorry, Mrs. Cullen." I apologized, blushing.
"It's alright, dear," Mrs. Cullen smiled. Her voice was melodic, soothing and reassuring. "We live down the street from you." With both of her hands, she patted the shoulders of the boy she was walking with. "This is my son, Edward. He's going to be in your class."
I turned my full attention over to him. The first thing that stood out to me was his bronze, wild hair that looked like it needed to be combed. Badly. It was a complete contrast to his mother's shiny, wavy curls. He did, however, have her green eyes. It was a shame to see them hidden behind the thick eyeglasses he wore.
"Hi Edward," I said softly as I looked down at my feet. I wondered if he'd even heard what I said.
"Edward, this is Bella Swan," Mrs. Cullen said as she drifted her hand towards where I stood.
"Hello, Bella," Edward greeted me. He lifted his pale, white hand to wave before pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.
"Edward, how about you take Bella's hand and walk with her to the classroom?" Edward's mom suggested. "Just follow me and Mrs. Swan."
"Okay, mom," He answered, extra politely.
When Edward reached for my hand, he noticed the thin bracelet that circled my wrist.
"What is that?" Edward asked in a soft voice, gently lifting up the only charm that was on it with his index finger.
"It's a swan."
"Really? For your last name?"
"Yes."
"Hmmm, that's cool." He nodded to himself, looking lost in thought. After a few moments, he asked, "So, you're four years old too?"
"Uh huh," I nodded.
"Is this your first time going to school?"
"Yes."
"Don't worry, everything will be okay. I went to three year old preschool before I moved here and it was fine. Just follow the rules and listen to the teacher."
"Okay." Edward's words comforted me. Mom always said I was a good girl, so doing what Edward suggested shouldn't be a problem.
"Alright Edward and Bella, we're here," my mom announced.
Tentatively and slowly, my eyes searched the room. It wasn't as intimidating as I thought it would be. Evenly spaced out rows of tables filled a large portion of the room, but at the center there was a wide open space with a large carpet that covered the cream-colored linoleum floor. Near the large window was an area that contained toys and little buckets of art supplies that held markers, crayons, pens, and glue. And then at another corner of the room was a bookstand filled with...books. Lots of books. I loved books.
"Ooohh, I wanna read! I wanna read!" I exclaimed as I dragged Edward with me towards the bookstand.
Edward and his mom laughed at my behavior...but my mom didn't. She just sighed and shook her head.
"Is this Edward and Isabella?" Both Edward and I abruptly stopped in our tracks and turned around to see who it was. The voice belonged to a young lady with long, brown hair, who just so happened to be walking our way.
"Yes, that's us," Edward answered. His face began to turn a light shade of red.
"It's nice to meet you two." The lady smiled and squatted down. "I'm going to be your teacher. You can call me Miss Weber."
"Hello, Miss Weber," I said, making eye contact with her. It was time for me to gather some courage. If Edward could be confident, so can I.
From my peripheral vision, I saw my mother smile. I gave myself a mental pat on the back. I can do this.
"Hello, Isabella."
"You can call me Bella," I told her. Mom's smile grew.
"Ohh, okay, sorry about that. Hello, Bella." Ms. Weber's smile grew as well. She then turned to Edward. "Do you go by any nicknames too, Edward?"
"Nope." He shook his head. His flushed face turned even redder as he looked at the ground. Goodness, why was he like this all of a sudden?
Edward's mother's eyes were practically dancing with amusement as she covered her mouth with one of her hands, stifling a laugh. My mom's expression nearly mirrored her own- the only difference was that she was aggressively biting on her lower lip.
"Is there something wrong, Edward?" I asked. "You're turning red, and I think our moms are about to laugh at you."
That did it for them. Mrs. Cullen and my mother couldn't contain their laughter any longer. But what was so funny? What was I missing out on?
"What is it?" I pressed. I was beginning to get annoyed.
"Nothing...Isabella." Edward growled and stomped off to the other side of the room.
Whoa...what did I do? And why did he call me Isabella?
Suddenly, I felt like crying.
I tried my best to fight back tears, but it was no use. They started streaming down my cheeks by the time Edward's mom reached him.
"Bella, are you okay?" Ms. Weber asked. She looked worried.
"No," I answered. "Edward's mad at me, and I don't know what was so funny!"
"Awww, it's okay." She rubbed my shoulder. "He'll get over it."
"Are you sure?" I sniffed.
"Yes, honey, he will." I heard my mother's voice as she walked over to us. "He's just embarrassed."
I arched my left eyebrow at her. "About what?"
She pursed her lips together, her face looking tentative. "Blushing," she finally answered.
"Why is he embarrassed about that? I blush, too!"
"He just is, Bella. Give him a little time to cool off."
"Okay."
"Here, why don't you look through some more of the books?" Ms. Weber suggested to me. "I'll see how Edward's doing." She turned to my mom and added softly, "There's still about ten minutes until class starts."
"Alright. It's fine if I stay until then, right?"
"Yeah, of course," Ms. Weber smiled. "I'll be right back."
Mom kept me company up until the time class started. Just as she was walking out the door, Edward came up to me.
"Hi, Bella. I'm sorry for how I acted," he muttered, his eyes downcast. "I'm not usually like that."
"It's okay, I won't ask you about turning red anymore. I do it too, you know."
"Really?"
"Really," I affirmed.
"Okay, cool. Thanks, Bella," he said, relieved as he gave me a lopsided grin. I scrunched my eyebrows together slightly, my eyes concentrating on his smile for a little too long. It was...different. "Ohh, and I'm sorry for calling you Isabella," he added softly.
"It's okay. My mom calls me that when she's upset at me."
His crooked smile grew. "Does that mean I'm allowed to do that, too...when I'm upset?"
"I guess," I shrugged.
"Cool! And no one else can do that but me and your mom?"
"Well, my dad calls me Isabella Marie when he's upset with me. Marie's my middle name."
"Ooohhh, I like that better. Can I call you that instead?"
"Okay."
"So no one but me and your dad can do that?"
"Sure. I'll just have to tell that to mommy first."
"Cooooool." Edward dragged the word out.
I laughed. "You're real funny."
He laughed along with me. "Thanks."
"Okay Edward and Bella, are things okay now?" Ms. Weber asked as she walked up to us.
"Yes," I answered. I figured I might as well speak for both of us. Otherwise who knows, maybe Edward will turn red again?
"That's wonderful!" She smiled. "Would you two like to find a table to sit at together? They will be your assigned seats, which means that you'll be sitting at them every day we're here."
"Fine with me," I said. "Is that okay with you, Edward?"
"Yes," Edward smiled at me. His face started to flush again, but I didn't bring it up. I made a promise, and I intended to keep it.
Edward and I decided to sit at the second row near the window. The sun was shining, nearly blinding my eyes, but I didn't mind. I enjoyed the sun and heat. Whenever it made its rare appearance here in Forks, Washington, I spent my time outdoors.
"Do you know what we called people we sit next to at my old school, Bella?" Edward asked after taking his seat.
"What?"
"Seat buddies."
Oohh, I never heard that word before. "Seat buddies?"
"Yes. You're my seat buddy because we're sitting at the same table, next to each other. We'll probably be doing a lot of class activities together."
"Awesome!"
"Yeah, it's pretty cool. I hope you'll have fun with me, Bella."
I smiled. "I'm sure I will. And I hope you'll have fun with me."
Valentine's Day
"Good morning everyone," Ms. Weber greeted the class. "We're going to do something extra special today. Has anyone ever heard of Valentine's Day?"
"I have!" Edward raised his hand while jumping in his seat, looking very excited and proud of himself.
Ms. Weber laughed, clearly amused by his enthusiasm. "Okay Edward. Can you explain to us what Valentine's Day is?"
"It's a holiday about love. And hearts. And chocolate. And flowers." Edward blushed.
"Eeewwww," all of our classmates whined in unison. I just ignored them while I rolled my eyes, showing my lack of surprise at Edward's predictable reaction. By now, the entire class knew of Edward's obvious crush on Ms. Weber.
Ms. Weber passed around red, pink, and purple sheets of paper along with scissors and heart patterns for us to trace over. Afterwards, she gave us markers, pens and colored pencils for decorating them. She told us we could design them however we wanted and that when we were finished, we could bring them home to our families or give it to a close friend. Edward and I worked in comfortable silence until both of us were done cutting out our hearts.
"How are you going to decorate your heart?" I asked him. "I don't know what to do."
"Watch me," he said enthusiastically as he adjusted his glasses further up his nose before picking up a red inked pen. He drew near the edges, making another heart.
"What…why are you doing that?"
"Because I can," he smirked.
Edward continued to decorate his heart while I started on my own. When we were both finished, I couldn't help but bug my eyes out a little at Edward's. It was, without a doubt, one of the most vivid things I've ever seen. Miniature hearts and scribblings of multiple colors were scattered all over the place, and he added so much glitter to the point where the glue itself wasn't able to keep each grain in place. It was all quite overwhelming.
"Well, that's...nice," I said, trying my best to sound polite.
"You're a bad liar, you know that, Beller?" he said, laughing. "You can tell me the truth."
"Ugh, stop with that awful nickname!"
"Nope," he said, popping the "p." "Now answer my question."
I sighed. The whole Beller ordeal was something we've been bickering over ever since the holidays. When we sang "Jingle Bells" in class one day and I had to ring the bells, he called me Beller and hasn't stopped since.
"Okay...you want the truth? I think it looks...looks..."
"Yes?" Edward urged with anticipation.
"I think it looks wild," I finally said. "Just like your hair."
He cocked his eyebrow and gave me a huge, crooked grin. "Like my hair?"
"Yes, like your hair," I stated matter-of-factly.
"Well, that's new."
"It's true though," I shrugged.
"I guess," Edward conceded. "Here." Edward handed me his heart.
"You're going to give your heart to me?" I asked, completely dumbfounded.
"Yes. You're my best friend," he smiled softly. His cheeks started to flush.
"Awww, thank you so much! You can have my heart, too." I placed mine on his side of the table.
His blush deepened. "Thank you, Bella. That's real sweet of you. But won't your parents want yours?"
"Won't your parents want yours?" I challenged. "Besides, you're my best friend, too. It makes sense for you to have it."
"Okay. Thanks again," he smiled.
"You're welcome." I paused. "Does this mean we're each other's valentines?"
With a look of concern and nervousness in his eyes, he replied. "Yes, I think so."
"We don't have to kiss or anything, do we?" I asked a little too loudly.
"No," Edward hissed under his breath. And then he smirked. "But you could give me one of those Hershey kisses I saw hiding in your coat pocket."
"No problem." I unzipped my pocket and handed him one. "Happy Valentine's Day, Edward."
"Happy Valentine's Day, Beller."
~.~.~.~.~
When I was home and in my room a few hours later, I found myself examining Edward's heart once again. Now that I was alone, I could really take a good look at all the work he put in to it.
I tried to make sense out of all the non-heart designs, but for the life of me, I just couldn't. Were they just a bunch of nonsense scribbles and zig zags? What on earth was going through that mind of his?
When my eyes drifted to the bottom tip of the heart, I gasped. If I weren't mistaken, he drew the exact image of my swan bracelet charm...the one he asked about the very first day we met. To make sure I wasn't imagining things, I blinked my eyes a few times and stared at the tiny pattern again. It was most definitely the swan.
And then I noticed the tiny drawing right beside it. To the left of the swan, he undoubtedly drew a bell. Beller Swan. Of course. Well, at least there were a couple non-heart designs I was able to make out.
Smiling to myself, I laid the heart on my bed while I retrieved an empty shoebox from my closet. There was no way I was going to lose this...thing that Edward made. It was too funny and unique. And it was obviously made for me.
For the first time, my (actual) heart fluttered.
TBC...? Let me know what you think; I'd really appreciate some feedback. I have quite a bit rolled up my sleeves for these two, but I want to make sure I'm writing this fic for a reason. I don't know how to get my story "out there" to gain readers, so if you have any tips or suggestions, let me know.
Thanks for reading!